THE greater Kindnesses that God shews unto Men, the more plainly he manifests Himself, his Power and Goodness to them; the greater Returns of Love and Obe­dience does he expect from them, the more highly is he provoked by their Sins, and the more severely will he punish them. He connived at those Sins in the ignorant Gentiles, which in his own People he would not suf­fer [Page 8] to escape unpunish'd. You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth; Amos 3. vers. 2. (said he unto them, by the Mouth of his Prophet Amos) therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities. That the Holy Ghost has so particularly recorded the Sins into which the Isralites fell, during the time of their sojourning in the Desert, and the Punishments which over-took them for their Sins, was not for the sake of such amongst them as escap'd, nor for the sake of their Posterity af­ter the Flesh only, but for our's also upon whom the Ends of the World are come, as the same Divine Spirit has signified to us, by the Pen of the Great Apostle St. Paul, in this ve­ry Chapter out of which my Text is taken, vers. 6. Now these things were our Examples, &c. His meaning is, [Page 9] The Judgments which overtook them for their Sins, are so particularly re­corded, on purpose to terrify us from sinning in those Instances they did, five whereof the Apostle has here set down; the last is, in the words of the Text, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer.

Wherein we have to observe,

1st, Their Sin, They murmured.

2ly, The punishment which befel them for their Sin, They were de­stroyed of the Destroyer.

3ly, The warning we should take thereby, Neither murmur ye.

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer.

[Page 10]1st, They murmured against God, which is a Sin of a very high Na­ture; whatever Mens external State be, how unpleasant soever their out­ward Condition is. For what can Men intend by it? Nothing less cer­tainly, Than that they would have their Wills to take place of God's Will. They are angry that the Go­vernment of the World is in his Hands who created the World; or that the All-wise God does not ma­nage the Affairs of the World, just according to their Mind and Liking, who are ignorant and brutish as the Beasts of the Field. Our condition in this Life can scarcely be so bad, but that instead of repining against God that it is not better, we shall have cause to bless him that it is not worse, and to say with that Emi­nent [Page 11] Servant of God, holy Job, The Lord gives, Job 1.21. and the Lord takes away; Blessed be the Name of the Lord. But the better that Mens outward Condition is, the more easy their external Circumstances are; the greater the Mercies are they have re­ceived, and the more excellent the Blessings they injoy, the greater is their Sin in repining and murmuring. These were the things which aggra­vated this Sin in the Israelites. When they groaned, sometime under the grievous Burdens the Egyptian Task-masters impos'd on them, and were even ready to expire under the in­supportable Yoke of Servitude, out of which they saw no other way, possible, of escaping, but dying, God of his tender Mercies and Com­passions, was pleased to visit them [Page 12] with his Salvation, and raise them up a Mighty Deliverer, even Moses Called the Son of Pha­raoh's Daughter, Heb. 11.24., a Glorious Prince, excelling in Wisdom and Goodness. By whom God wrought such Signs and Wonders on the behalf of his miserable oppressed People, Exod. 9.18. that even Jannes and Jam­bres, the chiefest Magicians of Egypt, were constrain'd to acknowledg that the finger of God was in them. God put a manifest difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians: and when all the Cattel of Egypt died, not one died of all that were the Children of Israels; Exod. 20.23. when a thick and black Darkness overspread the Land, that the Egyptians could not see one another, all the Israelites injoyed Light in their Habitations. When the De­stroyer entred the Houses of the Egyptians, Exod. 12.29. and slew all their first-born, [Page 13] he passed over the Houses of the Is­raelites. To whom also God gave of the Riches and Treasures of E­gypt, Jewels of Silver, and Jewels of Gold; and at last brought them out of that Servitude by a mighty Hand, and powerful Arm. Now God might justly expect that after so many Signs and Wonders performed on behalf of the Israelites, after so great Testimonies given of his Favour to­wards them, and his Providence o­ver them, after so miraculous a Re­demption wrought for them, they should never in the least have questi­oned his Presence amongst them, His Power to save them, His Goodness to supply them; as alas! they were forward to do upon every occasion; they soon forgot the grievous Mise­ries they had groaned under, and in­tollerable [Page 14] Servitude under which they had been ready to expire, they soon lost the sense of the benefit of Re­demption and Liberty. They fear­ed not ungratefully to murmur, even against Moses the Glorious Instru­ment of their Deliverance, who for their sakes had chosen rather to un­dergo Toil and Labour, to suffer Afflictions and Hardships, than to live in Ease and Quiet, and enjoy the Pleasures and Honours of Pha­raoh's Court. When they were in distress at the Red Sea, they re­proach'd him, as if he had dealt un­faithfully with them; and instead of designing their Good, had contrived their utter Destruction. They wish­ed, most unthankfully, that they had continued in the Chains and Fet­ters of Egypt, and never experienced [Page 15] the benefit and sweetness of Liberty. They said unto Moses, Exod. 14. 11, 12. Because there were no Graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the Wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word which we did tell thee in Egypt, Let us alone to serve the Egyptians? for it had been better for us to serve the Eyptians, than that we should die in this Wilderness. Here God gave them a further proof of his Power and Good­ness, dividing the Red Sea for them to pass through as on dry Ground, bringing the Waters upon their Ene­mies, and drowning them in the midst thereof. But they soon murmured a­gain, for the bitterness of the Waters; Exod. 15.24. Exod. 16. then for want of Bread. Then they loathed the Heavenly Mannah, the [Page 16] Food of Angels, and murmured for want of Flesh, Numb. 11.4, 5. They murmured again, at the Report which ten of the Spies made of the extra­ordinary strength of Canaan, and the prodigious Stature of the Inhabitants. And they proceeded so far, as to despair of ever entring into possession of the Land which God had promi­sed and sworn to give them, and said one to another, Let us make us a Cap­tain, and let us return into Egypt, Numb. 14. 1, 2, 3, 4. To which some think the Apostle does particu­larly refer in the words of my Text: But others do, with greater probabi­lity, refer them to the History of the 16th Chapter of the same Book. When God had punished the Pride and Ambition of Corah and Abiram, by a new and most astonishing Judg­ment, [Page 17] all the Congregation murmu­red against Moses, as if he and his Brother had been the cause of it; and they said to them, Ye have killed the People of the Lord. In every one of these Murmurs were many great Sins involved.

As, 1. Forgetfulness of the Works of God, of the Miracles of Bounty and Mercy he had performed on their behalf.

2. Distrust of the Presence and Power of God, notwithstanding what they saw with their own Eyes; They said, Is God amongst us, or not? tho they saw him constantly conducting and sheltering them by a Glorious Cloud: And they said, Can the Lord furnish a Table in the Wilderness? tho they had seen him give them Drink out of the flinty Rock.

[Page 18]3. Disbelief of the Truth of God. They gave greater credit to the Re­port of the Ten Spies, than to the Promise and Oath of God, which was a most high Provocation of his Anger. They believed Man, who is Vanity and a Lie, before God who is True and Faithful, and can­not deny himself.

4. An undervaluing and contempt of the Benefits they enjoyed, tho they were the greatest that Man is capable of, the Knowledg of God and his Will, Fellowship and Communion with him. The Apostle, in the 2d and 3d Verses of this Chapter, out of which my Text is taken, says, That they did all eat the same spiritual Meat, and drink of the same spiri­tual Drink that we do. They drank of Christ: Yet had they no sense [Page 19] of the great Goodness and Bounty of God towards them, but upon every occasion were for returning in­to the Bondage of Egypt.

5. The basest Ingratitude towards Moses, who chose rather to suffer Affliction with them, that he might conduct them towards the promised Canaan, than to enjoy the Pleasures of Pharaoh's Court. We have seen their Sin, let us now see their Punishment. They were destroyed, says the Apostle, of the Destroyer: The Name whereby that Angel is called, who slew the First-born of Egypt, Exod. 12.23. And the sig­nification of Asmodaeus, the Name of that Angel who killed the Hus­bands of Sarah, the Daughter of Raguel, Tobit 3.8. as we read in the Apocry­phal Book of Tobit. It is true, [Page 20] Moses does not say expresly, That the Israelites who perished for their murmuring, fell by the stroak of an Angel. Historians do not always exactly set down every particular Circumstance attending the Fact whereof they give the Relation, but from the things expressed, leave the Reader to conclude concerning those they pass over in silence: Yet Mo­ses does relate, Numb. 16.35. That there came out a Fire from the Lord, and consumed Two hundred and fifty Men that offered Incense; meaning by the Fire, a destroying Angel ap­pearing in the form of Fire to de­vour those Murmurers. For so the Psalmist instructs us, Psal. 104.4. That God makes his Angels Winds, and his Ministers a flame of Fire; and they appear sometimes in Winds, sometimes in [Page 21] flames of Fire, as is most suitable to the Design they are sent upon, and the Execution they are commissiona­ted to do. When Moses says of the Ten Spies, that they died of the Plague before the Lord, he seems to mean that it was by a stroke of the Angel of the Lord, as many of the Israelites died afterwards, for the Sin of David in numbring the Peo­ple: 70000 Men 1 Kings 24.17, 18. for though none else perceived that Plague to come from the Hand of the Angel, yet David himself saw the Angel by the Threshing-Floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Herod pe­rish'd by the stroke of an Angel. Acts 12.29. And although Josephus the Jew, who has written of his Death, did not understand so much, yet St. Luke, who was enlightned by the Divine Spirit, has assured us it was so, Acts [Page 22] 12.23. From whence we learn, that such Actions or Performances, as are extraordinary, and above the usual Course, are done by the Ministe­ry of Angels, though we have no perception of them. This is it the Apostle teaches us, concerning the Judgment on the Israelites for their Murmurings, they were executed by the Hand of an Angel, whom he calls the Destroyer; from that Pas­sage of Moses, already quoted, Exod. 12. and from the common belief of the Jews. The greatness of the Punishment, shews how high­ly God is provoked by this Sin of Murmuring. Therefore,

3ly, Let us consider the Warn­ing we should take thereby, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also [Page 23] murmured. God has deliver'd us, as well as the ancient Israelites, out of Bondage, and brought us, of this Nation, as well as them, out of Egyptian Servitude. Egypt is the Name whereby St. John calls the Papal Empire, Revel. 11.8. The Bodies of the two Witnesses he foretells, should lie in the Streets of the great City, which spiritually is Sodom and Egypt, The Old and New Testa­ment disal­lowed and rejected, as some under­stand it. where also our Lord was crucified in his Members, the Professors of true Christianity. The Papal Empire is called Egypt, upon a three-fold account.

• 1. Of its Tyranny.
• 2. Of its Pride.
• 3. Of its Bloodshedding.

[Page 24]1. Of its Tyranny. Egypt, ac­cording to the Letter, grievously oppress'd the People of God: and the City, spiritually called Egypt, exercises a grievous Tyranny over the Spirits and Souls of Men; the Ro­man Church requires of Men a blind Obedience, and an implicit Faith, that they believe what is taught them, without examining or enqui­ring: though the Command of the spiritual Superior be unreasonable, yet the Inferior (they teach) is bound to obey. And if the Church af­firms that to be Black, which our own Eyes judg to be White, we ought to say it is Black. God, the great Sovereign of the World, does not treat Men thus, He calls upon them to consider, commands them to search, examine, try, and prove [Page 25] all things; and the Bereans are ex­presly commended for searching the Scriptures daily, whether the things which the Apostles (who were Per­sons divinely inspired) taught, were so.

2. The Papal Empire is called Egypt upon the account of it's Pride. Who is the Lord, said Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, (according to the Let­ter,) that I should let Israel go? I know not the Lord, &c. And the Popes are told, That they can do all things, that they may do what they list, that none may say unto the Pope, Domine, cur sic facis? That they, may dispense against the Law of Moses, against the Apostle, against the Old and New Testament, a­gainst the Law of Nature, and may [Page 26] declare Bellarm. l. 4. c. 5. de summo Pon­tifice. Just to be Unjust, and Un­just to be Just. Deus, nu­men Maje­stas Divi­na, Chri­stus, Leo de Tribu Ju­dae, Serva­tor Sionis, Lapis angu­laris, &c. He has all Power in Heaven and Earth. C.L. S. L. 10. They are called God, the Vicegerent of God, the Vi­car of Jesus Christ, Vice-God: They exalt themselves above all that is cal­led God; above all the Kings of the Earth, above all the Saints, canoni­zing them at their pleasure, above the Eucharist, which they expresly call God, ( C. à L. Adde Sa­cerdotem, &c. Heb. every Priest, in the Mass, is after a sort greater than Christ) above the Scriptures, where­in God speaks unto them.

3. The Papal Empire is call'd Egypt, upon the account of shed­ding of Blood, or destroying of Lives. In Egypt (according to the Letter) it was ordered that all the Males of the Israelites should be drown'd in the River Nile, so soon [Page 27] as they were born. And in the Ci­ty, spiritually called Egypt, our Lord Jesus Christ has been crucified in his Members. Not to mention the Execution done upon John Hus and Jerome of Prague, by Order of the Council of Constance; here in Eng­land in one Reign, which was but little above Five Years, there were almost Four hundred Persons de­stroyed, by Imprisonments, Tor­ments, Famine and Fire, besides such as were secretly murdered in Prisons. Of the Number now men­tion'd, there were above Twenty who had Authority or Office in the Church, of Women above Sixty, of Children also a great Number. Of the Women, some were great with Child: One is particularly re­corded, out of whose Body the [Page 28] Child, being by the violence of the Fire expelled alive, was, by a bar­barity far exceeding that of the an­cient Egyptians, thrown into the Fire again. Upon this three-fold account the Papal Empire is called Egypt, out of which God has long since delivered us of this Nation. And when we were in danger to be carried back into Egypt, by the wicked Counsels of Roman Priests, God made a way for us to escape, and raised us up a mighty Deliverer, a glorious Prince, excelling in Wis­dom and Goodness, who rescued us, without conversion of our Waters into Blood, and in a manner, with­out effusion of Blood. All the Cir­cumstances attending our Delive­rance, do plainly shew the Hand of God in it. They are too many to [Page 29] be mention'd here. Who should interpose to preserve us from being carried back into Babylon, (so Rome is also called, upon the account of the Idolatries she is guilty of, in six Kinds, as you have formerly heard from me) but he who had called us out of Babylon? saying, Revel. 18.4. Come out of her, my People, that ye be not partakers of her Sins, and that ye receive not of her Plagues.

But we were in no danger of this, some will reply, for we could not be carried back without our own consent.

True, but then, it is highly in­credible, that God who sent his Son to save, not to destroy Mens Lives, should expect that a whole Nation, living under the protection of Just Laws, of Laws made on purpose [Page 30] to secure their Persons and Estates, in the open profession and publick exercise of their Holy Religion, should, as one Man, submit their Body to the Flames. Our Circum­cumstances were very different from those of the Primitive Christians, the Laws of their Country were against them, the Laws of Ours were for us. Their Religion was condem­ned by the Laws; Ours was esta­blish'd by them. The 11th Chap. of the Book of the Revelations, contains a Prediction of this last and great Persecution of the Protestant, or Christian Religion; but it is ex­pressed in such words, as not to reach this Kingdom of Ours, as that excellent Person Monsieur Jurieux observed, in his Book called, L' ac­complishment des Prophecies o'u la De­liverance [Page 31] Prochaine de l' Eglise, Tom. 2. pag. 151. where he also makes mention of the Prophecy of Bishop Ʋsher, which in his Judgment is not to be understood according to the Letter. It seems then, that God did from the beginning intend to disap­point the wicked Counsels and Con­trivances of the Roman Clergy. Which he has accordingly done, and thereby has continued to us the great­est and most excellent Blessings: while others are under a thick and black Darkness, we have Light in our Habitations, even the Light of God's Holy Word; we are fed with the Celestial Manna, the true Bread from Heaven. We lose nothing by rejecting the Doctrine of Transub­stantiation, which the Apostle over­throws, calling the Food of the Eu­charist, [Page 32] Spiritual Meat, Vers. 3. of this Chapter, out of which the Text is taken, we are admitted to drink of the Spiritual Rock Christ Jesus, a Priviledg which is denied to them of the Roman Communion, so that they are, by their own Guides, ex­cluded from having Fellowship with Christ in his Death.

There are also other great Bles­sings continued to us, as the Benefit of our Laws and Liberties: Now therefore let us not murmur and complain, as if we would make us a Captain that should bring us back into Egypt. Admit that many of our Fore-fathers, who died in the Communion of the Roman Church were saved, may we therefore, with­out any hazard of our Salvation, re­turn thither? Such reasoning con­demns [Page 33] the Generation of God's Children. Abraham might have been saved, had he died in Chaldea; yet after that God had once brought him out of that place of Idolatrous Worship, he would not return thi­ther, but chose rather to suffer any hardships. It was Matter of Con­science to him not to return. If we would approve our selves the Children of Abraham, we must do the Works of Abraham. Moses his Fore-fathers, who died in Egypt, might be saved; yet when Moses, by the good Providence of God, had once escap'd out of Egypt, he chose rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God, than by conti­nuing there to enjoy Ease and Plea­sure. Our Fore-fathers who died in the Roman Communion, might be [Page 34] saved; but God having called us out of it, it is Matter of Consci­ence to us not to return into it. Let us therefore bless God for our Deli­verance, and not murmur as the Is­raelites did, lest we suffer as they al­so suffered.

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer.