Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	aaron_n	appear_v	strive_v	27	3	9.6462	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28224	Two sermons the first shewing the mischiefs of anarchy, the second the mischiefs of sedition, and both of them the mischiefs and treasons of conventicles : preached at the assizes held for the county of Suffolk, ann. 1682/3 : and published at the request of Tho. Waldegrave, Esq. ... / by Nath. Bisbie ...; Mischiefs of anarchy	Bisbie, Nathaniel, 1635-1695.	1684 (1684)	Wing B2984; ESTC R3888	38,700	75

which were either 1. Secret and concealed and not so much as mentioned by them in the fray or 2. Divulg'd and made the common argument and pretence 1. Secret and conceal'd which for ought that I can find was their ambition and discontent inwardly repining at the grandeur of Moses and Aaron and fretting at their own disappointments looking on themselves through and by reason of that establishment as for ever lost touching all future hopes of greatness Now this Korah was of himself Cousin German to Moses and Aaron the eldest son of Izhar brother to Amram their father Exod. 6.18 A Levite of the family of the Kohathites to whom belonged the charge of the most holy things within the Sanctuary and the chiefest place next unto Aaron and his Priests about it Num. 3.19.31 which one would have thought might have been preferment enough for the man But because the first-born of Izhar and moreover Cousin German to Moses and Aaron who then had the power and the government in their hands he thought his birth-right and blood might have been better consider'd at least so far forth as not to have had himself and his family thrust down for ever into the rank and class of ordinary petty Levites much less to have Elizaphan the son of the youngest family of the Kohathites made Prince over the sons of Kohath even over this very Korah who was of the elder house and himself in the interim neglected Num. 3.10 all which put together raised his indignation and spleen and set him first against his King and then against his Priest who should not have degraded if they had not preferr'd him and was the first occasion as the Rabbins say that caus'd him to take men Of the like nature was the disgust that Dathan and Abiram had taken for they were of the posterity of Reuben Num. 16.1 who was the first-born of Israel Gen. 49.3 but forasmuch as he defiled his fathers bed his birth-right was given from him 1 Chron. 5.1 that is to say the Government to Moses the Priesthood to Aaron the double portion to Joseph all lost in Reuben but by his sons sought to be recovered which was the occasion also of their taking men and joyning themselves with Korah hoping by him and his Company to re-enstate themselves and their posterity into that Power and dignity that Empire Priesthood Estate that originally and of old belong'd unto them And I am apt to think that if all after-Mutinyings and Rebellions were look'd into yea that of this very day the like disappointments disgusts degradations would be found at the bottom of them all But Rebellion hath always a mask and vizard a Samuel's mantle to cover its ugliness Look we therefore 2. Into the reason pretended and spread abroad to draw in the populacy after them which was Usurpation in Aaron Tyranny and breach of trust in Moses the popular and usual pretence that hunts down government and gives birth and encouragement to all manner of anti-regal anti-priestly factions and perhaps hath caused more Properties to be alter'd more Birth-rights to be lost more Liberties to be invaded more Religion to be defaced yea and more Arbitrariness and Tyranny to be set up and exercised in the world than any one thing else besides Hence says Korah to Aaron in behalf of himself and his Company you take too much upon you seeing all the congregation is holy and the Lord is among them Num. 16.3 and hence again Dathan and Abiram with their company in reference to Moses Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us out of a land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness unless thou make thy self Altogether a Prince over us a Prince absolute and uncontrolable Num. 16.13 which if either of them be your design of you Aaron to appropriate the Priesthood or of you Moses to engross the Government to your selves then farefall Pharaoh and his Kingdom may Aegypt have us before Canaan the land of thraldom before the land of promise if we must be slaves and tyrannized over then to our furnaces again where we had Patriarchs to govern us and Priests of our own to rule us where as we were slaves to others we were Princes our selves And how of late did the like but false pretensions prevail with and befool us whither did the out-cries of an Arbitrary Government of a proud and usurping Priesthood hurry us As for the Church her Beauty was defaced to have her Purity restored they prophan'd her Temples plunder'd her Revenues destroy'd her Discipline poisoned her Proselytes with a thousand follies and phrensies call'd indeed New Lights but the black Enthusiasms of the Prince of darkness and all to reform her so they murdered the best of Kings for the good of Subjects wrung the Scepter out of his hand and tore the Crown from his head to make him a great and a glorious Prince so were we slaves to our own slaves a company of Tagaroons hired with our purses to command our persons and whatever else was ours many were no better than Servants and Prisoners in their own homes than Tenents and Farmers to their own estates and this to preserve the Rights and Liberties of the good People of England the right forsooth of Plundering Oppressing Murdering But for my part I wonder that the good people of England did not all as one man rise up in rage and stone those notorious impudent Impostors who so long abused their credulity cheating them of their goods and inthralling their persons and as much as in them lay damning their Souls I wonder I say that the English Nation should be so dispirited and crest-faln as like Izzachars Ass to be daily loaden with blows and burdens and tamely to couch under them that they should be so stupid and insensible of such intolerable wrongs and oppressions but more that any of us all after such sad and woful Tragedies acted should be for the Furnace and Thraldom of Aegypt again ever any more doat upon the holiness of the Party or the sweet Song that the Syren makes And so having considered the Motives that induced them to the Conspiracy look we into 3. The Judgment passed upon it This is that Dathan and Abiram who strove against Moses and against Aaron when they strove against the Lord in shew no more than a striving against them but by interpretation and in guilt a striving against the Lord. The iniquity whereof appears 1. In that it was a striving against his right and power to make an establishment among them as if the setting up of Moses and Aaron over them the one in the Government the other in the Priesthood had been an invasion upon the peoples right and not in the power of any no not of the great God himself to do it which opposition in as much as it was against the decrees of Heaven is said in my Text to be striving against the Lord and Numb 16.11 to be a gathering

together against the Lord. Thus when the people grew weary of Samuel and threw off his Government saith God in the case They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me 1 Sam. 8.7 intimating that the Government in whose hands so ever regularly it be is still Gods and that the striving against or opposing of them that have it is a striving against and opposing of him and will as severely and surely be punished as if it were acted or designed against his very Person and Throne The like our blessed Saviour declares concerning his Ministers He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Luke 10.16 intimating that he that casts off or rises up against his Priest doth in effect cast off and rise up against God whose Priest he is and whose Priesthood he exercises And indeed it is not for Subjects to trouble themselves about their Governours whether Sacred or Civil farther than to see that they be Gods off-spring and are sent by him the rest of their work is to obey and follow yea and with as much readiness regard veneration if God be with them as if the very Gods themselves were come down from Heaven among them Now that Moses was thus appointed for we have spoken of Aaron before is plain from the Commission given him which was first sealed Exod. 3.10 afterwards ratified and confirm'd unto him Exod. 4. by a power to work Miracles for the convincing gainsayers which was fully done by turning his Rod into a Serpent and back into a Rod again by making his hand Leprous and then clearing it of that Leprosie by causing the water in the River to become blood upon the ground though had there been neither Commission at first nor ratification afterwards yet the works he had done and the mighty deliverances he had wrought for them that especially of raising them into a Nation by themselves when they were and had been slaves to others might have caused not only all the Tribes and Families but all the first-born of Israel to have surrendred their birth-rights and become Subjects to him The Government thus transferr'd was afterwards by a gift of the like nature setled upon Joshua then upon the Judges and then upon Kings and at length appropriated and entail'd upon the Descendants and Line of David 2 Sam. 7.12 which shews that whatever alteration God is pleased to make he is always pleased with the thing called Succession for he setled his Priesthood in it afterwards the Government and from thence never made nor suffered a deviation and in truth is a most evident and plain demonstration that if God entails none but God must cut off and that every striving afterwards against it is a striving against the Lord. 2. This striving against Moses and Aaron appears to be a striving against the Lord in that it was prosecuted against his declared resolution to defend the establishment he had made One should have thought had they not been a Rebellious gain saying People indeed a People who like the Sons of Zerviah were resolved to be too hard for Government and to die every one of them in the cause rather than to give out that the fire which broke out to consume some of them and the earth that opened its mouth to devour others of them should have enlightned the eyes and stopt the mouths of all the survivers of them from all after Murmurings But no sooner is the punishment over and they safe but they grow as Mutinous as ever enter upon new consultations and fresh complaints and thereupon gather themselves the second time together and are a second time punished a Plague from Heaven devouring no less than Fourteen thousand and seven hundred of them verse 49. neither stay they here so hard is it to put a stop to Faction but unless a Miracle be further wrought for the particular vindication of Aaron and his Priests they 'l die on and stand the other and the other judgment which in the last place was finished and effected in the budding and blossoming of Aarons Rod amidst the Rods of the several Tribes of Israel laid by it to confront and prove it and because it did so the other remaining sapless and dry it became a token against the Rebels and so their Murmurings ended Numb 17.10 And I am apt to think that if ever a Mutiny or Rebellion be to be taken away it must be by the budding and blossoming of Aarons Rod for it was by Korah that the Faction began and by his Company that it was carried on and therefore by the Rule of contraries it must be by Aaron and his Priests defeated Hence saith God to Moses when he would have declined his office for want of an Assistant Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother I know he can speak well and he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of a God Exod. 4.16 intimating that if Moses do but interpose and by his Authority protect Aaron to keep him safe in his Office and Duty that the Faction disturb him not Aaron and his Priests will do the like for Moses by Preaching up the Doctrine of Obedience and upon all occasions shewing the People that they must be subject to Principalities and Powers or else purchase to themselves Damnation and be thrown for ever after Dathan and Abiram into the Fiery Association of Rebells My Prayer therefore shall be that the Rod which hath been so long taken from Aaron may be restored to him again and when restored that it may for ever blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit and then I doubt not but as it happened to the Isralites so it will be to the Inhabitants of England a lasting token against Rebels and their Murmurings thereby be quite taken away And so we pass from their Crime 2. To their Punishment This is that Dathan and Abiram who strove against Moses and against Aaron and who for their so striving as in the succeeding verse were sent quick to destruction and thereby made a Spectacle and sign to all after Ages To this judgment the Prophet hath reference when praying against his enemies he saith Let them go down to Hell Psalm 55.15 Now these things were our examples saith the Apostle and were written for our admonition that we remembring what was done by and upon these sinners here may take care of doing and becoming like them every one of them by the Sign and Spectacle they are made Preaching this Lession to all that come after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every one that looks up unto me be he a Levite as was Korah a Layman as were Dathan and Abiram famous or infamous in the Congregation for ever beware of being Seditious against their Priests or of being Rebels against their Prince lest the earth open and the fire in like manner consume them But passing by the punishment which seized upon their Persons look we only

July 27. 1683. At the request of THO. WALDEGRAVE Esq High-Sheriff of the said County The Lord Chief Baron Mountague and Mr. Serjeant Holloway being Judges there By Nath. Bisbie D. D. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby 1684. NUMBERS xxvi 9. This is that Dathan and Abiram which were famous in the Congregation who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the Company of Korah when they strove against the Lord. IT hath been observed by no inconsiderable nor unconsidering Man among us That the first Authors and Beginners of the grand Mischiefs and Disorders among Men have been ever as to their Persons remarkably punished in this Life and I think I may without presumption add that as to their Memories they have no less been stigmatized to Posterity for ever after And this eminently appears in the instance of the three great Sinners afore us the first Publick Mutineers against Kingship and Priesthood that we meet with in the world Korah the Author and Leader Dathan and Abiram his Seconds and Followers the one a dissatisfied aspiring Levite the other disobliged disgusted Reubenites A sin perhaps not so timely born into the world as some other sins but every way as luscious and pleasing to some sort of Men nay as taking and as likely to last and to abide in the world as any one sin that the Scripture hath any where took notice of or the great God at any time punished a sin attended with the greatest prosecution of vengeance from Heaven and charged upon the Memories and Names of the Acters thereof with the greatest and most durable marks of infamy An argument certainly that how sweet and palatable how popular and plausible a thing soever Rebellion and Sedition may seem to be yet they must be crimes highly displeasing to Almighty God ever to be shun'd and hated by the Sons of Men as very great Enormities so great and so detestable that they are not to be thought on without abhorrence nor mentioned without disgust and disgrace We have the whole story of the matter in the Sixteenth of Numbers at the beginning of the thirty eighth Lecture of the Law which the Hebrews entitle Korah because the Mutiny and Rebellion wherein this Korah Dathan and Abiram were engaged is the principal and most remarkable matter there treated of We meet with them again in my Text then in Deuteronomy then in the Psalms and so on to the Epistle of St. Jude but never without their sin and their punishment annexed God being unwilling that such forward and notorious Malefactors should be had in remembrance without Dirt and Infamy to attend them that which brings them upon the Stage here is the muster that was made for the distributing the Land among the Israelites whereunto they were now got a time certainly to take notice of Rebels and of Schismaticks in yea and of their Posterity too if the earth hath not swallowed them up or they repented them of their fathers sins lest too much of the Land be given them and they put into a capacity to rebel and to mutiny again in this muster the preference is given to the Tribe of Reuben the First-born of Israel and among other the descendants thereof Dathan and Abiram are found whereupon a stop is put and the muster not suffered to go on till their Names and Villanies are enrolled for a Sign and Memorial to all after Ages to the Reubenites from whom they descended in particular to the whole Nation of the Israelites to whom they belonged in general thereby hanging them up in Effigie though otherwise destroyed and leaving them to be pointed at by all that survive or come after so odious must Schism and Rebellion for ever be with a This is that Dathan and Abiram who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the Company of Korah when they strove against the Lord. So that my Text singles out a sort of Sinners above all that then were or ever had been sinners in Israel for we shall not find throughout the whole Muster-Roll besides that any one was seized upon or so much as Chronicled for his misdeeds these and these only besides Nadab and Abihu Persons much of the same guilt with themselves excepted as being without doubt sinners above others notoriously and eminently so or rather such sinners that the Earth must not bear nor the Land be divided unto Please you upon this small alarm to examin the matter how they come to be so culpable and in order thereunto look we 1. Into their Crime They strove against Moses and against Aaron 2. Into the shame they were thereupon exposed unto they were made a sign and set up for Posterity to behold with a This is that Dathan and Abiram I confess a charge of this nature is an invidious distasting thing men though they be actually engaged in rebellion against their King or in Sedition against their Priests yet they care not to be stared in the face and call'd Rebels for it Though of themselves as bloody as Cain as imposing as Nimrod as Sanctimoniously wicked as Dathan and Abiram and altogether as resolved to follow their steps and ways to the dethroning of Moses to the unpriesting of Aaron yet the gaping earth is not more horrid and scaring than the mouth of the Priest when opened upon them they love to act but they hate to hear and though none more despicable to them than the Sons of Aaron when distant and apart yet an Army of Banners is not more terrible than the meanest of them when got into his Ebal or begirt with his linnen Ephod he thunders out his Anathemas and execrations against them Wherefore since it is my Task to day if not to preach at least to point with my finger it were folly in me to expect much kinder usage provided they be the inflicters than what the earth and the fire afforded even to be swallowed up and consumed by them especially when there are so many undevoured Dathans and Abirams in the land yea and so many of their sons too who instead of repenting them of their fathers sins go on in their fathers ways Hence their Censures and their Censers their Censures to defame and bely our Persons their Censers to confront and disturb our Office However when the Muster 's made these are to be made a sign Look we therefore 1. Into the nature of their Crime They strove against Moses and against Aaron against Moses their King against Aaron their Priest persons nominated and appointed by God himself to be their Leaders and Governours The one as to their concerns in State The other as to their concerns in Religion yet at all times envy'd and accounted the worst of men no better than Buchanan's wild beast that must be hunted down and at length made a Prey to the Leaders of them men famous in the Congregation Hitherto say the Jews all Dominion and Government from the very days of Adam to whom it was first given had gone along