Grieving
A very simple simile is used to illustrate the nature of grief. Mourning can become overwhelming in the case of a loved one’s whose death was particularly horrific. Or, alternatively, it can be made much easier if the person died in their sleep. Kind of strange when you really stop to consider things:
“we use to comfort ourself in the death of a friend, if it be testified that he went away like a lamb, that is, without any reluctation”
The Aging Process
Much of the sermon is concerned with the aging process and that concern is mostly situated in overarching metaphor. Within the pursuit, however, are several more economic uses of the comparative qualities of the simile:
“Our youth is hungry and thirsty after those sins which our infancy knew not; and our age is sorry and angry, that it cannot pursue those sins which our youth did”
The Last Days of Jesus
A good-sized chunk of the sermon recounts the story of the trial and execution of Jesus. Most of this is directed toward the concept of Jesus as being central to the blessing of salvation, but there is also some recounting of the actual events which took place that fateful week:
“Pilate found no evidence against him, and therefore to ease himself, and to pass a compliment upon Hero…Pilate sent him to Herod, and rather as a madman than a malefactor”
The Womb
There is much referencing of the womb in this sermon. In keeping with the overall controlling metaphor of the construction of buildings that opens the piece, the womb is a metaphorical home. And it just keeps getting weirder from that origination point:
“The womb, which should be the house of life, becomes death itself if God leave us there.”
Scriptural Referencing
Although not overweighted, the sermon does contain a fair share of quotes from the scripture. The sad tale of Job seems to be a particularly favorite for the author as he keeps returning to the story again and again. Perhaps because there is such a wealth of metaphorical language going on there with which to work, such as this little nugget:
“Corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.”
