1 Cor. 4. 14. I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons I warn you And can there be any thing said more passionately What can be expressed with more kindness and more affection or more sensibly discover his infinite concernment for their Salvation See also 2 Cor. 2. 4. For out of much affection and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears not that you should be grieved but that ye may know the love which I have more abundantly unto you This is a pastoral Care worthy our Apostle this ardency of love and affection is most incomparable how does St. Paul with an infinite tenderness insinuate to his dear Corinthians the reasons why he was so extreamly troubled for their sakes was not in the least to make them sorrowfull and to draw tears from their eyes but only to discover his most tender love and compassion for them not willing in the least that any should perish but that all should repent and be saved Prov. 31. 1. What my son and what the son of my womb and what O son of my desires Asif his mother Bathsheba was at a mighty loss what sort of instructions to give to her son Solomon or what precepts are most proper and convenient for him and the question implies the care the solicitousness and the fondness of a tender mother John 21. 15. Our blessed Saviour with a mighty passion seems to ask St. Peter no less than three times Simon Peter lovest thou me Insomuch that the Apostle himself was very much troubled that his Saviour should so very often question his affection to him and Peter was grieved because he said also the third time Lovest thou me Isai 49. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Thus God himself puts a question concerning the most unnatural thing for a mother to be unmindfull of the Child of her womb and yet tells us though this be extreamly difficult and the greatest violence to humane nature yet such inhumanity is possible yet nevertheless God assures his People that 't is not possible for himself to be so unkind or so unmindfull of them Something extreamly kind I feign would say But find my words can never force their way Jer. 31. 20. Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I speake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him And now can you persuade your self that such most tender thoughts as these can proceed from God if he was a cruel Being does such affectionate language declare that God takes any delight in the misery of his creatures or that he can in the least be accessary to their impenitency or to their eternal ruine and misery when he discovers himself so affectionately kind and tender that he languisheth when we are in the least unhappy or when any misfortune comes upon us If my Ephraim but complains I have sense of all his pains Rivers of water run down my eyes because men keep not thy Law This is an excessive passion of grief Can any sorrow be like to this kind of sorrow Can there be a greater demonstration of his love to God than to be so infinitely afflicted to see some so very disrespectfull so disobedient to God's Commands Greater love hath no man than this Let others then take delight to blaspheme his Name let others crucifie their Saviour again and once more put him to open shame while the godly Man is more happily employed and pours out his soul in weeping and lementations and with the Prophet crys out in the most passionate manner Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the manifold sins and provocations of thy people Israel Jerem. 9. 1. Gal. 4. 19. My little children of whom Itravail in birth again until Christ be formed in you first he salutes them with the kindest and most affectionate Appellation My little children Then as if he suffered the greatest pains and anguish for them not unequal to those of a woman in labour Of whom I travail until the Image of Christ and his Righteousness be formed in your souls And the metaphor is very proper for the moral birth to be regenerate and to be born again is no less difficult no less painfull and laborious than the natural birth or our firâ—â— formation in the very womb FINIS
this I praise you not Rom. 11. 21. Which was a softer way of reprehension to tell his Romans when they were guilty of very great irreverence in the Blessed Sacrament that he could not much commend them upon that account and though the expression seems very mild and favourable and genteel What shall I say unto you I praise you not Yet it really signifies thus much I do highly blame and discommend such kind of practices I hear there be divisions among you and I partly believe it As if the Apostle was not willing to tell them he was certainly assured of it but rather chuses to say that his information was from some rumour and report abroad and then declares he had some reason to believe there was separations among them and this he mentions in such a way to correct and reform them more effectually and make them still more sensible of the sin and danger of division and so is as it were unwilling to think them so ill Christians as to be guilty of so great and so dangerous a sin Psalm 51. 17. A broken and a contrite heart O Lord shalt thou not despise which is spoken with a mighty sence of his own unworthiness and the expression implys a great deal more than barely that God will not reject or disregard him that is so penitentially sorrowfull for his sins for it signifies that God will graciously pardon and receive such a person into his favour and friendship Psalm 9. 12. He will not forget the cry of the poor and humble that is God will be certainly mindfull and remember their afflictions and miseries and at last severely punish their cruel Oppressors Job 31. 16. If I have withheld the poor from their desire Vers 17. Or have eaten my morsel my self alone Vers 19. If I have suffered any to perish for want of cloathing or let the poor go naked without a covering Thus with what modesty and reservation does holy Job speak of his own justice his hospitality his charity to the poor not without some extenuation of it SARCASMUS Sarcasmus A most severe way of mockery and derision not unlike an Irony Unless that 't is commonly malicious or more scoffing in its kind Psalm 103. 3. They that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying Sing us one of the songs of Sion This must be spoken not without contempt and scorn and derision to them to desire at a time so very unseasonable when they were slaves and captives mourning under great oppressions to commemorate their former days of joy and liberty such a request must needs be highly provoking and give them still but a fresher sense of the present miseries especially considering the persons who importune them to be joyfull and pleasant for they were the lords and masters over them and therefore they tell them their petition was then extreamly improper and most disagreeable How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land Exod. 14. 11. And they said unto Moses Because there were no Graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness A sarcastical way of speaking as if they said We could die and be in our graves with less trouble in our own land why then are you so barbarous to us as to tire us out with long and tedious journeys only to kill and destroy us in the wilderness wherefore are you so unmercifull why do you deal so unkindly with us Gen. 3. 22. And the Lord said Behold the man is become like one of us Was not this a severe reflection upon the fall of Adam and a mighty reproach to his weakness and infirmity when he listned to the false suggestions of the Devil telling them Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3. 5. See Matt. 3. 7. James 2. 19. Nahum 3. 14. Draw thy waters for the siege fortifie thy strong holds go into the clay and tread thy mortar make strong thy brickhill that is Go and make all these warlike preparations for a siege go and repair and fortifie thy breaches all this is nothing else but a jeer mockery and derision for the Prophet tells them in the very next Verse They shall be destroyed there shall the fire devour thee and the sword shall cut thee off See also the like Sarcasm Nahum 2. 1. Matth. 27. 29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns they put it upon his head and a reed in his hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying Hail King of the Jews Such a kind of sceptre and crown they bestow upon him to betray him to more disgrace and infamy and when he appeared most ingloriously and unlike a Prince then do they most contemptibly pretend to pay him the highest honour and reverence PATHOPOEIA PathopoeÄa This Figure excites a most excessive Passion in the soul of Man such as sorrow joy desire and the like Hosea 11. 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together What a mighty pathos have these words how are these expressions extreamly passionate what tenderness what compassions what riches of mercy and kindness does God himself show to his people even when their fins are become unpardonable yet then his love his compassion is so excessively great that he cannot suffer himself to destroy them as those wicked places Gen. 19. 23. Deut. 29. 23. But the Lord represents himself in a very great disorder and confusion and as it were divided and swayed by different Inclinations sometimes as a just and a most righteous Judge and then Shall not the Judge of all the earth doe right And now again he considers also that he himself is a God full of mercy and compassion and then says I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am a God and not a man Methinks such tender and affectionate expressions as these give no great countenance to the doctrine of reprobation for if God from all eternity decreed man to be miserable why should God himself express such an infinite concernment upon the prospect of his ruine and destruction why should the Father of Mercy weep and lament over him when he was lost beyond all recovery so long ago and by his very decrees if they are in the right O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which were sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thee as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wing and ye would not Read here the tender sense of God upon the misery of his People how willing how desirous he is to be their Saviour expressing the very same care the same affections for their preservation as the most fond Parent has for her own beloved Children
the dead bury their dead the first words signifie a moral death those that are dead in trespasses and sins but the last imply a natural death such as are dead and departed this life 2 Cor. 10. 3. Though we walk in the flesh yet we do not war after the flesh though we are men and made in the same fashion like other men yet in this respect we differ from them for we place no confidence in the arm of flesh no assistance from the world but all our sufficiency is from God 2 Cor. 6. 9. As unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live tho' some may look upon us as if they were not so desirous to know us in our afflictions yet others esteem and value us the more and are willing to know us in the greatest of our Calamities PLOCE Ploce derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bind together This Figure pronounceth a word so emphatically that it denotes not only the thing signified but also the very quality of it thus 't is no unusual thing to repeat the proper name of a man to express some remarkable vertue belonging to him as we may say In that action Alexander was Alexander that is a mighty Conquerour Gen. 27. 36. Is he not rightly called Jacob saith Esau for he hath supplanted me these two times POLYPTOTON Polyptoton from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 variatio casuum This Figure employs words of the same derivation but alters the termination or the Mood Case or Gender Rom. 2. 21. Thou that preachest a man should not steal dost thou steal Rom. 11. 16. For of him and through him and to him are all things that is God is supream and disposeth every thing to serve the wise ends of his providence 2 Tim. 3. 13. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived See the various termination of the same words Heb. 6. 14. Figures in reference to a sentence are such as affect the whole sentence not without some emotion of the Soul ECPHONESIS Ecphonesis Exclamation This is a most pathetical sort of Figure whereby the Orator discovers the excessive passion of his own mind and so makes a suitable impression upon the affections of his Audience This Figure is varied many ways First In a way of wonder and admiration of God's infinite Perfections Rom 11. 33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out Secondly In a way of sorrow and mourning for God's absence or of his disregard to the voice of our Petitions Psal 22. 1 2. My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not Isai 6. 5. Wo is me for I am undone Thus in a way of desperation how is the Prophet extreamly sensible of his own unworthiness as if he thought the forgiveness of his sin was now impossible this was the dreadfull apprehension of men in former times when God did more signally manifest himself Deut. 5. 25. Judg. 6. 22. and 13. 22. Thirdly In a way of expostulation with God himself for his Mercy and Compassion Ob remember that my life is wind Thus he makes the short continuance of his being a very great inducement that God should be more indulgent to him and preserve him from sudden ruin and destruction Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Job 6. 11 12. What is my strength that I should hope and What is my end that I should prolong my life How does holy Job here complain of his insufferable miseries and longs most passionately to be at rest in his grave as if he despaired of any cessation from his pains and afflictions so long as he was alive On that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Rom. 9. 20. Nay but O man who art thou that repliest egainst God A severe reprehension to our peevish murmurings and complaints as if God had not an absolute power over us to punish us unless we our selves gave our consent to the inflictions of it Fourthly In a way of censure and reprehension Acts 12. 10. O full of subtilty thou child of the devil thou enemy of all righteousness And Can there possibly be a worse Character than this Fifthly In a way of most earnest wishing Psalm 55. 6. O that I had the wings of a Dove that I might flee away and be at rest Sixthly In a way of infinite commiseration and pity of our unhappy condition Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her thickens under her wings and ye would not How does God himself mourn for the misery of his People that they so neglected all the means to their salvation when he himself infinitely desired to preserve them even with the very same degrees of tenderness as the most affectionate creature desires to save and hover over her Young Lament 1. 1 2. How is the golden city spoiled how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people how is she become a widow And so the Prophet goes on in a most elegant manner to describe the misery of her ruin and fall from her prosperity Seventhly In a way of triumph and exultation 1 Cor. 15 55. Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory Eighthly In a transport of love and admiration Psal 84. 1. Oh how amiable are thy tabernacles thou Lord of hosts As if the Royal Psalmist was in such a rapture that he could give no adequate notion of his love and delight in God's house by a cold affirmation of the pleasure of it but was forced to run himself into an Ecstasie and so leaves the question undetermined as if it was unexpressible EPIPHONEMA Epiphonema is an Acclamation containing some very remarkable sentence at the close of our discourse it is as it were the last finishing stroke which we desire to leave upon the affections of our Audience Thus St. Paul after he had confuted several false opinions concerning the manner of the resurrection at last he recommends the doctrine of it advising them upon the certain hopes and expectations of another life to be constant in all manner of holiness Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. Matt. 6. 21. Our Saviour here endeavours to call off their affections from an excessive pursuit of the world for if they did engage their thoughts so exceedingly they would leave no room for Heaven and then at last to leave his discourse still more warm upon their spirits thus he concludes For where your treasure is there
will your heart be also 2 Cor. 10. 18. St. Paul endeavouring to discourage the vanity of self-commendation leaves this sensible impression upon them as the best dissuasive from the practice of it for not he that commendeth himself is approved but whom the Lord commendeth Prov. 9. 17 18. Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant This is the insinuation of the adulterous woman concerning the high relish of her unlawfull pleasures but then see the conclusion of such unhappy satisfactions but he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell Eccles 7. 31. Lo only this have I found that God hath made man upright but they have sought out many inventions The only thing I fully apprehend after all my enquiries is this That God at first endowed man with a principle of right reason for his certain guide and direction to happiness but he lost this noble talent through sin which is the cause of all his vain thoughts and imaginations When our Blessed Saviour had performed many wonderfull Cures how do the People with one voice conspire in this Acclamation He hath done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak Mark 7. 37. EPANORTHOSIS Epanorthosis from a Greek word signifying to correct or amend When we are in a passion we are seldom satisfied with what we say or doe insomuch that we are apt to fansie our expressions are no ways equal to our thoughts and so we still add fresh and more words to correct as we think the insufficiency of the former Acts 26. 27. King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest Does not our Apostle seem as it were to question the faith of King Agrippa as if he were not yet sufficiently convinced concerning the divine authority of the holy Scriptures but then St. Paul as if he was afraid of the incivility of the question does not scruple to say that there was the least reason to suspect the belief of King Agrippa and the insinuation of Saint Paul was very powerfull even almost to his very conversion Verse 28. then Agrippa said Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian And St. Paul said I would to God that not only thou but all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bonds And what expression can be more Courtly more Genteel what more effectual to prevail upon their affections than thus to wish them in all respects like himself but not so miserable not so unhappy as to be under any confinement of Chains or imprisonment as he himself was at that time 1. Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Observe here with what care and caution St. Paul distrusts his own natural strength and abilities as very unsufficient to his conversion and so presently corrects himself and ascribes it more especially to the influence and the conduct of divine Grace As if he had said Though I was not wanting to the best of my power to become a true Disciple of Christ yet must I freely say that my conversion is principally to be ascribed to another Cause for the Incitations of the will and the power and the occasions and the means to make use of it is derived from the inspirations of the holy Spirit which animates and gives life and vigour to all our thoughts and so disposeth us to repentance and amendment of life See 2 Cor. 3. 5. and Phil. 2. 13. Mark 9. 24 Lord I believe help thou my unbelief How does he reprehend himself as if it was almost a presumption in him to speak with so much confidence of his strength of faith even to our Saviour himself and therefore as if he were now diffident again and that his belief was imperfect and had some degree of weakness and infirmity he at last humbly implores the divine assistance to encrease and fill up the measure of his faith Lord help thou my unbelief 1 Cor. 7. 10. And unto the married I command yet not I but the Lord. He presently recolleâ—ts himself and assures his Corinthians that he gave them not these directions as a mere man but as an Apostle and a person of divine Inspiration and so not I but the Lord commandeth and this he said to give the more force and efficacy to their obedience of the Precept Luke 11. 27 28. A certain woman said unto him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck But he said Yea rather blessed are all they that hear the word of God and keep it As if our Saviour was sensible some might through a mistaken principle ascribe too much honour and respect to the blessed Virgin being the mother of our dear Lord and Saviour and therefore how does Christ himself most industriously give the preference to those who live and obey the precepts of the Gospel Yea rather blessed are they so that the moral birth of Jesus Christ in the soul is a greater blessedness than the natural birth of him was to the Virgin Mary to believe and obey him than to be the natural Mother of our Saviour So that Christ himself lays no great matter of stress or privilege upon such a relation but assures them in another place to anticipate all mistake upon such an opinion That he that lives in obedience to his Commands is equally dear and related to him without any distinction the same is my sister and father and mother Matt. 12. 49 50. APOSIOPESIS Aposiopesis a Greek word and I have more manners than to pretend to give you the derivation of it This Figure through some violent passion either of sorrow fear shame or anger obligeth us to break off our discourse and though we seem to conceal some part of it yet through the excess of passion we do but the more sensibly discover our resentments 1 Kings 217. And Jezebel his wife said unto him Dost thou now govern the Kingdom of Israel The words are spoken with a mighty emphasis and signify much more than is there expressed dost thou or art thou worthy of the name of a King thou that art so mean spirited as to grieve thy self upon this refusal of Naboth's Vineyard and where is thy princely power and authority Dost thou now govern the Kingdom of Israel is this any mark of thy regal Office is this a sign of thy indispensible power thus tamely to sit down thus to submit to such a denial Dost thou now govern Gen. 3. 22. And now lest be put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever These words are spoken in a way of commination and punishment to Adam for his high disobedience to God's command and they imply thus much since thou hast been so rebellious against me I will now presently drive thee out of my