IT is a Character that has long since been given of Mankind, That he is Animal querulum, a Creature much given to com­plaining.

There is rarely such a Concurrence of Cir­cumstances as that all of them please us; and if any thing displease or be offensive to us, it usually so engages our thoughts, that we scarce make any fitting reflection on the more favoura­ble Circumstances, how great and numerous [Page 2] soever. And whilst by this means one Evil, In­convenience, or Misfortune makes a greater im­pression on us than hundreds of Mercies and Advantages which we enjoy, we are generally disposed to be dissatisfied with our Condition, to Complain and Murmur when indeed we have no just reason so to do.

This being a Malady so incident to mankind, the Apostle, one of the most Able Physicians of Souls, has given us a Prescription against it in the words of my Text; Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the de­stroyer.

In which Words we may observe, 1. A Re­lation of Matter of Fact, Some of them also mur­mured. 2 dly. A Prohibition of the like Practice, Neither murmur ye, as some of them, &c. 3 dly. An Argument to dissuade us from the Imitation of them, drawn from the destructiveness of the Practice, evidenced by the Event it had on them, They were destroyed of the destroyer.

First, Here is a Relation of Matter of Fact, Some of them also murmured. Some of them. Of whom? Even of the Children of Israel. It would be no strange matter to hear, that Hea­thens, that men governed by the mere Conduct [Page 3] of Corrupt Nature, should repine and murmur upon slight occasions: But the Israelites had been instructed in better Principles, which one might expect should have restrained them from such distempers. Nay, the state which they were in before was so very miserable, and it was by such a continued Succession of Miracles, of De­liverances and Mercies, that they were arrived at that Condition at which they murmured, that one might in all reason expect to hear of their Transports of Joy, and Praise, and Thanks­giving, when on the contrary we find an Epide­mical Discontent and Murmuring among them.

For if you reflect on their Condition in Egypt, you may observe them labouring under as great Oppression and Tyranny, as ever an ingenuous People underwent; so that their lives were bitter unto them; and the sense of their Miseries made them vent their Griefs in Sighs and Groans, which mounted up to Heaven, and moved God in Compassion to reach forth his mighty Hand and outstretched Arm to deliver them. As the Psalmist says, Psal. 105. 26. &c. He sent to them Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen, and they shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness upon their enemies, [Page 4] and it was dark, and turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. The land also brought forth frogs in abundance, yea, even in their kings chambers. He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts. He gave them hailstones for rain, and flames of fire in their land. He smote their vines also and fig­trees, and destroyed the trees that were in their coasts. He spake the word and the grashoppers came, and ca­terpillars innumerable, and did eat up all the grass in the land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. He smote all the first born also in their land, the chief of all their sterngth. He brought them forth with silver and gold, and (tho they were many hundred thousands) there was not one feeble person among their tribes. And all along as we go on in their History, we may observe such evident, such wonderful, such sea­sonable Interpositions of the Divine Power and Goodness for their Defence and Relief, that one would think there could not possibly be any room left for discontent or repining among them. For, Were they persecuted? God set himself for a Wall of Defence between them and their Enemies. Were they in distress for a Pas­sage? The Sea divided it self, and its Waters rose up on an heap, to afford them a Path through the deep, as through a wilderness. Did they want a [Page 5] shelter by day? He spread his cloud over them for a covering. Did they want a Guide by night? He himself went before them in a pillar of fire. Did they want Bread? He rained down Manna upon them, and filled them with the bread of heaven. Did they want Meat to their Bread? He made the wind to bring them flesh like dust, and feathered fowl like as the sand of the sea. Did they want Drink to both? He opened the rock of stone, and the waters flowed out, so that the rivers ran in dry places. Did they stand in need of Apparel? Their cloaths did not wax old upon their backs, nor their shooes upon their feet. Did they want Advice? God himself gave them his Vocal Oracle from between the Che­rubims. And besides all these, there were ma­ny other occasions wherein God exerted a Mira­culous Power to supply their Necessities, or gra­tify their Desires. And yet, as the Apostle here says, Some of them also murmured.

Hence then (my Brethren) we may observe, That People's murmuring is no evidence that there is any good ground to do so. I take no­tice of this the rather, because I have often ob­served, that many men, whose Temper and Principles (as I have apprehended) did not at all dispose them to Murmuring and Discontent, [Page 6] have yet been guilty of it, merely in compli­ance with others. They observe many whom they converse with, and it may be, Persons of great Reputation, that they make it a great Subject of their Discourse to censure, find fault with, and complain of the state of Affairs; and therefore conclude that they must certainly be grievously amiss, and that they themselves should pass for persons of dull apprehensions, and very shallow capacities, if they do not see reason to murmur as well as others.

Now if such persons would but observe in this History of the Israelites, what little reason there was for murmuring, and yet how much they were guilty of it, it would certainly be a Caution to them to take heed how they are so easily misled by following others Examples. For whether they are led away by the Conside­rableness of the Persons, or the Greatness of their Numbers, you will find them parallel'd in these unjust Murmurings of the Israelites; Numb. 16. 2. ma­ny princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown; nay, sometimes the whole Con­gregation being engaged in them. Or if any pretend that they are not prevailed on by consi­deration of the Persons, but by the Reasons [Page 7] which they give for their Discontents; as no doubt they will: For when Persons are disposed to find fault and murmur, they can never long want a Pretence; it being impossible that in such a Multiplicity of Affairs as concern a Na­tion, and depend on so many Persons, all of them should be so managed, as not to be liable to the misinterpretation of malevolent tongues. But if you please to reflect on their History, you will find that the Israelites themselves were not without some apparent Reasons for their Discontents. For to pass by the other occasi­ons, to avoid Prolixity, there were two which Commentators suppose the Apostle more espe­cially reflected on; the first, Numb. 14. and the other, Numb. 16. At the one the great Grie­vance was, That they were engaged in a War with such Powerful Adversaries, as they could never hope for a good issue of it; and therefore thought it more advisable to return to Egypt, to their Bondage again, than to proceed in it. In the other the Pretence was, That their Gover­nors both in Church and State were Intruders and Usurpers, and that Preferments run in a dif­ferent Channel from what they had used to do.

The first Pretence (I say) was, That they were engaged in a War with such Potent Ad­versaries, that they could never hope for a good Issue of it: For if you look into Numb. 13. you will find the occasion of their murmuring to be, That the Spies who were sent to search the Land, V. 32. 33. upon their return represented the people whom they were to encounter with, to be strong, and the cities to be walled and very great; that the men were of great stature, nay, that there were mighty gi­ants there, sons of Anak, in comparison of whom they were but as grashoppers. And it was the concurrent opinion of them all, excepting two, that they should never be able to withstand them. This made the people despair and lament their Condition, and wish that they had Numb. 14. V. 1, 2. died in the land of Egypt, or in the wilderness. For should they still persist in their Enterprize, they could expect nothing else, but that they should fall by the sword, and that their wives and their V. 3. children should become a prey; and therefore concluded, that the best course they could take, would be to return again to the Bondage and Slavery from which they had been so wonderfully delivered. And hereupon they began to conspire together for carrying on the design, saying one to another, [Page 9] Let us make us a captain, and let us return into Egypt, Numb. 14. 4. So strangely does a discontented, murmuring Humour, deprive men of the use of their Rational Faculties; blotting out the re­membrance of all former Evils, either suffered or feared; making them senseless of present Mercies, though never so pregnant with fu­ture hopes and expectations; abusing them with imaginations of groundless Terrors, and inci­ting them to run to a certain ruin, for a refuge from an imaginary one.

The second pretence was, That their Chief Governors both in Church and State, were no better than Intruders and Usurpers; and that subordinate Preferments were diverted to ano­ther channel from what they had us'd to run in. For the case was this; From the beginning of the World till Moses's time, the Royal Power, or Kingdom, and the Priesthood, were vested in the Patriarch, or Head of every Tribe; and from him descended Hereditarily on the First­born of the Family: And this Succession was rarely interrupted that we know of, unless it were in the case of Sem, whom some think not to have been Noah's Eldest Son; and in the case of Abraham the Youngest Son of Terah; and [Page 10] of Jacob the Younger Brother of Esau. But now at the Israelites coming out of Egypt, Moses, whom God had made the great Instrument of their Deliverance, was advanced to the Supream Power, and made King in Jeshurun, Deut. 33. 5. Aaron was Invested with the High-Priesthood, and the Tribe of Levi promoted to the Service of the Tabernacle, in lieu of the First-born of their several Families, who thereby were exclu­ded from all hope of attaining to that Dignity. These things were grievously resented by those whose Interest was concerned, and prejudiced by this new Establishment: and they strength­ned their Faction, and fomented their Discon­tents, till at length they broke forth into open Sedition: Numb. 16. 1. Da­than, Abiram, and On, were all Sons, that is, of the Posterity of Reuben, who was the First-born of Israel, but lost his Honour by his Sin, 1 Chron. 5. 1. which his Sons by un­lawful means seek to regain. Ainsworth on the place. Particularly Dathan and Abi­ram, the Sons of Eliab, and On, the Son of Peleth, being the Principal Persons of the Children of Reuben, the Eldest Son of Jacob, thought themselves ex­treamly injured. For tho Reuben for his unnatural Sin was indeed Deposed, and justly Deprived of his Right to the Primogeniture, Genes. 49. 4. and 1 Chron. 5. 1. Yet they would not allow of any Variation upon any account what­soever, [Page 11] from the usual way of Succession; a Succession which (as they might plead) had been Established from the Creation of the World, founded on the Principles and Laws of Nature, receiv'd and practis'd by all Nati­ons then in the World. And by this so sacred a Right, the Royal and Sacerdotal Power be­longed to them as descendants of the Eldest Son of Israel. And besides these, there were ma­ny other discontented Persons, especially Korah, who (as Solomon Jarchi says) was offended that Elizaphan, the Son of Uzziel, the Youngest of all the Brothers, was advanced to be the Chief of the Family of the Kohathites, Numb. 3. 30. in prejudice of himself, who was of an Elder Branch; and his Resentment fermenting his Pride, made him think himself as fit for the Priesthood, as the best of them. These and many others, to whose Interest or Ambition this change of Affairs seemed not favourable, being Male-content, joyned together in tradu­cing the Government; Charge Moses and Aaron as Usurpers, Numb. 10. 3. and accuse them, that, instead of delivering them from their for­mer Oppressions and Miseries, they had brought them into a much worse Condition; that there [Page 12] was nothing to be expected but Ruine under their Conduct, and that they should be killed in the Wilderness; and that these things were so undeniably evident, that they must put out the eyes of men before they could expect to persuade them the contrary, Numb. 16. 13, 14. And we find that their pretences were so very plausible, and had such a mighty and general influence on the People, that though Almighty God in a ve­ry Signal and Miraculous manner, declared his implacable Anger against the Principal Male­contents, and their Abettors, by a supernatural and prodigious Destruction; yet the very next Morning we find the People crying them up as Martyrs dying in a good Cause, and Murmu­ring against Moses and Aaron, as Authors of their Murther, v. 41. So difficult is it for People to be convinced when their Errors are fortified by Prepossession and Prejudice!

Thus (my Brethren) you have an account of the matter of Fact among the Israelites; the unreasonableness of their Murmurings, with the occasions and pretences of them. It is time now that we apply our selves to the considera­tion of the second thing observed in the words, viz. the Prohibition directed to us by St. Paul [Page 13] against the like Practice; Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured.

The words are sufficiently plain, and need little explication; for every one, I suppose, must needs understand, that when men are ready upon every occasion to signify their dissatisfaction with the state of Affairs; when they detract from, and speak against their Go­vernors; when they misinterpret their Acti­ons; when they aggravate such misfortunes as happen; when they are generally com­plaining of Mismanagements, and suggest Evil things concerning them: In a word, when they shew themselves Discontented and Desi­rous of Changes, and endeavour to make others so: These things (I say) and such like, tending to Sedition, every one must needs understand to be acts of Murmuring and Re­pining; And these things therefore does the Apostle here prohibit; and it were easy to produce out of Holy Writ multitudes of other places tending to the same purpose. But to avoid tediousness, I forbear them, as knowing that St. Paul's Authority alone must be own­ed [Page 14] sufficient by all Christians, such as we all profess our selves to be.

Therefore I shall rather address my self to you in way of Exhortation; That you would take care to demean your selves conformably to this Precept, which is of such undoubted Authority. And if one does but seriously re­flect on our Condition before the late Revo­lution, and represent to our minds the into­lerable Grievances and formidable Circum­stances which we then laboured under, one would think there could be no doubt of Success. For alas! How dismal did things then appear! How did mens hearts (as our Saviour speaks, Luke 21. 26.) fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which were coming upon us! When we saw the Laws, the security of all that can be valua­ble in this world, professedly run down and violated; Men, by Law unqualified for any Trust, thrust into all Offices of Trust; and those, who in account of the Law were Tray­tors, to have the chief management of the Government; when the Nurseries of the Cler­gy [Page 15] were assigned over to Papists; and the Ministers of Religion were enjoined, con­trary to the Laws in force, to proclaim Li­berty to their Parishioners to go to Mass, or what they pleased, and threatned with a severe Prosecution for their non-compliance; and God knows what they might have suf­fered if Deliverance had not come to prevent it: When a Petition drawn up with all the Care and Caution possible, and presented in the Humblest and Privatest manner, was Cen­sured for a Libel, and the Fathers of our Church sent to the Tower for it; when an Army was kept up in time of Peace, merely to over-awe the People, and deter them from asserting their Rights; and the Soldiers were ordinarily per­mitted to act Arbitrarily, that they might be the willinger to support an Arbitrary Go­vernment; when the Wolves, the professed Adversaries of the Church, were intrusted with providing Pastors for it; the Jesuits and other Popish Priests having the choice of our Bishops, and the disposal of all such Ec­clesiastical Preferments as belonged to the Crown; when all such were turned out of [Page 16] the Court, Corporations, and most Com­missions of the Peace, and Lieutenancy, as would not engage to concur with the Popish Designs; when many honest men were de­barred of their way of livelyhood, and a re­solution was about being taken to suffer none to exercise such an Employment as required a License, unless they would make the like Engagement; when the Parliament, which should redress our Grievances, were no long­er allowed the Liberty of Voting; but the Lords and all others that were likely to be Members of Parliament, were Closetted, and all Arts used to induce them to betray our Liberties; when the Nation was no longer permitted the free Choice of their Represen­tatives, but Threats and Menaces, and all sorts of Engines were used to determine them to such Tools as the Papists should think fit to nominate to them: When these (I say) and many other Grievances, too long to enume­rate, pressed us, Oh! what Trouble! what Anxiety of thought did they cause in us! What great portions of our Estates would we then have given for the security of our [Page 17] Religion, our Liberties and Properties! How zealous were our Prayers, how vehement our desires of Deliverance! and with what transports of Joy and Thankfulness did we reckon that we should embrace it when it should come!

But this is not all; for it is not only so great a Deliverance that we have occasion to be thank­ful for, but the wonderful Manner of it like­wise; That it should be wrought to our hands, without any considerable Interposition of our own; that it should be effected without un­dergoing the mischiefs of having our Coun­trey made the Seat of War; nay, almost with­out any bloodshed: This was such a Wonder as surpriz'd the world with amazement. And every body owns, That the Reduction of Ire­land was accomplish'd by a continued successi­on of Strange, and I may say, Miraculous Pro­vidences. And what can be expected from a People to whom God has been so exceeding Gracious, but all the Content and Satisfaction, nay, all the Joy and Thanksgiving which it is possible to express?

And yet alas! how different is it with us! What a strange Forgetfulness of God's stu­pendious Mercies towards us! What a studi­ous depreciating and extenuating of them! And what a world of Discontent reigns a­mong us! As if we resolved to emulate and outdo in their Crimes that perverse and stubborn generation of the Israelites who pe­rished in the Wilderness. And if you please to reflect on the Pretences of our Modern Malecontents for their Murmuring, though I have not time to examine them particular­ly, yet methinks it is enough to bring them out of credit with any considering person, that they are so very like to those which the Seditious Israelites made use of, as I have al­ready shewed you.

Ay! but may some say, Did God himself interpose among us, as he did among the Israelites; had we such Governors as Moses and Aaron, chosen by God himself, and di­rected by his Oracle in the Conduct of them; then we would be far from murmuring; then we would be the most satisfied and obedient People in the world.

Now to pass by other things that may be replied to shew the Weakness of this Ob­jection, I shall observe at present only this, viz. That this Objection would frustrate the Apostle's Precept; for it affixes the Criminal­ness of the Murmuring of the Israelites, upon such Circumstances as are never to be ex­pected to happen again; whereas it's unde­niably evident, that the Apostle must speak of Murmuring in such a sense, and in such ca­ses, as may and often do happen in these Ages of the world, when Revelation is ceased.

And this, I suppose, may serve in some com­petent measure to shew, That we, as well as the Israelites, have no just reason to murmur, but rather to be thankful for that great De­liverance which God has vouchsafed to us: But if this will not persuade us, let the Apo­stle's Argument at least prevail with us to forbear murmuring for the future, consider­ing the Destructiveness of it, evidenc'd by the Event it had on the Israelites, 2 Sam. 24. 16. seeing they were destroyed of the destroyer; that is, by an Angel to whom God gave it in commission, [Page 20] That he should destroy them. For as he is the God of Order and of Peace, so nothing can be more repugnant and offensive to him, than such Seditious and Rebellious Murmur­ings; insomuch that it is observed, [...] Chrysost. l. 5. p. 205. Ed. Savil. That he has in his Laws assigned severer Punishments to such sins as tend to the Disturbance of the Peace and Welfare of Human Society, than such as have a more direct reference to himself. And as he justly expects our Praises and Thanks­giving in return of the Mercies which he confers on us; so nothing could be more provoking in his people than their ungrateful Murmuring and Repining after such a Miraculous Deli­verance as he had wrought for them. And therefore his Wrath was so incensed against them, that he offered to have consumed them all in a moment. And tho Moses by his Interces­sion prevailed so far as to prevent the Total Destruction of them at once; yet he slew many Thousands of the Principal Murmurers, their Abettors, immediately; and for the rest, he swore they should none of them enter into his rest, but their carkasses should fall in the wilder­ness; [Page 21] which accordingly came to pass. Now this is not to be looked upon as a mere Historical Relation of what befel them; for the Apostle urges it here as a Reason to enforce his Prohibition of our imitating their Example: And therefore hereby insinuates a Menace of some Dreadful Judgment and De­struction that will befal us, if we murmur and persist in it as they did. And in the following Verse he tells us plainly, That these things hapned unto them for our Ensam­ple, and are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Hapned to them for Ensamples; the Word is [...], Typically; whence St. Chry­sostom infers, [...] That we are threatned with still more direful Punishments than they underwent.

And besides these and other such like Threats which God has revealed and publish­ed in Holy Scripture, there is another sort of Punishments that are plainly legible in the nature of things. For the Divine Wisdom so contrived and framed his Works, that there is a certain Nemesis interwoven in the Con­texture [Page 22] of them. So that by considering the natural tendency of many sins, we may evidently discover the temporal penalty which by the Divine disposition is annexed to them. And these are generally owned to be sins against the Law of Nature. And such is this sin of Murmuring; there being nothing which has a more visible and direct Tenden­cy to the Misery and Ruin of a People, than it. For it is its self a Plague to those who are guilty of it; its immediate effect on them being, that it deprives them of the enjoy­ment of, or satisfaction in the Blessings which the Goodness of God vouchsafes to them. It so sowres their Humour, that it perverts and renders every thing offensive and irksome to them, or at least diverts them from taking notice of any thing but what is so. And if we consider it in reference to the Publick Weal, its effects are still worse: For it is di­rectly contrary to that Obedience and Con­cord which are the Nerves and Ligaments of all Bodies Politick, and whereon their Strength and Welfare, and their very Being essentially depends. It creates mutual Jealousies, Heart­burnings, [Page 23] Strifes, and Contentions. It ob­structs the successful Management of the Pub­lick Affairs, discourages many able men from being concerned in them; creates a world of Difficulties to those that are, hindring them from that Vigor and Resolution which would conduce much to their Success. On the o­ther hand, it is a mighty Encouragement to our Enemies; they reckoning, that so many Murmurers as we have among us, so many Favourers and Promoters of their Enterprises have they. So that however our Murmurers are ready to urge the ill Successes and Bur­dens of the War as a ground of their Discon­tent; yet in reality there are none to whom they are more justly imputable than them­selves. And yet I have that good Opinion of the greatest part of them, that I am per­suaded, that if they did but once consider the mischievous Consequences of their acti­ons, they would no longer be guilty of them.

And if there be any such here, I crave leave to speak to them more particularly: [Page 24] Brethren, I beseech you let me be so happy as to prevail with you for once to lay a­side your Passions and Prejudices, and to consider seriously what you would have, and what you Design.

Here is cetainly the Welfare of a Church and Nation lies at stake: And can any man here be so Unchristian, so Inhumane, as to trifle in matters of such moment, and act inconsiderately, without any known end or design? Consider therefore what it is you aim at: Is it to promote Discord and Sedi­tion? To set the Nation on a Flame? To stir up an intestine War and Rebellion among us? Is it to weaken the Government that should protect us? To give our Enemies an advantage to Vanquish us, to Invade us, and to Reduce us into the same fearful condition which God has so graciously rescued us from? (though indeed it cannot be the same, but it must also be much worse). Is there any one that can think of these things, and the many intolerable Miseries necessarily attend­ing them, and is not ready to cry out with [Page 25] Hazael, Am I a Dog, that I should do this thing? 2 Kings 8. 13. And yet if these be not your designs, What means your disconten­ted Murmurings and Repinings, which all wise men teach, and which your selves must own, have a natural tendency to them? and which, if not timely suppressed, will lead you from one Sin to another, till such Calamities overtake you, as you never designed or dreamed of being the procurers of?

Wherefore let us all in this our day, mind the things that belong to our peace; and reflect­ing on that dismal Condition which we were lately in, and the wonderfulness of our Deliverance, and the mischiefs ensuing from Discontent: Let us with all Thank­fulness recognize the Divine Goodness to us, and discarding our Murmuring Ungrateful Humour, let us study to lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Ho­nesty.

So shall we secure to our selves the con­tinuance of the Divine Favour, and then [Page 26] through him we shall overthrow our enemies, and in his name shall we tread them under, that rise up against us. Which God of his Mercy grant for Jesus Christ his sake, &c.