of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, (which were but words,) may be taken for an instance, when he said, 'God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day:' whereby it is not plain, whether he meant to kill him without more ado, or to have him condemned as a false prophet, that had made them hold out against the Aramites, till they were fain to eat their own children; which he thought a sufficient argu ment to prove, that it was not God's purpose to deliver them. The death of Naboth sheweth rather the liberty which the Israelites enjoyed, than any peremptory execution of the king's will. For Naboth did not fear to stand upon his own right, though Ahab were even sick for anger; neither was he for that cause put to death, as upon commandment, but made away by conspiracy, the matter being handled after a judicial form, which might give satisfaction to the people, ignorant of the device, though to God it could not.

The murder of the prophets is continually ascribed to Jezebel, an impudent woman, and not unto the king her husband. Neither is it certain, that there was no law made whereby their lives were taken from them; but certain it is, that the people be ing idolators, were both pleased with their death, and laboured in the execution. So that the doings of the kings of Judah, (such as are registered,) prove them to have used a more absolute manner of command, than the kings of the ten tribes. Neither do their sufferings witness the contrary: for of those which reigned over Judah, from the division of the kingdom, to the captivity of the ten tribes, three were slain by the people, and two were denied a place of burial amongst their ancestors; yea, the death of Ahaziah and his brethren,, slain by Jehu, with the destruction of all the royal seed of Athaliah, did not, (for ought that we can read,) stir up in the people 4 2 Kings vi. 31.

5 2 Kings xix. 10.

any such thirst of revenge, as might, by the suddenness and uniformity, testify the affection to be general, and proceeding from a loving remembrance of. their princes; unless we should think that the death of Athaliah, after seven year's reign, were occasioned rather by the memory of her ill purchasing, than by the present sense of her tyrannical abusing the government, whereon she had seized. On the other side, such of the kings of Israel as perished by treason, (which were seven of the twenty,) were all slain by conspiracy of the great men, who aspired by treason to the crown; the people being so far from embruing their hands in the blood of their sovereigns, that, (after Nadab,) they did never forbear to revenge the death of their kings, when it lay in their power, nor approve the good success of treason, unless fear compelled them. So that the death of two kings, being thoroughly revenged upon the other two, namely, the death of Elah and Zachariah, upon Zimri and Shallum, who traiterously got and usurped, for a little while, their places; only three of the seven remain, whose ends how the people took, it may be. doubtful. Though, indeed, it is precisely said of the slaughter committed on Ahab's children by Jehu, that the people durst not fight with him that did it, because 'they were exceedingly afraid';' and the same fear might be in them at the death of Pekah, whose history, (as others of that time,) is cursorily passed over. The like may be pronounced, and more absolutely, of the kings of England, that never any of them perished by fury of the people, but by treason of such as did succeed them; neither was there any motive urging so forcibly the death of king Edward and king Richard, when they were in prison, as fear lest the people should stir in their quarrel. And certainly, (howsoever all that the law calls treason, be interpreted as tending finally to the king's destruction,) in those treasonable insurrections of the vulgar, which

• 2 Kings X. 4

have here most prevailed, the fury of the multitude hath quenched itself with the blood of some great officers; no such rebellions, howsoever wicked and barbarous otherwise, thirsting after the ruin of their natural sovereign, but rather forbearing the advantages gotten upon his royal person; which, if any man impute unto gross ignorance, another may more charitably, and, I think, more truly, ascribe to a reverent affection. Wherefore that fable of Briareus, who, being loosened by Pallas, did with his hundred hands give assistance to Jupiter, when all the rest of the gods conspired again him, is very fitly expounded by Sir Francis Bacon, as signifying, that monarchs need not to fear any curbing of their absoluteness by mighty subjects, as long as by wisdom they keep the hearts of the people, who will be sure to come in on their side. Though indeed the story might very well have borne the same interpretation, as it is rehearsed by Homer, who tells us that Pallas was one of the conspiracy, and that Thetis alone did mar all their practice, by loosening Briareus. For a good form of government sufficeth by itself to retain the people, not only without assistance of a laborious wit, but even against all devices of the greatest and shrewdest politicians: every sheriff and constable being sooner able to arm the multitude, in the king's behalf, than any overweening rebel, how mighty soever, can against him.

This declaration of the people's love, being seldom found in Judah, makes it very likely, that the rule itself of government there was such as neither gave occasion of contentment unto the subjects, nor of confidence in their good affection to the kings. Upon which reasons it may seem, that the multitude was kept usually disarmed; for otherwise it would have been almost impossible, that Athaliah, the sister of Ahab, a stranger to the royal blood of Judah, should, by the only authority of a queen-mother, have destroyed all the seed of David, and usurped the

kingdom very near seven years, without finding any resistance. Yea, when Jehoiada, the high priest, had agreed with the captains and principal men of the land, to set up Joash their lawful king, whereunto the whole nation were generally well affected, he was fain to give to these captains and their men, the spears and shields that were king David's, and were in the house of the Lord.' But we need not enter into such particulars. Questionless, the tribes which thought obedience to their princes to be a part of their duty towards God, would endure much more with patience, than they which had kings of their own choice or admission, holding the crown by a more uncertain tenure.

And this, in my opinion, was the reason why the ten tribes did never seek to return to their ancient lords; but after the destruction of their six first kings, which died in the reign of Asa, admitted a seventh of a new family, rather than they would consubject themselves, with those of Judah and Benjamin, under a more honourable, but more heavy yoke.

So Asa, having seen the death of seven kings of Israel, died himself after forty-one years reign, leaving Jehoshaphat his son to deal with Ahab, the son of Omri, who was the eighth king over the ten tribes.

SECT. VII.

Of Jehoshaphat and his contemporaries. JEHOSHAPHAT, who succeeded Asa, was a prince religious and happy; he destroyed all the groves, altars, and high places dedicated to idolatry, and sent teachers to all places and people wanting instruction he recovered the tribute due unto him by the Arabians and Philistines; from the one he had silver, from the other sheep and goats, to the number of fifteen thousand and four hundred. The numbers of his men of war were more than admirable'; for it is writ

1 2 Chron. xvii.

ten, that Adnah had the command of three hundred thousand, Jehohanan of two hundred and fourscore thousand, and Amaziah of two hundred thousand; also that he had, besides these, in Benjamin, of those that bare shields, which we call Targeteers, and of archers under Eliada two hundred thousand, and under the commandment of Jehosabad a hundred and fourscore thousand, which, numbered together, make eleven hundred and sixty thousand, all which are said to have waited upon the king; besides his garrisons.

That Judah and Benjamin, a territory not much exceeding the county of Kent, should muster eleven hundred and sixty thousand fighting men, it is very strange, and the number far greater than it was found upon any other view. Joab, in David's time, found five hundred thousand'; Rehoboam found but an hundred and fourscore thousand; Abia four hundred and eight thousand; Asa five hundred and fourscore thousand; Amaziah enrolled all that could bear arms, and they amounted to three hundred thousand'; Uzziah three hundred and seven thousand and five hundred. Surely, whereas it is written that when news was brought to Jehoshaphat, that Moab and Ammon were entered his territory to the west of Jordan, and that their numbers were many, he feared the multitude, it is not likely that he would have feared even the army of Xerxes, if he could have brought into the field eleven hundred and threescore thousand fighting men, leaving all his strong cities manned. I am therefore of opinion (referring myself to better judgment) that these numbers (specified in the second of Chronicles, the seventeenth,) distributed to several leaders, were not all at one time; but that the three hundred thousand under Adnah, and the two hundred and fourscore thousand under Jehohanan, were afterwards commanded and mustered by Amaziah, Elıada, and Jehosabad; for the

2 2 Sam. xxiv, 4.