Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A27999
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A paraphrase upon the books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon with arguments to each chapter and annotations thereupon / by Symon Patrick.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1700
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Wing B2643; ESTC R29894
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268,301
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432
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Cant. 5. the Urine whose Stream he fansies resembles a silver Thred which is then broken when it distils by drops as it frequently doth in Old men But the best of the Hebrew Writers by this Cord understand the Spinal Marrow that is the Pith of the Back-bone others the Nerves others the outward Coats of the Nerves c. And there is little reason to doubt but the Marrow down the Back continued from the Brain as it were in a String or Cord unto the very bottom of it together with the Nerves arising from it and the Filaments Fibers and Tendons that proceed from them are the thing here intended Which Melancthon saw long ago the Nerves saith he and Ligaments are here meant which have literally the power of Cords both to unite and tie together and also draw But no Body that I know of hath explained this so well as our Dr. Smith in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath also solved that doubt why they are expressed in the Singular Number because though there be many of them yet they are the continuation of one and the same thing the Fibers being nothing else but the Nerves divided and dispersed and the Nerves nothing else but the Marrow in like manner separated as so many Arms and Branches of the same Tree they are all one in their Original the Brain they are all one in their continuation for a long space in the Spine all one in their use to convey the Animal Spirits and to be the Instruments of motion This Cord is called Silver because of its colour being not only white but also shinning bright and resplendent and that when it is taken out of the Body after Death I omit other Reasons It is loosned shrunk up or contracted or removed as others translate it when it is no longer full of Spirits and so the Body becomes void of sense and motion either in part or in whole The second step to a dissolution is by breaking the golden Bowl and as the former related to the Rivulets as one may say of sense and motion so this to the Fountain viz. the Head and all contained in it The Membranes for instance especially that which the Ancients from the great esteem and reverence they had for it call Pia Mater Which is that part which deeply insinuating it self into all the anfractuous passages of the Brain as Doctor Smith speaks and being firmly annexed thereunto keeps every part thereof in its proper place and due texture so that whatsoever is performed within the whole compass of the Brain whether the making Animal Spirits their exercise therein or their distribution therefrom is principally done by the help of this Membrane Which therefore may well be called gullath that part of the Head which is the Spring of all the motion that comes from thence And so we translate the Plural of this Word XV. Josh 19. and both Forsterus and Avenarius understand the Singular here And it is called golden Bowl like that IV. Zachar. 2 3. from whence the Oil was conveyed by Pipes unto the Lamps for such Reasons as gave the other the name of silver Cord. For instance in respect of the colour not only because that most precious and deep-coloured Liquor of life is abundantly contained in the Vessels of this Membrance but chiefly because the Membrane it self is somewhat of a yellowish colour and tends more towards that of Gold than any other part whatsoever doth But especially in respect of its excellency and universal use for it being the instrument that doth depurate the best of Blood clarifies and exalts the Vital Spirits and so prepares them for animality as they speak to what should it be likened but to that most perfect best-concocted and most exalted Mineral of Gold Now the breaking of this Bowl is its losing its use not being able to retain its Liquors as a Bowl is useless when it is broken or as Dr. Smith explains it in the extremity of extreme Old Age it can no longer continue its continuity but by reason either of its natural dryness shriveling into it self or of preternatural moisture imbibing excrementitious humours till it be over-full it oft-times snaps asunder and so recurrs i. e. runs back as the Hebrew Word signifies into it self from whence the Brain must necessarily subside and all the Part serving unto Animal motion be suddenly and irrecoverably dasht in pieces So Avenarius judiciously translates this Passage That yellow Membrane which contains the Brain be trodden down The third step is the breaking of the Pitcher at the Fountain Which is variously interpreted some understanding hereby the inability of the Bladder to retain the Urine others by Fountain understand the Liver and by the Pitcher the Bladder of Gall or the Veins which is the most common Opinion But Dr. Smith rather takes it for the heart which is indeed the Fountain of Life and hath two distinct Cavities the right and the left out of which proceed those Veins and those Arteries which carry the Blood through the whole Body and bring it back again to the heart in a perpetual Circulation And if by Pitcher we understand the Veins which are the receptacle of the Blood and the Hebrew Word signifies any containing Vessel particularly the Widows Barrel in which was her Meal 1 King XVII 14 16. as well as a Barrel of Water in the next Chapter XVIII 33. then by the Fountain must be peculiarly understood the right Ventricle of the heart which is the Original from whence the Veins have their rise For so the Hebrew Word signifies not only a Fountain but a Spring from which Waters bubble up and burst forth as we translate it XXXV Isai 7. XLIX 10. in a running Stream and therefore is so to be translated here the Spring or Original viz. of the Veins which proceed from thence Which induced Commentators to take the Fountain here for the Liver which they would not have done had they understood as we do now that the Veins do not arise from thence as their first Original but from the right Ventricle of the Heart And they are spoken of in the Singular Number as the Nerves were before because they are all of one and the same nature original and use Now the breaking of this Pitcher into shivers as the Hebrew Word signifies is the utter failing of the Veins their ceasing quite from their natural action and use When they can no longer carry back nor conveniently convey unto the heart that Liquor which they properly contain but the little Blood which remains in the cold Body of man near his end is congealed and stagnates in his Veins And so I proceed to the last thing the Wheel broken at the Cistern Where by the Wheel some understand the Lungs which by their continual motion do thrust out the Breath from them and draw it in again to them resembling the Wheel of a Well now drawing up the Bucket to it self anon letting it down again
into the Well Melancthon by Cistern understanding the Stomach the Word signifying saith he a profound Cavity takes the Wheel for the Guts adjoining thereunto which are wrapt about one another in a kind of Circular form and make the Mesentery look like a Wheel Which Grotius seems also to have had in his mind But taking it for granted that a Wheel being an Instrument of Circulation is the Hieroglyphick of something that goes and makes a round in us I think Dr. Smith's conjecture is most probable that hereby is meant the great Artery with all its Branches which is the great instrument of rotation or circulation in the Body of man and so evidently thrusts the Blood forward that we perceive its Pulses forcing the Blood along its Cavity in the Wrists the Temples and other Parts of the Body Without which Instrument to compel it the Blood that naturally tends home to the heart would go no further And then the Cistern from whence this Wheel forces the Liquor and conveys it through all the Parts is the left Ventricle of the Heart to which this great Artery is annexed and from whence it ariseth For a Cistern is a Vessel made on purpose to receive a due proportion of Water and to keep it till the time of use and then conveniently to pass it into Vessels that are prepared to receive it from thence And such is the left Ventricle of the Heart which in its Diastole as they call it receives the Blood that is brought into it from the Lungs and then keeping it there a little doth in its Systole pass due proportions thereof into the great Artery to be dispensed as was said before And for this end there are little Valves or Falling doors placed at the entrance and at the going out of this Cistern which are like Cocks to let in and to let out and by their opening or shutting give convenient passage or stoppage to the Liquor which continually runs that way And so the breaking or shaking in pieces as Forsterus translates the Word of this Wheel is the ceasing of the Pulse so he in another place translates it trodden down i. e. suppressed by the decay of the instruments of Pulsations which can no longer perform that work Which being absolutely necessary for the preservation of life the ceasing of it is death g V. 7. And so the Body made of a mouldering substance being no longer a fit habitation for the Spirit and therefore deserted by it which held the parts of it together shall crumble again into the Earth out of which it originally came according to that Sentence passed upon Adam in the beginning Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return III. Gen. 19. This Body was no better in its first Principles and though now we are very fond of it as if it were some goodly thing yet when the Spirit leaves it it will appear to be indeed but Dust But the Spirit the nobler part of man being of an higher Original shall return to God who sent it into the Body to be disposed of by Him according to the Sentence that he should pass upon it For the Chaldee Paraphrase's Explication of the latter part of this Verse is very apposite It shall return that it may stand in judgment before God For Elohim the Word here for God in the Hebrew Language signifies a Judge As in the place above-mentioned 1 Sam. XXVIII 9. There is a Sentence not much unlike to this I have observed in Plutarch's Consolatory Discourse to Apollonius upon the death of his Son where he alledges amongst a great many other this Saying of Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h V. 8. And now having thus demonstrated his first Proposition he elegantly repeats the Exordium or entrance of his Book as is here observed by St. Hierom whose Words are so significant that I cannot but translate them as an excellent Gloss upon this Verse For since all the labour of mortal man of which Solomon hath disputed in this whole Book amounts to this That the Dust returns to its Earth and the Soul returns thither from whence it was taken it is an excess of vanity to labour for this world and to gather nothing for the future where he is to live for ever and to be judged according to his behaviour here This only may be added That here he enters upon the Conclusion of his Discourse and divides it into two Parts as he had done the foregoing Book First He summs up what he had said in the six first Chapters concerning the false ways men take to happiness in this Verse which he backs by several serious Considerations in those that fol ow unto Verse 13. Where secondly he summs up what he hath said from Chap. VII to this place concerning the true way to happiness which lies only in a due regard to God and his Commandments i V. 9. The first Word of this Verse is variously translated and the whole Verse applied by Interpreters either to confirm what was said before concerning the false methods men take to happiness as if he had said I have done when I have told you that you may believe me who am sufficiently able to inform you and not think to meet with better information from other mens Writings or from your own experience or as an introduction to what he intends to say ver 13 14. concerning the right method to be happy Which he prepares the Reader to attend unto and receive into his mind first by asserting his own great Authority in this Verse who the wiser he was the more desirous he was both to teach and to learn And then the weighty Doctrine which he taught v. 10. And the great usefulness of it v. 11. The like to which they would find no where else v. 12. It is not very material which of these ways we take but I have had respect to both in my Paraphrase where I have expressed the sense so fully that I cannot think fit to enlarge any further upon this Verse But only note that Luther and he alone I think expounds the first Words thus not absurdly nor disagreeing with the Hebrew Text There remained nothing to the Preacher but that he was wise c. He understood and taught aright and took a great deal of pains which was a great satisfaction to himself but he saw little or no success of it in others who would not be governed by his Advice c. k V. 10. This Verse runs thus word for word in the Hebrew The Preacher carefully sought to meet with desirable words and the writing of uprightness and the words of truth Where writing may refer both to what he read in others whether Divine or Humane Authors and to what he wrote himself and so I have expounded it in the Paraphrase which he commends from three Heads pleasure or delight usefulness and certainty Some fansie that Solomon wrote a Book called Catub Jascher the Writing of Uprightness or Jascher