nay but Pleasure as Galen testifieth f. Whereâ—ore if sometimes from such Reduction Pain do happen as when the Hands chilled with Snow are suddenly exposed to the Fire this is by Accident because to wit some Parts are preternaturally altered whilst the Heat in others is reduced to its natural Perfection or because from the Application of Heat the Cold in others is suddenly intended by Antiperistasis I answer secondly That Pain is a depraved Action of the Touch And seeing the Sense it self as other Powers would have been helped to perform perfect Actions there could never have been a Depravation of Touch which Pain is § 29. But whether according to the Opinion which denies the Fruit to be an adequate Cause of Immortality it had been necessary that Alexipharmack Qualities should be contributed by the Wood to Mans Body whereby it might be preserved from Poysons It seems to be affirmed because it cannot be believed these Vertues were wanting to the most perfect Medicament when many other ordinary Medicaments have efficacious Virtues against Poysons nay we must think all other Supra-elementary Virtues for curing Diseases must have been found in it which are found in other ordinary Medicines Those notwithstanding excepted which used without Art do hurt such as are Purgative Virtues which given unseasonably and to a Healthy Man bring no small Harm § 30. I say seventhly According to the same Opinion which affirms the Tree of Life was not an adequate Cause of Immortality but that the Supra-ordinary Providence of God was necessary to avoid the Harms of External Causes according to this Opinion I say it is not necessary to grant a Resistive Quality in the Tree nor it may be other Qualities which might preserve the Elemental ones of the Body in a necessary fixt Degree at least not so efficacious as wholly to resist all external altering Causes It is proved because the Supra-ordinary Providence of God had been sufficient § 31. But since from the Sacred Text it appears that Women in the State of Obedience should have been free from the Pains of Birth it seems worth our Enquiry Whether also the Qualities of the Tree of Life would have prevented the Pains of Birth in Women It seems to be more probably answered in the Affirmative First Because seeing the Wood would have averted all internal Causes of Death or also the external besides according to different Opinions and since it would have cured all preternatural Affections it must of necessity have been able to prevent and take away the Pains of Birth nor is there need of any greater Reason why it should take away these than others § 32. Secondly Because there are Medicines found naturally which by means of Supra-elementary occult Qualities do wonderfully allay the Pains of several Parts and preserve a Man from them as a Wolf's Liver against the Pain of the Liver as Galen g testifies and that famous Stone which may deservedly be called Nephritick brought from the West Indies vulgarly called de la hijada as Monardes h testifies which tied to the Arm both takes away Nephritick Pains and preserves a Man from them as also doth a certain Wood of the same Name which I have sometime seen described by the same Author Therefore it is credible that in this Wood which had admirable Virtues for all Preternatural Affections these also were not wanting which might preserve from Pains of Birth especially seeing it makes for the Conservation of Life as a Reward of Obedience to which purpose in the primary intention it was created § 33. But what way did it perform this Work It may be doubted For the Cause of the Pains of Birth is the breaking of those Bonds that tye the Child to the Womb which being a violent and sudden Solution of Continuity it necessarily causeth Pain Wherefore that the Tree of Life may prevent these Pains it is necessary that it either stupefy the Sense in those Parts as Narcotick Medicines do or so mollify and dispose the Ligaments whereby the Child is knit to the Womb as Anodyne Medicines do that without violence they might be separated from the Parts of the Womb or that it regulate the Faculties of the Womb after such a manner that they work that Separation by little and little without Trouble For only a violent Passion which is preternatural when it is done much together and speedily causeth Pain but what is done by little and little escapes Sense as Galen i expresseth it Another Way may also concur viz. Because in that State the Wood of Life would join with and assist the Powers that they might perform most perfect Actions Therefore it would concur with the Touch that it might feel most perfectly wherefore a depraved Sensation could not be in which Pain might formally consist although the Object or Cause of Pain were present § 34. But you will object Either this Wood would have taken away the Pains of Birth in the State of Innocence or in the State of Lapsed Nature Not in the first because it appears from the Sacred Text that in it Woman would have had no Pains in Birth Not in the Second because from the Sacred Text also it appears that they must necessarily suffer Pains for a Punishment of Sin Therefore it would take away Pains in no State I answer that both in the State of Innocence and in the State of Lapsed Nature this Wood would have been good against the Pains of Birth if it had been eaten In the State of Innocence because by it Women would have been preserved from Pains and by means of it would have obtained what was owing to that State And in the State of Lapsed Nature because therefore God cast Woman with Adam out of Paradise lest she should enjoy the Good due to Innocence and the Reward promised for Obedience and by consequence Eternal Life and lest she should obtain Immunity from the Pains of Birth by Eating of this Wood. a Suar. in Met. disp 42. sect 4. n. 8. b Vasq. tom 1 2. ad q. 21. disp 78. c. 3. n. 21. c Auth. quaest vet nov Testam q. 19. d Gal. 7. meth cap. 13. lit C. e D. Thom. 1. p. q. 96. art 3. f Gal. lib. 1. de causis sympt cap. 6. g 8. local cap. 8. F. h Monardes 1. p. c. propr i Gal. 1. de causis sympt cap. 6. DOUBT VII After what manner would the Resistance of Qualities defend that Mans Body who eat of the Tree of Life from all External Causes that could hurt it § 1. ALthough the present Doubt be already resolved together with the foregoing Yet since all these things are new which we have alledged for the Preservation of Man from Death by the Qualities of the Wood of Life and that those are more hard to be known which should naturally defend him from the extrinsick Causes of Death and seeing they are not sufficiently declared as the Difficulty of the thing requires I accounted it very necessary more
For if Moral Symptoms such as Nation 's rising against Nation Divisions in Families and between Friends do portend the last days we must conclude the World in its testy old Age and that that day the Angels in Heaven no nor the Son of Man himself knew not of is coming on b The Lives of the Patriarchs before the Flood were almost a thousand Years Near the Flood men lived but about Ten pro Cent. to what they did before And David in his time allowed a strong Man might make a shift to creep to fourscore Yet I concur with the Author that in those Scripture-Instances as also in our own Case not so much the decay of Vniversal Nature as the good Pleasure of her God is seen in permitting Men for the Reasons assigned by the Author to be cut short in their lives c This Negligence is most perceived in our Diet for it is impossible good Blood or Humours should be bred when we heap Dish upon Dish Sauce upon Sauce Fruit upon Fruit Raw upon Roast Roast upon Raw Bak'd upon Boil'd Boil'd upon Bak'd Sowre upon Sweet and Soft upon Hard. Horace l. 2. Satyr 2. in the Roman Luxury lasheth this fault in all others nam variae res Ut noceant homini credas memor illius escae Quae simplex olim tibi sederit at simul assis Miscueris elixa simul conchylia turdis Dulcia se in bilem vertent stomachóque tumulâ—tum Lenta feret pituita Vides ut pallidus omnis Coenâ desurgit dubiâ quin corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat unà Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aurae For you know Much harm to us from various Meats doth flow Think on that only Dish which was your Fare How blith and healthy after it you were But when men fell to mingling Roast and Boil'd And Fish and Fowl together Health was spoil'd The Sweet Meats turn'd to Choler tough Phlegm Bred a disturbance in the Maws of them Observe how pale and sick a Man doth rise From Board confounded with varieties Nay when the Body 's overcharg'd the Mind Is also in the Discomposure join'd And on the ground inhumanely does roul That part of Heavenly Breath the precious Soul d We that believe the Holy Scriptures know that God first planted all Plants and made all Living Creatures For before Man was made all Plants Shrubs and Trees sprung out of the Earth endowed with their genuine Vertues and Faculties every way compleat by the sole power of God's Word Which things when God had brought to the first Man Adam to see what he would call them Adam out of that unspeakable Wisdom and Knowledge in the Nature of things which God had given him gave them Names and whatsoever Adam called every thing that was the Name thereof Now God that made the Properties of things invented them and communicated of his own knowledge to his Image Man And notwithstanding that by Man's transgressing God's Command he lost his Original Righteousness and impaired his Wisdom yet it is evident he retained the knowledge of the Vertues of things For otherwise how could he in the sweat of his face eat his Bread if he knew not what to make it of And whereas God allotted him the Herb of the Field for his Food he must of necessity know the Vertues of Herbs else he might for his repast eat his mortal bane So with the Knowledge of his Evil he had this Good left him But with his Posterity it fared worse Their Infant-Knowledge only aped their Fathers and had no connate Idea's of the Vertues of things But took all upon the Word of Tradition or some Empirical Experiment And since we cannot derive the Pedigree of our Knowledge so high as Solomon whose Inspired Herbal could it be found might be a good Succedaneum to Adam's Onomasticon we find our selves very far from reading it on Seth's Pillars Only with astonished Ignorance we may see its Epitaph in Confusion on the Plains of Shinar For we are more wise in Tongues than Things and are a sort of Philologick Philosophers whose Knowledge is Various Readings And so no wonder if our skill fail us e Roger Bacon in his Perspectives Dist. 1. Cap. 5. speaks thus But that all doubting may be removed it ought to be considered that the Sensitive Soul hath a double Instrument or Subject One is Radical and Fontal and this is the Heart according to Aristotle and Avicenna in his Book Of the Soul Another is that which is first changed by the Species of Sensibles and wherein the Operations of the Senses are more manifested and distinguished and this is the Brain For when the Head is hurt there happens a manifest Hurt of the Sensitive Powers and the Hurt of the Head is more manifest to us than that of the Heart and therefore according to the more manifest Consideration we shall place the Sensitive Powers in the Head And this is the Opinion of Physicians not considering that the Fontal Original of the Powers is from the Heart But Avicenna in his first Book Of the Art of Physick saith that although to Sense the Opinion of Physicians be more manifest Yet the Opinion of the Philosopher is truer for all the Nerves and Veins and Powers of the Soul arise first and principally from the Heart as Aristotle in his Twelfâ—h Book Of Animals demonstrates and Avicenna in his Third Of Animals doth shew CHAP. II. Of Remedies against the Causes of Old Age. HItherto we have discoursed of the Causes of Old Age Now we must speak of the Remedies which hinder them and after what manner they may be hindred Wise Physicians have laid down two ways of opposing these Causes One is the Ordering of a man's way of living The other is the Knowledge of those Properties that are in certain things which the Ancients have kept secret Avicenna teacheth the Ordering of Life who laying down as it were the Art of Guarding Old Age ordereth that all Putrefaction be carefully kept off and that the Native Moisture be diligently preserved from Dissolution and Change namely that as great a share of Moisture may be added by Nutrition as is spent by the flame of Heat and other Ways Now this care ought to be used in the time of Manhood that is about the fortieth Year of a man's Age when the beauty of a man is at the height These Ways of repelling the Causes of Old Age do something differ one from another For one is the Beginning the other the End One begins the other makes up the Defect thereof but each brings great assistance to the turning away of these Evils By one Way alone the Doctrine of the Antients will not be completed By the Knowledge of each both our Endeavours and theirs may be perfected The Doctrine of soberly ordering ones Life teacheth how to oppose drive away and restrain the Causes of Old Age. And this it doth by proportioning the a Six Causes distinct
yet doth not please First because that Word in its proper Signification denotes Eternity but the Words of Holy Writ unless some great Inconvenience hinder should ever be taken in their proper and genuine Signification otherwise we should have nothing certain Secondly because the Life which was owing to Man in the state of Innocence was Life Eternal not only a very long Life But the Tree of Life was made by God to make good that Life which was owing to Man in the State of Innocence Therefore not only very long Life but simply eternal Life was to be made good by eating of that Tree § 13. And this is confirmed First because God for that Reason cast Man out of Paradise lest he should enjoy that good which was due to him had he been obedient and persisted in the State of Innocence But that Good due to the State of Innocence whereof he was to be deprived if he were not obedient as God had declared in those words in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye was Life absolutely Eternal not only a very long one Therefore the same Life eternal must be made good by that Tree Secondly it is confirmed because the Punishment threatned Man was the loss of Life absolutely eternal But God executed this Punishment by the Loss of the Tree of Life Therefore this Tree must give Life absolutely eternal otherwise it had not been necessary to deprive Man of the eating of this Tree § 14. Secondly The said Opinion is demonstrated because if that Tree had not continually kept off Old Age at least in its Season repeated it would follow that in the state of Innocence something would have been lost of Nature's Vigour and Men would have fallen from the Flower of their Age to a worse condition which is contrary to the Sacred Text which saith in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye that is thou shalt begin to decline to Death or to decay from the Integrity of Nature as all Authors expound it until thou decayest altogether and dost dye Therefore the Tree of Life did so make good eternal Life that it would not suffer Nature to fall a whit from her Integrity Therefore it would not only have given a long Life but that Apple would not suffer the least Defect in Nature § 15. Bellarmine b b judges either of these Opinions probable and affirms they may be defended without Heresy Yet he is for the latter as I am to be the more eligible § 16. Therefore a Man may answer the first Argument for the opposite Opinion thus That its Cogency is as great in the Beatifick Vision for that it indures Time infinite when nevertheless the immediate Causes of this Duration are the Intellect and Light of Glory which are finite Beings Therefore as it is no Obstacle in the Production of an Effect which will endure Time infinite that these Causes are finite So also there can be no Repugnance that the Qualities of the Tree of Life might produce an Effect durable Time infinite § 17. But you will urge This takes not away the force of the Argument Because an infinite Duration is an infinite Effect therefore it cannot be effected by a finite Cause Yet I deny the Consequence Because it may immediately be effected by a finite Cause when in the mean time it depends on a Cause infinite For the Qualities of the Tree of Life were to be conserved by God immediately to all eternity therefore these very Qualities also would immediately conserve Life to Eternity Instances hereof are spiritual Substances which are conserved to Eternity by the First Cause immediately and they themselves conserve their Effects to Eternity § 18. To the Second I answer From this it would follow that all other Trees were superfluous seeing they would remain after Translation And yet the Fruits of other Trees were not supervacaneous in Paradise although no Man eat of them § 19. To the third it may be answered That this Apple was not only Meat but Medicine also by reason of the Qualities which shall hereafter be explained whereby it either hindred its own Rëaction or made up the Dammage of the Rëaction if there were any whereby all things respecting the Integrity of Nature might be restored and reduced to the most perfect State Whence it might correct by Medicinal Qualities that Dammage which it brought by Rëaction § 20. To the fourth I say That the Qualities of that Wood which shall hereafter be enumerated would have preserved from all Causes which might bring a Preternatural Disposition to the Body so that it could neither be offended by Wounds nor could be sick or dye of Hunger or want of Air which hereafter we shall shew was possible § 21. Others who are unwilling to attribute the perfect Cause of avoiding Death to the Tree of Life reply That those outward Causes must have been avoided by the extraordinary Providence of God But we shall dispute this hereafter Yet grant it were so this doth not hinder but that the Tree of Life might remove the inward Causes of Death for ever § 22. To the fifth the same Answer will serve to wit That Reparation would have been made for all offending Causes though never so violent and numerous by the said Qualities of the Tree as we shall hereafter shew a Scotus in 2 dist 19. q. unica b D. Aug. l. 6. in Genes c. 25. c D. Thom. 1. p. q. 97. a. 4. 2. 2. q. 164. a. 2. ad 6. d Cajet 1. p. q. 97. cit loc e Gabriel in 2 dist 19. f Durandus ibid. g Aug. l. 13. de Civit. Dei c. 20. l. 14. c. 26. l. 1. de Peccat mer. c. 3. l. 8. in Genes c. 5. h Glos. interl in illa verba Ne forte sumat de Ligno Vitae c. i. Rup l. 3. in Genes c. 30. k Tostat super 13. c. Genes q. 175. l Author quaest Vet. Nov. Testam quaest 19. m D. Th. 1. p. q. 97. a. 1. n Bonav 2 sent dist 17. De Ligno Vitae o Iraen l. 3. advers Haeres c. 37. p S. Hil. in comment Psalmi 68. in illa verba Quem tu percussisti c. q S. Greg. Naz. Orat. de Pascha r S. Hieron c. 65. Isaiae s S. Cyrill l. 3. advers Julian circa med t S. Joan. Chrysost. Hom. 18. in Gen. n quem imitatur Theodoretus q. 26. in Genes w Eucherius l. 1. in Genes x Beda supra eadem verba y Strabus ibid. z S. Johan Damascen l. 2. Orthodoxae Fidei c. 11. aa Dionys. Carthus in Genâ— c. 2. bb Bellarm. in Disp Controvers contra Haeret. l. 1. tom 4. cap. 8. DOUBT IV. Whether it were sufficient for Immortality to eat only once of the Fruit § 1. ABout this Doubt also there are two contrary Opinions one whereof is Negative the other Affirmative S t Augustine a is for the Negative part so Thomas b Suarez c Beâ—anus d
and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever Now therefore of it self it had a Power to render Man eternal without any other Supernatural Virtue Neither can that Interpretation of a very long time be allowed as we have shown § 3. Secondly Because it cannot be that a Spiritual Quality of the Soul can naturally defend the Body from contrary Rëactions For it should either do this by a formal Resistance as a kind of Cause formal or by an active Resistance as a kind of Cause efficient The first it could not be both because a Spiritual Quality could not inhereâ—in a Corporeal Subject especially since these Authors say it was inherent in the Soul nor by consequence could it inform the Body and resist formally And because the eating of the Tree of Life would have been superfluous for Reparation of what was lost for the natural Qualities of the Body would then have been sufficiently defended by the said Quality of the Soul that they could not be lost Not the second Because if that Supernatural Spiritual Quality performed such an Effect as a Cause Efficient it were able to produce other Qualities in the Body which might formally resist concerning which the same Doubt would return Or certainly they would be supervacaneous seeing they were sufficiently produced by the Tree of Life as we shall hereafter shew § 4. Others distinguish three Causes of our Destruction The first is the different nay and sometimes contrary Temperament of different Parts whereby they mutually act and suffer among themselves as the Brain moist and cold the Heart hot and dry the Flesh hot and moist the Veins Arteries and Bones cold and dry and so of the rest The second is the continual Action of the Native Heat upon the Moisture from which two Damages are considerable One is the Repassion from Food from which Food the Radical Moisture and Members of the Body to be restored do suffer by means whereof a Substance is not repaired which is equal in Perfection to what was wasted The other is the Remission of the Native Heat it self whereby at length it is extinguished The third Cause is from things extrinsick as well altering the Natural Temper as dividing Continuity and finally impeding the Matter whereby the Body should be refreshed as Meat Drink and Air. § 5. And they add that the first Cause must have been avoided in the State of Innocence by a Supernatural Quality of the Soul which we last confuted The second by the Qualities of the Tree of Life when eaten The third three ways First By Humane Providence which in that State would have been most perfect Secondly By Divine Providence which for that State would have been greater and extraordinary Whence it would by extraordinary Concurrence hinder natural Causes offending or would deny its general Concurrence lest they should offend Thirdly By the Protection of Angels § 6. Yet this Opinion also is false And I affirm that for the first Cause the Qualities of the Tree of Life had been sufficient as they were sufficient for the second Wherefore that Supernatural Quality was not only unnecessary but would have been hurtful also First Because as it resisted the Actions of different Parts so it would resist those very Qualities whereof the natural Temperament of the Body is constituted seeing they are of the same kind Secondly Because even from that mutual Action and Passion which is granted among the Parts of the Body the total Temperament doth result which is natural and necessary for the living Creature to perform its Actions wherefore it would be ill impeded by that Supernatural Quality and consequently would be hurtful § 7. And the Remedy which they bring for the third Cause is contradicted First Because the Fruit of Life was able to make good Qualities very sufficient to keep off all the Harms of external Causes therefore the extraordinary Providence of God and every other extrinsick Defence had been superfluous We shall effectually prove the Antecedent hereafter Secondly Because if the Supernatural Providence of God were necessary to what purpose must Man be cast out of Paradise or be deprived of eating the Tree of Life For as that Supernatural Providence had ceased although Man had abode in Paradise and eaten the Fruit of Life yet he had been forthwith subject to Death Which indeed is false For the Sacred Word affirms if he had eaten of the Tree that he should have lived for ever Therefore that Tree was an adequate Cause to secure a Man from Death § 8. Some may reply It is true from the Words of Holy Writ it doth follow that Man should have lived for ever But this eternal Life after Sin would have been contingent from eating the Tree of Life not necessary Wherefore lest Man eating of the Tree of Life should contingently live for ever he was for that Reason driven out by the Lord. But that it was possible that Man might thus contingently live they prove For the Wood would prevent the internal Principles of Death and Humane Providence and the ordinary Protection of God and Angels without the Intervention of another Tutelage might have sufficed to avoid the external Causes of Death as Hunger Suffocation Poyson Falling Beating Hitting against any thing and the Treachery and Mischief of unjust Men. By which means former Men lived near a Thousand Years and by the same means by eating of the Tree might have lived innumerable Thousands being preserved by Reason and Humane Providence from the external Causes of Death § 9. But this Solution is refuted Because if in the State of Innocence wherein Mens Prudence was most perfect their Dwelling in a most pleasant Place the number of wicked Men much less and all the said external offending Causes and Occasions much fewer the extraordinary Providence of God and a greater Guard of Angels was as these Men think necessary that Life might be extended to Eternity or at least to the Time of Translation How in the State of lapsed Nature with much less Humane Providence in so many and so great Concourses of offending Causes amongst so many worst Dispositions of Men could the Life of Man be extended even contingently to infinite Ages of Ages without the particular and Supernatural Providence of God unless by some means else to wit by the Qualities of the Wood Man were secured from Death § 10. Father Molina d supposeth that Mans Body would have been defended from the external Causes of Death by an habitual Supernatural Gift or an habitual Quality extended through the Body which would have defended it from all Corruption For he judgeth Natural Powers can no way be thought of which were able to do this But this Opinion is refuted almost by the same Reasons whereby the former was contradicted First Because in the said Fruit there would have been natural Powers sufficient to defend the Body from external offending Causes as we shall hereafter shew wherefore it is not necessary to
have recourse to Supernatural Causes Secondly Because that Supernatural Quality would either have resisted all external offending Causes by a Formal Resistance or by an Active Not by a Formal Both because one and the same Quality in kind could not formally be opposed to almost infinite especially contrary Causes as to Heat and to Cold And because it would also resist the Elemental Qualities of the Body necessary to its natural Constitution seeing they are of the same kind with the Qualities produced of external Causes § 11. Not by an Active Because first even the Qualities of the Tree could have done this Secondly Because either this Activity would have produced other Supernatural Qualities and the same Doubt would have been concerning them or Natural to which either even Natural Causes would have sufficed or also they would have been overcome of external Causes as the Natural Qualities of the Body Therefore this Supernatural Quality of Father Molina is not to be admitted Thirdly Because Molina admits Men may be altered by Rain Wind Heat and other things but with Delight Therefore this Supernatural Quality would not have rendred Men incapable of receiving Elemental Qualities Therefore they might be burnt by the Fire and consequently dye § 12. Perhaps some Man may answer in Defence of Molina that by this Quality the Activity of Agents upon the Body would not have been hindred but only the Union of Soul and Body would have been maintained But on the contrary how can Heat in the highest Degree with Dryness in the Height be granted but the Form of Fire must be introduced in Man's Body and the Rational be separated without the greatest Miracle Which must not be admitted § 13. Let therefore the Conclusion be That the Fruit of the Tree of Life by its Qualities was an adaequate Cause of Immortality so that Man by taking of it would necessarily have lived for ever both in the State of Innocence and in the State of lapsed Nature the Case being granted that in this State he did eat of the Tree S t Augustine seems of this Opinion e where he saith But Men therefore tasted of the Tree of Life lest from any hand Death should creep upon them or being spent with Old Age when certain spaces of Time were run over they should dye as if other things were for Aliment this for a Sacrament So that the Tree of Life in the Corporal Paradise may be construed to be like the Wisdom of God in the Spiritual that is in the Intelligible whereof it is written in the third of Proverbs She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her § 14. Where we must accurately observe that from any hand and that or for Death might creep on from any hand unless the Fruit of Life had preserved the Body from it And the Particle or denotes a Disjunction lest to wit Man should perish by Old Age or by any other Occasion whatever Wherefore according to S t Augustine's Mind it would have been an adaequate Cause of Immortality Which he manifestly confirms by the Example of the Wisdom of God in the Spiritual Paradise And is gathered more manifestly from these Words f There was Meat that he should not hunger Drink that he should not thirst the Tree of Life lest Old Age should destroy him no Disease within no Blow without was feared Behold how according to S t Augustine this Tree would have defended a Man from all internal and external Causes of Death Therefore according to his Opinion it was an adaequate Cause of Immortality § 15. The Interlineal Gloss on these Words Lest he take also of the Tree of Life c. insinuates the same Opinion while it affirms that when the Number of the Elect was compleat they should have tasted of the Tree of Life and so have passed to the Blessed State That namely by it the Body should have been rendred immortal which Immortality would have been attained by rendring the Body free from all Harms which could be brought from any Causes internal or external And it is plainly gathered from Rupertus g inasmuch as he affirms that it had been sufficient once to have taken of the Tree for Man to have lived for ever and from Chrysostome h and Theodoret i whereas they affirm this Tree was created for a Reward of Obedience But this Reward was that a Man should be free from Death so that he could be killed by no Cause internal or external Therefore this Tree ought to defend a Man from all Cause of Death otherwise it did not make good the Reward of Obedience promised by God It is gathered also from other Fathers above-quoted Irenaeus Gregory Nazianzen Eucherius Cyrill Hierome and others in that they affirm this Tree could make Life to be Eternal for if Man remained subject to Hunger Sword Precipice Fire Water and other things he were not eternal And so thinks Bellarmine k. § 16. Now the same Conclusion is already sufficiently proved by Reason especially by this Argument Because such Natural Qualities are possible as might defend a Man from all Causes of Death both internal and external And we shall enumerate those Qualities in the following Section and declare the manner how they perform it § 17. It is further confirmed that the said Qualities are possible by divers Examples of admirable Virtues that are in things natural For if there be indeed any such Fish as that called Echenëis or Remora which is able to retard and hinder the most violent Motion of a Ship by a Natural Quality which it impresseth on the Ship Why might not the Fruit of Life have another Natural Quality whereby Mans Body might be defended from the like Impulse and Moon and might be rendred free from all Strokes If a Salamander cast into the Fire do by Natural Qualities resist the burning Fire for a great space of Time Why should another Natural Quality be impossible which might much more resist the Action of the Fire And so resist that its Resistance might overcome the Activity of the Fire for the Activity of the Fire is not intended to Infinity § 18. If Fire naturally have a most active Quality why shall not another Natural Quality equally or more resistent be possible Are there not other Natural Virtues equally admirable Doth not the Ostriche's Stomach digest Iron Aqua fortis dissolve Gold Iron and other Metals Vineger dissolve Stones and Steel Doth not the Fish called Torpedo render the Fishes that swim over it immoveable and stupefy the Fishers Arm with its Virtue diffused along his Spear Why therefore in like manner might there not be found other Natural Virtues in the Fruit of Life resisting the external causes of Death I pass by other admirable things which manifestly appear from our Tract and other Mens Observations § 19. Nor can it be said it is false and the Echenëis hath no such Virtue for Experience confirms it and very grave Authors attest it as S. Ambrose l S.
amply to explain them to the end the strength of those things which may be objected to the Contrary may more easily be broken and the Truth may be more open and clear § 2. External Causes therefore that bring Diseases and Death which must have been resisted by the Qualities of this Fruit are of two kinds For some are altering others are locally moving or impressing an Impulse It is proved for among Philosophers Accidental Mutation is only twofold that is one to Quality another to Place I pass by Mutation as to Quantity because since Quantity is never produced de novo as the more probable Opinion saith this is not a true Mutation § 3. And of the Altering Causes some move to the Manifest Elemental Qualities and others to the Occult. The first are all those things which can produce Elemental Qualities first or second and by this means vitiate and overthrow the Temper of the Body from whence various Diseases and Death do follow The second are especially all Poysons which introducing Occult Poysonous Qualities into the Body waste Mens Strength and take away Life § 4. And the Causes moving locally are also of a twofold Difference For either they move the Humors of the Body as Medicines Purging provoking Urine Sweat and Womens Courses which by reason of their unseasonable or superfluous or other preternatural Motions can also cause Diseases and Death Or they impress such an impulse upon the Members of the Body that they dissolve natural Continuity or change the Situation of the Parts whereon do follow Diseases in Conformation viz. in Magnitude Figure and Site and consequently Death it self which the Fruit of Life was obliged to avoid averting all these Causes § 5. But beside these Causes which produce positive Effects others also may be considered which produce other if I may so call them privative Effects and consequently bring Death For seeing the Body of a Living Creature that it may live doth stand in need of certain Matters whereby the lost Substance may be repaired such as are Meat Drink and Air what things soever can deprive it of these Matters without doubt will cause Death that is things causing Hunger Thirst Want of Air or Suffocation § 6. These Causes being declared which coming from without can bring Diseases and Death now it follows that we explain according to the Opinion that affirms the Wood of Life was an adequate Cause of Immortality what way it could hinder them Which thing indeed since it seems altogether difficult or rather impossible this Opinion is exploded by many who have recourse to the Supra-ordinary Providence of God But for its Defence § 7. It is to be observed first That the Virtues of the Tree of Life would not so keep off external offending Causes that most of them could not approach the Body nor that the Body should abide beyond the Sphere of their Activity for Example They would not hinder the Fire to approach Mans Body nor a Mad Dog to touch it nor any other Poyson to be swallowed down As neither would they hinder the Defect of Meat Drink or Air For it is manifest it was not in the Power of the Wood to do this Yet the Virtues of the Wood would hinder that the aforesaid Causes could not produce their positive Effects upon the Body to wit that the Sun or Fire should not heat the Body or the Sword or a Stone should not dissolve Continuity by their Blow or otherwise move the Parts of the Body contrary to their Nature and so of other things And in like manner the said Virtues would preserve a Man that he should not perish by Privation of Meat Drink or Air. I said that most of them should not approach the Body for we shall afterwards prove that it was possible for Virtue to be extended from the said Wood to a certain Space without the Body of Man in which it might hinder those things which moved to Hurt from moving farther or reaching to the Body § 8. It is to be observed secondly The Wood of Life would defend Man's Body from external Causes producing Elemental first or second Qualities by those occult Qualities which would produce other Elemental ones proportionate and natural to the Body in a certain Degree so fixt that they could be remitted by no other even the most violent external or internal Cause as we said before in the last Doubt And as by these the Body would have been preserved from the mutual immoderate Rëaction of the Parts among themselves and from the Rëaction of the Aliment so also the Body ought to be defended from the Action of external Causes It is effectually proved Because these would have sufficed to resist all Alterative Agents both internal and external § 9. But you will object Two Degrees of Cold for Example which are necessary and proportionate to the Health of the Body of Man cannot naturally resist eight Degrees of Heat of Fire applied next to it seeing the Action would necessarily follow the stronger Side Therefore it is impossible according to Nature that the Temper of the Body should endure in these two fixt Degrees after the application of the Fire but that it should be removed from them and part be burned And it is confirmed Because between equal contrary Agents nay between unequal ones there is mutual Repassion as Experience shews and it is the common Doctrine of Philosophers Therefore the inferior Agent ought to re-suffer from the stronger that which resists with only two Degrees of Cold from the Action of the Superior acting at the Rate of eight Degrees of Heat § 10. I answer By distinguishing the Antecedent Two Degrees of Cold considered in themselves according to their formal Resistence and Activity are not able to resist eight Degrees of Heat so I grant the Antecedent But considered according to the Activity of their Cause producing them I deny it For their Efficient Cause that is the Quality of the Wood produceth them with that Efficacy and hath such Influence on their Production that they cannot be remitted by any other the most violent Agent Which Answer is according to the Doctrine of Suarez a as afterwards we shall declare For this Resistence is not considered as Active on the part of the Activity of the Degrees of Cold themselves or as Passive on the part of their Formality so much as for the Efficacy and Activity wherewith they are produced by their Cause And for this Reason the Rest of the Qualities of the Temperament do resist being preserved by the Qualities of this Wood that they can never be remitted by their Contraries Which I prove effectually If God by himself alone that is by his actual Concurrence will produce these two Degrees of Cold and preserve them although eight Degrees of Fire were applied yet they could not be remitted if God did not desist from his Concurrence for the reason why they are corrupted when a hot Agent comes is because God in presence of
cannot produce Motion on the Ship Therefore after the same manner may a Quality be afforded by the Wood of Life which being present no external Motive Cause is able to effect Motion on the said Body Nay perhaps that Quality might be diffused for some Space without the Body of Man who eat the Wood by virtue whereof Darts cast or Bullets shot from Guns coming to the Sphere of that Quality would presently lose Motion and not come at the Body Because the Motive Force impressed on the Dart or Bullet could not effect Motion because of the indisposing Quality diffused without the Body by the Virtue of the Wood. § 27. It is proved thirdly Because as before we have already said all Natural Agents although they have most violent Powers are yet of a finite Virtue Therefore there is no Inconvenience that a Resistence may be which surpasseth their Power Seeing therefore such a Resistence is possible whereby the Wood of Life might defend Man's Body from Death and that the Sacred Text doth clearly intimate that it was an adequate Cause of Immortality unless some Supernatural Help should intervene why shall we dare to deny it Why shall we seek other Interpretations for the Sacred Text Medium's therefore should rather be enquired whereby the Wood of Life mâ—ght be an adequate Cause of Immortality Which if they be found as now by us through God's Blessing they are found it will be superfluous to have recourse to Miracles § 28. You will object If such a Quality were which indisposed any thing to Motion if such a thing could not be moved by one Cause neither also could it be moved by another Cause of equal Strength since all Local Motion is of the same kind Therefore there can be no Quality indisposing to Local Motion I answer The said Qualities are not Indispositions on the part of the Patient to receive Motion for if it were so that thing which could not be moved by one Agent could be moved by none for its Incapacity of Motion But they are Indispositions only on the part of the Agent namely of the Motive Quality that it cannot produce Motion And for this Cause the Virtue of the Magnet can produce Motion in Iron not in other Bodies because it finds in it Dispositions necessary on the part of the Agent which being present it can operate not in other things And for the same Reason Amber moves Straws not Iron nor Stones Agarick purgeth Phlegm and not other Humors and so we may say of the rest § 29. It is to be observed sixthly to give better Satisfaction to the Point That Philosophers reckon of a double positive Resistence beside another Negative one Active another Formal Negative Resistence is the utter Incapacity of the Subject to receive any Form such as is in the Heavens supposing them incorruptible as to receiving Qualities altering to Corruption Active Resistence is the very Action of the Agent as by it a Term is produced which formally resisteth or by it the Force of another Agent is broken which is resisted and it is called by d Suarez Radical Resistence because by it another Agent is prevented that it doth not act and that its Virtue is diminished And seeing it is not immediately diminished but by the Form produced of such an Action therefore it is called Radical Resistence and as it proceeds from an Agent it is Active but as it produceth an Effect immmediately resisting it is Active Resistence § 30. Passive Resistence or actual is an Accidental Form whereby the Subject is rendred incapable of receiving another which is resisted or whereby the Subject is indisposed to another and this Resistence consists saith the same Author e in a certain formal Incompossibility or Repugnance from whence it comes that the Action of a contrary or any way repugnant Agent is either altogether hindred or retarded or remitted And Active Qualities as Heat and Cold may as well have this Resistence as the not Active as White and Black From whence it follows that one Quality can violently resist actively but not at all formally as Heat or on the contrary that another may violently resist formally not at all actively as Dryness § 31. But seeing Formal Resistence consists in a Formal Incompossibility or Repugnance and two contrary Qualities in the same intense Degree for example Heat and Cold in the eighth Degree are equally incompossible in the same Subject it is hard to assign a Cause whence it comes that one can more resist than another Yet Suarez f brings three Causes for which it may happen The first is a greater and firmer Union to the Subject as it happens in things artificial that some are more hardly parted asunder because other things cleave to them in form of a stronger Glew The second is a greater Inequality in some Condition requisite to do or suffer as Density in the Patient by Reason whereof more Parts are united to resist the Action of the Agent The third is a greater or the greatest Activity whereby the quality flows from or is otherwise produced of its Cause which way for example it may be said that the Moisture of Water resists more than that of Air because it is produced or flows more efficaciously from the Form of Water than from that of Air. Also two or three of these Causes may be conjoyned by reason whereof the Resistance may be greater and besides the Active and Formal Resistance may be joyned and therefore the Resistance may yet be more vehement § 32. From whence it is easily gathered that the Elemental Qualities produced in Mans Body by the Supra-elemental would both actively and formally resist other Contraries which are produced by ordinary intrinsick or extrinsick Agents Fire for example or Snow And it is evident that this Formal Resistance would have been much greater than the Formal Resistance of extrinsick active Qualities for the third Cause alleged by Suarez namely for the exceeding Efficacy whereby they are produced of the Qualities of the Wood of Life Which in the same manner may be said of the Alexipharmack Qualities which resist Poysonous ones § 33. Therefore the Supra-elemental Qualities as they most efficaciously produce the Elemental they resist actively radically and mediately But the Elemental now produced resist formally and immediately other their Elemental Contraries and can by no means be overcome of them Because they are either perpetually produced in Specie by the Qualities of the Wood which among all Natural Agents are the most efficacious in acting Or because by their continual and most efficacious Influx they persist in the same as we said before But whether their Union or their Inherence to their Subject be greater it doth not appear because it appears not whence it should proceed § 34. It is gathered from this Doctrine besides that the Quality which resists dividing things imparted to the Body by the Wood of Life doth sufficiently resist them passively or formally only First because as Hardness
some Angel used to appear to them and inform them of things to come not that they foresaw things future by any Conception â—ut when the Angel spoke they beheld the Secrets of Futurity Also the Foreknowledge of future things was another way when the Representation of the things were seen present as the burning or Destruction of some City For the thing exhibited it self to their Minds after some Divine way as Moses's Rod was turned to a Serpent and the ultimate Cause of these things is God who can do these and greater things There are five sorts of Prophecy 1. By Viâ—ion when we see a thing by Visions 2. In a Dream which may also be by Vision 3. In a Riddle as when Ezechiel and John eat the Book 4. By Figures i. e. When we see Armies Dances Shows or any other very remarkable thing All these Ways are made by the Resolution of the Body whether Sleeping or Waking when the Sense of all terrene things is taken away so that we neither see with our Eyes nor hear nor touch and the whole mind is rapt to thoâ—e Visions Therefore the last is the best kind which is not made by Resolution but is a Speaking with God the state of the Body being not at all changed which I think happens but to few And this is that kind of Prophecy wherein God bespeaks the Holy Angels and Archangels For all Correspondence with God all Familiarity all Speaking with him is called Prophecy Therefore the Holy Angels do draw all knowledge of future things from that Eternal Wisdom because of their continual Presence Divine Familiarity and most Sacred Friendship with God Of which thing he made Moses partaker of a thing truly admirable and desirable far above all Riches in wâ—ich I think Divine and unheard of Pleasures must consist Now if we desire to mount thither to make our selves like the Angels no Stain in our Souls no Deceit no Cheats no Wickedness must appear In which things the purer any Man is the nearer will he be admitted to those eternal Pleasures And yet we find this Man who spake thus with God mouth to mouth apparently and not in dark speeches he that beheld the Similitude of the Lord was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians which was Astrology Physick and Natural Magick So that in the Law of Moses we may observe much of Astronomy and Physick And it is no Diminution but rather an Advancement of God's Glory to be versed in the Works of his Hands since the greatest Prophet a familiar Friend of God was so great a Naturalist So great that he was an hundred and twenty years old when he died his eye was not dim nor his natural Force abated And let no Man object It was Miraculous His Death indeed was such For the Lord said unto Moses Behold thy days approach that thou must dye even when these vivacious Symptomes argued the contrary But the Length of his Life and Vigor of his Old Age was I judge an effect of his Skill in Nature and no more miraculous than the many Centuries which the Antediluvians lived Now all the Books Bacon writ I believe are not in Being and what do Survive the injury of Time are difficult to be procured For they lye hid in Manuscript and either through the Envy or Ignorance of the Owners are suppressed Whoever therefore would merit from the Learned Republick let him rescue the Off-spring of so great a Citizen as Roger Bacon from hostile Oblivion where he finds one yielding to it and he can not want a literary Mark of Honour Nor let any Profession hold himself excused For this Learned Man being Master of the whole Encyclopaedia he was able by one Faculty to correct another and so to write excellently in all That therefore you may the better be enabled to know his Works I shall give you the Titles of many of his Books as Johannes Balaeus de Scriptoribus Angliae hath transmitted them to us This choicest and most useful of all his Pieces de retardandis Senectutis malis Quem nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas I have made English that Ore legat populus pérque omnia secula vivat This Book Bale mentions amongst these following De Visu Speculis lib. 1. sic incip De Speculorum miraculis volente Deo De utilitate Astronomiae liâ— 1. Post locorum Descriptionem debent Introductionem in Astrologiam lib. 1. Fusius quidem dictum de Astron. Descriptiones locorum Mundi lib. 1. Ad haec autem quod certius pla De Philosophorum Lapide lib. 1. De multiplicatione Specierum lib. 1. Primum capitulum circa influentiam Perspectivam quandam singularum lib. 1. Hic aliqua dicenda sunt de perspe Perspectivam distinctam lib. 3. Propositis radicibus Sapientiae tam. Artem experimentalem lib. 1. Positis fundamentis primis De Prolongatione Vitae lib. 1. Communia naturalis Philosophiae lib. 4. Postquam tradidi Grammaticam secund Computum Naturalium lib. 1. Omnia tempus habent suum juxta De morali Philosophia lib. 1. Manifestavi in praecedentibus loc Logicam quandam lib. 1. Introductio est brevis aperta Antidotarium vitae humanae lib. 1. In posteriora Aristotelis lib. 2. Dictum est de Syllogismo in univer De operibus naturae occultis lib. 1. Superius quidem dictum est quid De Coelo Mundo lib. 2. Prima igitur veritas circa cor Leges Multiplicationum lib. 1. Expletis quatuor partibus terti Cosmographiam lib. 1. De forma resultante in Speculo lib. 1. Quaeritur de forma resultante in De perspectiva continua lib. 1. Cupiens te alios sapientiores De fluxu refluxu Maris lib. 1. Descriptis his figuris circa modum De fluxu Maris Britannici lib. 1. Visis effectibus illis qui ex De Regionibus Mundi lib. 1. Summam Grammaticalem lib. 1. Oratio Grammatica aut fit medium De constructione Partium lib. 1. Ad completam cognitionem construc De valore Musices lib. 1. Secundum Boetium caeteros Authores De gradibus Medicinalibus lib. 1. Omnis forma inhaerens recipit intens De ponderibus lib. 1. De universali regimine Senum lib. 1. Summa regiminis universalis est haec De erroribus Medicorum lib. 1. Vulgus Medicorum non cognoscit De vigore Artis Naturae lib. 1. Vestrae petitioni respondeo quemadmodum De Regibus Mundi lib. 1. Compendium Studii Theologici lib. 5. Quoniam autem in omnibus causis Ad Clementem IIII. Rom. Pontificem lib. 1. Sanctissimo patri Domino Clementi Laudes Mathematicae Artis lib. 1. Post hanc Scientiam experimentalem Speculum Alchimiae lib. 1. Multifariam multisque modis loquens De radiis Solaribus lib. 1. De utilitate linguarum lib. 1. Multae praeclarae radices ex manif Pro conservatione Sensuum lib. 1. Cogito cogitavi ab initiis primorum De
Sleep want of it 33 Snake 117 121 Soil 57 Sparrows 139 151 Spike Celtick 97 Spikenard 146 Spitting 32 Stagg's heart its bone 21 70 76 Strength its infirmity 34 Succinum 155 Sulphur 79 Sun 59 Sweat 61 116 145 T TAst â—7 Tavern-haunters 113 Terra Sigillata 28 Toil of Body and Mind 3 Touching of cold things 79 Treacle 122 Tree of knowledge 111 Trifera 79 85 V VApors 38 Veal 150 Vegetables 56 Venus 78 102 Viper 21 its preparation 114 1â—5 its property 115 116 when and how to be taken 117 118 its number of teeth description conception and birth 120 121 Virgin 99 100 101 109 110 111 Virtue may be separated from its body 17 18 Vnction 61 Vnderstanding when rational 40 Vsefulness of the Treatise 134 W WAshing 79 Water 78 Water-Melons 91 Wax 125 Wheat 78 Wine 54,57,103,104,105,106,107,112 Wiping 79 World its age 1 6 Worts 140 X XYloaloe 145 Y YOuth how preserved 95 how recovered ibid. THE CURE OF Old Age c. CHAP. I. Of the Causes of Old Age. AS the a World waxeth old b Men grow old with it not by reason of the Age of the World but because of the great Increase of living Creatures which infect the very Air that every way encompasseth us and Through our c Negligence in ordering our Lives and That great d Ignorance of the Properties which are in things conducing to Health which might help a disordered way of Living and might supply the defect of due Government From these three things namely Infection Negligence and Ignorance the Natural Heat after the time of Manhood is past begins to diminish and its Diminution and Intemperature doth more and more hasten on Whence the Heat by little and little decreasing the Accidents of Old Age come on which Accidents in the very Flower of Age may be taken away and after that time may be retarded as also may that â—wift Course which hurries a Man from Manhood to Age from Age to Old Age from Old Age to the broken strength of decrepit Age be restrained For the Circle of a Man's Age grows more in one day after Age to Old Age than in three days after Youth to Age and is sooner turned from Old Age to decrepit Age than from Age to Old Age. Which Weakness and Intemperature of Heat is caused two ways by the Decay of Natural Moisture and By the Increase of Extraneous Moisture For the Heat exists in the Native Moisture and is extinguished by external and strange moistness which flows from weakness of Digestion as Avicenna in his first Book in his Chapter Of Complexions affirms Now the Causes of the dissolution of the Internal Moisture and of the External's abounding whence the Innate Heat grows cool are many as I shall here show First of all the Dissolution of the Natural happens from two Causes One whereof is the circumambient Air which dries up the Matter And the Innate Heat which is inward very much helps towards the same For it is the Cause of extinguishing it self by reason it consumes the matter wherein it subsists as the Flame of a Lamp is extinguished when the Oyl exhausted by the Heat is spent The second Cause is the toil proceeding from the Motions of Body and Mind which otherwise are necessary in Life To these accrue Weakness and Defect of Nature which easily sinks under so great Evils as Avicenna witnesseth in his first Book Of Complexions of Ages not resisting those imperfections that invade it Now The Motions of the Mind are called Animal when the Soul especially is exercised The Motions of the Body are when our Bodies are tossed and stirred of necessary Causes ill proportioned External Moisture increaseth two ways either from The use of Meat and other things that breed an unnatural and strange Moisture especially Phlegmatick whereof I shall discourse hereafter or from Bad Concoction whence a feculent and putrid Humour differing from the nature of the Body is propagated For Digestion is the Root of the Generation of unnatural and natural Moisture which when it is good breeds good Moisture when bad a bad one as Avicenna saith in his fourth Canon of his Chapter Of things which hinder grey Hairs For from wholesome Food ill digested an evil Humour doth flow and of poysonous Meats and such as naturally breed a bad Humour iâ— well digested sometime comes a good one But it is to be observed that not only Phlegm is called an extraneous Humour but whatever other Humour is putrid Yet Phlegm is worse than the other external Humours in that it helps to extinguish the Innate Heat two ways either By choaking it or By Cold resisting its Power and Quality so Rasy in his Chapter Of the benefits of Purging Which Phlegm proceeds from faults in Meats negligence of Diet and intemperature of Body so that this sort of external Moisture increasing and the Native Moisture being either changed in Qualities or decayed in Quantity Man grows old either In the accustomed course of Nature by little and little and successively when after the time of Manhood that is after forty or at most fifty Years the Natural Heat begins to diminish Or Through evil Thoughts and anxious Care of Mind wherewith sometimes Men are hurt For Sickness and such like evil Accidents dissolve and dry up the Natural Moisture which is the Fewel of Heat and that being hurt the force and edge of the Heat is made dull The Heat being cooled the Digestive Vertue is weakned and this not performing its Office the crude and inconcocted Meat putrefies on the Stomach Whereupon the external and remote parts of the Body being deprived of their Nourishment do languish wither and dye because they are not nourished So Isaac in his Book Of Fevers in the Chapter Of the Consumption doth teach But it may be queried What this Moisture is and in what place it is seated whereby the Natural Heat is nourished and which is its Fewel Some say that it is in the Hollow of the e Heart and in the Veins and Arteries thereof as Isaac in his Book Of Fevers in the Chapter Of the Hectick But there are Moistures of divers kinds in the Members which are prepared for Nourishing and to moisten the Joints Of which Humours may be that is one which is in the Veins and that another which like Dew is reposed on the Members as Avicenna saith in his fourth Book in the Chapter Of the Hectick Whence perhaps the Wise do understand that all these Moistures are Fewel to the Native Heat But especially that which is in the Heart and its Veins and Arteries which is restored when from Meats and Drinks good Juices are supplyled and is made more excellent by outward Medicines such as Anointings and Bathings NOTES on CHAP. I. a This Year 1682. with the Astrologers is celebrated the Climacterick grand Conjunction of the highest Planets And Divines after St. Peter's Chronology do reckon that the Sabbatical Millenary is not far off nor without great reason
whom after they have recovered their Health the Hairs return to their former Disposition Here the cause is the Weakness of Natural Heat in concocting the Nourishment in the external parts and when Strength and Health return the Hair grows black But Avicenna saith in his fourth Canon Of the Disposition of those that are recovering their Health that therefore the Hairs wax white because they are deprived of their Nourishment by reason the Innate Moisture goes out and is dispers'd which whilst it abides within causeth the blackness of the Hair as is manifest in Corn which is dryed and grows white by ripening afterwards when it is wet with Dew its Greenness returns Besides there is in every Member a natural Power residing which according to its Complexion turns the Nutriment into the Likeness of that Member and differs from that Power which turns the Nutriment into the Likeness of another Member and from this Diversity a Weakness in the Skin proceeds as Avicenna saith in his first Canon Of Natural Powers But when the Vertue of the Member is weak it infects and corrupts the nature and wholesome Juice of the Aliment that flows thither Which being corrupted all things that penetrate into that Member are depravedâ— Like as a good Constitution doth alter even bad and unwholesome Food so that it becomes good apt and convenient for nourishing Nature Galen reports according to Avicenna in his first Canon Of the Morphew that there is a certain a Tree which at its first growth is deadly and poysonous yet it may be changed so as without any danger it may become wholesome Food And this is done by the planting of it As there is a Tree in Persia poysonous and whose Fruit is hurtful but being removed into Egypt and planted there its Fruit is safely eaten and being brought back again into Persia it obtains its former poysonous Quality For this Cause Medicines were invented that might be applyed to the outward Parts as Bathings and Anointings For such Medicaments are more useful to remove Diseases which arise from the Hurt of the fourth Digestion than inward ones Because the Vertue of Medicines taken inwardly is rendred so dull and weak of the first and second Digestion that when it arrives at the fourth degree of Digestion it is so broken that it cannot at all profit as Avicenna saith in his Canon Of Weariness and Old Age. And so Anointings do strengthen the Vertue of the fourth Digestion Which I think to be most true by reason outward Medicaments are nearer the Places affected especially if the Humour be purged or do not offend in the inner Parts But if the Humour aforesaid offend first of all the Body must be absolutely purged of it Then the Skin must be made cleaner by a long Effusion and Provocation of plentiful Sweat And Thirdly The Virtue in that Member which is ill affected must be refreshed Because if the Medicine avail not something toward the strengthning the Vertue of the Part the Humour will abound again and prevail the more And that especially when Melancholy Humours bring the Hurt But some have said that fully to drive away these Humours the Vertue of Laxatives without their Body is sufficient For the Power of Laxatives operates more when freed from the Lump of Body than joyned with it and this is that which Avicenna saith in his first Canon in the Chapter Of the Disposition of Purging Medicines Then we must apply such Medicines outwardly whose property it is to temper the Essence of the Member and its Constitution and to hinder that the scattered Reliques of the superfluous Humour be not received of that Member as Terra Sigillata Bole Armenick and such things use to do either through some Operation that is in them or for the Similitude and Equality of Complexion for that it cools what is too Hot and heats what is too Cold. Which Galen thinks very likely in the Oyl of Roses as Avicenna saith in his first Canon Of the Operation of particular Medicines This Accident I say of Greyness renders a Man more deformed and is more apparent than any other in the Body I have studiously searched its Cause and Original And wise Physicians have laid down the Cause and Remedy of these Accidents in their Treatise of Preserving Beauty For at the Approach of these b Deformity is caused and through their Delay in the time of Manhood is a Man's Comeliness For this Age by Avicenna is called the Age of Beauty NOTES on CHAP. III. a Of this Tree Dioscorides speaks in his first Book Chap. 147. in these words The Peach Tree is a Tree in Egypt bearing Fruit fit for Food good for the Stomach Wherein Spiders called Cranocolapta are found especially in Thebais The dry Leaves reduced to Powder and applyed stop Eruptions of Blood Some have declared that this Tree is destructive in Persia and being translated into Egypt it changes its Nature and is made use of for Food b Theophrastus in his Character of Flattery hath these Words What a Reverend Grey Beard you have got And yet You if any Man considering your Years have your Hair black And to be long in growing grey was ever accounted an Argument of a lusty and vivid Old Age. Therefore effeminate Men were as careful to hide their Grey Hairs as Women their Wrinkles as Plautus and Martial do testifie CHAP. IV. Of the Wrinkles of the Skin Paleness rotten Phlegm Bleareyedness Shortness of Breath and other things which especially have relation to the Body WE have already spoken of the Causes of one Accident namely Greyness now we must treat of the Wrinkles of the Skin Paleness and other things which especially have relation to the Body These Evils betide Men sometimes before the stated Time sometimes at their due season Wrinkles of the Skin are contracted either from the Flesh extenuated whence there remains a loosning of the Skin Or From the Want of Flesh and hence comes the shriveling of it And Aristotle saith in the end of his fifth Book Of Animals that this comes through the Putrefaction of the Humour For he saith that Wrinkling which befalls Bodies is unlike to Slickness because if the Vapour be concrete thence is caused Slickness and it putrefies not nor do Wrinkles arise This Accident often happens to them that are as it were burnt up in the Fire and do handle things belonging to the Forge as is evident in the Smiths Trade For the Use of these things dries exceedingly and makes the Face pale and full of Wrinkles Therefore those Dames that are over-careful of their Beauty use to turn away their Face from the Fire But those things which remove the Wrinkling of the Skin you shall find hereafter in that Chapter wherein the things are declared which use to render the Skin delicate for Youthful Beauty Cleanness and Redness Paleness also according to some is a Companion of Old Age which falls out in Young Men from superfluous and redounding Phlegm in old Men
these Medicines such as Saffron and Musk. For Saffron carries Medicines to the Heart cures its Trembling takes away Melancholy and Care refreshes the Brain cheers the Soul begets Boldness and then especially when it enclines to Redness having a Sphaerical shape as we have said formerly After we have seen what things they are which defend the Native Moisture that it do not quickly suffer dissolution and what things generate it anew or when renewed do make it more sincere and preserve its due Temper of Heat now we ought to consider what things they are that hasten untimely Grey Hairs and other Accidents of Age and Old Age. NOTES on CHAP. VIII a This is Coral which is most certainly bred of a petrifying Iuice But whether this Iuice sprout of it self into a Stony Shrub or whether it first take a Wooden Form and after turn into Stone or whether it penetrate and transmute some dead Plant found in the Sea-Water and so retain its Shape is altogether doubtful The Reason is because there are Branches of Coral found whose Substance partly resembles Wood partly Coral Some report as if there were Coral-Berries There is Coral of divers Colours but red is the best b Here Gold is meant which is the most noble and solid of Metals yellow of Colour bred of the best digested and fixt Principles c Here is meant the Bone of a Stags Heart which is either made of the Root of the Aorta or of the Tendon at the Base of the Heart that in Time becomes hard and turns into Bone All these three are reckoned among the highest Cordials and Alexipharmaca that are yet known to any Physicians who concur with our Author in the Vertues of them d The Author in his Book Of the wonderful Power of Art and Nature speaks thus A Countryman as he was at Plough found in the Field a Vessel of Gold with Liquor in it and thinking it had been the Dew of Heaven he washt his Face and drunk And being renewed in Spirit and Body and Goodness of Wisdom of a Cow-herd he was made Groom Porter to the King of Sicily which happened in the Time of King William e All Cordials are in some Mens Opinions Spices For Spices are grateful to Nature and by reason of their Fragrancy do penetrate quickly even if but outwardly applyed They quickly refresh the Spirits Now Whatever Medicines are amicable to Nature are fragrant and with Ease and Speed refresh the Spirits are true Cordials But Spices are such Therefore true Cordials The Major is from Hippocrates And Spice may be defined a Vegetable Animal or Mineral if Chymistry can afford such that is sweet in Smell and Tast. The Minor may be proved by Induction And all fragrant things may be reckoned Spices Helmont is of Opinion in his Tract of Butler's Stone that the Vertue of Cordial Medicines consists in Smell The Aromatick Compositions of the Antients for Cordials prove this Sennertus will allow neither Food nor Physick to be restorative but what is Aromatick And Hippocrates in his Book of Food bids them that want present Refreshment use a liquid Medicine but if one would restore with more Speed do it by Smell CHAP. IX Of Meats and other things which do especially introduce and hasten the Accidents of Age and Old Age. THings which cause Greyness and other Accidents of Age are these Fruit Fish moist Herbs a all kinds of Milk Wheat boil'd with Water Grewel frequent and daily drinking of Water over-much Use of sweet Water frequent Sports of Venus immoderate Blood-letting For these things dissolve the Native Moisture And also superfluous Drunkenness plucking off the Hair Touching of cold things and Washing with them such as is Oyl of Elder Rose-water Elder-water b Camphire Frequent Washing hurts now and then it does no harm if the Face be wiped with a Cloth For Wiping is of much Force To these we may reckon the Smell of cold Dill and its Powder the Smell of Sulphur and its Smoak the Steam of Quick-silver and Arsenick dwelling in cold and very moist Places And he that desires to avoid Grey-headedness let him shun moist Meats let him often provoke Vomit when he is full let him take Trifera which is made up of Black Emblick and Bellirick Myrobalans and of other things that hinder Greyness Also let him not gorge himself with Wine let him mix Water with his Honey let him abstain from Meats that breed Phlegm let him live content with fry'd and roast Meats and let him use the Water of Vetch All these things as Rasy saith in the Chapter Of Adorning the Hair are a Cause that the Blood enclines to Cholerick Dryness and that it becomes thick and they utterly overcome Phlegm For Avicenna saith in the Chapter Of Things that hinder and keep back Grey Hairs that while the Blood remains fat thick hot and clammy the Hairs are Black and when it is Watry they wax Grey Aristotle also in that Book which he wrote almost in his Old Age incited thereto at the Request of Alexander affirms that c Laughter also is a Cause of Old Age and hastens on its Accidents We have spoken of the Causes now let us discourse of the Remedies that purge those humours which are so troublesome to Men and which bring on the most miserable Accidents of Old Age. NOTES on CHAP. IX a Formerly our Authour attributed Greyness to Phlegm here he reckons up the Causes of Phlegm For all these either cool or moisten or do both And Milk though a Cure for an Hectick or Consumptive Person in both these respects he being hot and dry yet it is not proper for all Men especially when the Inwards are distempered or in a Fever for it is very apt to corrupt Besides it is above all other Phlegmaticks an Enemy to the Head the Seat of Phlegm according to Hippocrates and therefore to all the nervous kind Thus does an Infant anticipate Old Age in the Causes and whiten its Locks in the Nurses Milk before they be grown b It would make a Man laugh to see some Ladies laterem lavare while by their Camphorate and as they think youthful Washâ—es they hasten that Deformity they would thereby prevent And illiterate Chymists would make as good sport did not their Tragical Miscarriages beg your Pity For what more miserable than to seek their Panacea's their Tree of Life in the mortal Fumes of Merâ—ury Arsenick Antimony and such things c Laughter may very reasonably be thought â— Cause of Old Age because it is so prodiâ—al of the Vital Flame that as burning Spiâ—its blaze out their efficacious parts and leave â—nly a vapid Phlegm behind so in the midst â—f Laughter the heart may be sad and these Sanguine Flashes go out in gloomy Melanâ—holy the Aged Humour CHAP. X. Of things which refresh and recreate Old Age and hinder its Accidents ALL Wise Men who have discoursed of this Matter do unanimously agree in this That those things which purge Phlegm do cast out
take into his consideration Meat and Drink and the Evacuation of what is superfluous and of all the four Humours and secondarily the other kinds of Causes And this is what Aristotle saith in that Book published at the request of King Alexander the Great And the difference which Rasy puts between the Regiment of the Elderly and the Aged is this namely that the Bodies of the Elderly are to be considered more with evacuating Medicines and to be preserved that they come not to Evil and they must abate of their Labour and Thoughtfulness that the Strength of their Body may last a long time And that they who are arrived at Old Age avoid Labour and Thoughtfulness and Change unless on great and urgent Necessity They must be nourished with Food having a pleasant Tast and easie to be digested They should also often use Bathes and sleep much They should affect the Head and Face with odoriferous things and use Suffumigations Let them also exercise things which are full of Diversion and Delight Let them drink temperate and subtil Wine and clear and which hath a moderate mixture of Water How every one of these things may be done and brought into act will hereafter appear Royal Haly saith that Old Men ought to use an Air like the Humour of the Spring because their Nature is cold and dry Whence it is necessary that they use a Custome of heating and moistening and that they live in warm Places but avoid such as are cold and moist for that they hasten Old Age as I have said before where I treated of Meats which bring the Accidents of Old Age. Old Mens Meats ought to be of good Juice hot and moist that they may quickly and easily be digested and descend from the Stomach their Bread should be well l made and well leavened their Flesh should be that of m Pullets n Kids o sucking Calves p young Geese q Lambs r Partridge s Pheasants small Birds except t Sparrows Let them avoid all gross Meats difficulty yielding to Digestion as is u Beef w Goat and such like For if they accustome themselves to these Meats Dropsies will breed in them Stoppages in the Liver and in like manner Obstructions in the Spleen and Stones in the Kidneys and Bladder And if they should happen at any time to eat of these things let some Medicine be taken afterwards as Diacyminum well made up and things of like nature which help Digestion Also they must beware of those Birds which afford unwholesome Food and bad Juices Things that are sharp and breeding Choler are also to be avoided as Mustard Garlick and Onyons and all things that breed Phlegm as x Mushromes and all things that breed Melancholy as Pulse and Cheese and Worts and what are easily corrupted on the Stomach as y Mulberries z Melons a a Cucumbers But of Fruits let them take Figs Grapes and Raisins with Nuts and Almonds Physicians have not named all Meats and Drinks which bring these Accidents of Old Age. But Old Men must be fed twice a Day and the weaker by little and little For the Natural Heat being weak already cannot bear a great Heap of Meats and too greedy gormandizing Let their Dinner be at the third hour of the Day and let their Meat be of good Juice and producing good Humors as all Physicians agree Avicenna affirms that Old Men must eat dry Figs boiled with Honey and Water And Galen saith that Figs if they be dry are as it were the Fountains of ill Humours Which is true of Figs simply but if they be medically prepared it is false As to what concerns b b Baths Old Men are to be bathed in Sweet Water of a temperate Heat as Royal Haly saith in his fourth Canon He likewise saith that Old Men and the Decrepit are often to be washed in Baths that is once in a Week or in the space of Ten Days For their Strength will not bear more wherefore in some it is sufficient if this be done once in a Month. When they go out of the Bath let them rest quiet for one whole Hour Then let them take some Meat hot and moist easy to be digested and which quickly passeth out of the Stomach as is Bread well leavened and made c c Fish that live in stony Rivers Kids Flesh young Geese Lamb. Aristotle in his Book Of the Secrets of Secrets affirms that they must not tarry long in the Water for that they are much overcome by the Cold and Moisture lest the Body receive from the Moisture of the Bath The Anointing of Old Men ought to be sometime in the Morning when they rise And the Oyl ought to be Caerasinum mixt with the Oils of Chamaemel Violet and Dill. Then they ought to use moderate Exercise lest there be any Straitness or Obstruction of the Pores Let them avoid too violent Labour and Exercise They ought not to admit of Diminution of Blood unless they be in great and imminent Danger of Life Avicenna in his Phlebotomy shews in what Cases and for what Causes Old Men are to be let Blood saying In Old Age let every one as much as can be abstain from Blood-letting unless he be compact in Figure and Solidity of Muscles and have large Veins and be indisposed with Redness of Eyes This is to be considered in Old Men. But Iohannes Damascenns d d thinks otherwise in his Aphorisms speaking thus Let every Man in his Youth breathe a Vein four times a Year Thrice when his Age is forty When the fiftieth or sixtieth Year of his Age is come it ought to be done once And further it is altogether to be omitted He also saith that after the forty fifth Year the Cephalick Vein after sixty the Median after seventy five the Basilick is not to be cut Avicenna also saith That they who while they are in their youthful Days do often suffer Bloodletting after seventy Years their Heat is turned into Cold and Dryness and that especially if they were of a Cold Nature But now in the Name of the most High and Great GOD let us begin to treat about and more diligently and acutely to discourse of those Medicines which the e e Wise have kept secret and which are most profitable for the Old and Men of ripe Age. For whoever use these things they a long time restrain the Infirmities and Accidents of Old Age. The Use of these Medicines is convenient especially for f f the Rich. For the Charge hinders that the Poor cannot easily obtain them Now the Use of the first Medicine consumes all Moisture that is foreign not natural bred of ill Concoction and Indigestion and bad Meats wheresoever in the Body it be and especially in the Recesses of the Head and Stomach It consumes I say the Phlegmatick and Melancholick Moisture sharpens the Senses bridles Anger cherishes and strengthens the principal Members recovers the Infirmities and broken Strength of Old Men. Take g g of the Medicine which grows
For though as Food it might make something towards prolonging of Life seeing it would nourish better than other things and would less alter the Body into a contrary Nature Yet it would not on this account avail to extend it much and less to prolong it to Eternity But as Physick it would especially and chiefly conduce to this end Now by what Qualities And by what way This is the most difficult to resolve § 4. It is to be observed thirdly That those Accidents which preserve our Body in perfect Health some of them are manifest some occult The manifest are three Temperament Composition and Vnity of Parts Which because they are perceived by the Senses are called manifest The occult according to the common Opinion that admits Powers are the Faculties of the Body which by Philosophers are called Powers that is the Faculty Vital Animal and Natural There are also occult Qualities belonging to the Alimentous which are introduced into the Aliment by the common Work-houses and by the Parts to be nourished although no Man hath yet found them out and therefore they may on that account also be called Alimentous There are besides Alexipharmack Qualities also newly found by us which in another Treatise we have proved to be connaturally in the Body of every living Creature that it may defend it self from Poyson § 5. Which things observed I say first Divers Qualities are communicated by the Tree of Life whereby all things which concern the Natural Constitution of the Body if they be destroyed may be restored if perfect may be preserved either to a certain and determinate Time or to Eternity according to the diversity of Opinions about this Matter This Conclusion is mâ—nifest because unless the Natural Constitution of the Body be preserved Health and Life cannot naturally continue Therefore it is necessary that so many and so great Vertues must be given from the Wood as were sufficient to repair and preserve all things concerning the Natural Constitution § 6. I say Secondly Supra-elementary Qualities must be contributed to the Body by the Tree of Life which might produce Elemental ones in that degree only which was agreeable to the Natural Temperament to wit that these Qualities of the Tree might concur as a kind of Cause efficient with the Form or with the Vertues of the Form according to the Opinion which grants Virtual Qualities productive of the Elemental towards the Production of Elemental Qualities just to such a convenient Degree This Conclusion is proved because it is necessary the Natural Temper should be preserved that the Body may continue in Health But such a Temper will be well preserved if there be a fixt and efficacious Cause which may help the intrinsick Agent in the Production of those degrees of each Quality which makes up the Temperament Therefore it is necessary that those Vertues be produced in the Body by the said Tree which may suffice to concur with the intrinsick Agent productive of such Qualities But these Vertues must needs be Qualities of a Superior Order Therefore such must be produced in the Body by the Tree of Life § 7. I say thirdly These Qualities must also be of such Efficacy that they may preserve that Degree fixt against all the Activity of an external Contrary even the most violent such as are Fire or Snow according to the Opinion which affirms the Wood to be an adaequate Cause of Immortality so that these Qualities of the Wood of Life being present Fire cannot act upon the Body nor produce further Degrees of Heat beyond those which are convenient for the Body For the contrary Degrees of Cold would be so preserved by the Quality of the Wood as a kind of Cause Efficient that they could not be diminished by the Fire And so it may be said of other Elemental Qualities It is manifestly proved Because unless the Qualities of the Wood had so great Efficacy they were not able to resist very violent external Agents But they might resist if they produced those fixt Degrees upon the Body connatural to it so that it might persist in Health § 8. But to what kind of Quality would these belong I answer They would be a kind of Habit For according to the Opinion which affirms that Elemental Qualities do not flow from the Soul but are produced of other occult Qualities superaded of a higher order which are called Virtual Qualities they would belong to Habit The Reason is because these Virtual Qualities are Powers seeing they are ordain'd only for Operation But the Qualities of the Wood do essentially suppose these Powers and do help them efficiently in the production of the Elemental ones Wherefore they are necessarily Habits as are the Habits of Sciences and some Supernatural Qualities as the Habit of Faith and Light of Glory which Divines commonly affirm do belong to Habit because they essentially suppose Power as Suarez a Vasquez b and others commonly hold But according to the Opinion that denies Powers to the Soul they are also to be accounted Habits and to concur with the Soul as Habits of Sciences and others And these Qualities will prove a kind of those which cure manifest Diseases of which we have spoken in another Book § 9. Both Conclusions are confirmed Because a living Body could no other way be made durable to Eternity nor for any Time but its Temperament would decline something from its Integrity unless it were preserved the foresaid way Therefore c. Nor doth it appear that the Qualities of the Wood would dispose the Body as a kind of Cause Formal whereby it would have been made free from all natural Causes of Death internal and external because a help by this kind of Cause would not have been sufficient that by its means an intrinsick Agent could resist the most violent Causes § 10. I say fourthly It is also convenient according to the same Opinion that the Tree of Life should make good other Qualities even Active ones which might concurr with the Faculties Animal Vital and Natural as a kind of Cause Efficient that they might perform very strong Actions when there should be a necessity It is proved as to the Animal Faculty because to avoid some Diseases of Composition and Solution of Unity as Dislocations and Wounds and to resist some external Causes which bring those Diseases an ordinary strength of Actions of the Animal Faculty is not sufficient even where there is the best Temperament Therefore it is necessary that this Faculty be helped by other Qualities which may concurr with it to render the Actions so strong that they may be sufficient to avoid all Natural Causes whatever especially those which might hurt by Local Motion § 11. And as to the Pulsatil Faculty there is the same Reason for it must perform a Motion against the Resistance of every external Cause whatever As to what concerns the Natural it is proved For it is necessary that the Attractive and Expulsive Faculty perform most