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liberare; "Therefore also may a prince or lawmaker at his "own will and pleasure deliver himself from the bond of the "law." Therefore in the rules of the law it is thus concluded: Subditi tenentur leges observare necessitate coactionis, princeps vero sola voluntate sua, et intuitu boni communis; "The subjects are bound to fulfil the law by necessity of compulsion, but the prince only by his own "will, and regard of the common good.”

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Now concerning the politic laws, given by Moses to the nation of the Israelites, whether they ought to be a precedent, from which no civil institutions of other people should presume to digress, I will not presume to determine, but leave it as a question for such men to decide, whose professions give them greater ability. Thus much I may be bold to affirm, that we ought not to seem wiser than God himself, who hath told us, that there are no laws so righteous as those which it pleased him to give to his elect people to be governed by. True it is, that all nations have their several qualities, wherein they differ, even from their next borderers, no less than in their peculiar languages; which disagreeable conditions to govern aptly one and the same law very hardly were able. The Roman civil laws did indeed contain in order a great part of the then known world, without any notable inconvenience, after such time as once it was received and become familiar; yet was not the administration of it alike in all parts, but yielded much unto the natural customs of the sundry people which it governed. For whether it be through a long continued persuasion, or (as astrologers more willingly grant) some influence of the heavens, or peradventure some temper of the soil and climate, affording matter of provocation to vice, (as plenty made the Sybarites luxurious; want, and opportunity to steal, makes the Arabians to be thieves,) very hard it were to forbid by law an offence so common with any people, as it wanted a name whereby to be distinguished from just and honest. By such rigour was the kingdom of Congo unhappily diverted from the Christian religion, which it willingly at the first embraced, but after with great fury re

RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. II.

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jected, because plurality of wives was denied unto them, I know not how necessarily, but more contentiously than seasonably. In such cases, methinks, it were not amiss to consider, that the high God himself permitted some things to the Israelites, rather in regard of their natural disposition, (for they were hardhearted,) than because they were consonant unto the ancient rules of the first perfection. So, where even the general nature of man doth condemn (as many things it doth) for wicked and unjust, there may the law given by Moses worthily be deemed the most exact reformer of the evil, which forceth man, as near as may be, to the will and pleasure of his Maker. But where nature or custom hath entertained a vicious, yet not intolerable habit, with so long and so public approbation, that the virtue opposing it would seem as uncouth, as it were to walk naked in England, or to wear the English fashion of apparel in Turkey; there may a wise and upright lawgiver, without presumption, omit somewhat that the rigour of Moses's law required; even as the good king Hezekiah did, in a matter merely ecclesiastical, and therefore the less capable of dispensation, praying for the people; h The good Lord be merciful unto him that prepareth his whole heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary: which prayer the Lord heard and granted.

To this effect it is well observed by Master Dr. Willet, that the moral judicials of Moses do partly bind, and partly are let free. They do not hold affirmatively that we are tied to the same severity of punishment now, which was inflicted then; but negatively they do hold, that now the punishment of death should not be adjudged, where sentence of death is not given by Moses: Christian magistrates ruling under Christ the Prince of peace, that is, of clemency and mercy, may abate of the severity of Moses's law, and mitigate the punishment of death, but they cannot add unto it, to make the burden more heavy; for to shew more rigour than Moses becometh not the gospel.

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But I will not wander in this copious argument, which hath been the subject of many learned discourses, neither will I take upon me to speak any thing definitively in a case which dependeth still in some controversy among worthy divines. Thus much (as in honour of the judicial law, or rather of him that gave it) I may well and truly say, that the defence of it hath always been very plausible. And surely, howsoever they be not accepted (neither were it expedient) as a general and only law, yet shall we hardly find any other ground, whereon the conscience of a judge may rest with equal satisfaction, in making interpretation, or giving sentence upon doubts, arising out of any law besides it. Hereof, perhaps, that judge could have been witness, of whom Fortescue, that notable bulwark of our laws, doth speak, complaining of a judgment given against a gentlewoman at Salisbury, who being accused by her own man, without any other proof, for murdering her husband, was thereupon condemned, and burnt to ashes; the man who accused her, within a year after being convict of the same offence, confessed that his mistress was altogether innocent of that cruel fact, whose terrible death he then (though over-late) grievously lamented: but this judge, saith the same author, Sæpius ipse mihi fassus est, quod nunquam in vita sua animum ejus de hoc facto ipse purgaret; "He "himself often confessed unto me, that he should never, "during his life, be able to clear his conscience of that "fact." Wherefore that acknowledgment which other sciences yield unto the metaphysics, that from thence are drawn propositions, able to prove the principles of sciences, which out of the sciences themselves cannot be proved, may justly be granted by all other politic institutions, to that of Moses; and so much the more justly, by how much the subject of the metaphysics, which is, ens quatenus ens, "being as it is being," is infinitely inferior to the ens entium," the being of beings," the only good, the fountain of truth, whose fear is the beginning of wisdom. To which purpose well saith St. Augustine, Conditor legum tempora

k Isaiah v. 3.

lium si vir bonus est et sapiens, illam ipsam consulit æternam, de qua nulli animæ judicare datum est; "The au"thor of temporal laws, if he be good and wise, doth "therein consult the law eternal, to determine of which "there is no power given to any soul." And as well prince Edward, in Fortescue's discourse, Nemo potest melius aut aliud fundamentum ponere, quam posuit Dominus; “No man can lay a better or another foundation, than the Lord "hath laid."

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CHAP. V.

The story of the Israelites from the receiving of the law to the death of Moses.

SECT. I.

Of the numbering and disposing of the host of Israel, for their marches through the wilderness; with a note of the reverence given to the worship of God in this ordering of their troops.

WHEN Moses had received the law from God, and published it among the people, and finished the tabernacle of the ark and sanctuary, he mustered all the tribes and families of Israel; and having seen what numbers of men, fit to bear arms, were found in every tribe, from twenty years of age upwards, he appointed unto them, by direction from the Lord, such princes and leaders, as in worth and reputation were in every tribe most eminent. The number of the whole army was 603,550 able men for the wars, besides women and children; also, besides the strangers which followed them out of Egypt. This great army was divided by Moses into four gross and mighty battalions, each of which contained the strength of three whole tribes.

The first of these containing 186,400 able men, consisted of three regiments, which may well, in respect of their numbers, be called armies; as containing the three whole tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zabulon. In the tribe of Judah were 74,600 fighting men, led by Naason; in Issachar 54,400, led by Nethaneel; in Zabulon 57,400,

led by Eliab. All these marched under the standard of the tribe of Judah, who held the vanguard, and was the first that moved and marched, being lodged and quartered at their general encamping on the east side of the army; which was held the first place, and of greatest dignity.

The second battalion, or army, called in the scriptures the host of Reuben, had joined unto it Simeon and Gad, in number 151,450: all which marched under the standard of Reuben. In the tribe of Reuben were 46,500, under Elizur; in Simeon 59,300, under Shelumiel; in Gad 45,650, under Eliasaph. These had the second place, and encamped on the south side of the tabernacle.

The third army marched under the standard of Ephraim, to whom were joined the regiments of Manasseh and Benjamin; who joined together, made in number 108,100 able These marched in the third place, encamping on the west quarter of the tabernacle. Ephraim had 40,500, under Elishama; Manasseh 32,200, under Gamaliel; Benjamin 35,400, under Abidam.

men.

The fourth and last army, or squadron, of the general army, containing 157,600 able men, marched under the standard of Dan; to whom were joined the two tribes of Nephtali and Asher. And these had the rereward, and moved last, encamping on the north side. Dan had 62,700, under Ahiezer; Asher 41,500, under Pagiel; Nephtali 53,400, under Ahira.

Besides these princes of the several tribes, there were ordained captains over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens; as it may appear by that mutiny and insurrection against Moses, Numbers xvi. 1, 2. For there arose up against Moses two hundred and fifty captains of the assembly, famous in the congregation, and men of renown; of which number were Korah, Datham, and Abiram. Which three principal mutiners, with those 250 captains that followed them, were not any of the twelve princes of the tribes, or general colonels before spoken of, as by their names, Numbers i. is made manifest.

The blessing which Israel gave to his children took place,

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