instance, the camel is called gamel' from its revengeful temper, and the sheep rachel' from its meekness: the kite daab3 from its remarkable method of flying, or sailing in the air, and the hawk rach from the proverbial quickness of its sight. This subject is so curious and entertaining that I could with pleasure pursue it; but I have been already carried into a digression from my design, which was to shew how man came at first by his ideas and words, and particularly the origin of figurative terms. 5 We have observed that all our ideas at first enter by the senses, and that the terms applied to spiritual objects are borrowed originally from natural ones. So the verb raab' signifies, first, to see, and secondly, to understand, or to experience. Thus Solomon : "My heart had great experience [had seen much] of wisdom and knowledge. So ain3 [literally, the reflector] is used as well for the eye of the mind as of the body. The verb to hear signifies also to hearken, and to obey; and to taste, or feel, means frequently to experience; and these terms are so applied, not only in Hebrew, but also in our own and other languages. גמל 1 23777 ראה 3 ראה 4 See this demonstrated in the case of persons born blind in a little pamphlet entitled, the Principles of Atheism proved to be unfounded.' 8vo. 1796. ראה 6 7 Eccles. i. 16. from my to reflect. (Parkhurst.) 9 See Gen. xvi. 6. Deut. xvi. 19. 2 Sam. vi. 22. &c. 1 Sam, xv. 17. Once more, from a verb signifying to feed, is derived the name of a shepherd; and because the office of a shepherd is the proper emblem of a good prince, kings are called shepherds, and their subjects are compared to sheep; though perhaps. it should be taken into the account, that in the ages of pastoral simplicity the offices were sometimes united so the Egyptians reckon among their early monarchs, a race of shepherd kings. From this honourable application of the term, it was carried still higher, even to him who was the Prince and Shepherd of the house of Israel. So closely, in the present state, are our ideas connected with material objects, that we cannot define even the Supreme Spirit, but by a term borrowed from the material air, or breath; and he who "knows our frame, and remembers that we are but dust," has himself condescended to teach us this language, and to describe himself in terms accommodated to our confined notions; for it would be as impossible for our minds to comprehend the nature and properties of pure spirit, as for our mortal eyes to support the blaze of uncreated glory. And as our ideas are very confined, so it is natural to suppose, that the first language must consist of few, and simple terms. This is another source of metaphorical expression, for it was much easier, and more natural, to apply the same terms in a figurative way, to different objects, and ideas in some respects similar, than to invent new ones. This we find to be the fact among rude and un eivilized nations in our own time. When Omiah, from Otaheite, was first introduced to Lord Sandwich, in order to distinguish the company present, he pointed first to the butler, and called him " king of the bottles"-Capt. Furneaux, king of the ships"-and Lord Sandwich, " king of all the ships." Something like this appears to have been the case with the antient Hebrews, and accounts for many of their idioms. Thus they variously apply the term Baal, signifying Lord, or Master. A master of arrows is a skilful archer-a master of dreams', a remarkable dreamer-a master of the tongue3, a great talker-a master of contrivances, a cunning fellow-and a bird swift of flight, a master of the wings. In like manner they apply the term ben, a son, to a great variety of objects. An arrow is the son of the bow-a spark, the son of a coal-and a vine branch, the daughter of the vine". An animal a year old, is the son of a year—a man deserving punishment, a son of stripes-and so in a variety of other forms. Dr. BLAIR remarks, We are apt, upon a su perficial view, to imagine that figures of speech are among the chief refinements of languagedevised by orators and rhetoricians. The contrary of this is the truth. Mankind never employed so many figures of speech as when they had hardly any words;' and this seems the true 1 Gen. xlix. 23. Prov. i. 17. 5 Gen. xxxvii. 19. Gen. xlix. 22. reason why all barbarian or inartificial tongues abound in the use of metaphors; many of them conducting their common 'public transactions with bolder metaphors, and greater pomp of 'style, than we use in our poetical productions'.' That figures, properly employed, give great force and beauty to composition, will not be controverted; yet we see they originated in the paucity of words, and the poverty of language: so Providence has ordained in this mixed state of things; beauties often arise out of defects; as the rudest objects in nature furnish the most interesting views. It is natural to suppose, that mankind would early discover this circumstance, and soon employ figurative terms, as well from choice as from necessity; to give life and spirit to their conversations, and especially to their set speeches and compositions. Mr. Blackwell observes, that the Turks, 'Arabs, Indians, and, in general, most of the in'habitants of the east, are a solitary kind of peo ple, they speak but seldom, and never long ' without emotion: but when, in their own phrase, they open their mouths, and give loose 'to a fiery imagination, they are poetical, and full * of metaphor. Speaking, among such people, is ' a matter of some moment, as we may gather 'from their usual introductions; for before they K begin to deliver their thoughts, they give no⚫tice that they will open their mouth, that they will unloose their tongue, that they will utter 1 Blair's Lect. vi. vol. I. C their voice and pronounce with their lips. These 'preambles bear a great resemblance (adds this 'learned writer) to the old forms of introduction ' in Homer, Hesiod, and Orpheus, in which they ' are sometimes followed by Virgil'.' I may subjoin, that they are the very expressions adopted by the sacred writers. Another source of figures, which I shall mention, is the use of picture-writing and hieroglyphics. Bishop WARBURTON has largely shewn, that picture writing was the first method of recording public events: to this succeeded hieroglyphics, which were an abridgment of the former method; and these were followed by the arbitrary characters of literal writing, which were most probably abridged from hieroglyphics. These ideas are not merely conjectural. When the Spaniards invaded South America, the inhabitants sent expresses to Montezuma, in paintings upon cloth; and Purchase gives the copy of a Mexican picture, which contains the history of an antient Indian king, in emblematic pictures. So in North America, to preserve historical events, they peel off the bark on one side of a tree, scrape it clean, and then draw with ruddle the figure of a hero and his military exploits; the representation of a hunting party, and the beasts killed; or any other circumstance they wish to remember, or to record3. 1 Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, p. 43. Divine Legation, Vol. II. 3 Loskiel's Hist. of the Mission of the United Brethren in North America, translated by Latrobe, part 1. p. 55. |