e5Vlán his laßPragref} 71 The rightCoherence. I ;tac The C e- when they fhallbeafraid ofthat which is high, andfear ilia!' be in the ;i4),, and the] t, Almond tree(hallflourifb, and the Grafhopper/hall be abarehen, knddefire(hallfail, becaufe mangoeth teihis longhome. Ifthis Confequence befirm;theCoherencentuft needs be good; but if this he infirm and lame,that mull needs be out ofjoynt; let us then confiderof the Confequence. Surelyariftotlefeemethto beofanother mind,whofe obfervationit is,old menthat sent, in liwine have their foot onDeaths threllaold,would thendraw back their leg if theycould,nd mo.r v,i at the very instant of their diffolution aremoll defirous ofthe continuance oftheir; i td . g. life, and feeing thepleafures of fin like the Apples ofTantalus running away from é9. been. ,,.;. them,they catch at them themoregreedily,for want is the whetfloneofdefire;and experience'offereth us many inftances of old men, in whom Saint Patois oldman growsyoung again; who according to the corruptionofnaturewhich SaintAuflin bewaileth with tears, malunt libidinem expleri quam extingtei; they are fo far from havingno luft or delire of pleafures, as being cloyed therewith, that theyare more infatiable in them than inyouth; the flcsh in them like the Peacocks, re coaare- trudefcit, which after it is foci, in time will grow raw again, fo in themafter morti- fication by difeafes and age, itreviveth. Sophocles the HeathenPoet night pats for. a Saint in comparifonof them, for he thanked God, thatin his old age he was free from his molt Imperious Miftris, luft s theft menon thecontrary, delire to inthral Or. definals. themfelvesagain in yottthly pleafures, and concupifcence in them is kindled even by te thedefeft of fuel ; it vexeth them that their fins forfàke them ; that through the im- potency of their limbs and faculties,they cannot run intothe like excefsas in former times : thcirfewdayes before death, are likeShrovetide before Lent, they take their fill of Relis and flcllsly defires,becatlfe they fuppofe that for ever afte,they mulifall from them. Thuí they fpur ontheir jadifh flefhnow unable to runher.formerSta- giii, Paying ; -let us crownourfelvcs with ltofe-buds, forthey will prefently wither, yr m eat and drink, for tomorrow we!halldie. To reconcile the feeming difference betweenthe miracleofhumane w ifdom. , t fiftotle; and the Oracle of divine, Sálowion, two diftinflions may be made life of. Of old Age. óf old Men. ìÇIn the entry, whenit is vigorous. z<In the exit, when it is decrepit, Lt ne ad mala gaidem JJ bona. íSAstheyought to be. z As they are. When Èriripideiwas taxed as too great a favouterof the female Sex, becaufe in all hisTragedies he brought invertuous women, and fitted them' with goodparts to Aft; whereas Sophocles, and other Poets of that Age, brought lewd and immodeft women upon theStage, andput odious parts upon them ; hemade this Apology for himfelf: others faith he, intheir poema (etforth womenas they are, but I, filch as they f ouldbe i Solomon; words are capableof á like conflruftion, defrrefaileth be- caufeman,aeth to his long home :' that is, it doth in the heft, and fhouldin all; for what a prepoflerous thing wereit, for a marlthat bath one foot already iethegrave, and is drawing the other after, to delire tocut acrois caper, and dancethemorrice 7 or for him that is near his eternal Manfionhoule, to hanker by the way, and feaft and level it iii an Inn. Moreover, Solomon here fpeakcth ofa Baredllai, who luthno tafteofhis meat,-no fenceofdelighrnoufe,in amanner,of fenle,towhom daintic are nodaintïes,becaufe hecannottafle them;mufick is nomuftck,becaufe he cannothear ït; fweetodours are nofweetodours,becaufehe cannot finell them;precious llorica are no preciousfyones,becaufehe cannot value them; the faireft beautiesarenobeatifies, becaufe he cani'otdifcern them : Inaword, he fpeaketh ofan old man inwhom air ¡ earnallulls are eitherquite extinft,or happily exchangedin` o fpiritual, or fwallowed
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