Lastly, whereas there was a place near Jerusalem, called the _Valley of the Children of Hinnon_; in a part whereof, called _Tophet_, the Jews had committed most grievous idolatry, sacrificing their children to the idol Moloch; and wherein also God had afflicted his enemies with most grievous punishments; and wherein Josiah had burned the priests of Moloch upon their own altars, as appeareth at large in the 2nd of _Kings_, chap. xxiii.: the place served afterwards to receive the filth and garbage which was carried thither out of the city; and there used to be fires made from time to time, to purify the air, and take away the stench of carrion. From this abominable place, the Jews used ever after to call the place of the damned, by the name of _Gehenna_, or _Valley of Hinnon_. And this _Gehenna_, is that word which is usually now translated HELL; and from the fires from time to time there burning, we have the notion of _everlasting_ and _unquenchable fire_.
[Sidenote: Of the literal sense of the Scripture concerning hell.]
Seeing now there is none, that so interprets the Scripture, as that after the day of judgment, the wicked are all eternally to be punished in the Valley of Hinnon; or that they shall so rise again, as to be ever after under ground or under water; or that after the resurrection, they shall no more see one another, nor stir from one place to another: it followeth, methinks, very necessarily, that that which is thus said concerning hell fire, is spoken metaphorically; and that therefore there is a proper sense to be enquired after, (for of all metaphors there is some real ground, that may be expressed in proper words,) both of the _place_ of _hell_, and the nature of _hellish torments_, and _tormenters_.
[Sidenote: Satan, Devil, not proper names, but appellatives.]
And first for the tormenters, we have their nature and properties, exactly and properly delivered by the names of, _the Enemy_, or _Satan_; significant names, _Satan_, _Devil_, _Abaddon_, set not forth to us any individual person, as proper names use to do; but only an office, or quality; and are therefore appellatives; which ought not to have been left untranslated, as they are in the Latin and modern Bibles; because thereby they seem to be proper names of _demons_; and men are the more easily seduced to believe the doctrine of devils; which at that time was the religion of the Gentiles, and contrary to that of Moses and of Christ.
And because by the _Enemy_, the _Accuser_, and _Destroyer_, is meant the enemy of them that shall be in the kingdom of God; therefore if the kingdom of God after the resurrection, be upon the earth, as in the former chapter I have shown by Scripture it seems to be, the Enemy and his kingdom must be on earth also. For so also was it, in the time before the Jews had deposed God. For God’s kingdom was in Palestine; and the nations round about, were the kingdoms of the Enemy; and consequently by _Satan_, is meant any earthly enemy of the Church.
[Sidenote: Torments of hell.]
The torments of hell, are expressed sometimes, by _weeping_, and _gnashing of teeth_, as _Matth._ viii. 12. Sometimes by _the worm of by fire, as in the place now quoted, _where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched_, and many places beside: sometimes by _shame and contempt_, as _Dan._ xii. 2, _And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some to everlasting life; and some to shame, and everlasting contempt_. All which places design metaphorically a grief and discontent of mind, from the sight of that eternal felicity in others, which they themselves through their own incredulity and disobedience have lost. And because such felicity in others, is not sensible but by comparison with their own actual miseries; it followeth that they are to suffer such bodily pains, and calamities, as are incident to those, who not only live under evil and cruel governors, but have also for enemy the eternal king of the saints, God Almighty. And amongst these bodily pains, is to be reckoned also to every one of the wicked a second death. For though the Scripture be clear for an universal resurrection; yet we do not read, that to any of the reprobate is promised an eternal life. For whereas St. Paul (_1 Cor._ xv. 42, 43) to the question concerning what bodies men shall rise with again, saith, that _The body is sown in corruption, and is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power_. Glory and power cannot be applied to the bodies of the wicked: nor can the name of _second death_ be applied to those that can never die but once: and although in metaphorical speech, a calamitous life everlasting, may be called an everlasting death, yet it cannot well be understood of a _second death_.
The fire prepared for the wicked, is an everlasting fire: that is to say, the estate wherein no man can be without torture, both of body and mind, after the resurrection, shall endure for ever; and in that sense the fire shall be unquenchable, and the torments everlasting: but it cannot thence be inferred, that he who shall be cast into that fire, or be tormented with those torments, shall endure and resist them so as to be eternally burnt, and tortured, and yet never be destroyed, nor die.
And though there be many places that affirm everlasting fire and torments, into which men may be cast successively one after another as long as the world lasts, yet I find none that affirm there shall be an eternal life therein of any individual person; but to the contrary, an everlasting death, which is the second death: (_Rev._ xx. 13, 14) _For after death and the grave shall have delivered up the dead which were in them, and every man be judged according to his works; death and the grave shall also be cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death._ Whereby it is evident that there is to be a second death of every one that shall be condemned at the day of judgment, after which he shall die no more.
[Sidenote: The joys of life eternal, and salvation, the same thing.]
[Sidenote: Salvation from sin, and from misery, all one.]
The joys of life eternal, are in Scripture comprehended all under the name of SALVATION, or _being saved_. To be saved, is to be secured, either respectively, against special evils, or absolutely, against all evils, comprehending want, sickness, and death itself. And because man was created in a condition immortal, not subject to corruption, and consequently to nothing that tendeth to the dissolution of his nature; and fell from that happiness by the sin of Adam; it followeth, that to be _saved_ from sin, is to be saved from all the evil and calamities that sin hath brought upon us. And therefore in the holy Scripture, remission of sin, and salvation from death and misery, is the same thing, as it appears by the words of our Saviour, who having cured a man sick of the palsy, by saying, (_Matth._ ix. 2) _Son be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee_; and knowing that the Scribes took for blasphemy, that a man should pretend to forgive sins, asked them (verse 5) _whether it were easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or, Arise and walk_; signifying thereby, that it was all one, as to the saving of the sick, to say, _Thy sins are forgiven_, and _Arise and walk_; and that he used that form of speech, only to shew he had power to forgive sins. And it is besides evident in reason, that since death and misery were the punishments of sin, the discharge of sin must also be a discharge of death and misery; that is to say, salvation absolute, such as the faithful are to enjoy after the day of judgment, by the power and favour of Jesus Christ, who for that cause is called our SAVIOUR.
Concerning particular salvations, such as are understood, (_1 Sam._ xiv.
39) as the _Lord liveth that saveth Israel_, that is, from their temporary enemies, and (_2 Sam._ xxii. 3) _Thou art my Saviour, thou savest me from violence_; and, (_2 Kings_ xiii. 5) _God gave the Israelites a Saviour, and so they were delivered from the hand of the Assyrians_, and the like, I need say nothing; there being neither difficulty, nor interest to corrupt the interpretation of texts of that kind.
[Sidenote: The place of eternal salvation.]
But concerning the general salvation, because it must be in the kingdom of heaven, there is great difficulty concerning the place. On one side, by _kingdom_, which is an estate ordained by men for their perpetual security against enemies and want, it seemeth that this salvation should be on earth. For by salvation is set forth unto us, a glorious reign of our king, by conquest; not a safety by escape: and therefore there where we look for salvation, we must look also for triumph; and before triumph, for victory; and before victory, for battle; which cannot well be supposed, shall be in heaven. But how good soever this reason may be, I will not trust to it, without very evident places of Scripture. The state of salvation is described at large, _Isaiah_ xxxiii. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24: _Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken._ _But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby._ _For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king, he will save us._ _Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast; they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey:_ _And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that shall dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity._ In which words we have the place from whence salvation is to proceed, _Jerusalem, a quiet habitation_; the eternity of it, _a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, &c_; the Saviour of it, _the Lord, their judge, their law-giver, their king, he will save us; the salvation, the Lord shall be to them as a broad moat of swift waters, &c_; the condition of their enemies, _their tacklings are loose, their masts weak, the lame shall take the spoil of them_; the condition of the saved, _the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick_: and lastly, all this is comprehended in forgiveness of sin, _the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity_. By which it is evident, that salvation shall be on earth, then, when God shall reign, at the coming again of Christ, in Jerusalem; and from Jerusalem shall proceed the salvation of the Gentiles that shall be received into God’s kingdom: as is also more expressly declared by the same prophet, (_Isaiah_ lxvi. 20, 21), _And they_ (that is the Gentiles who had any Jew in bondage) _shall bring all your brethren, for an offering to the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord._ Whereby it is manifest, that the chief seat of God’s kingdom, which is the place from whence the salvation of us that were Gentiles shall proceed, shall be Jerusalem: and the same is also confirmed by our Saviour in his discourse with the woman of Samaria, concerning the place of God’s worship; to whom he saith (_John_ iv. 22) that the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what, but the Jews worshipped what they knew, _for salvation is of the Jews_ (_ex Judæis_, that is, begins at the Jews): as if he should say, you worship God, but know not by whom he will save you, as we do, that know it shall be by one of the tribe of Judah; a Jew, not a Samaritan. And therefore also the woman not impertinently answered him again, _We know the Messias shall come_. So that which our Saviour saith, _Salvation is from the Jews_, is the same that Paul says (_Rom._ i. 16, 17) _The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith_; from the faith of the Jew to the faith of the Gentile. In the like sense the prophet Joel describing the day of Judgment, (chap. ii.
30, 31) that God would _shew wonders in heaven, and in earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come_: he addeth, (verse 32) _and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be salvation._ And _Obadiah_, (verse 17) saith the same, _Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance; and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions_, that is the possessions of the _heathen_, which _possessions_, he expresseth more particularly in the following verses, by the _mount of Esau_, the _Land of the Philistines_, the _fields of Ephraim_, of _Samaria_, _Gilead_, and the _cities of the south_, and concludes with these words, _the kingdom shall be the Lord’s_. All these places are for salvation, and the kingdom of God, after the day of judgment, upon earth. On the other side, I have not found any text that can probably be drawn, to prove any ascension of the saints into heaven; that is to say, into any _cœlum empyreum_, or other ætherial region; saving that it is called the kingdom of Heaven: which name it may have, because God, that was king of the Jews, governed them by his commands, sent to Moses by angels from heaven; and after the revolt, sent his Son from heaven to reduce them to their obedience; and shall send him thence again to rule both them, and all other faithful men, from the day of judgment, everlastingly: or from that, that the throne of this our great king is in heaven; whereas the earth is but his footstool. But that the subjects of God should have any place as high as his throne, or higher than his footstool, it seemeth not suitable to the dignity of a king, nor can I find any evident text for it in Holy Scripture.
[Sidenote: The world to come.]
From this that hath been said of the kingdom of God, and of salvation, it is not hard to interpret what is meant by the WORLD TO COME. There are three worlds mentioned in Scripture, the _old world_, the _present world_, and the _world to come_. Of the first, St. Peter speaks, (_2 Pet._ ii. 5) _If God spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly, &c._ So the _first world_, was from Adam to the general flood. Of the present world, our Saviour speaks (_John_ xviii. 36) _My kingdom is not of this world_. For he came only to teach men the way of salvation, and to renew the kingdom of his Father, by his doctrine. Of the world to come, St. Peter speaks (_2 Pet._ iii. 13) _Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens, and a new earth_. This is that WORLD, wherein Christ coming down from heaven in the clouds, with great power, and glory, shall send his angels, and shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, and from the uttermost parts of the earth, and thenceforth reign over them, under his Father, everlastingly.
[Sidenote: Redemption.]
_Salvation_ of a sinner, supposeth a precedent REDEMPTION; for he that is once guilty of sin, is obnoxious to the penalty of the same; and must pay, or some other for him, such ransom as he that is offended, and has him in his power, shall require. And seeing the person offended, is Almighty God, in whose power are all things; such ransom is to be paid before salvation can be acquired, as God hath been pleased to require.
By this ransom, is not intended a satisfaction for sin, equivalent to the offence; which no sinner for himself, nor righteous man can ever be able to make for another: the damage a man does to another, he may make amends for by restitution or recompense; but sin cannot be taken away by recompense; for that were to make the liberty to sin, a thing vendible.
But sins may be pardoned to the repentant, either _gratis_, or upon such penalty as God is pleased to accept. That which God usually accepted in the Old Testament, was some sacrifice or oblation. To forgive sin is not an act of injustice, though the punishment have been threatened. Even amongst men, though the promise of good, bind the promiser; yet threats, that is to say, promises of evil, bind them not; much less shall they bind God, who is infinitely more merciful than men. Our Saviour Christ therefore to _redeem_ us, did not in that sense satisfy for the sins of men, as that his death, of its own virtue, could make it unjust in God to punish sinners with eternal death; but did make that sacrifice and oblation of himself, at his first coming, which God was pleased to require for the salvation, at his second coming, of such as in the meantime should repent, and believe in him. And though this act of our _redemption_, be not always in Scripture called a _sacrifice_, and _oblation_, but sometimes a _price_; yet by _price_ we are not to understand anything, by the value whereof, he could claim right to a pardon for us, from his offended Father; but that price which God the Father was pleased in mercy to demand.
------- CHAPTER XXXIX.
OF THE SIGNIFICATION IN SCRIPTURE OF THE WORD CHURCH.
[Sidenote: Church the Lord’s house.]
The word Church, (_Ecclesia_) signifieth in the books of Holy Scripture divers things. Sometimes, though not often, it is taken for _God’s house_, that is to say, for a temple, wherein Christians assembled to perform holy duties, publicly, as (_1 Cor._ xiv. 34) _Let your women keep silence in the Churches_: but this is metaphorically put for the congregation there assembled; and hath been since used for the edifice itself, to distinguish between the temples of Christians and idolaters.
The Temple of Jerusalem was _God’s house_, and the house of prayer; and so is any edifice dedicated by Christians to the worship of Christ, _Christ’s house_: and therefore the Greek fathers call it Κυριακὴ, _the Lord’s house_: and thence in our language it came to be called _kyrke_, and _church_.
[Sidenote: _Ecclesia_, properly what.]
Church, when not taken for a house, signifieth the same that _ecclesia_ signified in the Grecian commonwealth, that is to say, a congregation, or an assembly of citizens, called forth to hear the magistrate speak unto them; and which in the commonwealth of Rome was called _concio_: as he that spake was called _ecclesiastes_, and _concionator_. And when they were called forth by lawful authority, (_Acts_ xix. 39) it was _Ecclesia legitima_, a _lawful Church_, ἔννομος ἐκκλησία. But when they were excited by tumultuous and seditious clamour, then it was a Confused Church, ἐκκλησία συγκεχυμένη.
It is taken also sometimes for the men that have right to be of the congregation, though not actually assembled, that is to say, for the whole multitude of Christian men, how far soever they be dispersed: as (_Acts_ viii. 3) where it is said, that _Saul made havoc of the Church_: and in this sense is Christ said to be the head of the Church. And sometimes for a certain part of Christians, as (_Col._ iv. 15) _Salute the Church that is in his house_. Sometimes also for the elect only; as (_Eph._ v. 27) _A glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, holy, and without blemish_; which is meant of the _Church triumphant_, or _Church to come_. Sometimes, for a congregation assembled of professors of Christianity, whether their profession be true or counterfeit; as it is understood, (_Matth._ xviii. 17) where it is said, _Tell it to the Church; and if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be to thee as a Gentile, or publican_.
[Sidenote: In what sense the church is one person.]
[Sidenote: Church defined.]
And in this last sense only it is that the _Church_ can be taken for one person; that is to say, that it can be said to have power to will, to pronounce, to command, to be obeyed, to make laws, or to do any other action whatsoever. For without authority from a lawful congregation, whatsoever act be done in a concourse of people, it is the particular act of every one of those that were present, and gave their aid to the performance of it; and not the act of them all in gross, as of one body; much less the act of them that were absent, or that being present, were not willing it should be done. According to this sense, I define a CHURCH to be, _a company of men professing Christian religion, united in the person of one sovereign, at whose command they ought to assemble, and without whose authority they ought not to assemble_. And because in all commonwealths, that assembly, which is without warrant from the civil sovereign, is unlawful; that Church also, which is assembled in any commonwealth that hath forbidden them to assemble, is an unlawful assembly.
[Sidenote: A Christian commonwealth and a church all one.]
It followeth also, that there is on earth, no such universal Church, as all Christians are bound to obey; because there is no power on earth, to which all other commonwealths are subject. There are Christians, in the dominions of several princes and states; but every one of them is subject to that commonwealth, whereof he is himself a member; and consequently, cannot be subject to the commands of any other person. And therefore a Church, such a one as is capable to command, to judge, absolve, condemn, or do any other act, is the same thing with a civil commonwealth, consisting of Christian men; and is called a _civil state_, for that the subjects of it are _men_; and a _Church_, for that the subjects thereof are _Christians_. _Temporal_ and _spiritual_ government, are but two words brought into the world, to make men see double, and mistake their _lawful sovereign_. It is true, that the bodies of the faithful, after the resurrection, shall be not only spiritual, but eternal; but in this life they are gross, and corruptible. There is therefore no other government in this life, neither of state, nor religion, but temporal; nor teaching of any doctrine, lawful to any subject, which the governor both of the state, and of the religion forbiddeth to be taught. And that governor must be one; or else there must needs follow faction and civil war in the commonwealth, between the _Church_ and _State_; between _spiritualists_ and _temporalists_; between the _sword of justice_, and the _shield of faith_: and, which is more, in every Christian man’s own breast, between the _Christian_, and the _man_. The doctors of the Church, are called pastors; so also are civil sovereigns. But if pastors be not subordinate one to another, so as that there may be one chief pastor, men will be taught contrary doctrines; whereof both may be, and one must be false.
Who that one chief pastor is, according to the law of nature, hath been already shown; namely, that it is the civil sovereign: and to whom the Scripture hath assigned that office, we shall see in the chapters following.
------- CHAPTER XL.
OF THE RIGHTS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, IN ABRAHAM, MOSES, THE HIGH-PRIESTS, AND THE KINGS OF JUDAH.
[Sidenote: The sovereign right of Abraham.]
The father of the faithful, and first in the kingdom of God by covenant, was Abraham. For with him was the covenant first made; wherein he obliged himself, and his seed after him, to acknowledge and obey the commands of God; not only such, as he could take notice of, (as moral laws,) by the light of nature; but also such, as God should in special manner deliver to him by dreams and visions. For as to the moral law, they were already obliged, and needed not have been contracted withal, by promise of the land of Canaan. Nor was there any contract, that could add to, or strengthen the obligation, by which both they, and all men else were bound naturally to obey God Almighty: and therefore the covenant which Abraham made with God, was to take for the commandment of God, that which in the name of God was commanded him in a dream, or vision; and to deliver it to his family, and cause them to observe the same.
[Sidenote: Abraham had the sole power of ordering the religion of his own people.]
In this contract of God with Abraham, we may observe three points of important consequence in the government of God’s people. First, that at the making of this covenant, God spake only to Abraham; and therefore contracted not with any of his family, or seed, otherwise than as their wills, which make the essence of all covenants, were before the contract involved in the will of Abraham; who was therefore supposed to have had a lawful power, to make them perform all that he covenanted for them.
According whereunto (_Gen._ xviii. 18, 19) God saith, _All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him; for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord_. From whence may be concluded this first point, that they to whom God hath not spoken immediately, are to receive the positive commandments of God, from their sovereign; as the family and seed of Abraham did from Abraham their father, and Lord, and civil sovereign. And consequently in every commonwealth, they who have no supernatural revelation to the contrary, ought to obey the laws of their own sovereign, in the external acts and profession of religion. As for the inward _thought_, and _belief_ of men, which human governors can take no notice of, (for God only knoweth the heart), they are not voluntary, nor the effect of the laws, but of the unrevealed will and of the power of God; and consequently fall not under obligation.
[Sidenote: No pretence of private spirit against the religion of Abraham.]
From whence proceedeth another point, that it was not unlawful for Abraham, when any of his subjects should pretend private vision or spirit, or other revelation from God, for the countenancing of any doctrine which Abraham should forbid, or when they followed or adhered to any such pretender, to punish them; and consequently that it is lawful now for the sovereign to punish any man that shall oppose his private spirit against the laws: for he hath the same place in the commonwealth, that Abraham had in his own family.
[Sidenote: Abraham sole judge and interpreter of what God spake.]
There ariseth also from the same, a third point; that as none but Abraham in his family, so none but the sovereign in a Christian commonwealth, can take notice what is, or what is not the word of God.
For God spake only to Abraham; and it was he only, that was able to know what God said, and to interpret the same to his family: and therefore also, they that have the place of Abraham in a commonwealth, are the only interpreters of what God hath spoken.
[Sidenote: The authority of Moses whereon grounded.]
The same covenant was renewed with Isaac; and afterwards with Jacob; but afterwards no more, till the Israelites were freed from the Egyptians, and arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai: and then it was renewed by Moses, (as I have said before, chap. xxxv.) in such manner, as they became from that time forward the peculiar kingdom of God; whose lieutenant was Moses, for his own time: and the succession to that office was settled upon Aaron, and his heirs after him, to be to God a a sacerdotal kingdom for ever.
By this constitution, a kingdom is acquired to God. But seeing Moses had no authority to govern the Israelites, as a successor to the right of Abraham, because he could not claim it by inheritance; it appeareth not as yet, that the people were obliged to take him for God’s lieutenant, longer than they believed that God spake unto him. And therefore his authority, notwithstanding the covenant they made with God, depended yet merely upon the opinion they had of his sanctity, and of the reality of his conferences with God, and the verity of his miracles; which opinion coming to change, they were no more obliged to take anything for the law of God, which he propounded to them in God’s name. We are therefore to consider, what other ground there was, of their obligation to obey him.
For it could not be the commandment of God that could oblige them; because God spake not to them immediately, but by the mediation of Moses himself: and our Saviour saith of himself, (_John_ v. 31) _If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true_; much less if Moses bear witness of himself, especially in a claim of kingly power over God’s people, ought his testimony to be received. His authority therefore, as the authority of all other princes, must be grounded on the consent of the people, and their promise to obey him. And so it was: for _the people_ (_Exod._ xx. 18, 19) _when they saw the thunderings, and the lightenings, and the noise of the trumpets, and the mountain smoking, removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die._ Here was their promise of obedience; and by this it was they obliged themselves to obey whatsoever he should deliver unto them for the commandment of God.
[Sidenote: Moses was, under God, sovereign of the Jews all his own time, though Aaron had the priesthood.]
And notwithstanding the covenant constituted a sacerdotal kingdom, that is to say, a kingdom hereditary to Aaron; yet that is to be understood of the succession after Moses should be dead. For whosoever ordereth and establisheth the policy, as first founder of a commonwealth, be it monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy, must needs have sovereign power over the people all the while he is doing of it. And that Moses had that power all his own time, is evidently affirmed in the Scripture. First, in the text last before cited, because the people promised obedience, not to Aaron, but to him. Secondly, (_Exod._ xxiv. 1, 2) _And God said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him._ By which it is plain, that Moses, who was alone called up to God, (and not Aaron, nor the other priests, nor the seventy elders, nor the people who were forbidden to come up,) was alone he, that represented to the Israelites the person of God, that is to say, was their sole sovereign under God. And though afterwards it be said (verses 9, 10) _Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet, as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone &c_; yet this was not till after Moses had been with God before, and had brought to the people the words which God had said to him. He only went for the business of the people; the others, as the nobles of his retinue, were admitted for honour to that special grace, which was not allowed to the people; which was, as in the verse after appeareth, to see God and live, _God laid not his hand upon them, they saw God and did eat and drink_, that is, did live: but did not carry any commandment from him to the people. Again, it is everywhere said, _the Lord spake unto Moses_, as in all other occasions of government, so also in the ordering of the ceremonies of religion, contained in chapters xxv. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii.
xxix. xxx. and xxxi. of _Exodus_, and throughout _Leviticus_: to Aaron seldom. The calf that Aaron made, Moses threw into the fire. Lastly, the question of the authority of Aaron, by occasion of his and Miriam’s mutiny against Moses, was (_Numb._ xii.) judged by God himself for Moses. So also in the question between Moses and the people, who had the right of governing the people, when Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, _gathered themselves together_ (_Numb._ xvi. 3) _against Moses, and against Aaron, and said unto them, ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is amongst them, why lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?_ God caused the earth to swallow Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, with their wives and children, alive, and consumed those two hundred and fifty princes with fire. Therefore neither Aaron, nor the people, nor any aristocracy of the chief princes of the people, but Moses alone had next under God the sovereignty over the Israelites: and that not only in causes of civil policy, but also of religion: for Moses only spake with God, and therefore only could tell the people what it was that God required at their hands. No man upon pain of death might be so presumptuous as to approach the mountain where God talked with Moses. _Thou shalt set bounds_ (saith the Lord, _Exod._ xix. 12) _to the people round about, and say, Take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the Mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the Mount shall surely be put to death_. And again (verse 21) _Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze_. Out of which we may conclude, that whosoever in a Christian commonwealth holdeth the place of Moses, is the sole messenger of God, and interpreter of his commandments. And according hereunto, no man ought in the interpretation of the Scripture to proceed further than the bounds which are set by their several sovereigns. For the Scriptures, since God now speaketh in them, are the Mount Sinai; the bounds whereof are the laws of them that represent God’s person on earth. To look upon them, and therein to behold the wondrous works of God, and learn to fear him, is allowed; but to interpret them, that is, to pry into what God saith to him whom he appointeth to govern under him, and make themselves judges whether he govern as God commandeth him, or not, is to transgress the bounds God hath set us, and to gaze upon God irreverently.
[Sidenote: All spirits were subordinate to the spirit of Moses.]
There was no prophet in the time of Moses, nor pretender to the spirit of God, but such as Moses had approved and authorized. For there were in his time but seventy men, that are said to prophecy by the spirit of God, and these were all of Moses his election; concerning whom God said to Moses, (_Numb._ xi. 16) _Gather to me seventy of the elders of