Deut.

xxxi. 9.

the burden of the people with thee; that thou bear it not thy felf alone. Accordingly to them, together with the Priests and Levites, the Charge of feeing to the Execution of the Law was intrufted. The Law under their Adminiftration was the fupream Power; and fo continued, both during the Life of Mofes, before they passed over Jordan into the Land of Canaan, and after they were fettled there, under Joshua, and the Elders.

For, after the Death of Mofes, Joshua acted as Conductor of their Affairs, according to the Law, by a fpecial Commiffion from God; Part of which runs Joh. i. 7. thus; Be thou Arong and very courageous, that thou may'ft obferve to do according to all the Law which Mofes my fervant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right band or to the left, that thou may'ft profper whitherfoever thou goest.

How he obferv'd it therefore, we may conclude by the Proportion in which he profpered. He conquer'd divers Nations and flew mighty Kings; all Oppofition fell before him, till he had put the If raelites in Poffeffion of the promis'd Land. There

Jofh.

There he renew'd the Covenant between God and them; and we are affur'd that, Ifrael ferv'd the LORD all the days of xxiv. 31, Joshua, and all the days of the Elders that over-liv'd Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD that he had done for Ifrael.

12.

But, when all these were dead, there Judg. ii. arofe another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Ifrael. They for fook the LORD, and ferv'd the ftrange Gods of the Heathens their Neighbours, Baal and Afhtaroth. And this they seem to have done without intirely altering the Form of their Government, or utterly rejecting the Law. But having greatly dif pleas'd God by fuch their Behaviour, he withdrew his protecting Favour from them, so that they could no longer stand before their Enemies.

However the fupream Being, mindful of his Promise to their Forefathers, let his Mercy fo far temper his Justice, that he would not quite abandon them; but rais'd up Judges, under whofe Adminiftration, as long as they liv'd conforma- 17.

Judg. ii.

ble to God's Laws, their Affairs prof per'd. But, upon the Death of any of thefe Judges, their Intervals of Disobedience constantly return'd. And thus they went on, rebelling and provoking God, Acts xiii. for, about the space of four hundred and fifty years, till toward the latter End of the Days of Samuel; when they infifted upon having a King.

20.

i Sam.

SECT. III.

Afterwards, a Monarchy.

From thence began the Monarchy; when they were to be rul'd no longer by the Laws of God only, but moreover by the arbitrary Will of a fingle Perfon. This was what they defir'd; make us a king to vii. 5. judge us like all the nations: And this was what would infallibly be the Confequence; as Samuel the Prophet of the LORD tells them. This will be the manner of the King that shall reign over you; he will take your fons and your daughters, your menfervants and your maid-fervants, and your goodlieft young men, and your asses; and put them to his work. And he will take your fields and your vineyards, and your oliveyards,

yards, even the best of them, and give them to his fervants. And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your King which ye have chofen you. A very just Reprefentation of Monarchy; and which fhews the Excellency of their former Government, when they liv'd under † no other Controul than that of good and wholsome Laws, which they had foberly and feriously covenanted to obey. Accordingly when they chose a King, they are faid to have rejected God; 1 Sam. as having forfeited their Liberty, and with viii. 7. it, all Pretence to Happiness and Secu rity.

+ Jofephus introduces Mofes fpeaking to the People of Ifrael, after this Manner. An Ariftocracy, in refpect to the Benefits of Life which flow from it, is "the best Thing in the World. Do not therefore "wantonly defire to change this for any other Form "of Government. Keep to this, which lays you un"der no Reftraint but that of your own Laws, and "makes you accountable to them only. Have no "other Lord, but your God. But----if you must "needs have a King, let him be elected from among "your own People. Antiq. lib. iv." And agreeably to this, Ariftotle makes the following juft Reflection. "He that defires to be govern'd by Law, defires that "God fhould be his Sovereign. He that defires to be "govern'd by a King, that is, by a Man, defires to "Be fubject to a wild Beaft as it were; fince Man "is fo far from acting always according to Reafon, "that he is generally influenc'd by his Paffions. Ari"ftot. in Polit.

It must be confefs'd that, according to the modern way of fpeaking, Monarchy is of two Kinds; the one, abfolute; and the other limited. But it is, at the fame Time, well known that this latter is, in Truth, a Sort of Commonwealth; which though it cannot be call'd either an Ariftocracy or a Democracy, yet is of such à Nature as may be confiftent with both: It being a very common thing, in either, to have the executive Power lodg'd in the Hands of a fingle Perfon; who, during that Time, is, in Effect, much the same as a limited Monarch; confidering, that Names and Titles, Habits and Decorations, are merely contingent, and may differ from one another as much as Times and Places do, without adding to, or detracting from the Power of the Perfon that wears them: that being fix'd in this cafe, by the Laws or Cuftoms of the Land; and flowing from the Confent of those who have elected fuch Perfon to prefide over their Affairs.

Such was the Ariftocracy of the Ifraelites. Firft Mofes held the Helm of their State; then Joshua, and afterwards the

Judges.