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Scripture Illustrated.

From the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine.

ON THE METAL TO WHICH ALLUSION IS MADE IN REV. I. 15.

READING a few days since Rev. i. 15, I was struck with the singularity of that unusual expression xxxavor, and led to inquire into the propriety of the version "fine brass." The parallel passage in Dan. x. 6, is nenup, polished brass, or, as the Septuagint has it, ὡς ὅρασις χαλκ ςίλβοντος, as the appearance of shining brass. Philologists have endeavoured to ascertain the precise signification of χαλκολίβανον, by deriving it from χαλκός, copper or brass, and Xiavos, frankincense. The most probable construction that this analysis will admit, is the signification first allotted to the word in the Lexicons, "a species of amber, more valuable than gold;" which in colour might resemble brass, and for its resinous quality, frankincense. But neither amber, frankincense, nor any thing of a resinous nature, could be suitable to endure the heat of the furnace mentioned in the following clause. It is to be acknowledged that electrum, according to PLINY, (xxxiii. 4,) besides amber, also signified a metal: but as this was composed entirely of gold and silver, it could have no affinity whatever with xaλxoλibavov. The very learned and ingenious BOCHART derived the word from xaxxos, brass or copper, and, white. A writer of the present day, averse to BOCHART's seeking from two languages what may be obtained from one, endeavours to deduce the meaning from xaxxis, brass, and xavos, an oven or furnace; which, he supposes, might originally have produced the word xaλxoxλibavov, contracted into Xadoitavov, signifying furnace-brass, or brass in a state of fuplace of his cure unvisited. He walketh round about from place to place, and ceaseth not. Sicut leo, as a lyon; that is, strongly, boldly and proudly, stately and fiercely, with haute lookes, with his proude countenances, with his stately bragginges. Rugiens, roaring; for he letteth not slip any occasion to speake or to roar out when he seeth his tyme. Quærens, he goeth about seeking, and not sleeping as our bishops doe; but he seeketh diligently, he searcheth diligently, all corners, whereas he may have his prey.) He roveth abroad in every place of his dyocese, he standeth not still, he is never at rest; but ever in hand with his plough, that it may go forward. But there was never such a preacher in England as he is. Who is able to tell his diligent preaching? In the mean tyme, the prelates take their pleasures. They are lords, and no labourers; but the devill is diligent at his plough. He is no unpreaching prelate. He is no lordly loyterer from his cure, but a busy ploughman; so that among all the prelates, and all the pack of them that have cure, the devill shall go for my money; for he still applyeth his busyness. Therefore, ye unpreaching prelates, learne of the devil to be diligent in doing of your office. Learne of the devill: and if you will not learne of God, nor good men, for shame learne of the devill! Ad erubescentiam vestram dico. I speake it for your shame. If you will not learne of God nor good men to be diligent in your office, learne of the devill."-Preached in St. Paul's church, London, 1548.

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sion. And he would apologize for the apparent tautology this would occasion, by considering the following clause, s sv xapírw πεπυρωμένοι, as if they burned in a furnace," to be one of those pleonasms which are not uncommon with ancient writers. POOLE, in his Synopsis Criticorum, has offered many opinions on this subject: but, to show the propriety of the term xaλxohíbavov, the following considerations seem necessary.

1. Xaλxos may signify either a native or a factitious metal. The former is copper, which may be obtained in a simple or native state. In this state it was known to the Ancients,-Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans,-from the earliest ages; and in this state it is red: so HOMER calls it, (Il. ix. 365,) gugos, red; a colour not suited to the Apostle's meaning. Or,

2. Xaλxus may denote brass, which is an artificial production from copper and zinc. Both the Greek xaλxos, and the Latin as, were for ages indiscriminately employed for either copper or brass. The term cuprum, for copper, is comparatively modern : it was first used by SPARTIAN, who lived in the time of DIOCLESIAN. We find as cyprium" in PLINY, (xxx. 5,) and ev xa xw Xurg, in DIOSCOR. (i. 153,) who lived in the first century of the Christian era; but no distinction of this kind exists in any author of an earlier date.

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3. Though PARACELSUS was the first to speak of zinc, of which brass is made; yet neither zinc, nor its ore, were unknown to the Ancients. Its ore, lapis calimanaris, was doubtless the cadmia of PLINY. "Ipse lapis è quo fit ees, cadmia vocatus." (xxxiv. 10.) Either this, or the carbonate of zinc, which is found in a native state, particularly on mountains, might produce the gsxaxos, or mountain-copper of HESIOD; who affirms that it was white, which corresponds to the colour of zinc :—the same as the orichalcum of VIRGIL, (En. xii. 87;) and of HORACE, (De A. P. 202.) And orichalcum is the second meaning assigned to xaλxavov in the Lexicons.

4. According to FESTUS, and others, the Cadmian earth, lapis calaminaris mentioned above, was cast into copper in a state of fusion, which produced the factitious metal, aurichalcum, yellow or golden copper, or brass. It is proper to mention here, that from the similarity of the terms, orichalcum and aurichalcum, two mistakes seem to have arisen, both of which, in order to attain ultimately to an accurate idea of the xaxoiavov of Rev. i. 15, it may be necessary to correct. The first is the misconception, that there were to species of aurichalcum, the one native, the other artirficial. The former, PLINY says, could not be found long before his time: and that it never existed cannot be doubted, being a mere mistake for the orichalcum, igazaλs, or zinc, already mentioned. The second is that the orichalcum, and aurichalcum, were the same. This mistake arose from a supposition that the aurichalcum, which was the same as our brass, and so

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called from its colour, yellow or golden copper, was a corruption of the orichalcum, mountain-copper, or zinc. Not only the derivation of gxaλxos from gos, a mountain, and xaxxos, copper, but the epithets and circumstances mentioned by HESIOD, VIRGIL, HORACE, and others, sufficiently evince the contrary. HESIOD and VIRGIL call it white. HESIOD says it was more valuable than common copper; SERVIUs, from its scarcity, affirms that it was more costly than all other metals; and HORACE speaks of it as an article of extravagance ;-which are characteristics that certainly belong not to brass. Yet the similarity of the terms caused the one to be inadvertently employed for the other. Not orichalcum, but aurichalcum, should be read in Cic. de Officiis, iii. 23.* The aurichalcum, golden copper or brass, is the term employed by the Vulgate Version, both for Rev. i. 15, and Dan. x. 6.

5. After what has been stated, it will be more easy to determine the propriety of the term Xaλxoxíavov, the derivation of which is certainly not to be sought from Cavos, frankincense, but from Aiavos, Libanus or Lebanon, the famous ridge of moun tains which separates Syria from Palestine. The reason of this I would not deduce so much from the colour, white, from which Lebanon receives its name, from the snow which invests its top from December till May; as from the circumstance of metallic ore abounding in this range of hills, which, in the more extensive sense, according to ROBINSON's Theological Dictionary, has the general name of Lebanon. This line of hills borders that very land of which Moses said, (Deut. viii. 9,) "A land whose stones are iron," (iron ore,) "and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass," (copper, or zinc, from which brass is made.) And because the portion of the tribe of ASHER was near this region, and extended to Libanus, and Antilibanus, a tract so favourable for mines, the advantages derivable from metallurgy were promised to that tribe in Deut. xxxiii. 25. The great extent of this ridge, which according to some was at least 190 miles, may account for the quantity of brass, or copper, brought from this region by King DAVID. And near this ridge the Sidonian woman dwelt, whom Homer celebrates as saying

Εκ μεν Σιδωνος πολυκαλά ευχομαι είναι

Odyss. iii. 424.

I boast in being from Sidon (a city) rich in brass.

See SCHEUCHZER'S Observations on the Mines of Judea, and Physique Sacrée, tom. iv. p. 47. Hence the xaxxoavov appears χαλκολίβανον to have been the metal obtained from copper, mixed with that igeixakxos, orichalcum, mountain-copper or zinc,† in particular, which came from Lebanon, which would of course produce auri

*A MS. in the Library of Baliol Col. Oxon. confirms this. MusCHENBROECK affirms that when the proportions employed in the composition are four parts of copper to one of zinc, the metal produced has a finer colour than that of brass.

anon.

chalcum. And it is in confirmation of this, that in the Syriac Version for xaλxoλíavov, we read Lebanon-copper, or brass of LebMR. WESLEY, in his Journal for 13th Oct. 1761, speaking of a people says, "Most of them are employed in the neighbouring brass-works: and one thing I learned here, the propriety of that expression, (Rev. i. 15.) 'His feet were as fine brass, burning in a furnace.' The brightness of this cannot easily be conceived. I have seen nothing like it, but clear white lightning." Φιλαλήθης.

Woodhouse-Grove, Yorkshire.

The Attributes of God Displayed.

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From the Christian Observer.

PROVIDENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS DISCOVERED BY CHEMISTRY.

"I HAVE thought that it might be useful to select a few of the most prominent features in Chemistry, which are proofs of the existence and providence of the DEITY, and which have been omitted to be mentioned, or are only slightly touched upon, by Dr. PALEY and other writers on Natural Theology. The facts I have selected are purposely taken from popular sources, and, though familiar to persons of science, may be perused with pleasure and improvement, by your younger readers especially, for whose benefit I chiefly wish their insertion in your pages.

"I shall begin with describing some regulations in regard to air and water, which are attended with beneficial consequences. The air which we breathe is composed of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, and contains likewise a portion of carbonic acid gas, which is a union of carbon and oxygen. These gases occur exactly in the right proportion for the support of animal life. If the parts of oxygen and nitrogen were reversed, the air taken in by respiration would be more stimulant, the circulation would become accelerated, and all the secretions would be increased: the vessels being thus stimulated to inordinate action, their tone would be destroyed by over excitement; and if the supply from the stomach were not equal to the consumption, the body must rapidly waste away. In other proportions these very ingredients form one of the most corrosive of acids, a very small quantity of which, taken internally, would cause certain death.

"The gases have been divided by some writers into the respirable and non-respirable; or those which support, and those which extinguish combustion; and it is remarkable, that if we attempt to breathe any of the latter, they stimulate the muscles of the epiglottis in such a manner as to keep it perfectly close, and prevent, in opposition to our utmost exertions, the smallest quantity

of gas from entering into the windpipe or lungs. Oxygen gas is -absorbed by the blood through the lungs; but as if with an express view to preserve the caloric that is necessary for the animal temperature, carbonic acid gas and nitrogen gas, which are thrown off by the act of respiration, have been endued with less capacity for caloric than any other gaseous substances: the first of them has even less capacity for it than many liquids, and the second less than ice itself. The interval between every inspiration, by a most providential adjustment, allows time for the nitrogen, which is lighter than the atmospheric air, to ascend, and for the carbonic acid gas, which is heavier, to descend, by which means a space is left for a fresh current of uncontaminated air.

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Atmospheric air has the property of preserving its equilibrium at all times; and its elasticity is such that, however it may be consumed by respiration or by combustion, its place is immediately supplied by a new portion, and it is found to be of a homogeneous nature at whatever altitude, or in whatever climate it may be examined. Among its several uses, it is well known to refract the sun's rays when below the horizon, which is the cause of twilight; and it has been ascertained by aëronauts, that birds cannot fly beyond a certain height, which shows that its density near the surface of the earth is exactly what was requisite for the residence of the, feathered race. The principle of fluidity, which is owing to caloric, (or the matter of heat, as distinguished from the effect,) being interposed between the particles of a fluid, would dissipate all fluids into the air, were it not for the pressure of the atmosphere, and the mutual attraction that subsists between these particles; and were it not for the same pressure, the elastic fluids contained in the finer vessels of animals and vegetables, would burst them, and life become extinct.

"To evaporation we are inde ted for many important services. The temperature of the human body is much greater than that of the surrounding air; and were it not for the excess of heat being carried off by perspiration, we should be exhausted under any great fatigue: but cold-blooded animals, whose temperature is regulated by the medium in which they live, never perspire. The ocean supplies many millions of gallons of water by evaporation which is conveyed by the winds to every part of the continent; and the Mediterranean alone is said to lose more by this cause, than it receives from the Nile, the Tiber, the Rhone, the Po, and all other rivers that fall into it. ́

"Water is composed of two gases, hydrogen and oxygen; and had not these ingredients been so proportioned as to neutralize each other, it would have been converted into a highly corrosive poison. Hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, are the food of plants, which have the power of decomposing air and water. The vegetative organs seize the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere; and while they appropriate the carbon to themselves, the oxygen is

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