'Tis obvious to every one's Observation, that the Holy Scripture abounds with Metaphors, Allegories, and other Tropes and Figures of Speech. Similitudes are borrowed from Visible Things, to set forth and illustrate the excellent Nature of Invisible Things; yea, heavenly Things are often called by the very Names that material or earthly Things are called, which is not to obscure or hide the meaning of them from us, but to accommodate them to our Understanding; God by a gracious [Greek or Hebrew], or Condescension, conveying the Knowledge of Himself, and spiritual Things, by preaching them by their respective ⟨image 3⟩earthly Similitudes, &c. If I have told you of earthly Things, and ye believe not; how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly Things? John 3.12. And tho the Stile of the Holy Scripture is not varnished with that Delicacy of superficial Ornament, that jingling Cadency of Sounds, and Fancy-pleasing Trifles, as the pompous Oratory of Greece and Rome is beautified with; yet it has Qualities far more excellent: 'Tis grave and masculine; it hath a magnificent, commanding Elegance, peculiar to it self, suitable to the lofty Things it treats of, which no other Writing can imitate; reaching the inner Rooms of the Soul, and stirring up Affections, in so spiritual and sublime a kind, as the artificial Bravery of Cicero, or Quintilian's Elocution, could never do. There are Mysteries, which Nature, as such, (however adorned with Philosophical Notions, or Metaphysical Speculations,) cannot comprehend: They are like the Waters of the Sanctuary, where a Lamb may wade, and an Elephant may swim: A weak Christian that is gracious, may go through, were the unsanctified Schoolman may be plunged and overwhelmed: They are so plain and easy, that a Babe in Christ may understand them; and some Places so difficult, as to find Work for the utmost Study and Inquisition of the most knowing.
'Tis obvious to every one's Observation, that the Holy Scripture abounds with Metaphors, Allegories, and other Tropes and Figures of Speech. Similitudes are borrowed from Visible Things, to set forth and illustrate the excellent Nature of Invisible Things; yea, heavenly Things are often called by the very Names that material or earthly Things are called, which is not to obscure or hide the meaning of them from us, but to accommodate them to our Understanding; God by a gracious 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, or Condescension, conveying the Knowledg of Himself, and spiritual Things, by preaching them by their respective ⟨image 3⟩earthly Similitudes, &c. If I have told you of earthly Things, and ye believe not; how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly Things? John 3.12. And tho the Stile of the Holy Scripture is not varnish'd with that Delicacy of superficial Ornament, that jingling Cadency of Sounds, and Fancy-pleasing Trifles, as the pompous Oratory of Greece and Rome is beautified with; yet it has Qualities far more excellent: 'Tis grave and masculine; it hath a magnificent, commanding Elegance, peculiar to it self, suitable to the lofty Things it treats of, which no other Writing can imitate; reaching the inner Rooms of the Soul, and stirring up Affections, in so spiritual and sublime a kind, as the artificial Bravery of Cicero, or Quintilian's Elocution, could never do. There are Mysteries, which Nature, as such, (however adorned with Philosophical Notions, or Metaphysical Speculations,) cannot comprehend: They are like the Waters of the Sanctuary, where a Lamb may wade, and an Elephant may swim: A weak Christian that is gracious, may go through, were the unsanctified Schoolman may be plunged and overwhelmed: They are so plain and easy, that a Babe in Christ may understand them; and some Places so difficult, as to find Work for the utmost Study and Inquisition of the most knowing.
