Tropes and Figures, Title page – To the reader
ΤΡΟΠΟΣΧΗΜΑΛΟΓΙ'Α: Tropes and Figures; OR, A TREATISE OF The Metaphors, Allegories, and expreſs Similitudes, &c. contained in the Bible of the Old and New Teſtament.
To which is prefixed, Divers ARGUMENTS to prove the Divine Authority of the HOLY SCRIPTURES Wherein alſo 'tis largely evinced, That by the Great Whore, [MYSTERY BABYLON] is meant the Papal Hierarchy, or preſent State and Church of Rome.
Philologia Sacra, The Second Part.
Wherein the Schemes, or Figures in Scripture, are reduced under their proper Heads, with a brief Explication of each.
Together with a TREATISE of Types, Parables, &c. with an Improvement of them Parallel-wiſe.
By B. K
Oratio Metaphorica eſt perſpicua ſenſibus, & ad animum affectúſ que movendos aptiſſima. Burgerſd. Log. lib. 1.
Hoſ. 12.1. I have uſed Similitudes by the Miniſtry of the Prophets.
Gal. 4.24. Which Things are an Allegory, &c.
Heb. 8.5. Who ſerve unto the Example and Shadow of heavenly Things.
LONDON, Printed by John Darby, for the Author. MDCLXXXII.
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER.
THou haſt here a Multitude of Scripture-Metaphors, Types, Similies, and other borrowed Terms, opened, and practically improved, which ('tis hoped) may tend to the Advantage of all who love to read the Holy Scriptures, and long after Knowledg, either Natural or Divine. The wiſeſt of Men tells us, that the great Leſſon his Father taught him, was to get Wiſdom and Underſtanding, becauſe 'tis the principal Thing. Where to find this invaluable Jewel, we are informed by the Son of God, Search the Scriptures, &c. Which, John 5.39.as the great Apoſtle ſaith, are able to make us wiſe unto Salvation, through Faith in Jeſus Chriſt. How to obtain it, we are elſewhere told, We muſt ask it of God, who giveth liberally, and upbraideth not, and it ſhall be given to us. James 1.5.In a word, It is to be cried after, ſought as Silver, Prov. 2.3, 4.and ſearched for as hid Treaſures. He who ſincerely giveth up himſelf to frequent Prayer and Meditation, and reſolves to be in the continual Purſuit of this chief of Bleſſings, may aſſure himſelf of Succeſs, having the Promiſe of a faithful God, who cannot lie, for his Security. The Means are plain, and the Encouragement great, beyond compariſon: It is therefore the Intereſt of every Chriſtian to converſe with the Word of God, in order to obtain a Purchaſe ſo eminently dignified with the Title of Principal Thing.
No Age ſince the Infancy of Chriſtianity had greater Advantage to arrive at Scripture-Knowledge than we enjoy; nor does the Light of the Goſpel ſhine with more eminent Luſtre in any Nation, than in England at this time, (which cauſes Satan, and his Helliſh Emiſſaries, to ſtrive to darken or eclipſe its Glory, by introducing Popery, Superſtition, and Error amongſt us.) England, and particularly its famous Metropolis, is the very Butt of Antichriſtian Spite and Fury, becauſe it is indeed thought to be the main Bulwark of the true Proteſtant Religion throughout the World. We have the Scriptures tranſlated in our Mother-Tongue, which the ſacrilegious Adverſaries of Truth lock'd up in Languages unknown to the Vulgar. We have the Comments and Expoſitions of the Learned, inſtead of the peſtilent and Heretical Gloſſes of Rome; we have ſtill, notwithſtanding all the Machinations of the Enemies of the Goſpel, a painful, powerful, preaching Miniſtry. And if we improve not all theſe Mercies to the acquiſition of this divine and ſublime Knowledg, how inexcuſable ſhall we be, and how juſt in God, ſhould he in one day deprive us of all?
It was ſaid by the Learned Illyricus, In ſacris Literis ampliſſimus & inſtructiſſimus Theſaurus paratus est,— ut nos inde omnia nobis neceſſaria, ac ſalutoria Remedia hauriamus: In the holy Scriptures a vaſt and moſt immenſe Treaſure is provided, from whence we may be furniſhed with whatſoever is neceſſary and wholeſom. Here is a large Field of ſpiritual Employment. I adore, ſaith Tertullian, the Fulneſs of the Holy Scriptures. What a vaſt Number of Commentaries, Expoſitions, and Elucidations are extant! yea, one ſingle Verſe affords a moſt learned and procopious Theme for a whole Volume; yet there's Work enough ſtill left, and the learned and profitable Labours of thoſe eminent Worthies that have gone before us, do not prohibit the Additions of ſubſequent Ages, nor render them unneceſſary. All ſorts of Knowledg are improvable, and that which is divine, calls for the moſt earneſt and ſollicitous purſuit, becauſe all other Sciences are vain and uſeleſs without it; and is comprehenſive (in as much as it gives a full Diſcovery of Chriſt) of what is neceſſary to Salvation, 1 Cor. 2.2. Phil. 5.8. This renders it univerſally good; and Good is communicative. It is a Talent that calls for Improvement, to the Profit of Communities. It is called Light, the Nature of which is perfectly diffuſive of its Radiance, and bright Illuſtrations; and 'tis not to be put under a Buſhel, but in a Candleſtick, to enlighten the whole Houſe. Every Chriſtian is to improve and ſtir up the Gift that is in him: And tho a Work be not done ſo well by one Man, as it might by another, who hath greater Accompliſhments, (were it ſet upon his Heart to undertake it) yet may the Profit to ſome Souls countervail the Labour, and the Whole bleſs the World more, than not to have it done at all: Beſides, what Man, in this nice and cenſorious Age, can give Content to all?
Theſe Conſiderations ſeemed ſo weighty, as to incline me to employ ſome of that Time and Talent the Lord hath entruſted me with, to compleat this Work.
'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 foreign, or Condeſcenſion, conveying the Knowledg of Himſelf, and ſpiritual Things, by preaching them by their reſpective 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.
This is the Second, and Laſt Volume, and perfects our whole Deſign, which I thought at firſt might have came into one entire Book. That which was promiſed at firſt, concerning the Divine Authority of the Scripture, and the Whore of Babylon, you will find here. And tho there is one Thing omitted, or left out, which was in the Specimen, viz. Demonſtrations touching the Validity of our Tranſlation, which we lately found done ſome time ſince by the Learned Dr. Owen, and others: Yet you have in the room of it a Treatiſe of Types, which I am perſuaded will be more acceptable to moſt Men, and hath been much more laborious and chargeable to compleat, it containing divers Sheets. A Treatiſe of Types under the Law, carefully opened, we have ground to believe, will be very ſerviceable, eſpecially to thoſe in the Miniſtry: And ſuch hath been my Care, that I have not run one Parallel concerning Types, but what I have had the Opinion of the moſt learned Typical Writers upon; ſo that I readily confeſs, 'tis rather theirs than mine.
And tho there is a great difference between Metaphorical or Allegorical, and Typical Scriptures; yet we thought an Eſſay to open the moſt eminent Types found in the Old-Teſtament, would well ſuit with this ſublime Subject: And becauſe ſome, for want of Study or Learning, may not readily underſtand the Difference that is between them, we will give you here the Sence of the Learned upon it,See Mr. D…rham of Glaſgow, Key to his Clavis Cantici. particularly between what is Allegorical and Typical, (we take Allegory here as Divines do, who take it not as Grammarians or Rhetoricians, for a continued Diſcourſe of many Figures together) properly, or ſtrictly taken: For ſometimes an Allegory may be taken largely, and ſo may comprehend whatſoever is figurative, whether Typical, Tropological, Analogical, &c. as the Apoſtle hath it in Gal. 4. ſpeaking of Abraham's two Sons, Iſaac and Iſhmael, which is yet properly a Type, differeth from Types, or Typical Scripture, thus:
1. Types ſuppoſe ſtill the Verity of ſome Hiſtory, as Jonah's being three Days and three Nights in the Fiſhes Belly; when it is applied to Chriſt in the New Teſtament, it ſuppoſeth ſuch a thing was once done, &c. Allegories again have no ſuch neceſſary Suppoſition, but are as Parables, propounded for ſome myſtical End. Thus whilſt it is ſaid, Mat. 21. A certain King made a Marriage for his Son, planted a Vineyard, &c. Thoſe Places ſuppoſe it not neceſſary as to the being of the Allegory, that ever ſuch a thing was; but a Type cannot be without reality in the thing, as Fact, which is made a Type.
2. Types look only to Matter of Fact, and compare one Fact with another, (as Chriſt being ſlain, and lying three Days in the Grave, to the Paſchal Lamb, and Jonah's lying ſo long in the Whale's Belly): But Allegories take in Words, Sentences, Doctrines, both of Faith and Manners, as in the former Example is clear.
3. Types compare Perſons and Facts under the Old-Teſtament, with Perſons and Facts under the New, and is made up of ſomething that is preſent, prefiguring another to come: Allegories look eſpecially to Matters in hand, and intend the explaining ſome hidden and myſtical Sence upon the Words, which at preſent they ſeem not to bear.
4. Types are only Hiſtorical, as ſuch; and the Truth of Fact agreeing in the Antitype makes them up: it being clear in Scripture, that ſuch things are Types; for we muſt not forge Types without Scripture-Warrant: But Allegories, &c. are principally Doctrinal, and in their Scope intend not to clear or compare Facts, but to hold forth and explain Doctrines, or by ſuch Similitudes to illuſtrate, and make them the better underſtood, and to move and affect the Heart the more, or the more forcibly to convince the Conſcience; as Nathan made uſe of a Parable, when he was about to convince David.
5. Types in the Old-Teſtament reſpect only ſome Things, Perſons, and Events; as Chriſt, the Goſpel, and the ſpreading thereof, &c. and cannot be extended beyond theſe: But Allegories, Similitudes, &c. take in every thing, that belongs either to Doctrine, or Inſtruction in Faith, or Practice, for ordering of one's Life. Hence, according to the Judgment of the Learned, Metaphors, Allegories, &c. are more extenſive and comprehenſive in their Meaning and Application, than Types; tho 'tis not denied, but that care ought to be had that they be not run beyond the Analogy of Faith; and many times it behoveth to ſee we go not beyond the Scope of the Text, which plainly ſhews the whole Mind of the Spirit, in making uſe of ſuch Similitudes, for Illuſtration ſake; and we hope we have kept within a due compaſs in this reſpect, and avoided whatever may give juſt cauſe of Offence to any.
You had in the Firſt Volume a Treatiſe of Tropes, reduced under their proper Heads; and here you have the Schemes or Figures in Scripture handled after the ſame manner. And becauſe there is ſome difficulty to underſtand Allegorical Scriptures, or to know what Places are to be taken metaphorically, we ſhall ſhew,See, Key to Clavis Cantic. (as 'tis noted by the Learned) 1. What an Allegory or figurative Scripture is. 2. When 'tis neceſſary to underſtand a Scripture figuratively, or in an Allegorick Sence.
For the firſt, there is a great difference betwixt an Allegorick Expoſition of Scripture, and an Expoſition of Allegorick Scripture: The firſt is that which the Fathers and School-men fail in, i. e. when they allegorize plain Scriptures and Hiſtories, ſeeking to draw out ſome ſecret meaning, other than appears in the Words, and ſo would faſten many Senſes upon one Scripture. This is indeed unſafe, and is juſtly reprovable; for this makes clear Scripture dark, and obtrudes Meanings on the Words never intended by the Spirit: As ſuppoſe one ſpeaking of Goliah's Combat with David, ſhould paſs by the Letter, and expound Goliah to be the Fleſh, or the Devil; and David, to mean the Spirit or Chriſt. Such Expoſitions may have ſome pleaſantneſs, but very little ſolidity; and ſuch who commonly thus interpret Scripture, often fall into Errors, and guilty of this Fault Origen is thought to be.
2dly, An Expoſition of …llegorical Scripture is the opening and expounding of ſome dark Scripture, (wherein the Mind of the Spirit is couched and hid under Figures, &c.) making it plain and edifying, by bringing out the Sence according to the meaning of the Holy Spirit in the place, tho at firſt it ſeems to bear no ſuch thing. So Mat. 13. Chriſt expounds that Parable or Allegory, (for tho Rhetoricians make a difference between Metaphors, Similes, Parables, and Allegories, yet in Divinity there is none, but that Allegories are more large and continued) calling the Seed the Word, and the Sower the Son of Man, &c. This way of expounding ſuch dark Scriptures is both uſeful and neceſſary, and was often uſed as edifying by our Lord Jeſus to his Diſciples. Now 'tis this we ſpeak of, which teacheth how to draw plain Doctrines out of Metaphors, Allegories, &c. and not to draw Allegories out of plain Hiſtories.
Secondly, it may be asked, When we are to account a Place of Scripture figurative or allegorick, and ſeek ſome other meaning than what at firſt appears.
Anſw. 1. When the literal proper meaning looks abſurd-like, or is empty, nothing to Edification; as when 'tis ſaid, Unleſs ye eat the Fleſh of the Son of Man, &c. This is my Body, &c. And ſo thoſe Scriptures that command to pluck out the right Eye, and cut off the right Hand, take up our Croſs, &c. All which, if literally underſtood, were abſurd and ridiculous; and therefore the miſtaking ſuch Scriptures, hath occaſioned many grievous Errors, as that of the Anthropomorphites, attributing Members viz. Head, Hands, Feet, &c, to God; and Paſſions, yea, Infirmities, as Anger, Repenting, &c. becauſe the Scriptures in ſuch places, ſpeaking after the manner of Men, metaphorically attribute ſuch things to him.
2. Thoſe Places of Scripture are to be accounted Metaphorical or Allegorick, which reach not the Scope of Edification intended by them, if literally underſtood; as, when Chriſt ſpoke of Sowing, Mat. 13. the Diſciples thought, ſomething more was intended than at firſt appeared, for his Aim could not be to diſcourſe of Husbandry to them.
3. When a literal Sence would obtrude ſome Falſity on the Scripture, then ſuch Places are to be taken Allegorically; as when Chriſt ſaid, Deſtroy this Temple, and I will build it up again in three Days: Which if underſtood of the Material Temple, Chriſt's Words would not have had their Accompliſhment; But he ſpoke, figuratively, of his Body. So when Chriſt ſaid, Except a Man eat my Fleſh, and drink my Blood, he cannot live; it cannot be underſtood literally, becauſe many who have obtained Life, never did ſo eat his Fleſh, &c.
4. Any Scripture is to be accounted Figurative or Allegorical, when the literal Sence agrees not with other Scriptures, and is repugnant to the Analogy of Faith, or Rules of good Manners; as when we are comman…ed to heap Coals of Fire upon the Head of our Enemy; now we being required not to avenge our ſelves, it followeth clearly, this Scripture is not properly or literally underſtood.
5. When a literal Sence anſwers not to the preſent Scope of the Speaker, and the Speaker would be thought impertinent, if his Words were properly taken; then it ought to be expounded in a figurative Sence. So Mat. 3.10. when John is preſſing Repentance, he ſaith, Now is the Ax laid to the Root of the Tree, &c. And the Parable of Chriſt, Luk. 13.7. If theſe Places were only properly to be underſtood, they would not enforce Repentance.
And now, Reader, had we not had good Encouragement from divers worthy Miniſters in this City, this, as well as the former, had never ſeen the Sun; but the readineſs of divers Perſons, upon the coming out of the Firſt, to ſubſcribe for this, hath midwiv'd it into the World, where we expect it will meet with different Entertainment; but I hope by this time, through the Grace of God, I have learned not to be concerned, either about the Praiſe of ſome on the one hand, or Diſpraiſe and Contempt of others, on the other hand: not doubting, but that this, or the ſucceeding Age, may receive Advantage by it, and many bleſs God for it: And if it bring Glory to God, and Profit to his Church, I have my chief End, and ſhall be content, tho I paſs under the Cenſures of captious Men, &c. I muſt confeſs, it is not all of my own compiling; I have made uſe of ſome help from others, partly to expedite the Work, and partly for want of ſome Literature. And now, Reader, that I may not retain thee longer at the Door, I ſhall commit Thee and the Work to the Bleſſing of the Lord, heartily begging an Intereſt in thy Prayers, engaging not to forget thee in this evil and perilous Hour, ſubſcribe my ſelf,
Thy Servant for Jeſus's ſake, BENj. KEACH. London, Auguſt 9. 1682.