been capable to receive them yea then it might accompany us beyond our pilgrimage remaining in the body even after dissolution and taking care for our burials But the Case is far otherwise it is sent to inform the matter and together with it to make up one Compositum the man being not the one nor the other but most properly that which doth arise from the perfect union of them both and whatsoever is predicable of the whole is predicable of the parts united whatsoever may be said of the man may be said of the body and soul united and as they are throughly joyned together so they do intimately participate one with another they are cleansed they are defiled together they are bound they are loosed together they are well they are ill together If the flesh upon him have pain the soul within him shall mourn they grow up together they stand together they decay together How often are persons in Scripture said to grow both in mind and body and eminently concerning our Lord which is instar omnium he encreased in wisdom in stature in favour both with God and man The soul is as weak as the body both at first and last Senes bis pueri is a known maxime and dayly experienced and by all men understood of the feeble understanding Anima comes into the world tanquam rasa tabula and it goes out tanquam derasa The soul appears at the first as an unwritten Table-book and when it disappears at the last it becomes blanck as it was before Jobs pious and patient exclamation Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked must I return may be wel extended to a separation not only from the goods of the body and estate but from those also of the mind which hath nothing at best but the begining and ground-work whereof at the least is picked up from the Communication of the outward senses and when those publick Intelligencers fail so also doth this their Lord and Master And therefore by the Sun Light Moon and Stars being darkned we do positively assert to be meant the most inward powers of the mind in this state do together with the outward members of the body weaken and decay But it may be here said is the whole inward man liable to this decay Is there not something in man while in this state altogether independant of the body and perfectly free from the frailties of age Doth not the Scriptures in many places seem to speak of renewed strength in this state of weakness and plainly prove that while the outward man decayes the inward man may be renewed day by day for the right understanding of this and several such places as these are we must of necessity distinguish of the inward man There is the inward man of the head as I beg favour to say since the soul of man there chiefly doth exercise its principal faculties and since the other contradistinct term is so appositely given in Scripture viz. the inward man of the heart plainly there is the inward man of nature and the inward man of grace there is the inward man of the first birth and the inward man of the second birth or of Regeneration Now I speak here concerning the former of these that hath its decayes as age comes on not at all concerning the latter And as I have before excluded a state of sin from the Text so I do here wholly exclude a state of grace The partial falling from divine grace is not so much as aimed at in this place of Scripture as the total not in any Most certainly true it is that the work of grace stands upon its own foundation not at all depending upon the principles of humanity either for its Creation or Renovation forasmuch as the holy Spirit of God who is as much at liberty as the wind is both the begetter and the strengthener And as a man may be born when he is old contrary to the reason of Nicodemus so also may he be fresh and flourishing in his old age Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing David prayes O Lord when I am old and gray-headed forsake me not spiritual desertions and spiritual manifestations are immediately handed out from God and do not at all depend upon the mutability of the nature of man nor accompany him in his several changes They are only the several lights of nature which as age comes on fall to decay without remedy Now as God in making of the greater world said Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to devide the day from the night And he made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also So also hath he done in the little world of man he hath made two great lights as they are set down in this verse the one viz. the greater to rule the day of man which is that clear shining part of man whereby he is differed from all other created beings whatsoever and discerns himself so to be and this I understand by the Sun and the Light And the other viz. the lesser light to rule the night of man which is that darker discerning part of man that hath very little or no light in it self neither doth distinguish him from irrational Creatures And this I understand by the Moon he made the Stars also as it followeth yet more plain The Sun By the Sun I understand here the most superiour power of the rational part of the soul of man that primary light of the understanding that doth at once both receive the species as they are communicated from the Imagination and also render them intelligible to the mind that pure innate light of the mind without which no man that comes into the world can either apprehend what is from without transmitted to him or actuate any of those phantasmes which are already impressed This we may see illustrated by the light of the body which is the eye For in the eye there could be no perception of any outward object unless there were an inward implanted light in the proper Organ which doth both dispose it to receive the visible species and render them proportionable to the Organ giving them thereby actual representation Now that which this implanted light of the eye doth in vision the same doth this Sun of the soul in the understanding This is that which in Scripture is so often called the Spirit or the spirit of the mind And sometime in a distinction from the soul as where it is said I pray God your whole spirit soul and body may be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Now because this is a difficult poynt and hath gravelled most undertakers I will give one Essay more and
outward sense so that they cannot see so also upon the inward that they cannot discern could they see And this is most significantly expressed by old Barzillai when King David would have had him to feed him at his own Table I am this day saith he fourscore years old and can I discern between good and evil Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women He first expresseth his inward decay I cannot discern and then his outward I cannot taste nor hear It is proper to the outward sense to taste and hear but it appertains to the inward to know whether the objects both of tasting and hearing and of all the other outward senses be good or evil And thus old Isaac was imposed upon not only in respect of the dulness of his outward senses all five of which are mentioned in that one Chapter where his younger Son is said to come with subtilty and take away the blessing but chiefly in respect of the weakness of his inward sense wherein he was most mistaken for he discerned him not And thus you have the lesser light that rules the night of man darkned as well as the greater that rules the day that which is subservient to them both is that which followeth The Stars By the Stars I understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All those species whatsoever either rational or Imaginary that like the Stars in their Orb stand fixedly treasured up in the memory Now the Stars do not properly pertain either to day or night but are distinct Luminaries from the Rulers of the day and night and subservient to them both and do communicate both day and night to all inferiour bodies of their influences and also of their light for although the greater light of the Sun in the day time doth cause them to us to disappear yet they are still shining as is sufficiently demonstrated in the Eclipse of the Sun when that greater light is darkned or in the narrow and long contraction of the visible species either by art in glasses or naturally if a man stand at the bottom of a deep and narrow well then will the Stars give their light apparently at noon day In like manner all the species and representations of things that are past whether they are the product of the day or night that is as you have heard either of the understanding or of the Phansie are treasured up in one single faculty of the memory And that the Stars have belonged only to the night hath not been a more common mistake among the Vulgar then that the memory belongeth only to the Imagination hath been among the Learned And therefore they have much troubled themselves and confounded others in finding out another receptacle of the intelligible species which they call Reminiscency or Recordation as though one and the same faculty were not able to retain the species that are of a diveâ—s nature the ground of this mistake hath principally risen from this that they have given more unto the memory than properly doth belong unto it in that they have assigned unto it three operations viz. Reception Retention and Rendition that this faculty doth not only keep what is committed to it which indeed it doth most faithfully but that it doth also take into custody that which it keeps and deliver it up again when called for hereby making the memory both Candus and Promus of the things therein contained and giving unto it such a power as many Noble men to their Butlers whereby they become more Masters of what is contained in their Cellars than they that made them Now if we will divide aright and give unto the memory that which is its and unto the understanding and imagination that which is theirs we shall soon understand how species of a divers nature whether sensitive or intelligible more or less spirituallized and diversly circumstantiated in respect of time or place or whatsoever else may alter them may easily be contained within the same faculty without multiplication Say we that the understanding and imagination as they make their several species so also they take them and they lay them up in the memory as they are by them altered or circumstantiated and as they have occasion to make use of them they look for them and find them treasured up in the same nature order and manner that they put them in and from thence they themselves take them out again The memory in the mean time doing nothing at all towards either the receiving them or delivering them up but only exercising its passive power in the keeping of them which keeping also is nothing else but the duration of that impression without any act or endeavour or knowledge on the part of the memory which the more superiour faculties make The Memory being most truly that which Philosophers have usually said of the Will Caca potâ—ntia keeping those things committed to its charge with no more knowledge or action than the Wax doth the Impression or the Paper the writing theron made or the Coffer the Treasure therein reposited Which being so it may easily contain things of a divers nature and as much diversified in respect of circumstances as the superiour faculties can possibly make them The same Coffer may easily preserve the Gold of one man and the Silver of another till they each of them come and take their own goods again And thus we understand that the power of this faculty in man is only passive and its only work is to retain those things that are committed to its charge which work it performs with great trust so long as man abides in strength but as he declines in age so also doth this faculty in its use not only unfaithfully and confusedly retaining the Images that are made upon it but oftentimes letting them slip Nec Nomina servorum nec vultum agnoscit amici Cum quo praeterita caenavit nocte nec illos Quos genuit quos eduxit And as it is said concerning the greater World when it shall draw towards its end The Sun shall be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Starâ— shall fall from heaven and all the powers of the heavens shall be shaken so also may it as well be said in that Worlds Epitomy Man As he shall draw towards his end his understanding shall be darkned his Imagination shall be weakned and withhold its light and those things that were fixed in the Memory shall fall from thence and all the powers of the mind shall be broken And this is that which to me seems the true meaning of this second Verse And hence we may gather how sad mans condition must needs be in this last age of his in respect of his mind The diseases and symptomes which do necessarily arise from the darkning of these Luminaries are these which follow Mentis imbecillitas hebetudo stupiditas
fatuitas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. stultitia tarditas ingenii judicii defectus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. amentia melancholia desipientia memoria imminuta abolita And these proceed from the darkning of the several and particular lights there are others also incident to age that shake all the powers of the heavens at once and they are Vertigo Carus and Apoplexia And these are the miserable attendants of this feeble state which is so much the more to be lamented by how much the less it is to be helped Sad are the infirmities before mentioned in any age and most difficultly do they receive their cure but in this they admit of none at all Some means may be by Physicians used for the proroguing of them and keeping them off for a time and for the mitigation of their violent assaults but for the total preventing or the absolute curing let no man living hope for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this the ensuing Proverb doth sufficiently confirm Nor the clouds return after the rain Having before shewed that the precedent words do not signifie the infirmities of the eyes I need say no more to shew that these do not intimate the rheums or distillations from the eyes or head falling upon any of the subjected parts It will be enough plainly to declare that these words signifie that the miseries and infirmities of old age do uncessantly and unavoidably succeed one upon another as the showers in April And they are placed here in the midst between the descriptions of the infirmities of the mind which preceded and those of the body which immediately follow as having reference to them both Whereby we must understand that all the infirmities that appertain to this state whether they be those of the mind or those of the body do immediatly follow one upon another and one Paroxysme upon another and that without remedy Nubes post imbrem is a known Adagy signifying the speedy succession of miseries upon miseries as on the contrary is signified joy and happiness after affliction by that Proverb Post nubila Phoebus The infirmities in this Allegory mentioned if they shall at any time fall upon a man in any other age may possibly be eased And if so there is good hopes that they may be kept from redintegration or ever returning more but in this age no such hopes if their violence may possibly be for a time remitted yet they will as certainly return again as the clouds after a rain in a rainy season Now when the weather is as we usually say set in to rain it is wonderful to see how quick the clouds will rise and ride one after another and every one the smallest of them pour down rain upon the earth beyond all expectation And if there shall be any small interval between shower and shower and the Sun at any time begin to peep out between the clouds it is soon darkned again and the clouds return thicker and blacker and the showers greater and longer than they were before This is a most lively representation of the infirmities of the decrepit age of man wherein as deep calls unto deep so one grief pain weakness upon another untill all the waves and billows thereof are gone over him Velut unda supervenit undam And if nature shall be able at any time to gather up her self and unite all her force to give a glimmering light through the darkness that oppresseth her yet it cannot long continue but a greater darkness will presently succeed as it is in the light of a Candle which is almost consumed in its socket sometime some light appears then presently it is darkned again and some such interchanges may be for a season made but it will grow darker and darker until at length it be quite extinguished And that wonderful redintegration of the sight and teeth of the old Minister in Yorkshire like all those lightnings before death was but the last and utmost endeavour of perishing nature Et quasi mâ—x emoriturae lucernae supremus fulgor If old Jacob shall be able to strengthen himself and sit up in his bed at the news of his Sons approach to visit him yet his weakness must return again and he must lye down in his bed again and again until at length he lye down in the grave If Art shall be able to contribute any thing to the present allay of any of the miseries of this state yet they will surely and unavoidably return again if seeing delightful objects or beloved friends if hearing of news or pleasant discourse or melodious musick if the pratling of Grandchildren may give any divertisement or refreshment to the mind if a more sutable air convenient bathings unctions or frictions if an easier bed if savory meat or delightful wine or any thing else outward or inward that Art can find out may give any ease or refreshment to the body yet the comfort of them will be but for a small season and the former troubles will certainly return again If a young Virgin lying in Davids bosome shall cherish him a while and administer that heat and comfort to him that Cloaths could not do yet it must be but for a time and David must grow cold and chill and comfortless again and that more and more until he be taken into the house of all living And this is the great misery that attends all the miseries of this miserable state that they are altogether incurable and though some refreshment may sometime seem to interpose for a season yet they will all most certainly return again as the clouds after the rain Verse 3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders shall cease because they are few and those that look out of the windows be darkned HAving sufficiently before shewed us what the infirmities of the mind are in this condition he comes now to treat of those of the body wherein the body is most aptly compared to a building or an house going dayly to decay and that cannot be repaired And this similitude of the body whereby it is compared to an house is most Scriptural David saith Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage And Paul saith If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Now the decays of this house in old age are many four of which viz. those in respect of the keepers of the house the strong men the grinders and the lookers out of the windows are mentioned in this verse in the Explication of which I shall be the briefer because what I understand by them all in this verse hath been for the substance of them formerly treated of by others And here the current of Interpreters hath run much-what the same way and left behind them less obscurity in these words