divine Mercy, he permitted Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, to prevail over them, to destroy their Temple, City and Nation; and to carry them away Captives to Babylon, for feventy Years. They were in all, from Rehoboam, the first, to Zedekiah the laft, twenty making up, in the Number of Years which they reigned, three hundred and feventy five.

As to the Manner of Succeffion, in both thefe Kingdoms, as, whether it were elective or hereditary, it is not very material to go about to enquire. For, even hereditary Succeffion, is really and truly, at bottom, but elective, fince it never can, nor doth, take Place, without the Concurrence of a Majority of the People. It is therefore a Part of the Conftitution, in all wise Establishments, that the Son, without fome notable Impediment, fhall fucceed the Father, to avoid the Hazards and Mischiefs to which formal Elections of this kind must be liable; when the contending Interests of the Competitors would be apt to bring civil Wars and Defolation upon the Coun trey.

1 Kings xii. 1, &c.

Agreeable to which, the Crown of Judab defcended from Father to Son, in the House of David, from his Time, quite to the Captivity: But not without the folemn Confent and Allowance of the People; as we may perceive by the following Inftances.

We are told that, Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Ifrael were come to Shechem to make him king. And, all the congregation of Ifrael, (by the Mouth of Jeroboam) came, and spake unto Rehoboam, Jaying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: Now, therefore, Make thou the grievous fervice of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will ferve thee. He defir'd Time to confider of it; and after fome Time fpent in Confultation, being misled by the Advice of an ignorant wicked Ministry, and refufing to comply. with the reasonable Expectations of his People, ten of the twelve Tribes immediately revolted from him, and chose themfelves another King.

So, when Jeboram died, we read, that 2 Chron. the Inhabitants of Jerufalem made Ahaziah, xxii. 1. bis youngest fon, king in his ftead. So,

the

the people, at the Inftigation of Jehoiada ---xxiii. the High-Priest, depos'd Athaliah, a wick- 10, 11. ed Woman who had ufurp'd the Crown, and brought out Joash the king's fon, from his Concealment in the Temple, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the teftimony, and made him king: and Jehoiada and his fons anointed him, and faid, God fave the king. Which, we may therefore conclude, was the Manner obferv'd at all their Coronations. And fo, it is faid, All ---- xxvi, the people of Judah, took Uzziah, who was fixteen years old, and made him king, in the room of his father Amaziah. Of the Succeffion of the Kings of Ifrael we shall take no Notice at all, upon this Occafion; as being much more broken and irregular.

After their Return from the Captivity, they were govern'd fometimes by their High-Priefts, as appears from the Apocry phal Writings; one while by Princes, of the Family of the Maccabees, who afterwards took the Title of Kings; and finally, by Governours fent from Rome, of whom we read in the Gospels.

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*.X di

Numb. i. 2, &c.

ib. iv. 34.

Befide the Constitution of the twelve Tribes collectively, there was, as we have obferv'd before, a feparate diftinct Government in each particular Tribe; where the Affairs relating to that Tribe, were manag'd and conducted, according to peculiar Laws of their own, by the Prince or Head of the Tribe. And these were in Number Twelve, according to the Number of the Tribes,

When God orders Mofes to take the fum of all the congregation of the children of Ifrael, after their families, by the house of their fathers, he fays, with you, there fhall be a man of every tribe; every one, bead of the boufe of his fathers: And these are all mention'd by Name. After which it is faid; Thefe were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, beads of thousands in Ifrael.

!

Again; Mofes and Aaron, and the chief of the congregation (meaning these Princes) numbered the fons of the Kohathites. And

when

vii. 1,&c.

15.

when Mofes had fet up the Tabernacle, thefe Princes come and make their offering, confifting of fix covered waggons, and Numb. twelve oxen; a waggon for two of the princes, and for each one, an ox. These Men, we, afterward, read of by the fame Names, as being over the host of every ib. x. 14, tribe, and each fetting forward with the &c. ftandard of his camp, when the children of Ifrael took their journeys out of the wildernefs of Sinai, into that of Paran. When Joshua makes a league with the Gibeonites Jofh. ix. to let them live, we find, the princes of the congregation, likewife, fware unto them. And when the Tribes of Reuben and Gad, in their Departure to their own Inheritance, after the Land of Canaan was fubdued, had built an Altar by the River Jordan; which gave Umbrage to the other ten Tribes for fufpecting that they intended to defert the Law and them, they sent Phinchas the fon of Eleazar the Priest, to expoftulate with them. And, with him, ib. xxii. ten princes, of each chief house a prince, throughout all the tribes of Ifrael; and each one was the head of the house of their fathers, among the thousands of Ifrael.

C

14.