the sense that they should have a
great want of their conductor, because they remembered what a number
of dangers he had passed through, and what care he had taken of their
preservation: they desponded about what would come upon them after he
was dead, and thought they should never have another governor like him;
and feared that God would then take less care of them when Moses was
gone, who used to intercede for them. They also repented of what they
had said to him in the wilderness when they were angry, and were in
grief on those accounts, insomuch that the whole body of the people fell
into tears with such bitterness, that it was past the power of words
to comfort them in their affliction. However, Moses gave them some
consolation; and by calling them off the thought how worthy he was
of their weeping for him, he exhorted them to keep to that form of
government he had given them; and then the congregation was dissolved at
that time.

4. Accordingly, I shall now first describe this form of government which
was agreeable to the dignity and virtue of Moses; and shall thereby
inform those that read these Antiquities, what our original settlements
were, and shall then proceed to the remaining histories. Now those
settlements are all still in writing, as he left them; and we shall add
nothing by way of ornament, nor any thing besides what Moses left us;
only we shall so far innovate, as to digest the several kinds of laws
into a regular system; for they were by him left in writing as they were
accidentally scattered in their delivery, and as he upon inquiry had
learned them of God. On which account I have thought it necessary to
premise this observation beforehand, lest any of my own countrymen
should blame me, as having been guilty of an offense herein. Now part
of our constitution will include the laws that belong to our political
state. As for those laws which Moses left concerning our common
conversation and intercourse one with another, I have reserved that for
a discourse concerning our manner of life, and the occasions of those
laws; which I propose to myself, with God's assistance, to write, after
I have finished the work I am now upon.

5. When you have possessed yourselves of the land of Canaan, and have
leisure to enjoy the good things of it, and when you have afterward
determined to build cities, if you will do what is pleasing to God, you
will have a secure state of happiness. Let there be then one city of
t