ing to life, the other to perdition, Matt. ch. vii.; Luke xiii. 24.

The cause of joy or grief is called a gate by the poets. Thus, Ovid, lib. 2. de Porto, Eleg. 7, "lætitiæ janua clausa meæ;" and lib. 1. de Remed. Amor. " artis tristissima janua nostræ."

And Lucretius, l. 3. v. 830,

"Haud igitur Lethi præclusa est janua menti."

And Ovid, lib. 1. met.,

f

"Præclusaque janua lethi,

Æternum nostros luctus extendit in ævum.'

It would appear that altars were formerly erected before the gates. See 2 Kings, xxiii. 8, "He brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city." And Acts xiv. 13, " Then the priest of Jupiter, who was before their city, brought filletted oxen to the gates, and would have offered sacrifice with the people." Jupiter was accounted the tutelar deity of the place, and his temple stood near the gates.

66

In Matt. xvi, 18, there is a well-known passage to this effect: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hades, i. e. death, shall not prevail against it." The gate of hades is a natural periphrasis for death itself, and corresponds with Hezekiah's expression in Isa. xxxviii. 10,

"I shall pass through the gates of the grave,

I am deprived of the residue of my years."

à

In the Wisdom of Solomon, we have a similar expression, ch. xvi. 13, " Thou hast power of life and death, thou leadest to the gates of hades, and bringest up again."

And Homer makes Achilles say,

"Who can think one thing and another tell,

My soul detests him as the gates of hell."

That is, I hate him as death, or I hate him mortally. To say, then, that the gates of hades shall not prevail against the church, is, in other words, to say, it shall never die, it shall never be extinct.

All the er

rors, superstitions, controversies, all the persecutions, edicts, tortures, with which the church has been visited, have not proved mortal, and never shall. Campbell's Dissert. 6, part 2, § 17.

See

It is well known that under or at the gates of eastern cities conversations are held, hospitality to the passing traveller is dispensed, and the most important transactions in commerce are carried on. Hence we hear of Mordecai sitting in the king's gate; and in Lament. v. 14, that the elders have ceased from the gate; and in Ruth iii. 11, "All the gate (that is, house) of my people know that thou art virtuous.” We also find Jacob, at an earlier period, saying, "This is the gate of heaven;" and Hezekiah, in Isa. xxxviii. 10, "I shall go to the gates of the grave;” and our Lord, in Matt. xvi. 18, thus expressing himself, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” He also uses this similitude when he says, "Enter ye

in at the strait gate," &c.

GEMS were originally used in divination, especially among the Egyptians, (Diod. Sic. lib. 1. p. 48.) Something of this kind is supposed to be meant in the investiture of Joseph by Pharaoh with a ring and chain, (Gen. xli. 41, &c.) the gold chain, the badge of the chief judge, being for the image of truth, as they called it; and the ring, being not given to real orders

or decrees, but as a magical ring or talisman, to prevent fascinations and delusions, and to divine by.

To keep the Israelites from the use of magic, to which the Egyptians were much addicted, God ordered a breastplate of judgment to be made for Aaron, in which were to be set, in sockets of gold, twelve precious stones, bearing the names engraven on them of the twelve tribes of Israel. This was to be used as an oracle on great emergencies, and the stones were called Urim, fires or lights, and Thumim, perfections or truth: perfection and truth, in the Scripture style, being synonyms in sense, because what is perfected is truly done, neither false, nor vain, nor yet unexecuted, but accomplished.

The primary notion of aλnda, truth, seems to be that of revelation, or the discovery of a thing which being hidden before, is no longer so: rò μǹ λñdov, is aλnds, that is, true, which is no more hidden.

See much on the Egyptian divinations in Jamblichus de Mysteriis.

The oracles of God are frequently compared to light or fire, as in Ps. cxix. 130, and other places.

Christ calls himself the light of the world; he is the true Urim and Thumim, the disposer of the oracles of God. John viii. 12.

It appears from the manner in which they were anciently used, that gems may be considered as the symbols of judgment and government, and as the symbols of the Divine oracles, especially of such as are prophetical; both which they aptly represent, on account of their light, brightness, and sparkling.

It was a saying of a Chinese king (Moral. Confuc. lib. 2, p. 45), "I have four ministers of state, who

govern with great prudence the provinces I have committed to them: those are my precious stones; they can enlighten a thousand furlongs."

All the oriental Oneirocritics affirm, that precious stones and pearls are the symbols of government; and the Indian Interpreter expressly asserts, "That they are, for the most part, to be interpreted of the Divine oracles, and of the wisdom and knowledge of God."

1

As gems are substances of a permanent or durable nature, the symbols from them are only used about matters of a constant and long duration. Thus, Matt. xiii. 45, 46," the pearl of great price."

Sometimes the manner of God's appearance is described by images of this kind, as in Exod. xxiv. 10: "He stood upon a paved work of sapphire stones, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness;" denoting calmness, serenity, good will.

The colours of gems, white, red, blue, green, are explained by the Indian Interpreter, ch. 247.

There is a beautiful passage in Isa. liv. 11, &c., where the imagery is taken from gems:

"O thou afflicted, beaten with the storm, destitute of conso

lation,

Behold I lay thy stones in cement of vermilion,

And thy foundations with sapphires:

And I will make of rubies thy battlements,

And thy gates of carbuncles,

And the whole circuit of thy walls shall be of precious stones.' These, as Lowth observes, are general images to express, beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations, and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized,

or minutely and particularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise moral or spiritual meaning.

Tobit, in his prophecy of the final restoration of Israel, describes the New Jerusalem in the same oriental manner: "For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones; thy walls, and towers, and battlements, with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl, and carbuncle, and stones of Ophir."-Ch. xiii. 16, 17.

Compare also Rev. xxi. 18-21.

There are several enumerations of gems in Scripture, viz. in Exod. xxviii. 17-20, Ezek. xxviii. 13, Rev. xxi. 19, &c.; but it is extremely difficult to decide what their real names are. Rabbi Abraham Ben David thinks those mentioned in Exodus were,—the carnelian, the topaz, the ceraunia, the carbuncle, the sapphire, the diamond, the turquoise, the jacinth, the onyx, the chrysolite, the emerald, and the jasper.

Those mentioned by Ezekiel are, the ruby, the topaz, the diamond, the beryl, onyx, and jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle.

Or, according to the Septuagint, the sardius, topaz, emerald, carbuncle, sapphire, and jasper, the ligure and agate, amethyst, chrysolite, beryl, and onyx.

For those mentioned in the Revelations, see the passage.

GIRDLE, the symbol of strength, activity, and

power.

Thus, Job xii. 18,

"He looseth the bond of kings,

And girdeth the girdle upon their loins."

By loosing the bond, or band, may be meant "de