Kingdom was of another World and so extreamly contrary to all the designs and interest of the present World Metonymy of the Matter Metonymia Materiae when the very name of the matter signifies the very thing made and fashioned out of it thus Psal 115. 4. Their Idols are Silver and Gold Dan. 5. 4. They praised the Gods of Iron and Brass that is made out of those metals Gen. 3. 19. Dust thou art that is thou art formed out of it Psal 105. 18 He was laid in Iron that is in Chains of Iron Metonymy of the Effect Metonymy of the effect when the thing caused is put for the efficient Cause of it Gen. 4. 13. My Punishment says Cain is greater than I can bear that is my iniquity is greater than can be forgiven There punishment signifies the very sin it self as the immediate Consequence of it 2 Kings 4. 40. there is Death in the Pot meaning some most destructive and poisonous thing which causeth Death John 17. 3. And this is life Eternal that they may know Thee the only true God that is the Knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ is the principal Cause of everlasting Salvation to all that live suitably to those notices Luke 2. 30. My eyes have seen thy Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is our Saviour himself the Author of it So Gen. 49. 18. I have waited for thy Salvation that is the promised Messiah So Isai 49. 6. All flesh shall See the Salvation of God that is a Saviour Gen. 25. 13. Two Nations are in thy womb that is the Fathers of two Nations Esau and Jacob. Rom. 7. 7. Is the law sin saith our Apostle that is Is the Law it self the proper cause of Sin or Is there any such malignity in the very nature of it as produceth any such Effect 1 Cor. 10. 13. Let every one Please his Neighbour for Good to Edification that is so behave himself in all things of indifferency that such a deportment may be the cause of their good will and pleasure and purchase their favour and kind opinion of us So Rom. 15. 2. Metonymy of the Subject A Metonymy of the Subject when the Subject is made use of to signifie the accident or quality inherent in it Prov. 6. 32. whoso committeth Adultery with a woman wanteth a Heart that is wisdom and understanding so he that trusteth in his own heart i. e. in his own discretion and prudence Psal 7. 9. the heart is put for the thoughts and inclinations of it Psalm 62. 8. 142. 2. Continens pro Re contenta The thing containing for the very thing it self contained Luke 22. 17. He took the Cup and gave thanks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the cup is put for the liquor contained in it as is more plain from v. 18 I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine Thus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper this cup is the N. Test in my blood not the vessel it self but the liquor in it The Place signifies the Thing or Person in that place The place serves to denote any thing in that place Matt. 8. 34. The Whole city went out to meet him Locus pro Incolis So Mark 1. 33. Isai 38. 18. The Grave cannot Praise thee they that are dead and buried are incapable of it Gen. 7. 1. Come thou and All thy house into the ark thou and all thy family Psal 69. 22. Let their Table be made a Snare to them that is Let their meats and drink prove dangerous to their health and happiness Wo unto thee Corazim wo unto thee Bethsaida So Matt. 10. 15. 3. 5. where the places signifie the inhabitants of them and those heavy judgments denounced against their impenitency and disobedience Luke 15. 18. I have sinned against Heaven that is God himself for altho' he is Omnipresent and so in all places of the World at the very same time yet if we can say God dwells any where we may more properly say he is in heaven The name of the things represented is sometimes used to express the sign of it thus Ezek. 7. 27. The Prince shall be Cloathed with Sadness and desolation that is with such garments as are the proper expressions or signs of mourning and lamentation Mark 14. 22. Jesus took Bread and blessed it and Brake it and gave it to his disciples saying Take eat This is my body where the Verb substantive is must not be taken in the strictest sence but there it must be expounded thus this Bread is representative of or signifies my Body broken being to you all a sensible sign or resemblance of it Wine is sometimes called Christ's Blood Matt. 26. 27 28. Our Saviour took the Cup and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it for this is my Blood which is a figurative expression Nomenrei signatae pro Signo and how very absurd is the Consequence if you suppose there is no Figure and that the words must be taken in their literal strictest sence For then the Article this referrs to the cup and so this cup is my blood which is such an Absurdity that to avoid such a plain Contradiction we must confess that nothing else can with any tolerable sence be there signified by those words but that the wine contained in the Cup represents or is a manifest sign of my blood And that this is a true and proper explication of the words is still more plain from the next Verse v. 29. where our Saviour assures his Disciples that although he commands them all to drink of it but says he I will drink no more of the Fruit of the vine where he himself plainly calls it wine immediately after he gave it to his Disciples although in vers 28. he calls it his blood But I referr you to a Treatise upon this Subject written by his Grace the Arch Bishop of Cant. where this absurd Doctrine of Transubstantion is sufficiently exposed Gen. 17. 10. This is my Covenant Every Male-child shall be circumcised where Circumcision the Sign or Condition of it is yet called the Covenant it self 1 Sam. 18. 7. Saul hath slain his Thousands and David his Ten thousands Metonymia Subjecti Dux pro Exercitu the Armies of these two Generals had done so Metonymy of the Adjunct Metonymy of the Adjunct when that which belongs to any thing serves to represent the thing it self thus They shall bring down my Gray-hairs with sorrow to the Grave that is me that now am Gray and old in years Gen. 31. 53. Jacob sware by the Fear of his father Isaac that is by the God whom Isaac feared 2 Kings 20. 1. Set thine house in order meaning his houshold affairs The time is put for things that are done or are in time My Times are in thy Hands that is my life and continuation of it is in thy Power John 12. 27. Save me from this hour that is from that Agony and Passion I must undergo
another mode of expression than our other thoughts which spring only from the cooler debates of reason and argument If you question this I appeal only to the most natural Impressions of any Passions and whether Nature her self discovers no sensible difference when she expresses her self in a passionate way as suppose now in a most violent transport of Anger and cannot you easily by the very Face discern what passes in the soul of a furious man Observe the fire the very sparkling of his eyes the wrinkles of his brow the most sudden changes of his countenance the mighty eagerness and the hesitation of his words are not these the natural expressions of this angry Passion which give us notice of the most disorderly motions of our spirits and that the very stream of our thoughts are in a most violent and rapid motion and therefore to express this furious Passion to the very life must there not be as great an alteration in all our words and phrases as there is in our very Faces and Complexions and this is enough to show that this and every Passion works very differently upon our minds and requires different expressions and colours of speech to give it a sensible representation Rhetorick then is a natural Language and a necessary Ornament of Discourse and many an honest Gentleman now and then stumbles upon a Trope or a Figure who was never acquainted with Mr. Butler or Farnaby and much less with such profane Authours as Aristotle or Quinctilian And are not Metaphors very frequent in holy Scriptures The Prophets themselves seldom give us a description of the fury of God's displeasure but they give him arms and hands and describe God preparing his mighty instruments of ruine his lightning and his thunder and by such formidable representations as these they work more powerfully upon our minds and there create the deeper impressions of his almighty Power But if Rhetorical Figures are as common as necessary must not that man be very ridiculous who examines every thing in a strict and literal sence What strange what mighty inconsistent notions must they then conceive of God himself or of his divine Attributes What gross and very absurd Idea's of his infinite Power if they should fansie God cannot accomplish the vengeance of his high displeasure without material organs without arms and legs Must not such a man transform himself into any shape of errour and delusion if he pretends to maintain the doctrine of literal explications must he not imbibe the false opinion of every Sect as often as their pernicious errours are sounded upon a literal sence and meaning Thus the Quaker must become a Roman Catholick because according to his Principle he must understand these words according to the very letter this is my body so must he believe the bread and wine to be substantially changed into the very body and blood of Christ and so at the least eventually if not designedly he will maintain the most absurd doctrine of Transubstantiation and truly perhaps their inward light may prove as dangerous and not so different from Infallibility But I do not charge them as if literal expositions of Scripture was their constant universal Principle but if they expound any Text literally though never so absurd and so contrary to other places of Scripture they may as well explain others in the very same manner till at last they become nothing but mistake and contradiction And now if they will needs understand this Text literally Matt. 5. 34. Swear not at all and not as if it was only a prohibition of rash and voluntary swearing in our common discourses although St. Paul himself useth an oath for confirmation Rom. 1. 9. For God is my witness whom I serve that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my Prayers And again Gal. 1. 20. Now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lye not Nay even God himself when he could not swear by a greater he swore by himself Heb. 6. 13. This is enough to show that the taking of an oath is not sinfull in its own nature when St. Paul and even God almighty makes use of an oath and therefore if the Quaker will still expound this Text according to the very letter in contradiction to other Texts of holy Scripture and in direct opposition to the very practice of St. Paul and even of God himself he may with as much reason expound other Texts in the same manner till he runs himself into the wildest absurdities A great Master of Eloquence has long a go made the observation That the Lawgiver of the Jews meaning Moses had a most incomparable notion of God's infinite power when he describes the Almighty thus giving his Orders for the creation and God says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let there be light and there was light as if there was no distinction between his pleasure for the creation of any Being and the actual formation of it and is not the expression it self very stately and full of majesty for he only says Let there be and it was so There are other expressions no less emphatical representing God most infinite in power and operation Isaiah 40. 12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meeted out the heaven with a span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in Scales and the hills in a balance As much as to say I the Lord only have done this And verse 17. All nations before him are as nothing and to whom then will you liken me saith the Lord And how does holy David break forth in a mighty admiration of his infinite power and greatness Psalm 104. 1 2 3. O Lord my God! Thou art very great thou art cloathed with honour and majesty who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain who layest the beams of his chamber in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariot comes flying upon the wings of the wind What can better represent to us his most incredible swiftness than when he thus describes God not only flying but even upon the very wings of the wind which still gives a most sensible Idea of the quickest motion that is possible Psalm 50. 11 12. How does God himself assert his own Supremacy over all things I know the fowles of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine and the fulness thereof Isaiah 5. 26. How does God promise that he will accomplish things most difficult with the greatest ease and facility to himself I will says God Lift up a sign unto the nations a far I will hiss unto them from the ends of the world and behold they shall come with speed God does not say he will call them with the mighty voice of his thunder but with the least kind of noise as it
people not strong but they are exceeding wise and they prepare their meat in the summer And now who would not at the first sight almost fansie this was a description of the State of Venice and a character of their wisdom and forecast in political matters rather than a commendation of the wisdom and providence of those little Insects which here are not inelegantly termed a people extreamly wise Sometimes we introduce mute and insensible Beings reasoning and discoursing after the manner of Men Judges 9. 8. See also 10 11 12 13 14 15. verses 2 Kings 14. 9. The Thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the Cedar that was in Lebanon saying Give thy daughter to my son to wife and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the Thistle How does Jehoash under this sensible representation deride the folly and the presumption of Amaziah King of Judah who being a petty and inconsiderable Prince in comparison of himself therefore styles himself the Cedar as if there was no less difference between them than there is between the Cedar the great Monarch of the forest and the Thistle a very mean and inglorious vegetable and therefore not without the highest indignation he scorns the very thoughts of such a poor and despicable Relation Song of Solomon c. 2. v. 7. I charge you O daughters of Jerusalem by the roes and by the hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awaken my Love until he please How do these very expressions discover what a mighty tenderness Christ has for his beloved Church that he would not have the least thing to trouble and discompose her I charge you by the roes by the example of these fearfull Creatures which the Hunters endeavour to steal gently upon and not to terrifie and affright them and force them to fly and run away by noise and sudden surprizes Gen. 4. 10. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the earth Thus when any sin is exceeding great as that of Murther most certainly is 't is an elegant way of speaking to give it a voice and language to speak and cry aloud to the God of heaven for justice and punishment upon the Author of it Verse 11. And now thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand Thus the earth it self though insensible yet by this Figure is said to curse as if she was in very great wrath and indignation upon this inhumane and barbarous action Psalm 108 2 Does not Holy David call upon his instruments of musick Awake lute and harp and 14. How does he desire the sun and the moon and the stars to praise the Lord and also the fire and bail snow and vapours which fulfill his word And again he calls upon the more sensible parts of the Creation upon the beasts and all cattel and creeping things and feathered fowl to sing their praises to God their Maker Psalm 77. 16. The waters saw thee O God the waters saw thee and were afraid the depths also were troubled Thus sight and fears and disquietness are applicable to things insensible to give us a lively sense of God's majesty and power which strike terror and amazement into all things Psalm 114. 3 The waters saw thee and fled as if they were under great fears and apprehensions of his coming and so with great precipitation retired suddenly Of Figures which we sometimes make use of in a way of Dialogue APORIA Aporia a word derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be doubtfull in mind when we reason and consider with our selves as if we were uncertain either what to say or doe Luke 16. 3. Then the unjust steward said within himself What shall I doe for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship I cannot dig to beg I am ashamed Thus the steward debates with himself what course of life is most suitable to his own humour and disposition and that labour or poverty were equally disagreeable Mark 11. 31 32 And they reasoned among themselves saying If we say The baptism of John was from heaven he will say Why then did ye not believe but if we say Of men they feared the people for all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed and they answered We cannot tell ANACOENOSIS Anacoenosis from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to communicate with others This Figure teacheth us to advise deliberate or argue with others concerning the expedience of our actions Phil. 1. 22 23 24. What I shall chuse I wot not for I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needfull for you How is our Apostle here very dubious and wavering in his mind Sometimes he debates within himself his own particular profit and presently concludes it was highly advantageous for him to die and to be with his dear Saviour And sometimes also he considers the good and benefit of the Church which seems yet to require his more immediate Care and personal presence and thus what was so expedient to his private interest was very inconsistent with the publick safety and prosperity of the Christian Church And these thoughts and these considerations sway his inclinations here and there to the great distraction of his mind Psalm 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence The question perhaps seems to insinuate that God's presence was confined to time and place but if you observe 't is rather a stronger Confirmation that God is every where present to all persons in all manner of places and that no man can be where God is not Luke 11. 18. If Satan be divided against Satan how shall his king dom stand Thus from the evil Consequences of division and from the manifest absurdity that so wise a being as the Devil is should ever conspire to destroy himself our Saviour prooes his miracles to be performed by a divine power Acts 4. 19. But Peter and John said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God judge ye And the Appeal it self was so just and equitable that even in their own partial opinion they could not but decide the question in favour of the Apostles Mal. 1. 6. If then I be a father when is my honour if I be a master where is my fear If then you grant me the antecedent why are you so absurd as to deny me the consequence Jerem. 23. 23. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afar of Is not this the severest reprehension to those who conceive such narrow thoughts of God as to think the distance of places can hinder his knowledge or void his presence or render his power ineffectual PROLEPSIS Prolepsis anticipatio by this Figure we give a diversion to any