are incompatible with
their nature; or do not properly belong to them."--_Ib. Theo. & Lit.
Jour._, vol. 1, p. 354.

26. A SIMILE, or comparison, is an affirmation that one agent, object, or
act, is _like_, or as, another,--there being a real or imaginary
resemblance. Sometimes only the mere fact of a resemblance is affirmed. At
others, the nature of the resemblance is indicated.

_Examples._--"As for man, his days are _as_ grass." Psa. 103:15. "Whose
garment was _white_ as _snow_." Dan. 7:9.

27. ANTITHESIS is a contrast, or placing in opposite lights things
dissimilar.

_Example._--"The wicked are overthrown and are not; but the house of the
righteous shall stand." Prov. 12:7.

28. A METAPHOR is a simile comprised in a word, without the _sign_ of
comparison. It is an affirmation of an object, incompatible with its
nature--_i.e._, it affirms that an object is, what literally it is only
_like_; or attributes to it acts, to which its acts only bear a
_resemblance_.

_Examples._--"He is the _Rock_." Deut. 32:4. "Her gates shall _lament_ and
_mourn_." Isa. 3:25.

A metaphor may be a simple affirmation of what an object is, or it may
embrace "the agent, the act, the object, and the effect of an
action."--_Lord._

(_a._) When an object is affirmed to be what it only resembles, that of
which the affirmation is made is always _literally_ expressed.

(_b._) "When a nature is ascribed to an object that does not belong to it,
the acts or results affirmed to it are proper to that _imputed nature_,
not to its own."--_Lord._

(_c._) "The meaning of a metaphorical passage is precisely what it would
be if a comparison only were affirmed."--_Ib._

29. AN ELLIPTICAL METAPHOR is where the figure is incomplete. An object,
instead of being affirmed to be what it only resembles, is introduced by
the name proper only to that resemblance. The literal name of the object
and the affirmation to complete the figure are to be supplied.

To find the meaning of an elliptical metaphor, trace the word through the
Bible, and find to what object such metaphorical term is applied.
_Example._--"And in that day there shall be a _Root_ of JESSE, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people." Isa. 11:10. _Explanation._--"I [JESUS]
am the _Root_ and the offspring of DAVID." Rev. 22:16.

30. PROSOPOEIA, or PERSONIFICATION, is an address to an inanimate object,
as if it were a person, and had intelligence.--_Lord._ _Example._--"Give
ear, O ye h