046 
priethood. .The Coheus of the prefent 
day enjoy but a beggarly proportion of the 
former {plendor and influence beftowed on 
their profefion; the fyitem of worfhip 
being fo much reduced: and this it ts 
which has deltroyed the importance of the 
Levites ; for every part of their duty is 
eke done away —Nay, the Cohens 
hemfeives are refpe efted for litle more than 
tie capability which they are imagined to 
poffefs, of redeeming children. Aaron 
eas atlowed to interfere in matters relative 
to the dead in fome cafes, Levit. cap. xxi. 
af eannot difcover trom ee oe 
. Hyima E 
Sedans an d 
the royal i: 
EL 
ary tab 
LEY. Eso 




eut, how he m: 
the diff TCUIE 
fornance b< 
and Tike: : Reva 
of thefe Avofle 
-bleffed 



owing, n no douliee fo thederange- 
en prevalent amongé the familt 
of the tribes, as is fhewn avove. As tothe 
aueftion concerning the degree of credit 
which the Jews attach to the account g!ven 
of the ark, in 2d Mac. cap. it. I deem 
rt moft pointed by your a and intereft 
to deprive that of eathey difcution, ie 
it fhould darken a few pages of he va- 
luable mifeclany with unprofitable quo- 
tations from rabbinical reveries.. Mr. 
Editor, there are Jews as well as Chrif- 
tians, who, unwilling to place implicit 
eonfdence inthe fole de cifions of their me- 
taphyfical doctors, deny, in toto, this 
romance about the ark. And the 2d 
Maccabees, excluiive of its containing 
many fabulous and extravagant relations, 
is confefledly of fubordinate character, as 
Bur efiablifhed on the 2 of the 
Jewith church, or on that of fefus, and 
Es received by the Chriftian ey only to 
be difcreetly read. But the circumftance 
alluded to by A. H.as well as feveral 
others, relating te Jeremiah, are altogether 
the ve tede: nee 1s of Rabbins, or 
elfe of writers * cf fimilar comp! iexion, 
and therefore entitled to no fort of credit, 
ion either ae or Chriftians. Though 
the Jews ack cnowledge the expectation of 
a Meffiah, of the houfe of David, and can- 
not diftinguifh any living defcendants of 
‘that menarch ; at lookitg fer a political 
prince, and one who will re-efiablifh them 
ment th 

* 2 Mac. ii, r—=7. Euf. Trep. Evang. 
lib. ix. c. xxxix. Hieron cont. Joviniar. 
Tertull, adv. Gnoft. ¢. vill. 
Remarks on Obfervations on Lord Lauderdale. 
- not both eat our cake and have 
[ Jan. Is 
as a notion, they aflure themfelves that eo 
will be moved as of old, by the fpirit of 
their Ged, and will by ; ations correfpond- 
ent give every proof of his defcent. 
Hull Aca dey, W. ASHTON. 
Sep. 14, 1799. 
PS.) A.B bas fadly perverted the quef- 
tion of W..H. P. <¢ And is the office of the 
priefthood Rill a diftinét appendage to that of 
Levi?” where evidently nothing elfe is meant 
than the part, which the Levites performed 
in the temple; and the appellation Cohen 
may be applied to them with as much pro- 
ptiety as that of prieft to our loweft order of 
divines 5 furthermere, the FonGtion of the Le- 
ites is of fuch es igecsences that the reak 
-tervice Gi AGT , could not be can- 
; y of their affifiance. 
’ the peculiarities . of 
ated of ; and. a very 
rribes is to be found 
the Jefuits. 




i Ac san? 
mia 
Ase SeVuHariall s 
i ea your. Magazine fer September, I have 
JL {een obfrvations bya Merchant, “on 
Lord Lauderdale’s ae for altering the 
colle&tion of a confid derable part the 
ue revenue.” He fetes a number of 
edje&ions to that plan, but they chiefly 
centre, I think, in two poimts.— The 
effects to the family of the decgafing imdi- 
vidual, deprived of the income preduced 
by the, exertion of the parent ; and having, 
at the fame time the remaining property 
cut down by a heavy aflefiment.” His 
other cbjection, ** That a tax levied upon 
facceifion would have the effect, not only 
to expend all thofe favings from which 
alone the augmentation of national wealta 
can arife, but even annually confume part 
of that capital which we have already ac- 
quired ” 
If, in addition to face eftablithed 
burthens, a new fum of large amount moft 
be railed within the year, it appears to me 
that the genera! influence of the operation 
will be much the fame, whether it is made 
through the medium of our annua? in- 
comes ; or, according to Lord Lauderdale’s 
pian, by a tax upon fucceilion. We can- 
our cake. 
We cannot {pend annually, and continue 
at the fame time to accumulate. “There 
is this to be {aid however, I think, ia 
preference of the tax upon fucceffion, that 
a {mall {um at the outfet is of more im- 
poitance to rifling induftry, and the with- 
drawing i it more likelyto check its page 
than 
’ 
