ing word in Exod. xxxviii. 8, authorise the transla tion mirror'—that is, of some metal. Indeed Winer, referring to Beckman (Beitrage zur Gesch. der Erfindung, 319), expressly denies that glass mirrors were known till the thirteenth century— adding that they are still seldom seen in the East. Alirrors of polished metal arc those that are mostly used, formed sometimes into such shapes as may serve for ornaments to the person. In the East mirrors had a connection with the observances of religion ; females held them before the images of the goddesses, thereby manifesting their own humility as servants of the divinities, and betokening the prevalence in private life of a similar custom (Calli mach. Hymn. in Pallod. 21 ; Senec. Ep. 95 ; Cyril, De Adorat. in Spir. ii. 64). That in the N. T. a mirror is intended in James i. 23, 'behold ing his natural face in a glass,' appears certain ; but the signification in Cor. xiii. 12, in which the word eo-orrpov occurs, is by no means so clear. If by gdorrpop a metal mirror is to be understood, the language employed is not without difficulties. The preposition Sitit, through,' is in such a case improper ; face to face' presents an equally im proper contrast, for in a mirror face answers to face' (Prov. xxvii. 19). So the general import of the passage seems to require a medium, and an im perfectly transparent medium, through which objects are beheld. This is confirmed by the words en
alpi7garl, in enigma, that is, with the meaning hidden or involved in outward coverings : in this state objects are seen mediately, not immediately (see the passages quoted by Wctstein) ; in the next the veil will be removed, and we shall see them as they are, as when two persons behold each other with no substance intervening. Hence the render ing in the common version appears not unsuitable, and the statement of the Apostle corresponds with fact and experience ; for it is obscurely, as through a dim medium, that we see spiritual objects. \Vhat the precise substance was which the Apostle thought of when he used the words it may not be easy to determine. It could not well be ordinary glass, for that was transparent. It may have been the lapis specularis, or a kind of talc, of which the ancients made their windows. This opinion is confirmed by Schleusner, who says that the Jews used a similar mode of expression to describe a dim and imperfect view of mental objects (Schottgen. Hor. Heb. in loc.) See Michaelis, Hist. Vitzi ap. Heb. in Comment. Soc. Goetting. iv. 57 ; also Dr. Falconer on the knowledge of the Ancients respecting Glass,' in the Memoirs of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester, ii. 95.— J. R. B.