Remedies I sent you but I am sorry to hear you should be guilty of so great a Mistake as to think that no Observation of yours can render the use of Medicines subservient towards Health and long Life Sir I pray give me leave to assert the contrary and to prove that the practice of Piety and true Religion have a wonderful tendency towards long Life If you desire to wear a Crown of Glory in this World and the next also it may be obtained by gray Hairs found in the Way of Righteousness And you know it 's promised as a Blessing to the Good man that he shall come to his Grave in a full Age as a Shock of Corn comes in its season The beloved Disciple of our Lord survived the other Disciples and many of the Fathers of the Church were long-lived Which shews that the Blessing of long Life so often promised under the Law had less abatement after our Saviours dayes than other Blessings had Enoch and Elias never Dyed and became Examples that a spotless Life might possibly have been Immortal as it is probable that Man before his Fall was Yet had he never sinned perhaps he had not still remained here upon Earth though his Age might have been extended to some thousands of years and at length have been translated from hence to Heaven where he could neither have sinned nor dyed When our great and wise Creator made Man the Masterpiece of his Creation he was pleased as an expression of his Kindness to plant him in a Garden wherein he might have an opportunity at the same time both to Contemplate his Makers Goodness and to preserve his own Life being furnisht with supernatural Wisdom he could discern the particular Qualities of those Plants with which he conversed But Man being too familiar with the Tree of Knowledge forfeited his Right unto the Tree of Life and hath exposed himself unto the assaults of innumerable Diseases But such is the kindness of Heaven unto Man in his lapsed state that he is pleased to promise some of the Influences of this Symbolical Tree upon his Obedience unto the Divine Will So that by our Observance of the Eternal Laws of Evangelical Purity which are prescribed as the Christians Rule we may as it were transplant the Tree of Life into our own Gardens and sit under the shadow thereof with great Delight and its fruit may become sweet unto our taste There are certain practices which have a great tendency towards long Life and this the inspired Penman intimates when he saith Righteousness tendeth to life and there are frequent Promises of long Life made to the Obedient Caleb and Joshua survived all the Jews who came out of Egypt the rest were not suffered to see Canaan lest they should introduce Egyptian Innovations Nothing doth more conduce unto the preservation of our natural Health than our living the Divine Life but when our Expectations and Actions are wholly employed about the Gratifications of the Animal Life we do but prepare for the Messenger of the Grave The practice of serious Christianity is a great friend unto the Health of Humane Nature The circumstantial actions of Religion are very influential towards the lengthning mens Lives as the sweet sleep of temperate persons their freedom from violent and enraged Passions with the admirable Contentment that dwells in a holy Conscience also the great Moderation that 's exercised by such Persons There are attending the Divine Life leisurely Contemplations of Heavenly things Joyes refined from the Dregs of Sensuality Hopes of a noble and generous nature wholsom sweet and comfortable Fears and a universal Harmony in the Mind These things make the Lamp of Life burn bright and clear and from hence by the favour of Divine Clemency Health springeth forth speedily Plato's Observation is excellent That all the Pleasures of the Body proceed from the Joy of the Mind The breaking off our sins by Righteousness many times proves a lengthening of our temporal Tranquility The Jewish Doctors say That Adam felt no Cold notwithstanding he was naked because he had Communion with God but as soon as ever he had eaten the forbidden Fruit his Head aked Faith and Obedience like the Tree of Life in Paradise not only Sacramentally but really conduce unto Health and long Life so far as it is a Blessing and this it doth by impregnating our Food with the tincture of a Divine Benediction by meliorating our Constitutions and infusing wholsom Dispositions in the Air and Friendly Influences in the Host of Heaven The Jews came under a Promise of having their Bread and their Water blessed and Sickness removed if they obeyed the Divine Law And Solomon urgeth the consideration of our Health as a strong Argument to promote holy and Religious Fear telling us it should be health unto our Navels and marrow to our Bones And Godliness hath the promise of the Life that now is as well as of that which is to come If men love Life and desire many dayes and make it their request to obtain the Divine Wisdom the way prescribed is to desist from evil and to do good and then length of dayes and long life shall be added as the Wisest of men observed Yielding Subjection unto the Father of Spirits is as sure a way to obtain the Blessing of Health and long Life as Obedience unto our natural Parents for there is a Command with a Promise annexed unto both And we find Life in the Inventory of a Christians goods when drawn up by the great Apostle of the Gentiles And the inspired Pen-men frequently prescribe Religion as an Antidote against immature Death it being a direct Enemy unto Sin which brought in Sickness True goodness doth as well conduce to the prolongation of the Body in natural Life as to its Immortality in Eternal Life and the Body hath the perfection of Life viz. Health from the Soul as well as Life it self Dying unto sin is an excellent means to preserve Life if men would try the Experiment and endeavour to procure the Divine Providence to be their Life-Guard We live by the Word of Blessing out of the Mouth of God every Command if observed like Food and Physick tends unto the lengthening our Dayes Now although it be a known truth that of our selves we can do nothing yet it is as true that by the Grace of God we may do much in the practice of Religion and consequently may contribute towards the lengthening of our Dayes and rendering the use of Medicines effectual towards that great and noble end Moreover Religion secures Men from the Terrors of a guilty Conscience which many times makes Men wash their Hands in their own blood and it also preserves Men from the Condemnation of Humane Tribunals many being cut off by the Hand of Justice for their flagitious impieties as Murders Thefts and Rapines But Sir that the great Preserver of Men may so ballance the Humours in your Body that you may live to
may naturally be said to Die daily mouldering away by piece-meal The forbidden Fruit hath produced a Worm that eats our Lives away The malicious Serpent hath bruised our heel as is observed in the Jerusalem Targum supposed to be said to the Serpent by Almighty God viz. When the Children of the Woman shall forsake the Commandments of the Law thou shalt be strong and shalt strike them on the Heel and inflict Diseases on them We are like men going from Jerusalem to Jericho half dead the Sick and the Aged being but half alive as some Criticks observe senex quasi seminex With the same Motion of our Lungs we draw in Air we throw away Breath Some parcels of our selves steam away continually and we live a dying Life or a living Death Men have shortned their dayes by increasing their Vices Some men do that by Intemperance which the very Devils desire to shun viz. Torment themselves before their time No impious Person was ever said in Scripture to be full of Dayes none being full of time but they that are prepared for Eternity And we never Read in the Holy Book of any impenitent person that was ever raised from the dead to trye a second time for a Crown Lazarus Tabitha and the Saints at Jerusalem came into the World only to make a Visit and declare a Glory and to them it happened literally to have their part in the first Resurrection upon whom the Second death shall have no power Julian's Motto may fit every Man An Eagle shot through with a Dart feather'd with a Quill from its own Wing The Life of Man is swifter than a Weavers Shuttle especially if wickedness be interwoven then divine Justice cuts the thread excellently shadowed by the Poets Fiction of the three fatal Sisters The one holding the Distaff the other drawing the Thread the third cutting it off Mens Impieties like Hazaels wet Cloath prove fatal unto their Lives and Healths in spite of the most proper Remedies When Sin and Sickness is mingled together no marvel to see Mens Bodies moulder being like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's Image made of Clay It 's no wonder to see a strange punishment to happen unto the workers of Iniquity The Jews are very often threatned with fore Sicknesses and wonderful Plagues if they did not hearken unto the divine Law That a wicked Life procures a short one we find plainly exemplified in most of the Bad Kings of Judah and Israel as Aâ—ijam Athaliah Ahaziah Nadab Elah Omri and many others who reigned but two three or four years apiece and the reasons are sometimes recorded that it was for their sins which they sinned they shortned their Lives with their Kingdoms in them sin and a sudden death reigned together When mens Lusts have conceived they bring forth Sin and Sin when it is finished brings forth Death Pharaoh's bloody Persecution drowned him in the Red Sea Ahab's cruelty proved fatal to his own Life The Samaritan Lords infidelity pressed his Soul out of his Body Hananiah's false Prophesie did but predict his own death Ahaziah's evil Consultation with the God of Ekron to know whether he should recover of his Sickness made his Disease prove incurable The calumniating rage of the Children against the good old Prophet excited the rage of Bears to devour their Bodies Herod's vain-glorious Ostentation brought such a Disease upon his Body whereof he had no reason to boast Saphira's Perjury summoned the feet of those who had carried her Husband to his Grave to carry her unto the same place Benhadad's Curiosity proved the fatal Messenger of his death the Prophet returning Answer that he might recover but should surely dye Jeroboam's Idolatry in praying unto false gods provoked the true God to stop his breath Saul's disobedience unto the King of Kings brought the King of terrors Belshazzer for his riotous Revelling by a Hand-writing on the Wall had the end of his Life and Kingdom denounced against him Nadab and Abihu offering strange Fire had a stranger fire sent to devour them The Pride of the Daughters of Sion changed their sweet Smells into a Stink and their well-set Hair into Baldness The Candle of the Wicked is often put out and the Number of his Months cut off in the Middle But Sir that no Cloud may have power to discompose the Serenity of your dayes but that you may enjoy a Spring of Happiness in the Winter of Age and may want nothing but Want it self shall never be left out of the Prayers and Wishes of Your true Friend J. M. LETTER VI. SIR I Received your dated the sixth instant wherein you seem to wonder that the Cause of your disease is not long since removed and you restored unto a state of health I beseech you give me leave to deal plainly and to tell you that there are Moral as well as Natural Causes of diseases and unless both be removed Remedies very often prove ineffectual And the sincere belief of this conduceh very much towards the success of Medicines Many of the Church of Corinth were sick and weak and lost their Lives for their unworthy reception of the Holy Supper If men contemn the Sacred Body of the Son of God how can they expect the Almighty goodness should take care of their bodies and if they neglect to commemorate his Death they have little reason to expect he should regard their Lives although precious in his sight is the Death of his Saints Miriam's Sedition raised a tumultous disturbance in the harmony of her health The dissimulation of Gehaza's Tongue procured the Leprosie upon his Skin Uzziah's invadeing the Priests office and Burning Incense caused the divine displeasure to smoke against him Abimelech was restored to his health when he restored Abrahams Wife but not before When our blessed Saviour cured the man sick of a Palsie he forgave him his sins to shew him they were the cause of his sickness We may observe in our Saviours dayes that Infidelity did as it were tye up the hands of Omnipotence and set bounds to the operation of his mighty Works on mens bodies St. Anselm observes that the reason why diseases did so much abound in his time was because the holy Eucharist was irreverently received at Easter Jezabel for her Impenitence is threatned to be cast into a bed and her Children to be killed with Death Good men may dye but they cannot be killed with Death The Prophets are frequently Menaced with Death and Sickness that shall presume to speak without a Mission from Heaven In vain are external Remedies applyed when the Cause is internal The Fable of the Kite when sick imploring help and recovery but being denyed by reason of her rapine and violence it affords an excellent Moral The sickness of the Body is sometimes designed to promote the Health of the Soul and the Leprosie on Naamans Flesh may conduce towards the whitening of his Mind They are sent as tryals of Grace and are Declarative of Divine mercy When
be in the World If Alexander the Great had been strangled in the Cradle how could the Prophesies of Daniel have been fulfilled concerning him The Jews could not prejudice the Life of the Lord of Life until that hour which was appointed to be his last hour was come For as it is appointed once to Die so also when to Die and that you may enjoy a Long and Healthful Life and at last a happy Eternity is the prayer of Your humble Servant J. M. LETTER IV. SIR I Joyfully entertained the welcome News of the good success of your last Remedies but am sorry to find you attribute all to Necessity as if because the Period of Humane Life is appointed and the success of Medicines depends upon a Supernatural Concourse therefore to inferr we cannot be accessary towards the shortning of our own Dayes Sir it is a fond Opinion and a great mistake so to think for the Jews were wickedly instrumental in taking away the Life of the Lord of Life notwithstanding they did nothing but what Divine goodness had determined before to be done The Prophet told Amaziah he knew God had Determined to destroy him and yet he also tells him that he was instrumental towards his own Death in not hearkning unto the Voyce of the Lord. Eli's Sons disobedience pronounced the Sentence of Death against them and it is rendred as the reason why God had resolved to slay them The Date of the Old Worlds Duration was fixed to one Hundred and twenty Years Yet we find it not so long-liv'd by twenty Years their wickedness contracted that which seemed to be a determined period At what time soever the Almighty be but pleased to speak concerning a Nation People or Person to pluck up to pull down or to destroy if that Nation People or Person turn from their evil way he will Repent of the intended evil whether Sickness or Mortality The flight of that Arrow which procured King Ahabs Death was guided by a Divine Hand who aimed at his Mortal Wounds yet his rash going to Battel by the advice of his false Prophets rendred him instrumental towards his own Death The Evangelical Prophet tells us of a Consumption determined upon the whole Earth occasion'd by their great Provocations The Divine determination concerning our Lives should not lessen our care to preserve our Lives King David understood that the determination concerning the Childs Death was past yet he prayed and used means to restore it It 's a Turkish Principle to dream that because the manner and moments of Mens Deaths are appointed therefore to think it Vanity and Cowardice to arm our selves or Antidote our Bodies against the injuries of War and Assaults of Diseases A Man may live out all Gods time who wickedly shortens his own and may be permitted to do those forbidden Acts which inevitably tend to his own destruction and cut the Thred of his Dayes The Israelites Murmuring anticipated their Funerals and Buried them in the Wilderness notwithstanding their Promise of seeing Canaan The Impiety of the old World brought a Deluge which possibly might have been prevented had their Repentance been as visible as that of Ninive who were Reprieved from Execution after the Sentence of Death seemed Passed upon them their Reformation prevented Ruine and Destruction The addition of fifteen Years to Hezekias's Life was the result of the Divine Favour but not without signal demonstrations of Repentance The Rabins tell us of one going to gather his Remedies prescribed by King Solomon against his peculiar Distemper was met by an Apparition of Death in the shape of a Skeleton which told him with an audible Voice it was too late for he was struck by the Angel who kept the Key of the Grave The Moral is obvious enough to a wise man unto whom a word is enough And I pray Sir excuse this unravelling my Thoughts in such a ruffled manner from Your Healths Friend J. M. LETTER V. SIR THese Medicines the Doctor hath now Prescribed I have conveyed unto you according unto your desire the Directions are given with the particular Parcels and I am of Opinion that a firm belief that men may be many wayes accessary towards the shortning their own dayes may much conduce towards the good Success of Remedies by exciting greater care and circumspection and greater Piety and Prudence in the management of our selves Sin and Wickedness doth apparently shorten Life and multiply Diseases The Life of Man seems to be much pared away but it cannot be artributed unto any Decay in Nature and its universal Frame but rather unto the great Immorality and Imprudent extravagancy of Nations and Persons indulging effeminate luxurious and pernicious Customs Sin brought Death at first and as Sin increased so Death came nearer by five hundred years After the Flood men sinned still and built Castles in the Air and then Death came nearer by three hundred years And by Moses's time a great part of that remnant is pared away and threescore and ten is the period Had offended Justice gone on still to shorten mens dayes as men encreased in Sin our Life by this time had not been a Day long and therefore he no longer destroys the Kind but punisheth the Individuals and sets it down as a standing Rule That evil shal slay the Wicked and he shall not live out half his dayes We cannot now observe one in five hundred arrive at that Age unto which they might attain by the course of Nature but end their dayes in Sin and Folly From surfeiting proceeds dissolutions of Members relaxations of Nerves fractures of Bones Inflamations of Blood Crudities of the Stomack besides the uncleanly Consequences of Lust which like a Dart strikes through the Liver Our great Creator hath composed our Bodies like Lamps and to supply the Oyl consumed by the flame hath given us Appetites of Hunger and Thirst and Reason to guide our Appetites and the Revelation of his Will to guide our Reason but if men through the depravation of Nature and the predominancy of Temptation suffer their Appetites to dethrone their Reason and give way to Intemperance which extinguisheth Natures Lamp by corrupting the Oyl or spilling it or blowing out the flame men may then justly expect to be cut off in the midst of their dayes and to be made a Sacrifice unto their overmuch wickedness I'ts not improbable that Baalam's wish to dye the Death of the Righteous did not only include his being saved at last but also that he might come to his grave in a good old age with his Fathers in peace and might not be cut off like the Moabites and other Nations who were to perish in their wickedness before his eyes Since Man-kind Bruised himself with his Fall he hath corrupted his Blood and sowed the Seeds of innumerable Diseases We daily feel the smart of our first Sentence viz. Thou shalt dye the Death or In Dying thou shalt Dye or Thou shalt become exposed unto Sickness and Death Men