A cry of repentance

 Several members of the class have already made remarks on the separations that St. Augustine makes when giving his sermon. He makes each one in order to reach to all those within his audience. I think that there is more to be said on the grand speech in his sermon

While some note that St. Augustine's sermon is pretty cut and dry in regards to where he puts his style, I would like to add the fact that the entire sermon is entwined with high speech designated at everyone to move them for one single purpose of reminding them of the struggle that it is to forgive and be forgiven. He takes several scriptures, all focusing on the universality of brotherly love, and seeds them through to make his point. For example, early on in the speech, he quotes from the Savior's sermon on the mount and reminds us of the beams in our own eyes. He then compares the pride and anger to a sapling or twig that will grow into a tree blooming in hatred if we do not uproot it ourselves. He uses such eloquent words and phrases to inspire the people to work for their own forgiveness from God and from others.

Now, St. Augustine may not have pulled out any of his own life experiences in his sermon, which would've theoretically won him points in the pathos and ethos categories, but he does retain a symbol of a servant of God and official, which also pulls up his ethos. I think though that he does include himself in his sermon. For one, he never claims exemption, and second, he makes the point that it applies to everyone by using "we". He seems to consider himself part of the group and does not exclude himself at all.

To err is human; to forgive, divine

As soon as the instructions to use rhetoric in scripture appeared, my mind turned instantly to one of my favorite verses in all of the standard works. It is a simple scripture, yet I feast on the rich meaning within the passage:

 1. Metaphor

To start off, there is the obvious use of metaphor within the passage. The trope compares sin to a rich, vibrant, unmistakable color like scarlet, then says those sins shall become white as snow. This beautifully illustrates the principle of repentance, where our sins are wiped clean when we repent and we are left pure again. Tabula rasa. Isaiah paints it so simply and understandable in our minds that even a child can understand this concept.

2. Ellipsis

In addition, one can the use of ellipsis involved. Isaiah writes two similar metaphors next to each other, and omits the second use of the word 'sins' as the metaphors clearly cover the same material and definition.

3. Antithesis

Finally, the two metaphors back to back gives us a form of parallelism, contrasting the two opposites within. Something that has been stained and streaked red becoming it's opposite, a pure and cleansing white. The contrast is blindingly strong, and gives emphasis to the power that repentance has when we choose to use it in our lives.