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4. R. Jehuda said Ben Bucri declared in* Japhne, that whatever priest paid a shekel did not sin. R. Jochanan Ben Saccai answered him, not only so but every priest who does not pay a shekel sins. But if the priests expound this text of scripture as applying to themselves, "and every offering for the priest shall be perfect, it shall not be eaten ;" since the omer, and the two loaves, and the shew bread are of that class, how can they be eaten?

5. Although they say that they do not take pledges from women and servants and minors, yet if these offer a shekel, they receive it at their hands. If an ‡ idolator, or a Cuthean offer a shekel they do not accept it at their hands; neither do they accept from them the § nests offered by men or women for seminal uncleanness; nor the nests offered by women, who have borne children, nor sacrifices for sin, nor trespass offerings. But the payment of vows, and freewill offerings they accept from them. This is the general rule: every thing that is vowed, or offered as a free gift by Gentiles, they accept from them; and whatever is not vowed, or not offered as a free gift, they do not accept it from them. And this is thus explained by Ezra**, where it is written, "Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God."

6. And these are they who are bound to pay the ++ Collybus: Levites, Israelites, proselytes, freedmen; but neither priests, women nor servants, nor minors. Whoever makes his payment through the hands of a priest, or of a woman, or of a servant, or of a minor, is exempt from

*This place is mentioned 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. It was famous for being the residence of the Sanhedrin both before and after the destruction of the Temple. It was the most celebrated of all the Jewish academies, except Tiberias, and its fame gave rise to the Jewish proverb п' ona The vineyard in Jabneh.

+ Levit, vi. 16.

Literally, a "worshipper of their stars and constellations."

An invidious appellation by which the Jews denoted the Sa maritans.

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nests is to be understood the " two turtle-doves, or young pigeons" énjoined as offerings on particular occasions. Levit. xv. &c.

See Levit. xii.

** Ezra, iv. 3,

nap Formed from the Greek novos." It is necessary that every one should have half a shekel to pay for himself: therefore when he comes to the exchanger, to change a shekel for two haif shekels, he is obliged to allow him some gain, which is called p Kolbon.” Maimonides in loc. apud Lightfoot, vol.2, p. 225.

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the Collybus. But if he makes his payment with his own hands, or through the hands of his neighbour, he is bound to pay one Collybus. R. Meir says two Collybi. Whosoever gives a double shekel and takes in change half shekels is bound to pay two Collybi.

7. He who makes his payment through the hands of a poor man, or of his neighbour, or of his fellow citizen, is exempt from the Collybus. But if he has lent it to them, he is bound to pay it. Those brethren who have associated together, if they are bound to pay the Collybus, are exempt from tithes of cattle, and if they are bound to pay tithes of cattle they are exempt from the Collybus. And how much is the Collybus? A* mea of silver: ac cording to the words of R. Meir. But the wise men say only half a one.

Observations on the Nature of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, OCcasioned by Mr. KING's Sermon, preached at Leeds, on the Anniversary of the King's Accession, 1798.

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By the Rev. THOMAS LUDLAM.

Tis," says Mr. K. p. 7, " the duty of Christians, as such, to submit to the tyranny and oppression of the government, under which they happen to live." It is no more their duty to continue under such tyranny and oppression, than it is their duty to stay where they are persecuted. See Matt. x. 23. But this is not all; for the right of subjects to resist, depends upon the nature of the government. In countries, such as England, where conditions intervene between the governors and the governed, a manifest and general violation of such conditions gives an unquestionable right of resistance. For, though the powers that be (i. e. the general use of civil government) are ordained of God, and appear to be so ordained from the general utility of civil government; yet tyranny and oppression are not ordained of him, and for the very same reason,

"But it is," says Mr. K. " their duty to submit to this tyranny and oppression, because God may punish them

* About the sixth part of a penny,

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by a wicked, tyrannical, and oppressive government, just as he may punish them by pestilence, a famine, or au earthquake." Had Mr. K. attended to the dictates either of reason or revelation, he would not have grounded his argument upon such a comparison. He would have seen, that the actions of free beings are no marks of the dispositions or intentions of God, unless positively declared, upon the authority of divine revelation, so to be. He would have seen, that, to consider the actions of free beings as marks of the dispositions or intentions of God without such authority, would render the proof both of natural and revealed religion utterly impossible; would set Mahometanism and Paganism upon as sure foundations as Christianity; and would subject God to be truly deemed the author of error, confusion, and every evil work *. And, with respect to events arising out of that order of nature, which God has thought fit to establish in this world, he might have learnt from revelation (Luke xiii.) that sufferings in consequence of such events are no marks of God's dispositions towards the sufferers, much less are such sufferings to be considered as punishments t. For,

* See Dr. Powell's Discourses, p. 113.

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The pious chaplain of an unhealthy settlement between the tropics once said, "If it please God that I should have but a short life, hist sending me hither will only be the means of accomplishing his will, which he could just as easily accomplish by ten thousand other ways." Very true, to be sure, But what if it should have pleased God to appoint, not particular effects, and particular events, but general effects, and general events, and should have left it to that reason, with which he has thought fit to endue his intelligent creatures, to determine, according to that power of choice, which he has also given them, what they themselves should think proper to do? Would not submission to, and acquiesence in, this appointed order of things, be as much their duty, and as deserving of his favour, as submission to, and acquiescence in, events, which may not, for aught any man can tell, be of divine appointment? In a world of free agents (and over none other can God be a moral governor) many events must arise from that free agency, without which there can be no religion: permitted indeed by God, because no event can happen but by his permission; yet certainly not appointed by him, because what he permits may or may not happen, what he appoints must. Isa. xiv. 27, xliii. 13, xlvi. 10. Experience shews, that the sent providence of God is of this latter sort; equally wise, therefore, was the piety of this chaplain and of that archbishop, who persuaded the Spanish council of state not to permit the Tagus to be made navigable up to Madrid, because, he said, if God had chosen it should be navigable, he would have made it so himself. The happiness or misery of men is appointed to follow in a very great degree their own determinations; but it is the fashion, of certain persons to consider God or the devil as re

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by punishments, we must understand evil intentionally inflicted, and declared to be intentionally inflicted, for evil done and it is of the essence of punishment, that it be publicly denounced; for, unless it be publicly denounced, prevention of crimes, which, according to our conceptions, is the only or principal end of punishment, must be wholly frustrated. Both reason aud revelation assure us, that, where there is no law, there can be no transgression, i. e. no guilt, and consequently no just punishment; but law means the command of a superior, issued by his will, and enforced by his power What

God may do, is one thing; what he does do, is ano ther. Under the theocracy, God punished the Jews by natural evil, and rewarded them by natural good; but, then he gave public notice of this mode of government. Deut. xxviii. This is not the mode of God's present government. We learn from revelation, and we find from experience that, under the present administration of his providence, all things in general come alike to all; that

sponsible for events, in the accomplishment of which themselves have been the chief, if not the only agents. The fancy which prevails among many pious persons, that every event is the particular appointment of God, would render the human will of no use, and the actions of our various mental powers, those gifts of God, by which men are raised above the beasts that perish, utterly insignificant.

* The old Puritans, with an obscurity and confusion of ideas, and an absurdity and inconsistency of sentiment, characteristic of enthusiasts and fanatics, entertained a notion of what some of their modern followers have called the obligation of sinners to suffer punishment (See Essays by W. Ludlam; Essay iv. p. 76,) and have piqued themselves уроп their piety in persuading some weak wretches, guilty of crimes, not merely to repent towards God, and to have faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," but to reveal their crimes to men; and this, not for the benefit of society, but merely that they might suffer the penalties of human laws due to their offences. There may, to be sure, be an obligation upon governors, whether human or divine, to inflict punishment upon the guilty; but those who know what is meant by obligation, will find it hard to discover any obligation upon offenders to suffer punishment. In many cases, the guilty cannot reasonably complain of injustice in those who inflict punishment, either in the application, or in the degree; because their own guilt precludes the first, and their ignorance of the ends of punishment the second; but the ends of punishment have no concern with the endeavours of the guilty to avoid it, nor does any one think that rogue violates his duty by endeavouring to avoid it. These zealous pietists acted as if they thought, that present punishments had some purgatorial effect upon the future condition of those, whom they thus urge to undergo them. Strange that they, who were so hot against popery, should thus countenance one of the most absurd doctrines of the Rozish church! But thus it is, that extremes often meet.

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there is usually only one event to the righteous and to the wicked; i. e. that natural evil is, for the most part, the promiscuous lot of all mankind. Men can indeed, and do, by vicious conduct, bring several sorts of natural evil upon themselves: such sorts, namely, as affect only a few individuals, and not large bodies of men: and, whenever the sufferings men undergo are the plain, uniform, regular, and foreseen consequences of the evil they do, they are to be esteemed the natural, i.e. the ap pointed consequences, and, as such, are to be esteemed as indications of the divine dispositions. When mens' sufferings are not the consequences of their own conduct, they are then no marks of God's dispositions towards the sufferers, as we learn from our Lord himself. Luke xiii. Whenever God has inflicted evil in this world upon great bodies of offenders, the evil has always been formerly denounced, i. e. publicly threatened. On the other hand, did not men by their wickedness draw present evil upon themselves, we could not ascertain the character of our Greator, nor show, that any revelation, transmitted through men, came from him. See Bp. Butler's Analogy, p. i.

C. IH.

It is upon the unequal distribution of evil, without respect to moral character, that the great natural argument for a future state, in which all present inequalities shall be set right, and the divine justice be vindicated, rests: for, if natural evil is to be considered as a punishment, this argument loses all its force.

Perhaps it may be asked, "What, then, is the use of natural and indiscriminate evil?" We must consider, that it is one thing to place sinners in such a state as may contribute to their amendment, and quite a different thing to put them into a state of punishment, which has no respect to their future character. This is the state of punishment which is denounced in the gospel. It is eternal, and therefore can have no view to the amendment of those who undergo it *.

It is worthy observation, that the various dispensations of God previous to the gospel had their final completion in this world; the only purpose of them all being to. con

* The distinction between corrective and punitive evil is importanta The first proceeds from God's goodness, the second can spring only from his justice. One regards the benefit of individuals; the other, whether we particularly understand the nature of it or not, regards the support of God's universal government over his intelligent creatures.

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