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
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
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
from want and diminution of Blood and Spirits or from Infection of the Blood Diminution of the Blood and Spirits is from the Diminution of the Natural Moisture because the Root and as it were the Fountain of it is in the Blood principally in that of the Heart and secondarily in that which passeth through the Veins and Members The Blood being diminished the Spirits are diminished also which abide in the Blood as in their Subject And Blood is restored by those things which refresh the innate Moisture and the Blood being augmented the Spirits are made more lively Plenty of rotten Phlegm filthy Spitting and Bleareyedness are Accidents of Age which happen from an unnatural Moisture and especially Phlegmatick And that Moisture flowes sometimes from the Superfluity of the fourth Digestion and is cured by things purging consuming and drying up Phlegm as we shall hereafter teach Those things especially help Bleareyedness which swim in the Sea and which live in the Air. Those things are a Cure for filthy Spitting which purge and open the Breast as Diaïrews and Diaprassium Purging of Phlegm from the Head and Stomach conduces very much towards the cleansing of ropy Phlegm although in Young and growing persons these things happen sometimes from the superfluity of the Blood Insomneity if I may so speak Shortness of Breath Anger Disquiet of Mind are Accidents of Age among which Weakness of Breathing happens through the Straitness and Coarctation of the Passages of the Lungs which is caused either by too much Dryness or excessive Moisture But we must remedy this Evil or Accident by the help of those Medicines that the Wise have ordered to be taken in their Treatise of Diseases which befal the Instruments of Breathing For Avicenna in the same Treatise affirms that Saffron hath a Property to open and refresh the Instruments of Breathing Want of Sleep Disquiet of Mind and Anger befal Old Men and the Decrepit and sometimes Young Men from Melancholick Fumes ascending to the Brain as also hindring the Organs of the Senses And therefore in their Books of Regiment it is ordered by Physicians that Old Men avoid Phlegmatick and likewise Sowre Meats Horehound very well prepared helpeth this Diâ—poâ—ition and to eat Sallet of Lettuce strowed with Spice as Galen saith according to Avicenna in his Chapter Of Sleep But against Anger Want of Sleep and Talkativeness let the Operation and Action of the Soul Joy and Mirth and other delectable things be made use of CHAP. V. Of Weakness of Strength and Faculties of the Soul WEakness of Strength and Faculties is an Accident of Old Age. Infirmity of Strength proceeds from a strange and unnatural Moisture softening the Nerves or From over much Dryness whereby the Nerves are contracted and therefore weakned or From the Concussion of the Nerves as it often falls out in Souldiers exercising the sharp and dangerous Feats of War For I have seen many men vigorously striving in the Combate who being thereby weakned lost the Garland of the Contest When the Weakness hath its Original from Dryness that Medicine is useful whose Root is of the Indian Plant. When from Moisture Meat made of the Vegetable Medicine may be profitable for the hurt strength But the Weakness of the Faculties sometime arises from the Moisture superfluous Sometime from it deficient These Faculties although they may seem to be many as the Appetitive Digestive and Sensitive because they have got many Names yet the Faculty is truly one as Iohannes Damascenus affirms And because this one Faculty is wont to perform different Offices in different Members it is called by divers Names But by what Wayes these Faculties may be recreated and being weak may be strengthned I will shew hereafter in the Chapter Of Repairing the Faculties The Hurt of the Senses is an Accident of Sense which often falls out even in young men This sometime happens in the Occult Sometime in the Manifest Organs of the Senses When these Hurts are made in the Manifest Organs they may be cured in the same manner as the Wise have prescribed in the proper Chapters of those Hurts When this Hurt happens in the Occult Instruments it is made in three Parts of the Brain wherein the Animal Power doth operate namely in the fore middle and hind part which parts by Avicenna are called the Ventricles of the Brain In the hind part Oblivion and Remembrance is made by the Soul Of which things Royal Haly speaks in his first Discourse of his Theory saying That Old Age is as it were the House of Forgetfulness But Seneca affirms the contrary namely that when a man grows old if he have formerly well exercised the Instrument of Memory he will not be of a less Memory than when he was a Young Man Whence it happens that by long Exercise of one Instrument the Force and Property of another is abated as is daily experienced in Men of good Inventions and Men of good Memories But the Hurt which happens in the first and second Ventricles of the Brain wherein Imagination and the Distinction of things is made is a Harm which falls not out on the Score of the Rational Soul but on the Score of the Instruments wherein the Soul operates Now the Hurt of Imagination is said to be made two ways In the Instrument of the Brain wherein false things are feigned And in the Visory Nerve which brings Light from the Eye And therefore the Son of the Prince hath laid down two Chapters Of the Hurt of Imagination One among the Diseases of the Head Another in his Treatise Of the Eyes For this Hurt arises in these parts of the Brain and not in the Organs Sometimes from an Internal Sometimes from an External Cause From an Internal Cause two Ways Either by Nature when a Man is so hurt from his Mothers Womb as soon as he is born into the World and then the Hurt is incurable Or by Accident and so it is made two Ways By things coming from within and that sometime From evil Humours which do cause Infirmities of Body and Diseases and then the Hurt is said to come from the Humours which are in the Brain it self Sometime From some other Member ill affected by a blow or some other Cause But whatever Humour it be so it be a bad one it hurts and stops up the aforesaid parts of the Brain Which same Humour is bred of ill Food that is Melancholick and Phlegmatick as also of Indigestion and sowre things and such as are dryed in the Smoak and the like The Operation of the Soul is hindred also from an outward Cause and that many Ways Sometimes from stinking Vapours which infect the Body and stop up the Organs of the Senses Among which Vapours those are worse which come out of things diseased and labouring of Superfluity and out of dead Carkases themselves by reason of the Likeness they have with Humane Bodies As of old it happened after a bloody War in AEthiopia wherein
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
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.
perfect Actions although there be an impeding Cause The Digestive also if it have a help will operate more perfectly And it is confirmed because these Qualities are not only possible but some such like there are indeed efficiently concurring with the Powers to the Curing and Preventing manifest Diseases Therefore it is necessary that the Wood of Life should have them most efficacious § 12. You will object Therefore the Qualities productive of Elemental ones would have been superfluous which we spoke of in the last Conclusion The Sequel is denied for they also would have been necessary to preserve the Natural and most perfect Temperament of Body And although by this means the Body of Man might resist all morbose Causes acting by Alteration it might better and more readily resist together with these Qualities actively helping the Powers § 13. But whether would one only Quality flowing from the Fruit suffice to concurr with all the Faculties I answer negatively but every lowest Species of Faculty ought to have its particular Quality distinct in Specie It is manifestly proved Because every Faculty hath its particular and determinate Effect Therefore it wants a particular and determinate Concause which hath Virtue for such an Effect Secondly Because Powers are distinguished in Specie by their Acts and Objects Therefore those Qualities which participate with the Powers are the same was distinguished Thirdly because the Habit of one Power or an Effect determinate to a certain Species cannot concurr with another Power nor to another Species of Act Nor therefore in like manner can these Qualities which are as Habits in respect of the Powers § 14. Therefore for the Animal Faculty there would have been given one Quality for Motion and divers other for the Senses and for every one as well internal as external if discerning Powers may seem necessary either to long or eternal Life its own Quality would have been allotted For the Vital Faculty there would have been given one for the Motion of the Heart and Arteries another for Generation of Spirits whilst there was any necessity for Motion or Generation of Spirits For according to this Opinion which affirms that eternal Life was given by the Wood when the Body was reduced to the best Constitution all things would have been kept in the same Tenor so that neither any reparation of Spirits nor of Substance would have been further necessary § 15. Wherefore by the Qualities of the Tree of Life the Health of the Body would have been defended from Hunger Thirst and want of Air lest namely Man should perish for want of Meat Drink or Air which will more appear hereafter In like manner there would have been given a particular Quality by the Fruit for every Species of Natural Faculty that is for Attraction Retention Coction and Expulsion that to wit they might operate most perfectly while their operation was necessary And after the same manner there would have been another for Generation § 16. You will object The Fruit of this Tree was of one Species only Therefore it could not produce so many Species of Qualities The Consequence is denied Because the same Rheubarb performs divers Actions by Qualities different in Specie for it evacuates Choler strengthens the Liver opens Obstructions binds lax Parts produceth Heat causeth Driness And so we experience divers Virtues in many other Medicines § 17. I say fifthly Besides the said Qualities according to the same Opinion there was another necessary which should have been made good by the Tree of Life And that is a Resistive Faculty which might preserve the Union and due Composition of Parts namely their Figure Cavity Number and also their Magnitude It is evidently proved Because in defect thereof Man would become obnoxious to Diseases and Death which would follow from Division of Continuity and from vitiated Composition This Quality indeed would not have been Active but relating to Patible Quality as Hardness in a Stone For informing the Parts of the Body it would have rendred them incapable of any Division or Compression which could have been made by an external Cause Wherefore by reason of this Quality Man could not dye by a Precipice or a Blow And it is confirmed for as the Author of the Questions of the Old and New Testament saith c The Wood of Life was so to Man as an inexpugnable Wall Therefore it must necessarily make good this Resistive Quality as a Wall § 18. You will object If such a Quality were granted the Limbs could not be bended It is denied Because it was not hardness but preserving of Union Or rather Whether was there not a Quality actively preserving the Union of Parts It might probably be affirmed And it would have been so strong in Preservation of the Union of Parts by a certain Action intrinsically terminated upon the very Union that the Union could be dissolved by no finite natural Cause Yet much more probably I think there was no such active Quality seeing the Resisting informing one was sufficient as we said in the last Conclusion § 19. I say sixthly According to this Opinion the Tree of Life would have made good all Alexipharmack Qualities of every kind whereby the Body would have been made free from all that are Poysonous This Conclusion also is manifest For in defect of these Qualities Man might have perished seeing those that are implanted in the Body cannot sufficiently resist strong Poysons Nor can it be doubted that this Quality was possible seeing it is found naturally in almost innumerable Medicines Therefore no Wonder if it were granted to this Fruit naturally with so great Efficacy that it overcame all Poysonous ones § 20. You will object against what we have said Heat would necessarily act upon Moisture seeing it is a Natural Cause acting necessarily Therefore it would necessarily rarefy it turn it into Vapors and consume it Therefore Reparation and Nutrition was necessary Therefore Man would necessarily be obnoxious to Death by Hunger and it was needful for Man to eat the Wood again and again I deny the Antecedent Because the Moisture would have been preserved two ways First by the Occult Quality of the Wood which we spoke of producing Moisture in a proportionate fixt Degree Secondly by another Occult Quality of the Wood producing certain fixt Degrees of Cold that the Heat could produce none further § 21. You will urge Therefore the Heat would produce those Qualities at least which are produced of it by Resultancy in the Substance wherein it subsists that is Rarity and Levity if it be a Second Quality from which follows Resolution or Evaporation and consequently the Consumption of such Substance The Sequel is denied Because that Resultance also of Second Qualities would have been hindred by their contrary Qualities which would have been produced by other First Contraries for Example The Resultance of further Rarity would have been hindred by the Degrees of Cold for by them its contrary Density would have been preserved proportional
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