aphorism: a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. (If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to be a folk proverb.) An aphorism can be a memorable summation of an author's point, or it can be a focusing device at the beginning of the essay.
"They bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. All their works they do for to be seen of men..."
-Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass includes this long quote from the Bible near the end of the Appendix to his book. This statement serves to conclude his argument against southern "slave-holding religion" and Christianity. One of his main arguments against the Christianity of the south is the hypocrisy, and Douglass uses this aphorism from the Bible to point out similarities between the slave holders and the Pharisees, a group of extremely hypocritical religious leaders known today because of Jesus' repeated condemnation of their behavior. Douglass uses this quote to show that the Christianity of the slave holder is fake. By comparing them to Pharisees, Douglass is also insinuating that the slave holders are enemies of God. This proposition would have been extremely moving for the religious northern audience Douglass was writing to. Douglass' readers would have been very wary of people compared to those termed hypocrites by Jesus. This aphorism not only compares the slaveholders with Pharisees, but it also would have been a powerful technique during Douglass' time.
Very helpful, thank you
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