style just spoken of, chiefly in that it is not so much decked
CHAP. XX.] THE MA.JESTIC STYLE. 153 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 b;; 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 owi 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 valour 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 offence 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 sorrow-
An allusion to Virgil's JSneid, vii. 508 : *' Quod cuique repertum Rimanti, telum ira fecit.