Part i. ()F A ME tAp H0 R IN GENERAL; may be taken, either from a limple Similitude, or from Analogy or Proportion. And that thefo two are different, becaufe there may be a Similitude betwixt two, as between a living and a paintedMan, whence the Name of _the Man is afcribed to the Piflure. But in Proportion, two anfwers tWo, as Arijlotle m hts fecond Book of the Soul com– pares a Root to the Moutb, becaufe it performs the Jame Office to a Plant, as the Mouth does to a livino- Creature. Here is indeed a double Similitude, for a Plant is compared to a living c';eature, andthe Root to his Mouth, becaufe Plants receive their Nourifhment from the Root, as a hvmg Creature does by the Mouth. Of the firft Sort is that Metaphor, when Drops of Dew are called Pearls, when Flowers are called Stars, or a grofs corpulent Man is called a Hog. Of the latter are, when the Mafler of a Ship has· been by Poets wmpared ro a Waggoner, and e contra, becaufe he takes the fame Care of his Waggon, as the Mafter does of his Ship. In Scripture Metaphors we lhall obferve the fame Diftinction, but promifcuouOy. 2. As to its Difjh·ence from a Similitude and Parable, the Difference is either con– tracted, or more large; for in a Similitude there is a manifeft Comparifon of one Thing with another, and fo it is a logical Argument; but in a Metaphor there is one Thing put for another that's like it, which neverthelcfs in its Explication is to be handled by an apparent Similitude. And we are to note here, that frequently in Scripture (efpe– cially in the Proverbs ofSolomon) a Word or Phrafe may be expounded by the deficient Particle. And in fuch it is rather a contracted Similitude, than a Metaphor; and there. fore many Things of that Nature are not hereafter reckoned amongft Metaphors. 3· As to its Dignity, as this '!'rope is the mofl: frequent, fo it is the mofl: florid and pleafant, giving a moft wonderful Energy or Power, and Evidence to the Stile of Holy Scripture, fo that it may be truly called, the Academy or School, where God* communicates the 'Knowledge of Nature and the Creation to his Scholars, affording Matter enough for their mort ferious and diligent Study, making plain thofe divine and glorious Mat– ters therein revealed, in Terms which call for deep Scmtiny and Search into their Nature and Properties. For, as Rivet tells us, !fag. ad Script. Sacr. Cap. 5· p. 49"· '!'he Scripture chiefly treating about 'l'hings relating to Grace mzd Glory, )Cl affords Occa– jioll for the Perfellion and Study of all philofophical Knowledge, aud borrows fo much of na– tural 'l'hings, as may fer·ve for a Looking-glafs to reprefent divine '1hi11gs 10 our Eyes, &c. 4· As to the Manmr of Handling, whereas the Properties of Things from whence they are deduced, are many and various, there muft be great Care and Accuracy ufed to find out the Reafon of the Similitude, and the Scope or Intention of the Comparifon, lefr there may be an Abberration from the proper Coherence of the Text, or the Analogy of Faith; to do this it is needful that a Perfon be well acquainted with the refpective Na– tures, and the philofophical N~tions and 'l'heories of all Things from whence this Trope is taken, as alfo with the peculiar Cztjloms, and diftinct ~alities of other Nations, par• ticularly the ancient Jewijh State in their eccleGaftical and civil Government and Oeconomy; beGdes the Knowledge of the original Languages, (in which the Scriptures were penned, as Hebrew and Greek) which very frequently carry a native Grace and emphatical Fulnifs, hardly e~preffible (with the fame Beauty and Significancy) in a }ranllatwn. More particularly there ought to be Care taken, that one Metaphor be not flraineJ to exprefs Things in themfelves quite oppojite, nor make the Parallels run till they grow l~niC; for oneMetaphor_may be brought to lignify mmry Things, with refpeEt to fome different Qualmes and dzverfe Attnbutes. Thus Chrifl is called aLion, Rev. v. 5- be– caufe. noble, heroic and unconquerable : The Devil is called a Lion, becaufe roaring, rapacious and devounng, 1 Pet. v. 8. Wicked Men and Tyrants are called fo, Job iv. 10, 11. 2 Tim. iv. 17. Becaufe they are fierce, outrageous, and cruel to weaker Men, as the Lion is to weaker Creatures. By the like Reafon__ an Unicorn is compared to the Godly, with refpeEt to its Strength– and Courage, Pfal. xcn. 10. And to the Wicked becaufe of its defperate Boldnifs .and Spitefulmfs, Pfal. xxii. 21. L LEAVEN
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=