than the Peoples holding a Rod over them which the best Princes are like to suffer the most by and bad will but grow desperate by it Good Princes will never need such a curb because their oaths and promises their love and tenderness towards their people the sense they have of a Power infinitely greater than theirs to which they must give an account of all their actions will make them govern as the Fathers of their Country and bad Princes will never value it but will endeavour by all possible means to secure themselves against it So that no inconveniency can be possibly so great on the supposition of this unaccountable Power in Soveraign Princes taking it in the general and meerly on the account of reason as the unavoidable mischiefs of that Hypotheses which places all power originally in the people and notwithstanding all oaths and bonds whatsoever to obedience gives them the liberty to resume it when they please which will always be when that Spirit of Faction and Sedition shall prevail among them which ruled here in Corah and his company 2. Another pretence of this Rebellion of Corah was the freeing themselves from the encroachments upon their spiritual priviledges which were made by the usurpations of Aaron and the Priesthood This served â—or a very popular pretence for they knew no reason that one Tribe should engross so much of the wealth of the Nation to themselves and have nothing to do but to attend the service of God for it What say they are not all the Lord's people holy Why may not then all they offer up incense to the Lord as well as the Sons of Aaron How many publick uses might those Revenues serve for which are now to maintain Aaron and all the Sons of Levi But if there must be some to attend the service of God why may not the meanest of the people serve for that purpose those who can be serviceable for nothing else Why must there be an order of Priesthood distinct from that of Levites why a High Priest above all the Priests what is there in all their office which one of the common people may not do as well as they cannot they slay the sacrifices and offer incense and dâ— all other parts of the Priestly Office So that at last they make all this to be a Politick design of Moses only to advance his own Family by making his Brother High-Priest and to have all the Priests and Levites at his devotion to keep the people the better in awe This hath always beeâ— the quarrel at Religion by those who seldom pretend to it but with a design tâ— destroy it For who would ever have minded the constant attendance at the Temple if no encouragements had been given to those who were imployed in it Or is not Religion apt enough to be despised of it self by Men of prophane minds unless it be rendred more mean and contemptible by the Poverty of those who are devoted to it Shall not God be allowed the priviledge of every Master of a Family to appoint the ranks and orders of his own servants and to take care they be provided for as becomes those who wait upon him What a dishonour had this been to the true God when those who worshipped false Gods thought nothing too great for those who were imployed in the service of them But never any yet cryed but he that had a mind to betray his Master to what purpose is all this waste Let God be honoured as he ought to be let Religion come in for its share among all the things which deserve encouragement and those who are employed in the offices of it enjoy but what God and Reason and the Laws of their Country give them and then we shall see it was nothing but the discontent and faction of Corah and his company which made any encroachment of Aaron and the Priesthood any pretence for Rebellion But all these pretences would not serve to make them escape the severe hand of divine justice for in an extraordinary and remarkable manner he made them suffer the just desert of their sin for they perished in their contradiction which is the next thing to be considered viz. 2. The Iudgment which was inflicted upon them for it They had provoked Heaven by their sin and disturbed the earth by their Faction and the earth as if it were moved with indignation against them trembled and shook as Iosephus saith like waves that are tossed with a mighty wind and then with a horrid noise it rends asunder and opens its mouth to swallow those in its bowels who were unfit to live upon the face of it They had been dividing the people and the earth to their amazement and ruine divides it self under their feet as though it had been design'd on purpose that in their punishment themselves might feel and others see the mischief of their sin Their seditious principles seemed to have infected the ground they stood upon the earth of a sudden proves as unquiet and troublesome as they but to rebuke their madness it was only in obedience to him who made it the executioner of his wrath against them and when it had done its office it is said that the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation Thus the earth having revenged it self against the disturbers of its peace Heaven presently appears with a flaming fire taking vengeance upon the 250 Men who in opposition to Aaron had usurped the Priestly office in offering incense before the Lord. Such a Fire if we believe the same Historian which far outwent the most dreadful eruptions of Aetna or Vesuvius which neither the art of Man nor the power of the wind could raise which neither the burning of Woods nor Cities could parallel but such a Fire which the wrath of God alone could kindle whose light could be outdone by nothing but the heat of it Thus Heaven and Earth agree in the punishment of such disturbers of Government and God by this remarkable judgment upon them hath left it upon record to all ages that all the world may be convinced how displeasing to him the sin of faction and sedition is For God takes all this that was done against Moses and Aaron as done against himself For they are said to be gathered together against the Lord v. 11. to provoke the Lord v. 30. And the fire is said to come out from the Lord v. 35. And aâ—terwards it is said of them This is that Moses and Dathan and Abiram who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Corah when they strove against the Lord. By which we see God interprets striving against the Authority appointed by him to be a striving against himself God looks upon himself as immediately concerned in the Government of the world for by him Princes raign and they are his Vicegerents upon earth and they who resist resist not a meer appointment of the people
his company 2. As implying as great displeasure of God under the Gospel against the same kind of sin as he discovered in the immediate destruction of those persons who were then guilty of it 1. As relating to the fact of Corah and his company and so the words lead us to the handling 1. The nature of the Faction which was raised by them 2. The Judgment that was inflicted upon them for it 1. For understanding the nature of the Faction we must enquire into the design that was laid the persons that were engaged in it the pretences that were made use of for it 1. The design that was laid for that and all other circumstances of the story we must have resort to the account that is given of it Numb 16. where we shall find that the bottom of the design was the sharing of the Government among themselves which it was impossible for them to hope for as long as Moses continued as a King in Iesurun for so he is called Deut. 33.5 Him therefore they intend to lay aside but this they knew to be a very difficult task considering what wonders God had wrought by him in their deliverance out of Egypt what wisdom he had hitherto shewed in the conduct of them what care for their preservation what integrity in the management of his power what reverence the people did bear towards him and what solemn vows and promises they had made of obedience to him But ambitious and factious Men are never discouraged by such an appearance of difficulties for they know they must address themselves to the people and in the first place perswade them that they manage their interest against the usurpation of their Governours For by that means they gain upon the peoples affections who are ready to cry them up presently as the true Patriots and Defenders of their Liberties against the encroachment of Princes and when they have thus insinuated themselves into the good opinion of the people groundless suspicions and unreasonable fears and jealousies will pass for arguments and demonstrations Then they who can invent the most popular lies against the Government are accounted the Men of integrity and they who most diligently spread the most infamous reports are the Men of honesty because they are farthest from being Flatterers of the Court The people take a strange pride as well as pleasure in hearing and telling all the â—aults of their Governours for in doing so they flatter themselves in thinking they deserve to rule much better than those which do it And the willingness they have to think so of themselves makes them misconstrue all the actions of their Superiours to the worse sense and then they find out plots in every thing upon the people Whatever is done for the necessary maintenance of Government is suspected to be a design meerly to exhaust the people to make them more unable to resist If good Laws be made these are said by factious men to be only intended for snares for the good people but others may break them and go unpunished If Government be strict and severe then it is cruel and tyrannical if mild and indulgent then it is remiss and negligent If Laws be executed then the peoples Liberties be oppressed if not then it were better not to make Laws than not to see them executed If there be Wars the people are undone by Taxes if there be Peace they are undone by Plenty If extraordinary Judgments befall them then they lament the sins of their Governours and of the Times and scarce think of their own If miscarriages happen as it is impossible always to prevent them they charge the form of Government with them which all sorts are subject to Nay it is seldom that Governours escape with their own faults the peoples are often laid upon them too So here Numb 16.14 Moses is charged with not carrying them into Canaan when it was their own sins which kept them thence Yea so partial have the people generally been against their Rulers when swayed by the power of Faction that this hath made Government very difficult and unpleasing for what ever the actions of Princes are they are liable to the censures of the people Their bad actions being more publick and their good therefore suspected of design and the wiser Governours are the more jealous the people are of them For always the weakest part of mankind are the most suspicious the less they understand things the more designs they imagine are laid for them and the best counsels are the soonest rejected by them So that the wisest Government can never be secure from the jealousies of the people and they that will raise a Faction against it will never want a party to side with them For when could we ever have imagined a Government more likely to be free from this than that which Moses had over the people of Israel He being an extraordinary person for all the abilities of Government one bred up in the Egyptian Court and in no mean degree of honour being called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter one of great experience in the management of affairs of great zeal for the good of his Country as appeared by the tenderness of his peoples interest in their deliverance out of Egypt one of great temper and meekness ☞ above all men of the earth one who took all imaginable care for the good establishment of Laws among them but above all these one particularly chosen by God for this end and therefore furnished with all the requisites of a good man and an excellent Prince yet for all these things a dangerous sedition is here raised against him and that upon the common grounds of such things viz. usurpation upon the peoples rights arbitrary Government and ill management of affairs Usurpation upon the peoples rights v. 4. the Faction makes a Remonstrance asserting the Priviledges of the people against Moses and Aaron Ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them Wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord. As though they had said we appear only in behalf of the Fundamental Liberties of the people both Civil and Spiritual we only seek to retrench the exorbitances of power and some late innovations which have been among us if you are content to lay aside your power which is so dangerous and offensive to Gods holy people we shall then sit down in quietness for alas it is not for our selves that we seek these things what are we but the cause of Gods people is dearer to us than our lives and we shall willingly sacrifice them in so good a Cause And when Moses afterwards sends for the Sons of Eliab to come to him they peremptorily refuse all Messages of Peace and with their men of the sword mentioned v. 2. They make votes of non-Addresses and break off all Treaties with him and declare these for their reasons that he
did dominando dominari as some render it exercise an arbitrary and tyrannical power over the people that he was guilty of breach of the trust committed to him for he promised to bring them into a Land flowing with Milk and Honey or give them inheritance of fields and vineyards but he had not done it and instead of that only deceives the people still with fair promâ—ses and so puts out their eyes that they cannot see into the depth of his designs So that now by the ill management of his Trust the power was again devolved into the hands of the people and they ought to take account of his actions By which we see the design was under very fair and popular pretences to divest Moses of his Government and then they doubted not but such zealous Patriots as they had shewed themselves should come to have the greatest share in it but this which they most aimed at must appear least in view and only Necessity and Providence must seem to cast that upon them which was the first true motive they had to rebel against Moses and Aaron 2. The Persons who were engaged in it At first they were only some discontented Levites who murmured against Moses and Aaron because they were not preferred to the Priesthood and of these Corah was the chief R. Solomon observes That the reason of Corahs discontent was That Elizaphan the Son of Vzziel of the younger house to Izhar from whom Corah descended was preferred before him by Moses to be Prince over the Sons of Kohath Corah being active and busie in his discontents had the opportunity of drawing in some of the Sons of Reuben for they pitched their tents near each other both on the South side of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and these were discontentented on the account of their Tribe having lost the priviledge of Primogeniture Thus what ever the pretences are how fair and popular soever in the opposition men make to Authority ambition and private discontents are the true beginners of them but these must be covered over with the deepest dissimulation with most vehement Protestations to the contrary nothing must be talked of but a mighty zeal for Religion and the publick interest So Iosephus tells us concerning Corah that while he carried on his own ambitious designs with all the arts of sedition and a popular eloquence insinuating into the peoples minds strange suggestions against Moses his Government as being a meer politick design of his to enslave the people of God and advance his own family and interest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would seem to regard nothing but the publick good If fair pretences and glorious Titles will serve to cheat the people into their own miseries and â—he sad effects of Rebellion they shall never want those who will enslave them â—or the sake of Liberty undo them for â—he publick good and destroy them with designs of Reformation For nothing is â—ore popular than Rebellion in the beginning nothing less in the issue of it And the only true reason that it is ever 〈◊〉 is from the want of wisdom and judgment in the generality of mankind who seldom see to the end of things and hardly distinguish between the names and nature of them till their own deaâ— bought experience hath taught them the difference Sedition is of the nature and hath the inseparable properties oâ— Sin for it is conceived with pleasure brought forth with pain and ends in death and misery Nothing enters upon the stage with a braver shew and appearance but however prosperous for a time it may continue it commonly meets with a fatal end But it is with this sin as to this world as it is with others as to the next Men when they are betrayed into them are carried away and transported with the pleasing temptations not considering the unspeakable misery that follows after them So that what the Devils advantage is in order to the ruin oâ— mens souls is the advantage of seditious persons over the less understanding people they both tempt with an appearance of good and equally deceive theâ— which hearken to them But as we stâ—â— find that notwithstanding all the gravâ— admonitions the sober councels the rational discourses the perswasive argâ—ments which are used to deter men froâ— the practice of sin they will still be such Fools to yield to the Devils temptations against their own welfare So neither the blessings of a continued Peace nor the miseries of an intestine War neither the security of a setled Government nor the constant danger of Innovations will hinder men of fiery and restless spirits from raising combustions in a Nation though themselves perish in the Flames of them This we find here was the case of Corah and his company they had forgotten the groans of their captivity in Egypt and the Miracles of their deliverance out of it and all the faithful services of Moses and Aaron they considered not the difficulties of Government nor the impossibilities of satisfying the ambitious desires of all pretenders they regarded not that God from whom their power was derived nor the account they mâ—st give to him for their resistance of it nothing but a full Revenge upon the Government can satisfie them by leaving no means unattempted for its overthrow though themselves be consumed by the fall of it It were happy for Government if these turbulent spirits could be singled out from the rest in their first attempts but that is the usual subtilty of such men when they find themselves aimed at they run into the common herd and perswade the people that they are equally concerned with themselves in the present danger that though the pretence be only against faction and sedition the design is the slavery and oppression of the People This they manage at first by grave nods and secret whispers by deep sighs and extatick motions by far fetched discourses and tragical stories till they find the people capable of receiving their impressions and then seem most unwilling to mention that which it was at first their design to discover By such arts as these Corah had prepared as Iosephus tells us almost the whole Camp of Israel for a popular tumult so that they were like to have stoned Moses before he was aware of it and it seems the Faction had gained a mighty interest among the people when although God so severely and remarkably punished the heads of it yet the very next day all the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the people of the Lord. What a mark of God's people was sedition grown among them When these men were accounted Saints in spight of Heaven and Martyrs though God himself destroyed them They were men who were only sanctified by Rebellion and shewed no other fruits of their piety but disobedience to Authority But the danger had not been so great how loud soever the complaints had been
if only the ruder multitude had been gained to the Favour of Corah and his party for these wanted heads to manage them and some Countenance of Authority to appear under and for this purpose they had drawn to their Faction 250 Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of Renown i. e. Members of the great Council of the Nation Whom Moses was wont to call and advise with about the publick Affairs of it such who saâ—e in Comitiis Senatorum as Paul Eagius tells us therefore said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as were called to the great Assembly which sate in Parliament at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation which was the place where they mâ—t together These were the Heads of the Tribes and the Captains of thousands and the men of the greatest Fame and Authority among the People who Moses assembled together for advice and counsel as often as he saw just occasion for it And as far as I can find were distinct from the great Sanhedrin which seemed to be rather a constant Court of Iudicature which sate to receive Appeals from Inferiour Courts and to determine such difficult causes which were reserved peculiarly for it as about Apostasie of a whole Tribe the case of false Prophets and the like But these 250 men did far exceed the whole number of the Sanhedrin and the Heads of the Tribes and the Elders of Israel were summoned together upon any very weighty occasion by Moses both before and after the institution of the Sanhedrin And now since the Faction had gained so great strength by the accession of so great a number of the most leading men among the People we may expect they should soon declare their intentions and publish the grounds of their entring into such a combination against Moses 3. Which is the next thing to be spoken to viz. the colours and pretences under which these persons sought to justifie the proceedings of the Faction Which were these two 1. The asserting the Rights and Liberties of the people in opposition to the Government of Moses 2. The freeing themselves from the encroachments upon their spiritual Priviledges which were made by the Vsurpations of Aaron and the Priesthood 1. The asserting the Rights and Liberties of the people in opposition to the Government of Moses Is it a small thing say they that thou hast brought us up out of a Land that floweth with Milk and Honey to kill us in the wilderness except thou make thy self altogether a Prince over us And before their charge was that Moses and Aaron took too much upon them in lifting up themselves above the Congregation of the Lord. Which Iosephus more at large explains telling us that the great accusation of Moses was that out of his ambition and affectation of Power he had taken upon himself the Government of the people without their consent that he made use of his pretence oâ— Familiarity with God only for a Politick end that by this means he debarred the people of that Liberty which God had given them and no man ought to take from them that they were all a Free-born people and equally the Children of Abraham and therefore there was no reason they should depend upon the will of a single Person who by his Politick Arts had brought them to the greatest necessities that he might rule them the better Wherefore Corah as though he had been already President of a High Court of Iustice upon Moses their King determines That it was necessary for the Common wealth that such enemies to the Publick Interest should be discovered and punished lest if they be let alone in their Vsurpations of Power they declare themselves open enemies when it will be too late to oppose them There were then two great Principles among them by which they thought to defend themselves 1. That Liberty and a right to Power is so inherent in the People that it cannot be taken from them 2. That in case of Vsurpation upon that Liberty of the people they may resume the exercise of Power by punishing those who are guilty of it 1. That Liberty and a right to Power is inseparable from the people libertatis patrocinium suscipiunt saith Calvin upon Corah and his company and I believe they will be found to be the first assâ—rtors of this kind of Liberty that ever were in the world And happy had it been for us in this Nation if Corah had never found any Disciples in it For what a blessed Liberty was this which Corah aimed at viz. to change one excellent Prince as Moses was for 250 Tyrants besides Corah and the Sons of Reuben What just and equal liberty was it which Moses did deprive them of It was only the Liberty of destroying themselves which all the power he had could hardly keep them from Could there be any greater Liberty than delivering them out of the house of bondage and was not Moses the great Instrument in effecting it Could there be greater Liberty than for their whole Nation to be preserved from all the designs of their enemies to enjoy their own Laws and matters of Iustice to be duly administred amongst them and had they not all these under the Government of Moses What means then this Out-cry for Liberty Is it that they would have had no Government at all among them but that every one might have done what he pleased himself This indeed were a desirable Liberty if a man could have it alone but when every one thinks that he is but one though he be free and every one else is as free as he but though their freedom be equal to his his Power is not equal to theirs and therefore to bring things to a more just proportion every one must part with some power for a great deal of security If any man can imagine himself in such a state of confusion which some improperly call a state of nature let him consider whether the contentment he could take in his own liberty and power to defend himself would ballance the fears he would have of the injury which others in the same state might be able to do him Not that I think meer fear made men at first enter into Societies for there is a natural inclination in mankind to it and one of the greatest pleasures of humane life lies in the enjoyment of it But what other considerations incline men to fear makes reasonable though men part with some supposed liberty for the enjoyment of it So that the utmost liberty is destroyed by the very nature of Government and nothing can be more unreasonable than for men to quarrel with Government for that which they cannot enjoy and the preservation of themselves together Which alone makes the desire of Power reasonable and if the preservation of our selves in our rights and properties may be had without it all that the want of Liberty signifies is that men have all the
ridiculous distinctions by which they would make the case of the Primitive Christians in not resisting Authority so much different from theirs who have not only done it but in spight of Christianity have pleaded for it Either they said they wanted strength or courage or the countenance of the Senate or did not understand their own Liberty when all their obedience was only due to those precepts of the Gospel which make it so great a part of Christianity to be subject to Principalities and Powers and which the Teachers of the Gospel had particularly given them in charge to put the people in mind of And happy had it been for us if this Doctrine had been more sincerely preached and duly practised in this Nation for we should then never have seen those sad times which we can now no otherwiâ—e think of than of the devouring Fire and raging Pestilence i. e. of such dreadful judgments which we have smarted so much by that we heartily pray we may never feel them again For then fears and jealousies began our miseries and the curse so often denounced against Meroz fell upon the whole Nation When the Sons of Corah managed their own ambitious designs against Moses and Aaron the King and the Church under the same pretences of Religion and Liberty And when the pretence of Religion was broken into Schisms and Liberty into oppression of the people it pleased God out of his secret and unsearchable judgments to suffer the Sons of Violence to prevail against the Lord 's Anointed and then they would know no difference between his being conquered and guilty They could find no way to justifie their former wickedness but by adding more The consciousness of their own guilt and the fears of the punishment due to it made them unquiet and thoughtful as long as his life and presence did upbraid them with the one and made them fearful of the other And when they found the greatness and constancy of his mind the firmness of his piety the zeal he had for the true interest of the people would not suffer him to betray his Trust for the saving of his life they charge him with their own guilt and make him suffer because they had deserved to do it And as if it had not been enough to have abused the names of Religion and Liberty before they resolve to make the very name of Iustice to suffer together with their King by calling that infamous company who condemned their Soveraign A High Court of Iustice which trampled under foot the Laws both of God and men But lest the world should imagine they had any shame left in their sins they make the people witnesses of his Murther and pretend the Power of the People for doing that which they did detest and abhor Thus fell our Royal Martyr a sacrifice to the fury of unreasonable men who either were so blind as not to see his worth or rather so bad as to hate him for it And as God gave once to the people of the Iews a King in his Anger being provoked to it by their sins we have cause to say that upon the same account he took away one of the best of Kings from us in his wrath But blessed be that God who in the midst of judgment was pleased to remember mercy in the miraculous preservation and glorious restauration of our Gracious Sovereign let us have a care then of abusing the mercies of so great a deliverance to quite other ends than God intended it for lest he be provoked to say to us as he did of old to the Iews But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both ye and your King And if we look on this as a dreadful judgment let us endeavour to prevent it by a timely and sincere reformation of our lives and by our hearty supplications to God that he would preserve the person of our Soveraign from all the attempts of violence that he would so direct his counsels and prosper his affairs that His Government may be a long and publick Blessing to these Nations SERMON VIII Preached at Guild Hall Chappel JUNE 9 th 1671. Matthew XXI 43. Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof THE time was now very near approaching wherein the Son of God was to suffer an accursed death by the hands of ungrateful men and to let them see that he laid no impossible command upon men when he bid them love their enemies he expresses the truest kindness himselâ— towards those who designed his destruction For what can be imagined greater towards such whose malice was like to end in nothing short of their own ruine than by representing to them the evils they must suffer to disswade them from that which they intended to do But if neither the sense of their future miseries nor their present sins will at all abate their fury or asswage their malice nothing is then lest for kindness to shew it self by but by lamenting their folly bemoaning their obstinacy and praying God to have pity upon them who have so little upon themselves And all these were very remarkable in the carriage of our Blessed Saviour towards his most implacable enemies he had taken care to instruct them by his doctrine to convince them by his miracles to oblige them by the first offers of the greatest mercy but all these things had no other effect upon them than to heighten their malice increase their rage and make them more impatient till they had destroyed him But their stupidity made him more sensible of their folly and their obstinacy stirred up his compassion towards them insomuch that the nearer he approached to his own sufferings the greater sense he expressed of theirs For he was no sooner come within view of that bloody City wherein he was within few days to suffer by as well as for the sins of men but his compassion breaks forth not only by his weeping over it but by that passionate expression which is abrupt only by the force of his grief If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes And when he was within the City he could not mention the desolation which was to come upon it for all the righteous blood which had been spilt there but he presently subjoyns O Hierusalem Hierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy Childreâ— together as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not what words could more emphatically expresâ— the love and tenderness of Christ towards his greatest enemies than these do especially considering that he knew how busie they were in contriving his sufferings while he was so passionately lameâ—ting theirs And when their malice haâ— done its utmost upon