to assume the office of the spiritual physician; to prescribe the remedies for the diseases which afflict the Church and the world; as if he were the commissioned physician of the soul. And the great Head of the Church, in all its three several stages of Patriarchism, Judaism, and Christianity, has uniformly committed the charge of the souls of men, and the high office of ministering to Him in the services of the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the Church, not to the wellintentioned but undisciplined zeal even of those who love Him, but to a selected, appointed, publicly-commissioned class and order of men, to be the channel of the Divine communications to man, the regular and careful dispensers of the outward worship which the Creator commanded, and the learned, authorized, and skilful, though not infallible, interpreters of the written Word of God. And the great question, in these latter ages of the Church, is this:- -"How shall we promote the love and union among Christians, with the upholding of the sacredness of the Truth revealed to them, by uniting the privileges of the people with the undoubted authority of their rightly-commissioned instructors?" And the right mode of effecting this seems to be, to reconcile the toleration of expressing opinions with the securing to the Universal Church, for the sake of the common benefit of all Christians, the holy, and ancient, and universal law, That none should speak in the name of the Church, unless the Church give first the power and the right to do so. The Section before us informs us of the first attempt of some of the chief persons in the camp of Israel to oppose the institutions of the priesthood, which Moses had been ordered to establish; the manner in which Moses boldly and openly declares that the God who appointed that priesthood would cause that a miracle should be wrought, in the most public manner, to confirm and demonstrate the Divine authority under which alone he had acted; and the result of that appeal in the most fearful destruction, by the Divine interference, of the opponents of Moses, before the whole camp of Israel. The Creator and Instructor of mankind had granted the honour of the priesthood, in the beginning, to the heads of the patriarchal tribes, and generally to the elder sons of those families. He had, however, as uniformly set aside the elder sons when they were not found to be so worthy of this favour as the younger. Thus we find that Seth, and Noah probably, but certainly Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were each younger sons. God appointed whom He pleased to His service. When the people of Israel came from Egypt, the elder sons of the several families appear to have been the priests and ministers to their respective tribes, as we read of the priests (Exod. xix. 22) who were present at the giving of the law before Aaron was set apart to his ministry. After that period, Aaron, and the family of Aaron, had been solemnly called and set apart to the priestly office 2. The eldest son of Jacob was Reuben. If, therefore, any persons could have claimed the priesthood as their right, under the ancient law, the descendants of Reuben were the persons to assert that claim. Korah, whom Josephus3 describes to have been a wealthy, plausible, and popular prince, the lineal descendant of Levi, became jealous of Aaron, and angry at his Divine appointment to the sacred services which he deemed to be his own inheritance. He persuaded Dathan, Abiram, and others of the same tribe of Reuben, that Moses had been influenced by partiality for his kindred, and had acted unjustly to them in superseding the rights of primogeniture in favour of Aaron and his family. They had not been deprived of their privileges as counsellors to Moses, for they are expressly said to have been "men of renown," that is, they were men eligible to, or called to, the councils of their leader. These men conspired against Moses, and required the discontinuance of the priest's office in the family of Aaron (Numb. xvi. 1—3). The leader of Israel immediately did that which no one but a fool or a madman would have done, if he had not been certain of the truth of the Divine mission with which he had been entrusted. We have every proof that it is possible to possess, that the narratives and laws contained in these books of Moses could neither have been written at any date lower than the time of Moses, and that they must, therefore, have been written during his life, and cannot, by any possibility, be false. Moses, then, immediately appeals to the certainty of some miraculous interference on the part of the God of Israel, which shall prove that he had uniformly acted under the Divine direction, and not from his own fancy, or caprice, or partiality, or human wisdom. Korah, and the party who had adhered to him, had assembled themselves in the open space before the tent of Moses, when Moses made this reply; and told them to come again to him the next morning, with their censers, with which, in their own families, they had been accustomed to burn incense (ver. 4—11). He then sent messengers to summon Dathan and Abiram, who had remained in their tents, and spread the disaffection there among the people (ver. 12-14). They returned him, also, a disrespectful and reproachful answer (ver. 13, 14). Moses, then, after protesting before the Lord his innocence either of oppression or cruelty, which could have palliated or excused such conduct (ver. 15), again requested Korah, and all who had united with him, to appear with their censers, in which fire was to be placed, taken, we may believe, from the altar of burnt offering, as the law had commanded (Lev. i. 5), before the manifestation of the glory which denoted the presence of God in the encampment. They did so (ver. 16-19). Then the voice came from the cloud and fire, commanding the two brothers, Moses and Aaron, to separate themselves from the mass of the people, that the whole congregation may be at once destroyed for the rebellion which began to be general among them. The two brothers offered their earnest prayer that those alone might be punished who were the ringleaders of the disaffected (ver. 20—22). Their prayer was heard. The people are directed to leave the tabernacles, or tents, of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the two latter of whom stood boldly at the doors of their tents, as if in defiance of the punishment that awaited them (ver. 23-27). Then the solemn appeal was made openly and publicly, before the whole congregation, that if these men died the common death of all men, Moses would be proved to be, and would confess himself to be, a liar and an impostor. But if the God of Israel created a new creation, or did a new and unheard of thing before them all-if the earth opened and swallowed up those men suddenly and visibly, then the whole congregation might be assured that all that Moses had said was true, and that his commission and legation were Divine (ver. 28-30). He had no sooner spoken, than the miracle he had predicted took place. The earth not only opened, and they all fell with their families and their tents, with shrieks and cries, as the traditions of the Jews affirm, so fearful and so dreadful that the people fled from the sight, exclaiming, "Lest the earth swallow us up also" (ver. 31-34); but the yawning ground recovered the broken surface, and closed upon them as soon as they had fallen into the chasm. They perished from the midst of God's people. "The groaning earth," says a Father of the Church, "is cleft asunder in the midst of the people, and the rebellious opponents of the God of Israel are so swept away, as if all the elements refused to receive them; as if they should neither contaminate the air with their breath, the heaven with their presence, the sea with their touch, nor the surface of the earth itself with their sepulchre." So was the truth of the Divine legation of Moses demonstrated. This was the punishment of the multitude who associated with Dathan and Abiram. Another punishment awaited the two hundred and fifty who had joined themselves to Korah. Fire came from the glory of the Lord and consumed them. Their censers were taken from the fire, and converted into broad plates for a covering for the altar of burnt offering, in perpetual memory of the rebellion, and as a warning to the people, that none should assume the priest's office but those whom God had appointed to that honour, -the family of Aaron. The priesthood of the Universal Church of Christ, the God of Israel, is now, like the kingdom of heaven itself, thrown open to all believers. We are now all "priests unto God." But let him who would become the priest to the priests, the example to the examples, the instructor of the chosen seed, to whom the Word of God, the best gift of God, is given, pause and reflect, before he speaks to the Church in the name of the Church, and obtrude himself upon the congregation, as a teacher, without the solemn calling, and the solemn setting apart to that high office, by the hands of those to whom alone authority has been committed to confer the privilege and the responsibility of that holy dignity. ་ BEFORE CHRIST NUMBERS XVI. 1-40. Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. BEFORE CHRIST 1 Now a Korah, the son 2 And they rose up beabout 1471. of Izhar, the son of Ko- fore Moses, with certain of about 1471. Exod. 6. 21. hath, the son of Levi, and the children of Israel, two Dathan and Abiram, the hundred and fifty princes sons of Eliab, and On, the of the assembly, son of Peleth, sons of in the congregation, men Reuben, took men : of renown: ch. 26. 9. & 27.3. Jude 11. b famous ch. 26. 9. 4 Rev. i. 6. BEFORE CHRIST C 3 And they gathered gation to minister unto about 1471. themselves together against them? Ps. 106. 16. + Heb. It is much for you. Moses and against Aaron, 10 And he hath brought and said unto them, † Ye thee near to him, and all take too much upon you, thy brethren the sons of Exod. 19. 6. seeing all the congrega- Levi with thee: and seek tion are holy, every one of ye the priesthood also? them, and the LORD is 11 For which cause both ch. 14. 14. & among them: wherefore thou and all thy company then lift ye up yourselves are gathered • Exod. 29. 45. 35. 34. e together REFORE CHRIST about 1471. 1 Cor. 3. §. above the congregation of against the LORD: "and - Exod. 16 & fch. 14. 5. & heard it, The fell upon his 20. 6. face: 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, n 5 And he spake unto the sons of Eliab : which Korah and unto all his said, We will not come company, saying, Even to up: morrow the LORD will shew 13 Is it a small thing * ver. 9. who are his, and who is that thou hast brought us holy; and will cause him up out of the land that to come near unto him: floweth with milk and even him whom he hath honey, to kill us in the h Exod. 28. 1. h chosen will he cause to wilderness, except thou g ver. 3. Lev 21. 6, 7. 8, 12, 15. ch. 17. 5. 1 Sam. 2. 28. i come near unto him. Ps. 105. 26. i ch. 3. 10. Lev. 10. 3. & 21. 17, 18. Ezek. 40. 46. & 44. 15, 16. * 1 Sam. 18. 23. 6 This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; 7 And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. 8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi: 9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the them. ch. 3. 41, 45. God of Israel hath 1sepa Isai. 7. 13. & 8. 14. Deut. 10. 8. rated from the you 1 out. Gen. 4. 4, 5. 1 Sam. 12.3. Cor. 7. 2. Acts 20. $3. 2 16 And Moses said unto congre- Korah, 7. gation of Israel, to bring thy company before the 1 Sam. 12. S, stand before the congre- his censer, and put incense BEFORE CHRIST BEFORE CHRIST in them, and bring ye be- the tents of these wicked about 1471. fore the LORD every man men, and touch nothing of about 1471. his censer, two hundred theirs, lest ye be consumed and fifty censers; thou in all their sins. also, and Aaron, each of you his censer. " ver. 42. Exod. 16. 7, 10. Lev. 9. 6, 23. ch. 14. 10. I ver. 45. See Gen. 19. Jer. 51. 6. Rev. 18. 4. y ver. 45. Exod. 32. 10. & 33. 5. z ver. 45. ch. 14. 5. a ch. 27. 16. Job 12. 10. Eccles. 12. 7. Zech. 12. Hebr. 9. b Gen. 19. 12, 14. 27 So they gat up from с 28 And Moses said, 19 And Korah gathered the d e 29 If these men die + the tion, that I y them in a moment. a consume d ch.24. 13. Jer. 23. 16. Ezek. 13. 17. John 5. 30. & 6. 38. Heb. as every man dieth. e Exod. 20. 5. not & 32. 34. Heb. create 22 And they fell upon the earth open her mouth, Isai. 45. 7. their faces, and said, O and swallow them up, with Isai. 28. 21. God, the God of the all that appertain unto spirits of all flesh, shall one them, and they go down man sin, and wilt thou be quick into the pit; then ye wroth with all the congre- shall understand that these gation? men have provoked the 23 And the LORD LORD. spake unto Moses, saying, 31 And it came to b ch. 26. 10. 24 Speak unto the con- pass, as he had made an Deut. 11.6. gregation, saying, Get you end of speaking all these up from about the taber- words, that the ground nacle of Korah, Dathan, clave asunder that was and Abiram. under them: 25 And Moses rose up 32 And the earth and went unto Dathan and opened her mouth, and Abiram; and the elders of swallowed them up, and Israel followed him. their houses, and all the See ver. 17. men that appertained unto 1 Chron. 6. Korah, and all their goods. 33 They, and all that 26 And he spake unto Isai. 52. 11. the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from ¡ 22, 37. |