ftion agreed upon before, and put into the Hands of the High-Prieft to afk. The HighPriest could form no Question himself, or afk any Question of his own; nor could he impofe an Answer on thofe who confulted the Oracle by him. Yet if you will fuppofe after all, the High-Prieft might on some occafions have managed things fo dexterously, as to have publish'd an Oracle in favour of the Priesthood, of their Power and Wealth, of which there is not fo much as a Pretence of one fingle Inftance in the whole Hebrew Hiftory, what would the Priefts have gain'd by it? This would have been beginning at the wrong End, it would be like declaring the Royal Affent to an Act that had paffed neither of the Houses; and muft, like the Laws of the Hebrew Conftitution, be propofed to the Senate and Congregation for their Confent. So that fuch Conftitutions, if poffible to be founded on the pretended Authority of an Oracle, must be receiv'd and executed by this general Confent of the whole Nation.

But of all these imaginary or forged Fears, none are more ridiculoufly abfurd than the Pannick from the Attempts of the Levites, That they fhould be in a Plot against the Liberties of their Country, and be able to draw all the Power and Wealth of the whole Nation into their own Hands.

What

a

What the Constitution appointed for the Levites was the Tithe, which, all things confidered, and their own Share of Land which they gave to the Publick deducted, was very moderate. A fundamental Law of the Constitution made the Levites incapable of

any Acceffion of Revenue, as all Estates in Land were unalienable, and all Interest on Money forbid by Law. So that it was not poffible for them to attempt any thing, but either by the Repeal of a Law declared in the Constitution unalterable, or by Force of Arms, both of them most chimerical and impracticable Projects.

The Levites had fo little fhare in the States, whether provincial or national, that if a Power of repealing and making new Laws had been vested in those Affemblies, the Levites could have had neither Numbers nor Authority to carry any Law in their own Favour against the Interefts of the rest of the Nation.

Judges

If they are confidered in the particular Tribes to which they belong, for they are reckoned to belong to that Tribe where the City of their Habitation was; fo you have mention of a young Man out of BethlemJudah, of the Family of Judah, who was xvii. 7. a Levite: Thus confidered, you will fee they are so very small a Number, in comparison of the other Inhabitants of the Tribe, that they could not hope to carry any QueR 4

ftion

ftion against them, in any Affembly; especially confidering further, that the principle Power and Authority of every Tribe must be in other Hands. The Levites could never be Princes of Tribes, or Heads of Families; nor is it certain, that the Levites had any share in the provincial Senates or Councils of the Tribes at all. It is likely they were confined to the Magiftracies of their own Cities, and of their own Families, who inhabited them. As they were free from military Services, they feem in like manner free from Summons by the fuperior Officers, and fo from Attendance on the Princes of the Tribes in their provincial Affemblies, except fome few of them fhould affift in their Courts on account of their better Understanding in the Laws; but thefe, as fome have obferv'd with good Reason, seem rather to be placed in the Offices of Scribes, Secretaries, or Recorders, than of Aldermen or Senators. The fame may be observed as to their Seffion, Vote and Authority in the national Councils, or StatesGeneral of the united Tribes.

But whatever Power the Levites had, whatever their Authority was, fuppofe it more or less, it could not reach to the Alteration of the Conftitution in their favour any manner of way; for it was not in the Power of any provincial Affembly, not in the Power of a national Affembly, if the Levites could be fuppofed to govern them

all

all abfolutely, either to repeal any Law in being that was a Bar to their Ambition, as the univerfal Mortmain or the Prohibition of Intereft, or to procure any new Law to be enacted in their Favour, that might make way for any Attempts against the Liberties of their Country.

If you can fuppofe the Levites making any fuch Attempts by Mutiny and Force, you may perceive all fuch Attempts manifeftly impracticable. The Levites were a few Perfons in the midst of a great Number of Iraelites; they were themselves without Arms, never train'd to Difcipline, not having one Perfon of military Skill to lead them, but furrounded by Perfons in Numbers, above ten to one armed and inftructed in military Discipline, fully officer'd, and ready at a Day's Warning to fupprefs any Mutiny or rebellious Infurrection.

So that to suppose it was in the Power of the Levites to disturb the Peace, or endanger the Liberties of their Country, or to draw the Power and Wealth of the Nation into their own Hands, efpecially that it was artfully, that is, knavishly defign'd by the Conftitution it fhould be fo, is a groundless Imagination; and fo incredible a Fiction, that whoever can hope to impofe it on the World must first have a moft contemptible Opinion of it, for Ignorance and Stupidity.

In

In fact, there does not appear any one Inftance in the whole Hebrew Hiftory for fo many hundred Years of any fuch Design in the Levites, or of the Succefs of the Priests in any one fuch Project. There were confiderable Alterations in the Hebrew Government, for want of keeping ftrictly to the original Conftitution. As the Hebrews chofe no Judge to fucceed Joshua, or Elders in the room of the Elders of his Council, the natural Confequence was a fort of Anarchy, or occafional Judges, with Authority only in fome of the Tribes. This made the People defire a King, to restore in some meafure the national Union, and to unite the national Force. This Kingdom was in a few Years divided into two, by which the original Conftitution was fo altered, and the national Force fo weakened, that both became more expos'd to the Invafions of their ful Neighbours the Kings of Egypt, Affyria and Babylon, and fuffered much from them, as was naturally to be expected from their Divifions and Animofities; but where is it to be found that the Priefts or Levites were the Authors of any of thefe Alterations? Where does it appear the Priests or Levites got any Advantages by any of these Alterations? Where are the new Conftitutions to be found in favour of the Priefts and Levites, whereby they had any Acceffion either of Power or Wealth; or, where is the Appearance

power