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the evils of hostility and war, which is all my principles 

 would go to estai)lish. ^Vill it not be granted to me, that 

 the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, when they agreed to 

 purchase off the vengeance of their Assyrian oppressors by 

 tribute, -were at peace ? Under the Tirshatha or xVssyrian 

 satrap, that is, under subjection, was not the land at rest? 

 AVhen Zedekiah paid tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, for some 

 years, the land enjoyed repose; when he refused it, and the 

 country was exposed to the invasions of the enemy, the re- 

 pose was terminated. Under the Persian monarehs also, 

 when Israel prayed in the temple for the safety of their sove- 

 reigns, under the Seleueid'.v, and under the Roman republic, 

 was "the sceptre yet departed from Judah?" In fine, for it 

 is needless to accumulate examples, when the church suHered 

 the severity of persecution and proscription, it was analogous 

 to the Jewish state, during the period of unsuccessful hostility ; 

 when it was legally established under Constantine, it enjoyed 

 rest, although suffering under the common calamities of the 

 empire, and that every intermission of active persecution 

 was at least a comparative repose, is a mode of speech very 

 familiar to the ecclesiastical writers. We have produced po- 

 sitive evidence that the first servitude was only tribute and 

 service; we have another sutiiciently strong in the history of 

 Samson, where we find (Jud. lo-lO.) the men of Judah re- 

 monstrating with the Philistines, " Why are ye conic up 

 against us." Urging, as it were, that they had performed all 



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