Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A59073
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Moses and Aaron a sermon preached before the King at Saxham in the county of Suffolk, April 17, 1670 / by George Seignior ...
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Seignior, George, d. 1678.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing S2418; ESTC R34232
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21,727
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36
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solemn form of Words The Word of the Lord came unto me saying which is no more then as it were the Opening of their Commission the Reading of their Patent the first shewing and vouching of that Authority by which they act all which is an intimation unto us that the Supreme Magistrate and other subordinate Rulers and Governours sent by Him for the punishment of wickedness and vice and the praise of those that do well have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of Divinity stampt both on their Persons and their Office and consequently that Both are Sacred This account you have of the Compellation as it may be applicable either to King Priest or any Ministerial Dispensour of Publick Justice whence by the way it is again observable That the Priest had all along from the beginning his share in the Civil Government if the Word of God came to Moses in that he was instead of God yet it was to be spoken or published from the Mouth of Aaron and therefore S. Paul when he had spoken less warily to the High Priest begs pardon with an acknowledgement of his fault as a transgression of that inhibition beforecited Num. xxii 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods I wist not brethren that he was the High Priest for it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People Act. xxiii 5. So then if they Both act by one and the same Commission he of the two that hath the Preeminence for a Supremacy and Subordination must be admitted else there could be no Government does no more then vindicate to himself his own Royal Prerogative whilst he secures as firm and inviolable to the other his Priestly priviledges and immunities and in this sense most properly and to best purpose is Moses to be unto Aaron instead of God Instead of God yea and that in as many respects as Aaron was to be to him instead of a Mouth the Relation being all along mutual and reciprocal Instead of God to Aaron whether it be before the Israelites or the Egyptians 1. Before the Israelites yea though they be the two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly Num. xvi 1. Men of renown famous in the Congregation gathered together in a grand conspiracy to invade the Priesthood Moses must then speak as from God himself and declare who it is that is holy amongst them whom the Lord hath chosen to come nigh unto himself v. 11. What is Aaron that ye murmure against him 2. Before the Egyptians Pharaoh his servants and his People cap. vii 1. I have set thee as a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet Thou shalt speak what I command as from me to Aaron and He shall speak what Thou shalt suggest as from me to Pharaoh and thus Thou shalt be as God to them Both Mine Oracle to the One to reveal all my mind my Rod and Scourge upon the Other to execute all my wrath though he will not as a man of wisdom should hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it yet thou shalt multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt Jannes and Jambres though they may withstand shall not altogether prevail when they see the dust from under them to crawl up in Vermin on them they shall lay their hands upon their Mouths and abhor themselves in that Dust acknowledge this to be the Finger of God and throughout all they shall confess that the Rod in the hand of Moses was guided by the Arm of the Almighty Thus God hath fenced against a common enemy both King and Priest in a mutual dependance the One with Power sufficient that he may uphold the Other with a sure defence that he may be sustained and the interests of Both these are so interwoven together that where-ever the Breach is made the injury is alike damage to Both. It is the same God who hath given commandment concerning Princes that they should not be touched by the hands of violence Touch not mine Anointed as they are Anointed they are Mine they are as my self who hath likewise in the very next words given it in charge whether it be to Prince or People to Magistrate or Peasant concerning those who have a more immediate attendance upon him Do my Prophets no harm As therefore Aarons Divine Mouth must be opened for not against Moses he must not traduce speak evil of him before the People So Moses's God-like Power must be exercised and exerted for not against Aaron he must not suffer him to be exposed to the scorn and reproach of a froward and an untoward generation In order to which Defence that their persons may be Venerable whose office is so sacred the maintenance of whom in honour is so great a security unto Majesty to be sure Moses will be careful that Aaron and his sons have an inheritance allotted to them in the Promised Land and that not apart or distinct by themselves but as a Blessing to whole Israel dispersed amidst and throughout all their Tribes This was Moses's last Benediction upon the House of Levi not long before his death Deut. xxxiii 11. Bless Lord his substance and accept the work of his hands smite through the loins of them that rise against him and that hate him that they rise not again It is not to be imagined that Moses will take less care of Aaron and the Levites then did Pharaoh of his Egyptian Priests who in the days of famine had enough their portion of meat assigned to them from Pharaoh's Table insomuch that when all the land of Egypt was bought into the Crown Gen. xlvii 22. Onely the lands of the Priests were not sold In this sense also is Moses to be to Aaron in the stead of God to secure unto him the Lord's inheritance since dreadful are like to be the effects of Sacriledge upon that Nation or People amongst whom it is an iniquity though endeavoured to be established by a Law May the King and his Throne be guiltless the Kingdom established unto him in Righteousness for He onely is as God who doth preserve in the hollow of his hand the Churches portion from the violence of such who pant after nothing but the Dust of the Earth upon the Head of the Poor One inference more The words of the Text are spoken Universally and at large without the least limitation and restriction which may be an intimation to us That this labour of love here required from one to the other must be reciprocal the Union preserved inviolable whatsoever personal provocations may unhappily intervene on either side We do humbly crave pardon whilst we do suppose that which we need not fear since we are assured that Moses was the most true hearted man in all the earth faithfull in all the House of God yet should he refuse to be a God to Aaron withhold his protection from him so put a veil over his face that he should not in the least behold his
God will secure a Blessing unto that which is his own appointment He will be with the Priest because his Mouth is no other then the Mouth of God He will be with the Prince because he hath made him to be as himself instead of God but still his Presence with Both is the result of Union because the God of Israel which is to be in subjection unto Both hath declared himself that he is but One God how can Moses be the Fear and the Dread of Pharaoh unless he be the Love the Choice and the Desire of Aaron How can Aaron be as he proved afterwards cap. x. 7. a Snare unto Pharaoh and his servants at the opening of whose Mouth Egypt was to be destroyed unless he hang upon the lips the words which he speaks be a faithful and distinct Eccho to the voice of Moses without Aaron's Mouth the meekness of Moses will be soon despised and without the Arm of Moses stretched out in defence the Voice of Aaron will be but beating of or speaking to the air Unless that Aaron be the Mouth of Moses what though his face shine the people will but the sooner turn away from him cum Jove Caesar God and the King as to Government have alike prerogatives Thunder from above bespeaks the Deity as terrible Thus the Highest doth give forth his Voice Boanerges a son of Thunder here below declares earthly Majesty to be also dreadful But unless Moses put words into the mouth of Aaron stands by him and stands up to him while he speaks stretches out his Rod whilst he lifts up his Voice the Mouth of Aaron without this will be Vox praeterea nihil a Voice indeed but nothing else the noise no sooner heard but no where to be found Whose Mouth is fittest to preserve knowledge and to proclaim Obedience but his who is the Messenger of God and of the King of the Lord of hosts and of him who like unto God himself is mighty in the battel and whose Arm should be made bare in strength but theirs who are the Anointed of the Lord Anointed in a great measure for this very thing that they should be a Guard and a Protection to all Gods Holy Ones since they are themselves not unfitly called Gods being all of them children of the Most Highest Shall I with all humility and due Reverence speak the words of truth and soberness it is in the Cause of God of the King and also of his Priests As the happiness is great to that People where this Union is most religiously observed no other then as the result of the Divine Institution so sad is the misery deplorable is the calamity both to King Priest and People upon the breach of it I need go no farther for an instance then the story that is before us Would Moses and Aaron bring the people from Egypt through a wilderness into Canaan This must be their March Regular and solemn Num. ii 3. compared with Num. iii. 38. Judah the Princely Tribe must set up his Standard Eastward Moses and Aaron Prince and Priest must keep the charge of the Sanctuary Eastward and hence not improbably the ancient Ceremony of worshipping with their faces thither-ward Judah sets up his Standard for the Laity Moses and Aaron theirs for the Clergy and yet the latter to go along with Judah the Prince who was to protect them when settled in the Land of Promise and upon the whole whosoever he was the stranger that came nigh to either of them was to be put to death This was their March unto that Rest which God had prepared for them And yet notwithstanding their Station and Procession thus fixed by the Almighty do Moses Aaron speak unadvisedly with their lips either one to another one of another or one against another at the waters of Massah and Meribah places that bore their names from those strivings and contentions the anger of the Lord is immediately kindled against them all and it was so inraged that it was by no means to be appeased Moses and Aaron must onely see that Land of Promise into which they are never like to come it shall be their punishment to behold what they never shall injoy in the view of but their foot shall not tread upon the goodly Mountain nor Lebanon and then as for the People their Carcases must fall in the wilderness this is a froward Generation it shall not enter into the Rest of God! When once there be Divisions many are the thoughts many are the searchings of heart I would not be mistaken as an evil-speaker or a fore-boder of evil tidings while I do thus mournfully and with all lowly submission crave leave to make out the Parallel Doth the Civil Magistrate either needlessly contend with or wilfully draw back the secular Arm from the Defence of the Ministry and does he think thus to still the murmurings of the people as the raging of the Sea so is their madness casting forth nothing but mire and dirt foaming out their own shame and is there no way to lay the storm but by mixing the waters with bloud hath the Pilot no means to secure the Ship but by throwing the Prophet into the waters especially such a Prophet as doth not fly from but is stedfastly bent on his Course to deliver and execute the Mesfage of his Master that sent him Again is the Spiritual Mouth either silent in the behalf of or clamorous and obstreperous against doth it either not speak at all as it should in the defence or is it froward malepert and peevish against the secular Arm do they who should consult the stars of Heaven for direction in the voyage either withhold their advice from or unreasonably quarrel with him that sits Steersman at the Helm This may be the dreadful consequence of such ill will between Both in Portu Naufragium certain ruine and destruction to the Ship and all that are in it yea and that in the Ken of the desired Haven as an aggravation to their Misery in the very sight of Land Virtutem videant intabescántque relictâ This is the sore calamity upon such sad animosities and dissatisfactions on either hand a strange kind of infatuation upon all manner of counsels and designs be they never so just and honourable they may see what is good and yet it doth escape them a price put into their hand and it falls away from them for want of a pious heart united to each other in Love and Duty and to God the maker of Both in Fear and Reverence mutually to be exercised in the using of it And here by the way let it be seriously considered that the first Rejection of Saul from being King over Israel was because he invaded the Priesthood let our new Leviathan suggest what he pleases that the Civil Magistrate may reserve the exercise of the Ministerial Function to himself yea though there might be some reasonable excuse for it as his enemies growing and