S H I

571

S II I

of a musical instrument, or of a tune whose notes were very muchdiversified. I’sal. vii. title.

SH IJASCHKOTAN, one of the Kurule islands, in the N. Pa-cific ocean. Lon. 154. 50. E. Lat. 49. 15. N.

SHIITES, a religious sect, or rather a religio-political partyamong the Mohammedans, which originated, on the death ofMohammed, from the rejection of his son-in-law Ali, andwhich still divides all his followers in Turkey, Arabia, andPersia .

SHILLING, an English silver-coin, equal to the twentiethpart of a pound. Freherus derives the Saxon selling, whence ourshilling, from a corruption of siliqua ; proving the derivation byseveral texts of law, and among others, by the twenty-sixth law,De annuls legatis. Skinner deduces it from the Saxon scild,Shield, by reason of the escutcheon of arms thereon. BishopHooper derives it from the Arabic schecle, signifying a weight;but others, with greater probability, deduce it from the Latin sici-licus, which signified a quarter of an ounce, or the forty-eighthpart of a Roman pound. In confirmation of this etymology it isalleged, that the shilling kept its original signification, and borethe same proportion to the Saxon pound as sicilicus did to the Ro-man and the Greek, being exactly the forty-eighth part of theSaxon pound; a discovery which we owe to Mr. Lambarde ,(Explic. Rer. etVerb. Sax. voc. Libra.) However, the Saxonlaws reckon the pound in the round number at fifty shillings, butthey really coined out of it only forty-eight; the value of the shil-ling was five-pence ; but it was reduced to four-pence above a cen-tury before the conquest; for several of the Saxon laws, made inAthelstan ’s reign, oblige us to take this estimate.

SIIILLUE, a town of Africa on the banks of the Bahrel Abiad,or true Nile . Lon. 32. 26. E. Lat. 130, 0. N.

SHILOH, a term much disputed among interpreters and com-mentators upon scripture. In Gen. xlix. 10, it denotes the Mes-siah . The patriarch Jacob foretels his coming in these words:" The sceptre shall not depart from Judah , nor a lawgiver frombetween his feet, until Shiloh come ; and until him shall the ga-thering of the people be.” The Hebrew text reads nSf N3'Until Shiloh come. All Christian commentators agree, that this"ord ought to be understood of the Messiah, or Jesus Christ ; butall are not agreed about its literal and grammatical signification.St. Jerome , who translates it by Slid mittendas est, manifestlyreads Shiloach, sent, instead of Sholoh. The septuagint have itEwf av f>.T, ra unoycuy.iva. tturw ; or r 'w; «v £>.-bri ui unoxsncu, (as if theyhad read tS» instead of fhv,) i. c. “ Until the coming of him forwhom it is reserved or, “ Till weseearrive that whic.n is reservedfor him.” Some translate, “ the sceptre shall not depart from•Lidah , till he comes to whom it belongsnSttf or 'Sty instead ofPttlS. Others, “ till the coining of the peace-maker; ” or, “ thePacific;” or, “ of prosperity,” rhvfprosperous est. Shahihsig-hifies, “ to be in peace, to be in prosperity;” others, “till the”>rth of him who shall be born of a woman that shall conceiveyrthout the knowledge of a man,” Sw or tt'Sttf, secundina, fiexus.~ e Clerc explains it, “the sceptre snail not depart from Judah ,its end, its ruin ; till the downfall of the kingdom of the Jews ta kes place,” S*m or nStf, it has ceased, it has finished. But this^’Plains nothing. It is only say ing, the sceptre shall not depart,}tl it depart! A more modern author derives Shiloh from nStf,which sometimes signifies to he weary, to suffer; “till,s labours, his sufferings, his passion shall happen.” But what*£ V er be the precise grammatical signification of Shiloh, it is suf-cient for us to shew, that the ancient Jews are in this mattergreed with the Christians ; they acknowledge, that this word^ands for the Messiah the King . It is thus that the paraplirasts''kelos and Jonathan, that the ancient Hebrew commentariesJ? 011 Genesis, and that the Talmudists themselves, explain it. Ifs us Christ and his apostles did not make use of this passage topl° ve b'e coming of the Messiah , it was because then the coin-scei f 0 " ot ll ns prophecy was not sufficiently manifest. Thekill rC con l‘ n ued among the Jews ; they seemed to have stillby 1 ?! l '' eu own nation, though the royal family was extirpatedfrom T 01 ' : soon a ^ ter *' 1C sce P lre vvas ent >rely taken away

J ac I “'em, and has never been restored to them since. But thathi st ' s Prophecy was literally fulfilled, is clear from the wholeferitv^ Jews . Nothing is more evident, than that the pos-

j ot Judah preserved their distinct existence as a tribe, or

rather as a nation, together with a power of government and legis-lation, even when they were occasionally subject to other nationstill Jesus Christ was born into the world. The tribe of Judah wasthe most numerous of the twelve, when they came out of Egypt ;under Moses they led the van in the wilderness; after leaving itthey were divinely ordered to make the first attack on the remain-ing Canaanites ; (Judg. i. 1, 2,) as well as afterwards against theRenjamites, (xx. 18.) Caleb and his son-in-law, Otliniel, thefirst Judge of Israel after Joshua, were of this tribe ; and from thedeath of Saul , the royal house of David held the supreme powertill the Babylonish captivity. Even under the Chaldeans, Medes,and Persians, Jeconiah, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah , who were allof this tribe, held an evident superiority over the Jews . (See 2Kings xxv. Ezra , i—vi. Nell. i.—xiii.) And for a period ofabout 450 years, from the death of Zerubbabel , to the usurpationof Ilerod, the government of Judah continued in the descendantsof Zerubbabel, and afterwards in the Asmonean, or Maccabean ,family ; till the usurpation of Herod the Ascalonite or Idumean ,a few years before the birth of our Saviour, shewed that the com-pletion of the prophecy by the coming of Shiloh, and the de-parture ofthe sceptre from Judah , was about to take place. Thetotal conquest and dispersion of the Jews , soon after, and the dread-ful destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman', completely fulfilledthe prophecies of Jacob, and our Saviour.

SHINAR, a province of Babylonia , where the famous tower ofBabe] was built.

SIIINGEN, an island of the Indian Ocean , near the coast ofAfrica , and country of Monomopata, formed by the mouths of theZambese, 120 miles in circumference. The chief articles of tradeare gold, ivory, and cattle.

SHINGLES , in building, are small pieces of wood, or quarteredoaken boards, sawn to a certain scantling, or, as is more usual,cleft to about an inch thick at one end, and made like wedges, fouror five inches broad, and eight or nine long. They are used in-stead of tiles or slates, especially for churches and steeples.

SHIP, HOSPITAL, a vessel fitted up to attend on a fleetof men of war, and receive their sick or wounded; for whichpurpose lier decks should be high, and her ports sufficiently large.

Ship, Merchant, a vessel employed in commerce to canycommodities of various sorts from one port to another. Thelargest merchant-ships are those employed by the different com-panies of merchants who trade to the East Indies. They are ingeneral larger than our 40 gun-ships; and are commonly mountedwith 20 guns on their upper deck, which are nine pounders; andsix on their quarter-deck, which are six pounders.

Ship’s Form Gauge, an instrument recommended by Mr.Hutchinson as fit to ascertain any alteration in the bottom of a ship,by its hogging or fagging ; and also to regulate the stowage of a ship.

Ships, Management of, at Single Anchor, is the methodof taking care of a ship while riding at single anchor in a tide-way,by preventing her from fouling her anchor, &c. The followingrules, for this purpose, are given by the ingenious Mr. HenryTaylor of North Shields , and will be found of the utmost conse-quence. Riding in a tideway, with a fresh-of-wind, the shipshould have what is called a short or windward service, say 45 or50 fathoms of cable, and always with the helm hard down, butmore or less so according to the strength or weakness of the tide.It is a known facf, that many ships sheer their anchors home,drive on board of other ships, and on the sands near which theyrode, before it has been discovered that the anchor had beenmoved from the place where it was let go. When the wind is cross,or nearly cross, off shore, or in the opposite direction, ships wiltalways back. This is done by the mizen-topsai), assisted, if need-ful, by the mizen-ftaysail; such as have no mizen-topsail com-monly use the main-topsail, or if it blows fresh, a top-gallant-sail,or any such sail at the gaff. In backing, a ship should alwayswind with a taught cable, that it may be certain the anchor is drawnround. In case therfe is not a sufficiency of wind for that purpose,the ship should be hove apeak. Riding with the wind afore thebeam, the yards should be braced forward ; if abaft the beam,they are to he braced all aback. If the wind is so far aft that theship will not back (which should not be attempted if, when thetide ceases, the ship forges a-head, and brings the buoy on the lee-quarter,) she must be set a-head: if the wind is far aft, and blowsfresh, the utmost care and attention is necessary, as ships riding in

this