state of weakness, unto thofe particular ones, that do more immediately forerun his diffolution: For man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. They fhall be afraid of that which is high, and fears fhall be in the way. The powers and faculties of the mind, as they are weakened in age, are abundantly defcribed in the fecond verfe: In these words is notified unto us, that most remarkable change that is made upon the affects and paffions of the mind in the fame condition, And this is only in refpect of fear, and those that are nearly related unto it. For as for those which are placed, iv tậ itibuμntix, in appetitu concupifcente, fuch as love, hatred, defire, joy, and the like; they are in no wife exceffive in this weak state of age, forasmuch as a firm and a vigorous habit of body, quick and lively fenfes, both outward and inward, do most promote them; fo that where there is a general defect in both these, and all defire doth fail, it is not to be fuppofed, there should be any predominancy of any of those paffions, that proceed from the concupifcible appetite; as for those which are placed, vt vix in appetitu irafcente; they all have for their object either good or evil; those which have good for their object, as hope, and fuch like, have little or no place in the time of age, for afmuch afmuch as it is an evil time, and there is no pleasure in it. Now all imminent evil is looked upon either as vincible, or invincible; if a man look upon an approaching evil, as that which he is able to overcome, it naturally produceth boldness in him, which is the contrary paffion to fear, and can in no respect agree to the fame perfons. It remains therefore, that that distress of the mind, which arifeth from the apprehenfion of fome approaching evil, that is either deftructive or burdenfome to our nature, and not easily refiftible by our strength, is the paffion that is moft incident to age. True it is, that anger and vexation, grief and fadnefs, and fuch like, as have for their object fome prefent evil, and border hard upon this we are speaking of, may in fome measure be found in age; yet the true and proper, the most notorious trouble of the mind, is that dumpish, melancholy, destructive paffion of fear; which together with all its attendants and neceffary confequences, fuch as fufpicion, jealoufies, fuperftition, diflike, inconftancy, betraying the fuccours of reason, are too familiarly obferved in the best of men that are crooked with age; and by how much the more man declines, by fo much the more do these fuperfluities encrease, like mifletoe, and fome other excrefcencies of trees, that flourish not, till the stock decay from which they fpring. And the reason of it is, because the true caufes of this affection (namely, misapprehenfions of the things feared, and inability to refift them) are encreafed together with age, and therefore muft needs produce their answerable effects. The first of thefe caufes proceeds from the weakness of the imagination; the other, from the lowness of the fpirits, and imbecillity of the outward organs: The firft makes the cause of fear to seem the greater; the other, to take the deeper impreffion. Imagination puts a double fallacy upon ancient men; first, it makes them undervalue themselves, and minorate their own abilities; and then it makes them overvalue the objects of fear, and make them far greater than they are; like fome perspective glaffes, that at both ends mifrepresent the things feen, yet with a contrary appearance, at one end making them appear leffer, and at a farther distance; and at the other end, greater and nearer than they ought. And hence it is, that they are fo timorous upon every the least occafion; that which is faid of wicked men may also be faid of old men; They are in great fear where no fear is; Pfal. liii. 5. quæ finxêre, timent; the weakened imagination creating objects of fear unto itself, or at leaft much falfifying them, and encreasing them like the man in the gofpel, that had but an half and a broken fight, He faw men as big as trees walking. Again, the dulness and hea vinefs of the fpirits, and the impotency of the members, render a man most obnoxious unto fear; the fpirits being of a strong, quick, and fubtile motion, are the principal instruments of intercourse between the foul and the body, and do confequently bring in the greatest aid and affiftance against this paffion; but, in age they are benummed as it were, and congealed, fo that they ceafe much from their operation and motion, and can adminifter little or no courage at all. Nor is it thus only with the spirits, but the organical parts alfo of the body are in this state made unfit for their functions, and altogether unferviceable to refift the very appearance of danger; and stand (as I may fo fay) ready. prepared for the entertainment of fear; the great confequences whereof, fuch as whiteness and stiffness of the hair, trembling of the joints and heart, impotency of speech, failing of the eyes, and astonishment, paleness of the face, horror, gnashing of the teeth, involun tary emiffion of excrements, are very eafily produced in this condition; nay, they are most of them already there to be found, without an object to effect them; therefore no wonder if thole things which are τὰ κίνα κινδύνων to the Atrong man, prove φοβερώτατα to the decrepit. These things were known to be true, without an instance; yet, I cannot but take no tice of Jacob, who, while young and strong, did exceed most men we read of, for courage and boldness; with what audacity did he manage the two great enterprizes of obtaining both the birth-right and the bleffing; and that while he was yet very young? with what courage did he undertake, and go through with a long and lonesome journey, an hard and a deceitful fervice? but when he was old he was of a more timorous spirit: it was fear let fall that paffage, If I am bereaved, I am bereaved, Gen. xliii. 14. Such news as one would have thought would have refreshed his heart, when he was old overcame it; for when it was faid Jofeph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt, Jacob's heart fainted, Gen. xlv. 26. Fear was a paffion fo ready at the door, that it stept in firft, and had almost over-borne him, and left no place for joy to enter in. Good Eli, when he was very old,, was very fearful, he timorously reproves the outrageous wickedness of his fons, 1 Sam. ii. 22. and after this black and dreadful enemy had once taken poffeffion of him, it followed him continually, and dogg'd him till he died. When the Ifraelites and Philistines were about to join battel, he fate in a fearful posture, and it is faid, his heart trembled, 1 Sam. iv. 13. and when the iffue was told him, he fell from off his feat backward, and his neck brake that he died; and the reason is added, for he was an old |