so that thou be valiant and strong, that thou maist kepe and do, according
to that hole lawe, whiche my seruant Moses hath commanded the. Thou shalt
not decline frome it, nether to the right hande, nether to the left hand,
that thou maist do prudentlie in all thinges, that thou takest in hand,
let not the boke of this lawe departe from thy mouth, but meditate in it,
day and night: that thou maist kepe and do, according to euery thing,
that is writen in it. For then shall thy wayes prosper, and then shalt
thou do prudently &c. And the same precept geueth God by the mouth of
Moses[93], to kinges, after they be elected, in these wordes[94]: when he
shal sit in the throne or seate of his kingdome, he shall write to him
self a copie of this lawe in a boke, and that shalbe with him, that he may
reade in it all the dayes of his life, that he may learne to feare the
Lorde his God, and to kepe all the wordes of this lawe, and all these
statutes, that he may do them &c. Of these two places it is euident, that
principallie it apperteineth to the king or to the chief magistrate, to
knowe the will of God, to be instructed in his lawe and statutes, and to
promote his glorie with his hole hart and studie, which be the chief
pointes of the first table. No man denieth, but that the sworde is
committed to the magistrate, to the end that he shulde punishe vice, and
mainteine vertue. To punishe vice I say, not onelie that, whiche troubleth
the tranquillitie and quiet estat of the common welth by adulterie, theft
or murther committed[95], but also suche vices as openly impugne the
glorie of God: as idolatrie, blasphemie, and manifest heresie, taught and
obstinatly mainteined: as the histories and notable actes of Ezechias,
Iosaphat, and Iosias do plainlie teache vs. Whose study and care was not
onlie to glorifie God in their own life and conuersation, but also they
vnfeinedlie did trauel to bring subiectes to the true worshipping and
honoring of God. And did destroye all monumentes of idolatrie, did punishe
to deathe the teachers of it, and remoued frome office and honors suche,
as were mainteiners of those abominations. Wherbie I suppose that it be