dye under their hands and yet we frequently find friendly Visitants crying up such when they might better spend their time in serious counsels and Christian advices to bear their visitations with patient submission to the Divine Will untill they find ease and relief from the hand of Heaven and also in timely intimations to set their Houses in order and prudently dispose of their temporal concerns by making their Wills In a sick Friends Chamber Friends have an Excellent opportunity both to do and to receive good by being put in mind of the Vanity of man in this mortal state causing them to be more industrious in the faithful improvement of their own health and in a Christian Preparation for Death Now Sir that you may be strengthen'd upon your bed of languishing and visited with the Divine saving health that so your most mortal sickness may not be unto death Eternal but for your Glory and passage into endless bliss shall be the Prayer of Your True Friend J. M. LETTER XX. SIR I Am sorry you meet with so many cross Winds in your Voyage to the Haven of health particularly that the carelesness of an Attendant I mean a Nurse should blow you back again into the wide Ocean and threaten a Shipwrack when you seemed to be gotten within Ken of harbour Great care ought to be used in choosing honest and careful Persons to attend sick Patients whose Office it is to administer Remedies prescribed by the Physitian and prepared by the Apothecary Every of these ought to know their peculiar province for the skilful Nurse as well as the ignorant Physitian makes a fat Church-yard and we find that in many Distempers careful attendance is half the cure But when the Ignorant Nurse shall usurp the Learned Physicians imployment and prescribe as well as administer it 's intollerable presumption care and watchfulness are their most commendable qualities but when they are Drowsic and careless it 's very prejudicial to the Patient when like the first woman they tempt to that dyet which is Destructive both to the Patients health and the Physicians credit Eating forbidden Fruit was at first our sin when it was contrary to a Divine command and it now causeth sickness when it 's contrary to the Physitians advice I have sometimes known a Nurse perswade the Patient to eat that which she her self loved when it was contrary to the patients Distemper and sometimes the Physitian must be forbid to prescribe Gascoin Powder because she hath known one to dye after it and sometimes the Physitians prescriptions must be all set behind the Window curtain because she doth not approve of them and in the mean time she gives her Diascaudle and what call 'um Water A Child once dying of the Small-Pox yet under the Care of an able Physitian the Nurse threw away all his Medicines privately and when it could not sleep sent to the Apothecary for Syrup of Lettuce and when it was costive for Syrup of Roses which was discovered a while after in the Apothecaries Bills who knew not what use it was put to untill she confest it to her Shame and Ruine Sir I hope you will survive this unhappy accident of your Nurse and live to see her repent The smell of a Violet I hope will be restorative and believe it you shall never want health if it be in my Power to contribute towards it who am Your Loving Friend J. M. LETTER XXI SIR I Understand by the Physician that your Distemper requires Bleeding and I also perceive you have a very great aversation to it Good Sir I beseech you why is it not better to part with your Blood than your Life but you say the Blood is the Life and I 'll say the Blood is the cause of Death also when there 's too much of it or when it 's naught as I am perswaded yours is because your learned Doctor judgeth so Are not all Creatures relieved with bleeding and is it not practised by all wise Nations The French and Spaniards use it two or three times in a day and our forefathers shed their Blood by pounds to save their Lives and shall not we do it by Ounces Indeed Sir you had better sleep with a healthful body than in a whole skin Some learned Jewish Doctors will tell you that Circumcision was a means of health as well as a Tipifick Institution But Sir if you do open a Vein make use of a skilful Chyrurgeon that may not make you lame to make you sound and open a Door with a Lance to let out your Soul with your Blood for some such there are in the World that want both skill and care and pour Gaul and Vinegar instead of Wine and Oyl into their Patients wounds Choose a man of honesty and reputed skill in his profession and one whose particular imployment it is venture not your Life in the hand of one whose covetousness prompts him to venture out of his own Calling neither he nor you can so rationally expect the Divine Blessing upon your bleeding which will promote the Circulation of the remaining mass of Blood whereby it will the better purifie it self and the Blood being clarified the Spirits will become more lively and vigorous to push off your Distemper which good news will as it were kindle Bonfires of Joy in the Breasts of all your cordial Friends In which catalogue you may safely number J. M. LETTER XXII SIR I Cannot but wonder that you should wonder at the unsuccesfulness of the last Prescriptions when I hear you perplex your Thoughts with melancholy Contemplations A man may muse himself into his Grave and think himself to Death To be careful for nothing but to please our Maker and to save our Souls will very much promote the Health of our Bodies The Effects of Love and Hope cherish the natural Heat and radical Moysture beget gentle and vigorous Spirits which makes the vital Powers more brisk and lively On the contrary tedious and perplext Studies restless Impatience fretful Murmurings and discontented Thoughts they stop the regular motion of the Blood damp the Spirits and hinder the faculties of the Mind When the Briskness of the vital Heat is suffocated and the Contraction of the Heart weakned and the Blood grown thick and cold in the extremities of the Vessels and is not able to thrust it self into the remoter branches of the Arteries and Fibres of the Veins but stagnates in the narrow passages of the Body and Brain from thence is laid a foundation for Pains Palsies and all Scorbutick Distempers and then we sigh and groan and live a dying Life or a living Death which is very burthensom to humane Nature Spiritual pleasure is an excellent Medicine against bodily pains and true Piety is the best Cure of Melancholly in the whole World When the Soul is filled with light and vigor it infuseth a strange kind of Alacrity into the Humors by a physical Efficiency Internal Joy grounded upon the
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
the Question was asked our Saviour Who sinned this Man or his Parents that be was born Blind Our Lord Answered Neither this Man nor his Parents but it was for the Declaration of Divine Mercy that the work of God might be made manifest in his wonderful Cure and Recovery Also the sickness of Lazarus was designed for the Glory of God and Honour of our Saviour that he might have an opportunity to manifest his Divine Power Hyppocrates adviseth Physitians to search if there be not something Divine in the Causes of Diseases The Living man seldom complains without giving his maker a cause to inflict punishment for the righteous Judge doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men There is some Babilonish Garment hath infected the Body with Leprosie or some spiritual disease in the mind that hath procured the thorn in the flesh when the Rod of God utters it's voice and men are fed with the Bread of Affliction and with the Water of Adversity in order to cure the tympany of Pride the Feavour of Passion the Dropsie of Covetousness The plague in the Body is sometimes sent to cure the Plague in the Heart Sin is that root of bitterness from whence all our troubles in the flesh spring up Men are like Baalam when any thing pains or hurts their Bodies are apt to Blame and strike the External Instrument but never mind the Angel that stands in the way with a drawn Sword and caused that instrument to hurt There are many happy intentions Divine goodness aims at in laying diseases on mens bodies Sometimes the sacrificing Knife is laid upon the neck of an Isaac to try whether the indulgent Parent will prefer the life of his natural Son before the Will of his heavenly Father When men come to perceive that there is no soundness in their flesh nor rest in their bones because of their transgressions and that it was their own wickedness that corrected them and procured the Plagues the Consumptions the Inflamations and extream burnings that attended as Pages upon their pride wantonness intemperance and carnality and this produceth a strict commune with their hearts upon their sick beds so that they make a Diligent search into the causes of their Distempers then they find a rebuke given unto the disease Sir I pray excuse this great freedom from one who I hope shall not stand in need of many words to perswade you that he is Your inviolably affectionate Friend J. M. LETTER VII SIR AMongst the many things which conduce towards the rendring the use of Remedies effectual I think nothing can contribute more than our endeavour to use those Means which may be influential towards the procuring the divine Blessing And amongst many others I judge these that follow are very considerable To begin with a serious Repentance for our former Miscarriages which often proves very successeful towards Health and Recovery The Israelites Repentance proved a Soveraign Plaister against the Stings of the fiery Serpents And King Davids Remorse prevailed with the destroying Angel to sheathe his Sword after the slaughter of Seventy thousand People Rehoboams Repentance at the preaching of Shemaiah prevented the destruction of himself and his Princes When mens flesh is consumed and they are afflicted with strong pains upon their Beds then the Almighty looks upon Men to see if any say they have sinned and perverted that which is right to deliver them from going down to the pit that their Lives may see the light When the Divine hand binds men with Fetters and holds them in the Cords of Affliction then he shews them their work and their transgression that they have exceeded Then he opens their Ears to Discipline and commands that they return from Iniquity If they obey and serve him they shall spend their Dayes in Prosperity and their Years in Pleasure But if they obey not they shall Dye in their Youth for God preserveth not the Life of the wicked as Elihu tells Job The sick Bed is the attiring room of the Grave in which Men should be preparing themselves for the Solemnities of their Funerals by lingering Distempers men are gradually putting off their Vail of Flesh to be Cloathed upon with their house which is from Heaven When Sickness hath done its Errand and accomplished the end for which it was sent then it receives a Commission to depart it s that which leads Men by the Hand unto their long homes and gives them a Prospect of that House appointed for all Living Diseases are sent to unravel humane Nature but when the inward Man is renewed by the Decayes of the outward and men hold fast their Integrity notwithstanding the Almighty toucheth their Bone and their Flesh and bodily Pain give a prospect of endless Pleasure then the Disease many times takes its leave When Sickness makes Men sensible of the Vanity of Beauty and Strength which a blast of Wind or a lump of Phlegme may take from them when it makes Men listen unto the Striking of the Clock of Time with greater Attention and excites their endeavours to render Death a stingless Serpent then the great part of the Cure is performed when Men are as 't were knocking at the gates of the Grave by Tortures and Agonies of Body and the blow of Gods heavy Hand presseth Men sore so that a Man may read the Sentence of some Mens Deaths written in their Foreheads in the lines of a lingering Disease the difficult motion of their Lungs to draw in Air being like a Passing-Bell alwayes sounding in their Ears yet upon their sincere Repentance many times comes a Reprieve When the Arrows of the Almighty viz. Diseases fly thick in the world and are shot sometimes into Mens Lungs and sometimes into their Joynts and Hearts and give denomination unto various Diseases there they will stick untill pulled out by an Omnipotent Hand a firm belief of whose Divine Power doth mightily conduce towards the procuring the Blessing of Heaven with the use of Remedies The Power of our Blessed Lord is the same now in Heaven as when on Earth his Hand from Heaven can reach all our Maladies and cure like the Weapon Salve at a distance if Men did but act a vigorous Faith and a holy Confidence in the Divine Providence and as it were touch the Hem of their Saviours Garment they would quickly find a healing Virtue go forth towards their Cure When Men are disquieted by Pains and cast down by Sickness their only way to Recovery is to hope in him who is the Health of their Countenance and in quietness and confidence they will find Strength To humble our selves under the mighty Hand of God is the way to be exalted to Health in his due time Acts of Faith are engaging and the way to obtain the Divine Power is to glorifie it in our dependance When Miracles were in their full force the effect is alwaies ascribed unto Faith our Saviour told the Woman her Faith had made her whole
Again humbly to implore the help of that great Physician who was Typified by the Brazen Serpent would be a very effectual means to be cured both of the Sting and Pain of Sickness It well becomes the most holy Soul under Distempers to abound with an O Spare me that I may recover Strength When Men are like Moses commanded to go up into a Mount as it were of a Sick-Bed and Dye there the same Hand that Wounded must make whole many lose their Lives for want of asking it at his Hands who grants it if Invited to our Bed-sides by fervent Prayers joyned with Faith and Patience When the only wise God resolves to make Men sick with smiting them they ought to beware of Murmuring and Impatience which doth exasperate all Calamities it being far more advantageous towards recovery patiently to hope and quietly to wait for the Salvation of God for they that wait upon the Lord have a Promise they shall renew their Strength and be saved with a temporal as well as a spiritual Salvation if they continue in Faith and Patience with Sobriety The Poets have an excellent Fiction that the Image of the Goddess Augerine was with a Muffler at her Mouth placed at the Temple of Volupia signifying that Pleasure should be their Portion who bear Sicknesses with Patience Silence and Submission Good Men never question the Divine Favour so much at any time as under sickness because the Body discomposeth the Mind and hinders the free exercise of spiritual Reason besides they have not such express comfort from their Saviours Sufferings for we never read he was ever Sick yet he had Passions equivalent to Sickness as Hunger Thirst Weariness which afflicted his Body with Pain and therefore can be toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities The best way to obtain Cure is by the Power of a Divine Faith to shake off Diseases as St. Paul did the Viper from his Hand And Sir that the great Physician may make your Soul like his Body in the Gospel every whit whole shall be the Desire of Your true Friend and faithful Servant J. M. LETTER VIII SIR I Received yours dated the Second of this Month wherein you acknowledge your self a Convert unto the several Arguments of Discourse which have formerly passed between us but you seem very much to doubt whether humane Prudence Care and Art can any way contribute unto long Life And that they may be very subservient thereunto there is nothing more plain and evident Certainly King David's departing from Keylak diverted Sauls Rage and preserved his own Life for that time And our blessed Saviours own practice in preserving himself until the time he knew that his hour was come is recorded for our Imitation St. Pauls Mariners saved their Lives by abiding in the Ship who otherwise in all probability might have been Drowned The Wisdom of Joseph and Mary in observing the Angels advice and flying into Egypt with the blessed Babe in all humane probability it prevented his Death at Bethlehem The Centurion Importun'd our Saviour to cure his Servant which he would never have done if it had not conduced towards the prolongation of his Life 'T was not without cause that Naomi was foretold Obed should be a restorer of her Age. As fire dies for want of air and is extinguished when the flame is suffocated so doth our vital flame as our Spirits are repaired by Air so are our sanguine Humours by Aliments Much may be done by Art for the retarding the course of Nature as may be seen in many Insects and Animals and in Men restored from Consumptive pineing Sicknesses their flesh becoming like that of Children as in Naamans Case The efficacy of Remedies with some is so great that their Youth is as 't were renewed like the Eagle their natural strength not abating at a great Age Moreover it doth not seem probable that means should be used with good success to answer all other intentions in Nature and be used in vain in attaining that which is the most desirable thing in Nature and which renders a Man capable of perfection in all Arts and Sciences viz. Health And yet as none can speak of Death by experience because they who speak of it have not felt it and they who have felt it cannot speak of it the Case is much the same concerning Life For unless a Man live unto extream old Age he will not believe his Life hath been prolonged but rather that his hour was not yet come but yet it 's not inconsistent with reason to say that he who would Infallibly have Dyed of a Gangreen in his Leg hath had his Life prolonged when his Leg was Cured or to say that a Consumptive Body hath been saved from Death when restored to a healthful State by a Medicinal Diet which hath added Oyl to the Lamp of Life The Nectar and Ambrosia of the Poets which kept their gods from growing old seems to be an Emblem of the Tree of Life which was to have been a Restorer of Nature as well as a Symbal of future things Suppose we with Pithagoras that Life is a strait line and that the accidents which disturb it and at length bring Death constitute another Line and as these two lines incline less or more one towards another Death approaches sooner or later and consequently Life is longer or shorter yet may we not suppose that Divine Providence and humane Prudence may probably conduce towards the retarding the Neighbourhood of those lines Or suppose with the Aristotelians that Life consists in the union of Heat and Moisture and Death approacheth by the Predominance of the contrary Qualities viz. Cold and Dryness why may not such means as preserves the former and keeps back the latter have a natural tendency to prolong Life Or suppose with the Chymists that Life consists in a volatile Armoniack Salt why may we not suppose that Art improved may compose such fixed Alkali as may stop the wingy motions of the former Volatility The pleasing gratifications of Sense walk Hand in Hand with Death and pursueth Mortals as the Waves of the universal Deluge did the Posterity of Cain and though they went from one story to another higher and higher yet at last they were overflowed Though Temperance doth not alwayes prove an Antidote against Sickness yet it 's a likely means Sir I pray distribute my Service where you think it 's due for it is time to come to a full point and to tell you that in Truth I am Yours in all that Power and Will can manifest J. M. LETTER IX SIR I Received yours dated the 11th instant wherein you give me an account of the great Sickness and Mortality of your Town and Countrey now Languishing under this Epidemick Feaver which indeed rageth in the City also and carrieth hundreds if not thousands unto their long Homes You may easily believe that there are greater Languors Sicknesses Weaknesses and decayes of Nature now than in former Ages
though thanks be to God Pestilences have not been very fatal of late years and we observe from our weekly Bills of Mortality that the numbers of the deceased are greatly augmented for in the year 1604. there dyed 4323 and 895 of the Plague but in the year 1659. there dyed 14720 and 36 of the Plague and yet we observe near the same number of persons Born and Christned both years so that the Disproportion is near nine Thousand in a year in about sixty years distance We may observe in the space of sixty years so small a spot of ground as a Church-yard swallowes up a whole Parish I knew an old Sexton in London who told me he lived to Bury his Parish almost three times over As one Generation comes on the Stage another goeth off And very evident it is that more dye now in a state of Childhood than in former Ages We lick new bodies off our Trenchers once in seven years and the very fear of a Clymacterical Year hath Killed some who have not understood how groundless such a fear is In the dayes of Ancient times it was a strange thing to hear of the death of a young Child according unto the ordinary course of Nature Some of the Jewish Doctors tell us that there was not a Son dyed of a natural death before his Father for near three thousand years after the Creation but the course of Nature was observed and he that was born first dyed first untill Terah's time who was the first that taught the People to make Images of Clay and to corrupt Divine Worship with Idolatry and as a punishment of his Sin his son Haran was snatcht away before him and Moses observes that Haran dyed before his Father Terah in the Land of his Nativity And we find it was looked upon as a great Judgment that the Male Heir of Eli's Family as soon as born dyed for many Generations so that an Old man could not be seen of his Posterity And we find the good Woman expostulating passionately with the Prophet when she saith Art thou come to call my Sins to remembrance and to slay my Son Every Age hath its peculiar diseases In the state of Infancy Life is like a Spark in a pile of Wood the Candle is so newly lighted that every breath of Air or the least shaking puts it out and it dyes Childhood is so active and unwary so subject to run into dangers that unless a Messenger be sent from Heaven to stand Sentinel and watch its playing sleeping eating and drinking it 's exposed to death every minute The Middle age is apter to lend its helping hand to the use of Remedies but when we consider how many new distempers invade us and how many old ones intermingled with collateral complications and many Diseases are not fully understood as in time they may be and many Symptoms are often alike and sometimes there are none at all as in several Impostumes and some Diseases are lodged in remote parts of the Body that oftentimes no application can be made or at least the effects of Medicines cannot reach them untill after two or three Alterations and Concoctions which change the Species of Medicines And sometimes new Methods come upon the Stage and alter old Foundations Old Age hath Diseases incurable by nature The House must fall when the Foundation is decayed Old men in Scripture account are said to be as good as dead as Abraham was In some Diseases the Patient seems Bailable yet a distemper lyeth in ambush and sets upon him with full strength when the bitterness of death seemed to be past and some men live and dye like Fools pour in Drink and let out Life and so by inconsideration pull the Monumental Stone upon their own heads Men are like Water if the Sluces be opened it runs away apace if the Current be stopt it swells and grows troublesome and spills over if it stands still then it stinks and putrifies Some Sicknesses walk in darkness and destroying Angels are wrapt up in the Curtains of Immateriality whom we cannot see but feel in some Chronick distempers men walk about and hear Passing-bells ring for stronger men There is no age of Man but hath some Posterns and Out-lets to death out of which thousands pass into the Land of Forgetfulness Every breath of wind troubles our Faces and our little Cares wrinkle our Foreheads and trifling accidents dig our Graves In Feavors men ride post to the Chambers of death they prove a Beesome of Destruction to three parts of Adam's race If all the ages of all Mankind were put together it would scarce make One and twenty to each single person It 's more natural for Youth to dye than the Aged it being more common having more natural causes as being more subject to acute Diseases which surprize men suddenly and undiscernably but to dye of Age is a very rare Thing old Age is a young Death But to speak strictly all men dye before they come to be of age every man being within an inch of Death Like a Mariner at Sea we carry our Lives in our hands Many a man in a state of health hath a secret Enemy lying hid ready to surprize Either Gods Archers cleave our Reins in sunder with the Stone or Strangury or our feet are set in the Stocks by the Gout or our Breath is corrupt by the Ptysick or our Gaul is poured on the ground by the Dissentery or our Skin cleaves to our Bones by a Hectick The Clock hath struch Twelve this night therefore take it not ill that I abruptly style my self Yours whilest I am J. M. LETTER X. SIR I Received yours Dated the 7th instant wherein you speak very slightly of old Age as if you did not look upon it as so great a blessing and also seem to Question whether the Patriarchs lived so long as some imagine To which I answer you are certainly under a great mistake for nothing is more certain than that the Antediluvian Patriarchs were very long lived and particularly Father Adam who may well be accounted above a thousand years old if we compute that time whch he might have lived had he been born as Methusalem was we may judge him at his Creation as Perfect as one of the Ancients at two hundred They out-lived all their titles of Consanguinity and yet none of them lived a compleat Thousand years which possibly might be to accomplish the threatning unto Adam That the day he eat the forbidden Fruit he should Dye computing a day for a thousand years But a more probable reason may be to Demonstrate to Man the Vanity of Life when those who lived longest could not arrive to that Period which compared to Gods Eternity is but a day As there are at this day some who exceed a hundred so there are a hundred times as many who do not arrive at that Period Had men in all Ages and Places arrived at the age of the Patriarchs the Earth
leave the Methods prescribed by Reason and Experience to consult the Oracles of the Prince of Darkness It 's highly unreasonable to give heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils enquiring of the god of Ekron when there is a God in Israel Some mens Curiosity in this kind has cost them dear such practices being forbidden upon pain of Damnation What wise and good man would so far violate his Baptismal Covenant as to consult with Judicial Astrologers Wizards and such like Cunning persons who by a Diabolical Confederacy will undertake to foretell the Events of Diseases and Periods of Mens dayes and a multitude of other Accidents known only to Omniscience who knows the Effect because he knows the Cause Suppose it were the Devil in Samuel's Mantle that did foretell Sauls death it doth not prove the Certainty of the Devils prediction or the fatal Necessity of Saul's Death It being easie from probable Conjecture to say what he did there being all the forerunners of his approaching ruine visible to the World For David was anoynted King and Saul grew worse and worse the Battel drew near and what else could be expected but Destruction If it should be granted that the Lying Spirit in the Mouth of a false Prophet should foretell a Mans Death it may only proceed from the observation that he violates some divine Command and thereby exposeth himself to ruine Magicians indeed use Charms and Signs and Good words the better to deceive the ignorant herein being Gods Ape that as he hath made a Covenant with good men and hath appointed Signs and Seals upon the faithful use of which he is present to perform what he hath promised So the Devil makes a Covenant with Astrological Wizards upon which he hath given Signs and Tokens that if they use the one he will perform the other And it s an Atheistical Dream to imagine that the period of Mans dayes depends more on the malevolent influence of a Planet than upon the Conduct of divine Providence A Belief very contrary to the Articles of the Christian Faith to suppose an Astrological Necessity imposed upon all sublunary Agents by the influence of Celestial Bodies and that the Manner and Moments of mens Deaths depend upon these things Many have descended into the Earth for fear of using Remedies upon the ascension of a particular Star in the Heavens The celestial Dog doth neither Bark nor Bite in our Climate The heavenly Bodies operate according unto the variety of the Matter with which they are conversant as we may observe in the instance of Twins born under the same Planet although they have the same seminal principles Bed of Nature and time of Birth yet they differ in Sex Complexion Life and Death as in the Example of Esau and Jacob. Can any man of Reason imagine that all that are slain in the same Battel were born under the same Ascendent The proper reason why such a Child is strong and such a one weak is rather to be fetched from the Complexion of the Parent than the influence of the Stars it 's strength is rather to be attributed to the Mothers Milk than the Via lactea And the reason why such a one was shot to death was not because his Roroscope was directed to Saturn but because the Gun was directed to him Besides Education Custom Example alter Nature and our second Births divert the mischievous Effects of our first Nativity Therefore not to use Remedies except such or such a Sign be searcht into is great folly and a Sign men are led more by Indiscretion than prudence to regard an Antique picture in the Almanacks rather than Art and Reason But though the World be guilty of many Errors I shall be guilty of none in subscribing my self Your Devoted Servant J. M. LETTER XVI SIR I Received yours which gave an intimation of your intention to lay aside all Physicians because you have been so unhappy as to fall into the hands of Quacks whose advice hath not only proved unsuccesseful but dangerous and almost deadly Shall the Merchant never venture to Sea because an unskilfull Pilot once cast away his goods that were absurd There is no action of humane Life that discovers a wise man more than the choice of an able learned and experienced Physician whose natural abilities are advanced by ingenuous Education such being most fit to rectifie the Disorders in mens Bodyes who by their inquiry into Anatomy understand the use of the parts and taking notice of the Figures Springs and Wheels by which Nature moves become the better able to regulate her disorderly motions Besides they best understand the nature of Animals Minerals and Vegetables and can the more dexterously apply fit Remedies according unto the several Indications of Distempers and Circumstances of Patients I pray what reason is there Physicians should be neglected Is it because they are not Infallible if they were then they might alter the Statute Laws of Heaven which were absurd to imagin As in Religion the most Sacred Institutions are rendred insignificant unto the Souls of men if not rightly administred even so the most useful Remedies are rendred useless unto the Healths of men if not prescribed by prudent Physicians How can men expect the Blessing of Heaven to concurre with the advice of ignorant and unworthy pretenders to Physick Broken Tradesmen disbanded Souldiers Bankrupt Merchants and the very scum of the People whose Receipts prove equally fatal with the Jaw-bone of an Ass if one of these confident Fellows pretend to skill though never so ignorant yet some credulous Souls are as ready to proclaim it as if they thought some good Angel like Mahomets Pidgeon whisper'd it in their ears when it proves like Gunpowder only serves to blow up mens Health Can men expect Preservation when they suffer their brains to be beaten out with the Bills of Quacks and Mountebanks in such a Nation as ours is where there is such great variety of able and Legal Practicers It 's a shame such should be suffer'd who can sooner cure all Diseases than one and like the Lion in the Fable pretend to pull the Thorn out of the Lambs foot but in the end devour it So that for ought I know it may not be imprudent to adde one Casualty more to our weekly Bills of Mortality and to say So many dyed Martyrs to their Physicians Ignorance The folly of the World is more apt to gaze upon a Blazing Commet that infects the Air and poysons men with pestilential vapours than on the glorious Sun whose beams yield light and health to humane Nature Quacks resemble the Serpent pretend to give that which shall be good for Food and Physick but in the end beguile men of their health and a while after the Patient dyes the Death To consult the Ignorant is to tempt our Maker the curing Diseases being like the mending of a Watch if not done by a skilful Artist the rectifying one Spring may disorder the regular
waves in the Sea by the winds and sometimes the blood grows as 't were mouldy for want of that Fan of Nature Many mens bodies and particularly yours being like a Weather-glass subject to the least alterations in the Air and easily blown into their Graves by a sharp northern wind Many by long looking out at a Window have espied the grim face of Death The Air of an open Casement being sometimes like the blow of a Cross-bow Sir I pray take this advice from one that hopes you may walk up many May hills in this World and at last arrive at the holy Hill of Sion Yours J. M. LETTER XXVI SIR I Am very well pleased to hear that you are pleased with my last Advice but I am also concerned that you should continue an ill custom so apparently injurious to your Health as your taking so much Tabacco is like to prove Indeed I am of opinion there is no Plant that ever God made for the use of Man that hath done more good and more harm than that hath done It must be confest prudently used it 's a soveraign Medicine in many Distempers but it proves no better than a Poyson to many men as it is so familiarly used and abused being in our dayes more taken as Food than Physick And there is no one practice wherein wise men more frequently play the Foll than in the immoderate use of this Indian Weed which may not improperly be called Man-bane Men spend their dayes in Smoak and shorten their dayes also by its too frequent use smothering themselves into their graves as we do Bees when we take and destroy the Hive It was a tart Reflection of a Comical Wit who being in a great Fogg said The Prince of the Air was taking a Pipe of Tabacco It 's very strange to me that such an unpleasant practice should prevail so much to the apparent prejudice of so many thousands who spit away their Lives and drein away that sweet Moysture which would keep the Blood cool and promote its regular motion That practice which was scandalous amongst our Forefathers is now become a piece of good Entertainment and he that threatned to burn his Pipes and to cut his Tabacco to pieces was thought a great Reformer about Thirty years ago but that which greatly excites our care lest we use it too freely is its palpable enmity to the Brain and Nerves disposing men to Apoplexies Palsies Convulsions and Vertigo's Many great Physicians taking notice in their Observations of many of their Patients falling into apoplectick Fits with Pipes in their Mouths it being a great Opiate It is also greatly prejudicial to the Memory and also â—â—â—…tâ— the Body of its due Nourishment by its laxative Quality thrusting the Aâ—â—â—… too soon out of the Stomach before there is a perfect Concoction especially if taken too soon after a Meal if ever it be proper it 's towards Bed-time He that can give a good reason for taking above three Pipes a Day may very safely take more I have known the Oyl of Tabacco poyson a Dog And I dare affirm the Smoak of it hath poysoned many men A Noble man in our time lost his Head by taking a Pipe of Tabacco that is to lay the being observed to burn Letters to light his Pipe was the Cause of his Apprehension and raised the suspition of his being the Person sought for whereupon he was taken and condemned and executed I wish it hath not separated many other mens Souls from their Bodies Some make it a question whether Guns or Pipes have Killed most I am sure there 's no Smoak but there 's some Fire Doubtless if men would take it at the other End it would do less hurt and it may be more good I remember one of the wisest Princes of Europe said upon an occasion It was good for nothing but to perfume a Hog-stye But in that I think he was a little too severe for there are excellent uses may be made of it And amongst many others it may serve for Contemplation to put men in mind that their Life is but a vapor and that all things under the Moon vanish into Smoak Except it be the Friendship of your faithful Servant which can never evaporate whilest he is J. M. LETTER XXVII SIR I Received yours the 12th instant wherein you complain exceedingly of the ill Effects of the Waters at Epsam this Summer I beseech you inquire whether the Cause be not from your own irregular Use of them and also take notice whether you do not drink more Wine than Water For those Symptoms you complain of give a greater suspicion of the former than the latter being used sure I am the Doctor that recommended them to you understood their fitness for your Constitution and Disease therefore if you follow his Direction in the use of them I question not but they will have their desired Effect I know there are more go thither to gratifie Curiosity than to serve the end of Health and Pleasure is more frequently propounded than Ease But let me tell you those physical Waters by the preposterous use often prove like the Waters of Jealousie they make Peoples Bodies to swell and their Thighs to rot and lay the foundations for many distempers as Dropsies Agues Gouts and the like Many long as much to drink them as King David did to drink of the Water of the Well of Bethlehem but men venture their Lives in so doing as they did in that case especially by the unreasonable quantities many men take I have larely known one come home swelled with a Dropsie another tinctured with a Jaundice and a third shaking with an Ague All immoderate Evacuations are very destructive to Nature There are hundreds that Drowned themselves in Wells that are never mentioned in the weekly Bills Nature is destroyed by all Extreams too much Food or too long Fasting too much Rest or too much Motion too much Sleep or too much Watching too much Joy or too much Sorrow too much Heat or too much Cold too much Wine or too much Water Quantities shorten Life more than Qualities Many who were only wantonly Sick become really so and that which was intended for a Cure many times becomes a Surfeit At those Waters men are served like the Impostor who fained himself Blind that the Arrian Bishop might work a Miracle in his Cure and when he would have opened his Eyes could not but was ever after really Blind People depending upon the cleansing Vertue of those Waters and neglecting the use of proper Remedies to render them Effectual do but like an improvident Laundress who thinks to wash her Linnen white and clean with Water without Soap They should be chiefly used as Posset-drink to a Purge Indiscrect Persons think to take off the Mischief of too great Quantities of Wine by drinking plentiful Draughts of Water but this is to run Nature out of one Extream into another and to render mens Bodies more subject to Diseases and Putrefaction like Timber that lyes sometimes in the wet and sometimes in the Sun more subject to Rot. There are thousands that purge their Souls out of their Bodies by immoderate Evacuations one way or other Sir I shall conclude this Discourse of Mineral Waters with a hearty wish That you may ever find them successeful untill you come to Drink of that Well of Life which makes glad the City of God Where I hope you will be accompanyed by Your true Friend J. M. LETTER XXVIII SIR I Think there are few things requisite in order to the desirable success of a Course of Physick but I judge you have had a friendly Intimation of except it be this That you would not too much indulge your self in Sleep Many shorten their dayes by sleeping in the Day and as it were turning themselves into Dormice To lye in Bed untill the Sun-beams lash men for their Drowziness is an injurious Custom The first Man lost his Rib in his Sleep and many of his Posterity lose their Health in it Sir I take this for an undoubted Truth That if Rules of Religion Moderation and Prudence were observed in the whole course of Mens Lives Gray hairs would be more in Fashion Physicians would gain more credit by their Prescriptions sick Patients would find Remedies more Effectual and a Divine Influence would more infallibly attend them all Sir I must now conclude and so may you that I am a Respecter of you and your Health J. M. FINIS