Christian.net

(Augustine, Christian Doctrine. part 10)

memory. As soon, however, as the speaker has ascertained that what he
says is understood, he ought either to bring his address to a close, or
pass on to another point. For if a man gives pleasure when he throws
light upon points on which people wish for instruction, he becomes
wearisome when he dwells at length upon things that are already well
known, especially when men's expectation was fixed on having the
difficulties of the passage removed. For even things that are very well
known are told for the sake of the pleasure they give, if the attention
be directed not to the things themselves, but to the way in which they
are told. Nay, even when the style itself is already well known, if it be
pleasing to the hearers, it is almost a matter of indifference whether he
who speaks be a speaker or a reader. For things that are gracefully
written are often not only read with delight by those who are making
their first acquaintance with them, but reread with delight by those who
have already made acquaintance with them, and have not yet forgotten
them; nay, both these classes will derive pleasure even from hearing
another man repeat them. And if a man has forgotten anything, when he is
reminded of it he is taught. But I am not now treating of the mode of
giving pleasure. I am speaking of the mode in which men who desire to
learn ought to be taught. And the best mode is that which secures that he
who hears shall hear the truth, and that what he hears he shall
understand. And when this point has been reached, no further labour need
be spent on the truth itself, as if it required further explanation; but
perhaps some trouble may be taken to enforce it so as to bring it home to
the heart. If it appear right to do this, it ought to be done so
moderately as not to lead to weariness and impatience.

Chap. 11.--The Christian teacher must speak clearly, but not inelegantly

  26. For teaching, of course, true eloquence consists, not in making
people like what they disliked, nor in making them do what they shrank
from, but in making clear what was obscure; yet if this be done without
grace of style, the benefit does not extend beyond the few eager students
who are anxious to know whatever is to be learnt, however rude and
unpolished the form in which it is put, and who, when they have succeeded
in their object, find the plain truth pleasant food enough. And it is one
of the distinctive features of good intellects not to love words, but the
truth in words. For of what service is a golden key, if it cannot open
what we want it to open? Or what objection is there to a wooden one if it
can, seeing that to open what is shut is all we want? But as there is a
certain analogy between learning and eating, the very food without which
it is impossible to live must be flavoured to meet the tastes of the
majority.


Chap. 12.--The aim of the orator, according to Cicero, is to teach, to
delight, and to move. Of these, teaching is the most essential

  27. Accordingly a great orator has truly said that "an eloquent man
must speak so as to teach, to delight, and to persuade." Then he adds:
"To teach is a necessity, to delight is a beauty, to persuade is a
triumph." Now of these three, the one first mentioned, the teaching,
which is a matter of necessity, depends on what we say; the other two on
the way we say it. He, then, who speaks with the purpose of teaching
should not suppose that he has said what he has to say as long as he is
not understood; for although what he has said be intelligible to himself,
it is not said at all to the man who does not understand it. If, however,
he is understood, he has said his say, whatever may have been his manner
of saying it. But if he wishes to delight or persuade his hearer as well,
he will not accomplish that end by putting his thought in any shape no
matter what, but for that purpose the style of speaking is a matter of
importance. And as the hearer must be pleased in order to secure his
attention, so he must be persuaded in order to move him to action. And as
he is pleased if you speak with sweetness and elegance, so he is
persuaded if he be drawn by your promises, and awed by your threats; If
he reject what you condemn, and embrace what you commend; if he grieve
when you heap up objects for grief, and rejoice when you point out an
object for joy; if he pity those whom you present to him as objects of
pity, and shrink from those whom you set before him as men to be feared
and shunned. I need not go over all the other things that can be done by
powerful eloquence to move the minds of the hearers, not telling them
what they ought to do, but urging them to do what they already know ought
to be done.
  28. If however, they do not yet know this, they must of course be
instructed before they can be moved. And perhaps the mere knowledge of
their duty will have such an effect that there will be no need to move
them with greater strength of eloquence. Yet when this is needful, it
ought to be done. And it is needful when people, knowing what they ought
to do, do it not. Therefore, to teach is a necessity. For what men know,
it is in their own hands either to do or not to do. But who would say
that it is their duty to do what they do not know? On the same principle,
to persuade is not a necessity: for it is not always called for; as, for
example, when the hearer yields his assent to one who simply teaches or
gives pleasure. For this reason also to persuade is a triumph, because it
is possible that a man may be taught and delighted, and yet not give his
consent. And what will be the use of gaining the first two ends if we
fail in the third? Neither is it a necessity to give pleasure; for when,
in the course of an address, the truth is clearly pointed out (and this
is the true function of teaching), it is not the fact, nor is it the
intention, that the style of speech should make the truth pleasing, or

that the style should of itself give pleasure; but the truth itself, when
exhibited in its naked simplicity, gives pleasure, because it is the
truth. And hence even falsities are frequently a source of pleasure when
they are brought to light and exposed. It is not, of course, their
falsity that gives pleasure; but as it is true that they are false, the
speech which shows this to be true gives pleasure.

Chap. 13.--The hearer must be moved as well as instructed

  29. But for the sake at those who are so fastidious that they do not
care for truth unless it is put in the form of a pleasing discourse, no
small place has been assigned in eloquence to the art of pleasing. And
yet even this is not enough for those stubborn minded men who both
understand and are pleased with the teacher's discourse, without deriving
any profit from it. For what does it profit a man that he both confesses
the truth and praises the eloquence, if he does not yield his consent,
when it is only for the sake of securing his consent that the speaker in
urging the truth gives careful attention to what he says? If the truths
taught are such that to believe or to know them is enough, to give one's
assent implies nothing more than to confess that they are true. When,
however, the truth taught is one that must be carried into practice, and
that is taught for the very purpose of being practiced, it is useless to
be persuaded of the truth of what is said, it is useless to be pleased
with the manner in which it is said, if it be not so learnt as to be
practiced. The eloquent divine, then, when he is urging a practical
truth, must not only teach so as to give instruction, and please so as to
keep up the attention, but he must also sway the mind so as to subdue the
will. For if a man be not moved by the force of truth, though it is
demonstrated to his own confession, and clothed in beauty of style,
nothing remains but to subdue him by the power of eloquence.

Chap. 14.--Beauty of diction to be in keeping with the matter

  30. And so much labour has been spent by men on the beauty of
expression here spoken of, that not only is it not our duty to do, but it
is our duty to shun and abhor, many and heinous deeds of wickedness and
baseness which wicked and base men have with great eloquence recommended,
not with a view to gaining assent, but merely for the sake of being read
with pleasure. But may God avert from His Church what the prophet
Jeremiah says of the synagogue of the Jews: "A wonderful and horrible
thing is committed in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests applaud them with their hands; and my people love to have it so:
and what will ye do in the end thereof?" O eloquence, which is the more
terrible from its purity, and the more crushing from its solidity!
Assuredly it is "a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." For to this

God Himself has by the same prophet compared His own word spoken through
His holy prophets. God forbid, then, God forbid that with us the priest
should applaud the false prophet, and that God's people should love to
have it so. God forbid, I say, that with us there should be such terrible
madness! For what shall we do in the end thereof? And assuredly it is
preferable, even though what is said should be less intelligible, less
pleasing, and less persuasive, that truth be spoken, and that what is
just, not what is iniquitous, be listened to with pleasure. But this, of
course, cannot be, unless what is true and just be expressed with
elegance.
  31. In a serious assembly, moreover, such as is spoken of when it is
said, "I will praise Thee among much people," no pleasure is derived from
that species of eloquence which indeed says nothing that is false, but
which buries small and unimportant truths under a frothy mass of
ornamental words, such as would not be graceful or dignified even if used
to adorn great and fundamental truths. And something of this sort occurs
in a letter of the blessed Cyprian, which, I think, came there by
accident, or else was inserted designedly with this view, that posterity
might see how the wholesome discipline of Christian teaching had cured
him of that redundancy of language, and confined him to a more dignified
and modest form of eloquence, such as we find in his subsequent letters,
a style which is admired without effort, is sought after with eagerness,
but is not attained without great difficulty. He says, then, in one
place, "Let us seek this abode: the neighbouring solitudes afford a
retreat where, whilst the spreading shoots of the vine trees, pendulous
and intertwined, creep amongst the supporting reeds, the leafy covering
has made a portico of vine." There is wonderful fluency and exuberance of
language here; but it is too florid to be pleasing to serious minds. But
people who are fond of this style are apt to think that men who do not
use it, but employ a more chastened style, do so because they cannot
attain the former, not because their judgment teaches them to avoid it.
Wherefore this holy man shows both that he can speak in that style. for
he has done so once, and that he does not choose, for he never uses it
again.

Chap. 15.--The Christian teacher should pray before preaching

  32. And so our Christian orator, while he says what is just, and holy,
and good (and he ought never to say anything else), does all he can to be
heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and with obedience; and he need
not doubt that if he succeed in this object, and so far as he succeeds,
he will succeed more by piety in prayer than by gifts of oratory; and so
he ought to pray for himself, and for those he is about to address,
before he attempts to speak. And when the hour is come that he must
speak, he ought, before he opens his mouth, to lift up his thirsty soul

to God, to drink in what he is about to pour forth, and to be himself
filled with what he is about to distribute. For, as in regard to every
matter of faith and love there are many things that may be said, and many
ways of saying them, who knows what it is expedient at a given moment for
us to say, or to be heard saying, except God who knows the hearts of all?
And who can make us say what we ought, and in the way we ought, except
Him in whose hand both we and our speeches are? Accordingly, he who is
anxious both to know and to teach should learn all that is to be taught,
and acquire such a faculty of speech as is suitable for a divine. But
when the hour for speech arrives, let him reflect upon that saying of our
Lord's, as better suited to the wants of a pious mind: "Take no thought
how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour
what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your
Father which speaketh in you." The Holy Spirit, then, speaks thus in
those who for Christ's sake are delivered to the persecutors; why not
also in those who deliver Christ's message to those who are willing to
learn?

Chap. 16.--Human directions not to be despised though God makes the true
teacher

  33. Now if any one says that we need not direct men how or what they
should teach, since the Holy Spirit makes them teachers, he may as well
say that we need not pray, since our Lord says, "Your Father knoweth what
things ye have need of before ye ask Him;" or that the Apostle Paul
should not have given directions to Timothy and Titus as to how or what
they should teach others. And these three apostolic epistles ought to be
constantly before the eyes of every one who has obtained the position of
a teacher in the Church. In the First Epistle to Timothy do we not read:
"These things command and teach?" What these things are, has been told
previously. Do we not read there: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him
as a father?" Is it not said in the Second Epistle: "Hold fast the form
of sound words,; which thou hast heard of me?" And is he not there told:
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth?" And in the same place:
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine." And so in the Epistle to
Titus, does he not say that a bishop ought to "hold fast the faithful
word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to
exhort and to convince the gainsayers?" There, too, he says: "But speak
thou the things which become sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober,"
and so on. And there, too: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke

with all authority. Let no man despise thee. Put them in mind to be
subject to principalities and powers," and so on. What then are we to
think? Does the apostle in any way contradict himself, when, though he
says that men are made teachers by the operation of the Holy Spirit, he
yet himself gives them directions how and what they should teach? Or are
we to understand, that though the duty of men to teach even the teachers
does not cease when the Holy Spirit is given, yet that neither is he who
planteth anything, nor he who watereth, but God who giveth the increase?
Wherefore though holy men be our helpers, or even holy angels assist us,
no one learns aright the things that pertain to life with God, until God
makes him ready to learn from Himself, that God who is thus addressed in
the psalm: "Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God." And so the
same apostle says to Timothy himself, speaking, of course, as teacher to
disciple: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned
and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." For as
the medicines which men apply to the bodies of their fellow-men are of no
avail except God gives them virtue (who can heal without their aid,
though they cannot without His), and yet they are applied; and if it be
done from a sense of duty, it is esteemed a work of mercy or benevolence;
so the aids of teaching, applied through the instrumentality of man, are
of advantage to the soul only when God works to make them of advantage,
who could give the gospel to man even without the help or agency of men.

Chap. 17.--Threefold division of the various styles of speech

  34. He then who, in speaking, aims at enforcing what is good, should
not despise any of those three objects, either to teach, or to give
pleasure, or to move, and should pray and strive, as we have said above,
to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and with ready compliance.
And when he does this with elegance and propriety, he may justly be
called eloquent, even though he do not carry with him the assent of his
hearer. For it is these three ends, viz., teaching, giving pleasure, and
moving, that the great master of Roman eloquence himself seems to have
intended that the following three directions should subserve: "He, then,
shall be eloquent, who can say little things in a subdued style, moderate
things in a temperate style, and great things in a majestic style:" as if
he had taken in also the three ends mentioned above, and had embraced the
whole in one sentence thus: "He, then, shall be eloquent, who can say
little things in a subdued style, in order to give instruction, moderate
things in a temperate style, in order to give pleasure, and great things
in a majestic style, in order to sway the mind."

Chap. 18.--The Christian orator is constantly dealing with great matters


  35. Now the author I have quoted could have exemplified these three
directions, as laid down by himself, in regard to legal questions: he
could not, however, have done so in regard to ecclesiastical
questions,--the only ones that an address such as I wish to give shape to
is concerned with. For of legal questions those are called small which
have reference to pecuniary transactions; those great where a matter
relating to man's life or liberty comes up. Cases, again, which have to
do with neither of these, and where the intention is not to get the
hearer to do, or to pronounce judgment upon anything, but only to give
him pleasure, occupy as it were a middle place between the former two,
and are on that account called middling, or moderate. For moderate things
get their name from modus (a measure); and it is an abuse, not a proper
use of the word moderate, to put it for little. In questions like ours,
however, where all things, and especially those addressed to the people
from the place of authority, ought to have reference to men's salvation,
and that not their temporal but their eternal salvation, and where also
the thing to be guarded against is eternal ruin, everything that we say
is important; so much so, that even what the preacher says about
pecuniary matters, whether it have reference to loss or gain, whether the
amount be great or small, should not seem unimportant. For justice is
never unimportant, and justice ought assuredly to be observed, even in
small affairs of money, as our Lord says: "He that is faithful in that
which is least, is faithful also in much." That which is least, then, is
very little; but to be faithful in that which is least is great. For as
the nature of the circle, viz., that all lines drawn from the centre to
the circumference are equal, is the same in a great disk that it is in
the smallest coin; so the greatness of justice is in no degree lessened,
though the matters to which justice is applied be small.
  36. And when the apostle spoke about trials in regard to secular
affairs (and what were these but matters of money?), he says: "Dare any
of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and
not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the
world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge
the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much
more things that pertain to this life? If, then, ye have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed
in the Church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise
man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his
brethren? But brother goes to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye
go to law one with another: why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye
not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and
defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God?" Why is it that the apostle is so
indignant, and that he thus accuses, and upbraids, and chides, and
threatens? Why is it that the changes in his tone, so frequent and so
abrupt, testify to the depth of his emotion? Why is it, in fine, that he

speaks in a tone so exalted about matters so very trifling? Did secular
matters deserve so much at his hands? God forbid. No; but all this is
done for the sake of justice, charity, and piety, which in the judgment
of every sober mind are great, even when applied to matters the very
least.
  37. Of course, if we were giving men advice as to how they ought to
conduct secular cases, either for themselves or for their connections,
before the church courts, we would rightly advise them to conduct them
quietly as matters of little moment. But we are treating of the manner of
speech of the man who is to be a teacher of the truths which deliver us
from eternal misery and bring us to eternal happiness; and wherever these
truths are spoken of, whether in public or private, whether to one or
many, whether to friends or enemies, whether in a continuous discourse or
in conversation, whether in tracts, or in books, or in letters long or
short, they are of great importance. Unless indeed we are prepared to say
that, because a cup of cold water is a very trifling and common thing,
the saying of our Lord that he who gives a cup of cold water to one of
His disciples shall in no wise lose his reward, is very trivial and
unimportant. Or that when a preacher takes this saying as his text, he
should think his subject very unimportant, and therefore speak without
either eloquence or power, but in a subdued and humble style. Is it not
the case that when we happen to speak on this subject to the people, and
the presence of God is with us, so that what we say is not altogether
unworthy of the subject, a tongue of fire springs up out of that cold
water which inflames even the cold hearts of men with a zeal for doing
works of mercy in hope of an eternal reward?

Chap. 19.--The Christian teacher must use different styles on different
occasions

  38. And yet, while our teacher ought to speak of great matters, he
ought not always to be speaking of them in a majestic tone, but in a
subdued tone when he is teaching, temperately when he is giving praise or
blame. When, however, something is to be done, and we are speaking to
those who ought, but are not willing, to do it, then great matters must
be spoken of with power, and in a manner calculated to sway the mind. And
sometimes the same important matter is treated in all these ways at
different times, quietly when it is being taught, temperately when its
importance is being urged, and powerfully when we are forcing a mind that
is averse to the truth to turn and embrace it. For is there anything
greater than God Himself? Is nothing, then, to be learnt about Him? Or
ought he who is teaching the Trinity in unity to speak of it otherwise
than in the method of calm discussion, so that in regard to a subject
which it is not easy to comprehend, we may understand as much as it is

given us to understand? Are we in this case to seek out ornaments instead
of proofs? Or is the hearer to be moved to do something instead of being
instructed so that he may learn something? But when we come to praise
God, either in Himself, or in His works, what a field for beauty and
splendour of language opens up before man, who can task his powers to the
utmost in praising Him whom no one can adequately praise, though there is
no one who does not praise Him in some measure! But if He be not
worshipped, or if idols, whether they be demons or any created being
whatever, be worshipped with Him or in preference to Him, then we ought
to speak out with power and impressiveness, show how great a wickedness
this is, and urge men to flee from it.

Chap. 20.--Examples of the various styles drawn from Scripture

  39. But now to come to something more definite. We have an example of
the calm, subdued style in the Apostle Paul, where he says: "Tell me, ye
that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is
written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond maid, the other by
a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh;
but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory:
for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in
Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with
her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother
of us all;" and so on. And in the same way where he reasons thus:
"Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: Though it be but a man's
covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to
seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And
this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in
Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot
disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the
inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to
Abraham by promise." And because it might possibly occur to the hearer to
ask, If there is no inheritance by the law, why then was the law given?
he himself anticipates this objection and asks, "Wherefore then serveth
the law?" And the answer is given: "It was added because of
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made;
and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator
is not a mediator of one; but God is one." And here an objection occurs
which he himself has stated: "Is the law then against the promises of
God?" He answers: "God forbid." And he also states the reason in these
words: "For if there had been a law given which could have given life,
verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture has
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe." It is part, then, of the duty of the

teacher not only to interpret what is obscure, and to unravel the
difficulties of questions, but also, while doing this, to meet other
questions which may chance to suggest themselves, lest these should cast
doubt or discredit on what we say. If, however, the solution of these
questions suggest itself as soon as the questions themselves arise, it is
useless to disturb what we cannot remove. And besides, when out of one
question other questions arise, and out of these again still others; if
these be all discussed and solved, the reasoning is extended to such a
length, that unless the memory be exceedingly powerful and active, the
reasoner finds it impossible to return to the original question from
which he set out. It is, however, exceedingly desirable that whatever
occurs to the mind as an objection that might be urged should be stated
and refuted, lest it turn up at a time when no one will be present to
answer it, or lest, if it should occur to a man who is present but says
nothing about it, it might never be thoroughly removed.
  40. In the following words of the apostle we have the temperate style:
"Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men as
brethren; the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters." And also
in these: "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service." And almost the whole of this
hortatory passage is in the temperate style of eloquence; and those parts
of it are the most beautiful in which, as if paying what was due, things
that belong to each other are gracefully brought together. For example:
"Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us,
whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on
teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him
do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth
mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that
which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not
slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in
hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing
to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which
persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one towards another."
And how gracefully all this is brought to a close in a period of two
members: "Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate!" And
a little afterwards: "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom
honour." And these also, though expressed in single clauses, are

terminated by a period of two members: "Owe no man anything, but to love
one another." And a little farther on: "The night is far spent, the day
is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us
put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife
and envying: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." Now if the passage were
translated thus, "et carnis prividentiam ne in concupiscentiis
feceritis", the ear would no doubt be gratified with a more harmonious
ending; but our translator, with more strictness, preferred to retain
even the order of the words. And how this sounds in the Greek language,
in which the apostle spoke, those who are better skilled in that tongue
may determine. My opinion, however, is, that what has been translated to
us in the same order of words does not run very harmoniously even in the
original tongue.
  41. And, indeed, I must confess that our authors are very defective in
that grace of speech which consists in harmonious endings. Whether this
be the fault of the translators, or whether, as I am more inclined to
believe, the authors designedly avoided such ornaments, I dare not
affirm; for I confess I do not know. This I know, however, that if any
one who is skilled in this species of harmony would take the closing
sentences of these writers and arrange them according to the law of
harmony (which he could very easily do by changing some words for words
of equivalent meaning, or by retaining the words he finds and altering
their arrangement), he will learn that these divinely-inspired men are
not defective in any of those points which he has been taught in the
schools of the grammarians and rhetoricians to consider of importance;
and he will find in them many kinds of speech of great beauty, beautiful
even in our language, but especially beautiful in the original,--none of
which canoe found in those writings of which they boast so much. But care
must be taken that, while adding harmony, we take away none of the weight
from these divine and authoritative utterances. Now our prophets were so
far from being deficient in the musical training from which this harmony
we speak of is most fully learnt, that Jerome, a very learned man,
describes even the metres employed by some of them, in the Hebrew
language at least; though, in order to give an accurate rendering of the
words, he has not preserved these in his translation. I, however (to
speak of my own feeling, which is better known to me than it is to
others, and than that of others is to me), while I do not in my own
speech, however modestly I think it done, neglect these harmonious
endings, am just as well pleased to find them in the sacred authors very
rarely.
  42. The majestic style of speech differs from the temperate style just
spoken of, chiefly in that it is not so much decked out with verbal
ornaments as exalted into vehemence by mental emotion. It uses, indeed,
nearly all the ornaments that the other does; but if they do not happen

to be at hand, it does not seek for them. For it is borne on by its own
vehemence; and the force of the thought, not the desire for ornament,
makes it seize upon any beauty of expression that comes in its way. It is
enough for its object that warmth of feeling should suggest the fitting
words; they need not be selected by careful elaboration of speech. If a
brave man be armed with weapons adorned with gold and jewels, he works
feats of valor with those arms in the heat of battle, not because they
are costly, but because they are arms; and yet the same man does great
execution, even when anger furnishes him with a weapon that he digs out
of the ground. The apostle in the following passage is urging that, for
the sake of the ministry of the gospel, and sustained by the consolations
of God's grace, we should bear with patience all the evils of this life.
It is a great subject, and is treated with power, and the ornaments of
speech are not wanting: "Behold," he says, "now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no offense in anything, that
the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the
ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in
distresses, in strifes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in
watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by
kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by
the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on
the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as
deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and,
behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet
possessing all things." See him still burning: "O ye Corinthians, our
mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enlarged," and so on; it would be
tedious to go through it all.
  43. And in the same way, writing to the Romans, he urges that the
persecutions of this world should be overcome by charity, in assured
reliance on the help of God. And he treats this subject with both power
and beauty: "We know," he says, "that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His
purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called;
and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them
He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered


(continued in part 11...)


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