Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A68126
|
The vvorks of Ioseph Hall Doctor in Diuinitie, and Deane of Worcester With a table newly added to the whole worke.; Works. Vol. 1
|
Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.; Lo., Ro.
|
1625
(1625)
|
STC 12635B; ESTC S120194
|
1,732,349
|
1,450
|
station where God hath set vs. I see the Leuites not long since drawing their swords for God and Moses against the rest of Israel and that fact wins them both praise and blessing Now they are the forwardest in the rebellion against Moses and Aaron men of their owne Tribe There is no assurance of a man for one act whom one sinne cannot fasten vpon another may Yea the same sinne may finde a repulse one while from the same hand which another time giues it entertainment and that yeeldance loses the thanke of all the former resistance It is no praise to haue done once well vnlesse we continue Outward priuiledges of blood can auaile nothing against a particular calling of God These Reubenites had the right of the natural primogeniture yet do they vainly challenge preeminence where God hath subiected them If all ciuill honour flow from the King how much more from the God of Kings His hand exalts the poore and casts downe the mighty from their throne The man that will be lifting vp himselfe in the pride of his heart from vnder the foot of God is iustly troden in the dust Moses is the Prince of Israel Aaron the Priest Moses was milde Aaron popular yet both are conspired against Their places are no lesse brothers then their persons Both are opposed at once He that is a traytor to the Church is a traytor to the King Any superioritie is a marke of Enuy. Had Moses and Aaron beene but fellowes with the Israelites none had beene better beloued their dispositions were such as must needs haue forced fauour from the indifferent now they were aduanced their malice is not inferiour to their honour High towers must looke for lightnings we offer not to vndermine but those wals which we cannot scale Nature in euery man is both enuious and disdainfull and neuer loues to honour another but where it may be an honour to it selfe There cannot be conceiued an honour lesse worth emulation then this principality of Israel a people that could giue nothing a people that had nothing but in hope a people whom their leader was faine to feed with bread and water which paid him no tribute but of ill words whose command was nothing but a burden and yet this dignitie was an eye-sore to these Leuites and these Reubenites Ye take too much vpon you ye sonnes of Leui. And this challenge though thus vnseasonable hath drawne in two hundred and fifty Captaines of Israel What wonder is it that the ten Rulers preuailed so much with the multitude to disswade them from Canaan when three traitors preuailed thus with 250 Rulers famous in the Congregation and men of renowne One man may kindle such a fire as all the world cannot quench One plague-sore may infect a whole Kingdome The infection of euill is much worse then the act It is not like these Leaders of Israel could erre without followers Hee is a meane man that drawes not some Clients after him It hath been euer a dangerous policy of Satan to assault the best he knowes that the multitude as wee say of Bees will follow their master Nothing can be more pleasing to the vulgar sort then to heare their Gouernours taxed and themselues flattered All the Congregation is holy Euery one of them Wherefore lift ye vp your selues Euery word is a falshood For Moses deiected himselfe Who am I God lifted him vp ouer Israel And so was Israel holy as Moses was ambitious What holinesse was there in so much infidelitie feare Idolatry mutiny disobedience What could make them vncleane if this were holinesse They had scarce wip't their mouths or washt their hands since their last obstinacie and yet these pick-thankes say All Israel is holy I would neuer desire a better proofe of a false teacher then flatterie True meaning need not vphold it selfe by soothing There is nothing easier then to perswade men well of themselues when a mans selfe-loue meetes with anothers flattery it is an high praise that will not be beleeued It was more out of opposition then beliefe that these men plead the holinesse of Israel Violent aduersaries to vphold a side will maintaine those things they beleeue not Moses argues not for himselfe but appeales to God neither speakes for his owne right but his brother Aarons He knew that Gods immediate seruice was worthy to be more precious then his gouernment That his Princedome serued but to the glory of his Master Good Magistrates are more tender ouer Gods honour then their owne and more sensible of the wrongs offred to Religion then to themselues It is safest to trust God with his owne causes If Aaron had been chosen by Israel Moses would haue sheltred him vnder their authority Now that God did immediately appoint him his patronage is sought whose the election was Wee may easily fault in the managing of diuine affaires and so our want of successe cannot want sinne He knowes how to vse how to blesse his owne meanes As there was a difference betwixt the people and Leuites so betwixt the Leuites and Priests The God of order loues to haue our degrees kept Whiles the Leuites would be looking vp to the Priests Moses sends downe their eyes to the people The way not to repine at those aboue vs is to looke at those below vs. There is no better remedy for ambition then to cast vp our former receits and to compare them with our deseruings and to conferre our owne estate with inferiours So shall wee finde cause to be thankfull that wee are aboue any rather then of enuy that any is aboue vs. Moses hath chid the sonnes of Leui for mutining against Aaron and so much the more because they were of his owne Tribe now hee sends for the Reubenites which rose against himselfe They come not and their message is worse then their absence Moses is accused of iniustice cruelty falshood treacherie vsurpation and Egypt it self must be commended rather then Moses shall want reproch Innocency is no shelter from ill tongues Malice neuer regards how true any accusation is but how spightfull Now it was time for Moses to be angry They durst not haue been thus bold if they had not seene his mildnesse Lenity is ill bestowed vpon stubborne natures It is an iniurious senslesnesse not to feele the wounds of our reputation It well appeares hee is angry when he prayes against them He was displeased before but when he was most bitter against them he still prayed for them but now hee bends his very prayers against them Looke not to their offering There can be no greater reuenge then the imprecation of the righteous There can be no greater iudgement then Gods reiection of our seruices With vs men what more argues dislike of the person then the turning backe of his present What will God accept from vs if not prayers The innocence of Moses cals for reuenge on his Aduersaries If hee had wronged them in his gouernment in vaine should he haue
the eares of God then a speechlesse repining of the soule Heat is more intended with keeping in but Aarons silence was no lesse inward He knew how little he should get by brawling with God If he breathed our discontentment he saw God could speake fire to him againe And therefore he quietly submits to the will of God and held his peace because the Lord had done it There is no greater proofe of grace then to smart patiently and humbly and contentedly to rest the heart in the iustice and wisedome of Gods proceeding and to bee so farre from chiding that we dispute not Nature is froward and though shee well knowes we meddle not with our match when we striue with our Maker yet she pricks vs forward to this idle quarrell and bids vs with Iobs wife Curse and dye If God either chide or smite as seruants are charged to their Masters wee may not answer againe when Gods hand is on our backe our hand must be our mouth else as mothers doe their children God shall whip vs so much the more for crying It is hard for a stander by in this case to distinguish betwixt hard-heartednesse and piety There Aaron sees his sonnes lye he may neither put his hand to them to bury them nor shead a teare for their death Neuer parent can haue iuster cause of mourning then to see his sonnes dead in their sinne if prepared and penitent yet who can but sorrow for their end but to part with children to the danger of a second death is worthy of more then teares Yet Aaron must learne so farre to deny nature that he must more magnifie the iustice of God then lament the iudgement Those whom God hath called to his immediate seruice must know that hee will not allow them the common passions and cares of others Nothing is more naturall then sorrow for the death of our owne if euer griefe be seasonable it becomes a funerall And if Nadab and Abihu had dyed in their beds this fauour had been allowed them the sorrow of their Father and Brethren for when God forbids solemne mourning to his Priests ouer the dead hee excepts the cases of this neernesse of blood Now all Israel may mourne for these two only the Father and Brethren may not God is iealous lest their sorrow should seeme to countenance the sinne which he had punished euen the fearfullest acts of God must be applauded by the heauiest hearts of the faithfull That which the Father and Brother may not doe the Cousins are commanded dead carkasses are not for the presence of God His iustice was shewne sufficiently in killing them They are now fit for the graue not the Sanctuary Neither are they caried out naked but in their coats It was an vnusuall sight for Israel to see a linnen Ephod vpon the Beere The iudgement was so much more remarkable because they had the badge of their calling vpon their backs Nothing is either more pleasing vnto God or more commodious to men then that when he hath executed iudgement it should bee seene and wondred at for therefore he strikes some that he may warne all Of AARON and MIRIAM THe Israelites are stayed seuen dayes in the station of Hazzeroth for the punishment of Miriam The sinnes of the gouernors are a iust stop to the people all of them smart in one all must stay the leasure of Miriams recouerie Whosoeuer seekes the Land of Promise shall finde many lets Amalek Og Schon and the Kings of Canaan meet with Israel these resisted but hindred not their passage their sinnes onely stay them from remouing Afflictions are not crosses to vs in the way to heauen in comparison to our sinnes What is this I see Is not this Aaron that was brother in nature and by office ioynt Commissioner with Moses Is not this Aaron that made his Brother an Intercessor for him to God in the case of his Idolatry Is not this Aaron that climbed vp the Hill of Sinai with Moses Is not this Aaron whom the mouth and hand of Moses consecrated an high Priest vnto God Is not this Miriam the elder Sister of Moses Is not this Miriam that led the Triumph of the Women and sung gloriously to the Lord It not this Miriam which layd her Brother Moses in the Reeds and fetcht her Mother to be his Nurse Both Prophets of God both the flesh and blood of Moses And doth this Aaron repine at the honor of him which gaue himselfe that honour and saued his life Doth this Miriam repine at the prosperity of him whose life she saued Who would not haue thought this should haue beene their glory to haue seene the glory of their owne Brother What could haue beene a greater comfort to Miriam then to thinke How happily doth he now sit at the Sterne of Israel whom I saued from perishing in a Boat of Bul-rushes It is to mee that Israel owes this Commander But now enuy hath so blinded their eyes that they can neither see this priuiledge of nature nor the honour of Gods choyce Miriam and Aaron are in mutiny against Moses Who is so holy that sinnes not What sinne is so vnnaturall that the best can auoyde without God But what weaknesse soeuer may plead for Miriam who can but grieue to see Aaron at the end of so many sinnes Of late I saw him caruing the molten Image and consecrating an Altar to a false god now I see him seconding an vnkind mutiny against his Brother Both sinnes find him accessary neither principall It was not in the power of the legall Priesthood to performe or promise innocency to her Ministers It was necessary wee should haue another high Priest which could not bee tainted That King of righteousnesse was of another order He being without sinne hath fully satisfied for the sinnes of men Whom can it now offend to see the blemishes of the Euangelicall Priesthood when Gods first high Priest is thus miscaried Who can looke for loue and prosperity at once when holy and meeke Moses finds enmity in his owne flesh and blood Rather then we shall want A mans enemies shall be those of his owne house Authority cannot fayle of opposition if it be neuer so mildly swayed that common make-bate will rather raise it out of our owne bosome To doe well and heare ill is Princely The Midianitish wife of Moses cost him deare Before she hazarded his life now the fauour of his people Vnequall matches are seldome prosperous Although now this scandall was onely taken Enuy was not wise enough to choose a ground of the quarrell Whether some secret and emulatory brawles passed between Zipporah and Miriam as many times these sparkes of priuate brawles grow into a perillous and common flame or whether now that Iethro and his family was ioyned with Israel there were surmises of transporting the Gouernment to strangers or whether this vnfit choice of Moses is now raised vp to disparage Gods gifts in him Euen in fight the exceptions were