Sacred eloquence: or, the art of rhetorick, as it is layd down in Scripture.: By the right Reverend Father John Prideaux late Lord Bishop of VVorcester.

Ecphonesis.

Ecphonesis, or exclamati∣ons, are raised upon so va∣rious occasions, that they can hardly be confined; most fall within compasse of these limits: 1. Of Ad∣miring, How is the faith∣full city become an harlot! It was full of judgment, righteousnesse lodged in it, but now murderers. Thy silver is become drosse, thy wine mixt with water. 2. Wishing; O that they (Gods people) were wise, that they un∣derstood this, that they would consider their latter end! Deut. 32.29. O that my people would have hearkened unto me! If Israel had walked in my waies, I should have soon put down their ene∣mies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have been found lyers. Also with the finest wheat-flower, and with hony out of the stony-rock, should I have satisfied thee, Psal. 14.15, 16. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy

presence, as when the fire of melting burneth, the fire that causeth the wa∣ters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries. 3. Complaining: O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turn their backs before their enemies? for the Canaanites and all the inhabi∣tants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth, and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? Josh. 7.8. O God, wherefore art thou absent from us so long? why is thy wrath so hot a∣gainst the sheep of thy pasture? O think upon thy congregation whom thou hast purchased, and redeemed of old. Think upon the tribe of thine inheritance, and mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet, that thou maist utterly destroy every enemy, which hath done evill in thy sanctuary, Psal. 74. O wret∣ched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? 4. In∣dignation. O generation of Vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Matth. 3.7. O faith∣lesse and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Matth. 17.17. O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the

Prophets have spoken? Luk. 24.25. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears; ye do alwaies resist the holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye, Act. 7.51. O full of subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devill, thou enemy of all righteousnesse, wilt you not cease to pervert the wayes of the Lord? 5. Exsultation. Behold how good and joyfull a thing it is for bre∣thren to dwell together in unity! Psal. 133.1. What reward shall I give unto the Lord, for all the benefits he hath done unto me? 6. Insultation. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the morning! How art thou cast down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! Isa. 14.12. O thou enemy! de∣structions are come to a perpetuall end, even of the Cityes which thou hast de∣stroyed, their memorial is perished with them. 7. Commiseration. Ah Lord God! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israell in pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? Ezek. 9.8. Behold O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this! shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the Priest and the Prophet be slaine in the Sanctuary of the Lord! Lam. 2.20.

To this Exclamation may be referred an Epiphonema, or senten∣tious closure, relating to premises of consequence: Thus they provoked him to anger with their owne inventions, and the plague was great amongst them. Psal. 106.29. Thus were they stain'd with their owne works, and went a whoring after their own inventions. ib. 38. Thus they turned the glory of God into the similitude of a calfe that eateth hey. Ib. 20. Thus Joash the King remem∣bred not the kindnesse which Jehojada his father had done unto him, but slew his son; and vvhen he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it, 2 Chron. 24.22.

Parrhesia, an assumed freedom of speech, vvhich is commonly ushered in, vvith an excusing praeface. Men and brethren let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead, and buried, and his sepulcher vvith us this day, Act. 2.29. We cannot but speak the things vvhich vve have both seen, and heard. Ib. 4.20. the King knoweth of these things, before whom I speak, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] freely. For I am perswaded, that none of these

things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner, Act. 26.26.

Notes

• Exclamatio, because in the pronountiation there is re∣quired a straining and ele∣vation of the voice, the signe of which is either some Ad∣verb or Interjection. Ecce quàm bonum & quàm jucundum habitare fratres in unum! Psal. 133. O prosundas divitias tum sapientiae, tum cognitionis Dei! quàm inscrutabilia sunt ejus ju∣dicia, & ejus viae impervestiga∣biles? Rom. 11.35.
• Isa. 1.21.
• Isa. 64.
• Rom. 7.24.
• Act. 13.10.
• Psal. 116.11.
• Psal. 9.6.
• Rei narratae, vel probatae summa acclamatio. Quint. ut, Tantae molis erat Romanam con∣dere gentem Ad ditur ad finem, fine exclamationis notâ.
• Quasi 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Libertas loquendi.