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upon a supposition that she was his sister when he came to understand the truth of the matter, not only restored his wife to him again, but also gave him a thousand pieces of silver or silverlings; the value of which thousand pieces (each piece being worth 2s 6d) came to £125-10s. which at that day was a noble present for a king to give.
But besides shekels and silverlings, there were talents also, the weight of which was 75 ounces. A talent of silver contained the value of £187.10s. Of each of these coins there is frequent mention in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Our Saviour commanded Peter to take up the fish that first came to hand, and when he had opened its mouth he should find therein a piece of money, which he was to take and give the tax-gatherers for his Master and himself: which piece of money was called a Stator, which consisted of half an ounce of silver, the value of which was 2 shillings. And when the Jews came to ensure our Saviour, about the lawfulness of paying tribute to Cæsar, he desired them to shew the tribute-money, and they shewed him a penny, of value 7d-halfpenny; and that this money was coined and stamped, appears by our Saviour's asking them, whose image and superscription was upon it? to which they answered, Cæsar.
