means to be excluded Senates Aaron is to be the Mouth of Moses in every thing in which Moses ought to be his God and that is reciprocally and Universally upon all accounts and at all aventures They are the words of him who was both a King and a Preacher Eccles 12.9 The Preacher must be wise to teach the people Knowledge how can he find out acceptable words such words as may be as goods or Nails fastned in a sure place unless he be permitted to converse with those that are the Masters of Assemblies and so may he speak such words as are given from one Shepherd But I need not magnifie the Priest's Office in this particular the happy temperament of the Constitution under which we live is an abundant demonstration to us that the laws by which we are governed were instituted in the fear of God and consequently the Obligation is greater upon the subject to obey them since the Authority that confirms them is both Spiritual and Temporal I pass by this double honour possibly some think it too much for those that labour in the Word and Doctrine and I follow that which is the great designe of the Text the Union that is here fixed and everlastingly to be promoted and therefore the Word is singular Regis sacerdotis unum est Os there is but one Mouth assigned both to King and Priest the one is to think the other to speak the same thing Moses and Aaron to go hand in hand together Hence it is observable that they were Both of the Tribe of Levi ver 14. is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother The Levite and thy Brother and his Mouth to be thy Mouth to speak the words which Thou shalt put into it Why then should there be any difference betwixt Moses and Aaron since they are Brethren They are Both of the same Tribe which the Lord had chosen out of all the Tribes of Israel to come and Minister before him the One was to deliver the Other to teach and instruct Both together to establish and confirm in a perpetual and never ceasing Oeconomy what are the judgements and the statutes of God and Man And all this not to Jacob and Israel onely but to Pharaoh and the Egyptians also 1. Aaron is the Mouth of Moses to the People that is to Israel to tell them that they are the Visited and Beloved of the Lord to proclaim to them the Royal Law of liberty out of the house of bondage from their slavery to wish them to follow the directions of their Law giver Moses who will rule them according to the integrity of his heart and guide them with the skilfulness of his hand with the skilfulness of his hand with great and wonderfull Dexterity will he extricate them out of all their miseries remove their shoulders from the burdens and their hands from making the pots 2. And so Aaron to be the Mouth of Moses to Pharaoh and his servants to denounce and execute as many Plagues on him and his people as are the Tribes of Israel if you reckon the plagues and signs together from first to last a Plague for each Tribe because of the hard and cruel bondage wherein he made each of them to serve neither would he permit them to depart in peace from amongst them that they might worship the Lord their God And here by the way we may take notice how necessary is this Union betwixt King and Priest how comfortable is their mutual assistance then especially when there is danger of a common enemy both to Church and State when there are a Generation of Men like Pharaoh who will not permit the people to be at quiet onely because Moses and Aaron would have them to serve the Lord how should Moses at such a time stand at the door of the Tabernacle with the Rod of God in his hand for the defence of Aaron and how should Aaron lift up his voice in the behalf of Moses hold up his hands lest that Amalech prevail in a word The Commandment is to go forth from Both to restore and to build the Temple the One must stand like stout Nehemiah with his sword in his hand that so the work be not hindered the Other not unlike holy Ezra a Prophet of the Lord with the sword or the keys of the Kingdom in his Mouth that so it may be perfected in Righteousness great is the care which Both together must take for many are the kindnesses which Both together must do unto the House of God and the Offices thereof O then may Aarons Bells never ring backward if ever let it be to call the people as One man to the quenching of a common flame let it be to stand between the living and the dead when a plague is begun that it may be staid pro Te loquetur He shall speak for Thee to the people surely then he is not so to speak as to inveigh against him to aggravate his failings to exasperate and calumniate his Person before the people he may lift up his Voice like a Trumpet but it must not be the Trumpet of sedition the Alarm of War sounding to battel from the Pulpit let him cry aloud yea and he may not spare to tell Judah and Israel of their sins but it is not fitting to say to a Prince that he is wicked Such language as this does least of all become the Mouth of Aaron Much more unseemly is it for him to say before the People be they Israel it will increase their murmurings be they Egyptians it will add to their hard-heartedness that Moses is ungodly God doth hear the blasphemy of those who do in the least though it be but in a thought slander the footsteps of his Anointed Aaron himself was too sad an instance of this when he murmured against Moses saying Num. 12.2 hath the Lord indeed spoken onely by Moses hath he not also spoken by us Yes he hath spoken by you Both and yet the Leprosie upon Miriam's forehead may be an intimation unto Aaron that he do cover his Mouth and shut his lips such language as this hath defiled them Unclean unclean But the meekness of Moses was soon intreated and the God of mercy did accept of his intercession so that immediately there was a healing of this breach and Aaron is still continued to be the Mouth of Moses to the People To the people if to Moses surely much more to them and the People are to attend to him with reverence upon this treble account because that he is the Mouth of God of the King and also of the People Heb. 5.1 Every High Priest is Ordained for men that is is set over men in things pertaining to God the manner of expression in the Original is the same with the Septuagint in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every High Priest is set over men as concerning those things which are to God-ward that is the interpretation may fairly be admitted
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
MOSES and AARON A SERMON Preached before the KING At Saxham in the County of Suffolk April 17. 1670. By GEORGE SEIGNIOR Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge Printed by His Majesties special Command CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Hayes Printer to the University 1670. Exodus 4.16 And he shall be thy Spokesman to the people and he shall he even he shall be to thee instead of a Mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God UPon the first view of the Text and Context we find Moses the servant of the Lord and Aaron the man of God joyned together in one and the same Commission both set over a Captived people to deliver them unto a more glorious liberty and both sent unto an oppressing hard-hearted Tyrant to demand a speedy restitution from slavery and to require satisfaction for injuries done unto the Son of God ver 22. Israel is my Son even my First-born he is now also to be called the Redeemed of the Lord Let my Son go that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him go behold I will slay thy Son even thy First-born Moses the meekest man in all the earth does mistrust his own ability who is sufficient for these things It is indeed the good will of him who dwells in the Bush to send unto and to work a deliverance for his people But who am I that I should go in unto Pharaoh or bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt I am a man of slow speech and of a slow tongue Surely Moses does not consider the great sight before him the Bush burning and not consumed a lively representation to him in the very figure of it that the more the people were afflicted the more they did multiply and grow notwithstanding the Egyptians made their lives bitter to them with hard bondage in Mortar and in Brick all their service wherein they made them to serve was with rigour yet cap. 1.20 the people multiplied and waxed very mighty and the Egyptians were grieved because of the children of Israel And doth Moses know and see all this the green tree before him encompassed with flames and still alive the people labouring as it were in the fire in the furnace of affliction growing out of weakness and so from strength to strength under the weights of all their pressures and yet is he diffident and distrustful because of some personal infirmities as if that God could not make his strength perfect in weakness Moses had best be careful lest his humility and meekness degenerate into pusillanimity and fear and so the Lord be provoked unto anger for God will send by the hand of him whom he will send and that is by the hand of Moses yea though he be a man of a slow speech and of a stammering tongue even hence has God ordained and perfected his praise that he may still the enemy and avenger what though his lips are not touched with a coal from yet one that waits at the Altar shall be his Mouth Is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother I know that he can speak well v. 14. and cap vii 1. I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet So long as you two keep together lo I am with you Both and that to supply all manner of defects in either of you my word is a sure word of promise if so be that you two are as one ye put your selves out of my protection if in the least you sever but whilst Union is promoted neither of you shall fail and as a most certain indication that you are like to stand and fall together lo this is my everlasting ordinance betwixt you Both v. praeced Thou shalt put words into his mouth which shall no longer be his Mouth but thine who hath made it so have not I the Lord And lest his message should be despised his person hated because of the truth which he is to speak Lo thou art to defend him to be on his side to withstand Pharaoh see thou to that have not I said it nay I have set thee so Thou art unto them both instead of God Thou art as God to Aaron to protect him thou art as God to Pharaoh to execute wrath and vengeance upon him and therefore upon this double account shall Aaron be thy spokesman to the people his office is again renewed upon and confirmed unto him he shall be even he shall be unto Thee instead of a Mouth because that thou on all accounts and upon every occasion shalt be to him instead of God The words as you hear having this relation to the Context are in themselves an account given us of the two standing Ordinances of Magistracy and Ministry a King as Supreme and an High Priest both constituted by God himself to live to love and to rule together and this institution confirmed and settled by way of supply to something that was wanting an amends made for a personal insufficiency whilst Moses out of a principle of self-denial would not ambire Magistratum be too hasty in taking upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the burden of this honour since he was conscious to himself of his own inability ver 10. O Lord my God I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant This humility and modesty in Moses at the first was commendable but honour follows those who shun it especially where so exemplary a meekness goes before it God therefore renews his command with a promise of affistance in the work drawn from his own omnipotence ver 11. who hath made mans Mouth have not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with thy Mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Yet this would not do the meekness of Moses hath betrayed him to diffidence and distrust fain would he be rid of the imployment fearful he is that he shall not go through with it but sink under the weight of it ver 13. O my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send In which words whether Moses requested that his brother Aaron might be joyned as a fit companion with him or whether he had an eye to the promised Messiah Him whom thou wilt send Christ in the fulness of time to be sent to work a great Redemption of which this present Deliverance was to be but a Type and therefore none like Him to accomplish Type and Anti-type at once I say whether it were one or other is not much to our purpose further then the just naming of it to inquire This we are sure of that Moses's unbelief was reproveable his sin of distrust aggravated because he could not take heart from Gods express Promise Notwithstanding the wonderful sight which he saw the gracious words which he heard still he was faithless and not beleeving hence ver 14. the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses However to make way for an all
sufficient supply both the Humility of Moses and his Diffidence was not unfitly urged his Humility which God encourageth with a gracious Promise of a ready help from himself his Diffidence which God convinceth against all Objections by promising an assistance most effectual even from his own experience of it ver 14. Is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother I know and so dost thou that he can speak well He will be glad to meet thee and thou must rejoyce to go with him This is the supplement of all defects from you two one with another and here is the Completion of your Commission My assistance to you both So that the verse before the Text is a supply to both from God which denotes to us the Divine Ordinance and Institution and that 1st Verbal Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his Mouth and I will be with thy Mouth and with his mouth 2dly Real I will Teach you what you shall do The Text is the mutual supply as consequential upon the Divine Institution that one must make for the other This being the scope and sum of the whole Paragraph That Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical was at first instituted and established by God himself over such a People whom he would take and choose to himself for his own inheritance and these two instituted not onely at one Time but both in an Union in a mutual relation and dependence one upon the other whether the Phrase in the Text as spoken by God himself He shall be and Thou shalt be be by way of precept then it denotes the necessity of this mutual Union Or whether it be by way of Promise referring to the foregoing verse then it denotes the Utility and advantage of this Relation since there is no assurance of Gods Blessing on which side soever the Division or Separation be made 'T is pity to divide the Text when the words speak nothing but Union I shall endeavour to keep my self close to the scope of them whilst I confine my Discourse unto these Three Particulars 1st Here is the Promulgation of two great Authorities and that made to those who are subjects unto Both the Promulgation is to be made by the High Priest who while he speaks for his Prince unto the People doth at the same time declare his own appointment to be of a Divine Right He shall be thy Spokesman unto the People He shall be even He shall be to thee instead of a Mouth 2dly Here is the due Execution firm Establishment and sure Administration of both these Authorities whilst the Prince doth defend the Priest he doth so stand by himself the Throne is thus established to him in Righteousness the Kingdom is confirmed in the hands of Moses whilst he is unto Aaron instead of God 3dly Here is a Promise of success to Both an assurance that God will not be wanting where this Union is continued and that taken from the Phrase or manner of expression in the Text relating to the last words of the foregoing verse spoken by God himself by way of Promise He shall be and Thou shalt be and then I will be with thy Mouth and with his Mouth and will teach you what ye shall do This is the sum of the Text and the Designe of what further I have to say from it Of which that I may so speak and you so Hear that we may all of us profit Let us pray * Can. Eccl. Angl. 55. c. 1st The Promulgation of two great Authorities and that made to those who are subjects unto Both the Promulgation is from the High Priest who while he speaks for his Prince unto the People doth at the same time declare his own appointment to be of a Divine Right He shall be thy Spokesman unto the People He shall be even He shall be to thee instead of a Mouth He shall be thy Spokesman Et loquetur ipse pro Te cum populo Targ. Onk. He shall speak for thee to the people that so they may be taught to obey not for wrath but for conscience sake accidet ut sit ipse Tibi in interpretem Targ. Jonath and he shall speak from thee to whomsoever thou thy self shalt go or send him He is to be no other then a voice crying whether it be in Egypt or in a wilderness to prepare thy way before thee and to make thy paths strait quicquid Moses mandâsset tanquam intellectus concipiens hoc Aaron loquetur tanquam os exsequens Tostat Abul in loc Whatsoever Moses who reigned as King in Jeshurun did dictate out of the abundance of his heart whose wisdom was as the wisdom of an Angel of God to know all things to be done that Aaron the High Priest was to declare and publish and to speak it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Oracles of God Thus the Priest's lips are to preserve and to proclaim knowledge the people are to seek the laws of God and of the King at his Mouth that is so far the laws of Both as their salvation may be concerned in the cheerfulness of their obedience and to tell them that if they do in the least resist they shall receive unto themselves damnation For as the Priest is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts so not unfitly is he also the messenger of the Lords Anointed And this may not improperly be the reason of the present Institution in the Text if the Prophet be the Mouth of God well may he be so unto his Prince who is instead of God Jer. 15.19 Thou shalt be as my Mouth says God unto his Prophet even as the Mouth of God The Law of God is dumb it is as a dead letter without a lively voice to publish it how shall they beleeve except they hear and how shall they hear without a Preacher The Law of Man is dumb too Promulgatio est de essentiâ legis Promulgation is of the very essence of a law in order to its being observed and great security there is unto the subject that the laws of God and Man do not thwart and contradict each other when the Trumpet is blowed in Sion and the voice is from the Sanctuary that bespeaks Obedience unto Both It is not then absurd that the Keeper of the Kings Conscience should be His Confessour he to tell when commanded unto the people what are the thoughts of his heart the Practise is as ancient as the present Institution in the Text and perhaps as an intimation how fit it is that it should be still continued in those polities that are called Christian the office is again confirmed upon Aaron by this Repetition of it He shall be even He shall be to Thee instead of a Mouth From all which I might raise and prosecute this Observation That the Ministerial Function is the most proper certain effectual and perpetual Mouth of the Common-wealth and that from the Chief Magistrate to the People and therefore is by no
where made about the reasonableness of Religion hence it is that the offerings of the Lord have been abhorred amongst us whilst irreligion and a licentious Libertinisme doth exalt it self above all that is called God or Good in the midst of us what means else the bleating of the Oxen of the beasts of Bashan in our ears the continued murmurings and gain-sayings of Core strange fire every where offered up whilst the Lamp burning bright in the Sanctuary is neglected and all this mischief from some of the sons of Levi pretended ones at least fomented by the dissentions of false Brethren men that cannot be contented with their present station but they lead aside the simple and the ignorant into Houses Oh! may our new Laws for which we bless God and have more and more cause to honour and obey Authority may these be executed and may our old Ones not quite antiquated be seasonably re-inforced and shall I humbly make one request laying that and my self at the feet of Majesty in the behalf of the place from whence I came and for which I now serve Let not us the little children of the Prophets in the very Schools of the Prophets be exposed to the obstinate perverseness of ignorance and sedition Aaron's Mouth is opened for Moses to the people to declare his Authority as from God to be Sacred and Inviolable that he is not subject to Man nor the sons of Men for any of his actions but to his own Master he must stand or fall even to God alone who hath appointed him it is yet open for Moses at the Mercy-seat before the holy Altar that he may be filled with Grace Wisdom and Understanding in the execution of Justice and the maintenance of Truth And what may Aaron humbly expect in return from Moses nay what does the Lord God require of him but that Moses should be as God to secure unto God his Oblation the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice never to cease And is not all this for the Lord's sake for the Lord who hath preserved the Rod of Moses in strength and honour who hath confirmed his Blessing upon Aaron in that his Rod also hath budded and bloomed Blossoms and brought forth Almonds the fruits of Joy and Peace God hath as we do every day thankfully Commemorate it made the Horn of David though once cut down to flourish and sprout forth again he hath ordained a Lamp and a Light for his Anointed a Lamp from out of the Sanctuary to guide him in the ways of Peace and Truth that so he dash not his foot against any stone of stumbling which Schism and Rebellion may lay in his way he hath restored Majesty the Excellency of Majesty to his Prince He hath renewed Beauty the Beauties of Holiness to his Priests and we hope and pray that he hath given and will continue security the Certainty of Defence unto Both Oh that the people therefore would in the fear of God Honour the King and reverence his Priests that so there may be a further lengthning of our tranquillity neither shall our iniquity our froward peevish iniquity be our utter ruine in vain shall we pretend Loyalty to Moses the servant of the Lord if we vex Aaron the saint of God What shall we quarrel at those who bring and at that Administration which doth dispence the Gospel of everlasting Peace How can we thus expect to be at peace amongst our selves May then the Throne be established in Righteousness even upon the Mount of God and may the Mount of God be guarded by the glorious and sure Defence of Angels because of the Throne of him who is as God which is upon it thus as upon a Rock the Rock of Ages shall Church and Kingdom be built * nec Portae Gehennae nec Genevae as once by a happy mistake out of the vulgar that Text was read neither the Gates of Hell nor the Dark close designs of Schism and Sedition shall ever be able to prevail against them * In Gebennico lacu Mendum Typographi est in Gehennico lacu Námque à Gehennâ quid Gebenna dissidet Pia Hilaria Angel Gaz. impres Lond. pag. 68. I conclude all with those Pathetical Petitions which our holy Church hath put into our Mouths for better I cannot use and God accept them from the bottom of all our hearts O Lord Save the King And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee Endue thy Ministers whether of Justice in the State or Holiness in the Church with Righteousness And so shalt thou make thy chosen people joyful Da pacem in diebus nostris Give Peace in our time O Lord For whether it be against open violence and force offered from abroad or against secret Treachery and privy Conspiracy fomented at home whether against professed Enemies or meerly pretending Friends the worst of Enemies there is no other that fighteth for us but onely Thou O God To this onely wise God who is alone able to make us understand our own happiness by keeping us in the strict and solemn observance of Uniformity at Unity amongst our selves that so to Prince Priests and People there may be but One heart and One mind in the Fear of him in Love and Duty to one another To the Authour of our Peace and of every good and perfect gift amongst us To Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed of us of all Angels and all men The Kingdom the Power and the Glory Dominion and Adoration world without end Amen FINIS