than ignorance itself. If ignorance degrades men into brutes, a corrupted system of religion converts them into devils. Ignorance is a wild beast of the night, which hates the light, and shuns the haunts of men; but Bigotry is a ravening wolf of the day, which walks abroad, and seeks men to devour them. Now, of all corruptions in religion, that, which professes to do God service by destroying men, which expresses love to the soul by practising cruelty on the body, and would turn the mild and healing doctrines of the compassionate Jesus, into an engine of torture and death, is surely one of the most grievous and intolerable.

APOSTROPHE. This figure is seldom used; but when the speaker turns himself on all sides in a violent commotion, and appeals to rocks, groves, rivers, to the living and the dead, to angels and to men. See 2 Sam.

i. 19 to end. Isa. i. 2, & xiv. 12.

PROSOPOPEIA, or PERSONIFICATION, is that figure by which we attribute life and action to inanimate objects. The use of this figure is very natural and extensive. See Psa. cxiv.

VISION is the representation of things distant and unseen, as if they were actually present. It is never employed but when the composition is highly impassioned. Shakspeare's description of Dover Cliff is an example. Num. xxiii. & xxiv.

INTERROGATION. When men are strongly moved, whatever they would affirm or deny with great earnestness, they put in the form of a question. Interrogation is the most powerful auxiliary in persuasion that can be used; but its efficacy depends greatly upon the mode in which it is introduced and employed. The Holy Scriptures abound with examples. See Prov. xxiii. 29, 30. 1 Cor. i. 20, 21.

EXCLAMATIONS are the effect of strong emotions of the mind; such as, surprise, admiration, joy, grief, and the like. It requires the same inflections with other sentences similarly constructed, but differently marked. When it proceeds from surprise, or is the echo of a question, it generally elevates the voice; but when it arises from reflection on melancholy subjects, it more

frequently produces depression. See Jer. ix. 1. and

Lam. i. 1.

"Plant of celestial seed, if dropp'd below,

Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow?
Where grows! where grows it not? If vain our toil,
We ought to blame the culture, not the soil."

ENUMERATION of particulars will barely admit of definite rules; but the following remarks may be of considerable use: the last particular of a commencing series requires an elevation of voice; but when the series concludes the sentence, it requires a cadence.

Ex. Need I inform you, how delicate a task it is, and what judicious attention it will require, to prevent or check the irregular sallies of young spirits, without disgusting or depressing them? A form of pleasure must needs be exhibited; something to charm their imaginations-something to captivate their hearts. The nobler and worthier sensibilities of nature must be indulged and cultivated. A feeling of true honour, the love of virtuous praise, the admiration of moral beauty, the amiable reciprocation of a refined and generous friendship, the sweet sympathies of natural affection and domestic union, all these must be recommended and encouraged.

I cannot dismiss these remarks with regard to the ordinary figures used in rhetoric, without adverting to the highly poetical and figurative style of the Holy Scriptures. These writings, the most sublime and beautiful in the world, lose much of that usefulness and effect which they are so well calculated to produce on the minds of men, from their not being more generally understood. To speak of all the rhetorical figures with which the prophets adorn their style, would lead me too wide from the purport of this work. It will be sufficient for my object to notice their use of the Allegory, Parable, and Metaphor.

By Allegory, it must be ever borne in mind the writer or speaker means to convey a different idea from what the words, in their obvious and primary signification, bear. Thus,

"Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns," Jer. iv. 3,

is to be understood not of tillage, but of repentance.

Again,

"Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters, the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas," Ezek. xxvii.26, alludes not to the fate of a ship, but a city.

The Parable consists in the application of some feigned narrative to some real truth, which might have been less striking, or more disagreeable, if expressed in plain terms. 2 Sam. xii. 1. Isa. v. 1. See also the

Gospels.

There is, besides, another kind of allegory, not uncommon with the prophets, called, mystical allegory, or double prophecy. Thus it is said of Eliakim, Isa. xxii. 22.

"And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open."

In the first and obvious sense, the words relate to Eliakim; but in the secondary or mystical sense, to the Messiah. Instances of the same kind are frequent in those prophecies that relate to David, Zerubbabel, Cyrus, and other types of Christ. In the first sense, the words relate to the type; in the second, to the antitype.

But of all the figures used by the prophets, the most frequent is the Metaphor. This figure, common in all poetry, and in all languages, is of indispensable necessity in Scripture; which, having occasion to speak of Divine and spiritual matters, could do it only by terms borrowed from sensible and material objects. Hence it is that the sentiments, actions, and corporeal parts, not only of man, but also of inferior creatures, are ascribed to God himself; it being otherwise impossible for us to form any conception of his pure essence and incommunicable attributes. See Isa. i. 24, and Ezek. v. 13, two remarkable examples of the Metaphor called Anthropopathia; where the impatience of anger, and the pleasure of revenge are attributed to God. Shocked at this application, the impropriety of which strikes us at once, and the mind looking about for

something in the Divine nature analogous to the image, lays hold on some great, obscure, vague idea, which she labours in vain to comprehend, and is lost in immensity and astonishment.

The sources from which these images are most frequently derived, may be classed under four heads: Natural, Artificial, Religious, and Historical.

FIRST. The most copious, as well as the most pleasing source of images in the prophetic writings, as in all other poetry, is Nature.

The sun, moon, and stars, the highest objects in the natural world, figuratively represent kings, queens, princes, or rulers—the highest in the world politic. See Isa. xxiv. 23. Exek. xxxii. 7.

Light and darkness are used figuratively for joy and sorrow-prosperity and adversity, (See Isa. lix. 9.) An uncommon degree of light denotes an uncommon degree of joy and prosperity; and vice versa. Isa. xxx. 26.

Dew, rain, gentle streams, and running waters denote the blessings of the gospel. Isa. xxvi. 19. Hosea vi. 3. Isa. xxvii. 3, and xliv. 3.

Immoderate rains, on the other hand, hail, floods, deep waters, torrents, and inundations, denote judgments and destruction. Ezek. xxxviii. 22. Jer. xlvii. 2. Fire also, and the east wind, parching and hurtful, frequently denote the same. Jer. xxii. 7. Isa. xxvii. 8.

Wind, in general, is often taken in the same sense. Jer. xxii. 22. Sometimes it is put for anything empty or fallacious. Jer. v. 13. Hosea viii. 7.

Lebanon, remarkable for high and stately cedars, was the image of majesty, strength, or any thing very great or noble. Isa. x. 34. Ezek. xxxi. 3-18. NOTE.

Carmel, fruitful, and abounding in vines and olives, denoted beauty and fertility. Isa. xxxv. 2. The vine alone, is a frequent image of the Jewish Church. Jer. ii. 21.

Rams and bullocks of Bashan, lions, eagles, sea

monsters, or any animal of prey are figures used for cruel and oppressive tyrants and conquerors. Amosiv.1. Jer. iv. 7. Ezek. xvii. 3, xxxii. 2. Isa. xxxiv. 7.

SECONDLY. The ordinary occupations and customs of life were another source from which the prophets derived their figures. From husbandry in all its parts, and from its implements. Hosea x. 12. Joel iii. 13. Amos ii. 13. Isa. xxviii. 24, and xli. 15, 16. From the occupation of tending cattle. Jer. xxiii. 1. Here the people are the flock-teachers and rulers the pastors. Amos iii. 12. The marriage relation supplied metaphors to express the relation or covenant between God and his people. On the other hand, adultery, infidelity to the marriage bed, &c. denoted any breach of covenant with God, particularly the love and worship of idols. Jer. iii. 14. Ezek. xxiii. 2 to 37.

From the method of refining metals in the furnace, images are borrowed to denote the judgments inflicted. by God on his people, with a view to cleanse them from their sins, as metal from its dross. Ezek. xxii. 18, 22. Mal. iii. 3. From the arts of the fuller and potter. Mal. iii. 2. Jer. xviii. 1, 4. Also from fishing, fowling, and the implements belonging to them; the hook, net, pit, snare, &c. which generally denote captivity or destruction. Jer. xvi. 16. Ezek. xxix. 4. Isa. xxiv. 17.

A few images are derived from building. Isa. xxviii. 16. The next verse describes the rectitude of judgment by metaphors borrowed from the line and plummet; and by building with precious stones is denoted a very high degree of prosperity, whether applied to church or state. Isa. liv. 11, 12.

THIRDLY. Religion, and things connected with it, furnished many images to the sacred poets.

From the temple, from the tabernacle, Shechinah, mercy seat, &c. are derived a variety of images, chiefly serving to denote the glory of the church of God, the excellency of its worship, His favour towards it and constant presence with it. Isa. iv. 5, 6. Ezek. xxxvi. 25. The ceremonial lan, the killing of sacrifices, and