up all the Synagogues in the Land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagint changing one letter they will forbid all his festivals But the first part of the verse reconciles both Let us say they destroy them altogether so that no Sanctuary no budding rod on budding rod no Aaron no Aaron no worship of God Thus we have dispacht the history of the Text with such inferences touched upon by the way as could not well be bauk'd Now since whatsoever was written of Old was written for our instruction it will not be amiss to see how this rod of Aaron points down to us and is laid up to testify against these latter dayes And first I must not baulk the next high Priest next in time though first in honour our Saviour Christ who although he succeded not of Aarons order but of Melchizedecks yet he is the Architype and substance which that other Priesthood shadowed The Author to the Hebrews his saved me the labour of making an Analogy between them And I hope his Offices without dispute will furnish him with a rod as a King a rod of power and correction as a Prophet of guidance and instruction as a Priest of comfort and sustentation In vain was that scape-goat of the Jewes upon whose head was laid the sins of the Congregation if it were not for this Lamb slain from the beginning this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this high-Priest which sacrificed himself and laid the burthen of all our sins upon his own shoulders He it is that took the censer in his hand as Aaron did when the fire of Gods wrath was gone out against us and stood between the living and the dead nay he fell down amongst the dead and was numbred among the transgressours that by his stripes we might be healed He he it is who in the last act of his life erected his crosse the rod of his exaltation that rod upon which his name was wrote which bore most precious fruit the fruit of his own Body which whosoever can lay up in a sanctifyed heart the Temple of the holy Ghost may be sure to have it testifye for him in the latter day But being thus gone up on high and lead captivity captive and received guifts for Men is he grown a niggard of them and bestowed none upon his Church which he hath left behind him Were the Jews better provided for who were only ad memoriam but types and figures of him that was to come then we which are a memoria his remembrancers and Priests in his stead in persona ejus sayes the vulgar his deputies which here personate him and act him over again No his Church has Aarons still and the Aarons have their rods too Nay the Aarons of the Gospel shall be refined too sayes Malachi 3. Chap. 3. God shall purge the Sons of Levi which St. Hierome interprets the Evangelical Ministers If the Testament be above the law God forbid the Ministration should be beneath it St. Paul 1 Cor. 12. tells us of divers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free graces or gifts proceeding from the Spirit verse 4. and that we may not think them to be heaped confusedly all upon one in the next verse he speaks of several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 administrations and offices among which they are devided the graces are reckoned up verses 8 9 10. Some peculiar to the A postles some streaming down upon the skirts of the Church The offices are recounted v. 28. and of them likewise some meerly Apostolical some permanent and perpetual namely those three Teachers Helpers Governours Perpetuall I call them for besides that the light of nature instructed the heathen so far as the morality of the service of a God carried them to the same division of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their helpers their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their teachers and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their governours they are the very same which God prescribed his own people the Jews in their Levites their Helpers and as it were their Deacons their Priests their Teachers and instructers the sons of Aaron their Praelates and Governours And thus we find the oyntmentt powred upon Aarons head has run down o his beard and wet the borders of his garments But this quick sighted generation amongst whom we live has seen farther into the words then any of the ancient Fathers and out of the word Governours has extracted an Elixar their ruling Elders A Government it is indeed but such as Jothams bramble was which burnt down the Cedars of Libanon the pillars of the Temple An opinion so full of novelty and void of authority that fourscore years ago it scarce had a being As if Gods Church all the time before had been hid with Eliah in his cave or fled with the woman into the Wildernesse Some there are I know which have deeply strained their wits to fetch this Government out of the Scriptures and pinch hard upon that text 1 Tim. 5.17 when all other fail them The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour especially they which labour in the word and Doctrine Ergo by implication Elders there are say they which labour not and those are lay-ruling-Elders But St. Chrisostome which lived nearer and knew more of the Apostles practise than we found out another sence All Priests sayes he which may administer the Sacraments are not allow'd to preach the meaner sort may deal with Baptism the wiser only with the Word Which difference St. Paul found in himself 1 Corin. 1.17 Christ hath sent me not to baptize says he but to preach the Gospel If then thou hast such a Minister over thee as is gifted for both Offices allow him a double honour And let no man mistake the name of Elder or Presbyter in Scripture which is no other then Priest or Minister so St. John stiles himself in his two last Epistles so St. Peter 1 Ep. 5.1 and so all the pen men of Gods holy Word have called the Ministers of the Gospel Which is so notoriously true that the very patrons of this Government have disclamed the jus divinum of it and make it onely a State convenience Undenyably true it is that our Saviour in his time did choose his twelve Apostles as Superiours his seventy as subordinate Subordinato I say they were for besides that they were forbidden by the other in the time of Christ Luke 9.49 They were commanded by them afterward as Silas was by Paul Acts 17.15 and so were within their power Afterward that the Apostles left their successours Bishops may be evident by St. Pauls own Epistles to Timothy the Bishop of Ephesius and Titus Bishop of Crete and the undoubted testimony of Ireneus confirms it who lived immediately upon the Apostles age But what need we more Authority St. Jude v. 11. Speaks of some in his time which perished in the gainsaying of Corah What that was ye have heard he would be Aarons equall how any could perish in it was impossible unlesse by desiring or affecting a parity with their Governours In the fear of God Brethren suffer then a word of Exhortation This rod of Aaron ha's sap in it still and sprouts to this day Oh shake not of the blossomes pluck not off the fruit if God have laid it up in the Tabernacle let not Sacrilegious hands steal it thence T is a rod of power submit to it a rod of correction be afraid of it a rod of instruction obediently receive it a rod of sustentation rely on it Obey them which are set over you in the Lord. Let no Uzzah presume to touch the Ark nor Uzziah to offer sacrifice let the sons Levi only wait upon the altar If a quis aequisivit be terrible at the last day who has required these things at your hands will not prohibita sunt have I not fobid thee be much more terrible We find in Exodus that Pharaohs sorcerers had got them rods too but Moses his Serpent soon devour'd them And the Sons of Sceva Act. 15.19 would be conjuring in the name of Jesus but the Devil soon prov'd himself their Master Beware that fearfull curse which befell the nolumus hunc regnare those that would not let Christ raign over them And such are they that despise his Ordinances and so do all such as disobey his substitutes His substitutes I call them for they are his Labourers but one degree remov'd from himself he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if God be the chief guide Moses and Aaron are the hands to lead his people if God be chief Shepheard Peter and his partners have the office under him to feed the flock 1 Pet. 5. And if in temporalls the civil Magistrate at this day thinks himself sufficient without bringing the difficultest causes to Aaron and the Priests as God prescribes Deuter. the 17.8 9. if Jehoshaphat I say think his Judges able to dispatch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the affairs of State yet let the Priest dispence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Chro. 19.8 The Lords business the judgment cause of the Lord. Make not thy self the Devils instrument since he hath left disputing about Moses his body for thee to dispute Aarons authority But rather joyn with that Captain of Israel in his prayer for Levi. Deuter. 33. Let thy Urim and Thumim be with thy holy one bless O Lord his substance and accept the work of his hands and smite through the loins of them that rise up against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again To conclude Aarans rod is Gods rod and Gods rod will alwayes bring forth fruit either sweet or bitter Almonds sermons prove either the savour of Life or death May that rod and this Sermon take such deep rooting in our heart that it may bring foorth fruit abundantly in our lives to Gods honour his Churches glory our own comfort c. Gloria Deo in Excelsis
indeed his ambitious heart kept him at far distance when the Priesthood was intayl'd on Aaron and his Successors he joynes himself to Dathan and Abiram two ruling Elders of the Tribe of Reuben with two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly and there begins to preach parity a doctrine easily disgested by ambitious minds to this Independent Congregation A pretence of holinesse cloaked their wickednesse For being gathered into a riot and daring do all acts of violence which their strength could secure them in they exclaim against their governours you take too much upon you say they seeing all the Congregation are holy and the Lord is amongst them Wherefore then lift yee up your selves above the Congrâ—gation of the Lord A strange presumption which the mad World will never leave to entitle God to the Divels cause to bring the Lord of Order to countenance their disorders but these unhappy dayes hath left the story at our own doors where a specious outside guilds many rotten Hypocrites Sampsons two foxes cannot be coupled with a firebrand of Sedition between them but they be reported abroad to draw the yoke of Jesâ—s Christ under a pretence of Every one is holy a parity in righteousnes every one strives for a primacy a supremacy in wickedness And it were well if these thrusts were made against Aaron the high priests breast plate only Moses his rod is beaten down too The Miter cannot fall but the Crown shakes they that made Religion their qnarrel just before presently after make politicall grieveances the burden of the song Moses like a good Prince had taken off the envy from his High-Priest Aaron and pointed their arrows at an higher mark you are gathered against the Lord sayes he and indeed Sirs God is in all his ordinances but what is Aaron that yee murmur against him Yet let his next work be to secure himself Is it a small thing say they that thou hast brought us out of a Land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness except thou make thy self a Prince altogether over us This strong complaint of Tyranny was the most forcible cord that could unite the hands of the many-headed-monster-multitude But the next verse tells us it was their own particular interests which ingaged the Rebells it was because they had not Fields and Vineyards to their hearts desire Absolom may flatter the people in the gate and pitty their case that justice is delayed them but let his heart comment upon his words and he pitties most his own case that he is not in place to do it But Moses can easily wash his hands of Tyranny I have not taken ass from them neither have I hurt one of them sayes he The complaint of Rebels most commonly is as far removed from truth as their quarrell is from goodness Yet unless God from Heaven will attest his integrity his own righteousnesse will scarce defend him against two hundred and fifty assembly men Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces but the Lord holds them up and at their command the Congregation separates from the tents of Corah and his Confederates who would have made them Separatists from the Congregation Whilst those mutinying Traytors which did not deserve to live are not suffered to dye but are buryed before their death and they which would have made a division from their Fathers may not be gathered to their Fathers in peace But the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up they and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from amongst the Congregation As for the other 250 with censers in their â—â—nds which would be flashing of strange fire before the Lord God sends down a true fire from Heaven which eats them up Two pararell judgments A Schisme of the Earth punisheth a Schism of the People a fire from Heaven consumes their ignis fatuus their false fire upon the Earth so surely does God overtake those which do not carry him along with them in their designs By this time we would think that an awful reverence of Moses Aaron was wrought upon the hearts of the Congregation by the finger of heaven but seditious minds are restlesse Like Sisyphus his stone if it be faln to the bottom it must be rold to the top of the hill again The People fly from the gaping of the Earth and are afraid of the fire from Heaven but having digested their Panick fears next morning like men hardened to their destruction they dare challenge God to renew his judgments by charging his Magistrates with the blood of those which perished in their own rebellion as if Moses his rod which before had devoured the Egyptian mock-Serpents had now feasted upon the Rulers of the assembly and Aarons blue and purple and scarlet were now altogether dyed in blood ye have killed say they the people of the Lord. But unless those whom they accuse for their Murtherers prove their deliverers they are all but dead men for there is wrath gone out against them Aaron at Moses his command runs into midst of the Congregation takes the censer puts fire upon the censer puts on incense and stands between the living and the dead and makes atonement for the People The mercy of a good Governour resembles God from whom he has his Commission he is ready to spare and protect them that conspire his destruction knowing that his Saviour dyed for them which crucified him yet least the death of fourteen thousand and seven hundred should in the next Generation be worn out and forgoten God will perpetuate this story with a lasting miracle and that the mouthes of murmerers may for ever be stop'd he makes choise of Aaron symbolically the twelve Princes of the twelve Tribes cast in their twelve rods as Moses appointed with their names wrote every man upon his rod and on the morrow Moses went into the Sanctuary of the Witness and behold the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi budded and bloomed blossomes and brought forth Almonds In prosecuting these words Aquinas his rule shall be our guide In omni Scripturae narratione historica sayes he profundamento tenenda est veritas historiae de super spirituales rationes sunt fabricondae in any histocal narrative part of Scripture the first principle which we must ground upon is the truth of the history and that foundation once laid we make our mystical spirituall interpretations a super-structure Give me leave hear then to make Aaron another coat and to imbroyder over the fine linnen the groundwork of the history with the Blew and Purple and Scarlet and Gold the several colours of the mystery Observe we then in this miraculous Election of Almighty God the subject on which the miracle was wrought which falls under our notice 1. In the simple it was a rod 2. The composit it was Aarons rod 3. The decomposit it was Aarons rod for the house
their Persecutors to hear them poure out their Souls in their most pious devotions for a blessing on the heads of those Tyrants under whom they suffered fighting against them indeed but cum precibus lachrimis with those melting swords of prayers and tears And we which injoy all those blessings which a peacable government can inrich a Land with we which fit every man under our own Vines and our own figtrees partaking of the fatnesse of the Land vve vvhich are vvith as much severity kept off from idolatry as the Old Christians were inforced to it vve vvhich novv hear the bells toll quietly to bring us together to the publick service of God which were it not for this government we might expect would be jangling in a more dismall tune ringing a funeral peal to the Town or City that we Christians We Protestants should conceive a mischief against the King in our private bed-chambers nay more should unbridle our tongues so farr as to expresse those thoughts nay more yet should put those thoughts and words in Action and lift up the finger against the Lords Annointed I bring not in a Zisca's drum a ratteling of the elements to terrifie Children with fantastick fears I would to God the times were such that I might give my self the lie But alas ye all know 't is true it is and hath been acted We have a minde to Micahs Idols to Dan's robbery to Gibeas rape and therefore we are for no King to Israel The confusion of my Text is so great that I have lost all Method I will not seek now to recover it but shut up all with one Paraenesis You see the evil 't is general it extends to every man and there is but one Salve too which we can properly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King amongst us A pretious ointment 't is and as pretiously to be laid up laid up by prayers for him by hands with him by purses to him of all good subjects The breath of our nostrils the life of our liberties the strength of our hopes the pillar of our Religion his Commission is signed from Heaven Pro. 8.15 By me Kings raign His Authority is conferred by Heaven Chron. 1.16 He is the Anointed of the Lord His power descends from Heaven Psal 21.1 The King shall rejoyce in thy strength O Lord Obedience to him is required from Heaven 1 Pet. 2. It is the will of God that you submit your selves to the government of your Kings I have heard the Prophet David suspected by some as partial in his own cause just like the Northern Borderers who conceived the eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal to be none of Gods making but foisted in by Henry the Eight to shackle their theevish fingers I am sorry that ever the Truth of Scripture should depend upon the arbitrary opinion of men but if S. Paul have gained a better credit with them I dare oppose the 13. Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans against the power of Men or Devils which would trample upon the neck of Kings Let every soul he subiect mark the stile There 's a Statute Law enacted in the high Parliament of Heaven which no man that owns a soul may break without high Treason against man and higher impiety against God But if our doughty valour have got so much confidence as to fight against the Spirit of God the apprehension of our own advantage might be a powerful argument me thinks to establish this doctrine Since in vindicating the right of Princes we assert our own By setting up a King in Ifrael we pull down Micah's Idols we stop the Danites forces we quell the lust of Gibeah 'T is Our battels he fights 't is our Laws he enacts 't is Our Liberties he defends 't is our Life he protects he watches for us he is exposed to personal hazards for us he writes for us he draws the Sword for us Ye know the old story of all the members mutenying against the lazy Belly The accusation was that it consumed all but got nothing but they denying their usual contribution you 'l soon finde who went to the worst of it The hands were feeble the mouth pale the feet weak and the whole Common-wealth of the body was out of frame If Moses do not stand in the top of the Mount with the Rod of God in his hand Exod. 17. and hold up his hand too Amalek will soon overcome the camp of Israel God hath blest this Land to the Admiration of our Neighbours round about with a Prince in whom Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other and carsed for ever be the bramdles of Jotham which would overshadow the Cedars of our Libanon But were he as detestable for his vices as he is now honourable for his vertues this were no fair plea for our disobedience A wicked King may be an effect of Gods wrath against a Nation but the removal the taking away this wicked King that 's hotter that 's plain fury Hos 13. 11. Suppose him very wicked he ha's the more need of thy prayers to make him better Suppose him to be a Tyrant he will give the fairer occasions to exercise thy vertue of Patience Suppose him to be a Persecutor hee 'l do thee a courtesie he will send thee to Heaven by violence It is not oleum gratiae but Dominii that Kings are anointed with Saul was touched with this Oyl long before the Spirit of God came upon him and this Oyl was not wiped off it swam uppermost still it had the preheminence long after when that evil spirit did possesse him If we took to the story of the 26 of the first Book of Samuel when Sauls guilty conscience gave him leave to sleep in the trenches of Hachilah with his men of war round about him we shall finde as many arguments to arm Davids hand against him as ever met to depose a Soveraign Title First on Sauls part he was an unnatural Tyrant against his own son Jonathan he was a bloody Persecutor of the Priests of God he was a sacrilegious Usuper of their holy Offices he was a deamoniacal furious man possessed with a Devil Next on Davids part his life was sought for and by sparing Saul he should undo himself he had all the opportunity that night and security could administer to him he was Sauls adopted son by Michals marriage he was successour to the Kingdom by the Prophets unction and yet for all this as if he had been a Champion to maintain the right of Princes he stops Abisha with a quis unqum Who can lift up the hand against the Lords anoynted And he that did it afterward though upon Sauls own intreaty if himself may be believed found him as stout a revenger as he was a bold challenger He brings News of Sauls Death but is sent after him the grave I am amazed Sirs when I hear mention of the Loyalty of some old Heathen some of them exposing their bodies
the Church triumphant if in a true cause we are here militant Thirdly it is not Meroz any poor little Villages they curse tales aquilae muscas non capiunt but Tabor and Hermon the Mounts of God the hills of Learning God knows our Meroz's our Countrey parishes are infatuated with a bayard blindnesse they will neither see nor yet believe they are blind Chyrurgions tell us no such sure sign of death as a senselesse Apathy when we feel not the smarting of our wounds Thus where our State is wounded in the head the seat of judgment wounded in the heart the seat of life wounded in the hands the execution of justice wounded in the feet the interpretation of those laws on whose bottom the Kingdom stands we as if we were bitten with a Tarantula shall laugh our selves to death in the midst of these distractions and only be grieved at yesterdays ache and take physick for that disease which had seazed and left us three years agoe And this was the very case of the Israelites in the great defection from Rhehoboam the complaint was oppression by his Father Solomon whose dayes indeed was golden dayes the very stones of the street which the people trampled on were outvyed in their number almost by others far more pretious But crafty Rhehaboam galling their mindes first and then finding when it pinched he scarrifies first Remonstrates to the people the greivous Yoke the King had thrown upon them and then applies an itching plaister he would ease them of the trouble to go up to worship at the Mother Church at Jerusalem he knew if the doors of the Sanctuary were open the law of God read there would keep the people in subjection 1 Kings 12.17 Therefore he will lock them up if he can and pretend the peoples ease it is too much for them to go up thither especially since they have made Calves at their own homes what need a Church when the highwayes of Dan and Bethel will serve the turne Thus when he had cheated them into a civill war they run madly to their own confusion continually weakning the powers of one another till the forreign Assyrian enemy seized on both Under which captivity ten revolting tribes lost both their names and beings If in the mean time a Prophet come with a message from the Lord to reduce these wandring sheep and bring them home to their forsaken folds Jeroboam presently stretches out his hand against him and if a miraculous power from heaven do not whither it that hand will lay him fast 'T is reported of Julian that Enemy of Christianity that although he himself was an able Clerk yet he hated and forbade all learning in others left they should detect his cunning fallacies The comparison I know is very odious and yet I fear me we shall finde in our dayes more barbarism Meroz cursing Tabor When the people have broken off their golden earings for their calf Aaron himself shall be threatned if he will not dance about it Nay further yet foolish ignorant lying Zedekiah shall have leave to smite Micaiah on the face if he presume to be so honest to diswade his Countrimen from a warr and prevail so far with those that are in power as to clap him up in prison God quit England from Jerusalems sins of stoning those which are sent unto her But fourthly their curses come not for not helping the Lord. Unlesse they could perswade us there are two Gods in Heaven as they would make two faiths and more then two baptismes upon the Earth For was ever the cause of God set up by lying Lying so palpable so notorious that Bellarmines piae frauds were religious if compared with it every week being a Cretian Mart where the Devill sends us in impressions by the whole sale which may teach the next Generation how voluminously wicked their Fathers were Was ever Gods cause set up by oppression Cruel inhuman barbarous oppression where one subject shall be armed with power to kill another Whilst the mouth of the Laws are stop'd and they outroad by Ordinances Where every discontented Country boor shall challenge an Equall share in his Neighbours goods and fall a plundering by the liberty of the Subject Liberty Licence let us rather call it licence qua deteriores sumus an abuse of licence which makes us worse Was ever Gods cause set up by Blasphemy Most execrable deep mouth'd blasphemy which a sober Christian would be afraid to hear least the Divel should be in presence Some daring in the Pulpits which I my self have heard tell Almighty God that if he deserted this cause he would loose his honour none would ever call upon his name again Others professing in that sacred place if this cause failed they should turne Atheists as I think they are already I will not tell all you hear too much allready Oh Sirs we are cheated of our Religion The modester Papists have rob'd us of some of the choycest of our Refined Doctrine whilst we are degenerated into the dregs of Jesuitisme Shall they make proffers of their service to hazerd their lives and fortunes in the just defence of a good Prince which notwithstanding hates their Religion although he cherishes their subjection and shall we unchristianly imagine that we help the Lord by destroying the Lords Anointed The Giants may as well say they raised those mountains for bulwarks to defend the heavens from whence they meant to scale them Judas may as well say he had given his Master a kiss of courtesie when he brought out men with swords and staves to secure him Horrour and amazement keeps in the rest Lastly in their sense I say God ha's needed no help against the mighty For compare Deborahs Estate to Siseras and make an equall reference in all to our own Nation and see who might properly be called the mighty Deborah was under a palm tree in the high way whilst Sisera dwelt in Harosheth You may all remember the time when his sacred Majesty was first driven to these parts when except his goodness there was nothing about him like a Prince whether you look upon his retinue or his provision or the homage of his vicegerents as he passed all so much inferior to his Estate that had those beheld it which could have wisht it meaner I perswade my self they would have pitied it under the burden of which humility he must needs have faln if his heart had not proved like Deborahs palm tree grown higher with depressing Sisera at this time abounding with all provision Deborah seeks out for succour to encounter him but those as you heard come in very slowly and unarmed her enemy had made a party in those Tribes she trusted to When the necessity of a warr was made which God knowes was most unwelcome news to the religious heart of our pious Soveraign witness those several condescentions to almost unequal termes of peace as would make a marble heart thaw to tears that reads them think but
an Angel of God A Prince of so gratious a disposition that the gratest fear his good subjects have to loose him is because he is too good for Earth One which lingers for peace in the greatest success of war One which has hoped to win by loosing and has willingly made himself less a King if by that means he might make us more subjects One which calls out for mercy in the field of blood ye stones hear this and melt forbidding the slaughter of those which they can take prisoners notwithstanding they came out to be his executioners Groaning for our wants our infringed Liberties our decayed religion which now lay expiring but that the soul of it has found a warme seat in his royal breast A true Cedar of Mount Lebanon that hath afforded a secure shelter to the humble vallies and never O never may he be cut down till he be removed to the building of the Heavenly Sanctuary As for those trees that would have the bramble raign let them be consumed by the brambles curse and be burnt up with the fire which the bramble kindles But I have forgot my self 2. Deprecemur The great God of Heaven remove this curse from us for let us no longer flatter our selves Brethren with a superficiall Allegiance have we been as zealous for God and the King as our duty binds us have our Eliahs cried as loud have they rent and cut themselves as much as Baals lying Prophets Has not the fear of Daniels den the place where the Kings Lions were kept and Jeremiahs dungeon stopped the mouths of our Men of God Did not Deborah here find better aid from Zebulon of those that handle the writers pen whereas after the groaning of the press vvith seditious Pamphlets our gracious Soveraign makes a just complaint that all pens are silent in his righteous cause If he do gladio protegere shall not we calamo defendere If his sword rights our cause shall not our quils write his He that fights for Heaven and us shall not our prayers fight with Heaven and wrastle with Almighty God for him Shall a little of Demosthenes his gold send the sqinzy in our throats Shall a politick silence stop our Mouths For good Sirs what should you fear the losse of your Estates Alas if you let fall this cause who can challenge a propriety 'T will be in vain to preach a non concupisces thou shalt not wish when a vote turnes you out of all nerutis caesis receptis Do you fear the losse of Liberty Was it ever more infringed Do you fear the losse of Religion I here indeed it pinches We have betrayed the cause Amyclaeo filentio whilst we durst not tell you the enemy was a coming They have taken away the Lord and we know not where they have laid him Nay they have not left so much as the white cloaths in the place where he lay before They have defaced the Sanctuary and yet we the Nehemiahs the Eliashibs the Priests and Labourers have taken neither a sword in one hand to defend it nor a trowell in the other to repair it God be mercifull unto our sin for it is great we have not holpen the Lord Against the might But the King shall rejoyce in thy Strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he be in thy Salvation Thou shalt give him his hearts desire and wilt not deny him the request of his lips For thou shalt prevent him with the blessings of goodness and shalt set a crown of pure gold upon his head His honour shall be great in thy Salvation glory and great worship shalt thou lay upon him For thou shalt give him everlasting felicity and make him glad with the joy of thy countenance And why because the King putteth his trust in the Lord and in the mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry All thine enemies shall feel thy hand thy right hand shall find out them that hate thee Thou shalt make them like a fiery oven in the time of thy wrath the Lord shall destroy them in his displeasure and the fire shall consume them Their fruit shalt thou root out of the Earth and their seed from among the Children of men For they intended mischief against thee and imagined such a device as they shall not be able to perform Therefore shalt thou put them to flight and the strings of thy bow shalt thou make ready against the face of them Be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power Amen Amen The Third SERMON NUMBERS 17.8 And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went into the Tabernacle of Witness and behold the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded and brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms and yielded Almonds THen it appears that time was when Aaron had a rod and that rod budded too yes and it budded in the Tabernacle and was laid up in the Ark of the Covenant to be kept for a token against the Rebels in the latter dayes verse 10. And may not we fear that those latter dayes are faln upon us when Aarons rod is now broken and he himself scarce suffered to enter into the Tabernacle Whilst an Antichristian brood sit in the Temple of God which exalt themselves above all that is called God The Author to the Hebrews chap. 9. tells us of three sacra deposita holy Utensils laid up in the Ark together the pot of Manna the Tables of the Covenant and this budding rod and there they kept company so long that now they will not be parted Let one be banisht and all the rest we may fear will follow Once break the Crosier this pastorall rod and the Tables of the Covenant the ten Commendements are not long liv'd after it They shall be banisht out of the Church by sacrilegious deformers out of the heart by impious Antinomians and the pot of Manna the heavenly bread of holy doctrine shall be poysoned with the Coloquintida of errors mixt amongst it there will be mors in olla till some Elisha poure in meal better ground better sifted principles there is death in the pot Doctrine and Discipline like Hippocrates twins will alwayes either laugh or cry together The words read may be called Gods lottery the lots are rods the bag they are put in is the Tabernacle the hand that drew them out is the hand of Moses the house they fall on is the house of Levi. Or more plainly it is Gods miraculous preferring the house of Levi and Aaron most eminently of all that Tribe before the mutinying Congregation They depend upon the foregoing History and I should handle them very partially if I did not preface them with it When the Levite Coraâ— thought himself undervalued that he was only separated from the Congregation to do the service of the Tabernacle and to Minister to the people esteeming it but a small thing that the Lord had thus brought him neer unto himself
of Levi Secondly the miracle it self branched out in 3 decrees This rod at Aaron for the house of Levi 1. Brought foorth buds 2. Bloomed bosome 3. Yielded almonds Thirdly the circumstances of time and place like two Servants to attend upon it It was on the morrow In the Sanctuary These are the stages thorough which we shall drive in this hours discourse which will hardly affoord us time to bait in them but only with a running eye to overlook them The subject of this miracle first was a rod and this was chosen of God before any other as the most proper the most significant Indeed if we look upon things with a superficial eye there was nothing belonging to the high Priest which did not promise more and might not better prove Aarons preheminence His very garments which God prescribed Exod. 28. to be made glorious and beautifull like Josephs imbroidered coat might have taught his Brtheren that he was his Fathers darling Or the Urim and the Thummim and the stones of his breastplate which afterwards delivered those divinations to the people might have proved their own Oracles and witnessed their praeferment Or the golden bels upon the verge of his garment might have challenged that honour which is promised to the bells of the Horses Zach. 14.20 to be superscribed Holiness to the Lord. But ratio divina in medulla est non in superficie It is not the glorious outside which God regards That Almighty power which chooses the weak things of the World to confound the mighty and sayes unto the dead bones live takes here a sapless sere stick without either root or branch for a Scepter at the exaltation of his anoynted and that which before was the instrument of working many miracles is now become the subject matter upon which a miracle is wrought And this was most apposite to Gods intent and purpose in four respects 1. as it is symbolum potestatis a rod to rule and govern them 2. As it is symbolum correctionis a rod to correct and scourge them 3. As it is symbolum instructionis a rod to guide and instruct them 4. As it is symbolum sustentationis a rod to support and comfort them Power Correction Instruction Sustentation are the four pinacles of Aarons Tower which make him lift up his head above his fellows 1. As a Rod of power For of old the Priesthood was not fetterd nor Aarons hands bound behind him If we look to his first election Exod. 4.16 We shall finde he was made Lord Chancellour to Moses amongst the Israelites He shall be thy spokesman unto the people saith the Lord Afterwards he and his sons were oftentimes the Lords high Stewards which executed judgment upon the offenders And when Moses was called up to Mount Sinai to talk with God Aaron and Hur were made the Lords high Constables to govern the people in his absence I deny not but that there was a Subordination of Power the Crosier gave place to the Scepter Aarons rod submitted to Moses For in the fore-quoted place Exod. 4. Where the Priest was made the Princes mouth the Prince was made the Priests God He shall be as thy mouth and thou shall be to him as God As for that high Priest now a dayes which proves himself the Man of sin by exalting himself above all that is called God he had need build upon a firmer foundation then the Sandy Clementines or their false Glosses otherwise their honour will fall into the dust Because the vision bids Peter arise kill and eat therefore the Pope may depose Princes because Malchus which being interpreted a King was servant to the High Priest therefore Kings were the Popes servants You may well question whither these arguments had their rises from the Brains or the Gutts of the Friers And truly we need not wonder to see those Mountains are brought low and level'd if we do but consider that the pride of the Clergy hath been caution enough to Prince and People to look about them that that Crosier has not been used as a Pastoral staff to catch the Sheep but to hook away the Crown and Aarons Rod is turned to a Scepter of iron to crush the Kings of the Earth in pieces Yet a lawful subordinate power they have delegated from God himself yes and that in Temporals too however the policie of our State of late hath thought it otherwise convenient For to omit the story of Judas Maccabeus who in the time of the Captivity of their Kings governed the people we shall find Phineas the Grand-son of Aaron in the next generation executing this Authority who as a Priest the son of Eleazar and as a Prince of the Congregation did judgment upon Zimri and Cozbi the idolatrous adulterers And it is worth your observing how the Psalmist recording this story Psalm 106. makes choice of a word of double signification to imply his double capacity the word is Palal which signifies either to pray or to execute judgment verse 30. Phineas stood up and prayed or Phineas stood up executed judgment denoting not only the connaturality of these two that executing judgment is a kind of prayer or sacrifice to God but likewise their competibility to the same subject that executing judgment is as proper an office of the Priest as prayer it self And thus is Aarons a rod of power But 2. as of power so of correction too and indeed the first patronises the second his power enables him for correction By correction I mean not a corporal scourging or whipping of the people as the disciplining Friers use upon themselves and others upon their pennancedayes Arons rod had no whipcord at the end of it but a more piercing lash circa potiorem partem such arrows which David speaks of which enter into the soul It is a tradatur Satanae a shutting them out of the Congregation and a banishing them from the camp of Israel To this purpose Levit. 13. God gives the Priests marks tokens to discover the leprous party to make a difference between the clean unclean and those marks once found out it is not Nobility of blood or greatness of power can secure the Leper or keep him within the pale The crown on Uzzias head cannot hide the Leprosie on his brow but Azariah the Priest will cast him out 2 Chro. 26. Indeed if there be Livor in oculis Pontificis malice in the Priests eye which discolours all he looks upon and makes the most clear object seem full of leprous spots their casting out proves but brutum fulmen potguns which make a crack but cannot wound As the blind man newly recovered to his sight by our Saviour in the Gospel because he saw more then the high Priest was ejected Indeed they threw him out of the Church that he might be neerer God But when it is done clave non errante with an unerring judgment pronounced on those markes which God has set he is polluted he is unclean let
of their rebellion That so long as the altar has a being Men may learn from thence that no Man may take that honour to himself but he that was called of God as was Aaron 5 Heb. 4. And sure the love of God was such that he would choose none but the best of Governments for his Church Had all the Princes of the tribe of Levi had an equall share they by an Aristocrasy would have bred an emulation had all the People injoyed a parity their Democrasie would have brought in confusion but exalting Aaron in the high Priests chair and disposing of the rest in subordinate offices under him God maintained so blessed a Harmony in his Church as that it was an imperfect shadow of that blessed Harmony in heaven But 3. It was Aarons rod for the house of Levi upon whom the priesthood was entailed The Reubenites thought they had a fair plea for it because they were the first born of their Father Jacob and the other tribes wished well toward it witness the rods which every tribe put into the lottery in hopes it might be taken But God which is constant to all his purposes had chosen Levi of all the Tribes of Israel to be his Priest as the Man of God testifies 1 Sam. 2.28 To offer upon his altar and to burn incense before him And it is well that this honour was once esteemed so great that all the tribes were ambitious of it When the Ephod and the imbroydered coat were esteemed glorious The dregs of Jeroboams corruptions have a greater influence upon our times who made Priests of the lowest of the people and when God requires the most comely bodies and proportionable countenances for his service If any by nature be made so decrepit that he be unfit for any other imployment he will come and crouch and say put me into the Priests office that I may eat a morsel of bread Yet this Act of God which made the Priesthood Levi's impropriation as it debars others from affecting of it witness the destruction of the Reubenites Dathan Abiram and their Confederates or so much as intermedling with it vvhich cost poor Uzziah dear 2 Sam. 6.7 Who going to uphold the arke vvas smitten down so neither does it priviledge the Levites themselves to perform his service after their ovvn fancy If Aarons own sons Nahab and Abihu shall presume to offer up any other fire then that which descended from Heaven upon Gods Altar that fire which should consume their sacrifices shall devour themselves The service of the Sanctuary must be intire It will admit of no Mechanicks to officiate nor yet must the fiery zeal of Clergymen themselves coyne any new fangled formes of services and worship which God has not prescribed Both are enemies to Aarons rod here for as the one break it in pieces or steal it away and clap their own in the room so the other bow it to their humor and make it crooked after their own fancy Hitherto we have beheld the rod withered and dead let us now consider it in the miracle and see what fruit it bears which is branched in 3. degrees it budded it blossomed it brought forth Almonds Every tribe in Israel had provided his rod and every rod was strip'd alike and had the name of the Prince of the tribe ingraven on it Aarons rod had no more sap in it no more earth about it Onely it had Aarons name upon it Where God has made a secret choice he will make an open difference They go to the wrong end of the ladder which climb up into Gods breast first and there trace out those unsearchable points of his election and from thence ground themselves upon their impossibility of barrennesse and falling off and by consequence their necessity of budding and blossoming and bearing fruit Would such a course as this have comforted Aaron or satisfied the other tribes What difference between a Log and a Tree before it spring again But then is salvation sure when you work it out Then faith is alive when it is manifested by its works Then is Aaron declared to be Gods chosen when his rod quickens And quicken it must or else he cannot be the chosen of God No surer token of the life of grace then fruitfulness Barrenness was banished at the first creation out of his garden of the World Increase and multiply says he to all his creatures and if any fall short cut it down why combreth it the ground And he that is not marr'd by the Divel is always thus increasing he is alwayes going forward either budding new or ripening his last blossom'd fruit It was a curse laid upon avarice Esaiah 5.10 that ten acres of Vines should yeild but one bath and the seed of an Homer should yeild but an Ephah but one part for ten sure that is an incumbrance not a crop and those Vines are fitter for winters fire then summers vintage Nor yet will standing still in the same condition serve the turne as they say an Oak will for an hundred years together T is a true saying in Divinity qui Deo non progreditur regreditur he that goes not forward to God goes backward to the Devill It was no excuse to the idle servant that had hid his talent although he had buried it up for fear of losing ' ont and put it in a napkin for fear of rusting of it It was taken from him for his negligence he had gained nothing to it Yet who is there here present that cannot strike upon his heart and say Lord I am in a worse condition He was idle I am sinfull He hid his talent and brought it to light again I have spent mine and can shew no portion of it He did not ripen his blossoms I have made strip and wast of mine My beauty I have abused to voluptuousness my wealth to luxury my wit to knavery my zeal to hypocrysy my natural ingeny to maintain schism and heresy Utinam nescirem literas O that thou hadst given me no talent that having little I might had the lesse required The heat of thy spirit has sometimes quickened in me the buds of grace but the coldnesse of my devotion has nipp'd them Or if the warmth the sunshine of thy mercy or the fire of thy judgments has thaw'd my frozen heart and made it vigorous enough to bring forth blossoms the Prince of this ayr has mildewed them Or if the fruit has been set it has either been blown down by the storms of Affliction or wormeaten in the sunshine my prosperity and grown rotten at the Core Thus have our rods which should bud and blossom and bring forth fruit turned like the sorcerers to Serpents and stung us to death Observe yet farther as Aarons rod had three degrees of fruitfulness budding blossomming and bearing fruit so those three degrees met at one season spring summer ana harvest was joyn'd together as the one fed his hopes so the other confirmed his assurance