promise to obey all that God should say to them but all that God should speak to Moses See Deut. c. 5. v. 25 26 28. so that now none but Moses became the giver and interpreter of Gods Laws and consequently was the Supreme Judg over whom no Man had power he only was Gods Vicegerent among the Jews in him resided the Supreme Majesty seeing he only had the power of consulting God of returning Gods Answers to the People and compelling the People to obey them I say he only for if any Man during the Life of Moses had preached any thing in the name of God though he were a true Prophet yet he had been a guilty Usurper see Numb c. 11. v. 27 28. And here we ought to observe that though the People chose Moses yet they had not the power of Electing any Successor in his place for at that very time when they transfer'd their Right and Power of consulting God upon Moses and promis'd to receive from him Gods answers they lost all their power and whoever Moses declared should be his Successor him were they bound to accept as chosen by God himself and had Moses chosen one who was to have as Moses himself had the whole Administration of the Government namely the Power of consulting God alone in his Tent and consequently the Power of making and abrogating Laws of making War and Peace sending Embassadors appointing Judges chusing a Successor and ordering all other things that belong to Supreme Power the Government had been perfectly Monarchical and there had been no other difference between the Jewish and other Monarchies but this that other Monarchies are or should be Govern'd according to Reason by Gods Decree of which the Monarch is ignorant but the Jewish Monarchy by Gods Decree revealed only to the Monarch which difference doth not at all diminish but increase the Monarchs Power and Dominion over all but the condition of the Subjects in both Monarchies is the same For the Subjects in both being ignorant of Gods Decree do absolutely depend upon the Mouth of the Monarch and he only is to declare what is right and what is wrong And if the People believe that the Monarch is to command nothing but by the will of God revealed to him in that very respect they are not the less but the more subject to him Now Moses did not chuse any such Successor but left Successors who were so to Administer the Government that it could not be called Popular Aristocratical or Monarchical but rather Theocratical For the Power of Interpreting Laws and Communicating Gods Answers to the People was in one Person and the Right and Power of Administring the Government according to the Laws already explain'd and according to the Answers already made known was in another See Numb c. 27. v. 21. But that these things may be clearly understood I will in order declare in what manner the Government of the Jews was Administred First The People were commanded to build a House which was to be God's that is the Palace of the Supreme Majesty of that Government and this was not to be built at any particular Persons cost but the publick charge of all the People that the House where Counsel was to be asked of God might be Publick and Common to all The Levites were the Courtiers or Officers of this Divine Palace of these the Chief next to God after the King was chosen Aaron the Brother of Moses whose Legitimate Sons succeeded him He as next to God was the chief Interpreter of the Divine Laws return'd the Answers of the Divine Oracle and made Supplications to God for the People had he herewith had the commanding Power there had nothing wanted of his being an absolute Monarch but that Power he had not and the whole Tribe of Levy was so far excluded from having any hand in the Administration of government that they were not allow'd to possess with the rest of the Tribes any Lands in their own right upon which they might live but were to be maintain'd and relieved by the rest of the People as a Tribe dedicated to God. The Militia was chosen out of the rest of the twelve Tribes they were commanded to invade the Country of the Canaanites to divide their Lands into twelve parts and to distribute the parts amongst the Tribes by Lot. Ioshua was elected General and Chief Commander of the Militia who only in future Affairs and Emergencies had the power of consulting God not as Moses had alone in his Tent or in the Tabernacle but by the High-Priest to whom only God gave his Answers The power of passing those Answers which were deliver'd to the High-Priest into Laws and the power of compelling the People to obey them the Manner and Means of executing those Commands the choice of the Militia or the choice of those that should chuse it of sending Embassadors in his own name the whole power of making and carrying on War depended absolutely and solely upon the Will of Ioshua into whose power and place no body did ever lawfully succeed nor was there ever any other chosen unless by God himself the Peoples affairs not requiring any such choice but all matters of Peace and War were under the direction and government of the Princes of the Tribes All from twenty years old to sixty were commanded to bear Arms the Army was formed only out of their own People who did not swear Fidelity to the General or Chief-Priest but to God and Religion and were therefore called the Lords Host and God by the Jews the Lord of Hosts For this reason the Ark of the Covenant upon which depended Victory or the loss of their Battels was always carryed in the midst of the Army that the People beholding as it were their King might fight with their utmost courage and strength From these Commands of Moses to his Successors we conclude that he chose Administrators or Ministers of State but none that had absolute Power for he gave to no body the sole power of Consulting God when he pleas'd and consequently not the Authority which he himself had of making and abrogating Laws of making War or Peace of chusing Officers for the Temple or in any of the Cities all which do properly belong to him that hath Supreme Power The Chief Priest indeed had power of interpreting the Laws and returning Gods Answers to the People but not as Moses when he pleas'd but only when he was called upon by the General or Supreme Council to do it On the other side the General of the Army and the Councils could consult God when they pleas'd but could not receive God's Answers from any but the High Priest and therefore what God said by the Mouth of the High Priest was not a Law and Decree as it was in the Mouth of Moses but only Answers and when those Answers were received by Ioshua and the Council then had they the force of Laws and Decrees Moreover the
sanctified them for my self But after all the People the Levites only excepted had worshipped the Golden Calf they were defiled and rejected and the Levites who sided with Moses as appears Exod. chap. 32. v. 20 27. were chosen into their room Deut. chap. 10. v. 8. The Lord separated the tribe of Levi to stand before the Lord to minister him and to bless his Name Which change when I seriously consider it makes me think of those Words in Tacitus Illo tempore non fuisse Deo curae securitatem illorum fuisse ultionem At that time God took more care to be revenged upon them than to preserve them God was so extreamly incensed against them that though Laws usually provide for the Safety Honour and Security of People yet the Laws which God gave the Iews were with a purpose to punish and be revenged upon them so that their Laws were not Laws that is the Peoples Safety but their Plague and Pnnishment Consider how many things the People were bound to give to the Priests and Levites beside the Money that was to be pay'd for the Redemption of the First-born Consider likewise that the Levites were only permitted to come near whatever was accounted holy which continually minded the People of their Uncleanness and Repudiation with which 't is very likely the Levites might often reproach them for amongst so many thousand Levites no question but there were some troublesome pragmatical Fellows who provoked the People and the People on their part to be quit with the Levites narrowly watched and pryed into their Actions who being but Men were subject to many failings and miscarriages which as is usual were charged upon the whole Function and at last especially when Provisions were dear in all probability the People grew weary of maintaining so many lazy idle and hated persons who were no Kin at all to them No wonder then when the People were at ease and publick Miracles ceased if they who were in Authority became remiss and the covetous incensed Minds of the People grew careless and neglecting the Divine Worship of which they began to be suspicious and ashamed desired a new 'T is likewise possible that the Princes to keep the Commanding Power still in their own hands might court the People to take part with them against the Priest and bring in a new Religion But had the duration and security of the Government been designed when it was first instituted things might have gone well if all the Tribes had had equal Honour and Power for who would have violated the Sacred Right of his Kindred They would rather for Piety and Religion's sake have maintained their Parents Brothers and Kinsmen seeing from them they were to receive the Interpretation of the Law and the Divine Oracles The Tribes would have been tied in a stricter Bond of Amity if all had had equal Power of administring in the Temple at least there had been less fear of Discord if the Election of the Levites had not been grounded upon the Wrath and Vengeance of God But as I have already said God was very angry with them and that I may again use Ezekiel's Expression he polluted them with their gifts in the redemption of their first-born that he might destroy them This appears by their Histories for as soon as the People began to be idle in the Wilderness many not of the meanest sort began to be offended with the Choice of this Tribe believing that Moses did not act by God's Command but did all things as he himself pleased because he made choice of his own Tribe above all the rest and made a perpetual Settlement of the Priesthood upon his own Brother So that a Tumult being rais'd they tell Moses and Aaron that all the Congregation were every one of them holy and that they lifted themselves up above all the Congregation of the Lord. No Reason could appease them but they were all miraculously destroy'd which occasion'd a Universal Sedition amongst all the People who believed that they who perished were not destroyed by God's Judgment but by some Trick of Moses after which followed a great Plague which made the People weary of their Lives This was the end of the Sedition but not the beginning of any Amity or Affection and God told Moses Deut. chap. 33. v. 21. that he knew the imagination the people went about even before he had brought them into the Land which he sware and Moses a little after Verse 27. saith to the People I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death And as all the World knows so it happened great Changes all manner of Licentiousness Luxury and Idleness made them grow daily worse and worse till being often beaten by their Enemies they brake their Holy Covenant and desired a Mortal King. The Temple became his Palace and the Tribes casting off the Divine Law and the Priesthood his Subjects The Electing of a King was a great occasion of new Seditions to reign precariously or suffer any Power to controll theirs was intolerable to their Kings They who from private Men were elected to the Throne were contented with the Dignity conferr'd upon them but when their Sons came by Right of Succession to the Crown they began by degrees to make Alterations that the Supreme Power might reside only in them which Power they had not so long as the Power of the Laws was not in their hands but were interpreted and kept by the High Priest in the Sanctuary So that the Kings were still subject to the Laws and had not Authority enough to abrogate the Old or make New. Moreover the Levites had power to keep the Kings as well as the Subjects under the Notion of being profane persons from medling with Sacred Matters Lastly Because all the power of their Kings depended upon the pleasure of any one who was accounted a Prophet of which they had an Example in Samuel who with great Boldness and Liberty commanded Saul to do what he pleas'd and for one Offence only transferr'd the Kingdom upon David which indeed made the Government perfectly precarious To avoid this their Kings consecrated other Temples that they might have no more need of consulting the Levites and enquired after others to prophesie in opposition to those who were accounted true Prophets But yet they could never compass their Ends for the Prophets were still ready watching their opportunity till a Successor came and then the Prophets by their Divine Power did sometimes set up some Famous and Worthy Person who being displeas'd with the King did under pretence of vindicating Religion endeavour to usurp the Supreme Power or some part thereof But neither this way could the Prophets compass their Ends for though they took away the Tyrant yet the Causes of Tyranny still remain'd and they did with a great Effusion of the Subjects Blood only
in maintaining such Laws he will think himself rather the Peoples Servant than their Master A New Monarch will make it his business to make New Laws framing the Rules of Government to his own purpose and will reduce the People to such a Condition that they shall not be able with as much ease to unmake as make a King. But here I cannot pass by another Observation which is That it is a very dangerous thing to take away the Life of a King though it be evident to all the World he is an Absolute Tyrant Because when a Nation is accustomed to Kingly Authority and hath been governed only by it they will scorn and contemn any Authority that is less and when they have taken away one Tyrant they will be necessitated as heretofore the Prophets were to chuse another in his room who must be a Tyrant whether he will or no for how can he behold his Subjects Hands stain'd with Royal Blood and approve the Fact which was but a president to shew how they might likewise deal with him If he will be a King and will have the People acknowledge his Power and not be his Judge he must unless he intend to reign precariously first revenge the Death of his Predecessor and make the People an Example that they may not dare to commit the like Parricide upon him But how can he revenge upon the People the Death of a Tyrant unless he first defend the former Tyrant's Cause approve his Actions and consequently tread in his steps Hence it comes to pass that people may indeed change but never destroy a Tyrant or turn ancient Monarchical Government into any other form Of this the People of a Kingdom not far from us have given the World a fatal Example who under colour and form of Law and Justice took away their King's Life and when he was gone they could do no less than change the form of Government but after much Blood spilt it came to this pass at last that another person was set up not by the Name of King as if all the Quarrel had been for nothing but a Name who could not possibly stand unless he destroyed the Royal Line and all that were suspected to be the last King's Friends He disturb'd the Quiet of Peace which breeds Rumors with new Wars that thereby he might divert the Minds of the People from reflecting upon the King's Murder but the Nation at last finding they had done nothing for the publick good by putting to Death their Lawful King and by changing the Government had brought themselves into a Condition worse than they were in before they resolved to return from whence they had strayed nor were they quiet till they saw all things restor'd to their former state Perhaps some will object the Example of the People of Rome who with much ease rid themselves of a Tyrant but their Example I think makes good my Opinion for though the People of Rome could easily destroy a Tyrant and change their form of Government because the Power and Right of chusing a King and his Successor was in the People and because the People amongst whom were many criminal and seditious persons were not accustomed to Kings for of Six they kill'd Three yet still they did nothing but in the place of one Tyrant chuse many who kept them always embroil'd in Foreign and Civil War till the Government under another Name as it did lately in England fell again to a Monarch but the States of Holland never that we know had Kings but only Earls or Counts upon whom the Supream Power was devolved for the States by their Declaration publisht in the time of the Earl of Leicester make it evident That they still reserved to themselves the Power and Authority of minding those Counts of their Duty and likewise kept continually in their own hands the power of maintaining their own Authority and defending their Subjects Liberty in case those Counts did at any time abuse their power the States had still Authority to restrain and punish them that they could do nothing without their Consent and Approbation Whence it clearly follows that the Right of Supream Power and Majesty always resided in the States which Power the last Earl endeavouring to usurp the States could not possibly be thought guilty of any Revolt or Rebellion when they did only restore their almost lost Government to its Pristine State These Examples fully prove That ancient Forms of Government ought to be preserved and cannot without great danger of total ruine be changed CHAP. XIX Religion and all things pertaining to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supream Magistrate Publick External Forms of Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Commonwealth WHen I said That they only who have the Supream Power have Right to all things and that all things depend upon their Decrees I meant things Sacred as well as Civil that is Supream Magistrates are the Supream Heads Judges and Interpreters of all things both in Church and State which is the particular Point I intended to treat of in this Chapter because there are many who will not allow Supream Civil Magistrates to have any power over things Sacred nor will they own them to be Judges or Interpreters of God's Law but with strange Boldness accuse and traduce them yea sometimes as heretofore Ambrose did the Emperor Theodosius Excommunicate them out of the Church But as it will appear in the end of this Chapter these Men have a mind to divide and share the Government or get it wholly into their own hands I will first shew That Religion hath the Force of a Law only from their Decrees who have the Supream Power and that all External Religious Worship and Outward Practice of Piety ought to be suited and accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth That is so ordered and regulated as may make most for the Quiet thereof and consequently ought to be determin'd and settled by the Supream Power to whose Judgment in all Causes Sacred and Civil we ought to submit But that I may not be mistaken I speak only of the outward Worship and Exercise of Religion and Piety and not of Piety it self and the inward Worship of God or of the Means whereby the Mind is internally disposed to worship God in sincerity for the inward Worship of God and Piety it self is in every man 's own power as we have shewn in the end of the Seventh Chapter which power no man can transfer upon another It appears by the Fourteenth Chapter what I mean by the Kingdom of God where I shew That he fulfilleth the Law of God who exerciseth Justice and Charity because God hath commanded it from whence it follows That the Kingdom of God is where Justice and Charity have the force of a Law and Precept I think there is little difference whether God teach us the Practice of Justice and Charity by Natural Light or
their Kings could not personally officiate as a Priest in the Temple because all men that could not derive their Pedigree from Aaron were counted profane and unclean which is now no Obstacle in a Christian Common-wealth for in these days the Priesthood not being entailed upon any particular Family but requiring only some particular Qualifications Kings or Supream Magistrates cannot be barred from medling with Matters belonging to Religion upon any account of profaneness but all is in their power and no body but by their authority or allowance hath any Right to officiate in the Church for the Power of chusing Ministers of setling the Church of stating and determining the Doctrines thereof prescribing Religious Rites and Ceremonies judging of Mens Piety and Manners the power of excommunicating and receiving again into the Church and of providing for the poor are all in the Supream Magistrate and these things are not only true but likewise very necessary not only for the good of Religion but also for the safety of the Commonwealth for all men know how much the People esteem and depend upon the Power and Authority of those whose Function is accounted Sacred they having an absolute Dominion over their Minds He then that endeavours to deprive the Supream Magistrate of this Power goes about to share and divide or else usurp the Government from whence must necessarily arise such Contention and Discords as were heretofore between the Kings and Iewish High Priests which could never be appeased If this Power be taken away from Supream Magistrates how can they determine of Peace or War or of any other Business if they must be obliged to follow other Mens Opinions by whom they are to be taught what is good or evil That Power is Supream and there can be none greater which hath the Right of declaring and determining what is Piety what Impiety and what in Religion is lawful or unlawful All Ages have been sensible how many Mischiefs such a Power in any but the Supream Magistrate hath produced I will give you but one Example As soon as such a Power was granted to the Pope or Bishop of Rome by degrees he became Superiour to all Kings and at last ascended to so high a pitch of earthly Dominion that whatever Kings or Emperours have since done to lessen it hath been to no purpose but they have rather much encreased it and that which no Monarch ever effected by Fire and Sword Church-men have been able to do only with their Pen which is a plain proof of the Pope's Power and a convincing Argument to perswade Supream Powers to keep that Authority he pretends to in their own hands If we consider the Observations I have made in the preceding Chapter we shall find that the residing of this Power in the hands of Supream Magistrates is very much for the Benefit and Advancement of Religion and Piety for as I have already declared the Prophets themselves though fill'd with Divine Power and Vertue yet because they were but private men the great Liberty they took in admonishing reproving and upbraiding the People did rather provoke than amend them who notwithstanding patiently submitted to the Reproof and Chastisement of their Princes Besides Kings themselves because they had not the power of judging and determining Matters of Religion many times forsook the true Religion and most of their People with them which hath likewise upon the same account often happen'd in Christian Governments But here perhaps some will ask if Supream Powers should chance to be wicked who shall then have the Power and Authority of vindicating and maintaining Religion and Piety And who shall then be the Interpreters of it I ask them on the other side What if Priests and Ecclesiasticks grow wicked and impious must they continue Interpreters of Religion and God's Word If they that have Supream Power should do whatever they please whether they do or do not meddle with Religion all things without doubt both Sacred and Civil are like to be in a very ill Condition but in much worse when private men shall seditiously pretend to a Divine Right of defining and defending all chings which concern or in any wise pertain to Religion The denying of this Power to Supream Magistrates must necessarily cause very ill Consequences for they will in all probability as did the Iewish Kings who had not this Power absolutely grow wicked and ungodly and from that which is but uncertain and contingent will follow most certain Mischief and Ruin to the Government If then we have any regard either to the Just Right of Supream Power to the safety of Government or the advancement of Religion and Piety we must grant that the regulating and determining all things concerning Religion and the Worship of God depends upon the Decrees of the Supream Power and that such only are Ministers of God's Word who are authoriz'd by the Supream Magistrate to teach and instruct the people in those principles of Religion and Piety which they that have the Supream Power think most likely to procure the publick Good of the Common-wealth I have now no more to do but to declare the Cause why in Christian Governments there hath been so much dispute about this Power when in the Iewish Commonwealth it never that I know came into controversie It is little less than a Wonder that a thing so necessary and profitable should still be a Question and the Subject of continual Cavil and that Supream Magistrates should never be able to exercise this Power without contention and without fear of danger and prejudice to Religion If the Cause of this could not be found out I would confess all I have said in this Chapter to be meer Theoretical Speculative Notions of no use but any person that will but look back and consider the beginnings of Christian Religion may easily discover the Cause of this Controversie They that first taught Christian Religion were not Kings but private persons who contrary to the Will and Commands of those in Supream Power whose Subjects they were preached in private Churches or Congregations and instituted Forms of Worship without any respect had or account given to the Government and likewise regulated and determined all things relating to Religion Though Christian Religion after many years began to be profest in Commonwealths by those that had the Supream Power yet the Ecclesiasticks who instructed Emperours and Kings in the Christian Religion were without any difficulty still acknowledged Teachers and Interpreters of God's Word Pastors of the Church and God's Ministers but that Christian Kings and Princes might not afterwards assume any such Authority to themselves Churchmen very warily provided against it by forbidding the Chief Ministers and the High Priest of the Church to marry by multiplying the Doctrines and Tenets of Religion to a prodigious number and by so confounding them with Philosophy that it was absolutely necessary for the Chief Interpreter and Judge of Religion to be a Philosopher as