〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE SHADOW OF THE Tree of Life Or a Discourse of the Divine Institution and most effectual Application of Medicinal Remedies In order to the Preservation and Restauration of Health By J. M. LONDON Printed for John Wilkins and are to be sold at his shop in Exchange-Alley by the Exchange-Coffee-House 1673. Courteous Reader WHen we reflect upon the erronious Principles and impertinent Practices of men in the Application of Medicines and observe how many destroy themselves thereby some possessed with Turkish Principles think to palliate all omissions in this kind by reflecting upon a Devine determination abstracted from the concurrence of second causes Others looking not upon it as a Divine Institution but only as a Pollitick trick to maintain a Society of men though grofly mistaken And some whose ignorance hath betrayed them into the hands of the unskillfull and not finding the event answer their expectation they make bold to condemn the whole Faculty for an Imposture As if because a man went to Sea with an unskilfull Pilot who runs his Vessel upon a Rock and lost all his Goods therefore the Art of Navigation must be condemned for unprofitable and vain Nay some are so fantastical as to think extreame Vnction sufficient to answer all intentions of Physical applycations And many other such evil conceipts may be seen under the Sun whereby men cheat themselves of their lives It being in Physick as in Divinity for the most sacred institutions are insignificant unto the Souls of men if not rightly received and applyed So the most wholesom remedies are unprofitable unto the bodies of men if not used in a due manner Now the design of the Authour of this small Treatise is only to take notice of the bounty of our great Creator in his provision of necessaries conducing to the health of natural life and also to direct to those proper Rules requisite to be observed in the right administration of naturall remedies here are no private receipts to amuse the vulgar and it may be the more useful because discourses of this nature are seldom seen in publick Therefore read and improve to the best advantage viz. the preservation of health which is the greatest temporall Blessing we can enjoy Without it the most delicious dainties will not please the pallate the most fragrant Odors will not delight the smell the most Harmonious melodies will not gratifie the ear the most beautiful objects will not please the eye the softest down will not ease the bones It is that which makes all our delights delightfull without which we can sollace our selves in no temporal enjoyments Health is that which renders the body serviceable to the soul for when our flesh upon us is in pain our souls within us doe usually mourn and we are unfit for holy services Health is that which renders us fit for the enjoyment of humane Society it preserves the faculties of the mind in strength and vigor makes the wit acute and the memory retentive Seeing then that Health is a blessing attended with so many priviledges and men are subject to dash upon so many quick sands in the persuite of it surely it cannot be unprofitable to humane nature to direct to those means which may be most likely to preserve or restore it but rather of the greatest and most comfortable Importance next to the salvation of our Souls Yours J. M. THE SHADOW OF THE Tree of Life Or a Discourse of the Excellency and Divine Institution of Medicinal Remedies Chap. I. THat every man is bound by the Law of God and Nature to keep the clayey Cottage of his Body in reparation and to use all possible means to preserve his naturall life in health and vigour none can question we being tenents at the will of our Great Landlord in these houses of Earth it ought to be our concern to take care least they run to ruine through neglect and so we expose our selves to an Inditement at the bar of Heaven for Delapidations he that is no life preserver is a self murtherer a felo de se in the sight of God that command thou shalt not kill doth strictly obliege us to preserve life both our own and others CHAP. II. THe Jews were to be at the charge of any mans cure whom they had hurt or any way prejudiced in their bodily health so as to expose them to expence or danger much more ought we to take care of our own cure if Divine providence lay any distemper upon us He who breathed into man the breath of Life at first and in whom we still live and move and have our being hath commanded us to pray for our daily bread viz. the necessary supports of this life and if we must pray for them certainly we must use them Chap. III. ALthough we live not by bread alone but by the word of blessing which proceeds out of the mouth of God yet the blessing is annext to bread not to stones that man will not trust God but tempt him who shall expect to have stones turned into bread if God have appointed staires it 's not faith but fury to go down by a Precipiece Holy David trusting in the Name of the Lord made him not throw away his sling when he went against Goliah Jacob's supplicating of God made him not neglect to send a present to his Brother the fast of Hester made her not forget to feast the King second causes are to be used in obedience to Gods order not in confidence of there own help Faith should cause us to be so diligent in the use of means as if God did nothing for us and yet so draw us from trusting in the means as if God were to do all for us CHAP. IV. Saint Pauls Mariners could not expect preservation unless they did abide in the Ship notwithstanding they had a promise of their lives Balaams Ass may instruct men that a mercifull man should be mercifull to his Beast much more to himself Our blessed Saviour makes it a great piece of Religion to visit the Sick and one of those actions according to which our final sentence will be determined The Shunamite woman took a journey and importuned the Prophet to use the best means he could to cure her Son CHAP. V. NAman was commanded to wash seven times in Jordain for the cure of his Leprosie although he would have had the Prophet only prayed for him If the Centurion were importunate with our Saviour to cure his servant when sick of a Palsie certainly all pious men ought to be concerned for the cure and ease of there servants and themselves when laid upon the bed of sickness and to apply themselves to the most proper remedies If the body of the Priest under the Law were to be without natural blemishes and distempers who were to offer Sacrifices in the material Temple why should not Christians under the Gospel whose bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost be carefull to use
goethunder the name of some other Authour but also in his divine discourses wherin he acts the part of a Preacher he declares to the world that these remedies must be applied for he saith there is a time to heal and that a medicine doth good if rightly used for he compares it to a chearful spirit or rather a good conscience which is a continual feast CHAP. XIII CErtainly Ahab would never have been so sinfully ambitious to abtain the vineyard of Naboth for a garden of herbs If he had not understood their virtue as well as delight Doubtless the good will of him that dwelt in the bush is further declar'd to man-kind by the fruit the leaves and the flowers growing theron which he hath impregnated with such virtues that they are good for the healing of the nations in a corporal as well as in a spiritual sence those contemptible persons Job speaks of who cut up mallows by the roots probably understood they were nutrative and medicinal as the experience of many ages demonstrate CHAP. XIV THe bitter herbs appointed to be eaten with the pascal Lamb were not only typical but medicinal if we may beleeve some of the antients Nay a Dinner of herbs with Evangelical charity is preferd by Solomon before a costly banquet Medicinal herbs as Mint Anniss Rhue and Cummin c. were so much in use amongst the Jews that they layed tithes and costomary impositions upon them CHAP. XV. WHen the Church would make a Metaphorical description of the external and internal qualifications of her beloved doth she not compare him to those things that are most excellent and usefull as Myrrhe Aloes Cassia and all the chief Spices Without controversie Physitians are not onely usefull for the Embalming of the Dead as Joseph used them but for the recovering of the dying as our Saviour intimates when he saith the whole have no need of the Physitian but they that be sick have Who can be so weak as to imagine that the Art of the Apothecary should be employed only to prepare the Holy Oyntments for the Consecration of Priests and Kings of old and not to prepare variety of Medecines for the restauration of virtuous and pious Souls who through the meritorious death of the Son are made Kings and Priests unto God the Father CHAP. XVI THe Evangelical Prophet Esay reflecting upon the deplorable condition of the Church with the whole head sick and heart faint full of wounds bruises and putrifying sores being not bound up nor mollified with oyntments doth plainly intimate how necessary he thought the natural as well as the spiritual application of fit remedies in such a case which must needs be sad indeed when there is no Balm in Gilead and no Physitian there Jothams Parable may be useful thus far to instruct the world that not onely the Olive the Fig-tree and the Vine are usefull to Honour and cheer the Heart of God and man but also the bramble may have an excellency and superiority in some distempers for although its thorns do tear the flesh yet of its leaves are made a healing application Such is the Beneficence of our great Creator that since the Appearance of the second Adam we may eat of every tree in the garden without any prejudice to us or our posterity asking no question for conscience sake for the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof It is wonderfull to observe the miraculous providence of God in preserving the seminal virtues of plants from perishing by the deluge when we read not of any seeds preserv'd in the Ark the innocent Dove shewing a leaf to the new world preached a Sermon of Divine goodness so that the Poet might well say Quaelibet herba Deum c. CHAP. XVII EZechiels vision through Gods goodness may be daily seen a tree whose fruit is good for food and leaves for medicine Our Saviour the Physitian of Souls was Physitian of bodies too and not only commended the good Samaritan but acted the part of one throughout his whole life Saint Luke the beloved Physian was the quill of the holy dove the Divine Amanuensis The Angelick Spirits think it not an office inferior to their natureto be instrumental in the healing of the sick as may be seen in the stirring the waters of Bethesda Although our Saviors restoring sight to the blind man was miraculous yet means was used although but clay and spittle Saint Paul himself prescribes wine to Timothy as a medicinal cordial to chear his spirits and to support him under his infirmities CHAP. XVIII ANd the utility of Physicall Remedies is not onely demonstrated from Scripture but it may be evinced from the use of it by the most knowing and intelligent part of mankind both Jews and Pagans In the Temple of Esculapius there was a fountain of oyle with a golden Arch a perfect symbole of Physick the one denoting its usefullness the other its honour Again it is founded upon reason and attended with the experience of many Ages Therefore the unsuccesfulnes of it cannot be from the nature of the thing but from the misusings of it CHAP. XIX THe Design of medicines being not to prevent death for it is the unalterable Decree of Heaven that men must dye but it is to make life comfortable and to preserve natures lamp so long until there is no more oyl left to feed it And if we rightly understand the excellency of natural life it being that space of time alloted us for the securing our eternal state it highly concerns us to use those means which may be most likely to preserve it Now there are several things absolutely needfull in order to the preservation or restoration of natural life and must be observed or we cannot rationally apply the remedies The ability of the Physitian in prescribing The faithfulness of the Apothecary in preparing The regularity of the Patient in observing The care of Nurses in attending The strength of Nature in Assisting The Providence of God in influencing CHAP. XXI Concerning the choise of an able Physitian which is the unum necessarium in sickness next to the imploring the Divine Benediction This I may say that there is no action of a mans life of greater consequence neither doth any discover more of wisdom or folly then a preposterous or prudent choise There 's no wife man but will choose a person of learning experience and known integrity If a mans horse be troubled with the glanders it is a point of prudence to apply himself to the ablest Farrier for advise and not to every Hostler that hath a confidence to prescribe a drench If my watch want mending I would choose to send it to the most ingenious Artist People seldom are so imprudent in other things as they send not their Bellows to a lookinglass maker to mend but their bodies shall be sent to any mungrel Physitian who can sooner cure all Diseases then one The curing of Diseases being like mending a watch if not
Leper Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole and Christ did it I will Be thou clean Thou art my King command deliverances for Jacob said David when the water-spouts came pouring upon him Vnto God the Lord belong the issues from Death CHAP. LXXII WHat a great impiety is it to go to Witches or Wizzards or such as have familiar Spirits nay to the Devils for cure A thing absolutely forbidden in Scripture A sad thing for a man to procure the Devils blessing with Gods curse It is called Idolatry and Whoredom It is a violation of our Baptismal Covenant Shall not a Nation seek to their God in Covenant Our Saviour abhorred to worship them and shall his members do it They use good words the better to deceive the ignorant They use charms circles spells words and other signes which have no naturall virtue nor can we with any ground pray for a blessing upon these The Devil being herein God's Ape for As God hath made a Covenant with his people and hath appointed signs and Seales upon the faithfull use of which he is present to perform what he hath promised So the Devil makes a Covenant with Witches upon which he hath given signes and tokens that if they use the one he wil perform the other Let such as are guilty in this kind repent and pray that the thoughts of their hearts may be forgiven them as the Apostle counselled Simon Magus The power of Christ is the same now in Heaven as when on earth in his hand our breath is and all our wayes in him we live and move and have our being we live not by bread alone but by the word of blessing out of his mouth Many a man loseth his life for want of asking it We are apt to blame this means and that accident but seldom say as she did Lord if thou hadst been here My Brother or Sister had not dyed the means alone are but like Elijahs staff it will not doe unlesse he come himself By fervent prayers we should invite Omnipotence to our beds sides And call for the Elders of the Church to pray for us All second causes are but the instruments in Gods hand to lengthen or shorten as He pleaseth CHAP. LXXIII THere are three general second causes of the death of all men assigned in 1 Sam. 26.10 As some inward corrupt Humour or Disease that smites the vitals extinguisheth Nature's lamp as a Lamp goeth out when the oyle it putrefied or corrupt as Asa's Gout Jehoram's bloody-flux the plague of Leprosie the womans child's Headach and those diseases mentioned in the 28. of Deuteronomy Another second cause is some external accident as a Lamp is putout by the Wind so the unbelieving lord kil'd in a crowd Ahab slain with an arrow the Captain of fifty with Lightning Jobs children with the fall of a house the good Prophet by a Lion Absolom hanged in a tree by the hair Sodem by fire the fifty two children by the Bears The old world by water the Rebels against Moses the earth swallows up CHAP. LXXIV ANother second cause is when the naturall heat and radical moysture is consumed as in old age as Jacob when a man comes to his grave in a full age as a shock of corn comes in its season as a Lamp must go out when there is no more oyle to feed it Yet Providence hath a hand in all these second causes so that men provoke God by their impieties to cut the thred of their their lives and by Piety and Obedience they may prevaile with Him to lengthen their days if he see good CHAP. LXXV ANother means towards the procuring the concurrence of a Divine blessing with the means is To act faith and a holy confidence in God with the use of proper means one touch of faith will cure our faith will make us whole therefore trust in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength I had failed unless I had believed said David Faith is the best cordial in quietness and confidence lyeth our greatest strength why should we be cast down let us hope in him who is the health of our countenance What time we are afraid we should trust in God and beware of slavish fear and carnal confidence former experience is a good ground of confidence He hath delivered and in him we trust he will deliver us Stand still and see the salvation of God is good counsell towards recoery of health it is a sign of carnall confidence in the means when we are continually trying new experiments and run from one thing to another and leave rationall and experimental remedies CHAP. LXXVI REpentance and humiliation is another means towards recovery from sicknesse if we humble our selves under the mighty hand of God he will exalt us in due time the way to hasten the cure is to hasten repentance our desire of life should be in order to our preparations for death if we break off our sins by righteousness it may be a lengthning of our tranquillity Nineveh's repentance spared their lives if men will not reform then God resolves to make them sick with smiting them as the Prophet speaks The last means to procure a Divine blessing it is a patient waiting the good pleasure of God without murmuring and repining They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength God hath his times for deliverance It is goad for a man to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of God and not to say This evil is of the Lord why should I wait for him any longer God hath his time to an hour as our Saviour intimates Father save me from this hour The Promise is that Women shall be saved in child-bearing if they continue in faith and patience and it is of force in all other dangerous distempers A meek and a quiet spirit under all Divine chastisements is a very great ornament Some make Afflictions seem amiable by a pious and a patient Deportment CHAP. LXXVII MUrmuring is a dangerous sin we have the Jews for an example who were destroyed thereby A dreadful thing when a mans body is so weak that he cannot rise up in his bed yet his corruptions are so strong as to rise into an uproar against Gods will and Authority It may be some in Sickness may let fly their discontented spirits against their children or relations but they may answer as Moses to the Israelites What are we your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord. Some men practise what Jobs wife attempted viz. curse God and dye Murmurers shall be judged at the last day as ungodly men as Jude speaks Some in sickness howl upon their beds when they should be blessing God In all sickness we should say with Naomi Truly the hand of the Lord is against me and not in a stupid senseless way cry out Indeed I am not well but I shall shake it off it is only a flight distemper I wil work
and the same word which signifieth to heal signifieth to Worship because after healing men should Worship yet the Physitian is worthy of a liberal fee the Abderites when they wrote to Hippocrates for the cure of Democrates whom they thought distracted because he alwayes laughed at the rediculousness of mâ—ns lives sent him word Quicquid auri apud nos est libenter persolvemus etiamsi tota urbs nostra aurum esset it is a great mercy to be in a condition to administer help to the sick in their distresse the generallity being like the Priest and Levite if they see a man wounded though to death pass on the other side of the way nay like Hazaels wet cloth prove deadly to their friends lives and healths Sickness saith one is officina virtutis morum disciplina the shop of virtue the school of manners the tide time of devotion King Alfred was wont to say I alwaies find my self best in soul when worst in body CHAP. LXXXIX BEnhadad the King of Syria an enemy to goodness in his health will send to Elisha with a large present and submissive expressions in his sickness a sick bed being the highway to the grave makes men serious The Rabbies say that when Adam eat the forbidden fruit his head aked 't is clear sin is the original of sickness when we are chastised with pain upon our beds and the multitude of our bones with strong pain then the Almighty seals up our instructions and the sick bed becomes a pulpit in which the Spirit of God preacheth to us many serious truths and convinceth us of our sin folly our Redeemer is said to bear our sicknesses because he bears our sin in his body on the tree yet so incorrigible are some under Divine corrections that having been smitten they have revolted yet more and more and like Jeroboam been worse after his hand was withered and will not acknowledge the soveraignty of God as Naaman did after his recovery that when ther are ten cleansed we may well say where are the nine that return thanks such is the power of infidellity and Ingratitude CPAP. XC A healthful life is a right hand blessing Prov. 3.16 Adam the first man lived near a thousand years after his creation 930 years being then a perfect man we may reckon him nearer a thousand years than Methusalah when he dyed There might be many reasons consigned for the long lives of the patriarchs as that mankind might be multiplied that Arts and sciences might be perfected and that men might be acquainted and skilled in the course of nature having no books from which to collect observations but alass the case is not so with us fewand evil are the dayes of our pilgrimage and we cannot arrive at the years of our Fathers in the dayes of their pilgrimage we are but of yesterday and know nothing comparatively to what we might know because our dayes upon earth are but as a shadow indeed Adam in his sinless state might possibly have been Imortal and his eating of the tree of life might have conduced to the supplying of his radical moysture as fast as it suffered depredation by his vital spirit Moreover the tree of life in Paradise might be of a Sacramental signification that perseverance in a state of Evangelical obedience unto the father by the son through the Spirit is the most effectual way to obtain a long and a healthful life in this world so far as it conduceth to the creatures good and the Creators glory and a blessed Immortallity in the next FINIS ERRATA'S Courteous Reader thou art desired to correct with thy pen these following Errata's or any other if thou observest them PAge 8. line 4. read pretious p. 9. l. 5. r. prejudicial p. 10. l. 12. r. thought p. 16. l. 7. r. nutritive p. 24. l. ul r. then p. 42 l. 21. r. paratur p. 50. l. 21. r. gluttony p. 75. l. 8. r. shalt p. 76. l. 11. r. errand p. 82. l. 8. r. for not read only p. 107. l. 14. r. all men are Abels vain