present calamity the suggestions being received and the Soul sinks under them make a pressure upon the Soul as really afflicting as the evil it self Multos in summa pericula misit timor ipse mali Luc. Such fears as these ought to be chased away and manfully resisted that which may be is as far from us sometimes as that which never shall be The fear of things that never come are ten to those that come to pass Quid juvat dolori suo occurrere Satis citò dolebit cum venerit Sen. As Anger swells the Soul and thrusts forward the spirits into the exterior parts to oppose and to revenge the ill On the contrary Fear makes the Soul to shrink and the spirits to give back By this contraction of the Soul her wonted vigorous emanations in all the faculties are suspended whereby the functions of the Body are remisly and depravedly performed the spirits retire inwards the face grows pale wan and thin and the Soul pines and languisheth with the apprehension of a seeming future evil and the prospect of a dubious impending fate Plura sunt quae nos terrent quam quae premunt saepius opinione quam re laboramus What if the evil threatned be too great for you to encounter with now yet either your power may be enlarged before it comes or that may be lessened and reduced within the compass of your ability to resist and power to contend with Quic quid humana ope majus est Diis permitte curandum Symach Care Care is a mixt passion made up of Desire and Fear There is in Care a desire of getting and a fear of losing the anxiety between these two enervates and weakens the strength of the Soul she spends her self in projection to acquire and get and labours continually also under the fear of loss either of that already gotten or of that which is in possibility and likely to be obtained Being thus disquieted and alwayes in an unsatisfied condition the Body is enfeebled and checkt from thriving Meat and Drink will not nourish if they be not changed duly in the digestions and assimilated into the substance of the Body by the energy of a vigorous Soul in a placid state of government not drawn off unseasonably and constantly with perplexing thoughts Alwayes plodding in mind is not good if your purse gains and thrives by it I am sure your body looseth and grows worse The Poet's advice in this condition is good sometimes being discreetly used Nunc vino pellite curas Hor. And another well admonisheth from perplexing your selves with future contrivances and provisions Hodierna cura tantum Qui cras futura novit Anacr An indisturbed free mind not loaded with the thoughts of many years to come but bearing onely the burthen of the day holds out much longer and preserves the faculties in strength and vigour but immoderate care and a thoughtful life wears out the faculties much sooner tires the spirits by denying them their due times for refreshment rest and ease disables them from duty and the true performance of their Offices heats and wastes the spirits and exsiccates the nutritious juces of the Body which changeth a fresh countenance into paleness degenerates a good Constitution and pines the Body but most injurious to thin lean and cholerick Persons Those too much thus addicted and cumbred with careful thoughts may sometimes imitate this example for a Remedy Nunc potemus laeti jucunda confabulantes Quae vero post erunt diis sint curae Theog Revenge Jealousie and Envy These Diseases of the mind are as painful Ulcers continually lancinating corroding or inflaming they gnaw and eat like a Cancer they take away the nourishment from food and refreshment from sleep the anguish of these sores render every thing unpleasant and unserviceable for the wellfare and support of the Body so that these sicknesses of the mind make the Body to pine and languish introducing a secret Consumption wasting the Spirits and nutritious moisture and enfeebling all the faculties Revenge besides the trouble and disquietness of spirit exposeth a man to a greater mischief Multis ◠injuriis obiicit dum una dolet Sen. then what he hath received Jealousie is a secret tormentor that gauls the mind with continual suspition and raiseth suggestions that afflict the Soul with anxiety and restlesness Envy is a Wolf in the Breast that must be satisfied or it sucks the blood and feeds upon the vitals This Disease pines and starves a man in the midst of plenty and he withers away in the Sun-shine of anothers prosperity Invidus alterius rebus marcescit opimis Hor. These perturbations and Diseases of the mind will not let the body thrive for if that be sick the Body cannot be in health Love and Desire These two although they seldom go alone and desire follows close at the heels of Love yet they may be separated and distinguished thus Love is a delight complacency and suteableness with the thing loved Desire is the longing for or stretching forth of the Soul to obtain procure and bring into enjoyment Desire gives wings to the Soul and seemingly transports and brings her to the thing desired so that all her strength is spent in out-goings and stretchings forth to obtain and joyn with the object of desire Quò non possum Corpore mente feror Ovid. Love and Desire being inordinate and impetuous seldom goes alone but is attended with other Passions as Hope Fear Melancholly Despair one or more for their consorts with which the mind is racked and torn and variously affected as the several Passions acts their Parts by turns Sometimes Love is bold and venturous at another time cowardly and fearful sometime hoping and sometimes despairing sometimes brisk and sometimes sad and heavy So that the Soul is tossed up and down and filled with the disquietness of successive mixt Passions attending upon Love and Desire Nor is the Soul onely disturbed and hurried away by this Passion of Desire but the Body also is restless and unquiet going from one place to another being not satisfied Here turns away hoping to find more content There Desire is very sollicitous and troublesom and importunate at unseasonable times so that the bed does not give rest and quiet sleeps but is tossing and turning there from side to side and when up cannot stand still or sit still this thorny desire is alwayes spurring on from one place to another but which way to take this giddy Passion cannot well resolve notwithstanding these perplexities the doubts and difficulties of obtaining the Soul is led away with an ignis fatuus of fervent zeal deserts her own mansion the Body and follows after with an eager prosecution of enjoying never at home but as a Prisoner and Prisoners are but bad house-keepers the body needs must languish and decay when the Soul thus delights and strives to run away By the continuance of these Passions interfering and complicating with each other the regular oeconomy
the body gives a ready and free passage to any feculent or excremental matter that ought not long to be retained Fourthly Exercise opens the Pores and gives a free transpiration which otherwise by too much rest are occluded and shut up contrary to the intention of Nature having appointed these vents and secret way of evacuation to ventilate and cleanse the habite of the body which in a short time would be very foul and impure by congestion of superfluous humours if not purified and transpired by these exhaling ports Fifthly Exercise promotes and adds much towards the nutrition of the body For this we find generally that active stirring people are more fresh in countenance more vegete and lively in spirit more firm and solid in flesh and stronger in their limbs then other persons that live a sedentary idle and sluggish life And that it should be so there is good reason in as much as exercise gives a free passage for nutriment to arrive at every member and part of the body and also excites the Archeus or ruling principle in each for a more vigorous assimilation and likewise does expedite and send away the superfluities of every digestion all which promotes and sets forward a good nutrition Exercises are various and commonly chosen as each person phansies or the Company invites as Dancing Running Ringing Tennis Hand-Ball Foot-Ball Riding Fencing with many others some whereof are purely pastime as those named others necessary labours as Digging Sawing and such like Exercise is to be chosen such as sutes best with the Nature of each persons body Some require exercising of upper parts most others of the lower parts and some equally both those Exercises which generally are advantagious in using and stretching all the parts and which I prefer before others are Tennis Hand-Ball Fencing and Ringing Yet I would not impose upon any contrary to their inclination for in these cases that which is most delightful will probably prove most beneficial Observations and Cautions to be remembred in exercising are such as these 1. Exercise daily in the morning chiefly with an empty stomach alwayes and after excremental evacuation if you can procure it 2. Vary exercise according to the condition of your body and season of the year the stronger phlegmatick bodies and in cold Weather admit of stronger and swifter motions Cholerick hot bodies weak and the Summer season more mild and gentle 3. Be not violent in exercise nor continue it longer beyond a pleasure but desist with refreshment not a lassitude and weariness 4. Put on some loose garment until your body be cool and setled in its natural heat and temper the Pores being opened by exercise the cold is more apt to enter from whence a greater prejudice then you could expect benefit from your labour or pastime 5. Walk gently after Exercise and settle by degrees no suddain changes are suteable or profitable to Nature 6. Eat not untill you be fully reduced to that temper and moderate heat as when you began and when the spirits are retired to their proper stations By this rational course the advantages that will accrue to you are these Exercise rouseth dull inactive spirits gives ventilation opens obstructions by the motion attenuation and penetration of the subtile spirits agitates and volatiseth feculent subsiding humours abates superfluous moisture increaseth natural heat promotes concoction distribution and conveyance of aliment through the narrow Channels and Passages unto the several parts of the body procures excremental evacuations strengthens all the Members and preserves Nature long in her vigour and virdure Having set out the times for Exercise and Motion the remainder is allotted for Rest and Ease with such refections and repast as Nature requires Quod careâ— alterna râ—quie durabile non est Ovid. Rest is as necessary to preserve Health and continue mans body in strength and vigour as Exercise These two although much opposite in themselves yet both in their order and seasons are very suteable and agreeable to humane Nature and both contribute to the being and long being of Man Nothing constant is liking and congruous with our Nature but vicissitude is most acceptable and delightful When the body is wearied with Labour then rest is refreshing and renews its strength but when satiated with rest does then thirst after motion pleasant exercise Interdum quies inquieta est quoties nos male habet inertia sui impatiens Sen. Rest is a burthen if forced upon Nature longer then Nature does require and that is but for a short space So that the due timing of Rest and Motion and limiting them to their hours and seasons most agreeable and delightful to humane Nature is that which preserves him in Health and prolongs his Being Avoid idleness and a sluggish sedentary life for want of due action and wholsom motion the body like standing Waters degenerates and corrupts If Rest exceeds the vigor of Nature is abated digestion not so good distribution of aliment to the several parts retarded and impedited by reason of an obstructed foul body excrementitious superfluities not freely transmitted and emitted the spirits dulled and all the faculties of the body and mind heavy and slow to action Ignavia corpus habetat labor firmat SECT VIII Sleep and Watching Limited and Cautioned THE Life of Man being conversant in vicissitudes spends its whole course in these two different states Sleep and Watching the one appointed for Rest and Ease the other for Action and Labour Nemo dumdormit alicujus est pretii nonmagis quam si non viveret Quidam If he were constant in the first his life were but the shadow of Death not worth the nameing if in the latter he could not hold out long but be tyred and worn out Therefore Nature hath wisely contrived that he should not continue long in either but should be transient from one to the other and weave out his life by these short intervals Watching Action and Motion Sleep Rest and Cessation are equally requisite for the well-being of man So that these two changes relieving one another both become a defence and support of humane life Sleep is a placid state of body and mind bringing refreshment and ease to both Sleep takes off the Body from action and the Mind from care thought and business and gives a cessation and quiet interval from their Labour That sleep may prove most advantagious answering the intentions and designment of Nature it must be regulated in these four particulars the Time and Limits the Place and the Manner The Time most proper and fit for Sleep and according to the appointment of Nature is the Night when most of the Creatures also do take their rest At the shutting up of the day and the Sun departed from the Horizon the spirits are not so active and lively but incline to a cessation and then it is fit to give them their repose and rest and not constrain them longer upon duty in the morning again
of former kindness The body that had the magnatism and secret attraction of souls may now be approached without loss or danger of being snared and fettered as a bondslave The Lilly and the Rose that Nature planted in the highest Mount to shew the World her pride and glory is now blasted and withered like long blown flowers The eye that flasht as lightning is now like the opacous body of a thick Cloud that roled from East to West swifter then a Celestial Orb is now tyred and weary but standing still that penetrated the Center of another microcosm hath lost its Planetary influence and is become obtuse and dull The hollow sounding breast that echoed to the chanting Bird and warbled forth delightful tunes now runs divisions with coughing strains and pauses with a deep fetch 't sigh for breath to repeat those notes again The Venal and Arterial Rivulets that ran with vital streams bedewing the adjacent parts with fruitful moisture is now drunk up with parching heat or muddied and defiled with an inundation of excremental humours The want of health converts your House into a Prison and confines you to the narrow compass of a Chamber 't is that which sowers the sweetest and most beloved enjoyments 't is that which disunites and breaks the league of copartnership between soul and body alienates and makes them at jars discomposeth their harmony and weary of their wonted sweet society A sick man is like a Clock out of order and due motion which is of little worth or use so long as it continues in that condition so is man useless both to himself and others in such a state one Wheel being faulty or defective puts the rest out of order and regularity that depend upon that motion and one part or faculty of Mans body being disordered and irregular several others consent with or share in the discomposure more or fewer as the part is more noble and principal commanding some chief Region of the Body or inferior and of a lower orb or private station The reason of this sympathy and consent of patts is first From the general agent and principle of life which is one and the same throughout the whole Secondly Because all the parts of mans body though they have their peculiar and different motions to themselves and special properties yet they are all concurrent and cooperating co-ordinately or subordinately serving to the general design of Nature and maintainance of the whole body and are so concatenated and linked together in the Oeconomy of office that their motions are dependant and of mutual concern for each others wellfare Humane bodies being in a fluxible state and apt for mutation and changing are not long in a through state of health but some part or other by some accident natural debility or disorderly living is discomposed and jarring whereby the Oeconomical harmony is disturbed The signs of such defections and a preternatural change of the body approaching is discovered by the senses our own or others making observation And these signal marks are very apparent to reasonable discerning persons that every one may have some apprehensions if they will be cautilous of sickness coming upon them and a discrasyed body As a state of Health is known by all parts acting in their Offices unblameably that viewing and examining from head to foot nothing appears unwonted or disordered So on the contrary when any part declines its duty or appears any way unwonted from its natural condition declares the beginning of a degenerate valetudinary state which in time will dammage and disorder the whole if not prevented in that particular part and a stop given to that defection Now what this part is whether principal or inferior of a general or more private use and how the prejudice does arise is necessary to be considered which will discover whether the infirmity be of greater or lesser concern of speedy or slower danger So that by noting such signs which are the fore-runners and warnings of great diseases coming on every one may in time look out for means to check the present evil and avoid the greater threatned If the Body which was fat or plump and fleshy afterwards grows lean and thin or if lean and spare bodies grow big and corpulent here is just cause of suspition that all is not right although no great prejudice at present or sensible injury by the alteration yet these cases require due examination from whence they do proceed If the Appetite abate or unwonted heaviness and fulness follow eating argues the digestion not good and the Stomach falling from the due discharge of its duty and office The Consequents of which are very considerable If sleepiness exceed the Custom and Age of the Person or watchfulness and indisposition to rest both presage no good So likewise in other particulars which for brevity sake I shall not instance In general therefore whatever alterations happens in any part or faculty of the body unusual and contrary to the custom of Nature in her integrity does not only declare for its self as a particular infirmity of that part where it buds forth but does presage upon the continuance something worse to come and that the root from whence it springs is of a spreading Nature able to bring forth more then what is manifest at present in as much as the parts are dependant upon each other in office and use and dammage to one brings detriment to the rest Precautions and Rules for the preservation of Health and Prolongation of Life In the choice of Air and places of abode AIR is so necessary to Life that without it we cannot subsist which surrounding us about and being continually suck't and drawn in must needs affect the body with its conditions and properties and by observation you may find the body by the various constitutions and changes in the Air to be variously affected well and ill disposed of which infirm parts are most sensible that they prognosticate before an alteration come the mind also by the mediation of the spirits is drawn into consent and hath its dispositions and variations when the Air is close thick and moist the spirits are more dull heavy and indisposed but at the appearance of the Sun and a serene Skie the Spirits are unfettered vigorous and active the mind more chearful airy and pleasant The Spirits are of an aetherial Nature and therefore do much sympathize with the present constitution and change of Air for of the Air drawn in by the motion of the vital parts are the vital spirits ventilated the blood volatised therefore the pureness of the Air makes much for the purity of the spirits and mass of blood A gross impure and noysom Air obtunds and deads the spirits makes a slow pulse obstructs the Pores and hinders ventilation generates superfluous humours and causeth putrefaction A serene sweet thin Air perfumes and purifies an unwholsome body cherisheth the heart makes a lively pulse and much enliveneth the vital spirits
at the rising of the Sun they are fresh brisk and agile and then are no longer to be chained up in somnolent darkness but to be set at liberty and enjoy the bright light which chears the spirits and is a great enlivener to them Turpis qui alto sole semisomnis jacet Cujus vigilia medio die incipit Sen. Moderate sleep refresheth the spirits fortifies and increaseth vital heat helps concoction gives strength to the body pacifies anger calms the spirits and gives a relaxation to a troubled mind Immoderate sleep dulls the spirits injurious to a good wit and memory fills the head with superfluous moisture and clouds the brain retains excrements beyond their due time to be voided and infects the body with their noxious fumes and vapours an enemy to beauty and changeth the fresh flower of Youth Go early to sleep not with a full stomach and early from sleep that you may rise refreshed lively and active not dulled and stupid Avoid day sleeps as a bad custom chiefly fat and corpulent bodies but if your spirits be tired with much business and care or by reason of old age debility of Nature extream hot weather Sōnus meridianus quibus concedendus labour or the like that dissipates the spirits and enervates then a moderate sleep restores the spirits to their vigor again and is a good refreshment but rather take it sitting then lying down Night watching and late sitting up tires and wasts the animal spirits by keeping them too long upon duty debilitates Nature changeth Youth and a fresh florid countenance heats and dries the body for the present in time abateth natural heat Vigiliae longioris incommoda breeds Rhumes and Crudities and most injurious to thin lean bodies Concerning the place for sleeping take these cautions First That you do not expose your self to the open Air for in the time of sleep Nature is not so well able to defend the body from external injuries of the Air but lies more open to such assaults being off her guard and retired to Rest Know also that it is a bad custom to sleep upon the ground as many in the Summer season do use to their prejudice and those whose condition of life necessitate them to it as Soldiers although for the present they escape the mischief yet afterwards most are made sensible of the injury by Aches stifness or weakness of Limbs and many other infirmities that it procures Sleep not in any damp place Vault or Cellar a ground Chamber much worse unboarded a new washt Room or new plaistered but chuse a high Room dry sweet well aired free from smoke and remote from any noise Let your Bed be soft but not to sink in which sucks from the body exhausts and impairs strength a Quilt upon a Feather-Bed is both easie and wholsome As for the manner or decumbiture the body must lie easie or sleep will be disturbed the head somthing elevated the other parts as best likes every person but not upon the back or constantly upon one side but by turns and be covered according to the Climate and Season of the Year The mind also must be in a good posture well composed and setled when you are in bed or that will break off your sleep before due time and defraud you of your nights rest if you lie down with roving troubled thoughts they commonly will call you up before it is fit to rise and your sleep not so placid and refreshing Therefore when you lay by your cloaths lay aside also your business care and thoughts and let not a wandring phansie prevent your rest or awake you before due time SECT IX Preservation of Health by Regular and Requisite Evacuation and Retention ALL that the body receives is not fit to be retained our food though choicely pickt and temperately used yet all does not turn into the substance of the body but some part is to be separated and sent forth the rest to supply nourish and be assimilated This regular course being continued the body thrives and is in good order but if that which should be evacuated and sent forth be retained or that which ought to be retained be prodigally wasted and injuriously emitted then the body suffers and decayes when the regular oeconomy thereof is subverted Hinc ingens morborum turba And here we are to consider of the various excretions that Nature does require and is beneficial and of such retentions as are injurious Under this Head is comprised excretions by Stool by Urine menstrual Purgations Venus by the Pores Nose and Ears of which the former are of the greatest concernment and special care to be had of them Excremental evacuations are various proceeding from the several digestions conveyed out by several Channels and Vents of Natures fabrication which duly evacuated are no smal helps to the conservation of health and are the effects of a temperate and regular body The retention of them beyond due time argue discrasy of parts or irregular living and brings much detriment to the body by their noxious inpressions and putrid vapours that infect and disturb the body If the Belly be costive and bound up if the Urine be supprest the monthly Courses stopt the Pores occluded and shut up the Soul will be stifled in the Body and the Body polluted and corrupted with its own Excrements and as these are so more or less in degree swerving from rectitude so it fares with the body better or worse And on the contrary if the Belly let pass too soon and forceably before the alimentary part be separated sweeping down both together if the Urine flows too freely and drains the body If the Female Courses be immoderately current and exhaust the vital stream If the Sperme be involuntarily issuing and daily wasting If the Texture be too lax and pervious the Pores patent and evaporating the damage is as great as the former and as much to be feared as these evacuations are more or less enormous So that nothing but moderation and an even course between these two extreams are conservative of Health and longaevity And that this may be so all your actions and necessary customs must be bounded by mediocrity this is the Golden Chain that ties all together one Link whereof being broken the whole is broken and disunited having a dependance and mutual tye upon each other As the discharging of Nature moderately and seasonably in all her requisite evacuations preserves the body in health and strength so contrarily Immoderate evacuations causeth weakness debility of Nature by exhaustion and procures several Diseases Cachexies Consumptions Dropsies c. To keep the body soluble is very good that at least once a day you may not miss to have a stool else the Faeces are hardned the body heated the stomach molested the appetite not so good the head heavy dull and sometimes pained some grosser matter which should go away by seige is brought by the Urinary passage occasioning obstructions all