as he had slept his last sleep Acts 20. 9. but that a merciful God by the hands of Paul did raise him up again to teach him and by him all Church-sleepers the future danger of such negligence and irreverence in his House His deadly fall not being so much accidental as a judgment from God And as concerning the unworthy receiving the Lord's Supper St. Paul telleth the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 1 Corinthians 11. 30. i. e. For these abuses of this Holy Sacrament the hand of God hath been upon many of you so as many of you are afflicted with divers kinds of Diseases and many of you are striken with a temporal death here called sleep Now from the Apostles declaring this to be the true cause of that sickness and mortality that was amongst them it is to be supposed that either they looked not after the cause at all but took it to come only as a thing of course or which is more probable that they mistook the cause imagined that to be the cause which was not A great mortality there was amongst them many died but that they thought might proceed from the distemperature of the Body or from the corruption of the Air or from want of exercise or from not observing a good diet or from immoderate labour Some they thought might die of one of these causes some of another But the Apostle passeth all these over and maketh known unto them that however these might be considerable as causes in their due places yet the true main and principal cause they were utterly ignorant of and that was their abusive and negligent receiving of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper For this cause many are weak c. A truth which had any less than an Apostle delivered he would have been esteemed a setter forth of new Doctrine Or had the Apostle delivered it in any dark and obscure Phrase flesh and blood would have found out twenty Interpretations before ever they would have thought of this But the Speaker is so Divine and the speech so plain that it cannot be mistaken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text For this cause because of your unworthy receiving the Body and Blood of Christ many are sick and many sleep Hence was that speech of Saint Anselme taken who saith that many Diseases that reign in the Summer though Physicians may impute them to other secondary causes proceed from Peoples irreverent receiving that Sacrament at Easter That de facto this is a truth see the 2d of the Chronicles and the 30th chap. v. 20. where you shall find that for some abuses and disorders committed in the Celebration of the Passover the Jews were smitten with some troublesom disease For 't is here said that upon Hezekiah's Prayer the Lord healed the People which implieth plainly that they were diseased and sick before and yet this default was only in the circumstantial Points of that Sacrament For 't is there also said that every one had prepared his heart for to seek God Some defect there was only in some Ceremonial Rite to be observed Now what we find applied to the Passover we may without fear apply to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper For however they differ in circumstances yet for substance they are the same Sickness we see was sent for the abuse of that and therefore the same punishment appointed for the abuse of this yea inflicted witness the Corinthians who for this cause were plagued with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of death And indeed it is not unlike that since these Corinthians there have been many thousands who for the very same cause have not as the Psalmist saith lived out half their dayes but have been swept away out of the Land of the living and gone down with sorrow into the Grave True then it is de facto God hath thus plagued the sinful neglect and abuse of his Sacrament I will now also demonstrate that de jure it must needs be so and this will appear if we consider the sin it self to be Camelinum peccatum A sin of a very large size burdened with those following aggravations namely that 't is a sin immediatly against Christ's own Person robbeth God of that which he is most tender of his honour and is in the judgment of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 11. 27. I suppose if will-fully committed no less than a spilling and shedding of the precious blood of Christ Heb. 6. 6. In a word that 't is a sin paramount like Saul higher then his Fellows And therefore let us judge in our selves whether the wages of such a sin unrepented of can be less than Corporal plagues and temporal death For if we contemn the sacred Body of Christ how can we think that God should take any care of ours If we make no reckoning of Christ's death 't is but just with God to disregard ours Oh then as we tender our health and our lives let us never dare to approach unto that dreadful Table without due reverence and a competent measure of preparation Secondly Concerning the Prophaning the Lord's day Sacriledge c. we read several Instances of God's wrath upon such declared in Corporal plagues and destruction A certain Godly Minister preaching and pressing the sanctification of the Sabbath and taking occasion herein to make mention of that Man who by the special command of God was stoned to death for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day Hereupon one in the Congregation stood up and laughed and made all the haste he could out of the Church and went to gathering of sticks though he had no need of them But when the People came out from the Sermon they found this Man dead with the bundle of sticks in his arms lying in the Church Porch This is attested by a credible Author Yea if time would permit or this Enchiridion extend to it I could expatiate upon such Instances as might likewise demonstrate that not a few have upon the breach of the fourth Commandment been striken by the immediate hand of the Almighty with lameness and sore Diseases And for Sacriledge that hath been severely punished in like manner As in Antioches Epiphanes who fell sick with grief upon the remembrance of the evils he did at Jerusalem in taking away the Vessels of gold and silver that were therein confessing that for this cause his troubles came upon him and so suddenly died 1 Mach. chap. 6. Also it is recorded that wicked Alcimus for his violation of the Sanctuary and his sacrilegious enterprises was immediatly taken with a Palsie so that he could no more speak any thing but died suddenly with great torment 1 Mach. 9. cap. 54 55 56. v. Again Ananias and Sapphira his Wife for their Sacriledge cloaked with hypocrisie at Peter's rebuke fell down dead Acts 5. 5. 10. Thirdly Swearing Blasphemy and Perjury do sometimes in a supernatural manner occasion Diseases
their joint influence and concurrence in the production either of Health or Diseases Therefore wee see that Joy which is an Affection of the Soul is as it were a Medicine to the Body and food to the Natural heat and moisture in which two qualities life chiefly consisteth And for this cause Physicians frequently advise their Patients to nourish that Affection in them and to avoide the contrary namely Sorrow and Sadness which last being cold and dry and so hindering the circulation of the Blood debilitating the Animal and Natural vertues and obstructing the distribution of due nourishment becometh an Enemy to life by the consequent Consumption of the Body Now upon this agreement and Sympathy between the Body and Soul the Current of this Discourse mainly though not only proceedeth In which you have the best and yet the cheapest Physick that can be prescribed brought unto you not from the Apothecaries Shop but the Treasury of the Scriptures the Closet of the Holy Ghost and all this not with a design of destroying the bodily Physician 's Practise for when all is done there will be still need of him at one time or other but of assisting him by a more Divine and expeditious Method in his Cures as well as preventing some unnecessary trouble and charge to the Patient And so I conclude desiring thee to cover the Imperfections and Errata's of this Work which may happen through the Author's inadvertency or the Printer's negligence with the mantle of Candour and Charity and to take that in good part which is so well intended by Thy well-wishing Friend J. H. To the ingenious Author Mr. J. H. Upon his DIVINE PHYSICIAN WHat in thy serious studies may we meet When even thy recreations are so sweet Thy Book is Grace and Nature bound together Take it which way you will it answers either So prettily so piously compact Divinity and Physick keep one Act. Strange Treatise I can reach down from my shelf Consists of Soul and Body like my self Thou shew'st thy self believ 't in thy Design A good Physician and a good Divine And that Physician to the Mark comes close That cures both Soul and Body with a Dose Go on and prosper fourth and fifth Edition Till John like Luke be the belov'd Physician M. S. The Author to his Book Go little Book and try thy fortune where More good thou may'st for least thou can'st do here Whil'st to a private shelf thou art confin'd Thou as to publick good art still behind Then venture forth and freely shew thy skill In curing such as shall thy Rules fulfil I would have sent thee in a better dress Before thou should'st have tumbled into Press But want of time and hast ' pon Life and Death May plead for thee when thou art out of breath Howe're termed Fool or a Physician As suits best with Carpers disposition Yet let thou Momus know a Fool in Print May sometime give to wiser Men a hint How dextrously to finish and compleat What e're in ruder draught is not so feat And to Accomplish what in thee 's design'd In brief A Body sound with a sound Mind THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN THE FIRST PART Demonstrating by Natural Reason and also Divine and Humane Testimony that vitious and irregular Actions and Affections do prove often occasions of most bodily Diseases and shortness of Life THE INTRODUCTION BEcause Method is Mater memoriae The Mother of memory and words must be placed as at a Feast and not as at an ordinary in this respect I shall observe some order in the following Tract First Then let us consider the excellencies and commodities of Health and long Life that so by their Encomiums we may be drawn and encouraged to follow after the best means in order to the attainment or enjoyment of them Health then in the first place is the greatest bodily blessing which God bestoweth upon any in this life though in regard of its commonness it be little regarded The benefit of this most sweet sause of all other goods is scarcely discerned by them that enjoy it till sickness come For then not only Orpheus his song but much more our own experience teacheth us that Nothing is available to men without health neither Riches nor Honour nor the greatest delights which Solomon's walk can afford Yea life it self which is so precious that skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for it Job 2. 4. as Sathan answered the Lord even that becomes uncomfortable without health Besides health is a special furtherance help to us in the service of God and in the performance of the duties of our Callings the want of it a great obstruction impediment to us therein For these reasons the beloved Apostle did earnestly wish his well-beloved Gaius prosperity and health Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health 3 Ep. John 2. This is that blessing which the Lord promiseth to the obedient The Lord will take away from thee all sickness that blessing which the Apostle Paul thought worthy to be preserved carefully as appeareth Acts 27. 34. likewise 1 Tim. 5. 23. In a word that blessing whose sweetness is so well experimented and relished after the bitterness of sickness that it were but to light a Candle before the Sun to bring forth any further testimony in the praise of it Secondly Long life may be accounted as another blessing which by its magnetick and attractive vertue may not only draw our affections as a Load-stone but also by its acuminating power set an edge upon our endeavours as a whetstone Long life is a blessing he that shall account it less doth not only forget his own natural desires but also God himself and his Commandment which promiseth length of dayes as a reward of dutifulness to Parents Natural Civil or Ecclesiastical It was a blessing of God upon Israel that being in the Wilderness forty years their garments did not wear as the garment of the Gibeonites So if in many years some Mens bodies which are as the garmentss of the Souls hold out longer than other mens as though with the Eagle he did renew their youth and God did add certain years unto their dayes as he did unto Hezekiah Isa. 37. 5. this is a great blessing For though we Christians as the Lord Verulam saith in his Epistle of the History of Life and Death do continually aspire and pant after the Land of Promise yet it will be a token of God's favour towards us in our journeyings thorow this worlds wilderness to have our shoes and garments I mean those of our frail bodies little worn or impaired Surely as it is a curse upon the wicked not to live out half his dayes Psal. 55. 23. A plague upon the ungodly that they die in their youth Job 36. 14. A punishment upon Eli and his Sons for their sins that there should not be an old man in his house for ever but
Knowledge These are the consequences of that Wisedom which is foolishness with God as the Spirit of God terms it 1 Cor. 3. 19. But again we will consider all the above-mentioned Enormities and irregularities in this Section as they cause shortness of Life The condensation of the Spirits as the Lord Verulam in his History of Life and Death p. 227. writeth is effectual to long life and therefore especial care must be taken that the Spirits be not too often resolved for attenuation goeth before resolution and the Spirit once attenuated doth not very easily retire or is condensed now resolution is caused by over-vehement Affections of the mind over-great Cares and carpings and anxious expectations Not without reason then is that Proverbial Sentence Care will kill a Cat though it be said to have nine lives or that observation of the Son of Sirach Carefulness bringeth age before the time Eccl. 30. 24. Cura facit canos Care brings gray hairs i. e. it antidates old Age and so consequently shorteneth life Hence it is that almost in every Village we shall find a Covetous Muck-worm drooping and at length dropping into his Grave not with pure old age but beaten down and overwhelmed with too much Sollicitude and carking Care before that he can arrive to that Maturity Also immoderate Study by its subtil acute and eager inquisition after humane learning shortens life for it tireth the Spirit and wasteth it Solomon hinteth as much to us in these words And further by these my son be admonished of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh Eccles. 12. 12. That is as Bishop Hall paraphraseth upon the place by these Divine words O my Son do thou content thy self to be admonished not roving in thy desires after multitude of other Volumes whereof there is no end in the compiling and reading of which there is much toil and weariness of the flesh and much expence of the Spirits Finally Many other irregularities and enormities there are but as most of them may be reduced to one or other of the above-mentioned Sections so the like consequential effects may be deduced from them And so I conclude the whole Chapter having largely shewed and demonstrated that Many sins are natural causes of bodily Diseases and shortness of Life CHAP. III. Containing an Enumeration of sundry Sins as they are accidental causes of bodily Diseases and especially of shortness of Life THat we may term an accidental cause which produceth its effect not naturally and immediately by it self but by accident or chance or fortune as the Logicians define it Now how many sad accidents do sometimes result from sundry sins which expose Men to divers Diseases and also to shortness of life may appear by this following accompt which the greater part thereof I must crave leave to draw from and illustrate by a Collection of several Instances in History First In relation to Gluttony and Drunkenness we find these following recorded and adapted to our present purpose Gregory of Tours reporteth of Childerick a Saxon that glutted himself so full of meat and drink over night that in the morning he was found choked in his bed Anacreon the Poet a grand Consumer of Wine and a notable Drunkard was choked with the husk of a grape Philostrates being in the Bathes of Sinvessa devoured so much Wine that he fell down the Stairs and almost broke his neck with the fall Martid lib. 11. Alexander the Son of Basilius and Brother of Leo the Emperour did so wallow and drown himself in the Gulf of pleasure and intemperance that one day after he had stuffed himself too full of Meat as he got upon his Horse he burst a vein within his Body whereat upwards and downwards issued such abundance of blood that his life and soul issued forth withal Melanct. lib. 4. Within few years of my own knowledge saith mine Author three not far from Huntington being overcome with drink perished by drowning when being not able to rule their Horses they were carried by them into the main stream from whence they never came out alive again but left behind them visible marks of God's justice for the terrour and example of others Beard 's Theater of God's Judgments Holofernes while he besotted his senses with excess of Wine and good chear Judeth found means to cut of his head Judeth 13. Yea woful experience doth make manifest almost every day in one corner or other of this Land that the Lord punisheth many with sudden death and destruction even in the midst of their drunken fits although some again to shew his delight is in Mercy and not in the sudden destruction of his Creatures he punisheth with some lingring distempers whereof this vice of Drunkenness is often an accidental cause by exposing such Persons to heats and colds the adventitious causes of most Diseases to falls bruises fractures dislocations wounds contusions combustions c. which are the occasions or accidental causes not only of many Organical Diseases but also Similar as might be made apparent if right reason or mature experience were consulted And therefore let that Proverbial Sentence Drunken folks seldom take harm be hereafter exploded by all sober Persons considering how harmful and prejudicial this enormity hath been declared to be both to Soul and Body And now because Vina parant animos Veneri Whoredom is usually ushered in by Drunkeness we will in the next place consider Lust Adultery Fornication Uncleanness c. as accidental causes of Diseases but especially of shortness of Life And here I might shew how all immoderate and unseasonable use of Venus doth impede Concoction and so consequently produce Diseases But I shall rather touch upon it as a contingent cause of Venereal Pox which as in the former Chapter we considered as a Natural effect in respect of the virulent Contagion communicated so in this we look upon it as contingent and accidental in respect of the Persons communicating in the above-mention'd sins But I shall choose rather to insist upon those sins as accidental causes or occasions of shortness of Life and to that end shall illustrate the Point by these ensuing Instances Shechem the Son of Hamor the Hivite ravished Dinah Jacob's Daughter for which cause Simeon and Levi her Brethren revenged the injury done unto their Sister by slaying Shechem and with him all the Males that were in the City Gen. 34. In the 19th and 20th Chapter of Judges we read that the Levite's Wife having forsaken her Husband to play the whore certain Moneths after he had again received her to be his Wife she was given over against her will to the villanous and monstrous lusts of the men of Gibeah who so abused her for the space of a whole night together that in the morning she was found dead upon the threshold Which thing turn'd to a great destruction and overthrow not only of those Children of Belial in Gibeah which committed such lewdness
and shortness of Life Mr. Fox Acts Mon. p. 2101. telleth us of one named John Peter Son-in-Law to Alexander that cruel Keeper of Newgate who being a most horrible Swearer and Blasphemer used commonly to say If it be not true I pray God I may rot ere I die And not in vain for he rotted away indeed and so died in misery I read of a Perjuter that forswore himself to the end to deceive and prejudice another thereby But he had no sooner made an end of his false Oath but a grievous Apoplexy assailed him so that without speaking any one word he died within few dayes That Story in Eusebius is very remarkable concerning Narcissus a good Bishop of Jerusalem and three lewd Varlots his Accusers as it is recited by the above-named Mr. Fox Narcissus intending to accuse three notable Malefactors of their misdemeanors they thought to prevent his accusation by first laying a grievous Crime to his charge and to get credit thereunto each of them bound it with their severeral Oaths one wishing to be consumed with fire if it were not so another to die of some grievous disease the third to lose both his eyes Narcissus seeing three to one was odds gave place but what became of these perjured Fellows the first was consumed by a fire set in his House the second was taken with a strange Disease that over-spread his whole Body which brought him to a miserable end the third seeing God's judgments upon his Brethren in evil confessed the fault for which he continually shed such abundance of tears that he wept out his eyes becoming blind thereupon Euseb. lib. 6. p. 101. God who takes notice of Mens Oaths takes vengeance of their breach and violation Also we find recorded that in the Reign of the Emperour Anastatius there was a certain Arian Bishop whose name was Olympus who as he was washing himself in a Bath belched forth many blasphemous speeches against the blessed Trinity whereupon lightning fell down from Heaven upon him three times and he was burnt and consumed therewith Paul Diacon in the History of Anastatius There was also in the time of Alphonsus King of Arragon a certain Hermite called Antonius a monstrous blasphemer that belched out vile and injurious speeches against Christ Jesus and the Virgin Mary his Mother but he was striken with a most grievous Disease even to be eaten and gnawn in pieces of Worms until he died Aeneas Silvius of the Acts of Alphonsus Fourthly Pride Vain-glory Ambition Haughtiness do sometimes produce the like effects in the like manner as may appear in these following Instances Antiochus the same with the aforenamed Epiphanes p. 100. a notable Tyrant and Persecutor of the Jews in his pride and fume said That he would come to Jerusalem and make it a common burying place of the Jews But the Lord Almighty the God of Israel smote him with an incurable and invisible Plague For as soon as he had spoken these words a pain of the bowels that was remediless came upon him and sore torments of the inner parts 2 Mach. 9. Howbeit he nothing at all ceased from his bragging but still was filled with pride breathing out fire in his rage against the Jews But it came to pass that he fell down from his Chariot carried violently so that having a sore fall all the Members of his Body were much pained And soon after the Worms came out of his Body and while he lived in sorrow and pain his flesh fell away and the filthiness of his smell was noysom to all his Army And so the wrath of God ended this proud Man's miserable dayes The other is that of King Herod surnamed Agrippa which put James the Brother of John to death and imprisoned Peter with purpose to make him tast of the same cup Acts 12. This Man was puffed with Sacrilegious pride for being upon a time seated in his Throne of Judgment and arrayed in his Royal Robes shewing forth his greatness and magnificence in the presence of the Ambassadors of Tyre Sidon who desired to continue in Peace with him as he spake unto them the People shouted and cried that it was the voice of God and not of man Which titles of honour he disclaimed not and therefore the Angel of the Lord smote him immediately because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost Acts 12. 23. Josephus relateth the Story how that Herod not reproving nor forbidding his pernicious Flatterers was presently taken with most grievous and horrible gripes in his bowels so that looking upon the People he uttered these words Behold here your goodly god whom you but now so highly honoured ready to die with extream pain Jewish Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 1. Thus did this miserable Man exemplarily verifie the Wise man's Proverb Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall Prov. 16. 18. Fifthly Adultery Fornication and the like are also sometimes supernaturally occasions of Diseases and shortness of Life as may appear de facto in the succeeding Instances Claudius of Asses Counsellor of the Parliament of Paris a Man very ill affected to the Professors of the Gospel committed villany with one of his waiting Maids in the very midst whereof he was taken with an Apoplexie which immediately after made an end of him Beard 's Theater of God's Judgments In Northamptonshire a Noble Man's Servant of good credit and place with his Master having familiarity with another Mans Wife as he was about to commit villany with her in a Chamber he fell down stark dead with his hose about his heels which being heard by reason of the noise his fall made of those which were in the lower room they all ran hastily up and easily perceived both the villany he went about and the horrible judgment of God upon him for the same Ibidem p. 372. Pliny telleth of Cornelius Gallus and Q. Elerius two Roman Knights that died in the very act of filthiness Plin. lib. 7. Pharaoh having taken Abram's Wife from him was plagued with great plagues by the Lord and thereby compelled to restore her Gen. 12. 17. Also Abimelech King of Gerar for taking away the same Woman even Sarai afterward Sarah from her Husband though the non-execution of Abimelech's intention might partly excuse him and the integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands might plead for him was yet notwithstanding forewarned and admonished by God in a dream saying unto him Behold thou art but a dead man for the woman which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife Gen. 20. 3. And a little after God saith unto him Now therefore restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live and if thou restore her not know thou that thou shalt surely die thou and all that are thine Vers. 7. Also the lustful Sodomites for that sin which deriveth its name from the wicked place of
of a Consumption taken from his own mouth who for the last four years lay bed-rid and so weak that he could not turn himself therein without help By which Distemper his Body was so parched and dried that he was almost like a Sceleton but upon this Cure he recovered his former health and strength whereby he was enabled to follow his Trade being a Shoomaker and living at Stamford in Lincolnshire whereof he gave a large account to which I must refer you for further satisfaction with much affection and sensibleness of the Lord's mercy and goodness to him upon April 7th 1659. Now the Story as it is at large being much noised abroad divers Ministers met together at Stamford to consider and consult about it and for many reasons were induced to believe that the cure was wrought by the Ministry of a good Angel Clark's Mirror vol. 1. p. 18. More such Instances as these might be inferred and exhibited to the Reader but I suppose those already mention'd are a full demonstration of God's omnipotent power that he can work without means and also of his distinguishing mercy that he sometimes doth so for the benefit welfare and encouragement of the Godly who are made either Administrators or Receivers of this gift of bodily health And this may more fully appear if we consider that Edward the Confessor as Dr. Peter Heylin's Cosmog noteth was a man of that holiness in his life that he received power from above to cure many Diseases besides the Kings Evil and that Samuel Wallas was cured chiefly by observing the supposed Angel's injunction in these words But above all whatsoever thou doest fear God and serve him as it is recorded in the afore-mention'd Story to which I referred The consideration of which Instances doth assure us that God's Children have in a super-natural manner been sometimes agents and sometimes Patients in bodily Cures and by consequence may be so still And as touching longaevity the time would fail me to tell of Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Aaron Phineas grandchild of Aaron Joshua Job Elizeus the Prophet Isaiah the Prophet Tobias the elder and Tobias the younger old Simeon Anna the Prophetess St. John the Evangelist Simeon the Son of Cleoph as called the Brother of our Lord and Bishop of Hierusalem Polycarpus Disciple unto the Apostles and Bishop of Smyrna Dionisius Areopagita contemporary unto the Apostle St. Paul Aquila and Priscilla first St. Paul the Apostle's Hosts afterward his Fellow-helpers and some others whom I could name who by ancient Record appear all severally excepting Simeon that was the Prophet Luke 2. and St. John the Evangelist to have survived an hundred years and this not so much through strength of nature as the extraordinary grace of God thus rewarding their Moral and Christian vertues Now to conclude this Chapter though we are not to depend wholly upon Spiritual means and super-natural assistances for bodily health and length of dayes yet we must principally and chiefly respect them being as hinges upon which Almighty God doth frequently turn the course of Nature For in him as the Apostle citeth it out of Aratus the Poet we live and move and have our being Acts 17. 28. And Job testifieth as much when he saith I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Job 7. 20. Job knew as well as Paul that the wages of sin was death and having sinned how should he avoid that death but by addressing himself to God who is the preserver of Men without him there is no Balm in Gilead sufficient Jer. 8. 2. no Physician there that is able to recover the health of the People Which is true as well in a natural as in a metaphorical sense Hezekiah's lump of Figs may be a soveraign Plaister but the prolonging of his life came from God the waters of Bethesda were in themselves likewise very soveraign but it was after they were moved by the Angel from Heaven We may yea we must use all honest and good means to preserve this our Tabernacle of clay from ruin and dilapidation I say we must thankfully embrace the good means which nature or art can minister unto us for the preservation or recovery of health The skill and experience of the judicious Physician may be made use of And though it were Job's complaint that there were many Physicians of no value Job 13. 4. And though such as these be mention'd with ignominy in the Gospel that instead of taking away the poor Womans superfluous blood they had sucked away her necessary maintenance She had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse Mark 5. 26. I say though such unskilful Empiricks be mention'd with infamy as deserving reverence or reward from none but a Sexton who finds most of his employment from such Physicians desperate unskilfulness yet those of skill and experience and of conscience are worthy of a double honour of reward maintenance Luke the able and beloved Physician deserves a remembrance in St. Paul's Catalogue Col. 4. 14. And such a Physicians skill may be made use of with good success But yet in the use of secondary means this proviso must go along we must ascribe the main honour to God For it is from him that health springeth forth speedily as is hinted to us by the Prophet Isa. 58. 8. Let them therefore who want health together with an honest use of the means address themselves with Hezekiah unto God who is the Fountain of health and he will hear their prayers see their tears and grant them either that which they desire or that which he knoweth in his alwise Providence to be better for them And for us that do enjoy the blessing of health let us return our humble thanks unto God The living the living they shall praise thee as we do this day the father to the children shall make known thy truth Isa. 38. 19. And we cannot praise him better then in the words of our Church To thee O God who hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death we offer unto thy Fatherly goodness our selves our souls and bodies which thou hast delivered to be a living Sacrifice unto thee to thee which doest restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings we offer the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation providence over us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Vid. the two last Forms of Thanksgiving CHAP. III. Shewing that vertuous and regular actions and affections do naturally conduce to the health of Body and length of Life A Life led in Religion as the Lord Verulam in his History of Life and Death noteth seemeth to conduce to long Life There are in this kind of life these things leisure admiration contemplation of Heavenly things joyes not sensual noble hopes wholesom fears sweet sorrows lastly continual renovations by observances penances expiations all which saith he
Murders Robberies and the like and so the wanton Onans roaring Duellers Drunkards and all others that are loose in their lives and disorderly in their diets or behaviours may be said to be cut off each one of them In die non suo Before his day that is before that day Ad quem per naturam juxta hominum opinionem pervenire poterat To which nature in the judgment of all men might have brought him if he had not prevented the same by his unseasonable death Vel gladio vel morbo vel aliquâ aliâ causâ violentâ morte non sua Either by the sword or disease or some other violent cause as Mercerus saith Mercerus in Job 14. 5. Or if that Answer sufficeth not consider this following God Almighty who is the Creator and Conservator of all things in the Universe hath appointed to every created thing both a beginning and end or termination of subsisting and moving and doth take notice not only of principal but also of subsequent causes of things governing moderating disposing and ordering them according to his free will and yet all this government is void of fatal violence and most commonly cometh to effect mediately and from deputed causes which vulgarly are called second causes which the Divine Majesty doth employ as the instruments of his will so long as he doth so govern all things which he hath created as also himself may suffer them to exercise their proper motions for the will of Man by Divine ordination is the original of humane actions freely electing what seemeth best for it self especially in externalls and herein the causes so answer the effects as if the effects be necessary the causes are also necessary and if contingent the causes are contingent nor doth the praescience or fore-knowledge of God which is certain and not to be deceived abolish the contingency of Natural events but the future effect is disposed as it were by a Divine Providence necessarily or contingently nor doth it null the freedom of the agent nor is the Creator obliged to the necessity but moderateth all things freely according to his free will and pleasure and though his Omnipotency can dispose of causes and life with every kind of death at his own free pleasure yet it will not urge any Person to accept that term of life for a fatal determinination but for a Divine ordination of various causes which by the Election of the will that as Des-Cartes saith Can never be constrained prove occasions either of sustaining or destroying life In brief if still the curious Objector remains dissatified I wish him convinced Potius verberibus quam verbis Rather with stripes than stress of words and the indicative Story which I have read of may apologize for me in my Optative mood A discontented Gallant having drowned himself and being much lamented by the Spectators for youthful comliness amongst them was one of this erronious opinion who was pleased to read a lecture to them of the inevitable decree of the Almighty and not by him to be avoided nor by them lamented Hereupon a young Man of the contrary education gave her a great blow over the face which made her challenge him of base cowardise and as great incivility to the Feminine Sex Who returned her in answer that it was the inevitable will of God it should be so and a truth according to her own Doctrine which caused her to stagger in her opinion Let us not then scorn the means For as Solomon saith Judgments are prepared for scroners and stripes for the back of fools Prov. 19. 29. Obj. 2. Another Objection is of those whom we call Star-peepers Nativity-casters and Fortune-tellers who by Birth-stars that is by Stars which arise at every ones coming into the World pretend an infallible prediction of the certain time of their health sickness recovery what shall chaunce unto them and of the time and manner of their death and so thereby endeavour to overthrow the use of all means tending to the preservation of health and prolongation of life Solut. Indeed we deny not unto that noble Science which they name Natural Astrologie the knowledge of Nature's order and the motions of Heavenly Bodies But we utterly disallow their Superstition who professing judicial Astrology for with this great and glorious title they deck and garnish their superstition do measure and predict conjecturally every Man's fortune and success as touching sickness life and death by the hour of his birth For while these Nativity-casters and Fortune-tellers confess that recourse must be made from the time of bearing to the time of begetting what do they else but bewray their own vanity For it is not possible that they should hear and know for certain the very time of Conception So that though it be granted that the Stars have some influence and power upon our Bodies in respect of health and sickness life and death yet notwithstanding it may be rationally denyed that they can be certainly fore-told by any such judicial Astrological predictions Because amongst many other reasons of the uncertainty of the time of Conception or instant of begetting Let not Men then search into their Almanacks to calculate a Nativity and in the mean time neglect their Bibles which will never be out of date But let them as our Saviour adviseth Search the Scriptures John 5. 39. and they may read Judg. 8. 18. of many thousands dying a violent death nigh one and the same time And if an Astrologer had been consulted before that time it is likely that he would have fore-told the instanious deaths of an hundred and twenty thousand when most of them without question had divers and sundry Birth-stars Again had he read of Esau Jacob twins born would he judge them to have been of the same temper and constitution and to have died at the same instant of time It is like he might but surely not without error Yea it may be inferred and proved also by strict observation that other Children besides twins have been born at one instant of time who notwithstanding died at several times Furthermore if the time and kind of death depend upon the Stars then by consequence shall sins depend upon them too for these are the proper cause of that and the promises of God in respect of bodily health and long life be of no effect Which Consequences whoever grants as Conclusions without further examination of the Premisses I fear will scarce ever be directed to Christ by a Star I shall therefore direct the eyes of such to the reading of that sacred Irony in Isaiah Let now the Astrologers the Star-gazers the monthly Prognosticators stand up and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee Isay 47. 13. And also of that dehortatory Lesson in Jeremiah Thus saith the Lord Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of Heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them Jer. 10. 2. Object 3. A third Objection may