swiftly beginning its Course from the right Cavity of the Heart through the Arterious Vein the Branches of which are dispersed through the whole Lungs and joined to the Branches of the Veiny Artery by which it passes from the Lungs into the left side of the Heart and thence it flows into the Great Artery the Branches of which being spread through all the Body are united to those of the Hollow Vein which carry the same Blood again into the right Ventricle of the Heart But these Vessels by length of time become disordered and shattered these Pitchers are broken at the Fountain the Heart it self as well as they decaying and declining in its Office whence proceed Faintings Swoonings Tremblings Palpitations and other Distempers which are the Product of an undue Sanguification Lastly 't is said the Wheel is broken at the Cistern which an Ingenious Person understands of the Circulation of the Blood for that he thinks is intimated by the Wheel and its being obstructed by the Indispositions of Old Age. But it is much to be questioned whether Solomon as Wise a Man as he was knew any thing of the Circular Motion of the Blood throughout the whole Body I have no stronger a Belief of his Knowledg in this kind than that his Ships went to the East or West-Indies though I find both of these asserted by different Writers However I conceive this Circulation is not meant in this place for the word Bor Puteus or Cisterna baffles this Notion for this Author makes the Cistern here to be the Left Ventricle of the Heart whereas the Heart with both its Ventricles is rather a Fountain than a Cistern yea he had himself applied this Word to the Heart in his Exposition of the former Clause of the Verse and there was Reason for it because the Waters do spring and flow in a Fountain but they lie dead and moveless in a Cistern or Pit under Ground which is the same thing Wherefore I conclude that this Cistern must be something of another Nature and what is that but the Vrinary Vessels especially the Bladder This without any fanciful straining must be acknowledged to be the Cistern of the Body it being a Vessel situated beneath on purpose to receive and keep the Water that comes from the Ureters And here as in those Receptacles in the Ground the Water gathers a Sediment and grows muddy the evil Effects of which are too well known to Mankind This Vesica then which is made to gather and hold the Urine is properly Bor the word in this Place Puteus Cisterna And the Wheel is said to be broken at this Cistern when those Vessels and Organs which were appointed for the Percolation of the Blood that is the separating the serous Humour from it and for the transmitting it through the Emulgent Arteries into the Ureters and thence carrying it to the proper Vessel the Cistern which is made to receive it when I say these are put out of order and disturb'd then they cease to perform their proper Administrations in the Body whereupon immediately are produced in these dark and narrow Passages the Painful Stone and Gravel in the Kidnies and Bladder all other â—ephritick Distempers Ulcers Inflammations the Strangury and sometimes a total Suppression of the Urine together with the undue Evacuations of it Thus the Wheel is broken thus the whole Periodical Series of Operation in those Parts is spoiled and destroyed And perhaps this particular Phrase is here used by Solomon because the great Work at Wells and Cisterns or Pits for retaining of Water for a time was performed by Wheels So much for this excellent Delineation of Old Age which is it self a Disease a constant and inseparable Malady and is attended with many more And as the Bodies of the Aged are the Scene of Weakness and Infirmities of Pains and Languishments so their Souls are usually decayed and distemper'd Of both these Solomon gives us a particular Account and perhaps too much from his own Experience for 't is probable that the Miscarriages of his Youth had enfeebled Nature and we read that towards the Close of his Days he degenerated from his former Piety and so we have here a Full and Compleat Description of the Defects which too often accompany this Last Declension of Life which are set forth by Variety of Metaphors which I have made it my Business to explain to you CHAP. V. The Writers of the New Testament are delighted with the Vse of Metaphors Here is sometimes a Complication of them Ephes. 6. 13. c. Take unto you the whole Armour of God c. largely insisted upon The Olympick Games and Prizes administer religious Metaphors The Antiquity Names Kinds the Laws and Observances of these Grecian Combates before in and after them the Iudges the Rewards and all other things appertaining to these Athletick Enterprizes distinctly consider'd 't is shew'd how they are all applied to Christianity in the Apostolick Writings Hence is inferr'd the Gracefulness of the Sacred Stile Notwithstanding which some have vilified it whose Character is represented Proverbial Sayings used by other Writers especially the Jews are frequently mentioned by our Saviour in the New Testament To which is reduced his bidding the Apostles shake off the Dust of their Feet Mat. 10. 14. concerning which the Author adds his particular Sentiment IF we pass to the New Testament we shall there find that those Inspired Penmen are much delighted with the use of Metaphors We have a Complication of them in Iohn 15. 1 c. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman c. In 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. the extreme Dangers which Men are exposed to by the Sin of Covetousness are expressed by a Snare by drowning by piercing through as with Thorns and Briars In those Words Eph. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light there are likewise three Metaphors together for Sin is call'd a Sleep Death Darkness yea if we be exact we shall find three more for if Sin be a Sleep then Grace or Conversion is Awakening out of that Sleep and this is expressly mention'd in the Place if the one be Darkness and Death the other is Light and Life and Rising again But as before I chose out a remarkable Place of the Old Testament to enlarge upon under this Head so I will now do the like in the New and insist upon that choice Passage in Eph. 6. 13 to ver 18. Take unto you the whole Armour of God c. which under that one Great and General Metaphor of Armour comprehends several other particular ones Christians are represented as Souldiers in other Places by this Apostle and here he lets us know what is their Armour what Weapons they must fight with which are thus metaphorically expressed 1. They must be careful to put on the Girdle of Truth which some Expositors have thought is meant in opposition to Error and
longer delightful they are vile and of no account for the Youthful and Mercurial Spirit is exhausted in this Foggy Cloudy Weather of Expiring Age the Quicksilver subsides in these Old Weather-Glasses and will never ascend again I might add also that the Vessels and Organs that properly belong to the forming of the Voice those Daughters of Singing are by Age disabled and weakned Next it is said ver 5. They are afraid of that which is high The plain meaning whereof is this that Aged Persons dare not ascend any high or steep Place their Breath is short and therefore they avoid climbing And when they tread on low Ground and walk in a smooth Path yet even then Fears are in the way i. e. they are afraid of stumbling and falling because their â—eet are infirm and their Steps unsteady which they therefore indeavour to fix with a Staff To which the Hebrew Masters allude when they say Two are better than three that is the Feet of Young Men are better to walk than those of the Old though they are usually three Another Member of this Description is that the Almond-tree flourisheth i. e. as it is expounded by Grotius and by the Generality of Commentators Gray Hairs which are the usual Badg of Decrepid Years appear the Head now grows white and hoary like the Blossoms and Flowers of the Almond-tree whose Fruit was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Head saith Athenaeus as if it had relation to this Part. Again 't is added the Grashopper is a Burden i. e. the least the lightest thing say Expositors generally seems to be heavy and burdensom to the Aged because of their Faintness and Weakness Or rather I should interpret it thus with reference to what was said before and is so noted and common an Indication of Declining Years the Grashopper as little as it is lies heavy on their Stomachs for you will find in Lev. 11. 22. that the Grashopper is reckoned among the Clean Meats and was commonly eaten in those Days And this here mentioned is of that very Species as the using of the same Hebrew Word both here and there lets us know Even this light kind of Food was a Burden to their weak Stomachs What can be more obvious and plain than this Exposition of the Words especially when it follows Desire fails as all other Inclinations that were vigorous in them in their juvenile Years do now flag so this towards Food more signally doth so And that this was thought to be the meaning of this Clause of the Words is apparent from the Version of the LXX and the Vulgar Latin both which express Desire by Capers a known Fruit whereby an Appetite is excited So that this way of speaking is metaphorically used to denote the Defect of Appetite in Aged Men whose Stomachs are depraved And this is no wonder because they go to their long Home and the Mourners go about the Streets they are hastning to the Grave and shall in a short time be carried out by the Mourners to their Funerals But yet before this Day arrives they have farther Evils to undergo For saith the Wise Man when this great Number of Years is gone over their Heads they will find that the silver Cord is not lengthned for so the Hebrew hath it the word Rachak which is here used signifying elongari longè esse and then in the General this may be the Sense of this Clause the Thread of Life that is the Precious Cord or String of Silver begins now to be cut short they must not expect to stay many Days in the Land of the Living But we may rather follow the Interpretation of those who apply this Passage to some particular Part of the Body as the other Members of this Verse seem also to be restrained and so the silver Cord is loosed as we translate it i. e. the Spinal Marrow which is white like Silver and lengthned out like a Cord or Rope decays and grows loose and then the Nerves which are derived from it and consequently the whole Body feel the ill Effect of it in Palsies and Convulsions and an universal Weakness Thus it is when the Body is worn out with Age when these evil Days come all things portend Ruine and a final Period The House as the Body is said to be is falling and all things belonging to it are hastning to their Destruction Not only the silver Cord is loosed but the golden Bowl is broken by which some think is here meant the Cranium or Pan in which that choice Visâ—us of the Brain is contained and secured or perhaps the Semicircular Membrane which is next to this Bowl and is it self lined with a thinner Membranous Substance is here designed Vatablus and Drusius and others interpret the Words thus and tell us that these Meninges are said to be of Gold not only by reason of their Colour but because of their great Worth and Value in that they are a Guard and Covering to the noblest Part of Man's Body Or the Brain it self may be here meant the Seat and Throne of the Rational Soul and the Origine of all the Nerves And then observe here that the Golden Bowl and the Silver Cord are fitly joined together by this Divine Writer for the latter is but an Appendix of the former the Marrow of the Back-Bone is but the Cerebrum extended the Brain lengthned out or it is according to Solomon's Stile here a Rope a Cord of Brains But the Head and Beginning of that Medulla is that which is properly called the Brain the Great and Only Laboratory of the Animal Spirits from whence they are diffused by the Nerves into the several Members of the Body in order to all the Functions and Operations of Life This gullath hazahab this Golden Bowl this Lordly Dish this roundish Mass of choice Matter is at last broken which is as much as to say this upper and nobler Part of the Body shares in the Ruines which Old Age makes whence it is that the Clogging of the Passages of the animal Spirits with indigested Humours the Obstructions or Relaxations of the Nerves Pains in the Head Melancholy Giddiness Drowsiness yea Lethargies and Apoplexies which impair or wholly destroy both Sense and Motion are the dangerous Maladies of this Part of the Body and are more especially the mischievous Companions of the Aged And as the Animal so the Vital Parts feel the Decays which a Long and Sickly Life brings with it which the Wise Man means when he adjoins the Pitcher is broken at the Fountain The Pitchers for the Plural is intended when the Singular is mentioned as I have shewed to be frequent in Scripture-Stile are the Veins and Arteries whose Office it is to carry and recarry Blood to and from the Heart that is the Fountain as Pitchers or Buckets are first let down into the Well and then convey Water thence Through these Vessels the Blood continually passes and that
reasonably think that St. Paul tho he was an Hebrew by Parentage was well skill'd iâ— Greek it being his native Tongue Therefore a Modeâ—n Critick of great Acuteness hath well observ'd that the Greek Tongue was as familiar to him as Hebrew or Syriac Shall any rational Maâ— then think that he was not able to speak Properly and Grammatically Nay shall we not concludâ— from his Admirable Writings that he knew how to plaâ—e his Words and to speak with a good Grace St. Ierom who particularly takes notice that St Paul's Writings are full of Parentheses Transitions Digressions Concise and Abrupt Sayings yet acknowledgeth that he was a most Astonishing peaker and Thundered as often as he spoke Yea tho on the 3d Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians he hints that St. Paul's Writings were destitute of Rhetorick yet at another time to let us know that he said not this absolutely he owns him to be flumen Eloquentiae a Flood or rather a Torrent of True Eloquence Eusebius who was a Good Judg of Eloquence pronounceth St. Paul a most Powerful Spokesman and one that was admirably skill'd in the whole Parade and Furniture of Words and could do more this way than the most Celebrated Orators among the Pagans so that Luther was in the right when he said One of St. Paul ' s Words containeth well three of Tully ' s Orations In fine no Tongue can express the Excellency of his Profound Writings which not only comprise in them all the Depths and Mysteries of Christianity and astonish us with their High and Heavenly Matter but moreover do furnish us with many Elegancies and Embellishments of Oratory with many Florid and well Composed Periods and abound every where with a most Winning Eloquence with the Charms of a most Melting and Affectionate Rhetorick insomuch that in some of his Epistles his Warmest Blood seems to be the Ink he wrote with and every Leaf is as it were the very Membrane of his Heart Besides St. Paul's Epistles which are fourteen in all there are seven others viz. one of St. Iames two of St. Peter three of St. Iohn and one of St. Iude all which except the two latter of St. Iohn are call'd Catholick or General Epistles because they were not directed to Particular Churches in one Place but to the Dispersed Converts through a great Part of the World St. Iames's Epistle was written to the Christian Jews that dwelt in other Regions besides Iudea who consisted partly of the Ten Tribes carried captive by Salmanassar King of Assyria who never that we read of return'd again and partly of the Two Tribes many of which still remain'd in Exile wherefore St. Iames sends this Epistle to the Twelve Tribes scatter'd abroad The two main things in it are first concerning the Affictions and Persecutions which were to be undergone for Christ's sake where he exhorts them to Patience under those great Trials Secondly concerning the Necessity of a Holy Life where he shews them that Justifying Faith must â—e known and manifested by Good Works Besides many Excellent Caveats and Admonitions are intermingled touching Riches Covetousness Hearing the Word Swearing Unruliness of the Tongue Envy Wrath Pride Rash Judging of others Self-Confidence Forgetfulness of God's Soveraignty and Providence in the World and sundry other things of very great Use in the Lives of Christians especially of those that are in Affliction and Adversity Wherefore this Epistle is chiefly calculated for such St. Peter also who was the Apostle of the Circumâ—ision writes to the Dispersed Iews such as were scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia i. e. the Lesser and Bithynia five Provinces of the Roman Empire those that voluntarily lived among the Gentiles ever since the Great Dispersion and were now become Christians and fared the worse among the Heathens and Obstinate Jews for being so And perhaps here may be meant those likewise that by Persecution were driven from their Homes in Iudea and therefore are called Strangers 1 Epist ch 1. v. 1. To these distressed Iews or of what kind soever they were for St. Augustine and some others think the Converted Gentiles in several Countries are not here excluded he writeth his first Epistle to confirm and strengthen them in the Doctrine of the Gospel and in the Profession of the Christian Faith which they had hitherto made and to exhort them to a Greater Proâ—iciency in it and to comfort them in their Persecutions against the Scandal of the Cross and lastly to stir them up to the Exercise of all Christian Graces and Duties many of which as Mutual Love Patience Watchfulness Perseverance Obedience to Magistrates with the particular Duties of Servants to their Masters of Husbands and Wives towards one another of Spiritual Pastors towards their Flock he most excellently though briefly describeth His Second Epistle for it is undoubtedly his as well as the first though Hugo Grotius or he that publish'd those Posthumous Annotations labours to offer Arguments to the contrary which are enervated by Dr. Hammond in his Notes on this Epistle is of the same Nature with the first exhorting the Believing Jews to a Life worthy of Christians to add one Vertue to another and to increase in all the Graces of the Holy Spirit He asserts the Truth and Authority of the Gospel he shews the Danger of Backstiding he warns them against Heretical Teachers and Profane Scoffers that should come in the last Days of whom he gives a very Lively Character in several remarkable Particulars He voucheth the Certainty of Christ's Coming to Judgment and the Conflagration of the World and thence infers the Reasonableness of preparing themselves for that last Catastrophe by a blameless Life and Conversation All which is express'd in most apt and choice Words and with that Concernedness and Zeal which became so Eminent an Apostle The first Epistle of St. John which is called Catholick or General as being written to all the Christian Jews wheresoever they were is partly directed against Seducers and Impostors whom he calls Antichrists risen up in those Days who subverted the Fundamentals of Religion but more especially the Deity and Humanity of Christ as the Simonians Gnosticks Carpocratians Cerinthians Ebioniâ—es and others mention'd by Epiphanius and Austin whence he adviseth the Christians to try the Spirits and not to be too credulous and hasty in imbracing every Doctrine that is offer'd them He hath obâ—ervable Notices concerning the grand Privilege of Adoption concerning the Love of the World concerning the Sin unto Death But the main Design of this Epistle is to urge a Godly and Righteous Life to convince those who are called by Christ's Name of the Necessity of their walking answerably to it Indeed this Apostle was forced as St. Iames before was to write on this subject to press Good Works and Outward Righteousness because some in those Days turned the Grace of God into Licentiousness making Faith exclude all External