all of which primarily denote penetration, passage, or procedure, and thence priority and preeminence. Forward, forebode, &c. are the Anglo-Saxon representatives of the Latin præcox, præcursor, præfacio, prædictum, prævaleo, and their allies. Thus, to forego is the same as præire, to foretel as pre-dicere. It is the same in French, where pardonner is the same as forgive, and parcourir the same as fore-run. Interfere is from the same source, being literally 'to go between.'

119. Cognate with the Latin per is likewise the English preposition for, in French pour, and in Spanish por. Thus, to go 'for' one's book, or to strive 'for' the prize, is to set out with the view of 'passing through' all intermediate things, and so securing our desire. The same general idea is presented in

Through, or as formerly spelt, thorough. This word literally signifies 'doorway' or 'gate,' and is, indeed, exactly the same word as 'door,' etymologically; a door being in Chaldee (thor), in Greek Oupa, in German thur, in Anglo-Saxon dure and thure indifferently.* 'Through' thus implies passage, such as takes place through a doorway, gate, or portal. Hence when we say that a bird flies through' the air, it is saying virtually, that the air is the doorway' through which it passes from one station to another; and when we speak of our 'thorough' knowledge of a subject, or of our having thoroughly' accomplished anything, it is stating in reality, that we have passed completely through the doorway leading to it. In consequence of this identity of meaning, we may at any time substitute the word 'door' or 'gateway' for through,' thorough,' and 'thoroughly,' and yet not affect the sense. The same may be done with the equivalent terms of any Teutonic or Scandinavian language, and also with the Celtic and the Latin. The Latin per, for instance, may at any time have porta put for it. In many of the Teutonic and Scandinavian dialects, 'through' and ' doorway' are expressed by but one word.

་

120. Language uses the word 'door' not only as a preposition, but by virtue of its correspondential meaning, as a figure for entrance or medium of passage or acquirement in general. We speak, for instance, of opening the door' to fraud, and of having no door of escape.' Pindar says, in his always fine way,—

χρὴ τοίνυν πύλας

ὕμνων ἀναπιτνάμεν ἀυταῖς.-(Olymp. vi., 44, 45.)
(Therefore is it meet to open wide the gates of song!)

* The difference in the initial letter is a matter of no moment, the sounds marked by d and th being continually exchanged, as shewn in moder and fader, the old spelling of mother and father, faith and fides, the south and le sud, and innumerable other instances.

Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand

Unbarred the gates of light.'-(Paradise Lost, vi. 3.)

So, too, in Fingal's address to the sun,—

'But to Ossian thou lookest in vain, for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west.' Carthon.

Ostium, with the Romans, denoted both a gate and the mouth of a river: janua both a gate and the commencement of a discourse, or of any other thing. Ovid, for instance, speaks of janua sepulcri, 'the gate of the grave;' and Lucretius of janua Lethi, the gate of death.' (i. 1105.) From janua comes January,' literally the gate of the year.' Hence, too, the Romans gave to the deity whom they supposed to preside over gates and entrances, the name of Janus. Janus had the superintendence and control of all media of entrance, and hence it was ascribed to him, with a deeper meaning than mere whim, that only through his means could the prayers of mortals reach the superior gods. In religious ceremonies, accordingly, the name of Janus was always the first to be invoked.

121. The word usher' conveys the same general idea, being literally 'door-keeper.' Proximately, it comes from the French huissier, which is from huis, a door, and that from the Latin foris, which is identical with the Greek Oupa. Hence when we speak of a person or an event being ushered in,' it is calling the attendant circumstances the gate of their admission. Foris has also furnished the French preposition hors, 'without,' or 'outside.' Foreign is from the same word, and thus denotes literally, something out of doors.' To perforate is to make a door through.

6

On the same principle the mouth and the lips are called the doors of speech,' because it is through their medium that speech is uttered. literally put outside.' Hence it is said in Ecclesiastes, of the dumb with old age, that the doors shall be shut.' (xii. 4.) Hence, too, the Greek words for loquacious' and 'talkative' are ȧoupóσтoμos and ȧoupóyλwooos, literally very door-mouthed,' as in the Philoctetes of Sophocles, (188—190)—

ὁ δ ̓ ἀθυρόστομος

ἀγὼ τηλεφανὴς πικρᾶς

οἰμωγᾶς ὑπ ̓ ὀχεῖται.

(And the far-distant talkative echo is borne along by the bitter wailing.)

L

And in the Orestes of Euripides, (902, 903)

κἀπὶ τῶνδ' ἀνίσταται

ἀνήρ τις ἀθυμόγλωσσος.

'And after these things a certain prater rises up.'

122. The Bible uses of the correspondence abundantly confirm it. Thus, our Saviour calls himself the door to heaven, because his glorified Human Nature is our only means of access to his Divine. Hence it is said that the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' Hence also the beautiful metaphor of Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' In 1 Cor. xvi. 9, the door is used to denote the opportunity of doing good,' a great door and effectual is opened unto me;' aud in 2 Cor. ii. 12, liberty or power to preach the Gospel,- a door was opened unto me of the Lord.' In Hosea ii. 15, the door of hope' is spoken of, and in Acts xiv. 27, the door of faith. David prays that the gates of righteousness' may be opened to him, (Psalm cxviii. 19.) and gives God thanks for lifting him from the gates of death,' (Psalm ix. 13.) which are the same as the 'gates of hell' that it was promised Peter should not prevail against' the church.

Entrance is also symbolled in language by the part of the doorway called its threshold, as when we speak of the threshold of an inquiry. This also is why we call the first steps taken in any matter as the preliminaries. The root of 'preliminary' is the Latin limen, a threshold. In Greek, the same word, λμǹv, denotes a harbour for ships, a port or haven being to the land just what the threshold is to the door of one's house.

123. Correspondences thus embrace the relations of invisible things not only to the forms of nature, but to those constructed by human art. This is because nothing exists in the mind of man, and nothing proceeds, or can proceed thence, but what is primarily derived from God, the universal Creator. Man is merely instrumental. It is allowed to him to seem to himself as though he invented;' but whatever he invents is, in real truth, no more than the extending by him into a material shape, of some principle or prompting infused into his understanding from the spiritual world. Thence are derived all the elegant designs and fabrics of the architect,-all the exquisite products of mechanical skill, all the ingenious contrivances which mitigate pain, and promote human happiness and solace. The benevolent and unceasing activities of Omnipotence are their divine, though hidden, genesis. For God, as already remarked, (102) is not to be regarded as having merely made the

83

world, but as making it; not merely as a Creator who was, but who is. Scientific and mechanical inventions' are put into man's mind, just as all good desires, thoughts, and intentions, are received primarily from God, although they likewise appear to be our own.

That all material things, as well as emotional ones, do actually come, suggestively, from the Lord, requires no lengthened argument with the reverent heart. It is, however, positively taught, viz. in the directions as to the construction of the ark of the tabernacle given to Moses on the Mount, (Exod. xxv. 9, and in Exod. xxxv., 31—35.) Solomon also, we are expressly told, was instructed for the building of the house of God.' (2 Chron. iii. 3.)

124. Accordingly, whatever new object, proximately born of human art, may come into existence, it immediately takes its place, in regard to correspondence, among the most ancient shapes of nature, having existed in essence, though not in a material clothing, through all time. And doubtless there will be a perpetual accession to the outward world of such new objects, because the spiritual world of causes is illimitable, and is ever seeking to ultimate itself in objective forms. This is amply and clearly shewn in the 'march of improvement' and the 'progress of invention.'

125. Even weapons of war, and instruments of cruelty and malice, are suggested from the spiritual world, and, therefore, ultimately from God; coming, however, not as direct gifts from himself, because his nature, which is essential love, would forbid it; but in the same way that malaria, fevers, and pestilences are all owing to the sun, which yet is the mediate source of all earthly blessings and riches. It is not the sun that is to be charged with producing these evils, but the dead and corrupt matter which it shines upon. When its beams fall on what is pure and good, the results are consistent with its own high and heavenly nature, for it is the material emblem and representative of the Divine love. This law furnishes the clue to the correspondences so often used in the language of Scripture, of the shield, the sword, the bow, and the arrow. War, in the Word, typifies spiritual war-the 'good fight,' in which the apostle tells us we must engage. Its instruments, accordingly, have specific relations to spiritual combats. In all such cases as the one before us, it may be taken as a universal rule, that to ascertain the nature of a correspondence, we have merely to consider what are the uses of the object among men.

126. To illustrate this magnificent truth a little further, we may advert to the signification in language of keys, keys being naturally associated with gates and doors. Keys are used to open or unfasten;

hence they denote the power or means of entering, passing through, and taking possession. The mark of authority and power is always to demand the delivery of the keys, just as the sign of submission is to give them up. Hence, in ordinary conversation, we continually use such phrases as the key of knowledge, the key of information, the key to the subject. In Scripture, these applications are of the sublimest kind. There we read of the keys of death, of hell, and of heaven. With what majesty, again, does that great prophecy step forth where it is foretold of the Saviour, that THE KEY OF THE HOUSE of David shALL BE LAID UPON HIS SHOULDER (Isaiah xxii. 22), meaning that he shall possess all power and dominion for ever. The poets often recognize the correspondence. Pindar, for instance, when he would describe the height of power, calls it

ἔχοισα κλαίδας ὑπερτάτας, - (Pyth. viii. 4, 5.)

--

(Holding the keys supreme!)

Sophocles calls by the same name the knowledge of the secrets of Eleusis, as possessed exclusively by its priests,

δυ πότνιαι σεμνὰ τιθηνοῦνται τέλη

θνατοῖσιν, ὧν καὶ χρυσέα

κλῇς ἐπὶ γλώσσα βέβακε

προσπόλων Εὐμολπιδᾶν.-(Ed. Col. 1050-1053.)

(Where the priests cherish for mortals, the sacred mysteries, a golden key to which is laid on the tongue of the ministering Eumolpida.*)

Gray probably had this fine passage before his mind, when in the Progress of Poesy' he described the genius with which Shakspere interpreted all art and nature as 'golden keys.'

127. That correspondences embrace the products of human art as well as of nature is well illustrated also by the uses in language of the terms clothing, garments. and dress. Dress is the counterpart and emblem of the investitures worn by universal nature, both spiritual and material; since there is nothing but what possesses an interior or substantive body, and an exterior covering which enables us to predicate in some measure the quality of that which it infolds. Hence we speak of clothing our ideas in words, and of giving our thoughts an appropriate drapery or dress. In precisely this relation to the spirit within, stands the manifestation of the feelings, character, and disposition. Hence the custom with the Platonic philosophers of speaking of the virtues and

* The Eumolpidae were the priests of Ceres, deriving their name from Eumolpus, the patriarch of their fortunes. They retained the office in their family for above twelve hundred years, whence their identification with the secrets.