tive lesson on the nature and power of evil spirits; in which we may observe, 1st, That the host of heaven stood by the throne on the right hand and on the left. Comp. Matt. xxv, 31-33, 34 and 41. 2nd. That the spirit which was to persuade Ahab to go up to Ramoth in Gilead, that he might fall in battle, came forth of his own accord, and made the offer to become a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's four hundred prophets. 3rd. That it was not until he had so offered himself that he received his commission "Go forth and do so?" If we now compare these particulars with the matter in the first of Job, v. 6-12, we shall find an exact agreement between these two Scriptures, as to the manner of the working of the Satan in his office. The evil spirit here stood, on the left hand of course, among the evil powers, just as the Satan there was found presenting himself with the sons of God, before the Lord: and in each, having indicated his disposition to inflict evil, he receives a definite or limited commission. From both, we may draw this encouraging conclusion, as a help to the believing mind in the conflict with a spiritual adversary, that evil in its essential character, proceedeth not from God. It is the result, originally, of the opposition of an Inferior to his will; and the power thus changed from a good subject (see Ezekiel xxviii, 1-19) to a spared rebel (who barely dares not resist, or go beyond his licence) God hath a right to employ, as it seemeth Him good, for his own most wise purposes, in his own Almighty rule and government, towards his creatures. And when, in the course of his proceedings with regard to ourselves, we are at any time tempted to believe that he is inflicting upon us an unnecessary measure of suffering, let us remember that his counsels are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out; and strive to say with Job, "What? Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil?"—Or that which to human apprehension seems so? Matt. vii. 1. "Judge not that ye be not judged." Judge not as ye would not be judged; or with that judgment which ye would not have applied to yourselves; as appears by the second verse. It would be strange indeed to suppose that we are prohibited, in this passage, from judging others at all. Matt. x, 21, 22. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. In all but the last instance in which shall is used here, it should be will. It is incredible that our Lord should have predicated of such deeds as these, as being fore-ordained on God's part. They were foreseen by Christ, as the necessary consequences of the opposition to his doctrine which should be made by the worldly spirit, and of the hardness of their hearts who lived under its influence. Matt. v, 40-42. He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. The sense here may be best comprehended by recurring to v. 12, 13: there the preacher has his duty prescribed, as to his conduct towards the family he might visit: he was to salute the house, that his peace might come upon it, if found worthy. Here the family are taught, that whatsoever they may do for him in the way of personal service, and furtherance of his mission, it shall be rewarded with a share of his recompense-his peace of mind, his satisfaction present, and future blessings. Matt. xi, 16–19. But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling upon their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is justified of her children. The Jews are here compared to children at play, disappointed in their wishes by perverse companions. They would have had the Baptist to be merry with them, and in their He is found too wise for this, and they pronounce him way. melancholy. They expected from our Lord the extreme of pharisaical scrupulosity; and behold, he lived as other men did, but without excess. Yet not (as appears from this text) without censure! ART. V.-Written in the Album of a Friend, 1825. In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Cowper's Task, Bk. vi. There is in human life a season in which the mind is an Albumwhen its pages are blank-paper-and when Instructors may write in them almost what they please! In proportion as knowledge is imparted or acquired, the mental capacity becomes occupied ; until like the book it will hold no more, save on the terms of obliterating the previous characters. But there is great difference, after all, between the mind and the book. In the latter, all is passive receptivitythe lines once traced in the book remain as they were; and present, to the end of their duration, the same unvarying collection of facts and sentiments. Not so the plastic yet creative spirit of man. For, in those who really profit by their education, it rather feeds on thoughts than holds them, it builds as well as collects materials; it examines, compares and judges, it chooses and rejects; until the result becomes not a compilation but a digest, not a transcript but an abstract, furnished with notes of caution and elucidation, interspersed with many a line and sentence of original matter. Of how little value, then, is a great heap of learning: when it yields only the aggregate of the formal lessons of our years of tutelage, unimproved by subsequent reflection and labour! And how important is it that, in methodizing and digesting our knowledge, in forming our principles from our own and others' thoughts, we should with careful and pious discrimination reject what is light and frivolous, much more what is known to be noxious, and admit (as far as human infirmity will allow) into the chambers of this wonderful storehouse, none but solid, fruitful, innocent meditations, the products of grace and goodness. Once thus furnished, we shall neither be ashamed of inspecting it for ourselves in Time, nor afraid of having it laid open (as it will be by a merciful and most just Judge) in the great day of Eternity. Ps: cxxxix, 23, 24. Rom: ii, 16. H. ART. VI.-FABLES, &C., IN VERSE AND PROSE.-CONTINUED. What will not wayward fancy do And make sheer ignorance science quite! The Mole, tho' blind and deaf by nature, The Traveller's Vow. A Traveller having proceeded a long way on his journey found his provisions exhausted. In this condition he made a vow to Mercury, that if any thing should fall in his way for relief, he would give him the half of it. Soon after, having procured some Prunes and Almonds he sate down to refresh himself; and putting on an altar the shells of the Almonds, and the stones of the plums, he bade Mercury take his halves, for he had given him the inside of the one and the outside of the other! The Application. The Fable is evidently aimed at those who, taking advantage of some ambiguity in the terms of a covenant, contrive to evade the performance. And we may observe that the Fabulist has made choice of an impious character, or of one who feared not to defraud the gods of their offerings, as if he would instruct the reader, that he must prepare to meet with injustice in dealing from those who have not on their minds a due sense of religious obligations. Communications may be addressed, POST PAID, "For the Editor of the Yorkshireman,”. at the Printer's, Pontefract; at Longman and Co.'s, London; John Baines and Co.'s. Leeds; and W. Alexander's, York. CHARLES ELCOCK, PRINTER, PONTEFRACT. THE YORKSHIREMAN, A RELIGIOUS AND LITERARY JOURNAL BY A FRIEND. PRO PATRIA. No. XXII. SIXTH DAY, 31st FIFTH Mo. 1833. PRICE 4d. The Reader must yet be detained a while longer on the subject of TITHES, though so largely treated in my last. It would be of little use, except as matter of history, to treat the question after the State shall have settled it for us by an Act of Parliament: and the fullest developement of opinion, on the part of those who have a decided opinion to offer, and interests to suffer or be promoted, is surely desirable, ere one be passed. The very repetition, moreover of sentiments approved by Friends, may now have its use: as it may not have fallen to the lot of every reader of this Number to have perused the much that has already appeared in Nos. 1, 2, 7, 13-16, and 20 on the subject. I am now about to redeem a pledge given in No. 16, by reporting a controversy formerly carried on between a Minister of the Establishment and a ruling elder of our own Society; the details of which have been only in part published. ART. I.-Controversy on the subject of Tithes between G. G. a Clergyman of the Establishment and Joseph Gurney Bevan. 1805. No. 1. Reasons why the People called Quakers do not pay Tithes. 1st. Because Tithes were appointed by God, only under the Mosaical law, for the portion of the Levites in lieu of their inheritance in the land of Canaan, as well as for their service in the Temple, which being long abolished and destroyed, all obligation to pay Tithes, as of God's appointment, ceased therewith. 2nd. Because being a part of the ceremonial law, which was abrogated by our Saviour's offering himself once for all a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, to pay or receive Tithes now, is to continue that in part, which he came to abolish. is 3rd. Because we are of the judgment, all compulsory maintenance of ministers contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus, our great Lord and law-giver, who first and above all others should be heard in this matter, and whose injunction we are of opinion virtually prohibits the practice under the gospel, as the same is expressed in his charge to the first ministers thereof. (a) Freely ye have received, freely give. 4th. Because we find no precept nor precedent in the New Testament for the receiving or paying of Tithes: But on the contrary we understand the payment of Tithes, and all forced maintenance of ministers to be in direct opposition to the apostolical doctrine and practice, as the same are recorded in the sacred writings of that age, and as evidently appears from the following concurring Scriptures. (b) I have, saith Paul, coveted no man's silver or gold, or apparel; yea, you yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to those that are with me. I have shewed you, that so labouring you ought to support the weak, (c) For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail, for, labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable to any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God. (d) For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you; and again, (e) What is my reward then? verily that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel, And the apostle Peter who well understood his great master's mind herein, writes thus to those who had been called to the spiritual oversight of the churches. (f) Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. 5th. Because by Ecclesiastical history, particularly Selden's History of Tithes, it appeareth that Tithes were not claimed, or paid in the Christian church for the first three centuries. 6th. Because Tithes were one of the many innovations and impositions introduced in the church, in the night of gross darkness and apostacy from the original purity, and as such to be rejected, withstood and testified against in the reformation or return from the apostacy. 7th. Because Tithes for the sole use of the parish-priest obtained not till about the 13th century, when they were appointed to be so paid by a decretal epistle of Pope Innocent III. 8th. Because the ordinance of the pope, directing the payment thereof, appears a plain contradiction to the ordinance of Jesus Christ, whose ordinances in point of conscience, we are bound to obey. But we find it is urged against us, that the clergy do not now claim Tithes by divine right, but as the provision for their support appointed by the laws of the land; that although they were formerly granted by princes or people bigotted to popery, and blinded by misguided zeal, or paid in compliance with the ordinances of Popes or Popish councils: Yet being now the grant of the Parliament, and the payment thereof by the legislature ordained and made a part of the laws of the land; it is the duty of all, as subjects, to comply therewith, and pay or set out their Tithes as the law directs. To this we answer, that we pay all due respect to the laws of the land; and where for conscience' sake, we cannot actively comply with the law, we have patiently submitted to the penalties annexed to the non-compliance therewith: And when these penalties become grievous, we have, with proper respect, not thought it unreasonable or unbecoming us, to lay our suffering case before Parliament, in order to seek redress. But this objection appears to us more specious than solid: The national laws in this particular are grounded on considerations inadmissible by us; they (a) Matt. x, 8. (b) Acts xx, 33, 34, 35. (c) 1 Thes. ii, 9. (d) Thes. iii, 7, 8. |