you lift up yourselves above the congregation of the the Lord? And when Mofes heard it, he fell upon his face, and faid unto Kore, and his company, to-morrow the Lord will fhew who is bis, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near him, even him he has chofen; this do, take you cenfors, Kore and his company, and put fire and incense in them to-morrow, and it shall be, the man who the Lord chuseth, he shall be holy. You take too much upon you, you was of Levi. And Mofes fent to call Dathan and Abiram, who faid, we will not come. Is it a small thing to bring us out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wildernefs, and to make yourself prince over us? And Mofes was angry, and faid unto the Lord, Respect not their offspring, I have not wronged nor burt one of them. And Mofes faid to Kore, be thou and all thy company before the Lord and Aaron to-morrow, and every man his cenfor with incense 250 censors ; and they took every man his cenfor and put fire in them, and laid incenfe therein, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Mofes and Aaron. And Kore gathered all the congregation against them to the door of the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation. And the Lord fpake to Mofes aud Aaron, faying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may confume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and faid, O God, the God of the Spirit of all flesh, shall one man fin, and wilt thou be angry with all the congregation? And the Lord fpake unto Mofes, faying, Speak to the congreD 4

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tion to get from the tabernacle of Kore, Dathan and Abiram. Mofes rofe up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Ifrael followed him, and he fpake to the congrega tion, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of thofe wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, left you be confumed in their fin; fo get from the tabernacle of Kore, Dathan and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram ftood in the door of their tents, with their wives and children, and Moses said, hereby you fhall know that the Lord has fent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of myfelf. If these men die a common death then the Lord bath not jent me; but the Lord make a new thing, and the earth opens and fwallows them up, with all that appertains to them, and they go down into the pit, then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. As he made an end of fpeaking, the earth opened and fwallowed up them, their houfes, and all the men that appertained unto Kore, and all their goods, and the earth clofed upon them, and all Ifrael that was round about them fled to the cry of them; for they faid, left the earth fwallow us up alfo. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and confumed the 250 men that offered incenfe. And the Lord fpake unto Mofes, faying, speak to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the cenfors out of the burning and featter then the fire yonder, for they ar hallowed the cenfors of thefe finners against their own fouls; let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed and fhall be a

fign unto the children of Ifrael. And Eleazar the priest took the brazen cenfors, wherewith they that were burned had offered, and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar, to be a memorial unto the children of Ifrael, that no ftranger, which is not of the feed of Aaron, come near to offer incenfe before the Lord, that he be not as Kore, and his com-. pany, as the Lord faid to him by the hand of Mofes. But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Ifrael murmured against Mofes and Aaron, faying, you have killed the people of the Lord. And when they were gathered again together against Mofes and Aaron, that they looked towards the tabernacle, and the cloud covered it; and the glory of the Lord appeared, and Mofes and Aaron came before the tabernacle, and the Lord spoke to Mofes, faying, get you up from this congregation, that I may confume them in a moment; and they fell on their faces, and Mofes faid to Aaron, take a cenfor, and put fire therein, from the altar, and put on incenfe, and go quickly unto the congregation and make an atonement for them, for their wrath is gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun. And Aaron took, as Mofes commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation, and behold the plague was begun among the people, and he put on incenfe, and made an atonement for the people, and he ftood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were 14,700, befides them that died about the matter of Kore, and Aaron returned unto Mofes, and

unt

unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague was ftayed. And the Lord fpoke unto Mofes, Speak unto the children of Ifrael, and take of every one of them a red according to the boufe of their fathers, of all their princes, twelve rods, write every man's name upon bis rod, and write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi, for one rod fhall be for the head of the house of their futhers, and lay them up in the tabernacle, before the teftimony, where I will meet with you, and the man's rod that I shall choose skall blossom, and I will make to cease from fin the murmurings of the children of Ifrael, which they murmur against you. And Mofes spoke to the children of Ifrael, and every one of their princes gave him a rod, for each prince one, according to their fathers houfes, even 12 rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods, and Mofes laid up the rods before the Lord, in the tabernacle of witnefs, and on the morrow Mofes went into the tabernacle of witness, and the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed bioffoms, and yielded almonds; and Mofes brought out all the rods, from before the Lord, unto all the children of Ifrael, and they looked, and took every man his rod, and the Lord faid unto Moses, bring Aaron's rod again, before the teftimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels, and thou fhalt quite take away their murmuring, from me that they die not. And Mofes did fo, as the Lord commanded him, and the children of Ifrael fpoke unto Moses, saying, Behold we die, whoever

whoever cometh near to the tabernacle of the Lord fball die.

Thefe and many other parts of fcriptures are convincing proofs of the malice of fchifm and herefy, and there can be no crime more deteftable in its nature, nor meets with greater marks of divine difpleasure and punishments; it is blafphemy and the higheft infult that can be offered to the Majefty of God. But this language is unreasonable to divines, from whom I ought to feek inftruction, and I have ever made it a rule rather to be taught, than to teach, and to embrace wifdom wherever I can find her. Salvation is a prize worthy our attention, and it is this with fettled in me, that eggs me on to feek in others what I find wanting in my own conceptions. This I am perfuaded is our joint with and happy if we can. affift each other to attain the defired haven.

Luth. & Calv. We will heartily concur with. you in this great and noble purfuit; for, will it avail us to gain the world at the expence of our happiness?

Mof. Divine truths are to be obtained at the head, from whence they iffue, a system different from that of Calvin, who would have them perfected by time, to bring or ripen into maturity, putting them in the weak and imperfect state, as matter.

Luth. & Calv. God is truth and every man a liar.

Mof. To prove what I affert, we will begin with the creation. The fcripture bears record that all things were, in their creation, good

and