SECTION II. 259 censers and burnedincense in, them, and offered strangefire before the Lord, which he commanded them not there went out firefrom the Lord anddevoured them, and they died before the Lord. It is supposed by learned men, that when the divinefire came from heaven and consumed the burnt-offering ; Lev. ix. 24. this fire was not only to lie preserved always upon the altar, according to God's express order ; Lev. vi. _12, 13. Thefire shall ever be burning, and nevergo out: But that no other fire was lawful to be used in burning the sacrifices, or the incense : And when Nadab and Abihu neglected to use this sacred fire, and put com- mon fire in their censers in the room of it, this was the very crime which God so terribly avenged. This is that, saidMoses, which the Lord spake, Iwill be sanctified in them that come nigh me, andbefore all thepeople will I be glorified, verse 3. Behold a second instance of the dreadful anger and high resentment of God upon a like occasion, when Korah, Dothan and Affirms, with two hundred andfifty princes of the assembly, rose up against Moses. They presumed to enter into the office of priesthood, and to offer incense in their censers, to which ministry God appointed none but Aaron and his sons. Read the awful narrative ! Num. xvi. 1, 31-35. When . Moses gave them a solemn reproof, and pronounced the doom of Korah and his company, " the ground clave, asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses with all their goods : They and all that appertained unto them, went down' alive into the pit; and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation And all Israel that were round about them, fled at the cry of them, for they said, lestthe earth swallowus up also : And there came out fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense." This unexampled and astonishing vengeance makes it appear with dreadful evidence, that their crime was very heinous in the eyes of a jealous God. Take a third example of the jealousy of God. Saul was the first king whom he appointed over Israel, yet when he presumed to offer a burnt-offeringhimself before the appointed hour, and did not tarry for Samuel to do it, God lays this to his charge as one reason of his taking away the kingdom from him, viz. because he did not keep the commandment or appointment of the Lord ; 1 Sam. xiii. 12-14. And yet he seems to have had a very good excuse too, and did it almost unwillingly : I forced myself, el-r. In the fourths place, mark what a monument of indignation and misery appears in Uzziah, the king of Judah ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 16-21. He-went into the"temple of the Lord, to burn in- cense upon the altar of incense. The king refuseth to desist from his impious attempt, when the priests informed him of his trans-. R 2
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