All 4 Uses
afflict
in
Donne's Meditation 17
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- Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.†
*affliction = something that causes ongoing suffering
- No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.†
- Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.†
- Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.†
Definitions:
-
(1)
(afflict) to cause pain, suffering, or trouble -- especially something long-lasting or hard to endure
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)