Parochial and Plain Sermons

" [['ve unto lhem; for lhey bave gone in ll way of Cash, and tan greedily a.fter the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Cote."

HERE are two special sins which trouble the Church, and are denounced iu Scripture," ambition and avarice, the sin of Korah and the sin of Balaam; both of which are spoken of in the text. The sin of Balaam is denounced again and agaia by St. l'aul, in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus; as where he says, "A Bishop must be.... hot greedy of filthy lucre hot covetous;" "the I)eacons must be hot greedy of filthy lucre;" noticing the while that some supposed that "gain was godliness," and "taught things which they ought hot for filthy lucre's sake. '' And the sin of Korah, or ambition, is condemned by out Lord, when He commands, Whosoever will be great mnoug you, let him be your minister; by St. James, when he says, "Be not many masters, knowing that we shall; t. Paul, receive the greater condenmation " and by.q

268 T/e Çaizsa),i,z of when he directs that a Bishop should no be a "novice, les being lifed up wih pride he ç, dl into le eondemnation f the devil. ''= And both sins ogeher are spoken of ly St. Peter, in his exhortation fo the Elders to "Ded the flock of God.... m,t for filt.hy lucre, but of a ready mind; leither as being 1,rds over God's heritage, lmt being ensalnldes fo the floek. ''a Ace,rdiugly, these are the two sins brought before us by our ('hurch in the first lesson8 of the filt Sunday art.er E;stcr, which is, as if were, the festival in COlnmcmm'atiolt of the Ministerial Commission. After cdebrating the resurrectiol of Christ, when He became "a Priest fi)r ever after the order of 5[dchizedek," we proceed to make lnenti,,n of the lneans which He bas instituted h}r exereising Ilis Priesthood on eal'th eontinually,for eomlnelnorating and alTlying in the Spirit, among Itis eleet people, again and agaiu, day after day, fo the end of the world, that atoning death and glorious resurreeti,m, whieh IIe wrought out once for ail in His own person on Calva W. tre Himself instituted that means on the very day that He rose ff'oto the dead, ordaining man, ff'ail and fallible as he is, to be the vessd of His g'igs, and to represent Him. Vhen t[e was risen, He did hot first show ttimself to IIis enemies, nor manilest the Spirit, nor untbld Ilis new law, nor destroy the Temple; but He eonsecrated His Ministers: "As My Father hath sent Me," He said to His Apostles, "even so send I you." And, as if after His patteru, we too, even af this day, follow up the eelebration of His = hlatt, xx. 26. James iii. 1. 1 Tim. iii. 6. a 1 Pet. v. 2, 3.

" taking t.o Himself His gTeat power," with t.hat of His delegat, ing it o His Church, as the Gospel selected t.he saine Sunday shows. 0f such high importance fien, in ont Church's judgment., is the sul)ject of t.he Christ, ian Ministry; so intimatelv c, mnected wit.h the I)ivine scheme of mercy, so flfll of reverenee and awe. This will be best seen by proeeeding, as I shall now do, fo eonsider the lesson derived fi'&n t.he rebelliml of ,rah, I athan, and Abiram, which, th,ngh properly belonging to file Ohl Covenant, our Chm'ch eertainly eonsiders applicable fo us ('hristians. The hist,,ry in question eontains an aceount, hot only of the ambition of Konfl hinlself, who was a Levite or minisor, but of t.he rebeHion of I)at.han and Abiram, who were hot ministers, 1.,u, as we now speak, la.ymen. In eonsidering if., I shall confine myself t.o this poin, riz. to det.ermine the feelings and eiremnst.anees undor which flaese wieked lllen rebelled againsg Moses and Aaron, raid that., wifll a view of warning those who speak ght.ly of sehism, separation, and dissent,, in this day. For I think i will ho soen tha.t f, lloy are feelings and eireumstanees whieh preva.il very widely now as well as t.hen, and, if fley do prevail, are as evfl now as flley were len; St. Jude, in t.he t.ext, plainly int.inlating thag sueh gainsaying as Korah's is a sin in a Chrisian, as weH as formerly in t.he Jows, and t.lla ghose who commit i are in t.he way t.o perish. This, then, is a very serions t.hought; eonsidering, as I have said, how men in these days ma.ke ligh of i. The outfine of ghe history of Korah, atllan, and Abiram is his: they rebeed against Moses and Aaron,

7 ° /I ÇaiIsayi of and in consequence DLhan md Abimm were swallowed up by a.u earthquake, and Korah's COlnpany was burnt with tire. ow, thon let us proceed to the relnarks proposed. 1. Firs, t,]en, lc the number and dignity of the oflçnders be ol,served. They seem to have been some of t,he most eminent and consideral,le persons in Israel. Dathan and Al,iraln'S pary are said more than once, with some eml,hasis, to have been " falnOUS in the con- n-egat, ion, men of renown. '' Moreover there were among them as many as two htmdred and fifty riwes, or  we shouhl nt,w say, nol,lemen. A very great and formidable oppositioli to Moses and Aaron was it., when so great a number of enlinen l,ersons rebelle,] against, or (in modern language) beealne dissenters from fle Church. Nor was t.his all,a portion of (lod's appointed ministers johed them. The Levites, as we all know, were the espeeially holy tribe: a portion of theln, viz. the fanfily of Aaron, were priests; but alt of them were mNisters. Sueh was Korah; but, dissatisfied with being merely whag God.had ruade hiln, he asph'ed fo be something more, to have the priesthood. d it appears that just as many of his brethren joined him in his rebellion as there were pl'inees who joined I)ahal d Abiraln. Two hundred and fifty Levis, or lninisters, were banded together in this opposition to [oses, forlning, froln their rank and nnmbêr a body (fo use once more modern language) of very high respeetabity, to say the least, that is, respeetabNty  the eyes of men. 2. Next, let us observe how confident they were that  Numb. xvi. 2; xx. 9.

The Gaisayig of "orah. ' 7 I they were right. They seemed to have entertained no kind of doubt or hesitation. When Moses denounced Dathan and Abiram, and bade all those who wished to escape their curse, to "depart" at once "from the teurs of those wicked men," "Dtthan and Abh-am came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children." ¥ou sec they had no misgivings, no fears, no perplexity; they saw their way clear; they were sure they were in the right; and they came out, tt stand any test, any sentence of wrath which Moses might atteml,t, as thinking that nothhg -eould corne of it. Nor was Korah's confidence Iess. Moses challenged him and the test to appear before God, fo perform the priest's office, and so to stand the test whether or hOt Hê would accept them; and they promptly accepted the proposal. They were to "take their censers, and put tire therein, and put ineense in them before the Lord," "and it shall be, that the mau whom thê Lord doth choose, he shall be holy." Korah and his company accordingly "stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Arc)ses and Aaron;" nay, in that sacred and awfifl place, where was the glory of the Lord visibly displayed, did Korah endure to "gather all thc congre9atio" against Moses and Aaron. Sceptics, were there sueh standing by, lnight have ruade the remark, that both parties were equally sincere, equally confident; and therefore neither was more pleasing to God than the other. Such was the confidence of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, of the two hundred and fifty princes or nobles, and the two hundred and tifty ministers of God. And

- 7 e Thc Gaiusayiug of Aor«h. we, who believe that in spire of t, heir c mfidence mighty God waz agains t,hem, are perhaps a first sigh tempted t,o att, ri]mt, e it o some extraordina U infuation, judiciM blindness, specM hard-hearedness, or the like,somet, hing quine ou of he way, peculiar perhaps to he ews, something which eammt lmppen now. We cammt comprehend how t,heir confidence c, mld possilly be based m.r«as(ml do hot say on correct l'Oaso], bu CVelt (Qm'e'M rea.son. We do not consider that perhaps t,hey tao,,yl, t they had good reasons for what t.hey did, as we «,ften think in ont own case, when we really have hot. Rather we at.tribute t.heir eonduct t.o somet.hing irrational, t,) 1,ride, obst.inacy, or hatred of t.he trut.h, as indeed it was in ifs origin; but I mean, to some sueh evfl prineiple operat.ing on the soul al oce, and hot operating on it. th,ro«ya t, he pretenee of reason, not so operat.ing as to be hidden whet.her Dom t.hemselves or others. And thus we lose the lesson whieh this solemn history is calculated fo convey t.o us at this day; beeause, sinee the opposition ruade t,o (lod's Clmreh in these days is professedly based upon reason, hot upon mere prejudiee, passion, or wilfulness, persons think that the confidence with whieh t.hey oppose themselves t.o it., is a very difiçrent sort of confidence ti'om t.hat of ]çorah, Dat.han, and Abiram, whereas it is really very ranch t.he saine. 3. What, t.hen, were t.he re«sons or a.rguïnents whieh nmde Korah, Dathan, and Abiram so confident they were in t.he right,—so confident, that they even ventured to appeal to (lod, and to fise up agahst 5Ioses and Aaron as if in the Nmne of the:Lord? Their ground was this: they aeeused Moses and Aaron of what is now called -riestcr«ft. Let us pay attention to this cirmsta.nce. Now, let it be observed, that there were llla.lly rebellions of the people, founded on open a.ud professed «nbclicf. This was not the character of the particflr sin under review: it was hot a disbelief in God, but in Moses. Distrust in Moses, indeed, was mkxed up in all their rebellions; but genera.lly their rebcllion was more strictly directed against Ahnighty God. Thus, when the spies returned, and spread about an evfl repooE of the good land, and the people belicved them, this iml)lied a disbelief in the Divine Afin altogether, as manifested in their del[verance and protection. Thus they complained of the lnanna; and thus they went out on the seventh day to ga.ther it. But if is relnarkable, that in the rebelli,,n belote us, there is no hint of the promoters of it disbeliering in the power «,r providence of God over the chosen pe,ple; only they accuse Moses of altering or (as we should say) corrupting the divine system. Dathau and Abiram were sons of I-teuben, the first-born of the tribes: they might consider that Moses was interfering with their prerogative by birth to lead and goverll the t)eot)le. But, any how, tlley seeln to have relied on their tank and eminence; they and their companions were "famous in the congregation, lnen of renown," and they could hot ]»ring themselves to SUblnit to God's appointmeut, by which the nation was forlned into a Church, and Levi was chosen, at God's inscrutable will, to be the t)riest hstea.d of Reuben. Accordingly, far ri'oto denying that God was with the nation, they lnaintaJamd it; they only sa.id that He was hot specially IV] S

274 T/m Gai¢syb¢g of IJora/. wigh Moses and Ara'on; flmy only claimed an equaligy of honour and power wih Moses and Aaron; ghey only denommed Moses and Aaron as usurpers, tyrans, and hypocrites. Fro" ff'oto showing any scong or lightness of mind, or profaneness, such as Esau's who rejected he blessing, t.hey so eseemed it as o daim iç as fleir own, in all is filness; nay, hey claimed iç far çhe whole peol,le. They were only qpased ta what is now called e.ccltsivee; they were champions of the rights of the peol,le against what they c.alled the encroachments, the arrogmt lretensi[ms, t.lm priestcraft of 5[(,ses their Lawgiver, and Ara'on the Saint of the L(rd. They said, "Ye take t.oo nmch u])on yon, seeing all the congregation are lmly, cvcry ow of tlem; and the Lord is among them; wherefore thon lift ye up yourselves abovc the eongregation of t.he Lolq?" Their oljeetian vas, that 5[oses w interposing himself as a mediator between (lod and them, limiting the mercies of God, restraining the tYeedom, obscurig the glory of I[is grace, raid robbing them of their covenanted privileges; that he lmd instituted an order of 1,riests, whereas they were all priests, every one, and needed no human assistance, no voice or advice, or directùm, or performance, flore faible man, from men of like passions and imperfections with themselves, in ortier to approach (lod withal, and serve Itim aeceptal_,ly. "Ail the congregation are holy," say they, " every one of them; and the Lord is among them." " The Lord is hot far off; tic is hot in the elouds only, He is hot on Sinai, He is hot on the mercy-seat, He is hot with Aaron; but He is among us, in the congregation, as near one man as another, as near  all of us as He is to Moses." Their

T/e Çaisayi of Aora/..2 7 5 partisans affect the saine tone even after God's judgmen has Nllen on he rebels. The people say fo Moses and Aaron, "Ye have killed tire people.f gle Lrd." Yes; hey cM1 flose separagisgs and schismagists "the Lord's people," and flmy aecnse M»ses and Aaron flrsoofl of having, by some deviee of jnggling priesgs, SOlne sgrange and diabolical sgragagem, some secreg of magie or science, compassed tire death of heir enemies, while fley pregended go refer i o a miracnlous judglneng; and they seem as if t« pride themselves on heir diseernment, on he clearness of intelleeuM vision by which fliey saw flrough he fraud, and brough i holne o he imposgors. Awful gug indeed in flmse self-wise men, if ghis representation be true! yet it is apparently grue, as the words show with vhich the rebels themselves answer the summons of Moses to corne to him. " Wflt thou," say they, "put out the eyes of these men? we will hot corne up." No; we have eyes; we are not mere dtfll, brutish, superstitious bigots, to crouch before a priest, and submit fo his yoke of bondage; we can reason, we can argue, we are resolved fo exercise our free unfettered private judgment, and to deterlnine (candidly indeed and dispassionately), but still to determine for ourselves belote we act. We wfll indeed give a fair hearing fo what is told us; we will listen with a becoming deference and with all patience, nay with a sort of consideration and prepossession fo what you, 0 Moses and Aaron, say fo us; but stfll we w not have our eyes put out. No, seeing is believing; we wfll hOt go by instinctive feeling, by conscience, by mere probabNties; but evmT-

thing shall be examined in a ration`ul and enlightened way, everything searched, and sifed, and scrutinized, and rigidly tested, before it is admitted. The burden of proof lies with you; till you h`uve proved to us your claires, we will no go up, we will no obey. To tell the ruth, we `ure suspicious of you. We are "jealous with a godly jealousy" (al,us! for men do so speak!) of any encroaehments on our spiritu,l liberty, any assumption of superior holiness, superior acceptableness in one of us over `unother. We are al] brethren, we are all equal, all indcpendcnt. " Wil thou anake thyself altoget.her a prince over us?" "Moreover," they continue, "thou hast hot brought us into a land that floweth with milk `und honey, or given us inhcritance of fields and vineyards;" or as men now speak, The present system does hot work well; there are many al,uses, abundant need of reform, lnuch still undone which should be done, much idleness, much inetficiency, naany defects in the Church. We see if quite t)lainly.:Do hot seek fo defend yourselves. "Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will hot corne up." Something of the saine kind of spirit had already shown itself in the sin of the golden calf, though that. sin was open idolatry. Then also the people thought that they had found a better religion than Moses had taught them. They were far ri'oto denying God's miraculous providences; but they said that Moses had taken fo himself what belonged to the nation; he had taught them in his own way, and they had a right to choose for themselves. "Up," they said, "make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that

T/ze Gaisayizg of I(or'a/z. 2 7 7 brough us up ou of he land of Egyp, we wo no wha is beeome of him. ''» And where was Moses  He was wiLh God in prayer and vision. They did no know, or a le understand his. So Lhey said, "Wha a ime for a ruler fo be absent  in what a crisis  hov much is there that wa.nts d,ing forty days are gone, and he is st, ill away. Is he lost? has he left us here to ourselves is he feigning any communication from heaven? any how, vhat binds us to him? We are 1,mmd indeed the (lod who has brought us out of Egypt, but hot to the rule of Moses ,r the line of Aaron." Moses was away; and where was Aaron?where? the people could hot ask, for they were partakers in his sin, rather, they had forced him into their sin, the sin of the golden calf. Aaron was receiving their gold ornaments, and was moulding theln into an idol. Alas! the people couhl hot accuse him, who had seduced hiln into the sin. But there OEvere those who might, who did complain; and who they were, since I have been led to the subject, if wih be found to our present purpose fo inquire. They were the Levites. Whfle Aaron sinned, they, the inferior ministers, stood sflent, but wondering and distressed. These had no pa in the sin; and when Moses came do from the mourir and said, "5o is on the Lord's side?" then fley, and they only, answered the call. " the sons of vi g«thered themselves together unto him;" and when he ordered them, they promptly "put eve W man his sword by his side, and went in and out from gate fo gare throughout the camp, and slew eve W man his brother, and eve W man his  Exod. xxii. 1.  Exod. xxii. 26.

 78 The Ga£gsay£g of Korah. companion, and every nmn his neighbour;" and "here fell of he people ha day abou hree housand men." This is considered in Scripture r the act of cousecration by which the Levites became the sacred tribe; so that their advancement to the ministerial office is historically coincident wit.h Aaron's tempora T defectiç, n from his more sacred duties in it. All this had happened, as some suppose shortly belote, as others think as much as twenty years before, the occurrence which has becn undç.r (,ur immediate review; but whether or hot the oe occurrence, as bas been reasonal:ly conjectured, led to the other, whether or not Korah's stouthearted rebelliçm was the result s of ambitious views in the Levites, which their advancement to the sacred minist T had occasioned, still certain it is that at this rime "it seemed but a small thing unto them" (in Moses' words) "that the (1od of Israel had separated them ri'oto the congregation of Israel, to bring theln near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and fo stand belote the congregation to minister unto them;" and "they sought the priesthood also," Aaron's portion, on whom they were appointed to attend. 9 And the circumstance that Aaron had failed on that trying occasion when they were rewarded, lnight dispose them to contelnn him af this rime, hot rectllecting that God's will ruade the diff'erence between luan and man, and that He who gave them His covenanted blessings through bulls and calves, might also vouchsafe them, did it please Him, through frail and erring nmn; and might dispense with inward  Exod. xxxii. 29. 8 Vid. Patrick on lgumb, xvi. 2. 9 XTttmb. iii. 10.

perfectiou, nd take up with mere earflmn vessels, and be content with faith instc,nd of consistent obcdience, as He dispensed with eloqueuce, or wisdom, or strength. Such then were the circumstances uuder wh/ch the vites rebelled, being elated by their existing privileges, a.s the eubenites were stimulated by jea.hmsy. The parties flmn concerned in this brmidable conspircy were hot besotted idolaters; they were hot fidels; thcy were hot,bstinate, 1-,rejudiced, ulreasoning zeah,ts; they were hot the victims,f llllSCrllplllOllS and desperate ambition; lut though ambitious, proud, hea.dstrong, olstinate, unbelieving, they vefled all these bad principles, even from their own conscience, under a show of reson, of clear, simple, straightforward, enlightened reuson, umler a plain argument open fo the mea.nest ca.pacity: "All the congregt, ion," they said, "were holy, evcry one." çod lmd signified no exception or exclusion; a lmd been baptized in the ]-led Se, a.ll had been at Sinai. Moses, however, thus they might speak, had added to this simple and primitive vligion a system of his own,  system of priestcraft. The especial favours which God had shown Moses were done twenty years before, and could be denied without much chance of contradiction; or if the rebeion took place (as oflmrs say) shorfly after the Exodus, then if came close upon Aaron's sin in the marrer of the golden cal[ Any how, an excuse was easfly found tbr explaining away the authorit.y of Moses and Aaron, for denying the priesthood, and accusing if of being  corruption; and for professing fo be the champions of a pure and enlihtened, and uncorrupt worshil», worship which would eSo The Gaizsayiug of Aorah. be quite elear of he idlarous aets of Aaron, beeause in i Aaron's prerogative wmld be desroyed altogether. Sueh is tire history of the Chureh in tire wilderness, in whieh we see as in a ype the history of the Gospel. And how did i end  I staed in the commencement. The earth opened, a.nd swalh wed up ])at.ha.n, and covered the congregation «f Alfiram, their houses, their families, their possessims, and all tbat be],mged to t.]mm. Fire went out fi't,m the Lourd, and omsmned the two hundred and fifty men wlm oftbred ineense.

A very few wm'ds will sufiïce to suggest the lesson to l)e derivcd fi',»m this awfifl history; it is this:—If the Old Testament is still our rule of duty, exccpt in such dctails as iml)ly  h)cal religion and a material sanctuary; if it is our rule of duty in its principles, its doctrines, its precepts; if the Gospel is but the ihlfilment and deveh»pment of the Law: if the pmoEs in both are the sa.me, only the circumstances without and the Spirit within new; if though Circumcision is abolished, yet there is ]tal»tism instead of it; the Passover abolished, yet Holy Communion instead; the Sahhath abolished. ver instead of it the Lord's I)ay; if the two tables of stone which contained thc L've- are destroyed,)-et the,qennon on the M, mnt takes their place; if though Moses is gone, Christ is corne; and if in like manner, though Ara'on is gone and his priestly line, another order of priests is eome instead; (and unless this is so, the Old Testament is in a gïeat measure but a dead letter to Christians; and if there be but a chance that it is so, and if it lins always been taken to be so, it is a most serious marrer fo act- a,s if if were hot so;) how great nmst be the sin of resisting the ministers of Christ, or of intruding into their office! How great th presuming to administer the rites of the Çhurch, t, baptize, fo celebrate the Holy Communion, or fo ordain, or fo bless, without a commission! Korah's sin was kept in renlenlbrance for ever on the covering «,f the Altar, "to be a menlorial," says the illspired writer, "that stranger which is hot of the seed of Aar, m, c,me near to offer incense befi»re the Lord, that he le hot a, Kor;th and his company;" in other words (as the warning is be ilterpreted now), "that no,)ne, who is n,)t descended ff'oto the Apostles by laying on of ha.nds, COlne near to perforln the ministerial office before the Lord, that he be hot such as Korah and his COlnpany." [any, you will say, intrude into it in this day in ignorance. True, it is so. Therefore, for theln let us pray in our L,u'd's words, "Father, forgive them, for they know hot what they do."