What concerns the Passions in the two former respects is not our business in hand but as they stand in relation to Health and Sickness what disorders they produce in the regular oeconomy of the Body how the Functions are depraved debilitated or suspended by them is our task The Diseases or Dyscrasies of the Soul most visible are the perturbations and passions wherein the Soul is put by her genuine state of placidness and serenity and that aequanimous distribution of her energy into the Members and Parts of the Body from thence disordered and disproportioned Passions draws off the Soul from exercising and executing the functions of the Body For whereas the power of the Soul is equally or proportionably divided into all the faculties in her natural placed state and government On the contrary when Passion is predominant much of that power is drawn away and expended in the prosecution and support of this Passion Passions puts the spirits upon several motions sometimes contracts them as in Grief Fear or Despare Sometimes dilates them as in Joy Love and Desire Sometimes drives them furiously as in Anger wherein also the humours are fluctuating sometimes this way and sometimes that way according to the nature of the Passion which hath its peculiar motion and current And as other Diseases have their Diagnostick Signs to distinguish them and whereby they may be known So likewise the Passions have their peculiar Characters of distinction that it is not difficult to know under what passion a man labours We judge of other sicknesses very much by the Face what alteration there So by the Countenance we may know what Passion is predominant each putting on a different aspect and presenting it self in another shape and visage Passion in excess although it be the perturbation and sickness of the mind yet it is not confined there but is communicated to the Body which partakes and shares in the morbous effect If the Mind be distempered and discomposed the Body cannot continue in health The Soul and Body are so interwoven with each other and conjunct in their Operations that they act together enjoy and suffer together They are so linked and conjoyned as Partners of each others ill and wellfare that the one is not affected but the other is drawn into consent mutually acting enjoying and suffering until death Hence it is a diseased Body makes a heavy drooping mind and a wounded disturbed or restless mind makes a youthful healthy body to decay and languish Who therefore desires the health and wellfare of the body must procure Ease Rest and Tranquility of mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That you may the better know and rightly understand how passions of the mind redound and reflect upon the body to the decay and ruine of it and abbreviating mans life First Consider that the Body without the Souls energy is dead and moves not at all by vertue of the Souls conjunction with it and informing power the Body acts with various motions and opperations and according to the activity of the Soul with organical aptitude and fitness of the Body is the exquisiteness and perfection of their operations The Soul then is Agent the Body passive receiving the influx virtue and power from the Soul who is Rectrix and Gubernatrix to whom the Rule and Government belongs It is evident therefore since the Body cannot act any thing of it self for its conservation without the energy and assistance from the Soul whose care is for the regulating and moderating the Body in all actions external and internal then the distractions inactivity wandrings and neglects of the Soul does tend to the subversion of this due order and government and consequently the ruine and dissolution of the body which requires a constant supply of daily reparation and a regular tuition for its support and maintenance Now the Soul transported by passion from its genuine Crasis of placidness and tranquility and reduced into a turbulent unquiet and distempered state is that condition of incapacity and unfitness for government for the time being and many damages arise thereby as in each passion particularly hereafter will appear In a threefold manner the Soul is put besides her self in the regularity of rectory and is incurious of the wellfare of the Body First The Soul is either carried away by some delightful object as for something vehemently desired and deserting as it were the body to follow after that thing desired and coveted extending her power and strength out of the body to lay hold if possibly to obtain and bring within the Sphere and Circle of her enjoyment as in the Passion of Love Or secondly The Soul is in fury and disquieted within by the apprehension of something assaulting and disturbing to which the Soul hath a contrariety and antipathy against as in the passions of Fear Hatred Revenge Anger And this disquietude and disturbance is continued by representations of their causes in the phantasie which still present themselves to the Soul by way of a fresh assault which feeds the Passion and continues the Distemper Or thirdly The Soul is languishing heavy and inactive altogether indisposed to the government and tuition of the body and perhaps desirous to be discharged and shake it off being weary of the burthen taking no delight in their partnership and society as in melancholly despair and grief In all which cases you shall find the Body to suffer great prejudice and detriment In the first Case When the Soul alienates her self wanders away with a vehement desire to procure and obtain any thing most agreeable and delightful the Soul as it were contracts her self and unites all her force stands at full bent after this beloved dischargeth all her thoughts upon it and spends her strength in desire and longing until at last she pines away with a tedious and starving expectation if the beloved thing be not obtained In the interim the oeconomy and government of her own mansion the Body is neglected the spirits which are accounted the Souls immediate Instruments in every Faculty at least a considerable part is inticed away and called off from their proper and peculiar works and duty perhaps to enlarge and increase the vigour of some other faculty more immediately subservient and attending the Souls new design and business preferred far before a good concoction due excretion nutrition seasonable rest or what else and those spirits remaining which have the burthen of these duties incumbent on them have so small and inconsiderable support and supply of influence from the Soul to direct and back them in their performance that the functions are executed weakly and depravedly to the great prejudice and damage of the Body Concoction now is not so good nor the Appetite so quick the stomach calls not for a new supply as yet not being well discharged and quit of yesterdayes provision the stomach now is weary of dressing and preparing long Dinners for the Body Lenten and fasting dayes
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
which are very injurious and destructive to Health Seasonable and moderate Venus alleviates Nature and helps digestion but immoderate exhausts the strength by effusion of spirits exsiccates and dries the Body hurts the Brain and Nerves causeth tremblings dulls the sight debilitates all the faculties hastens old age and shortens life But of this more at large in my Treatise of Spermatick Consumptions Cibo vel potu repletis superfluè evacuatis sive exercitatis coitus interdicitur Tempus optimum est manè post dormias Hyeme vere frequentius permittitur aestate parcissimè Juvines sanguinei pituitosi liberalius parcius Melancholici parcissimè biliosi Senes emaciati Menstrual evacuations are proper to the Female Sex and come to them at certain years to some at fourteen or fifteen to others at sixteen or seventeen and then Nature challengeth them monthly as her due except she hath conceived nurseth or being grown old Nature does not require this evacuation And this is of such concernment with them that if this menstrual Flux be not right in the several requisites according to times quantity and quality the whole body oftentimes is disturbed but alwayes some infirmity or complaint does follow And therefore it much behoveth Women to have a special regard that this course of Nature be regular according to each persons propriety of body for all have them not alike nor is it to be expected and when it happens otherwise a due course is to be taken to reduce them into order and procure them aright This Flux ariseth from a redundance and is granted to Women for conception-sake that they might both nourish the foetus in the Womb and have sufficient to supply their own bodies Therefore when there is no conception Nature hath appointed a menstrual evacuation to spend the over plus this way during her capacity of having Children and when that time is past Nature taks up and makes no such provision and then this evacuation ceaseth SECT X. The different state and variation of Bodies Commonly distinguished by four Constitutions THat the Condition Properties and Habit of Bodies do much differ one from the other and also the same by time doth vary and alter much from what it was is that which I need not insist on the proof every one almost will confess the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is convinced of this truth But how this comes to pass and the reasons of this difference and variation is not unanimously agreed upon but great dissenting about the matter The Galenists do comprise the diversity of bodies under four Constitutions Sanguine Phlegmatick Cholerick and Melancholick And this they will have to arise from the difference of bodies in mixtion according to the different proportions they receive of the four Elements participating more of some then the other The Chymical Philosophers some of them will have the difference of bodies to assurge out of three Principles Sal Sulphur and Mercury Others increase that number and will have have them five Spirit Salt Sulphur Water and Earth But I must not now ingage in the controversie between the Chymists and Galenists or make another party to oppose both but reserve that as more proper for a Polemical Tract This Work being not intended controversal but Canonical I therefore pass on to state the Matter These four tearms of Sanguine Cholerick c. although I do not adhere to them in the common acceptation and in every point as the Galenists use them yet they being so familiar and well known to such for whom chiefly this work is intended I shall retain these names with distinction and limitation to serve our present purpose rather then impose new words upon you not so well understood I do not therefore understand by Phlegm Choler c. that every body is composed of these four humours as their constitutive parts resulting from proportionate and disproportionate mixture and combination of the four Elements But that persons may participate of or abound with a degenerate humour and that the succulencies of the body may incline to such a condition affine and analogous or having such properties as that which is assigned to and called Phlegm Choler c. may be ascerted and we may call them by such names But you must also take notice that the degenerate matter in mans body is so various that you must not think to reduce all such depraved Juices exactly to these three heads of Choler Phlegm and Melancholly and if you add twice three more the number would not be sufficient But since there is not peculiar appellations to distinguish all precisely by better have some general tearms then none The variation of bodies in relation to Temperament Habit and Constitution does arise immediatè from the variation of digestions and the different products from thence so that one and the same person shall by time be of different constitutions according as the functions of the body are performed well or ill The changing or establishing of Constitutions procatarcticè does depend upon subjection and obedience to the Diaetitick Rules As every one is ordered prudently and regularly or negligently and incongruously shall be disposed to this or that Constitution If a man live idle plentifully feeding indulging himself in raw Fruits and sleeps much this disposeth him to be Phlegmatick that is his digestions shall not be so good and there will be crude relicts abounding such as is called Phlegm If a man be of an active cogitative spirit eager in business giving himself little rest accustomed to Wine and high seasoned Meats This manner of life fires and heats the body the Juices then will not be so mild temperate and balsamick but acrid bot and sharp and this person then may be said to be of a cholerick constitution or condition of body If a fresh sanguine person of a pure wholsom body be oppressed with care and grief live a sedentary life or too much given to study and serious contemplation and feed grosly This course of life shall change and alter the best constitution the sanguine brisk airy person shall by these means be of a dull heavy disposition and sad mind the body also shall degenerate from its purity the humours more fixed and feculent The Soul being the great Spring or Wheel that keeps all the functions in motion upon which they do depend primò principaliter as the Fountain of all Vital Actions If this be dejected and taken off its speed the functions are then performed very heavily as if weights and clogs were hung upon them and then the elaboration of food is not well performed and a pure alimentary Juice produced but a degenerate succus of a heavy oppressing nature not duely fermented by the Spleen dyscrasyed by the preceding Causes from whence a melancholly constitution is begotten and may so be denominated for distinction The diversity of Constitutions being thus understood we may make use of and retain these distinguishing tearms at this time to serve the
and fretting which discomposeth the spirits heats and wasts them augments Choller dryes the body and hastens old Age. Refrain Tobacco as a very injurious custom it exasperates Choler by heating drying and evacuating dulcid Phlegm which contemperates bridles and checks the fury of acrid bilious humours SECT XIV The Melancholy Constitution Stated and Cautioned BY Melancholy Constitution I here understand such a condition of body as is procured and most commonly is the consequent of habituated Melancholy or a melancholy heavy Soul and a dyscrasied Spleen To pass by the controversies that might arise here from the distinction of melancholly by the Galenists as one of the four constituent humours I shall take for granted on both sides as well Chymists as them that the aforesaid causes do beget such a constitution or condition of body as may well require a peculiar Diaetetick Regiment as an allay or mitigation of those preternatural Symptoms that necessarily follow such Causes at least that they may not be aggravated by an injurious course of living A melancholly studious and sedentary life does much abate and suspend the emanative vigour and activity of the Soul equally distributed geometricè amongst the several faculties as the spring of their motion and actions from which abatement and depression of their power the functions are not discharged so exactly and unblamably but more or less according to the agravation or intention and remission of those Causes Now as the Spleen is more eminently the seat of that passion and commonly a part most apparently injured leading the rest into disorder We shall appoint such a government or prudent election and modification of such things comprised in the Diaetetick part of Physick as may best sute with such a condition of body The melancholly splenetick person whose digestive faculties are debilitated must feed more tenderly and nicely than another else that flatulency and oppression which commonly does attend this condition of body will be agravated and much more molesting For by a gross and plentiful feeding are those evils increased Let not your common dyet be of such Meats as are hard and difficult to digest that lie long upon the stomach and require a strong incising ferment for separation and transmutation as Meats long salted dryed fryed or broyled c. but keep to such as are light and of facil digestion that soon yeelds in fermentation and is transmuted without great labour and trouble Meats thus distinguished you will find set down in the 59 60 and 61 pages preceding where you may make election If you have a hot and dry costive body use Barley-broths with Prunes Rasins and Currans and you may eat sometimes Pippins Permains Cherries Respas Straberries and such like good fruits to cool and moisten Take not a full meal at Supper nor late but eat sparingly And if that be too much as may easily be discovered then forbear Suppers wholly Capers Broom-buds and Sampire are good Sauce they please the Pallate quicken the Appetite open Obstructions and help Digestion all which are profitable for this condition of body Also Borrage Bugloss Endiue Cichory Baum Fumiterry Mary-gold-flowers Violets Clove-gilliflowers and Saffron are of good use Drink Sider sometimes and small White-Wine also Whey if your stomach agrees with it Keep the body soluble your Head will be more free from pains fumes and heaviness Also the lower Region of the Body will not so freequently be disturbed with flatulent rumblings distention and windy eruptions Cherish Sleep it refresheth the spirits pacifies a troubled mind banisheth cares and strengthens all the faculties but tiresome waking in the night is a great enemy to a melancholly person Fly Idleness the Nurse of Melancholly but exercise often and follow business or recreations Walk in the green Fields Orchards Gardens Parks by Rivers and variety of places Change of Air is very good Avoid solitariness and keep merry Company Be frequent at Musick Sports and Games Recreate the spirits with sweet fragrant and delightful smells Banish all passions as much as in you lies fear grief dispare revenge desire jealousie emulation and such like Opus est te Animo valere ut Corpore possis Give not your self to much study nor night-watchings two great enemies to a melancholly person Refrain Tobacco though a seeming pleasant Companion the phansie is pleased but for a short time and the ill effects are durable SECT XV. The various Dyscrasies or Passions of the Soul in general MAN is made up of two grand Parts Soul and Body the one Active ruling and governing the other Passive obeying and instrumental The one hath its due Crasis tranquility and placidness The other due organization and fabrication But both are subject to disorder discomposure and inaptitude for the regular performance of their Actions and Offices Great discoveries have been made of that Part of Man which presents it self to the eye We have viewed his Fabrick and I may say exactly Witness the excellent Anatomical pieces that are extant wherein are discovered and laid open all the contrivances of this rare Machine But the Spring that sets all on work the intrinsick mover the Soul lies much in darkness and acts as it were behind the Curtain Whose deficiencies and aberrations are little taken notice of except in the irregularities of passion and then only in relation to divine and moral rectitude And therefore in our Physical Discourses I find the Body to be accused of infirmity and failing throughout the Catalogue of Diseases and that the indisposition of Organs to act is the sole or main cause of the irregularity and deficiency of the Functions And that the hability of the Soul to act ad extra does depend wholly upon the capacity and aptitude of the instrumental parts But I am otherwise perswaded to believe That as there is great difference of Souls in divine and moral goodness why not then in natural abilities and integrity relating to health and sickness And therefore it is very rational to assert that many defects or disorders in the Functions and ruinous decayes of the Body does arise and spring forth from the pravity and debility of the Soul by its lapsid nature And that the first motions ab intra or emanations of the Soul are and may be infirm and vitious when the Organs are in their rectitude and aptitude for regular motions But to clear this out and prosecute it to the full I must ravel into the whole Doctrine de Anima and assert contrary to the old Philosophy which will be found very erroneous but that will take up a whole Tract too big for this place and must be the work of another time Therefore I pass on Passions of mind may be considered either in relation to what is divine moral or natural Passions respecting the two first are either good or evil as their object do's distinguish them but in the latter they are ill and produce bad effects as they in degree are more or less turbulent violent and durable
are its vacation from trouble Separation now is not so good the excrementitious and nutritious part walk hand in hand together and pass without contradiction or due examination the watch now is not so strict at the Ports and privy passages to discern what is fit to pass this way and what the other or what to reject and keep out but promiscuously receive what presents it self Distribution now is not so good Aliment tires by the way wanting spirits to convey and bring it to its journeys end and exercise to jog it on through the angust Meanders and more difficult passages Sanguification is now degenerated and vitiated the preceding requisites and fit praevious disposition in order thereto being wanting Membrification or Assimilation is now changed for a Cachectick and depraved habit Excretion and Evacuation of what is superfluous and unfit longer to be retained in the body is not sent away in due time but stayes for a Pass the Governess is now taken up with other matters neglects due orders and commands to the expulsive faculty for their emission All necessary and wholesome Customs are now neglected and disregarded the Soul too oft is wandring and gadding abroad and best when she is roving from home but neglects the airing of her Cottage and perfuming it with fresh aetherian breath The Soul is now alwayes restless and disturbed nor shall the Senses her Attendants take their due repose but keeps an unquiet house at midnight In the second Case The regular and due order of government in the Body is subverted and changed when the Soul in the forementioned passions of Fear Anger Hatred and Revenge is disturbed and alarum'd by the assault approach or appearance of some evil or injury the Soul then summons the spirits together and commands them from their common duties calls them to her aid and assistance for security from danger to repulse the violence offered or revenge the injury hurrying them here and there from one part to another in a tumultuous manner if the assault be suddain and surprizing sometimes inward to support the heart to give courage and resolution which by their suddain concourse and confluence to the Center causeth great palpitations and almost suffocation or else commanding them to the out-works into the external parts to repel the invasion and violence of the evil presenting or approaching or to revenge the quarrel the Hands and Arms then receive a double or trebble strength the Muscles being full and distended with agile spirits for their activity strength in motion The Eyes then are staring full and stretch'd forth with a croud of inflamed spirits darting forth their fury and spending their strength upon the Adversary and Object of their trouble The Tongue then is swelled with spirits and big words that wanting a larger room for vent tumbles out broken and imperfect speeches and scarce can utter whole words The Legs and Feet then have an Auxiliary supply and double portion of spirits conveighed into their Nerves and Sinews to increase their agility and strength to come on or off But in the mean time the Heart perhaps is almost fainting so long being deprived of and deserted by those lively vigorous spirits which did inhabit and quarter there for its Life-Guard protection and support but are now called off their Guard and common duties imployed in Forreign Parts commanded here and there as the emergent occasions presents it self to the Governess of this Microcosm In the third case mentioned the due order government and necessary execution of offices belonging to the wellfare and maintenance of the body and preservation of life is neglected and weakly performed When the Soul being darkned and overspread with a cloud of sadness betakes her self to a sullen incurious recumbency and retiredness willing to resign up and cast off the government and tuition of the body and as a burthen which she now delights not to bear about begins to loose her hold who before had embraced and clipt so close suspending the virtue of her energy and vigorous emanations acting faintly and coldly those necessary mutual performances without regard to their former friendship or their future conjunct preservation The Body now begins to sink with its own weight and press towards the Earth the natural place from whence it came That aetherian spirit which before had boyed it up and took delight to sport it to and fro is now ready to let it fall and grovel downwards to leave it whether it must go The wonted pleasures of their partnership and society is now disgusted and rejected Food now hath lost its relish and is become unsavory Sleep which before was pleasant as a holy day in the fruition of rest and ease is now composed of nothing but troublesome unquiet dreams linked together with some fighting intervals to measure out the weary night by Exercise and sporting Recreations is now accounted druggery and laborious toyling unwilling is the Soul to move her yoak-fellow farther then the enforcing Law of Nature and necessity commands and urgeth Their joynt operations which before were duly and unanimously performed are now ceased abated or depraved by the retraction reluctance and indisposed sadness of the Soul to act the wonted vigorous emanations of the Soul and her radiant influence upon the spirits is now suspended subducted and called back These ministring attending Spirits and nimble Agents which at a beck were alwayes ready agile and active in the execution of her commands now want Commands to stir and Warrants to act by but in a torpid and somnolent disposition unfit for action and the exquisite performance of their duties and in a sympathizing complyance with the Soul the excitrix and rectrix of their motions are ready to resign their Offices and give over working that what they now do is faintly and remisly performed with much deficiency and depravation When the Soul is pleased and merry the spirits dance and are chearful at their work but when she droops and mourns the spirits are dull heavy and tired the Functions weakly and insufficiently executed From the preceding Discourse may easily be collected that the Distempers and Alienations of the Soul from her genuine Crasis of serenety and quietude is of great disadvantage to Health for as much as the necessary Functions of the Body from hence are disordered and insufficiently performed these perturbations also impressing upon the Body various preternatural effects forming the Ideas and Characters of Diseases upon the spirits are by them communicated implanted and propagated in the body likewise the morbifick Seeds and secret Characters of Diseases which lay dead and inactive are by the oeconomical disturbance and perturbation of mind awakened moved and stirred up to hostility and action which otherwise would have layen dormant as by grief fear anger hysterical passions swoonings epilepsies c. are often procured and it is evident and commonly observed by infirm and diseased people how passion agravates and heightens their distempers and according to the temper of
their mind will their bodily infirmities be agravated or abated I shall draw up this Discourse into three Corollaryes being the Epitome of what hath been asserted and aimed at 1. There is no perturbation or passion of mind whether little or great but it works a real effect in the Body more or less according to the nature and strength of the passion and by how much the more suddain great often and of longer duration the passion is by so much are the impressions and effects worse more durable and indeleable You cannot be angry or envious or melancholly or give way to any such passion but you cherish and feed an enemy that preys upon your life and you may be assured that passion makes as great nay greater alteration within the body then the change of your countenance appears to outward view which is not a little although but a shadow or reflection of the inward distemper and disorder And were it possible by any perspective to see the alteration and discomposure within made by a passionate troubled mind the prospect would be strange and much different from that placidness and tranquility of an indisturbed quiet Soul 2. Strong and vehement passions or affections of the mind too intent upon this or that object whether desirable and to be enjoyed or formidable and to be avoided alienates suspends and draws off the wonted vigour influence and preservative power of the Soul due to the body whereby the functions and necessary operations are not duly and sufficiently performed but intempestively remisly and weakly Nor is the dammage onely privative but also introduceth and impresseth upon the spirits a morbifick Idea which is ens reale seminale producing this or that effect according to the nature and property of the Idea received and aptitude of the recipient subject Phansies and Idea's are let in naked but they streight are invested and cloathed in the body have a real existence and are entia realia though at first conception but entia rationis as the longing of a pregnant Woman being but the Idea of a thing in her mind begets various and real distemprs in her body if not soon satisfied and sometimes charactarized upon the Embryo in the Womb. Likewise a good stomach is taken off its meat suddenly by the coming of some unwelcome bad news the appetite is gone now the Soul is disquieted and the Body really affected and altered Let this sad tydings be contradicted and the Soul satisfied of the truth to the contrary it sets a new impression upon the spirits they strait are cheared lively and active the stomach calls for meat and drink and the faculties restored to their wonted operations Whereby it appears the two passions of joy and grief as they are opposite in their objects so are their effects wrought in the Body as far distant and different 3. A cogitative or contemplative person to intent alwayes or unseasonably employing the mind seriously and eagerly either in real or fictious matters fabricating Idea's upon the spirits disturbs and hinders other necessary offices and opperations conservative of being enervates and weakens their performance in duty impares Health and hastens old Age but those that live most incurious and void of studious thoughts too serious cogitations and disqueting passions preserve the strength of Nature and integrity of all the Faculties protract the verdure and beauty of youth much longer from declensions and decay for by how much the rational faculty is over busie disturbed and intempestively exercised drawing the full vigour of the Soul into the discharge of that faculty and robbing other inferiour functions of their necessary influential supply and emanative power from the Soul by so much the other faculties are impoverished and abated their executions more languid and depraved and therefore it is a close Students life a careful or passionate mind disposeth to and introduceth many infirmities enervates and debilitates nature abbreviates and shortens her course SECT XVI Perturbations or Passions of the Soul particularly Of Anger THis Passion is a great Disease if we consider the preternatural effects and alterations it maketh for the functions of the body are disordered and discomposed by it and the whole man changed from what he was In giving judgement upon Diseases so much worse is that person to be accounted whose alteration is greater from what he was in a state of health and as the functions perverted are more in number and superior in dignity This Disease does not take up one particular part for its quarters but it seaseth the whole Man All the Faculties are disordered and every part is discomposed and disturbed Take a view of an angry Man or rather a Man in the fury and perturbation of Anger his Reason is supprest or suspended he acts not rationally but as a mad man his face is changed his eyes staires and sparkles his Tongue stammers his Heart pants his Pulse beats high and quick his Breath is almost gone the Blood and all the Humours boyl and the Spirits are agitated to and fro by gusts like an impetuous Wind he trembles all over and this storm shaketh the whole Fabrick of mans body Surely this is a great Disease that thus discomposeth and puts the whole man out of frame and order such storms as these do much weaken and enervate the ability of the Faculties disorder their regular performance and discharge of their Offices but more especially infirm Parts are made sensible of the prejudice and cholerick lean bodies An inflamation of any particular part is a great Disease but Anger is an inflamation of the whole and were this distemper to continue long a man were in as much danger of life as in the highest Feaver Therefore take the Poets counsel Principiis obsta Ne frena animo permitte Calenti Stat. Fear Fear whether suddain and violently seazing or gradually approaching and threatning an evil to come both enervate and debilitate Nature Fear suddainly surprizing chaseth the spirits to and fro from their residency and faculties sometimes compressing and driving them to the heart causing violent palpitations and suffocation or scattering them from the Fountain of Life into the external parts making a dissolution almost to exanimation Such frightful surprizes as these are very dangerous and seldom happen but they leave some sad Characters and Impressions behind Etiam fortes viri subitis terrentur Tacit. Against this fear there is no remedy having surprized and seized the Person before deliberation can interpose to prevent it or preparation made couragiously to meet or valiantly to stand against this shock of terror Fear that gives warning before the evil comes and threatens as yet afar off that Soul which then yeelds up her courage and strength of resistance is disarm'd by her own phansie and vanquished by her self is conquered with nothing in Being but with the fear of something that may be The evil although to come and possibly may be prevented and never come yet it is made a
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
and tuition of the Body is neglected that decayes grows lean and consumptive the face grows pale the appetite abates and sleep departs or is but short and interrupted with troublesome dreams and wakings the vigour and strength of the faculties is spent in desiring and by the disquietness of the other attending Passions For a remedy and check to the impetuousness of this inordinate affection and immoderate desire take these considerations to calm allay and regulate your passion First That you cheat your self in setting too high a price upon the object of your affections and lay out more in expectation then the income of your desire obtained can possibly make a return that it is far greater in non habendo then it will be in fruendo it will be much less when you have then it seems to be now you have it not Secondly That the Delirium and fervency of your desire does not hasten the accomplishment of your aymes but rather retards or frustrates for the extremity and strength of passion debilitates and suppresseth Reason the chief contriver and manager of your design puts you upon inconsiderate immature and rash attempts and makes you more unfit incapable and unable to effect your purpose for Passion is always spurring but Reason hath its stops and pauses keeps due times for onsets and progress Thirdly That prudent and vigorous action not innane hungry volition or thirsty desire though ever so great can acquire the satisfaction of your hopes Fourthly That the ardency heighth of desire will not imbetter sweeten or add to the heighth of your enjoyment but rather abate and lessen it in your account and esteem for what thing soever you purchase and are mistaken and deceived in you will not value at that rate you first prized it but at the worth you now find it Vehement and lofty desires screw you up to such a heighth of expectation mountain high but you must descend into fruition that 's low as the valley and when you find your self in a bottom and your Sails not so filled and puft out as formerly by the fresh gailes and blasts of a strong desire your top-fails then begin to flap and flag when you come in to the still calm of fruition and your lofty spirits and high thoughts will lower amain when you Anchor in the Harbour of Enjoyment for in appearance it was great when at a distance seemingly but now you are come nearer it is much less and inconsiderable really Non ea jam mens res habenti quae desideranti erat and what swelled you full in the prosecution of attaining will not fill you now with satisfaction but prove aery when you grasp it and soon emptied in enjoyment Fifthly That statutum est it is appointed you must or you must not obtain the thing desired which to a rational creature is sufficient without other Arguments to qualifie moderate and blunt the keen edge of desire and curb the violence of an impetuous affection but not to cowardise daunt or stop a laudible active prosecution to attain a noble vertuous and lawful end with a moderate submisive desire quisquis in primo obstitit Repulitque amorem tutus ac victor fuit Sen. Qui blandiendo dulce nutrivit malum Serò recusat ferre quod subiit jugum Melancholly Grief and Despair These Passions being neer alied we may rank them together as the Companions and Attendants upon adversity and misfortunes whose properties are to rob and steal away from the Soul that vivacious enlivening power which roborates and quickens all the faculties in the Body When these Passions are predominant the energy of the Soul is abated and all the functions insufficiently weakly and depravedly performed A dark Cloud of Melancholly overspreading the Soul suffocates choaks the Spirits retards their motion and agility darkens their purity and light these instruments in each faculty being thus disabled their offices in every part of the body are faintly executed whereby the whole body decayes and languisheth witness the common symptoms of a dejected sad condition a pale thin face heavy dead eyes a slow weak pulse loss of appetite weakness faintness restlesness a weight or compression about the region of the heart with continual sighing or palpitation these are the effects wrought in the Body by Melancholly and Grief which are to be avoided as great decayers of Nature and great enemies to Beauty Health and Strength Hope Joy and Mirth But embrace and cherish these as the supports of your life which raiseth the Soul to the highest pitch and stretcheth forth her power to the utmost These enlivening affections are the greatest friends to preservatives of health and strength In this serene state of the Soul all her endowments and abilities are advanced both rational sensitive and natural the pleasantness and delight of the Soul puts the spirits upon activity and excites them to a vigorous operation and duty in all the functions preserves youth and beauty makes the body fresh plump and fat by expanding the spirits into the external parts and conveighing nutriment to repair and replenish the utmost borders and confines of the Microcosm dum fata sinunt vivite laeti Sen. FINIS
the greatest curiosity and variety of machination such admirable Conduits and Contrivances such Offices and places of elaboration subservient to each other and communicable that therefore this Machine is most difficult to keep in order and soonest put out of frame Thirdly Does require and use more variety of supports and necessary requisites to preserve and supply him and therefore more subject to errors failings and discomposure Fourthly Because Man wilfully carelesly or ignorantly does not regulate and govern himself according to the Law of Nature dictated to him but deviating from those rules of preservation does discompose the regular Oeconomy of his body and introduce various Diseases and disorders which precipitates Nature in the current and course of life which otherwise more equally and evenly would glide on and sometimes by violence offered to Nature in some strange unnatural actions and exorbitancies the life is forced out and death oft procured Now other Creatures are so tyed up to the rule of Nature Creatures conformity to Nature which they cannot but observe for their preservation both individual and specisick and have not a power of electing good and evil to themselves but naturally and spontaneously do prosecute that which is proper and conservative and avoid what is noxious but Man having a greater liberty by the prerogative of his rational Soul does make his choice and wanders amongst varieties both good and evil and often deceives himself chusing what is destructive to his Being So that breaking the Law of Nature which he ought to observe as bounds and Rules to his actions making them sanative and preservative does on the contrary alter and change those necessary appointments and supports renders them destructive by his irregular incongruous use vitious customs and imprudent choice The most considerable things to be observed by Man as conducing and tending to the lengthening or shortning of his life according to their mannagement and procurement well or ill do fall under these Heads Diaetetick regiment to be observed Meat and drink place of abode sleep and watching exercise and rest excretions and retentions passions of mind In the moderation use and choice of these which particularly hereafter shall be handled consists the length and brevity of life per modum asistentiae and as causae sine qua non being auxiliary requisites and necessary supports of life appointed by Nature for the continuation assistance and preservation thereof But the length and brevity of life fontaliter radicaliter consists in the fundamental Principles and vital powers variously radicated and planted ab ortus in mans generation and fabrication But this being not in the choice and power of man to alter or change we shall prosecute upon the former Heads Man consisting of Soul and Body and this body compounded of heterogeneous dissimilar parts destinated to various actions and offices dependent in Being and conservation will necessarily require variety of assistance and supply proportionable and suiting to their several purposes faculties properties and temperatures in matter manner times and order for their maintenance and sustentation in the integrity of their actions offices and duties constitutional dispositions and Crases peculiarly conservative of themselves respectively and consequently of the whole And by the Law of Nature being subject to corruption and dissolution through the fragility of constitutive parts connexion and fabrication is bound to observe Rules Orders and Customs most consonant for preservation and continuance in Being Now if there be a disproportion or unfitness in the matter or quantum or irregularity in the manner times or order of the auxiliary requisites and conservatives contrary to what the Law or necessity of his Nature requires and commands there ariseth Distempers Ataxies and discord the praeludiums to ruine and dissolution And this body being in a continual flux and reflux conversant in vicissitudes and variations of opposites dissimilars contraries and privations as heat and cold siccity and humidity filling and emptying rest and motion sleeping and waking inspiration and expiration and the like could not subsist amidst these various subalter nations and changes if they were not bounded and regulated by due order of succession to fit and convenient times that they might not clash interfere and encroach upon each others priviledges due times and proprieties If heat exceeds the natural moisture dries up the spirits evaporate and the body withers If cold the faculties are torpid and benum'd the spirits being frozen up to a cessation from their duties If moisture prevails the spirits are clogged suffocated and drowned in the chanels of the body If siccity and dryness the organical parts are stubborn unpliable and uncapable of their regular motions and due actions the vital streams being drank up that should irrigate refresh and supple them Were the body alwayes taking in and sending nothing forth it would either increase to a monstrous and vast magnitude or fill up suffocate and stifle the soul were it alwayes in excretion and emission the body would waste away and be reduced to nothing Nor is the receiving in of any thing sufficient and satisfactory to the body for its preservation but that which is appointed by Nature proper and sutable nor emission or ejection of any thing but that which is superfluous and unnecessary to be retained If sleep prevails contrary to the Law of Nature the body in a lethargick soporiferous inactivity stupefied and senseless lies at the gates of death If watching exceeds the limits transgresseth and steals away the due time for sleep the faculties are debilitated and enervated the spirits tyred worn out and impoverished If inspiration were constant without intermission the body would puff up and be blown like a Bladder If expiration were continual the soul and spirits would soon quit their habitation and come forth If alwayes exercised in motion the body would pine and wear away if alwayes at rest it would corrupt and stink There is a rule therefore proportion measure and season to be observed in all the requisite supports auxiliary helps belonging to our preservation and by how much or often any of these necessary alternative successions are extravagant and irregular exceeding the bounds and limits prescribed by Nature justling out the successive appointed action duty or custom from its seasonable exercise and due execution by so much is the harmony of Nature disturbed vigor abated and duration shortned by these jars discords and encroachments The thwarting and crossing of Nature in any thing she hath enjoyned either in the substance or circumstance is violence offered to Nature is destructive more or less according to the dignity or quality of the thing appointed For Nature was not so indifferent in the institution of these duties and customes that they might be done or not done or so careless and irregular to leave them at your pleasure when and how or to be used promiscuously preposterously without order at the liberty of your will fancy and occasions for as you
his long worn Cloathes perhaps more careful of his Garments remembring their price but thinks his health cost him nothing and coming to him at so easie a rate values it accordingly and hath little regard to keep it is never truly sensible of what he enjoyed until he finds the want of it by sickness then hoc unum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 health above all things is earnestly desired and wished for This great concernment Health falls under a three-fold consideration First In its causes from whence it does immediately arise in the body Secondly In its effects the consequents and benefits that accrue to us by it and what is the state of a healthy man Thirdly The right course to obtain and means to preserve this invaluable treasure so long as the capacity of humane nature will admit And first Here we must distinguish of Health which may be taken either strictly or largely Health distinguished health in the strictest acceptation admits of no organical indisposition morbous effect or morbifick Seminary to abide in the body that although no sensible injury or inconvenient alteration may appear yet notwithstanding a person may be said not to be in perfect health as when the latent seminaries of Diseases are not budded do not sprout forth so as to be dolorous impedite any faculty or make some disturbance or alteration yet they are planted in the body and have a real Being as haereditary Diseases whose seminaries are obscured do not come to maturity of production until such an Age of the Person or some irritating occasion given to produce it sooner or later as the person is ordered well or ill in the diaetetick regiment So likewise the first ground-work and foundation of the stone is not perceptible until some time and progress give it perfection during which time that person is not in a state of health in a strict sence So likewise some Diseases do lie dormant for a time and discover nothing during that season and have their periodick motions wherein they awake and are stirred up to shew themselves upon some irritating provocations and occasions given as the epilepsie the Gout Hysterical passions and such like that have their times of cessation and returns yet these during their intermissions and cessations from hostility are in being although they do not act so as to injure and deprave any function sensibly Secondly Health may be taken largely and in the common acceptation as when no function is impedited or sensible alteration from a good state does appear we say then such a man is in health In the first and strictest sense few can be said to be in health but in the latter many are to be accounted healthful And this is the state of health understood by Galen Avicen and Averrboes in their definitions of it Which imports thus much Health what it is Health is a due power and aptitude for the exercise discharge of all the faculties in the body So that when every part and faculty perform their duty regularly and vigorously that man is said to be in health but when any faculty is impedited ill affected or depraved in its function the man then is not in perfect health So that the actions of the body and mind are the chief discoverers of health and sickness And here we see that health is seated in the faculties and does assurge or result from the regular discharge of their functions As when the appetite is sharp Signs of Health the digestion not sluggish and heavy the belly soluble the senses perfect free from pain in all parts the mind pleasant quiet sleeps the spirits brisk and lively the whole body strong nimble and vigorous in motion these are signs of Health so that examining all parts and faculties we find nothing preternatural or irregular but in every part and faculty we find a good discharge of their Office then that person is to be accounted in a right state of health so far as is discoverable by any manifest or conjectural sign The benefits and excellencies of this health is best known to those that have lost it Carendo magis quam fruendo Excellency of Health positive quid valeat cognoscimus You that have it and know not how to prize it I 'le tell you what it is that you may love it better put a higher value upon it and endeavour to preserve it with a more serious strict observance and tuition Health is that which makes your meat and drink both savory and pleasant else Natures injunction of eating and drinking were a hard task and slavish custom Health is that which makes your bed easie and your sleep refreshing that renews your strength with the rising Sun and makes you chearful at the light of another day 't is that which fills up the hollow and uneven places of your Carcase and makes your body plump and comely 't is that which dresseth you up in Natures richest Attire and adorns your face with her choicest colours 'T is that which makes exercise a sport and walking abroad the enjoyment of your Liberty 'T is that which makes fertile and encreaseth the natural endowments of your mind and preserves them long from decay makes your wit acute and your memory retentive 'T is that which supports the fragility of a corruptible body and preserves the verdure vigour and beauty of youth 'T is that which makes the soul take delight in her mansion sporting her self at the casements of your eyes 'T is that which makes pleasure to be pleasure and delights delightful without which you can solace your self in nothing of terrene felicities and enjoyments Having cursorily glanced at the excellencies of Health in this short Narrative and Epitome of its worth it remains we should next draw forth and present to your view the wayes and means to obtain and preserve this invaluable enjoyment Health as it is the result of Nature in her integrity and perfection is maintained and kept in that order and due Oeconomy by the regular and right use of those natural supports that our bodies daily require and do depend on in Being as Air Food Sleep Exercise c. Now those things that do necessarily belong and daily attend us ought so to be chosen and mannaged as does best conduce and sute with the institution of Nature to which they are appointed but if otherwise unseasonably disorderly or immoderately used they then prove pernicious and destructive more or less according to the degree and continuance of their irregularity and incongruousness Nature hath appointed both times and order and set a regular course how and when every thing should be used in its proper mode and season There is a moderation also enjoyned and limits prescribed by Nature in the use of these things which if we exceed and run into excess we then put Nature out of her mediocrity and equality in which course she cannot long continue and that also with much trouble to us by bodily
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