from the beginning and the Author and Father of all deceit Iohn 8.44 Yet man had power to have resisted him if he would which he not doing became the true and proper efficient cause of Corrupting himself and all his posterity who likewise by means of the poyson derived from his Loyns became also the proper and immediate causes oâ— their own sins Mark well then O my Soul the Root of this evil and furthrr consider what unsavory and cursed fruit it bringeth forth surely even such as it self is for such as the Tree is such are the fruits as is the root so are the branches a poysoned fountain casteth forth no wholesome streams Iames 3. And who can bring as the Wiseman saith a clean thing out of filthiness surely there is not one but onely he who is holiness it self Iohn 14.4 And without all Controversie the reward and wages of sin is deathâ— and that not onely temporal and bodily which is a separation of the body from the soul for a season but also spiritual and eternal both of soul and body for ever and ever Is any good thing withâ—held from us let us thank our sin for it is any plague or punishment laid upon us be sure that sin is the cause or at the least even in the dearest Children of God the occasion of it Is any good blessing of God made of no force or even turned to a Curse to us we may be sure that it is by reason of our sin for as the Prophet saith The Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear but our iniquities separate betwixt us and our God and our sins do hide his face from us that he will not hear Esay 59. 1 2. Finally as Iob saith Misery springeth not forth of the dust neither doth Affliction spring one of the earth but man is born to labour as the sparkles flie upward Job 5. 6 7. As if he should say Man is as prone by nature to sin against God and consequently to pull Gods judgements upon himself as the fire which is a light Element is naturally prone to ascend and mount aloft And to the end that thou my soul maist see upon what an ugly monster thou hast set thy delight dost doâ—e upon and art bewitched withall consider how fair and how amible piety and vertue are for as they make a man lovely and honourable so sin maketh him loathsome and contemptible The fear of God saith Solomon makes the face of a man to shine and be beautifull but impiety and profanesse do deface and disfigure the image of God in him and cause both God and all good men to loath detest him as a polluted andâ— filthy thing Favour saith the same Wise-man is deceitfull and beauty is vanity but the woman that feareth â—he Lord shee shal be praised Prov. 31.39 A vile person is contemned that is a prophane man and basely esteemed how great soever he be in the world in the eyes of him that feareth God Psal. 15.4 And piety is the only beauty that the Lord himselfe is delighted with 1 Pet. 3.4 Therefore it is clear in the contrary part that he loatheth and abhorreth impiety and sin And yet my soul to bring thee further out of love with this most ugly monster consider whereunto it is like and to what it may be compared It is like saith Esay to filthy raggs that are cast aside upon the dunghill and detested of all the passers by It biteth as a serpent and stingeth as a Coccatrice creepeth as a gangrene or deadly canker that eateth to the heart and cannot be cured and though it seeme sweet in the begiuning yet it is most bitter in the end and that which relisheth like hony in the mouth will prove ranke poyson in the bowels Finally O my soul if thou peruse the holy Scriptures thou shalt find no book no leafe no chapterâ— nor scarce any verse whâ—rin there is not some precept some prohibition some promise some threatning or some example which seems not very fitly and profitably to shew forth the amiableness of vertue and the uglinesse of sin and with what care zeal watâ—â—â—â—lnesse c. the one is to be shunâ—â—â— and the other to be imbraced Thus far Mr. Egerton Lib. 3 Cap. 6. Now that thou maist attain kind reader unto this sweet delight of meditation or to the top of whatsoever felicity thou aimest at by this art use my book in this manner following It consisting only of rules and examples will be no great burthen for thee to commit it all to memory and so whether thou meditatest or discoursest of sin or piety in the generall or any vice or vertue in the particular thou shalt find from the head of this Art after the example foreshewed abundance of matter to furnish thy meditation So cum paucis sapientibus I commit my labour to thy discreet and favourable construction and with equall respect to all indifferently rest R. F. Iunior PETER RAMUS to the READER ARchymedes O Reader would have the reâ—â—â—â— of the Spheres and Cliâ—â—â—tes in which Invention hee had more vehemently laboured ingraven upon his sepulchre And truly shouldst thou ask me of my vigils and studies I desire a pillar to be raised upon my grave from the instructions of the Art of Logick Touching the cause of the wish they answer first to the accurateness of the Art the books of invention of Arguments and their disposition to be judged not onely from Aristotle Organicall Rhetoricall Physicall but from Cicero and Quintilian and so many Orators In all which wee have strived with all study and diligence by all reasonable wayes to contract them briefly into these two Books that no particle or the least shadow of Logick might be there confused whose truth might not be expresly delivered And this shall be first made known touching Archymedes his Probleme They answer secondly to the use of Logick the elegance and dignity of all the parts to be explicated to stir up Logicall meditations as well the popular phrases of Poets Orators Historiographers as also the liberall and ingenuous arts of a new Body delivered in a new form to the studious adorned with excellent indowments And leâ—t any should fear leâ—t they should happen to be strangers they are given and committed to the liberall custodies of their schools This shal be secondly made known touching Archymedes his problem Those therefore shall be witness of so many day and night watches touching the truth and utility of Logick and shall answer for the cause of our wish shall also admonish thee Reader as I hope of I know not what madnesse is in most Academies of Europe disputing of their sophisticall precepts how that they are far unlike both to the verity and utility of Logick and shall also inflame thee to the study of the more true and profitable Faculties But beside this there is objected a great company exstructed with theatricall reproaches
viz. the beast-like heads of the multitude and therefore he deceiveth divers wayes he beginneth in the middle there oftentimes he comprehendeth the first to conclude the last he placeth an uncertain and an unthought of chance So as Horace saith Homer disposeth his Iliads Ne doth this man Troyes wars divide so well He alwayes maketh haste th' event to tell Even in the midst his reader he doth catch Leaves off his tract with haste from it doth snatch And thus he lies thus mingles false with true So that ne first nor midst in it I view Q. Proceede to furtâ—er example A. So Virgil taketh AEneas from Sicilia and makes a narration of him in the banquet of Carthage and at last bringeth in his diverse troubles So the Commedian Poets although with great judgment they have distinguished their Comedies by acts and scenes yet do so effect that all things seem to be done by chance The Orators attribute all to victory Therfore this seemeth to be placed chiefly by them not so much to teach as to perswade when as also those things which do equally excell are kept even unto the last and the means are conferred into the middle according to Homers disposition FINIS A BRIEF OF THE ART OF RHETORICK Containing in substance All that ARISTOTLE hath written in his Three Books of that Subject Except onely what is not applicable to the English TONGUE A BRIEF Of the ART of RHETORICK The first Book CHAP. 1. That Rhetorick is an Art consisting not only in moving the passions of the Iudge but chiefly in Proofes And that this Art is profitable WE see that all men naturally are able in some sort to accuse and excuse some by chance but some by method This method may be discovered and to discover Method is al one with teaching an Art If this Art consisted in Criminations only and the skill to stirre up the Judges to Anger Envy Feare Pity or other affections a Rhetorician in well ordered Common wealths and States where it is forbidden to digress from the cause in hearing could have nothing at all to say For all these perversions of the Judge are beside the question And that which the pleader is to shew and the Judge to give sentence on is this only 'T is so or not so The rest hath been decided already by the Law-maker who judging of universals and future things could not be corrupted Besides 't is an absurd thing for a man to make crooked the ruler he means to use It consisteth therfore chiefly in Proofes which are Inferences and all Inferences being Sllyogismes a Logician if he would observe the difference between a plain Syllogisme and an Enthymeme which is a Rhetoricall Syllogisme would make the best Rhetorician For all Syllogismes and Inferences belong properly to Logick Whether they inferre truth or probability and because without this Art it would often come to pass that evill men by the advantage of naturall abillities would carry an evil cause against a good it brings with it at least this profit that making the pleaders even in skill it leaves the oddes only in the merit of the cause Besides ordinarily those that are Judges are neither patient nor capable of long Scientificall proofes drawne from the principles through many Syllogismes and therefore had need to be instructed by the Rhetoricall and shorter way Lastly it were ridiculous to be ashamed of being vanquished in exercises of the body and not to be ashamed of being inferiour in the vertue of wel expressing the mind CHAP. 2. The Definition of Rhetorick RHetorick is that Faculty by which wee understand what wil serve our turne concerning any subject to win beliefe in the hearer Of those things that beget beleefe some require not the help of Art as Witnesses Evidences and the like which we invent not but make use of and some require Art and are invented by us The beleefe that proceedes from our invention comes partly from the behaviour of the speaker partly from the passions of the hearer but especially from the proofes of what we alledge Proofes are in Rhetorick either Examples or Enthymemes as in Logick Inductions or Syllogismes For an Example is a short Induction and an Enthymeme a short Syllogisme out of which are leâ—t as superfluous that which is supposed to be necessarily understood by the hearer to avoid prolixity and not to consume the time of publick business needlesly CHAP. 3. Of the severall kinds of Orations and of the Principles of Rhetorick IN all Orations the Hearer does either hear only or judge also If he heare onely that 's one kind of Oration and is called Demonstrative If he judg he must judg either of that which is to come or of that which is past If of that which is to come ther 's another kind of Oration and is called Deliberative If of that which is past then 't is a third kind of Oration called Iudiciall So there are three kinds of Orations Demonstrative Iudiciall Deliberative To which belong their proper times To the Demonstrative the Present To the Iudiciall the Past and to the Deliberative the time to come And their proper Offices To the Deliberative Exhortation and Dehortation To the Iudiciall Accusation and Defence And to the Demonstrative Praysing and Dispraysing And their proper ends To the Deliberative to Prove a thing Profitable or Unprofitable To the Iudiciall Iust or Unjust To the Demonstrative Honourable or Dishonourable The Principles of Rhetorick out of which Enthymemes are to be drawn are the common opinions that men have concerning Profitable and Unprofitable Iust and Vnjust Honourable and Dishonourable which are the points in the severall kinds of Orations questionable For as in Logick where certain and infallible knowledg is the scope of our proofe the Principles must be all infallible truths so in Rhetorick the Principles must be common opinions such as the Judg is already possessed with because the end of Rhetorick is victory which consists in having gotten beleefe And because nothing is Profitable Unprofitable Iust Unjust Honourable or Dioshonourable but what has been done or is to be done and nothing is to be done that is not possible and because there be degrees of Profitable Unprofitable Iust Unjust Honourable and Dishonourable an Orator must be ready in other Principles namely of what is done and not done possible and not possible to come and not to come and what is Greater and what is Lesser both in general and particularly applyed to the thing in question as what is more and less generally and what is more profitable and less profitable c. particularly CHAP. 4. Of the subject of Deliberatives and the abilities that are required of him that will deliberate of businesse of State IN Deliberatives there are to be considered the subject wherin and the ends whereto the Oratour exhorteth or from which he dehorteth The Subject is alwayes somthing in our own power the knowledg whereof belongs not to Rhetorick but for the most part
A COMPENDIUM Of the ART of LOGICK AND RHETORICK in the English Tongue Containing All that PETER RAMUS ARISTOTLE and Others have writ thereon WITH Plaine DIRECTIONS for the more easie understanding and practice of the same LONDON Printed by Thomas Maxey 1651. To the Courteous Reader BEnevolent Reader I do here present this small work hoping it may produce good effects Certainly it hath assai'd before time to thrust it selfe into the world but that it found so kind friends who considering the unworthyness were pleased to suppresse it and keep it prisoner in the Jail of their own houses Howbeit now it is adventured abroâ—d and with the spring beginneth to spring afresh It 's Winters imprisonment is like to better it's Summers conditionâ— for I have laboured so far as I could to prune and lop off the former errours that it may be the more plausible I have also adorned it with a new weed to wit of a Dialogue or Questions and Answers that so my Book may even learn to stoop to the weakest capacities If iâ— shall be thought to come in a new fashion may you please to look into the world you may see abundance in this habit our common Catechismes wear this gown yea Mr. St. Egerton of the Black Fryers in London hath contracted the same treatises of Mr. Rogers into this form For my part I hold it more easie then the former tract neither greatly prejudiciall to the Authour This adorned I have given this my second sonne full liberty to be a freeman banishing my first and worst labours from the view so far as I can of all men For seeing it would not when I would I hold it not fit that now it should be published Touching that work it flowed so inconsiderately from my penne and slipped so rashly out of my hand that it escaped not without many defaults imperfections obscurities and blemishes that with the Egyptian Grashopper it will not only consume some part but utterly â—at up and waste the golden season and happy hours of the curteous Reader Let this last work then kind Reader find favour in thine eyes if that winter bird should be seen it would appear like a Cuckow at Christmas or like the Owle which is the admiration of other birds I will only now shew thee the causes producing this last work and the use thereof and so leave it to thy discreet judgement The causes are manifold first to stoppe the springing of that Abortive fore-spoken of that so it might not thrive to the discredit of it's parent Secondly that the gratuity and thankfulnesse to my Unkle aforesaid might not to be buried in oblivion for Tritum est perire quod facis ingrato Thirdly for the benefit as I said of the simpliest capacity And finally for the zeal I bear to mine own Countrey being willing and desirous that not onely men but even women should exercise themselves in the studie of the sacred Arts. If any shall demand what benefit shall redound hereby or what may be the use hereof I answer it will avail greatly not onely for Civil and Moral discourse but also for the overthrowing of all Errors either in Manners or Doctrine for saith Ovid Adde quod ingenuas didicisse fideliâ—er artes Emollit mores nec sinet esse feros But may some say I live privately â—onverse not in the world what need have I of this Science It seemeth to consist chiefly in disputing but I imploy my self most in silence and meditation Well friend thou mayst have great benefit by this Science even in that likewise an example of which word for word I have here produced out of Mr. Egertons Treatie aforesaid that so thou mightest know how to benefit thy self by this science even in thy Meditation What thing is this O my soul that doth so besot thee or what manner of thing may it be wherewith thou art so delighted or rather bewitched And how doth the Holy Ghost in the Scripture define it and set it forth who sinners but they that rebel against God and against his holy will revealed in his Word And what other thing is sin but a breach and transgression of the Law of God 1 Iohn 3.4 A turning out of the way of life as the phrase of the Old Testament doth import and a swerving from the right mark and end as the word useth in the New Testament to signifie viz. The glory of God and thine own salvation This cursed thing called sin is not of one sort or kind it is as a Monster of many heads and as it were a beast of many Horns It is both original bred and born with us and actuall springing out of us from that venomous root of our Original Corruption Again it is either inward lurkingâ— and boiling in the heart or outward shewing it self in the life and conversation sometimes it onely inhabiâ—â—th and dwelleth in us and oft-times it doth reign and over-rule us sometimes it is but an error and infirmity and sometimes it is a wilful and presumptious evil Psal. 19.11,12 Sometimes it is pardonable by the Free Grace and Mercie of God to them that truely believe and repent and sometimes it is utterly unpardonable and never to be forgiven being such that it is impossible that the Committers thereof should be renewed by repentance Math. 12. Heb. 6. Sometimes it rusheth mediately and directly against God and sometimes it reacheth more properly to the hurt of our neighbour But who is able to reckon up all the Branches of this most bitter and venomous Tree wherefore to look more nearly unto it whence proceedeth this dâ—adly poyson what may be the cause whereof it cometh and the Fountain from whence it springeth Surely my Soul it is even thy self thou art the Root that bringeth forth all this bitterness thou art the Fountain from whence all this deadly Venome doth arise For every man is tempted to sin and he is drawn away of his own Concupiscence and enticed Beware therefore O rebellious Soul that thou lay not the blame upon the Lord neither make him the Author of thy sin For thou O God as thou canst not be tempted to evil they self so thou temptest no man to commit sin being a thing which thou so strictly forbiddest to all and so severely threatnest in whomsoever it is found and for which thou so grievously plaguest the wicked and so sharply correctest thine own Children Iames 1,13,14 Heb. 12. 7,8 Thou O Lord art holiness it self and the Fountain thereof And there is none eternally and unchangeably good but thee alone Math. 19. Thou madest man good at the beginning but he sought many inventions Eccles. 12. So all the imaginations and thoughts of his heart became onely evil continually or every day Sabbath and all Gen. 6. 5. True it is indeed That the Divel that old Dragon using the subtil Serpent for his instrument did offer the first occasion of sinning whereby he became an external cause of sin and is called a Mutherer