Occasional reflections upon several subiects, whereto is premis'd a discourse about such kind of thoughts

CHAP. IV.

IT remains, that I mention one way more, and that a considerable one, whereby the practice of Occasional Reflections may contribute to the Improvement of Wit; and that is, by supplying Men with store and variety of good Comparisons.

How great, and how acceptable, a part of Wit that is, which has the advantage to be express'd by apt Similitudes, every Man's own experience, if he please to consult it, may, in some measure, inform him. And certainly, there is no one part of Wit that is so generally applicable to all kind of Persons; for good Comparisons serve e∣qually

to illustrate, and to persuade; the greatest Wits disdain them not, and ev'n ordinary Wits are capable to understand them, and to be affected by them; and if a Sermon, or a long Discourse, be enrich'd with one apt Comparison, what part so∣ever else be forgotten, that will be sure to be remembred. And, a but plausible Ar∣gument, dress'd up in fine Similitudes, shall be more praevalent among the generality of Men, than a Demonstration propos'd in a naked Syllogism; and therefore, the an∣tient Sages did so much chuse to imploy a Figurative way of delivering their Thoughts, that when they could not furnish themselves with Resemblances fit for their turns, they would devise Parables, and Apologues, to recommend what they said to the atten∣tention and memory of those they would work upon. And those famous Orators, who, though they Liv'd in Common∣wealths, did, by their Eloquence, exercise a more than Monarchical Government there, and who, by their inchanting Tongues, rul'd those Warlick people, whose Swords had made them Masters of the World; those imperial Wits, I say, whose Oratory perform'd such Wonders, performed them chiefly by the help of their happy Com∣parisons, which alone contributed more to

their success, than almost all the other per∣suasive Figures of their Triumphant Rhe∣torick: Lucky Comparisons being indeed those parts of Wit, that as well make the strongest Impressions upon the Mind, as they leave the deepest on the Memory. Now, as the being furnish'd with apt Compari∣sons, do's so very much conduce to the making a Man's Discourses and Writings appear Witty, so there is scarce any thing more fit and likely to supply a Man with store and variety of Comparisons, than the Custom of making Occasional Meditations: For he that uses himself to take notice of the properties and circumstances of most things that Occur to him, and to reflect on many of them, and thereby observes the relations of things to one another, and con∣sequently discerns, how the properties or circumstances of one may be accommodated, by way of Resemblance or Dissimilitude, to somewhat that relates to the other, will often find, besides those things which afford him his Occasional Reflection, divers o∣thers, which, though less fit for the Medi∣tation, that invited his taking notice of them, may be very fitly applicable to other sub∣jects, and purposes, and will easily furnish him with Resemblances, wherewith he may, if he pleases, much increase the Books of

Similitudes, already extant: And the Com∣parisons that may be this way lighted on, may sometimes prove strange, and unob∣vious enough, to be surprising ev'n to Him∣self, as well as to his Auditors, or his Rea∣ders.