you good: on which account I think it proper to bless that Divine
Power which will take care of you for the time to come, and this
in order to repay that debt which I owe him, and to leave behind
me a memorial that we are obliged to worship and honor him, and
to keep those laws which are the most excellent gift of all those
he hath already bestowed upon us, or which, if he continue
favorable to us, he will bestow upon us hereafter. Certainly a
human legislator is a terrible enemy when his laws are affronted,
and are made to no purpose. And may you never experience that
displeasure of God which will be the consequence of the neglect
of these his laws, which he, who is your Creator, hath given
you."

48. When Moses had spoken thus at the end of his life, and had
foretold what would befall to every one of their tribes (36)
afterward, with the addition of a blessing to them, the multitude
fell into tears, insomuch that even the women, by beating their
breasts, made manifest the deep concern they had when he was
about to die. The children also lamented still more, as not able
to contain their grief; and thereby declared, that even at their
age they were sensible of his virtue and mighty deeds; and truly
there seemed to be a strife betwixt the young and the old who
should most grieve for him. The old grieved because they knew
what a careful protector they were to be deprived of, and so
lamented their future state; but the young grieved, not only for
that, but also because it so happened that they were to be left
by him before they had well tasted of his virtue. Now one may
make a guess at the excess of this sorrow and lamentation of the
multitude, from what happened to the legislator himself; for
although he was always persuaded that he ought not to be cast