Homilist Numbers 14:1-3 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.… I. THAT TO ENTRUST THE IMPORTANT AFFAIRS OF SOCIETY TO THE CONDUCT OF MEN OF AN INFERIOR TYPE IS A GREAT EVIL. Feeble-minded, and mean-hearted men, at the head of society, have always impeded its onward march, and endangered its interests. II. THAT WHILST IT IS COMMON, IT IS NOT ALWAYS WELL TO FOLLOW THE MAJORITY. 1. Because truth does not depend upon numbers. The crowds that skirt the base of a mountain cannot see as much as the man who climbs the heights and takes his view from the lofty summit. The solitary eagle sees more than can "the cattle upon a thousand hills." 2. Because numbers in the present state of the world are likely to be wrong. III. THAT IT IS NOT A WISE THING TO FOLLOW THE OPINIONS OF MEN RATHER THAN THE WORD OF GOD. 1. Because God's word is infallible; men's opinions are not so. 2. Because God's word ensures strength to the obedient; men's opinions do not. IV. THAT IT IS A SAD EVIL TO FORGET, UNDER PRESENT TRIAL, THE PAST MERCIFUL INTERPOSITIONS OF GOD. Had the Israelites remembered God's wonderful interpositions in their behalf, the recollection would have given their spirits a moral force, which would have enabled them to bear with magnanimity the greatest trials, and to brave with undaunted hearts the greatest perils, and the greatest opposition (Psalm 77:10, 11; Psalm 27:9; 1 Samuel 17:37). V. THAT A LIFE OF SERVILITY EATS OUT THE INDEPENDENCY OF HUMAN NATURE. These Israelites, after their long servitude in Egypt, had scarcely anything of the heart of a man left within them. The only thing that could resuscitate their expiring life, and wake up their manhood, was a system of trial to throw them upon their own resources. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.WEB: All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. |
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