s. The common opinion, that the inhabitants of mountainous
countries possess this faculty in a higher measure than the inhabitants
of the plains, seems to be sustained by facts. Within the borders of our
own island it is quite certain that the Scotch and the Welsh employ
figures more readily and relish them more intensely than the English.
How far the difference may be directly due to the physical configuration
of the country cannot perhaps be accurately ascertained; but doubtless
the mountains contribute indirectly to the result, by rendering access
more difficult, and so producing a greater measure of isolation and
simplicity.

It is an acknowledged and well-known fact, moreover, that the
inhabitants of eastern countries are more prone to employ figurative
language than the peoples of western Europe; but it is difficult to
determine how far this characteristic is due to the meteorological and
geographical features of the continent, and how far to hereditary
peculiarities of race.

Looking merely to the physical features of their country, you might
expect that the inhabitants of Palestine would possess in a high degree
the faculty of suggesting and appreciating analogical conceptions; the
peculiar history and jurisprudence of the people must have tended
powerfully in the same direction. Accordingly, as might have been
expected from the circumstances of the nation, it appears in point of
fact on the whole face of the Scriptures, that as the institutes of the
commonwealth were symbolical, the language of the people was figurative.
They were at home in metaphor. It was their vernacular. The sudden and
bold adoption of physical forms in order to convey spiritual
conceptions, did not surprise--did not puzzle them. "Ye are the salt of
the earth," "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together," fell upon their ears, not as a foreign dialect, but
as the accents of their native tongue.

It might easily be shown that no other characteristic connected with the
form of the Scriptures could have done so much to facilitate their
diffusion in all climes, and in all ages, as the analogical mould in
which a large proportion of their conceptions is cast; but this is
scarcely denied by any, and is easily comprehended by all. In another
point of view, less obvious, and not so frequently noticed, the
prevalence in the Scriptures of analogical forms, attaching spiritual
doctrines to natural objects and historic