their appeal to God respecting their title to the priesthood, " a fire came forth from the Lord, and consumed them all." Terrible was this if viewed only as a temporal judgment : but if considered in reference to the eternal world, it was awful indeed ! That it might be kept in remembrance for the in- struction of future ages, " the censers, in which they had offered incense, were ordered to be made into broad plates for a covering of the altar."]
It will be proper then that we distinctly consider, II. The instruction to be gathered from it —
To us, no less than to the Jews, does this event most clearly speak. It shews us,
1. That sin is an act of hostility against our own souls —
[These rebels might be said to sin against their governors and against God: but they were "sinners also against their own souls :" and, had the object of their desire been the de- struction of their own souls, they could not have prosecuted their end by any surer means. Little is this thought of by those who live in sin : but, whatever be the sin which they commit, the effect is still the same g. If a man will only keep from sin, he may defy all the assaults either of men or devils. Men may destroy his body, but they cannot touch his soul. Satan himself cannot hurt his soul, without his own consent. Sin is the only medium by which the soul can receive any injury. But that inflicts upon it a deadly wound : that destroys its in- nocence and peace : that brings down upon it the wrath of an incensed God : that subjects it to everlasting misery. See how the earth swallowed up some, and how the fire consumed others ; and there you will learn the fate of all who die in their sins : hell will open wide its mouth to swallow them up, and un- quenchable fire will consume them as its proper and appointed
fuel O that men were wise, and would consider this ;
and turn, every one of them, from the evil of their ways !]
2. That opposition to constituted authorities is highly displeasing to God —
[We are far from denying that there is such a thing as real patriotism : nor do we mean to say that tyranny and oppression may not rise to such a height, as to justify the overthrow of an existing government. But this we say, that a real Christian will not be hasty to complain of grievances, even where they do exist ; much less will he bear the smallest resemblance to these factious people, whose case we have been considering. The Christian is one of " them that are quiet in the land." He
s Prov. viii. 36.
korah's rebellion. 91
162.]
regards government as God's ordinance ; and the persons who are invested with authority as God's representatives. He considers that, in obeying them, he obeys God ; and in unne- cessarily and vexatiously opposing them, he opposes God : and he knows that " God is the avenger of all such," yea, that such persons "shall receive to themselves damnation11:" the government itself may justly inflict punishment upon them; and God himself will punish such conduct in the eternal world. Persons of this stamp often pretend to religion : and so they did in the days of the Apostles : but those who " despise domi- nion, and speak evil of dignities," have a "woe" denounced against them : their spirit is justly marked as a compound of envy, covetousness, and ambition ; and having resembled Cain and Balaam in their spirit, they shall resemble Korah in their fate : they shall be eternal monuments of God's heavy displeasure1. Happy would it be if persons who are of a factious and tur- bulent disposition would look occasionally on these " censers," and reap the instruction which they are intended to convey !]
3. That a rejection of Christ must of necessity prove fatal to the soul —