Nineveh, when He had doomed it to destruction for the sins of its people; who would not have the ox muzzled when he treadeth out the corn, who maketh the ass to know his master's crib," and the turtle, the crane, and the swallow to observe the time of their coming; without whom, remember, not even a sparrow falls to the ground. To return to Balaam. When he at last saw C d the Angel, he said, if it displease thee, I will get me back again. What double dealing was this again! He knew that it was displeasing that he should go on a journey which had been plainly forbidden him. But he went on, though he was once more told, that he would be able to say nothing and do nothing when he arrived among the Moabites, except just what God would allow him to say and do. The Angel stood no longer in the way for an adversary against him; and he perhaps thought that it was so much the better that this troublesome warning was taken out of the way; whereas this was, in truth, the very worst sign that could have befallen him. The checks and hindrances which meet us in our own way, which fret and worry us, are, after all, often great. blessings, if we could but see them as they really z Jonah iv. 11. b Isaiah i. 3. a St. Matth. x. 29. a Deut. xxv. 4; 1 Cor. ix. 9. © Jer. viii. 7. are. Let him alone was not said of Ephraim, till he was joined to his idols. When the longsuffering of Heaven was wearied out, and God said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, you know what followed. The world, that then was, was destroyed by the waters of the deluge. f After Balaam had spoken the second time, when the end of his parable was such that Balak, vexed at the entire failure of his scheme, said, Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all, we might have thought that the king and the prophet would alike have stopped. But no: Balaam wished with all his heart to curse Israel, he even tried by prayer to obtain God's leave to do so; for we read of him in the book of Joshua, xxiv. 9, 10. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand. Accordingly Balak leads the way, and Balaam follows to the top of Peor, the chief seat, it would seem, of the gods of Moab, as if there, perchance, the God of Israel was to have less power, actuated by the same spirit as the Syrian invaders in the time of Ahab, who said, Jehovah is God of the hills, but He is not God of e Hosea iv. 17. f Gen, vi. 3. the vallies. Oh thank God, my brethren, that you are safe from all such wretched and unworthy fancies. You know that whatsoever the Lord pleases, that doth He in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and in all deep places; that in His hand are the deep places of the earth, and the strength of the hills is His also. We scarcely know, as we said at the beginning, whether wonder or sorrow should most prevail in our hearts when we witness conduct like this of Balaam. He foretold, as you have heard this morning, much of the history of God's chosen people, of their victories and triumphs, more particularly under David; yet with these glorious predictions on his tongue, it is too plain that he gladly would have done all and anything in his power to crush this very people. Nay, he spoke even of the kingdom of Christ, darkly indeed, and under many figures: still speak he did of Him who was at once the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. And what he thus said was of force, as the Church has thought, fifteen hundred years after, to bring the wise men from the East to pay their homage to Him, who, as they learned from a star, was born 8 1 Kings xx. 28. h Ps. cxxxv. 6. i Ps. xcv. 4. k Rev. xxii. 16. king of the Jews. But he himself would cherish no hope of such a kingdom, would follow no such guidance. His eyes and his heart were not but for his covetousness. My brethren, a case like this speaks loudly to you. It is brought home to you by the warnings of your Saviour, and of His Apostle St. Paul. Devils might be cast out, many wonderful works might be done in the name of Jesus; and yet they who did these miracles never be acknowledged by Him, nay, be told to depart, as workers of iniquity." The gift of prophecy, the understanding all mysteries, the possession of all knowledge, might yet leave him who had them nothing. It is quite possible to profess to know God, yet in works to deny Him; quite possible to have a name to live, and yet be dead, dead in trespasses and sins. It is not the mere enjoying the means of grace now that will carry you to Heaven hereafter, it is the use you make of them, the effect which they have upon your hearts and lives. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal;P and they who do not improve it, had better, far better have been without it altogether. Pious parents, christian education, the Gospel scheme well di 1 St. Matth. ii. 1-10. P 1 Cor. xii. 7. m Jer. xxii. 17. I gested and thoroughly understood, sermons, sacraments, all will avail you nothing (unless indeed it be to aggravate your condemnation) if they leave you as they find you, if they work no change upon the state of your hearts and the habits of your lives. Balaam, who foretold the victories of the Israelites, fell beneath their sword." When he found that he could not curse them, he taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, by tempting them to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. He chose for them that temptation, which, as Solomon says, hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by it. And the dreadful consequences of this diabolical scheme you may find in the twenty-fifth chapter of this book of Numbers: Those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place. This is the last thing we read of him this morning; but the same temptation which had already been too strong for him brought him back again among the enemies of Israel, till he shared their doom. Faint hopes he perhaps had, when he left Balak, half resolutions he perhaps formed, that he would do better. How many have in every generation done exactly the same! For the q Num. xxxi. 8. r Prov. vii. 26. |