To the judges succeeded kings: and whereas before, all authority, both in religion and policy, was in the high-priest; so now it was all in the king. For the sovereignty over the people, which was before, not only by virtue of the divine power, but also by a particular pact of the Israelites, in God, and next under him, in the high-priest, as his vicegerent on earth, was cast off by the people, with the consent of God himself. For when they said to Samuel (_1 Sam._ viii. 5) _Make us a king to judge us like all the nations_, they signified that they would no more be governed by the commands that should be laid upon them by the priest, in the name of God; but by one that should command them in the same manner that all other nations were commanded; and consequently in deposing the high-priest of royal authority, they deposed that peculiar government of God. And yet God consented to it, saying to Samuel (_1 Sam._ viii. 7) _Hearken unto the voice of the people, in all that they shall say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them_. Having therefore rejected God, in whose right the priests governed, there was no authority left to the priests, but such as the king was pleased to allow them; which was more or less, according as the kings were good or evil. And for the government of civil affairs, it is manifest, it was all in the hands of the king. For in the same chapter, (verse 20), they say _they will be like all the nations; that their king shall be their judge, and go before them, and fight their battles_; that is, he shall have the whole authority, both in peace and war. In which is contained also the ordering of religion: for there was no other word of God in that time, by which to regulate religion, but the law of Moses, which was their civil law. Besides, we read (_1 Kings_ ii. 27) that _Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest before the Lord_: he had therefore authority over the high-priest, as over any other subject; which is a great mark of supremacy in religion. And we read also, (_1 Kings_ viii.) that he dedicated the Temple; that he blessed the people; and that he himself in person made that excellent prayer, used in the consecration of all churches and houses of prayer; which is another great mark of supremacy in religion. Again, we read (_2 Kings_ xxii.) that when there was question concerning the Book of the Law found in the Temple, the same was not decided by the high-priest, but Josiah sent both him and others to enquire concerning it, of Huldah, the prophetess; which is another mark of supremacy in religion. Lastly, we read (_1 Chron._ xxvi. 30) that David made Hashabiah and his brethren, Hebronites, officers of Israel among them westward, _in all their business of the Lord, and in the service of the king_. Likewise (verse 32) that he made other Hebronites, _rulers over the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe