1037 Historical Observations respecting Liverpool. Of 1038 but among the lower orders, who derive their livelihood from their connection with shipping, and with the docks, the rough and boisterous habits of the sailors are quite familiar. Diffused through all ranks of society, the frankness and warmth which once distinguished the old English character, are still observable; and instances but rarely occur, in which duplicity assumes the garb of friendship, or that the cloak of politeness conceals the dagger of the assassin. about twenty-two years of age. his genius and talents, and of the loss which science has sustained by his death, some idea may be formed from the following facts. In 1662, some of his works were published at Dantzic, by Havelius, by whose annotations they were illustrated. The remainder was published in 1673 by Dr. Wallis. Connected with this young man, two things are very remarkable: one is, that he was the first who ever predicted or observed the passage of Venus over the Sun's disk. And though It must not, however, be supposed, he was not apprised of the grand use that the vices which degrade large that was to be made of this valuable towns and cities, are unknown in discovery, in ascertaining the paral- Liverpool. Unhappily, this place | lax, and distance of the sun and pla- partakes, in no small degree, of that nets, yet he made many useful obser- national dereliction of morals, on vations, corrections, and improve- which virtue drops her tears; but ments, in the theory and motions of among the wise and good no effort Venus. The other memorable cir- has been left unattempted, to stem cumstance is, that of his new theory the torrent of prevailing iniquity, and of lunar motions, which the immortal to introduce measures that promise to Newton made the ground-work of all ameliorate the condition of the abanhis astronomy relative to the moon, doned and the distressed. To reward always speaking of Mr. Horrox as a their exertions, much good has already genius of the first rank. His astro- been effected, but much more yet renomical observations on Venus were mains to be accomplished. Of this, the made at Hool, about twenty miles merchants and wealthy inhabitants of north of Liverpool. Liverpool appear to be fully sensible; and if liberality, active exertion, mutual co-operation, and perseverance, can presage success, Liverpool may expect, during the next generation, a moral revolution among its inhabitants. Among the various events which mark and diversify human life, it was the lot of the writer and compiler of this article, to reside two years and a half in the town, on which he has made his observations; he therefore speaks from actual knowledge, and personal experience. To the kind If the inhabitants of Liverpool have a right to claim any peculiarity of character, by which they arc distinguished from those of other towns, it arises from that singular association between rivalship and mutual co-operation, which is every where discoverable in their mercantile transactions. With the pride of nobility, and the boast of ancestry, regarding supposed inferiority with a repulsive countenance and half averted eye, Liverpool has not yet been dishonoured; nor will the stranger or inhabitant be often disgusted with the petty assump-ness, friendship, and liberality of the tions of ignorance dressed up in the brief authority of office. It is to the commanding influence of commerce, that trading towns are indebted for that free and open intercourse, between all ranks of society, which subsists within their precincts. This social intercourse, and frankness of manners prevail, in Liverpool, in a supereminent degree. Hospitality, urbanity, general civility, and a freedom from local prejudice, are common features in the genuine portrait of the inhabitants. To an exalted refinement of manners, multitudes among the higher classes are not strangers; many respectable inhabitants, among whom he had the honour of being introduced, justice compels him to bear the most unequivocal testimony; and he should reproach himself with ingratitude, were he to omit this opportunity of acknowledging his obligations. 66 VINDICATION OF REMARKS ON PAS- HAVING swept away the sandy foun- 1039 Vindication of Remarks on Passages of Scripture. 1040 laid on a few passages of sacred writ, Again, if the word given, as used in the 17th chapter of John's Gospel, is applicable to all believers in all ages, I may reasonably inquire, who were the persons prayed for in verse 20th? for our Lord said, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word." It is evident from more reasons than one, that the persons prayed for in this verse, had not been the objects of our Lord's intercession in the former part of his prayer, consequently none but his disciples had been given to him. On similar grounds, John x. 29. must be restricted to the disciples, for they heard his voice and followed him, v. 27. We have, also, good reasons to believe that some of those whom our Lord excluded from the number of the given, were afterwards prayed for among the persons who should believe through the Apostles' word, for many of the priests became obedient to the faith, Acts vi. 7. There are but two more passages (John vi. 37, 39.) that belong to the class which has been under examination. Rather greater difficulty exists in ascertaining, from the scope and connection, the meaning and application of these two passages, than does in reference to the others. From certain circumstances, such as, the same speaker, the same writer, the same persons directly or indirectly concerned, we may reasonably infer, unless sufficient evidence be adduced to the contrary, that the same application takes place here as in the other places already dismissed. The connection, in my opinion, warrants the application. The two passages stand connected as follows: "Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me," [by taking up his cross and following me as a disciple,] "shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me," [as the Christ, the Son of God,]" shall never thrist. But I said unto you" [professed disciples of Moses (ch. v. 45, 46.)] “that ye also have seen me, and believe not. (ch. V. 38-47.) All that the Father giveth me" [being such persons as believe Moses, have the word of God abiding in them (ch. v. 38, 46.) and hear and learn of the Father (vi. 45.)] "will come" [or cometh (v. 45)] "unto me; and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me" [as my disciples on earth I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." Your correspondent is equally hostile to my exposition of these words, "No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him," ch. vi. 44. My view is, that no Jew in the days of our Lord, would have came unto him, unless he had 1041 Vindication of Remarks on Passages of Scripture. been previously prepared by a belief of him as the promised Messiah. That this is the meaning of the passage, appears evident to me, from the subsequent verse, viz. "It is written in the prophets, (Isa. liv. 3, 13. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34.) And they shall be all taught of God." On turning to the prophets, we find, that the promise was given to the Jewish church exclusively. The prophecy is also explained by our Lord himself, in the words immediately following: "Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." But who came unto him in the days of his flesh, but Jews? wherefore none but Jews had heard and learned of the Father, or in other words, had been drawn of the Father, and given to the Son. 1042 to the Apostles. On my principles, My opponent asserts, that if our Lord had meant no Jew by the words no man, (or the word none,) he would have said so. I reply, there are numerous instances, both in the gospels and in the epistles, in which a general term has a particular meaning. But to come closer to the point in hand, the words every man in verse 45, according to my opinion, mean every Jew. The grounds of my belief are given in the foregoing remarks. If then, every man mean every Jew, why may not no man also mean no Jew? But further, the words every man in verse 45, and no man in verse 44, positively and negatively refer to the same individual; consequently, if every man signify every Jew, so also no man Your correspondent defends the use must signify no Jew. The argument of shall instead of will in the following which H. B. adduces, is a mere asser- passage; "All that the Father giveth tion without proof; for he says, If me shall come to me:" (John vi. 37.) this passage" (No man, &c. v. 44) "is but his defence is so weak, that ĺ confined to those only who were his should be ashamed to lay hands on it. followers, there would be no difficulty It is obvious to the most superficial in proving that all his doctrines and reader, that the subject agitated by precepts, yea, even his atonement our Lord, was not, whether those and mediation, should be understood given to him would come, for then in the same limited sense." This sup- shall would have been necessary, but poses, that the same kind of proof can whether any would come but those be adduced in the supposed instances that were given to him. In the preas is in the other; and also, that if ceding chapter, our Lord charged his any truth can be proved in one place audience with unwillingness to come of scripture, it may be disproved in to him, by saying, "Ye will not come another! Let us, for the sake of trial, to me, that ye may have life," v. 40. take the doctrine of the atonement. In the subsequent verses he assigns Because our Lord said to his disciples, the reason why they would not come to "This is my body which is given for him, viz. the disposition which led you, and my blood shed for you," them to disbelieve Moses, and to retherefore H. B. would reason, that onceive honour one of another. In the my principles the atonement is limited verse under consideration, our Lord 66 1043 Origin and Nature of Human Knowledge. informed his audience of the persons who were willing to come to him, namely, such as were given him of the Father by previous instruction, having heard and learned of the Father, ver. 45. Hence it appears, that the willingness to come to Christ, on the part of those who had been taught of the Father, was a necessary consequence of their having been given to Christ. It would, therefore, be improper to say, that such persons shall come, when will come sufficiently conveys the meaning and intention of our Lord in the instruction which he was communicating. I again repeat it, that our Lord's intention was, not to inform his audience that a divine influence overpowered and directed the will of those that came to him, but that none, except such as had learned of the Father, would come to him: therefore will, and not shall, ought to be used. 66 There is only one argument in the compass of your correspondent's reasoning which I admit as valid. I do not, by this admission, concede one particle of what I considered as truth. I allude to his remarks on the words, a temporal gift to discipleship." I confess, some ambiguity attaches itself to the words a temporal gift; yet, from the connection, and other parts of my paper, H. B. might have discovered, that I contrasted temporal with eternal, not as denoting eternity future, but eternity past, that is, a gift made in time, in opposition to a gift made from eternity. In this view, both of us seem to coincide: and with this explanation I now conclude. I am, Aberdeen, 17th September, 1821. Z. ON THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF HU- (Continued from col. 816.) BISHOP Brown, the learned author of "The Procedure, Limits, and Extent, of Human Understanding," reduces the terms of revelation, as they refer to spiritual objects, to two classes, analogical and metaphorical. He contends, that though the Gospel is a revelation from God, and though by it life and immortality are brought to light, yet it does not furnish us with 1044 terms exclusively applicable to the subjects it unfolds. Having no spiritual vocabulary, all words must have a natural, before they can have a divine meaning; and consequently, none are used literally, when applied either to the mysteries of Christianity, or to the invisible objects of the heavenly world. The Rev. John Wesley, who adopted his views, says, (Philosophy, vol. 5, page 160,)" Metaphorical words are spoken of heavenly things in no part of their proper sense; analogical, in some part of it, though not the whole. So the word hand is spoken of God metaphorically, for he has no hand of any sort whatever. The word power is spoken of him analogically, for he has some sort of power, though of a quite different sort from ours." Important, wide, and obvious, as is this distinction in the use of words, it so happens, that it is frequently lost sight of; the direct consequence of which is, that the mind is confounded in its conceptions of those things, which can be clearly apprehended only by keeping it fully and constantly in view. It is, perhaps, not going beyond the boundaries of truth, to assert, that most errors in spiritual matters originate in this oversight, as few of consequence exist which did not arise either from mistaking the precise point or points of analogy intended by scripture terms, or by resolving words used analogically into mere metaphor. In addition to the preceding definition of analogical and metaphorical words, a few remarks may be necessary, to render the distinction clear to those who have seldom reflected on it. Analogical terms, in a scriptural sense, are those that express our first and most proper conceptions of divine things. They are absolutely necessary to convey any knowledge of them to the human mind. As language furnishes no terms of a purely spiritual import, these are the most proper that it affords; and when used, they have ever a reference to some real resemblance. But metaphorical terms, though founded on remote allusion, are little better than mere elegancies of diction, and their use is purely arbitrary. They express only our secondary conceptions, and always imply that the subjects they embellish are more directly known through a better medium. 1045 Memoirs of Leonardo Aretino. Corporeal objects are generally the basis of metaphor; intellectual, that of analogy. And as our spiritual part is made after the image of God, this renders the analogy rationally built on mental properties and operations, just, with respect to God and his attributes, as well as other purely spiritual beings who are created in a nearer likeness to him. And, therefore, his natural attributes (so called) we conceive by analogy with the operations and properties of our own minds; and his moral, by our complex notions of human virtues and moral excellencies. "When we represent the knowledge of God by our knowledge, and the goodness of God by the goodness of a man,(which are the only direct notions we can have of either knowledge or goodness,) this is true analogy. When the joys of heaven are called a crown of righteousness, and heaven itself described as a new Jerusalem, these are mere metaphors borrowed from ideas of sensation; but when 'tis said that the righteous shall obtain joy and gladness and pleasures for evermore, this is an analogical conception; and represents an inconceivable future bliss, correspondent and answerable to the best 1046 In the place prepared for good men. scriptures, they are represented as strangers and pilgrims, and as having no continuing city, or “abiding place;" but in the expression above, it is intimated that a place is prepared for them, and this suggests to the mind the notions of rest, residence, security, accommodation, and permanence. And however different the future dwelling of the righteous may be from their present, there must be some points of agreement between them, as place resembles place, whether in earth or heaven. It would not be a laborious task to select from the scriptures, passages which refer to God, to angels, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to the glories of heaven, that would illustrate and confirm the preceding remarks; but this would extend this paper beyond its proper limits. Enough, it is presumed, is advanced, to show that heavenly things are revealed through an earthly medium; and that our knowledge of them, though not direct, is not all negative. (To be concluded in our next.) conceptions we are able to form of joy MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OP and pleasure here, in the gratification of all our reasonable affections." Brown's Procedure, page 139. There are persons, no doubt, who think it difficult to distinguish between an analogical and a metaphorical term, and in some instances it does require the exercise of judgment; but in general it is as easy as to distinguish a noun from a verb. If the definitions are clearly understood, practice will render the difference as perceptible in the former case as in the latter. Who, for example, does not see that the language in the following phrases varies considerably in its direct import? In my Father's house are many mansions." "I go to prepare a place for you." In the former, house and mansions are evidently metaphors, as strictly speaking there is neither in heaven. This imagery, however, affects the mind very powerfully, and leads it to a pleasing train of thoughts on the residence of Deity, and the secure and comfortable abode of the righteous. 66 But the words place and prepare, are obviously more expressive in their application. Heaven is a place, a LEONARDO ARETINO. (Continued from col. 895.) THE contentions in which the pontifical court was now involved, were very disagreeable to the feelings of Leonardo, who found himself, in consequence of the confidential communications, with which, in discharge of his duty as secretary he was necessarily entrusted, in a manner debarred from free intercourse with his friends. Some of these were of the adverse party; and he declined discussing with them the debatable topics which arose from the circumstances of the times; and he feared lest it might be apprehended that, in his correspondence, even with such of his acquaintance as were the partisans of Gregory, he had betrayed those secrets of state which might have transpired through the medium of individuals less circumspect and less faithful than himself.* It was, therefore, with much pleasure that he received, in the month of March, 1409, a summons from the Florentine State to repair to his na * Leonar. Aret. Epist. lib. iii. ep. 10. |