present them before Aaron the Priest that they may Minister unto him The Investiture is from Moses but the Direction and Authority is from God himself Moses we see had good warrant for this but the Peoples jealousie suggested that he had his own ends to serve under pretence of Gods Institution They suspected he had a design to establish his own Throne and an usurped Prerogative and they thought there was no way so likely to accomplish this as by advanceing his allies his elder brother Aaron to the high-Priests Office And if he could perswade the People that this establishment was by Gods own appointment while the Glory of the Myter did put out their eyes and dazle their judgments he might take his Advantage to make himself an absolute Prince over them That this was their sense is evident from their discourse Ye take too much upon you will ye put out the eyes of this People and wilt thou Moses Vers 3 13 14. make thy self altogether a Prince over us Hereupon as well to vindicate the Integrity of Moses as the Authority of his own Institution God appoints Moses to be the Patron of Aarons Case Dixitque Dominus ad Mosen And the Lord said unto Moses c. 'T is strange an Office that lyes under so much contempt amongst some should be a matter of so much emulation amongst the Princes of Israel Indeed it is a great Priviledg to have so free an access to God as the Priest ever had and a great Dignity to be next Moses the Prince as well in point of Honour as Authority But if their eyes were dazled with the splendour of the Myter Num. 18. 1. their heart should have weighed what a burden it is to bear the iniquity of the Sanctuary and of the Priesthood This haply might have taken off the envy and we should not have had so many Rivals to promote a Faction against the right Incumbent in the vid. Bonfr in Chap 16. 2. holy Office Ambition started the dispute which was promoted by Corah out of envy and the Sons of Ruben his confederates and began upon this pretence Before the Num. 16. 1. Tribe of Levi was separated to the Priests Office the first-born of every Tribe was hallowed as it were by right of Primogeniture Chap. 3. Vers 45. to perform the duty They took it ill to be divested of this Right which the Law of nature had intailed upon them and to see it translated intirely upon Aaron and his Sons created matter of envy and indignation especially in Corah and the Sons of Ruben If one Priest must needs be setled over all the Tribes why not the Son of Ruben the first-born For though his Father forfeited his birth-right yet Gods Law doth Gen. 49. 3. 1. Chron. 5. 1. not extedn the penalty beyond the third or the fourth Generation and by this time the intailed curse being cut off it is just his posterity should be restored to the right of Primogeniture This was very plausible for the Rubenites to plead while they aimed likewise in all probability at the Scepter But this would not serve Corah's turn he affected an Ecclesiastical supremacy himself so Moses tells him But he could not tell Chap 16. 10 well how to make out his Title for though he was of the Tribe of Levi yet he was head but of the Second house Aaron was of the first He was therefore to gratifie Exod 6. 21. his envy by procuring Aarons Jurisdiction to be voted down and his Power levelled that himself might be exempted from all Canonical Obedience and become an Independent And then his Ambition suggested That by his popularity and little Arts of insinuation he might gather a numerous congregation And to this end he courts the People Chap 16. 3. and pleads the cause of a Godly party Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them And therefore sufficiently qualified to choose their own Priest or administer to themselves This Doctrine did so bewitch the People that even after the Ringleaders of the Faction Corah and the Sons of Ruben were removed by a Signal and Stupendous vengeance all the Chap 16. 42. congregation not one Tribe excepted conspired against Moses and against Aaron to carry on the design until fourteen thousand and seven hundred of them were swept away with a new plague and the rest silenced by a Miraculous decision of the controversy In the interim how does Aaron the Defendant behave himself in this quarrel why he shews himself as becomes a Type of Christ worthy that Office which they maliciously contended to wrest from him when he sees Num. 16. 48. that wrath is gon out and the plague begun He takes his Censer to make an Atonement and standing between the dead and the living He exposeth his own life as a sacrifice for these his enemies but for his cause he pleads not one word but submits himself and it wholly to him that judgeth righteously and so we proceed to 2. The Trial. But had not a special Verdict past against them already Had they not acknowledged a judgment upon the loss of 15000 Souls swept away by a threefold Vengeance the devouring earth the consuming fire and a wasting plague But this is thought imputable to some rashness of conduct in the business or to Moses's Interest and importunity with God And so their Spirits being imbittered and their hearts hardened those judgments made no impression upon them In mercy therefore God deals with them in cool blood and summons them to a new Trial wherein he vindicates the Authority of his own Institution and seals Aarons Pattent for the sacred Office with a miracle In this Trial we are to consider 1. The Jury 2. The Verdict In the Jury we may consider 1. The nature 2. The number 3. The place of their meeting 1. They are Rods. Men many times do so far degenerate becom so unreasonable that God appeals to senseless creatures to take up the dispute and decide the controversie that he has with them Hear O ye mountains the Lords controversie Besides the Rod is an Emblem of Authority an Ensign of Jurisdiction The Lord shall Psal 110. Heb. 11. Psal 89. 32. Apoc. 21. 15. send the rod of thy power out of Sion And there is a threefold use of the Rod consonant to that Emblematical signification For 1. Support for 2. Chastisement and 3. Mensuration And it belongs to the justice of Authority to support the weak and innocent to chastise the wicked and impenitent and to mete out reward and punishment respectively unto all The Rods therefore are not unfitly put upon the Jury to find for the Priests office And the Rods of Almond-Trees most opposite to this purpose for this being the first of Trees that awakes out of the dead of Winter and shoots up to cloath and dress it self to it belongs the right of Primogeniture amongst the Trees
and therefore it is so much the fitter to determine upon what Tribe the Sacred Priesthood a special branch of the right of Primogeniture is to be transferred 2. For the number of these Rods there is some difference amongst Interpreters because the Tribe of Joseph was divided into two Families and had a double portion in the land of Canaan and so upon that civil account there were twelve Tribes besides the Tribe of Levi therefore some think there were twelve Rods besides the Rod of Levi. But such an inequality had been apt to breed another quarrel and therefore it is more probable there were but twelve Rods according to the number of the Tribes in their Original and that these Rods were all of the same stock the same growth the same gathering and preparation that there might be no disparity to beget new cavils touching the decision And because the Tribe of Levi was divided into two Families though Corah head of the second House and Aaron's Competitor or Numb 26. 11. Adversary at least was extinguished and his Sons being preserved by special Providence probably had yielded the pre-eminence to Aaron deeming it sufficient honour for them to be dignified with that lustre that would be reflected upon them from the Glory of the head of their Elder Family yet to take off all colour of dispute about the Succession God gave express order That Aaron's and not Levi's name should be written upon the Rod for the Tribe of Levi. 3. For the place where this Jury of Rods were put together it was the Tabernacle of Vers 3. the Covenant before the Testimony before the Tables of the Law by the Pot of Manna Psal 94. to signifie that the Rod is an excellent Vsher of obedience to the Law and if it prevails not to that effect that then it is a ready instrument to drive us from the comfort of the Pot of Manna the benefit of the Sacrament Or it might be intended that the sacredness of the place should take away all suspition of fraud and add Authority to the miraculous obsignation of Aaron's office This being the place where God did vouchsafe to exhibit his Gracious presence to determine them upon appeal in all doubtful Cases the Rods were placed here to signifie that this being a kind of Sacred Lottery the event was wholly at Gods disposal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss That the grace of Priesthood is not of men but of God Ideo Aaron Sacerdotem ipse elegit ut non humana cupiditas in eligendo sacerdote praeponderaret sed gratia Dei non Ep. l. 10. Ep. 82. voluntaria oblatio nec propria assumptio sed caelestis vocatio Ambros And now this Emblematical Grand Jury will afford us an excellent Definition of a Priest or Bishop he is a person slipt off the common stock of Mankind by a special act of separation not rooted in the earth not fed with the crude juices of nature to soften and infeeble him to make him pliant to the bent of evil inclinations but mortified to the motions of the flesh dead to the Temptations of the World that being impregnated with blessings supernatural with grace and knowledg he may bring forth abundant fruit for the service of Gods Church And the Verdict which went for Aaron represents him to be such a person For behold his Rod had budded buds and brought forth leaves and bloomed blossoms and yielded Almonds Vers 8. Here is a production which nature never had a due conception of at least never travel'd for it A dry Rod swell'd into turgent buds and buds dilated into lovely blossoms and digested into wholsome fruits and all ex tempore a threefold miracle to render Aaron's election the more certain and unquestionable Buds and Flowers and Fruit here 's provision for posterity by an orderly succession And the order of their pullulation is an evidence that Gods Grace does not destroy Nature or pervert the common course of it but only assist quicken and advance her in her operations Austin calls this Rod Sacramentum Sacerdotale De Temp. Ser. 99. ep l. 1. ep 50. Lib. 10. ep 82. Origen Pelusiot Ambr. Austin Fructus nucis amaram quidem aspiram cortium habet sub qua latet quod est esculentum c. Theod. Hier. in Jer. 1. and Is Pelusiot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Type of the Priesthood And what doth it signifie Nisi quod nunquam Sacerdotalis marcescat gratia saith St. Ambrose The Fathers observe further of this Tree that the outside the rinde the husk the shell are hard and astringent sharp and bitter but the inside the fruit the kernel are sweet nutritive and refreshing This is a significant Hyerogliphick of the Priests duty It instructs him to be vigilant and active in his office austere and mortified in his life patient and hardy to endure the storms of reproach and opposition while he is discharging himself in a salutary fruitfulness Let him be cloathed with the leaves and blossoms of a decent Conversation but laden with the fruits of all good works that the Church under the inspection of such Pastors may be as a Garden of Nuts and the Spouse delight to descend into it with his train of Graces and inconceivable consolation In short all Priests have their Rods but all Rods are not thus florid thus fruitful Such as are so without all peradventure are of Gods election and establishment as was Aaron And now I hope such as are of Israel of what Tribe soever will submit to Gods Arbitration and be reconciled to Aaron and kiss his Rod pay a due regard a dutiful veneration to that Office and Ministry which God hath vouchsafed to dignify with a threefold miracle To this end a publick Record is made of it to be kept inviolable And the Lord said unto Moses bring Aarons Rod again before the testimony c. 1. Before the testimony That whensoever they came to consult God about any emergent difficulty they might not presume to seek his assistance to degrade the Priesthood or cut off the line of succession which he had established by such wonderful Prodigies and to which he had assigned Sanctuary in his holy place for thither the Rod is brought and brought thither it is 2. Vt servetur that it might be kept such as attempt to undermine Gods sacred Constitutions by the rudeness of popular tumults do but make them take the firmer roots and ingage God the more to shew signs and wonders for their preservation Aarons Rod shall find Sanctuary and be preserved in perpetuam rei memoriam 3. Vt servetur in signum It shall be kept for a sign Mans memory is naturally treacherous and nothing can spoil it sooner than ingratitude and envy Therefore God does here teach us an Art of Memory by prescribing tokens to cure us of our forgetfulness such memorials being significant to Hic et Chap. 16. 38. the use of edifying
though but Ceremonies God prescribes them and though they be Jos 22. 10. but of Mans Institution he allows of them Such signs do not confer Grace ex opere operato not by any real efficacy no nor yet by way of impetration they cannot do it They have no Natural Power no divine Promise for it But they are fair Objects to excite and refresh the Memory And he that will either eschew evil or do good must first remember that it is his duty and in this sence and to this effect every monument of Gods Justice every remanent instance of the Divine Mercy may become sacramental to us But had Almighty God left himself and his Servant Aaron without witness hitherto No those 250 men with Corah and some Numb 26. 10. others they became a sign And the brasen Censers of those that offer'd incense were made a sign too they were converted into plates for a covering of the Altar to be a Chap. 16. 40. Memorial unto the children of Israel They could not approach the Altar but the reflection of those plates was a cleer conviction of their late Miscarriages But when men will proceed in their sin after judgment they provoke God to erect more signs to upbraid their stubbornness and ingratitude when they importune him contrary to his express Revelations they get nothing by it in the end but the brand of a more lasting infamy For 4. This Rod is kept in signum Rebellium filiorum Israel for a token against the Rebels God had past an Act of oblivion upon Moses's Intercession in favour of this People Numb 14. 21. Dimisi peccatum populi hujus juxta verbum tuum But God forgets our sins upon condition we keep a Record and repent of them If we do repeat them we revive the memory of our past transgressions and set up a light by which those dim characters of our guilt over which the hand of charity had drawn a curtain become legible And yet even here the inestimable Goodness of God is remarkable he does so mercifully chastize their pride that the testimony of their contumacy shall be the means of their cure a provision for their amendment and an Antidote against the peril of Recidivation This Rod is to be kept for a token Vt quiescant querelae ne moriantur To take away their Murmurings from me yea and against me too for they were not so much against Aaron as against the Lord That they die not and that was the Design in this Transaction Vt quiescant querelae to silence and still their Murmurings Ambition is restless and knows no bounds Cogitet qui honorem affectat tempestatem se affectare He that affecteth Honour does court a tempest for Quid est potestas culminis nisi tempestas mentis Philo. Such as climb the pinnacle of Ambition are psal 106. 16. tossed with the greatest tempests These Israelites began with Envy proceeded to Murmuring and at last grew insolent even to an insurrection they make a forcible entry upon the sacred office and commit a notorious riot wherein many thousands perish God having installed Aaron and his Sons in the Priests Office added this sanction to the Numb 3. 10. establishment The stranger that cometh near shall be put to death Yet their Ambition was grown so great and their Animosities so high That God saw it time to take up the quarrel else all the Tribes had died in it The earth swallowed them up and yet they murmured The Fire consumed them and yet they murmured The Plague made havock of them and yet they murmured And this spirit of perversness was so great a provocation to a noble and ingenuous nature God could not but be severe in punishing Numb 14. 10. of it They had rejected their Guides and were ready to stone any charitable Informer Nothing but a lasting miracle can shame and silence them Aarons Rod inshrin'd in the sanctuary must compose their spirits and make peace betwixt God and them betwixt them and themselves If it cannot heal their perversities it will so far charm them into temper as to bridle and restrain their boldness They will now suffer Aaron quietly to perform his Office and his Ministry will be a means to keep off future judgments And to this end the Lord said unto Moses Bring Aarons Rod again before the testimony to be kept c. What Aaron was amongst the Tribes of Application Ifrael the same upon the matter is the Bishop in his Province and Corah was the figure of such as make Rents and Schismes in the Church of Christ who are therefore said to have perished in the gainsaying of Corah as Jud. Ep. v. 11. in their Representative And yet Good God! What an Insurrection hath been made amongst us upon that account Aaron he was voted down and deposed and in fine you cannot forget what became of Moses But to make haste out of that wilderness and from amongst those fiery serpents that stung so deadly Moses must be recalled to appease our tumults to still our murmurings and settle us in Tranquillity To this end Dixit Dominus The Lord spake unto his Majesty not Immediately by a voice from Heaven but by the voice of holy Scriptures and ancient Councils by the voice of Reason and Experience by the voice of fundamental Laws and Customs by the voice of Orthodox Fathers and dutiful Sons by the voice of Royal blood and by the voice of our great disorders and confusions Many Cobwebs were to be swept down from our Church-windows and much rubbish to be swept out of our Church-doors and much dust to be brusht off the garments of inferiour Priests and Levites some things were amiss in the house of God and no such Rule as Aarons Rod to square out a Reformation These were the Lords voice crying unto Moses to the King refer virgam bring the Rod again c. But had we not a Rod already A rod with a vengeance a Rod of Corah's own stock of Corah's own gathering Floruit virga Ezek. 7. 10 11. germinavit superbia iniquitas surrexit in virga Ours was just of the same constitution The Radix the root of it was iniquity and that branched out into oppression and violence A rod of Iron this was that broke the Royal Scepter and beat down the Royal Branches and dasht the Church in pieces A ragged staffe whose fangs were steel'd with Malice and died with innocent blood It knockt down Moses and thrust out Aaron away with such a Rod and God be thanked this Rod of the wicked did not rest upon the lot of the Righteous though it was somewhat long in motion rowling up and down yet it did not it could not rest it was acted by such a vertiginous spirit This Rod was at last thrown away and Moses restored And the Lord said unto Moses bring Aarons Rod again before the testimony Not a Rod of Aarons own growth or gathering but a
plant which the Heavenly Father hath planted For no man taketh this Heb. 5. Honour to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Our Rod is that which undoubtedly sprung from the root of Jesse As Joh. 20. my Father sent me so I send you Out of that ground it shooteth up in the Church of God and all Antiquity sets forth the Lineage of it in the visible succession of Bishops from the Apostles in the several Churches of their plantation In Tabernaculum Bring it into the Tabernacle there it hath the Approbation of Gods eye the protection of his Presence From hence therefore it must take direction to minister in subordination to the Authority and Honour thereof there it is installed ut servetur in signum lodged there in safety obliged therefore to serve the Interest of the Church which is the Interest of God and of immortal Souls In order hereunto it is set up in signum for a sign Yes and in signum ad sagittam too as a mark for the Arrow It is the Prophets complaint Behold I and the children which God hath given me are for signs and wonders It was our Saviours own lot he was set up in signum contradictionis a sign liable to great contradiction against him they shot out their Arrows even bitter words And if so bold with Aaron himself they will not forbear his substitute if they forbear not the chief Bishop they will not spare his shadow As long as Aaron is set up for a sign in the Church there will be found such Archers we have them in our Text with their quiver full of bitter Arrows nay their Arrows are upon the string and upon the flight too As long as they continue to be filii Rebellionis while they retain their froward disposition non quiescunt querelae we shall never be free from Murmurings But are there any of this breed left in our Israel Has not the Gracious Act of oblivion quite extinguished this unquiet spirit 1 Sam. 15. 14. If it has what meaneth then this lowing and this bleating which we hear Are there not a many Murmurers attempting to exasperate the people into a new insurrection that they may once more wrest the Rod out of the hand of Aaron And do these men look for a sign too yes they do and they might see a wonderful sign from heaven if they were not blinded with pride and prejudice and an obstinate Spirit Ecce Dominus behold the Lord himself hath given us a sign Dedisti Psal 69. 6 7. metuentibus thou hast given a token for them that fear thee At the tears and prayers of the Church God saved her with the wholsome defence of his own right-hand For the change amongst us by the Restauration of the King was no other than mutatio dextrae Altissimi wrought by the right-hand of the most-high A sign from heaven this was without all peradventure Yet these men are not satisfied they look for and preach for and pray for another sign and what sign would they have The seven Angels with the seven Apoc. 15. plagues and vials of Gods wrath Would they have more fire come down from heaven Alas They know not what spirit they are of He that came not to destroy mens Souls but to save them did not ordain Aarons Rod for such a sign If that Rod did turn Num. 20. 9. the rock into water as some have imagined yet to be sure it did not turn the water into blood It may bring forth contrition and refreshment but not destruction It bodes better things to mankind even to these Refractory and stubborn children 'T is signum salutare ne moriantur A soveraign preservative That they die not That is the end for which the Rod is introduced and deposited in the sanctuary This 2 Cor. 10. 8. Power of Discipline Dedit nobis in aedificationem God hath given it for edification saith the Apostle and not for your destruction And yet he hath taught us to distinguish betwixt yours and you Something 2 Cor. 10. 8. was to be destroyed in them though not their Persons yet their Carnalities their vices their Schismes and Disorders These works of the flesh The Rod is to be administred in interitum carnis for the destruction of the flesh That the spirit may be 1 Cor. 5. 5. saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Mortification is the way to life and Reformation Jam. 5. ult the door of safety He that converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a Soul from death This is the right Method Gods Method in the Text et quiescant querelae c. Thou shalt quite take away their Murmurings c. We see then why the Rod is placed in the sanctuary not so much for Aaron's own advantage that he may pride himself in the Power and Beauty of it but for the benefit of others even of such as do most oppose it The remoter end is ne moriantur that they die not but in order to this the immediate end is Vt quiescant querelae eorum to still their murmurings The oure must begin here care must be taken in the first place as much as is possible to take away their complaints and murmurings and how shall that be effected Why Virga est mater disciplinae the Rod will open the eyes if it be administred with 1 Sam. 14. 27. a little honey applied to the top of it when the asperity is sweetned with mildness and compassion The Rod and reproof giveth wisdom Pro. 29. 14. If the viper be beaten with a rod it takes away his venom and he becomes an excellent Antidote against poison If we cannot heal their perversities at least we may still their murmurings And to this end the constitution of the Rod is very considerable It must be a streight Rod that the infliction Deut. 25. 2. may be equal to the fault est enim verus praesul virga recta aequaliter justitiam exercens atque semper vigilans It must be a solid Rod H. P. ad Ez. 3. to support the weak and a smart Rod to correct the wicked and a stiff Rod to defend the Innocent Or to keep still to the Metaphor it should have these properties It should be 1. solid 2. vital 3. florid and 4. fruitful 1. A solid Rod not hollow loose or spungy Ezok. 19. 11. Chap. 2. 4. 6. Chap. 3. 8 9. like a cane For it is concern'd many times to encounter with a Rock the heart of flint and the face of brass and therefore it had need be solid and steel'd with Resolution that it may not yield to the applications nor receive the impressions of an importune and stubborn spirit 2. It must be a vital Rod and they say Aaron's Rod did never wither was never barren after it was deposited in the sanctuary And this life must appear in a threefold germination it must bud 1.