' _Ib. p. xxii_. On page xl. he returns again to their '_cold_
buffoonery.' In the Appendix to vol. v, p. 414, he thus wittily replies
to Lowth, who had maintained that 'idolatry was punished under the
DOMINION of Melchisedec'(p. 409):--'Melchisedec's story is a short
one; he is just brought into the scene to _bless_ Abraham in his return
from conquest. This promises but ill. Had this _King and Priest of
Salem_ been brought in _cursing_, it had had a better appearance: for, I
think, punishment for opinions which generally ends in a _fagot_ always
begins with a _curse_. But we may be misled perhaps by a wrong translation.
The Hebrew word to _bless_ signifies likewise to _curse_, and under
the management of an intolerant priest good things easily run into their
contraries. What follows is his taking _tythes_ from Abraham. Nor will
this serve our purpose, unless we interpret these _tythes_ into _fines for
non-conformity_; and then by the _blessing_ we can easily understand
_absolution_. We have seen much stranger things done with the _Hebrew
verity_. If this be not allowed, I do not see how we can elicit fire and
fagot from this adventure; for I think there is no inseparable connexion
between _tythes_ and _persecution_ but in the ideas of a Quaker.--And
so much for King Melchisedec. But the learned _Professor_, who
has been hardily brought up in the keen atmosphere of WHOLESOME
SEVERITIES and early taught to distinguish between _de facto_ and _de
jure_, thought it 'needless to enquire into _facts_, when he was secure
of the _right_'.
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