Murmurers Reproved.  
A SERMON Preached at St. VEDAS', alias Foster-Lane, on Feb. 24. 1688/ 9  
BY MARMADUKE HOPKINS RECTOR there.  
LONDON; Printed for jonathan Robinson, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCLXXXIX.   

To my most Loving, and most Respected Friends and Parishioners, who desired the following Copy.  
GENTLEMEN,  
MY Design, in preaching this Sermon, was purely to persuade you to enjoy with Peace and Thankfulness, the inestimable Blessings which Divine Providence has secured to you, by this most Great and Wonderful Revolution. And you, by requesting the Copy of it, have given me Assurance, I have obtained my Design; and that you will approve yourselves True and Faithful Subjects to their present Majesties. If any Reflections are thought to be made in the Sermon, they were intended only against the Roman Priests, who go up and down in disguise to raise Discontent. I thought it my Duty to caution you, not to give an Ear to them. I further request you to pray, that God would strengthen the Thing he has wrought for us.  
I am, Your faithful Servant, M.H.   
1 COR. x. ver. 10. 
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer.  
THE greater Kindnesses that God shows 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 to escape unpunished. 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 escaped, nor for the sake of their Posterity after the Flesh only, but for ours 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, etc. His meaning is, The Judgements 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 befell 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.  
1st, They murmured against God, which is a Sin of a very high Nature; whatever men's external State be, how unpleasant soever their outward Condition is. For what can Men intent 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 Alwise 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 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 men's 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 enjoy, 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 Taskmasters imposed 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 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 constrained to acknowledge that the finger of God was in them. God put a manifest difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians: and when all the  of Egypt died, not one died of all that were the Children of Israel's; 
Exod. 20.23.  when a thick and black Darkness overspread the Land, that the Egyptians could not see one another, all the Israelites enjoyed Light in their Habitations. When the Destroyer entered the Houses of the Egyptians, 
Exod. 12.29.  and slew all their firstborn, 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 intolerable 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 reproached 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 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 egyptians, 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 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 entering 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 Judgement, 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? though they saw him constantly conducting and sheltering them by a Glorious Cloud: And they said, Can the Lord furnish a Table in the Wilderness? though they had seen him give them Drink out of the flinty Rock.  
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, though they were the greatest that Man is capable of, the Knowledge 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 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 Firstborn 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, Moses does not say expressly, That the Israelites who perished for their murmuring, fell by the stroke 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 Angel's Winds, and his Ministers a flame of Fire; and they appear sometimes in Winds, sometimes in 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 numbering 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 perished 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 enlightened by the Divine Spirit, has assured us it was so, Acts 12.23. From whence we learn, that such Actions or Performances, as are extraordinary, and above the usual Course, are done by the Ministry of Angels, though we have no perception of them. This is it the Apostle teaches us, concerning the Judgement on the Israelites for their Murmur, 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, shows 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 murmured. God has delivered 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 threefold account.  

1. Of its Tyranny.  
2. Of its Pride.  
3. Of its Bloodshedding.   
1. Of its Tyranny. Egypt, according to the Letter, grievously oppressed 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 judge 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 all things; and the Bereans are expressly 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 its 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, etc. 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 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, etc. 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, canonising them at their pleasure, above the Eucharist, which they expressly call God, (
‖ C. à L. Add Sacerdotem, etc. 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 called 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 drowned in the River Nile, so soon 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 mentioned, 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 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 threefold 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 show the Hand of God in it. They are too many to be mentioned 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 Kind's, 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 men's Lives, should expect that a whole Nation, living under the protection of Just Laws, of Laws made on purpose to secure their Persons and Estates, in the open profession and public exercise of their Holy Religion, should, as one Man, submit their Body to the Flames. Our Circum-cumstances 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 established 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 Prochain de l' Eglise, Tom. 2. pag. 151. where he also makes mention of the Prophecy of Bishop Usher, which in his Judgement is not to be understood according to the Letter. It seems then, that God did from the beginning intent 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, 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 Privilege 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 Forefathers, 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 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 ourselves the Children of Abraham, we must do the Works of Abraham. Moses his Forefathers, who died in Egypt, might be saved; yet when Moses, by the good Providence of God, had once escaped out of Egypt, he chose rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God, than by continuing there to enjoy Ease and Pleasure. Our Forefathers who died in the Roman Communion, might be 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.  
FINIS.   

Books lately Printed and Sold by Jonathan Robinson, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, relating to the great Revolutions and Affairs in England, 1688, 1689.  

☞ AN Account of the Reasons of the Nobility and Gentry's Invitation of the Prince of Orange into England; Being a Memorial from the English Protestants concerning their Grievances; with a large Account of the Birth of the Prince of Wales: presented to their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange.  
A Collection of Political and Historical Papers relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England, in Ten Parts; which will be Continued from Time to Time, according as Matter occurs.  
A Brief History of the Succession of the Crown of England, etc. Collected out of the Records, and the most Authentic Historians; written for the Satisfaction of the Nation.  
Wonderful Predections of Nostredamus, Grebner, David Pareus, and Antonius Torquatus; wherein the Grandeur of their Present Majesties, the Happiness of England, and Downfall of France and Rome are plainly Delineated. With a large Preface, showing, That the Crown of England, has not been obscurely foretold to their Majesty's William the 3d, and Queen Mary, late Prince and Princess of Orange, and that the People of this Ancient Monarchy have duly contributed thereunto, in the present Assembly of Lords and Commons, notwithstanding the Objections of Men of different Extremes.  
A Seasonable Discourse, wherein is examined, what is lawful during the Confusions and Revolutions of Government, especially in the Case of a King deserting his Kingdoms; and how far a Man may lawfully conform to the Powers and Commands of those, who with Various Successes hold Kingdoms. Whether it be lawful. (1) In Paying Taxes. (2) In personal Service. (3) In taking of Oaths. (4) In giving up himself to a final Allegiance.  
A Seasonable Treatise; wherein is proved, That King William (commonly called the Conqueror) did not get the Imperial Crown of England by the Sword, but by the Election and Consent of the People. To whom he swore to observe the Original Contract between King and People.  
An Answer to a Paper Entitled, The Desertion Discussed: being a Vindication of the Proceed of the late Honourable Convention, in their Filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary.  
An Exact Collection of the Debates of the House of Commons (particularly such as relate to the Bill of Exclusion, a Popish Successor, etc.) held at Westminster, Octob. 21. 1680; Prorogued the 10th, and Dissolved the 18th of January following. With the Debates of the House of Commons at Oxford, Assembled March 21. 1680. Also a Just and Modest Vindication of the Proceed of the said Parliaments.  
Julian's Arts to Undermine and Extirpate Christianity, etc. By Samuel Johnson. The Impression of which Book was made in the Year 1683, and has ever since lain buried under the Ruins of all those English Rights whic hit endeavoured to defend; but by the Auspicious and Happy Arrival of the Prince of Orange, both They and It have obtained a Resurrection.  
Dr. Gilbert Burnet (now Bishop of Salisbury) his Tracts, in Two Volumes; in which are contained several Things relating to the Affairs of England.  
The Mystery of Iniquity working in the Dividing of Protestants, in order to the subverting of Religion, and our Laws, for almost the space of thirty Years last passed, plainly laid open. With some Advices to Protestants of all Persuasions, in the present Juncture of our Affairs. To which is added, A Specimen of a Bill for uniting of Protestants.  
Liberty of Conscience now highly necessary for England, humbly represented to this present Parliament.  
An Enquiry into, and Derection of the Barbarous Murder of the late Earl of Essex, (now under consideration of a Committee of the House of Lords): Or, a Vindication of that Noble Person, from the Gild and Infamy of having destroyed himself.  
An Account of the Trial of Mr. Papillon. To which is added, The Matter of Fact in the choosing of Sheriffs in Sir John Moor's Year, now under the consideration of the Committee for Grievances.  
A Collection of strange Predictions of Mr. J. P. for the Years 1687, and 1688; about K. James the Second, Prince of Wales, and the scampering away of many great Ministers of State.  
Arguments against the Dispensing Power, in Answer to L. C. J. Herbert.  
The Royal Cards; Being a lively Representation of the late Popish and Tyrannical Designs, and of the wonderful Deliverance of this Kingdom from the same, by the glorious Expedition of William Henry Prince of Orange, now King of England, (whom God long preserve) in curious Copper Plates. Price 1. s. a Pack.  
A Friendly Debate between Dr. Kingsman, a dissatisfied Clergyman, and Gratianus Trimmer, a Neighbour Minister, concerning the late Thanksgiving-Day; the Prince's Descent into England; the Nobility and Gentry's joining with him; the Acts of the Honourable Convention; the Nature of our English Government; the Secret League with France; the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, etc. With some Considerations on Bishop Sanderson and Dr. Falkner, about Monarchy, Oaths, etc. Written for the Satisfaction of some of the Clergy, and others that yet labour under Scruples. By a Minister of the Church of England.