It is extracted from the Book of Numbers, chapter 6:1 to 21.
Fees to be paid in all cases: fees liquidated in quantity, and thence in value.
| I. | } | 1. He lamb of the first year, one. 2. Ewe-lamb of the first year, one. 3. Ram without blemish, one. |
Fees, not liquidated in quantity, and thus left to be liquidated in quantity, and thence in value, by the will of the priest.
| II. | } | 4. Basket of unleavened bread, one. 5. Parcel of cakes of fine flour mingled with oil. 6. Parcel of wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, one. 7. Meat-offering, one. 8. Drink-offerings—numbers and respective quantities not liquidated. |
Fees payable, on a contingency: a contingency not describable without more time and labour, than would be paid for by the result.
| III. | } | 9. Turtle-doves or pigeons, two. 10. Lamb of the first year, one. |
IV. Mysterious addition, the liquidation of which must be left to the Hebrew scholar. Ver. 21. "Besides that that his hand shall get:" (whose hand? priest's or vow-maker's?) "according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation:"—probable meaning, according to the purpose, for which he performed the ceremony—the advantage which he looked for from it.
Moreover, by any one whose curiosity will carry him through the inquiry, causes of nullity may be seen as sedulously and copiously provided, as if by the astutia of an English judge, or pair of judges, to whose profit the fees were to be received: effect of the nullity, of course, repetition; necessity of repeating the process, as in case of new trial or arrest of judgment, with the fees.
Religion was thus no less aptly served at Jerusalem, under Mosaic institutions,—than Justice is to this day, under matchless constitution and English institutions, at Westminster.