Perlegi hunc Librum qui Inscribitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quo nihil reperio Doctrinae Disciplinaeve Ecclesiae Anglicanae aut bonis moribus Contrarium Joh. Hall R. P. D. Episc Lond. a Sac. Domest Mar. 8. 1665. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 King SOLOMONS Portraiture OF Old Age. Wherein is contained A SACRED ANATOMY Both of Soul and Body AND A Perfect Account of the Infirmities of Age incident to them both And all those Mystical and Aenigmatical Symptomes expressed in the six former Verses of the 12th Chapter of Ecclesiastes are here Paraphrased upon and made plain and easie to a mean Capacity By John Smith M. D. E. Coll. Med. Lond. Cand. ET E. Coll. Aenea-nasensi Oxon. quondam Com. Nam pernicitas deserit Consitus sum Senectute onustum gero Corpus vires Reliquere ut aetas mala mala merx est ergo Plautus LONDON Printed by J. Hayes for S. Thomson at the Sign of the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1666. The Epistle to the Reader WHosoever thou art into whose hands this Paraphrase may fall know that the Author of it is not near enough any Nobleman to put it into his hands nor hath he face enough as is the mode of this daring Age to call at a distance but could he do both yet know also he would do neither for he desireth not that any thing either of others or his own should be patronized beyond its own native worth And is himself as willing as any touchy-headed Decryers of Anatomy and Anatomists of all Art and Artists that all the shame that is due to the ill managing of this good Subject should return upon his own paâ—e And such is his Allegiance to his King that if he can but keep off their foul fingers from Him to which they are apt enough he cares not how heavy they fall upon himself And on the other hand if there be any thing herein contained of true value it will but shine the brighter for the rubs and petulant endeavours of all Conductitious detractors who being thrust out of some mercenary Employments in a few months time by their mother wit which for want of good neighbours they greatly cry up themselves and instead of bad neighbours do closely insinuate as if all others wanted it can get knowledge enough in Physick to contemn and vilifie and in two words viz. Galenists and fools abundantly confute all those worthy Persons who from Childhood to Gray-hairs have been studying endeavouring and praying have been exercising both their minds and their bodies their heads their hearts and their hands that they may become expert Seconds unto Nature and meet Combatants for all those dreadful Enemies that the Sins of man have stirred up against the peace of his own body But beside this scum of ill conditioned Zoili there are others also nipling at the heel of learned Physicians Whose wounds though seemingly slightly inflicted yet are far worse than the former and that not only because they are persons of credit and knowledge but because they pretend Friendship and kiss while they do the mischief These are those whom Birth Education and Industry have so securely seated in honour that nothing can possibly disthrone them but that which cast the Angels from heaven and man out of Paradice that abominable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which for ever did and for ever will set God in a resistance and the best of their Friends cannot but in time mind them that those smart reflexions without cause both in private and publick not only upon particular persons but upon whole Societies of men half of whom they know not so much as by hear-say seem to have a tincture of that virulent poyson which as easily and as quickly proceeds out of knowledge as the Worm did out of Jonah Gourd and will if not speedily prevented soon wither into nothing all that content under which they have for a season gladly shadowed themselves And here I am afresh put in mind of the Story of Herod who persecuted the Worlds Worthies and because he saw it pleased the People he proceeded farther also And thus prosecuting his rage and ambition in royal Apparel and with Popular Oratory the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of Worms That main and best end which secureth all men in their undertakings was it which first moved the Author hereof to study sacred Philosophy and to apply himself to the interpretation of such Scriptures as border upon that Faculty unto which he hath betook himself ever since he hath had the judgment of Election wherein he might be most serviceable in his Generation This was the good Seed but falling into a barren and ill manured soil hath for the present produced no better a blade than what you here see which however if it please the Lord to prosper may bring forth as useful fruit as those that seem more fair and flourishing Herein old men may see their own natural faces as in a Glass and young men may foresee what if they live will certainly betide them in their latter end Systemes and compleat Treatises though out of fashion and consequently neglected in this Mimical Age are of better use than fragments of Mechanism and Independent Pieces of Experimental Knowledge which by most men at present are had in greatest honour and reputation But in this respect of honour the ground-work of what is here discoursed upon far surpasseth them all the Author thereof being the wisest and the greatest Earthly Potentate throughout all Generations The Portraiture that is here drawn is done by the hands of no meaner a person than King Solomon and may justly be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that superabundant wisdom in natural things which it pleased God miraculously to enrich him withall beyond all that were before him or since to this very day being no where more Graphically delineated than in this description of Age whereby it plainly appears that Solomon was not like that forward Traveller who was well skilled in Forreign Countries and in the mean time knew little or nothing of his own native Land For as he very well knew all Vegetables from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hyssop that springeth out of the wall and those Creatures also of aâ— higher rank namely all Beasts Fowls Creeping things and Fishes So neither was he ignorant at home but that wherein his greatest wisdom consisted was that he perfectly knew himself And that Intus in Cute both in respect of the inward and the outward man All the secret and mysterious powers of the mind were as naked and open before him as the visible parts of the Body are before a Vulgar Anatomist and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Allegory contained doth more fully and satisfactorily declare and distinguish them than whatsoever hitherto hath been endeavoured to that purpose by the best of Moralists and as for the parts of the body those apposite
in all its outward senses in all its internal appetites sporting and refreshing it self in all proper and peculiar objects but no such refreshments as these in old age which is a principle so well known to be true and so much rooted in the judgment of men that the news to the contrary though brought immeditely from God himself did at the first startle and put a very hard stress too upon the faith both of the Mother and Father of the Faithful Pleasure in old age and to such persons who were as good as dead and with whom it had ceased to be after the manner of men and women was such an incredible thing as both Sarah and Abraham laughed at the news which laughter as it might proceed partly from a confident affiance upon the Word of God and a contentation thereupon as is usually said so partly without all doubt from that reluctancy they found in themselves and those heart-risings and internal arguings against the reception of those joyful tydings the spirit indeed was ready but the flesh was weak And this will sufficiently appear in the Text from the grounds of their laughing their reasoning thereupon and from the Lords answer to them both and what pains he takes and what arguments he useth further to perswade them that it should be so indeed as he had promised There is a learned Commentator saith upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated pleasure Hebraea vox non modo voluptatem sed etiam negotium quodlibet opusve significat The original word saith he signifieth work and business as well as pleasure And so indeed it doth and may very well do in this place When decrepit age is come a mans work is at an end he is able to do no more Solomon saith there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou art going Now oâ—d men are very near it our English Proverb is They have one foot in the grave they have no more work to do their course is finished and their time of departure is at hand Verse 2. While the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not darkned nor the clouds return after the rain HAving before in general shewed this state to be miserable he now comes to tell us wherein these miseries particularly consist I must here be necessitated to go an untrodden path and possibly an unacceptable one to some As for all those Interpretations that are beside the Allegory you know I have already waved them and therefore shall not so much as mention them in this verse nor in the whole ensuing Discourse As for those that say the Sun and the Light the Moon and the Stars signifie the several Ages that man must pass through as was before hinted they make this Allegory not so much a description of old age as of the way to it and therefore are not to be admitted forasmuch as this is the description of compleat and perfected decrepit age as you have already heard There are that take these Luminaries absolutely literally for the several heavenly bodies as they stand fixed in their Orbs and differing from one another in glory But unto man in this state they are not really darkned for as they communicate of their light and influence equally both to the good and bad to the just and unjust so also to the young and old to the strong man and to the feeble by reason of his age And then it must of necessity be understood per Hypalagen only that they appear so to them by reason of their inability to receive their light and by reason of the weakness and dimness of their outward sense And so this opinion will in effect coincide with the following which is indeed most considerable And that is that these lights are metaphorically here expressed and do principally allude to the lights of the body And this interpretation doth principally and primarily arise and take its authority from the Chaldee Paraphrase which is by Interpretation as followeth Antiquam mutetur splendor gloriae faciei tuae qui assimulatur soli lumen oculorum tuorum antequam obcaecetur decor maxillarum tuarum antiquam obtenebrescetur pupillae oculorum tuorum qui assimulantur stellis antequam extinguentur And after this men of very great names have walked in the same steps But as most other Interpreters seem to strain the Metaphor too far and carry it beyond the signification of the natural parts of man so these seem to me to draw it too straight while they keep it within the compass of the external parts of the body And so much the rather because by this Exposition is intimated only the change of the countenance towards deformity which is sufficiently elsewhere expressed as you will hear anon and the dimness of the sight which is far more plainly expressed in the latter end of the third verse nemine contradicente And that in this brief description the Wise man should tautologize is not to be supposed On the other hand it is not to be imagined that any infirmities appertaining to this state especially those of the mind which are the greatest of all should be neglected herein Omni membrorum damno major dementia Now as Delilah said to Sampson Thou hast mocked me these three times and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lyeth so might it be said of Solomon if he should take upon him to describe any thing and do it but in part and so deceitfully that he should neglect the principal part wherin the great strength lyeth but I am otherwise perswaded that he hath here told us all his heart and that there is no remarkable infirmity either of body or mind that belongs to age which is not contained in this Allegory Now forasmuch as all the Symptomes in the four following verses belong properly to the parts of the body as you shall hear I take this verse to be a description of the infirmities of the internal powers of the soul and why most Divines do on set purpose avoid this Interpretation which is so plain and obvious in this place I cannot tell unless it be because they are so much taken up with the contemplation of the soul of man that they forget it hath any thing at all to do with the body There is a vast difference between the soul of man as it is in its united state and as it is in its state of separation It is not sent from heaven into the body as an assistant only or like some tutelar angel with Commission and full power to guard protect and counsel that person towards which it is for a season the deputed Minister For if so only then it might recount and tell us how curiously it wrought for us in the lower parts of the earth and what wonderful Idaea's it had before it to have done further for us in that darksome region had we
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
that from Scripture-light which hitherto may not have been taken notice of to the present purpose It is said The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and the marrow Among many other truths this place doth afford us this for one That it is very difficult to divide or distinguish between the soul and the spirit because there is an intimate Communion and Conjunction between them such an one as in some measure bears proportion with that which is between the joynts and the marrow Now because this latter of the parts of the body though hard in it self yet is far easier to be understood then that former of the parts of the mind let us well consider this and possibly it may give us some light to the other The joynts are the turning places of the body upon which all the actions of the limbs are performed and therefore they are articulated several waies according as the position alteration motion of the adjacent parts do require these are the most visible acting parts of the body The marrow by which we are to understand not the medulla ossium the marrow of the bones but the medulla spinalis the marrow of the back for this hath much more intimate communion and conjunction with the joynts than the other hath is the apprehending and instructing part of the body that which carries the impressions of external objects to the inward sense and reconveys the mandates thereof to the members of the body to be put in execution upon the joynts Ejus munus est spirituum copias motuum obeundorum instinctus extra deferre atque sensibilium impressiones intus convehere this is the secret inward influencing part of the body In like manner the soul is the most apparent active part of the mind of man whereupon all its operations both speculative and practical are turned and performed of which there is a particular account given in the explication of the following word but the Spirit is a more mysterious and hidden power that doth most secretly and undiscernably both gather up those intimations that come from without and also give forth an effectual influence upon the whole inward man to put all it s well regulated Commands in execution upon the soul Both which offices of this Sun viz. both of reception from the outward senses and actuation of the inward is very clearly expressed in that speech of Zophar unto Job I have heard the check of my reproach and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer As if he had said I have received through mine ears the sound of my reproach and an answerable impression is made upon my spirit and the same spirit also hath drawn forth my understanding into act towards the formation and production of an answer And this is the constant manner of the operation of mans understanding this is also that part of the mind which Aristotle and all his followers meant by their Intellectus agens this is that Candle of the Lord or light within them which the unsound Teachers of old and those more innocent ones of late would have to be a sufficient guide to everlasting life But if it be so it will be good hearkening to it while it doth remain in its strength for this Sun also as years come on doth certainly decline and great must that declension be For if the light of the body which is the eye be darkness great must that darkness be much more surely if the light of the soul which is the Sun be darkned how exceeding great must that darkness needs be Indeed there must be a defect in the whole understanding when this primum mobile can scrace act any longer and therefore it is that the Apostle speaks concerning the spiritual understanding alluding therein unto the natural Having their understanding darkned through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart When there is ignorance to receive and blindness to guide in this principal faculty all those which are thereby acted must certainly be weakned as the next word doth clearly import The Light By the light therefore I understand all those more inferiour powers of the rational part of the soul of man that are any way set on work by vertue of the principal Agent which is an efflux from the before mentioned Sun the Possible understanding also in all its operations participates in like manner of this state of weakness Now the operations of mans understanding are various both ad extra in respect of the Objects and ad intra in respect of the will The first are speculative the last are practical The first whereby the understanding is conversant about things as they have in their own nature a distinct being are principally three The first is perception or the simple apprehension of an object from the immediate impression thereof by the ministry of the before-mentioned Sun The second is Composition or Complexion whereby we try and weigh the particulars that we have before received and compound and divide joyn and separate one thing from another as may be most convenient for the improvement of them to their appointed ends The third is reason or discourse whereby we gather up to our selves somewhat farther than we understood before and make our selves masters of a new and better knowledge which the things themselves received as in themselves could not administer The last whereby the understanding is conversant about things as they are good or evil may also be reduced to three The first is Conscience which is a reflection of the understanding upon a mans actions together with a sentencing them to be good or evil according to those unquestionable principles which are already received This is the search which the Candle of the Lord makes in the lower part of the belly The second is direction or judgment whereby the understanding doth propose an end to be desired and prosecuted the execution of which that is the resting satisfied in and desiring of that end is that which Morallists ascribe to the will and term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third is Consultation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reasoning about the means to attain that end together with an Inquisition and Collation of several means among themselves and an election of those which are most proper the embracing of which and putting them in execution is that which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now these and all the operations of the rational soul however they may be distinguished have in this state an answerable imbecillity Be a man never so apprehensive be he never so ingenious be he never so rational be he never so consciencious be he never so judicious be he never so prudent when his Sun begins to set and his light to decline he must become weak as another man nay weak
a state of obscurity and the Grave a place of secresie and therefore it is that Job wishing for death phraseth it Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the Grave that thou wouldest keep me in secret But beside the bare signification of secresie this word doth for the most part carry along with it an intimation of duration or continuâ—nce and therefore may very well be translated Tempus eujus duratio est abscondita an hidden duration a time that no man knows how long which is exactly answered by our English Law-phrase time out of mind and that both à parte post and à parte ante time either that is past or that is to come of which no man can give an account Both which also are signified unto us by the Latine word Olim which without all question came from the Hebrew word we are now speakking of as both the sound and signification will abundantly make appear Now this duration at least is in the state of death that no man knows how long it will continue No one living can give an account how long it shall be before the earth shall disclose her bloud and her bones and shall no more cover her slain The second signification of the word is avum seculum an age a certain long space of time that is commensurate with the duration of the thing that is spoken of A perpetuity as I may so say that is circumscribed an everlastingness that lasts as long as the thing of which it is affirmed It is said of an Hebrew Servants refusing to go out free His Master shall bore his Ear through with an Aul and he shall serve him for ever And again when Hannah resolved to present her son Samuel to the Lord she saith I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide for ever which Term for ever is afterwards explained when she doth bring him and present him then she saith I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth Now in this sense also may the word be taken in this place so long as Death lives and it is the last enemy that shall be destroyed it will keep in its possession all that it hath or shall surprize The Graves must be our homes when once we come there as long as there is any Dust to cover us or Heavens to surround us Men lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more they shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep Untill the grave shall not onely cease from craving but from being and untill death be wholly swallowed up of victory all those Bodies that are under their power must there quietly remain as in their own unalterable habitations The last signification of this word is duratio absolute infinita aeternitas A compleat and absolute perpetuity eternity And in this signification it is mostly used and must alwayes be interpreted when it is applyed to God or any of his Attributes as often it is When Nebuchadnezzars understanding was returned to him he blessed the most high and praised and honoured him that liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation Again it is said in Isaiah Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation Now in this last sense also may the same word in this place be safely taken in domum aternitatis suae The state we arrive at by Death is an everlasting state and we shall never return to this life again through all eternity And hence it is that usually we find such Epitaphs hanc aternam sedem sibi posâ—it and Hac domus aeterna est hic sum situs hic ero semper Nor is the Scripture without its testimony hereunto for David saith Spare me a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more And Job doth not only say it but argue upon it There is hope of a Tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease Though the root there of wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground Yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant But Man dieth and wasteth away yea Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he And that Interrogation If a Man die shall he live again which usually is interpreted vehemently to affirm seems on the contrary to me most earnestly to deny and is as much as to say if a Man die he shall never live more no hopes of a return to this life again And this First the manner of proposing the question seems chiefly to intend for it is not negatively proposed If a man die shall he not live again but affirmatively shall he live again Now Negative Interrogations do in all Languages and in Scripture phrase too more properly intend affirmative Propositions as where it is said Doth not each of you on the sabbath day loose his Oxe or his Ass from the stall and ought not this Woman also to be loosed both of them most vehemently affirming and again another Interrogation How shall he not also with him give us all things is as much as to say he shall most surely do it On the other hand affirmative Interrogations do for the most part intend negative Propositions Joseph saith How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God and the Lord saith How shall I give thee up O Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim all of them intending the denying of the thing Both these Interrogations about the same subject too are together in one Verse of the Psalms still intending their contrary Propositions What Man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave the first part of the Verse is negatively proposed and therefore signifies the strong affirming of the thing he shall surely see death and the latter part of the verse is affirmatively proposed and therefore signifieth the vehement negation of it he shall in no wise deliver his soul from the hand of the Grave The manner therefore of proposing this question being without a negative doth seem to carry the sense that if a man be dead he shall never live again Secondly the inference that is hence made confirms the same thing All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come doth far more naturally and powerfully proceed from the denying of life again then from the asserting it as to the diligent observer will easily appear if a man shall never live again in this world it is of most high concern to prepare for that change that foreruns an everlasting state There is no returning more from death and therefore let every
to bewail their own loss of their Godly Friend Natural Affection and the Fleshly part of Man ought something to be indulged in this respect but the loss of a great and a long Example of Piety whose presence hath been a continued blessing both to persons and places ought most seriously and sadly to affect the inward man and therefore they are sharply reproved by the Prophet who are negligent in this duty The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart the merciful men are taken away none considering c. And it is to be observed that the Saints of God though never so old and brought never so low through the miseries attending them when they changed this life for a better were still buried with great lamentation Abel-mizraim was a place never to be forgot either by the Egyptians or the Canaanites and not Jacob only but Moses and Aaron and Samuel were buried by the assembly of the people of Israel and very great publick mournings was made for them all Verse 6. Or ever the silver Cord be loosed or the golden Bowl be broken or the Pitcher be broken at the fountain or the Wheel broken at the Cistern THus far the King hath been treating of all those Symptomes that accompany a man all along his decrepit state which may appear upon him while yet he may have some space given him to remain in the Land of the living These that follow in this verse are such that immediately forerun his dissolution which when they once appear there remains nothing but a present preparation for his Funeral And they may serve as indications not only in this weak and spent condition of age but in whatsoever other condition of mans life by the violence of a disease they are joyntly found they give a most certain Prognostick of approaching death In the Explication whereof there is very much variety of opinions so that it would be exceeding tedious and troublesome to follow them all but I shall spare all that pains and take notice of none of them but what I judge to be nearest the intentention of the Wise man forasmuch as most of the other carry their own refutations in their faces and if I may be directed to find out any thing of truth contained in them that also will bear its own evidence along with it and may serve for eviction of whatsoever is contrary thereunto Forasmuch as rectum est index sui obliqui Death which is the fruit of old age and the unavoidable receptacle of all living is descried to be just at the door by those Symptomes that belong to the instruments either of the animal faculty or of the vitall as for those that belong unto the Natural they have very little or no certainty in this Case Those that belong to the animal have reference unto the brain and the parts arising from it either as they are continued without the Cranium Or ever the silver Cord be loosed or else as they are contained within the Cranium The golden Bowl be broken Those Symptomes that belong to the vital faculty have reference unto the heart and the parts arising from it as they serve either for importation of the bloud and spirits The Pitcher broken at the Fountain or for exportation of the same The Wheel broken at the Cistern Now of all these in their Order Or ever the silver Cord be loosed The first thing that we must here make enquiry into is what we are to understand by the Cord and we must be sure here also as in all other parts of the description to keep within compass of the Allegory and find out those parts of a man that are hereby represented For he it is that hath hitherto been described unto us as an old house greatly decayed and ruinated but yet standing by all the foregoing Symptomes but now as an house falling down which must no longer remain by this Symtome and those three which immediately follow in this verse And therefore these may very well be called quatuor mortis Concomitantia the four attendants upon dying man The Scripture maketh mention of the Cords of a man which although they are there to be taken in a Moral sense and so excentricall to what we are now about yet they are a Metaphor taken from the natural cords of a man and may give some light thereunto for as love in all bodies politick and consequently mystical doth both draw and unite so in all bodies natural the self-same offices are performed by those parts of which we are about to speak for we must know that all the several parts of man are not kept and bound fast together by spels nor are his several members moved several waies as it were by Magick Art the soul of man doth not by a bare jubeo cause the representation of outward objects or the variation of the position of the several limbs without the help of instruments but by the apt frame of the whole body and the pliableness of the several parts and the convenient position of all the Cords and Pulleys towards their appointed ends we perceive outward objects and move our selves at pleasure so as that an artificial man could there be in it the same organs and the same disposition of them all together with an active power to put them in execution would have a like sense and motion with our selves The Chaldee Paraphrase doth interpret this Cord to the Ligula linguae the string of the tongue others interpret it to the Spinalis medulla the marrow of the back others to the Nerves others to the outward Tunicle of the Nerves and marrow which they have proper to themselves for their own strength beside the other two which they receive from the brain All these have offered exceeding well and without doubt have hit the truth and being put together may seem to make the whole of what is here intended which is the whole instrument of sense and motion after it hath proceeded out of the Scull and as it is distributed throughout the body with all its Coats and Tunicles with all its divisions and separations I mean not only the spinal marrow is here to be understood as principally it ought to be but all the Nerves arising thence from both those seven pair be they more or less that proceed from it before it hath attained any of the spines and those thirty pair that proceed from the several Vertebrae of the neck the back the loyns and the Os Sacrum and also the Filaments and Fibers and Tendons that proceed from all those Nerves The Nerves and Fibers must in no wise be here left out forasmuch as they do more apparently both unite and draw than any other of the parts whatsoever Job saith Thou hast fenced me with bones and with sinews I compare these fences of a man to those of an hedge where the bones answer to the stakes in the hedge making the substantial
every cursory and superficial Reader all which may also be communicated to you in a convenient season FINIS The INDEX THe Introduction from page 1 to 12 The use of the Scripture P. 1 2. the several interpretations of this place 3 the true 4 the names of age 5 the bounds 6 7. the Analysis 9 the onely Panacea 10. Vers 1. From page 12 to 23 the exhortation p. 12 the general diseases and inleâ—s to all the rest 13 the certainty of this state 13 14 the continuation 15 how evill dayes are to be understood 15 16 17. what old Age is called good 18 how pleasure is to be understood 21 incredible in Age ib. Vers 2. From Page 23 to 54 the several interpretations of this Verse p. 23 24 the proper 26 the union of the Soul and Body ib. their communion 27 the inward Man which doth not decay 29 30 the sun or rational faculty superiour 31 the difference between soul and spirit 32 33 the light or rationâ— faculty inferiour 30 the speculative operations ib the practical 37 Solomons declension 38 the Wiâ—â— 39 the Moon or sensitive faculty 40 its operations 41 the common sense and phansie the same faculty 42 the Stars or the Species in the memory 45 not onely of the phansie but of the understanding 46 the use of this faculty 4â— 48 the diseases 49 Clouds after Rain i. e. one misery after another 50 51 notwithstanding what nature can do 52 or art 53. V. 3. From page the 54 to 101 the Body compared to an House p. 55 the keepers of the house not the Thorax but the Hands 56 how they keep the house 57 58 the bones 59 60 the thumb 61 the muscles 61 62 the diseases 63 the causes of them 63 64 the strong Men or the Feet 65 66 67. their likeness to the keepers of the house 69 the femur 70 the Patella 71 the conjunction of the fibula 72 the variety of the flexures of the hands and feet 73 the muscles 73 74 the diseases 75 the grinders the jaw-bones 76 77 the teeth several wayes fitted for grinding 77 78 79 the division of them 80 the reasons why the great and broad teeth are most properly the grinders 81 82 Creatures that have teeth onely on one jaw and how that want is supplied 83 84 the diseases 85 how the Eyes may be called the lookers out of the Windowes 86 the pellucide parts 87 the humours ib. the tunicles 88 the use of the tunica cornea 90 the visible species ib. how vision is made 91 the holes 92 the orbitae 93 the palpebrae or eye-lids 94 the Iris or party-coloured part of the eye 95 the pupilla or apple of the eye 96 the optick nerve 97 the diseases 99 100. V. 4. From page 101 to 150 The connexion p. 101 the cause of former Interpreters mistake upon this Verse p. 102 103 a double grinding 104 why fermentation is called grinding 104 105 Chylification 106 Sanguification 107 108 Assimulation 109 110 Lâ—ctification 111 Spermification 112 the Grinding of Samson 114 115 the sound of the Grinding 116 117 the lowness thereof or the diseases 118 the doores 119 the fore-doores 120 the back-doores 121 the intermediate doores 122 123 the Streets 124 the shutting of the doores or the diseases 125 the voice of the bird 126 127 the diseases 129 how both sleep and waking may be accounted infirmities of Age 130 131 why Age is defined morbus naturalis 133 the active Daughters of Musick ib. the lungs 134 135 the Organs of Speech 136 the Aspera Arteria ib. the Tongue 137 the Pallate 138 139 theTeeth 140 the Lips ib. the Organs of Singing 141 the Larynx ib. the Glottis 142 the passive Daughters of Musick 143 144 the outward Ear 145 the Elices ib. the inward Ear 147 how hearing is performed 148 the diseases 149 150. Vers 5. From page 150 to 202 The Connection p. 150 151 the Passions of the Mind 152 fear 153 its attendants and causes 154 155 its consequences 156 the fearfulness of Jacob and Eli 157 the objects of Old Mens fear 158 high things ib. plain and easie things 159 the division of the parts of the Body 160 the Almond Tree or Hoary Head 161 which agree in colour 162 in hastiness 163 in eminency 164 in diagnosticks 165 in Prâ—gnosticks 167 Canities 169 the Grashopper shall be a burden or rather shall grow or shew big and burdensome 170 the mistake of former Interpreters 171 how removed 172 the division of the animate parts 173 the Grashopper resembleth the bones 175 and their protuberancies 176 chiefly the Vertebrae of the spine 177 the other spermatical parts and the skin 179 the diseases 180 defire shall fail or rather the Capers shall shrink 181 the reasons for this Interpretation 182 183 the diseases 184 the blood and humours and entrails 185 the Glandules 186 the Muscles 186 187 long home implying secrecy 189 long duration 191 eternity 192 that interrogation if a Man die shall he live again intends the Negative 193 194 195 the Resâ—rrection 196 the Mourning at the Funeral 197 no cause of it in respect of the dead 198 199 but of the living 200. Vers 6. From page 202 to 249 the Connection p. 202 203 the Cord 204 205 the instrument of sense and motion after it hath proceeded out of the scull 206 why expressed in the singular number 207 it is called the Silver Cord from its colour and place 208 from its excellency 209 210 the loosning of the Cord 211 the symptome of death here intended 212 the bowl 213 the contained parts of the Head ib. the containing parts 215 external 216 internal 216 217 the Pia mater principally here intended 218 why called the Golden Bowl 219 220 221 the symptome of death here intended 222 how an Apoplex may be reckoned both as a disease of Age and a symptome of Death 223 224 why this part of the Allegory could never be understood formerly 226 wherein the life of Man consists 227 the use of the heart 228 229 230 its vessels 231 the Circulation of the blood how performed 232 233 the Pitcher or the Veines 234 235 the fountain or right Ventricle of the heart 236 237 the symptome of death here intended 238 239 the wheel is the in strument of circulation 240 241 242 the Cistern or left Ventricle of the Heart 243 the agreement of King Solomon and Dr. Harvey 245 the symptome of Death here intended 246 the summ of all the diseases 248. The Conclusion from page 249 to the end Solomons Systeme to be compared with others p. 249 the Scripture light the best in natural things 250 its excellency 251 252 the Vindication of Physicians 253 254 Natural things lead to Divine 255 the inducement to study the Scripture 257 and the Gerocomical part of Physick 257 258 what cures in respect of Age are already found out 259 what are wanting 260 the retarding of Age 261 the prolonging of life 261 262 the