Troposchēmalogia: 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

Parallels.

WOunds are either new, which we commonly call green Wounds, or else old Wounds: Now Sinners have an old Wound upon them, which is like a stinking Ulcer, which they received above five thousand years ago: in the Garden of Eden, when Adam was wounded by his Sin, in eating of the forbidden Fruit, all his Posterity were wounded in him; also every Sinner hath many fresh Wounds upon him.* 1.1

II. Some Wounds are venemous, as the biting or cruel sting of some poysonous Ser∣pent, &c. Sin is a venemous Wound, it is the sting of a Serpent, the old Serpent. [See Sting.]

III. Some Persons have been full of Wounds, wounded from the Crown of the Head to the Soles of the Feet, they are (as it were) nothing but Wounds: so Sinners are full of Wounds, every Sin is like a Wound, or makes a Wound in the Soul; so many Sins a Man is guilty of, so many Wounds he hath in his inward Man. Every Faculty of their Soul is wounded: (1.) Their Judgment is corrupt. (2.) Their Understanding darkned, full of Vanity, Blindness, Incredulity, Enmity and Unteach∣ableness. (3.) The Will, that noble Faculty, is wounded, and fearfully depraved; the Mind of a Man being corrupt, the Will must needs be corrupt: As to a Man that hath his Pallate possest with a vicious Humour, every thing seems bitter according to the Humour; so the Understanding reckoning the ways of God both Enmity and Folly, the Will acts accordingly. The Will of wicked Men acts cross and contrary to God and his Holy Will in all things, they resist and fight against him, and are not subject to his Law, neither indeed can be; there is much Pride, Inconstancy,* 1.2 Stubbornness and Disobedience in the Will, Our Tongues are our own, and who is Lord over us?* 1.3 (4.) Their Affections are wounded, and very filthy, Men naturally love the Creature, more than God, nay they love their Lusts, horrid Sins and Uncleanness, above the Majesty of Heaven. The Apostle, giving a Character of some Men, saith, they are Lovers of Plea∣sures more than Lovers of God. (5.) The Memory is wounded,* 1.4 being forgetful of that which is good, and like a leaking Vessel: Men are ready to remember, what God bids them forget, but forget that which he commands them to remember, they are too apt to think upon Injuries; nay, may be one Injury will be thought on more than many Kind∣nesses and Years of good Service: they are subject enough to remember Trifles and vain Stories, whenas a profitable Sermon, or wholesome Counsel, is forgot, &c. (6.) The Conscience of a Sinner is wounded with Sin, tho not for it, or in a deep and real Sense of the evil of it. Ʋnto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure,* 1.5 but their Minds and Consciences are corrupt; the Conscience, which should like Job's last Messenger, bring us Word that all the rest of the Faculties are dead, i. e. wounded,* 1.6 and corrupted; alas! is maimed, dumb, or misguided, or grievously distem∣pered; that when it should accuse, it excuseth; it should act the part of a faithful Register, to set all our Sins down exactly, but it falsifies in this, and, as saith Dr. Pre∣ston, when it should set down Hundreds, it sets down Fifties, when it should restrain from Evil, it is almost asleep, and lets the Sinner alone: whom it should condemn,

for want of Light it acquits: And as a Man is wounded in every Faculty of his Soul or rational part, so likewise he is in his sensitive part; his Eyes are full of Adultery, his Lips are unclean,* 1.7 his Throat is like an open Sepulchre, the Poyson of Asps is under his Tongue, his Ears are deaf and dull of hearing that which is good.

IV. As some Wounds a Man receives are very deep and reach to the Heart: so Sin makes a deep Wound; Man is not only wounded in every part, but very deeply wound∣ed:* 1.8 This is thy Wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth to thine Heart. Their Heart deviseth Wickedness, &c. Every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart is only evil continually:* 1.9 Hence saith God, Wash thine Heart from Wickedness, &c.

V. Some Wounds are corrupt, filthy, and very loathsome; the Wounds Sin makes in the Soul,* 1.10 are very filthy and abominable, From the sole of the Foot, even to the Head, there is no soundness in it, but Wounds and Bruises, and putrifying Sores: they have not been bound up, neither molified with Ointment; My Wounds stink and are corrupt.

VI. Some Wounds smart and are very painful, causing the Patient to cry out in great anguish: Sin makes such a Wound in the Soul, that it causeth such who have their Spiritual Feeling to cry out; the pain is so great, that a Christian cannot, with∣out Divine Help,* 1.11 bear up under the smart and torture of it; I have roared (saith the Psalmist) by reason of the disquietness of my Heart; Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee.

* 1.12VII. Some Sores or Wounds are infectious, like Plague-Sores, or the Leprosy, they infect the Cloaths and Garments of the wounded and diseased Person, and not only so, but the very House where he dwells, and the People also that come near him, or converse with him: Sin is of an infectious Nature, no Plague more catching and infectious, than the Sore or Plague of Sin, it defiles all a Man's best Actions, and makes all our Righteousness like filthy Rags. If ye daily converse with, or are fre∣quently in the Company of some wicked Men, 'tis a thousand to one if you are not the worse for it; Who can touch Pitch, and not be defiled therewith? We are commanded to keep our selves unspotted from the World; 'tis a hard matter to keep clear of these Spots and Pollutions wicked Men are defiled with. Sin is of such an infectious Na∣ture that it hath corrup••••d the Earth,* 1.13 The Earth is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof, &c. Nay some conceive, the Sin of Man hath darkned, in some respect, the glorious Heavens,* 1.14 with the Sun, Moon and Stars, that they shine not so splendidly as they did at the first.

VIII. Some Wounds are of a festering and spreading Nature, whilst the Patient is under Cure, they grow worse and worse: The Wounds or Sins of some Men (tho they are under Cure, i. e. sit under a powerful and Soul-searching Ministry) fester, as it were;* 1.15 they, instead of growing better, grow worse and worse, like as the Apostle speaks of Deceivers.

IX. Some Sores, Wounds and Scabs, bring Shame upon such who have them: Sin is such a Sore, and so hateful a Scab, that it causes Shame, and Confusion of Face. Sin is the shame of any People,* 1.16 and yet how do some glory in it? They glory in their Shame! Sin is the soul Disease; the Hurt, nay all the Hurt, Sorrow, and Shame Sinners meet with, came in originally by Sin, by yielding to the Devil, and by adulte∣rating from God: no running Sore, no Scab, no breaking out in the Flesh, like Sin in the Heart and Life of a Sinner.

* 1.17X. Some Wounds are Mortal: Sin makes a mortal Wound; The Soul that Sins shall die; and, unless ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your Sins. If ye live after the Flesh, ye shall die, &c. I do not say there is no Help, nor Cure for these Spiritual Sores and Wounds; yet I must say they are incurable, as to Man, no Man can find by all his Skill and Art any healing Medicine. And upon this account the Lord said of Judah and Israel, their Wound was incurable, they had brought themselves into such a Condition, that none could help them, nor bring them out; O Israel, thy destruction is of thy self, but in me is thy help. Indeed some Men are so desperately and dangerously wounded, that there is little hope of them, they have all the signs of Ruine and Eternal Death upon them imaginable.

Quest. It may be you will say, When may the state of a Person be said to be desperate, and almost (if not altogether) past hope, or wounded even unto Death?

Answ. 1. If a Man sins, and is sorely wounded, and yet continues in his Sinful Course, the Sting is not pulled, as it were, out of his Flesh, I mean out of his Heart, nor is he willing it should; there is little hopes at present of this Man. Can a Wound

be healed and yet the venemous Sting stick fast in him? A continual course or custom in Sin, tho they be small Sins comparatively, may prove deadly.

2. When ••in is in the Affection 'tis dangerous You know when the Heart is wound∣ed and corrupt, there is no hopes of Life: if in times of Infection you can keep it from the Heart, you are well enough. Physicians, tho they have Medicines to keep In∣fection from the Heart, yet they have no Medicine to cure the Heart, if once the Distem∣per gets into it. When a Man closes in with his Sin, likes it, loves it, and makes Pro∣vision to fulfil the Lusts of it, 'tis a dangerous sign.

3. When the Wound spreads and increaseth, or a Person grows more vain, carnal, and filthy, 'tis a sad sign. Some Men have been for a time cautions, and somewhat tender, their Consciences have restrained them from yielding unto Sin, but afterwards they came to grow more hard and bold, and have adventured on this and the other Evil, and so by degrees from little Sins make no Conscience of greater, till they are no∣torious in Wickedness, and this after common Illuminations; this is a sign they are near Hell.

4. When a Person is sorely and grievously wounded, and yet is unsensible, does not cry out, nor feel any pain, 'tis a sad sign. Come to some wounded Persons, and ask them how they do; they will answer you, Very well, I ail nothing, then Relations begin to weep: so some Sinners, through a custom of Sin, grow insensible, they are past feeling, they are not only without pain themselves, but laugh at such who com∣plain of their Sores upon the Head, and mourn for their Sin; of this Man you may write in Red Letters, Lord have Mercy upon him.

5. When a Man is dangerously wounded, and nothing that is given him will go down, neither Food nor Physick; or if he doth take it, yet it will not stay with him, 'tis a very bad sign: so when a Sinner refuseth all good Counsel that is given him, and instead of vomiting up, by true Repentance, his Sin, he vomiteth up the Physick and Food of his Soul that should do him good, and despises all Reproof,* 1.18 hardning himself against it, he is near to Destruction.

6. And Lastly, When a Man is wounded, and that Balsam, Means or Medicine, that seldom fails to work a Cure in others, yet will do him no good, but contrary-wise, whilst in Cure, and under the best Means, he grows worse and worse, there is little hopes of him: so when a Sinner under a powerful and Soul-saving Ministry, and di∣vers sore Afflictions, is not at all reformed, but grows worse and worse, his Condi∣tion is bad; it may be that Sermon that works no change at all in him, hath tended, through the Mercy of God, to the Conversion of several Souls who were as sorely wounded as he. If a Physician gives the best Medicine he has, and lays on a most So∣veraign Plaister, and yet the Patient saith, Sir, that which you prescribed hath done me no good; I wonder, saith he, it seldom fails me, I fear your Condition, I must give up, I have done what I can for you, the Lord pitty your Soul, you are no Man for this World; 'tis an Argument that Wound or Sickness will be unto Death, when the best Preaching, the best Means that can be made use of, will not work upon a Man's Heart; he is under Losses and Affliction, and divers melting Providences, but nothing will do.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Rom. 5.12.
• * 1.2

  Rom. 8 7.
• * 1.3

  Psal. 12.4.
• * 1.4

  1 Tim. 3.4.
• * 1.5

  Tit. 1.15
• * 1.6

  Preston.
• * 1.7

  R••m. 3.••3
• * 1.8

  Je••. 4.18 Gen. 6 5.
• * 1.9

  Jer. 4.14.
• * 1.10

  Isa. 1.6.
• * 1.11

  Psal. 38.8, 9.
• * 1.12

  Lev. 13.2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
• * 1.13

  Isa. 24.5.
• * 1.14

  Job 25.5.
• * 1.15

  2 Tim 3.13.
• * 1.16

  Phil. 3 19.
• * 1.17

  Ezek 18. Joh. 8.22. Rom. 8.13.
• * 1.18

  Prov. 28.1.