The Life is more worth than Meat and the Body than Raiment The Jews thought their Lives more worth than their Liberty for they told the King If they had been Sold for Bond-men they had held their Peace Life is the form of Gods own Oath Those Bodies which are the Members of Christ ought to have Care and Respect used towards them that they may be fit for the Service of the Soul That which was sick was not to be Offer'd in Sacrifice under the Law and they that are sick are not fit to Offer Sacrifices The Father of Lyes never spake a greater Truth than when he said Skin for Skin and all that a Man hath will he give for his Life It 's a grand Impiety under a pretence of Gods Power to be Disobedient to his Will in neglecting the means of Health that 's to try what he can do and yet to neglect what he Commands in not administring those things which are requisite and necessary for the Body King Solomon who had a Patent granted him from the King of Heaven to receive the greatest measure of Wisdom of any Man before or after him made it his business to search into the Nature of Vegetables from the tallest Cedar unto the Hyssop that grows out of the Wall and though his Gold was so plentiful as to pave his Palace and he had all the Delights of the Sons of Men yet he Condescended unto the Study and Improvement of Physick and tells us That there is a time to heal every Herb bearing Seed being prescribed for Food or Physick by our great Creator It 's not improbable but that the Sons of the Prophets had a Physical Intention in gathering the Herbs for their Pottage although they were mistaken in the particular Plant and gathered a deadly instead of a wholsome one Ahab understood the usefulness of a Garden of Herbs when he coveted Naboth's Vineyard to Convert it into the same The good Will of him that dwelt in the Bush is further declared unto Mankind by the Vertue that he hath planted in the Leaves and Fruit that grow thereon being usefull for the healing of the Nations in a Natural as well as in a Mystical Sence Those persons who cut up Mallows by the Roots in Holy Job's time could not but understand their Physical Vertue A Dinner of Herbs with Evangelical Charity is preferred by Solomon before a Costly Banquet and those Medicinal Herbs of Mint Annise and Cummin were so much in use amongst the Jews that they laid Tithes and Customary Impositions upon them It 's very probable that the bitter Herbs appointed to be eaten with the Paschal Lamb were not only Typical but Medicinal When the Church would make a metaphorical Description of the External and Internal Quallifications of her Beloved she compares him to those things which are most excellent and useful as Myrrhe Aloes Cassia and all the Chief Spices Joseph used Physitians of old and the Art of the Apothecary was Imployed not only to prepare Holy Oyntments for the Consecration of Kings and Priests but also to compound Medicines for the Restoration of Inferior Persons Sir I will Discourse no longer upon this Argument only conclude with good Wishes that your Sorrows may be short and your Joys long and all your Desires may end according to your own Heart I am Yours J. M. LETTER XIII SIR I Received your last which gave me an ample account of the great satisfaction you gained by my late Letter proving the Divine Original of Physical Remedies But you seem to question whether any Arguments may be brought from Scripture to prove That we are not only obliged to the use of means in general but also to the use of such as are most rational and such as have the fairest prospect of probability To me it seems very apparent that we are to use such as are most agreeable to Reason and Experience When the extraordinary means of understanding Tongues ceased men made use of rational and ordinary means by the study of Arts and Sciences So the Jews in the Wilderness were miraculously preserved with Quails and Manna but when they came into Canaan they were to plow and sow and reap and eat their Bread by their Toyl and Industry Though we live not by Bread alone but by the word of Blessing out of the Mouth of God yet that Blessing is promised to Bread not to Stones and he that shall expect to have Stones turned into Bread doth not trust but tempt his Maker it being not Faith but Fury to go down by a Precipice when Stairs are appointed And very remarkable it is that most of the Cures that we find recorded in Scripture though they were extraordinary and miraculous yet usually some physical Remedies were appointed which were not disagreeable to Reason and Experience to shew our Obligation not only to the use of Means but also to the use of such as are most proper and likely to succeed Indeed our blessed Saviour cured some by his Word alone and by seeming improbable means thereby to discover his extraordinary power in doing that which no mortal man could do with the same Materials viz. Restore Sight to the Blind who were born so yet his stupendious Wisdom was pleased to honour such a Remedy as had been used by Physicians of that Age most opthalmick Oyntments being composed of Terras Moreover his ordering the Blind man to wash in Siloam was agreeable enough with a physical intention In truth our Lords making use of Clay might seem an excellent Expedient to declare to the World his Divine power that being the fittest Ingredient to restore a defective part out of which by the same hand the whole was at first composed Moreover Naamans washing in Jordan was a natural Remedy though attended with supernatural success The Wine and Oyl poured into the wounds of the distressed Stranger by the good Samaritan were specifically appropriated although the success depended upon a supernatural Influx and the Plaister of Figs applyed unto Hezekiah's Plague-sore was a rational Remedy being proper to mollifie hard Tumours in the flesh and to ripen Imposthumes The extraordinary Pool of Bethesda was not without some natural Vertue being adjoyning unto the Slaughter-house of the Temple the blood of the sacrificed Beasts being mingled with it and that is by Naturalists said to be of a Healing nature Yet this doth not exclude the Necessity of a divine Angelick Influence to render it efficacious and perhaps several kinds of Meats prohibited under the Law might in a natural way be prejudicial to the Health of Mens Bodies and they might be forbidden upon a Moral as well as upon a Mystical account There was also a rational Conformity between the Leprous Contagion and the Law of Cleansing the Leprosie did putrifie the Skin opposite to that was Cedar Wood commended by Physitians against Putrefaction it was of an ill Scent contrary to that was the smell of Hyssop an excellent Aromatique Plant yet the Cure
Remedies I sent you but I am sorry to hear you should be guilty of so great a Mistake as to think that no Observation of yours can render the use of Medicines subservient towards Health and long Life Sir I pray give me leave to assert the contrary and to prove that the practice of Piety and true Religion have a wonderful tendency towards long Life If you desire to wear a Crown of Glory in this World and the next also it may be obtained by gray Hairs found in the Way of Righteousness And you know it 's promised as a Blessing to the Good man that he shall come to his Grave in a full Age as a Shock of Corn comes in its season The beloved Disciple of our Lord survived the other Disciples and many of the Fathers of the Church were long-lived Which shews that the Blessing of long Life so often promised under the Law had less abatement after our Saviours dayes than other Blessings had Enoch and Elias never Dyed and became Examples that a spotless Life might possibly have been Immortal as it is probable that Man before his Fall was Yet had he never sinned perhaps he had not still remained here upon Earth though his Age might have been extended to some thousands of years and at length have been translated from hence to Heaven where he could neither have sinned nor dyed When our great and wise Creator made Man the Masterpiece of his Creation he was pleased as an expression of his Kindness to plant him in a Garden wherein he might have an opportunity at the same time both to Contemplate his Makers Goodness and to preserve his own Life being furnisht with supernatural Wisdom he could discern the particular Qualities of those Plants with which he conversed But Man being too familiar with the Tree of Knowledge forfeited his Right unto the Tree of Life and hath exposed himself unto the assaults of innumerable Diseases But such is the kindness of Heaven unto Man in his lapsed state that he is pleased to promise some of the Influences of this Symbolical Tree upon his Obedience unto the Divine Will So that by our Observance of the Eternal Laws of Evangelical Purity which are prescribed as the Christians Rule we may as it were transplant the Tree of Life into our own Gardens and sit under the shadow thereof with great Delight and its fruit may become sweet unto our taste There are certain practices which have a great tendency towards long Life and this the inspired Penman intimates when he saith Righteousness tendeth to life and there are frequent Promises of long Life made to the Obedient Caleb and Joshua survived all the Jews who came out of Egypt the rest were not suffered to see Canaan lest they should introduce Egyptian Innovations Nothing doth more conduce unto the preservation of our natural Health than our living the Divine Life but when our Expectations and Actions are wholly employed about the Gratifications of the Animal Life we do but prepare for the Messenger of the Grave The practice of serious Christianity is a great friend unto the Health of Humane Nature The circumstantial actions of Religion are very influential towards the lengthning mens Lives as the sweet sleep of temperate persons their freedom from violent and enraged Passions with the admirable Contentment that dwells in a holy Conscience also the great Moderation that 's exercised by such Persons There are attending the Divine Life leisurely Contemplations of Heavenly things Joyes refined from the Dregs of Sensuality Hopes of a noble and generous nature wholsom sweet and comfortable Fears and a universal Harmony in the Mind These things make the Lamp of Life burn bright and clear and from hence by the favour of Divine Clemency Health springeth forth speedily Plato's Observation is excellent That all the Pleasures of the Body proceed from the Joy of the Mind The breaking off our sins by Righteousness many times proves a lengthening of our temporal Tranquility The Jewish Doctors say That Adam felt no Cold notwithstanding he was naked because he had Communion with God but as soon as ever he had eaten the forbidden Fruit his Head aked Faith and Obedience like the Tree of Life in Paradise not only Sacramentally but really conduce unto Health and long Life so far as it is a Blessing and this it doth by impregnating our Food with the tincture of a Divine Benediction by meliorating our Constitutions and infusing wholsom Dispositions in the Air and Friendly Influences in the Host of Heaven The Jews came under a Promise of having their Bread and their Water blessed and Sickness removed if they obeyed the Divine Law And Solomon urgeth the consideration of our Health as a strong Argument to promote holy and Religious Fear telling us it should be health unto our Navels and marrow to our Bones And Godliness hath the promise of the Life that now is as well as of that which is to come If men love Life and desire many dayes and make it their request to obtain the Divine Wisdom the way prescribed is to desist from evil and to do good and then length of dayes and long life shall be added as the Wisest of men observed Yielding Subjection unto the Father of Spirits is as sure a way to obtain the Blessing of Health and long Life as Obedience unto our natural Parents for there is a Command with a Promise annexed unto both And we find Life in the Inventory of a Christians goods when drawn up by the great Apostle of the Gentiles And the inspired Pen-men frequently prescribe Religion as an Antidote against immature Death it being a direct Enemy unto Sin which brought in Sickness True goodness doth as well conduce to the prolongation of the Body in natural Life as to its Immortality in Eternal Life and the Body hath the perfection of Life viz. Health from the Soul as well as Life it self Dying unto sin is an excellent means to preserve Life if men would try the Experiment and endeavour to procure the Divine Providence to be their Life-Guard We live by the Word of Blessing out of the Mouth of God every Command if observed like Food and Physick tends unto the lengthening our Dayes Now although it be a known truth that of our selves we can do nothing yet it is as true that by the Grace of God we may do much in the practice of Religion and consequently may contribute towards the lengthening of our Dayes and rendering the use of Medicines effectual towards that great and noble end Moreover Religion secures Men from the Terrors of a guilty Conscience which many times makes Men wash their Hands in their own blood and it also preserves Men from the Condemnation of Humane Tribunals many being cut off by the Hand of Justice for their flagitious impieties as Murders Thefts and Rapines But Sir that the great Preserver of Men may so ballance the Humours in your Body that you may live to
LETTERS TO A Sick Friend CONTAINING SUCH OBSERVATIONS AS MAY Render the Use of Remedies Effectual towards The Removal of SICKNESS AND PRESERVATION OF HEALTH By J. M. LONDON Printed by J. A. for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1682. The PUBLISHERS EPISTLE TO THE READER THese ingenuous and excellent Letters being sent me at several times and upon particular Occasions from the City of London into the Countrey I thought them very well deserving to be exposed to publick View as containing most necessary Observations tending to Health and long Life with the Way to render Remedies Effectual A Theme I do not remember I ever saw in Print before The Subject is Great and Noble and the Style is smooth and pleasant and accommodate to the Genius of this Age And I am of Opinion that if the Divine and Physical Intimations given in these Letters were improved to Practice the Vse of Remedies would very seldom fail of success and most men might arrive unto a very great Age and their passage through this World would be much more Easie and Comfortable than which nothing can be more desirable I heartily wish they may be as Delightful and Vseful to thee in Print as they were to me and some others in Manuscript and then I am recompenced for the Publication and shall more easily obtain the Authors Pardon for thus Reading them aloud to the whole World T. C. LETTERS TO A Sick Friend TENDING TO HEALTH LETTER I. SIR I Received yours dated the thirteenth instant wherein you give me an account of the loss of your Health and also request me to give you such prudential Observations as may tend towards your Recovery Sir you know my Service is alwayes at your Beck but I must take leave to tell you that I cannot serve you better in such a deplorable Distemper as yours is than to perswade you to take the Advice of your able and Learned Physician whose Prescriptions have so often been attended with success Need I use Arguments to perswade a wise man to endeavour to restore his Health Sir your Health is highly valuable upon a publick as well as upon a private account it being subservient unto the good of Communities as well as of particular persons A whole Fleet hath been disabled for two Months by the Indisposition of the Admiral and two Towns lost by the Governour falling ill in the time of the Sieges Accidents of Health sometimes become Accidents of State and the pulse of the Government sometimes beats high or low with that of the Governor Health is that which makes all our Delights delightfull A sound Mind in a sound Body consummates the perfection of Humane Nature The Health of the Body conduceth unto the Harmony of the Soul and the Harmony of the Soul preserves the Health of the Body It preserves the Faculties of the Mind in strength and vigor clears the Understanding makes the Wit acute and the Memory retentive Without Health 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 Object will not please the Eye nor the softest Down ease the Bones When mens flesh upon them is in pain it makes their Souls within them to mourn Health is that which is of most Comfortable Importance next unto the Salvation of the Souls of men especially when we consider what a multitude of Distempers the mortal Bodies of men are exposed unto Some Physicians have found two hundred in that small and tender part the Eye Our bodies are like a Curious Instrument of a thousand strings and it 's very wonderful if one or more of those strings be not out of tune It were a great favour if it were the pleasure of Heaven to give men a constant frame of Health during their pilgrimage and might very deservedly be reckoned amongst the Catalogue of our Mercies to have our bodies like the Jews bodies in the Wilderness little worn or impaired by pining sicknesses If the Woman in the Gospel had spent all her substance upon any thing but the inestimable Jewel of her Health she had not gone out of our Saviours presence without a Reprehension If men did but consider the wonderfull composure of their bodies the situation of the parts the circulation of the blood the several Meanders of the Veins and Nerves and the curious distribution of our Aliment into Flesh and Blood they would then admire that every Obstruction did not stop their breath and that the least Inflamation did not send them out of the World as in a fiery Chariot and that the least Degree of putrefaction did not crumble them into their first Original so that instead of wondering they live no more in health they would think it strange they live one hour in ease All our good things may be reduced into those of the Mind of the Body and of Fortune which three if enjoyed render a man as happy as Solomon in all his Glory He that hath Health to enjoy his Riches Grace to preserve his Health and the hope of Glory to remunerate his Grace needs no more When a healthy Constitution and a holy Disposition joyn hand in hand they compleat our Happiness Health without Religion is but like a Down Pillow to a Restless Head which the best Chamberlain cannot make easie And Riches without Health is but like Meat without a Stomach which the best Cook cannot make relishing Restauration to health is a Kind of Resurrection and it 's called by St. James a Raising up When the Organs of our bodies are untuned and our Spirits are wasted by Sickness our Souls cannot act with Vivacity our teeming Invention becomes barren our soaring Fancy droops and hangs the wing and the remembrance of things pass away as water through a Sieve Mens parts and abilities being according unto the number activity and orderly motion of their Spirits and they are more or less pure and regular according unto the Healthy Complexion of the Blood and Humors When the golden Bole is broken and the sound of the Grinding is low and the Pitcher is broken at the Fountain and the Wheel broken at the Cestern then the Sun and the Moon and the Stars will be darkned Were it possible for a man to stand upon one of the Battlements of Heaven and with one glance of his Eye to behold all the Wounds and Diseases all the Groans and Complaints of Dying Mortals how would Health and Ease be prized by such a one But Health is never so much prized as when it brings Letters of Recommendation from Sickness But Sir that your Pulse may beat harmoniously and your Blood circulate regularly to extream old Age is the Wish of Your intirely affectionate Friend J. M. LETTER II. SIR I Received yours dated the tenth instant wherein you give me an account of your reception of the last
may naturally be said to Die daily mouldering away by piece-meal The forbidden Fruit hath produced a Worm that eats our Lives away The malicious Serpent hath bruised our heel as is observed in the Jerusalem Targum supposed to be said to the Serpent by Almighty God viz. When the Children of the Woman shall forsake the Commandments of the Law thou shalt be strong and shalt strike them on the Heel and inflict Diseases on them We are like men going from Jerusalem to Jericho half dead the Sick and the Aged being but half alive as some Criticks observe senex quasi seminex With the same Motion of our Lungs we draw in Air we throw away Breath Some parcels of our selves steam away continually and we live a dying Life or a living Death Men have shortned their dayes by increasing their Vices Some men do that by Intemperance which the very Devils desire to shun viz. Torment themselves before their time No impious Person was ever said in Scripture to be full of Dayes none being full of time but they that are prepared for Eternity And we never Read in the Holy Book of any impenitent person that was ever raised from the dead to trye a second time for a Crown Lazarus Tabitha and the Saints at Jerusalem came into the World only to make a Visit and declare a Glory and to them it happened literally to have their part in the first Resurrection upon whom the Second death shall have no power Julian's Motto may fit every Man An Eagle shot through with a Dart feather'd with a Quill from its own Wing The Life of Man is swifter than a Weavers Shuttle especially if wickedness be interwoven then divine Justice cuts the thread excellently shadowed by the Poets Fiction of the three fatal Sisters The one holding the Distaff the other drawing the Thread the third cutting it off Mens Impieties like Hazaels wet Cloath prove fatal unto their Lives and Healths in spite of the most proper Remedies When Sin and Sickness is mingled together no marvel to see Mens Bodies moulder being like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's Image made of Clay It 's no wonder to see a strange punishment to happen unto the workers of Iniquity The Jews are very often threatned with fore Sicknesses and wonderful Plagues if they did not hearken unto the divine Law That a wicked Life procures a short one we find plainly exemplified in most of the Bad Kings of Judah and Israel as Aâ—ijam Athaliah Ahaziah Nadab Elah Omri and many others who reigned but two three or four years apiece and the reasons are sometimes recorded that it was for their sins which they sinned they shortned their Lives with their Kingdoms in them sin and a sudden death reigned together When mens Lusts have conceived they bring forth Sin and Sin when it is finished brings forth Death Pharaoh's bloody Persecution drowned him in the Red Sea Ahab's cruelty proved fatal to his own Life The Samaritan Lords infidelity pressed his Soul out of his Body Hananiah's false Prophesie did but predict his own death Ahaziah's evil Consultation with the God of Ekron to know whether he should recover of his Sickness made his Disease prove incurable The calumniating rage of the Children against the good old Prophet excited the rage of Bears to devour their Bodies Herod's vain-glorious Ostentation brought such a Disease upon his Body whereof he had no reason to boast Saphira's Perjury summoned the feet of those who had carried her Husband to his Grave to carry her unto the same place Benhadad's Curiosity proved the fatal Messenger of his death the Prophet returning Answer that he might recover but should surely dye Jeroboam's Idolatry in praying unto false gods provoked the true God to stop his breath Saul's disobedience unto the King of Kings brought the King of terrors Belshazzer for his riotous Revelling by a Hand-writing on the Wall had the end of his Life and Kingdom denounced against him Nadab and Abihu offering strange Fire had a stranger fire sent to devour them The Pride of the Daughters of Sion changed their sweet Smells into a Stink and their well-set Hair into Baldness The Candle of the Wicked is often put out and the Number of his Months cut off in the Middle But Sir that no Cloud may have power to discompose the Serenity of your dayes but that you may enjoy a Spring of Happiness in the Winter of Age and may want nothing but Want it self shall never be left out of the Prayers and Wishes of Your true Friend J. M. LETTER VI. SIR I Received your dated the sixth instant wherein you seem to wonder that the Cause of your disease is not long since removed and you restored unto a state of health I beseech you give me leave to deal plainly and to tell you that there are Moral as well as Natural Causes of diseases and unless both be removed Remedies very often prove ineffectual And the sincere belief of this conduceh very much towards the success of Medicines Many of the Church of Corinth were sick and weak and lost their Lives for their unworthy reception of the Holy Supper If men contemn the Sacred Body of the Son of God how can they expect the Almighty goodness should take care of their bodies and if they neglect to commemorate his Death they have little reason to expect he should regard their Lives although precious in his sight is the Death of his Saints Miriam's Sedition raised a tumultous disturbance in the harmony of her health The dissimulation of Gehaza's Tongue procured the Leprosie upon his Skin Uzziah's invadeing the Priests office and Burning Incense caused the divine displeasure to smoke against him Abimelech was restored to his health when he restored Abrahams Wife but not before When our blessed Saviour cured the man sick of a Palsie he forgave him his sins to shew him they were the cause of his sickness We may observe in our Saviours dayes that Infidelity did as it were tye up the hands of Omnipotence and set bounds to the operation of his mighty Works on mens bodies St. Anselm observes that the reason why diseases did so much abound in his time was because the holy Eucharist was irreverently received at Easter Jezabel for her Impenitence is threatned to be cast into a bed and her Children to be killed with Death Good men may dye but they cannot be killed with Death The Prophets are frequently Menaced with Death and Sickness that shall presume to speak without a Mission from Heaven In vain are external Remedies applyed when the Cause is internal The Fable of the Kite when sick imploring help and recovery but being denyed by reason of her rapine and violence it affords an excellent Moral The sickness of the Body is sometimes designed to promote the Health of the Soul and the Leprosie on Naamans Flesh may conduce towards the whitening of his Mind They are sent as tryals of Grace and are Declarative of Divine mercy When
Again humbly to implore the help of that great Physician who was Typified by the Brazen Serpent would be a very effectual means to be cured both of the Sting and Pain of Sickness It well becomes the most holy Soul under Distempers to abound with an O Spare me that I may recover Strength When Men are like Moses commanded to go up into a Mount as it were of a Sick-Bed and Dye there the same Hand that Wounded must make whole many lose their Lives for want of asking it at his Hands who grants it if Invited to our Bed-sides by fervent Prayers joyned with Faith and Patience When the only wise God resolves to make Men sick with smiting them they ought to beware of Murmuring and Impatience which doth exasperate all Calamities it being far more advantageous towards recovery patiently to hope and quietly to wait for the Salvation of God for they that wait upon the Lord have a Promise they shall renew their Strength and be saved with a temporal as well as a spiritual Salvation if they continue in Faith and Patience with Sobriety The Poets have an excellent Fiction that the Image of the Goddess Augerine was with a Muffler at her Mouth placed at the Temple of Volupia signifying that Pleasure should be their Portion who bear Sicknesses with Patience Silence and Submission Good Men never question the Divine Favour so much at any time as under sickness because the Body discomposeth the Mind and hinders the free exercise of spiritual Reason besides they have not such express comfort from their Saviours Sufferings for we never read he was ever Sick yet he had Passions equivalent to Sickness as Hunger Thirst Weariness which afflicted his Body with Pain and therefore can be toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities The best way to obtain Cure is by the Power of a Divine Faith to shake off Diseases as St. Paul did the Viper from his Hand And Sir that the great Physician may make your Soul like his Body in the Gospel every whit whole shall be the Desire of Your true Friend and faithful Servant J. M. LETTER VIII SIR I Received yours dated the Second of this Month wherein you acknowledge your self a Convert unto the several Arguments of Discourse which have formerly passed between us but you seem very much to doubt whether humane Prudence Care and Art can any way contribute unto long Life And that they may be very subservient thereunto there is nothing more plain and evident Certainly King David's departing from Keylak diverted Sauls Rage and preserved his own Life for that time And our blessed Saviours own practice in preserving himself until the time he knew that his hour was come is recorded for our Imitation St. Pauls Mariners saved their Lives by abiding in the Ship who otherwise in all probability might have been Drowned The Wisdom of Joseph and Mary in observing the Angels advice and flying into Egypt with the blessed Babe in all humane probability it prevented his Death at Bethlehem The Centurion Importun'd our Saviour to cure his Servant which he would never have done if it had not conduced towards the prolongation of his Life 'T was not without cause that Naomi was foretold Obed should be a restorer of her Age. As fire dies for want of air and is extinguished when the flame is suffocated so doth our vital flame as our Spirits are repaired by Air so are our sanguine Humours by Aliments Much may be done by Art for the retarding the course of Nature as may be seen in many Insects and Animals and in Men restored from Consumptive pineing Sicknesses their flesh becoming like that of Children as in Naamans Case The efficacy of Remedies with some is so great that their Youth is as 't were renewed like the Eagle their natural strength not abating at a great Age Moreover it doth not seem probable that means should be used with good success to answer all other intentions in Nature and be used in vain in attaining that which is the most desirable thing in Nature and which renders a Man capable of perfection in all Arts and Sciences viz. Health And yet as none can speak of Death by experience because they who speak of it have not felt it and they who have felt it cannot speak of it the Case is much the same concerning Life For unless a Man live unto extream old Age he will not believe his Life hath been prolonged but rather that his hour was not yet come but yet it 's not inconsistent with reason to say that he who would Infallibly have Dyed of a Gangreen in his Leg hath had his Life prolonged when his Leg was Cured or to say that a Consumptive Body hath been saved from Death when restored to a healthful State by a Medicinal Diet which hath added Oyl to the Lamp of Life The Nectar and Ambrosia of the Poets which kept their gods from growing old seems to be an Emblem of the Tree of Life which was to have been a Restorer of Nature as well as a Symbal of future things Suppose we with Pithagoras that Life is a strait line and that the accidents which disturb it and at length bring Death constitute another Line and as these two lines incline less or more one towards another Death approaches sooner or later and consequently Life is longer or shorter yet may we not suppose that Divine Providence and humane Prudence may probably conduce towards the retarding the Neighbourhood of those lines Or suppose with the Aristotelians that Life consists in the union of Heat and Moisture and Death approacheth by the Predominance of the contrary Qualities viz. Cold and Dryness why may not such means as preserves the former and keeps back the latter have a natural tendency to prolong Life Or suppose with the Chymists that Life consists in a volatile Armoniack Salt why may we not suppose that Art improved may compose such fixed Alkali as may stop the wingy motions of the former Volatility The pleasing gratifications of Sense walk Hand in Hand with Death and pursueth Mortals as the Waves of the universal Deluge did the Posterity of Cain and though they went from one story to another higher and higher yet at last they were overflowed Though Temperance doth not alwayes prove an Antidote against Sickness yet it 's a likely means Sir I pray distribute my Service where you think it 's due for it is time to come to a full point and to tell you that in Truth I am Yours in all that Power and Will can manifest J. M. LETTER IX SIR I Received yours dated the 11th instant wherein you give me an account of the great Sickness and Mortality of your Town and Countrey now Languishing under this Epidemick Feaver which indeed rageth in the City also and carrieth hundreds if not thousands unto their long Homes You may easily believe that there are greater Languors Sicknesses Weaknesses and decayes of Nature now than in former Ages
Motion of the whole Engine Reason prompts men to consult the ablest Farriers when their Horses are sick and not take the Hostler who hath the Confidence to prescribe a Drench We have many amongst us nicknamed Doctors who are as unskilfull in Physick as the Athenians were in Religion dedicating their Medicines unto an unknown Disease Men who took their Degrees in a Drinking-School or did their Exercise in Fees affect the Title Doctor though they want the Participle Doctus Having no more Learning than what may serve to conceal their Ignorance To run to these men is as if a man to lance an Imposthume should run his Body against the poynt of a Sword in the hands of a mad man or as if to cure a Quinsie a man should desire the help of the common Executioner People ought to know that Diseases are cured by Method as well as by Medicine by Rules as well as by Receipts Multitudes amongst us may be said to dig their Graves with their thick Skulls and destroy their Bodies as well as their Souls by an implicit Faith in hearkening to such Fellows if a Cure succeeds it is more by accident than Art as a blind man hits the mark It 's madness to choose Physicians by the Commendations of the Vulgar they only talk like an Eccho because they hear a Voyce but know no reason why and it 's as imprudent to choose Physicians by their Garb because an Ass may have gilded Trappings Many of these men have more skill in mending Garments than Bodies that wear them and yet will pretend to cure all Diseases that ever Sin intailed on the Race of Adam Let me advise you as a prudential Observation tending to Health and Long Life to use the same discretion when your Health is in danger as when your Estate is not to depend on the advice of an Attorney but to fee a Counsellor And since you say you are deeply engaged unto me give me leave to prescribe the Recompence which is that you would believe me to be what I truly am Your constant Friend J. M. LETTER XVII SIR I Received yours Dated the 11th instant wherein you give me an account of the rare secret Medicine lately recommended to you as an infallible cure for your Distemper being recommended as a cure for all diseases Sir let me tell you I have often found those kind of Medicines but meer Cheats and Springes to catch Woodcocks and yet men will not learn Wisdom until the dust of the Grave that Powder of Experience be cast in their Eyes He that will venture his life with the use of such a Medicine will give the world cause to suspect he stands in need of a large dose of Hellebore Without doubt there is no Observation can conduce more towards the rendring Remedies effectual than to be well assured that they are safe known and experienced Medicines and faithfully prepared by the hand of an Artist whose Profession it is and exposed to the view of the world upon the Apothecaries file The design of keeping Medicines as Secrets being chiefly to conceal the ignorance of the recommender who could not write it in Latin or the same persons dishonesty who dare not publish so dangerous a Medicine or else his Covetousness in exacting in the price of a mean ordinary familiar Medicine which it appears to be when publisht If a Pill be but guilded over with the pretences of Rare and Excellent it is cryed up and swallowed down when it 's as common in the Shops as Salt and Pepper in a Kitchin and there are abundance of Poysonous Remedies abroad in the World that have nothing to kill them but Fasting Spittle and a smooth tongue their best corrective being such an ingredient as wants a Corrective but yet these Remedies must needs cure all diseases at one blow as Sampson did the Philistines But these by rash snuffing Natures Candle put it quite out That Medicine costs the Patient dear that costs him his Life yet many such there are that ride post daily making every Corner do penance in venomed sheets the Directions for the use of them being like Davids Letter to Uriah only giving Instructions for the Death and ruine of the Patient Is there any pleasure in being destroyed because we are not able to say what hurt us A Medicine may cure the disease and kill the Patient and a safe Medicine may do much hurt by occasioning the omission of more proper and effectual Remedies The world hath been much imposed upon by being made to believe that Chymistry is a distinct art from Pharmacy when the most excellent Rules for Chymical Preparations have been proposed to the World by Physicians and Apothecaries it being but a Modern way of preparing Medicines and doth peculiarly belong to that trade As much as for a Taylor to make a Garment in a new fashion as well as in an old Indeed such Medicines ought to be very prudently advised because a Child may do more mischief with a Knife of Steel than of Bone You shall many times have Death in the pot babtized with the name of the Elixir of Life and a Dram of it cryed up beyond a bushel of March Dust to Reinthrone the deposed Archeus and do no man knows what And at another time you shall have Alexipharmagons Pantimagogons and medicines of such conjuring names that if you understood their natures you would think them a kind of Tophet Potabile and fitter for Country Farmers to treat Rats with than to cure diseases in humane Bodies There is nothing hath more contributed to the Brevity of mens Lives and the languishments of humane Nature in this Age than the Multitude of secret private Medicines cryed up as Infallible which have laid the foundations for innumerable diseases and made work for able Physicians And that which is a strange Paradox to me is that when a known experienced Remedy is recommended every one must be advised with whether it may be used or no but if a Medicine which none understand nay not he that commends it yet down it must go without inquiry into it's nature until by the fatal consequences we repent the using it Sir I beseech you interpret these lines as the expressions of my tender respects and care for your Health one request more and I have done Put me into the number of those that you count your most faithful Friends For indeed I am And ever will be so c. J. M. LETTER XVIII SIR I Received yours Dated the Fifteenth instant wherein I perceive your great inconstancy and want of Regular Perseverance in the use of those proper Remedies the Physician last prescribed I should be glad I could say these things to your Ears as well as to your Eyes but London finds me too much Business to grant me so great a happiness therefore give my Pen leave to tell you that the Regularity of the Patient is as necessary in order unto the success of Remedies as the skill of
dye under their hands and yet we frequently find friendly Visitants crying up such when they might better spend their time in serious counsels and Christian advices to bear their visitations with patient submission to the Divine Will untill they find ease and relief from the hand of Heaven and also in timely intimations to set their Houses in order and prudently dispose of their temporal concerns by making their Wills In a sick Friends Chamber Friends have an Excellent opportunity both to do and to receive good by being put in mind of the Vanity of man in this mortal state causing them to be more industrious in the faithful improvement of their own health and in a Christian Preparation for Death Now Sir that you may be strengthen'd upon your bed of languishing and visited with the Divine saving health that so your most mortal sickness may not be unto death Eternal but for your Glory and passage into endless bliss shall be the Prayer of Your True Friend J. M. LETTER XX. SIR I Am sorry you meet with so many cross Winds in your Voyage to the Haven of health particularly that the carelesness of an Attendant I mean a Nurse should blow you back again into the wide Ocean and threaten a Shipwrack when you seemed to be gotten within Ken of harbour Great care ought to be used in choosing honest and careful Persons to attend sick Patients whose Office it is to administer Remedies prescribed by the Physitian and prepared by the Apothecary Every of these ought to know their peculiar province for the skilful Nurse as well as the ignorant Physitian makes a fat Church-yard and we find that in many Distempers careful attendance is half the cure But when the Ignorant Nurse shall usurp the Learned Physicians imployment and prescribe as well as administer it 's intollerable presumption care and watchfulness are their most commendable qualities but when they are Drowsic and careless it 's very prejudicial to the Patient when like the first woman they tempt to that dyet which is Destructive both to the Patients health and the Physicians credit Eating forbidden Fruit was at first our sin when it was contrary to a Divine command and it now causeth sickness when it 's contrary to the Physitians advice I have sometimes known a Nurse perswade the Patient to eat that which she her self loved when it was contrary to the patients Distemper and sometimes the Physitian must be forbid to prescribe Gascoin Powder because she hath known one to dye after it and sometimes the Physitians prescriptions must be all set behind the Window curtain because she doth not approve of them and in the mean time she gives her Diascaudle and what call 'um Water A Child once dying of the Small-Pox yet under the Care of an able Physitian the Nurse threw away all his Medicines privately and when it could not sleep sent to the Apothecary for Syrup of Lettuce and when it was costive for Syrup of Roses which was discovered a while after in the Apothecaries Bills who knew not what use it was put to untill she confest it to her Shame and Ruine Sir I hope you will survive this unhappy accident of your Nurse and live to see her repent The smell of a Violet I hope will be restorative and believe it you shall never want health if it be in my Power to contribute towards it who am Your Loving Friend J. M. LETTER XXI SIR I Understand by the Physician that your Distemper requires Bleeding and I also perceive you have a very great aversation to it Good Sir I beseech you why is it not better to part with your Blood than your Life but you say the Blood is the Life and I 'll say the Blood is the cause of Death also when there 's too much of it or when it 's naught as I am perswaded yours is because your learned Doctor judgeth so Are not all Creatures relieved with bleeding and is it not practised by all wise Nations The French and Spaniards use it two or three times in a day and our forefathers shed their Blood by pounds to save their Lives and shall not we do it by Ounces Indeed Sir you had better sleep with a healthful body than in a whole skin Some learned Jewish Doctors will tell you that Circumcision was a means of health as well as a Tipifick Institution But Sir if you do open a Vein make use of a skilful Chyrurgeon that may not make you lame to make you sound and open a Door with a Lance to let out your Soul with your Blood for some such there are in the World that want both skill and care and pour Gaul and Vinegar instead of Wine and Oyl into their Patients wounds Choose a man of honesty and reputed skill in his profession and one whose particular imployment it is venture not your Life in the hand of one whose covetousness prompts him to venture out of his own Calling neither he nor you can so rationally expect the Divine Blessing upon your bleeding which will promote the Circulation of the remaining mass of Blood whereby it will the better purifie it self and the Blood being clarified the Spirits will become more lively and vigorous to push off your Distemper which good news will as it were kindle Bonfires of Joy in the Breasts of all your cordial Friends In which catalogue you may safely number J. M. LETTER XXII SIR I Cannot but wonder that you should wonder at the unsuccesfulness of the last Prescriptions when I hear you perplex your Thoughts with melancholy Contemplations A man may muse himself into his Grave and think himself to Death To be careful for nothing but to please our Maker and to save our Souls will very much promote the Health of our Bodies The Effects of Love and Hope cherish the natural Heat and radical Moysture beget gentle and vigorous Spirits which makes the vital Powers more brisk and lively On the contrary tedious and perplext Studies restless Impatience fretful Murmurings and discontented Thoughts they stop the regular motion of the Blood damp the Spirits and hinder the faculties of the Mind When the Briskness of the vital Heat is suffocated and the Contraction of the Heart weakned and the Blood grown thick and cold in the extremities of the Vessels and is not able to thrust it self into the remoter branches of the Arteries and Fibres of the Veins but stagnates in the narrow passages of the Body and Brain from thence is laid a foundation for Pains Palsies and all Scorbutick Distempers and then we sigh and groan and live a dying Life or a living Death which is very burthensom to humane Nature Spiritual pleasure is an excellent Medicine against bodily pains and true Piety is the best Cure of Melancholly in the whole World When the Soul is filled with light and vigor it infuseth a strange kind of Alacrity into the Humors by a physical Efficiency Internal Joy grounded upon the
waves in the Sea by the winds and sometimes the blood grows as 't were mouldy for want of that Fan of Nature Many mens bodies and particularly yours being like a Weather-glass subject to the least alterations in the Air and easily blown into their Graves by a sharp northern wind Many by long looking out at a Window have espied the grim face of Death The Air of an open Casement being sometimes like the blow of a Cross-bow Sir I pray take this advice from one that hopes you may walk up many May hills in this World and at last arrive at the holy Hill of Sion Yours J. M. LETTER XXVI SIR I Am very well pleased to hear that you are pleased with my last Advice but I am also concerned that you should continue an ill custom so apparently injurious to your Health as your taking so much Tabacco is like to prove Indeed I am of opinion there is no Plant that ever God made for the use of Man that hath done more good and more harm than that hath done It must be confest prudently used it 's a soveraign Medicine in many Distempers but it proves no better than a Poyson to many men as it is so familiarly used and abused being in our dayes more taken as Food than Physick And there is no one practice wherein wise men more frequently play the Foll than in the immoderate use of this Indian Weed which may not improperly be called Man-bane Men spend their dayes in Smoak and shorten their dayes also by its too frequent use smothering themselves into their graves as we do Bees when we take and destroy the Hive It was a tart Reflection of a Comical Wit who being in a great Fogg said The Prince of the Air was taking a Pipe of Tabacco It 's very strange to me that such an unpleasant practice should prevail so much to the apparent prejudice of so many thousands who spit away their Lives and drein away that sweet Moysture which would keep the Blood cool and promote its regular motion That practice which was scandalous amongst our Forefathers is now become a piece of good Entertainment and he that threatned to burn his Pipes and to cut his Tabacco to pieces was thought a great Reformer about Thirty years ago but that which greatly excites our care lest we use it too freely is its palpable enmity to the Brain and Nerves disposing men to Apoplexies Palsies Convulsions and Vertigo's Many great Physicians taking notice in their Observations of many of their Patients falling into apoplectick Fits with Pipes in their Mouths it being a great Opiate It is also greatly prejudicial to the Memory and also â—â—â—…tâ— the Body of its due Nourishment by its laxative Quality thrusting the Aâ—â—â—… too soon out of the Stomach before there is a perfect Concoction especially if taken too soon after a Meal if ever it be proper it 's towards Bed-time He that can give a good reason for taking above three Pipes a Day may very safely take more I have known the Oyl of Tabacco poyson a Dog And I dare affirm the Smoak of it hath poysoned many men A Noble man in our time lost his Head by taking a Pipe of Tabacco that is to lay the being observed to burn Letters to light his Pipe was the Cause of his Apprehension and raised the suspition of his being the Person sought for whereupon he was taken and condemned and executed I wish it hath not separated many other mens Souls from their Bodies Some make it a question whether Guns or Pipes have Killed most I am sure there 's no Smoak but there 's some Fire Doubtless if men would take it at the other End it would do less hurt and it may be more good I remember one of the wisest Princes of Europe said upon an occasion It was good for nothing but to perfume a Hog-stye But in that I think he was a little too severe for there are excellent uses may be made of it And amongst many others it may serve for Contemplation to put men in mind that their Life is but a vapor and that all things under the Moon vanish into Smoak Except it be the Friendship of your faithful Servant which can never evaporate whilest he is J. M. LETTER XXVII SIR I Received yours the 12th instant wherein you complain exceedingly of the ill Effects of the Waters at Epsam this Summer I beseech you inquire whether the Cause be not from your own irregular Use of them and also take notice whether you do not drink more Wine than Water For those Symptoms you complain of give a greater suspicion of the former than the latter being used sure I am the Doctor that recommended them to you understood their fitness for your Constitution and Disease therefore if you follow his Direction in the use of them I question not but they will have their desired Effect I know there are more go thither to gratifie Curiosity than to serve the end of Health and Pleasure is more frequently propounded than Ease But let me tell you those physical Waters by the preposterous use often prove like the Waters of Jealousie they make Peoples Bodies to swell and their Thighs to rot and lay the foundations for many distempers as Dropsies Agues Gouts and the like Many long as much to drink them as King David did to drink of the Water of the Well of Bethlehem but men venture their Lives in so doing as they did in that case especially by the unreasonable quantities many men take I have larely known one come home swelled with a Dropsie another tinctured with a Jaundice and a third shaking with an Ague All immoderate Evacuations are very destructive to Nature There are hundreds that Drowned themselves in Wells that are never mentioned in the weekly Bills Nature is destroyed by all Extreams too much Food or too long Fasting too much Rest or too much Motion too much Sleep or too much Watching too much Joy or too much Sorrow too much Heat or too much Cold too much Wine or too much Water Quantities shorten Life more than Qualities Many who were only wantonly Sick become really so and that which was intended for a Cure many times becomes a Surfeit At those Waters men are served like the Impostor who fained himself Blind that the Arrian Bishop might work a Miracle in his Cure and when he would have opened his Eyes could not but was ever after really Blind People depending upon the cleansing Vertue of those Waters and neglecting the use of proper Remedies to render them Effectual do but like an improvident Laundress who thinks to wash her Linnen white and clean with Water without Soap They should be chiefly used as Posset-drink to a Purge Indiscrect Persons think to take off the Mischief of too great Quantities of Wine by drinking plentiful Draughts of Water but this is to run Nature out of one Extream into another and to render mens Bodies more subject to Diseases and Putrefaction like Timber that lyes sometimes in the wet and sometimes in the Sun more subject to Rot. There are thousands that purge their Souls out of their Bodies by immoderate Evacuations one way or other Sir I shall conclude this Discourse of Mineral Waters with a hearty wish That you may ever find them successeful untill you come to Drink of that Well of Life which makes glad the City of God Where I hope you will be accompanyed by Your true Friend J. M. LETTER XXVIII SIR I Think there are few things requisite in order to the desirable success of a Course of Physick but I judge you have had a friendly Intimation of except it be this That you would not too much indulge your self in Sleep Many shorten their dayes by sleeping in the Day and as it were turning themselves into Dormice To lye in Bed untill the Sun-beams lash men for their Drowziness is an injurious Custom The first Man lost his Rib in his Sleep and many of his Posterity lose their Health in it Sir I take this for an undoubted Truth That if Rules of Religion Moderation and Prudence were observed in the whole course of Mens Lives Gray hairs would be more in Fashion Physicians would gain more credit by their Prescriptions sick Patients would find Remedies more Effectual and a Divine Influence would more infallibly attend them all Sir I must now conclude and so may you that I am a Respecter of you and your Health J. M. FINIS
Reflections of a good Conscience hath a mighty power both to correct and exalt a mans natural temper Those Ardent Breathings wherewith the pious Soul is continually carryed out towards God and Goodness are to the Body like so much fresh Air and wholsom Exercise they fan the Blood and clarifie the Spirits and purge them from their feculency which would otherwise cloud the Understanding and make us dull and listless Therefore Sir I beg of you as you tender your Health pare away all your superfluous thoughts and let a lumpish Spirit be a Stranger to your Habitation because it is a Scandal to Christianity Who hath more cause to rejoyce than they that have the Smiles of Heaven and the foretastes of endless pleasure Therefore suffer your Harp to hang no longer upon the Willows but contemplate the Song of Moses and of the Lamb which will elevate all the powers of Nature When men give way to violent and unreasonable passions and lay out more in expectation than the fruition will make amends for they purchase Diseases at a dear rate The passions of the Mind influence the Humours of the Body Anxious Solicitudes about Events and Murmuring at the Allotments of Providence suspend the Influence of divine Blessing and withdraw that holy protection who hath promised to care for us if we cast all our care on him Hope deferred will make the heart sick Eager desires after terrene Enjoyments as they drownd mens Souls in perdition so they pierce mens Bodies with many sorrows When swarms of perplexing Cares hive in mens Heads they yield more Sting than Honey There are many in the World who stab themselves with pining grief and poyson themselves with pensive Melancholly Wrath kills the foolish man and Envy slayes the silly one Nehemiah's grief changed his countenance and we know that Fear hath torment When the Mind is kept in an equal calm serene temper the Body is sensible of the Conveniency A chearfull spirit doth good like a Medicine but on the contrary a sorrowful spirit dryes the Bones The way to pull out the thorn in the Flesh is to heal the wound in the Spirit If men did sigh for nothing but Sin and set their affections on him who best deserves their Love and make use of the Remedy provided for all the evils of the World viz. a Contented Mind their healths would be better secured but when any created good lyes too near the Heart or the Clouds of Melancholly eclipse the upper Region of the Mind they hinder the vigorous Reflections of the vital Spirits and render Medicines ineffectual By melancholly sad and gloomy thoughts we expose our selves to the power of the Prince of Darkness who loves to inhabit sad Souls who love Sunless dayes Spend not your Life like a man possest amongst Groves and Tombs by profound Sorrow and Melancholly we give place to the Devil That made St. Paul compassionate the excommunicate Corinthian lest being too much cast down Satan should get advantage of him Too much sadness like the Earth lying under water makes it unfruitful Therefore Sir let me beg of you to hoise the sails of your Soul and to bid adieu to needless Thoughts Forgive the haste that made these Blots and believe that I am without spot of complement Your unreserved Friend J. M. LETTER XXIII SIR I Am glad to hear you find your distemper abate upon the use of the last Remedies but let me tell you I attribute very much of their success unto the temperate exact and regular Dyet I find you observe and you will experiment that it will very much facilitate the Cure for in some distempers a very slender Dyet and taking in little Drink doth withdraw much of the fewel that increaseth the Disease It ill becomes a sick man to dig his Grave with his teeth make his Table a snare and Dedicate meat and drink Offerings unto the god of his Belly when mens hearts are overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness it not onely causeth Diseases but hinders their Cure some patients lye continually like John Babtist's head in a Charger and so oppress Nature with a greater load when they should be making the Vessel lighter more being killed by Meats then by Musquets But though you do well to be very exact in observing a Physical Dyet yet so much ought to be taken as may support Nature and make it's burthen tolerable Sir I must bid you good Night and only take leave to tell you that my best Endeavours are at your service and remain Your Humble Servant J. M. LETTER XXIV SIR I Received yours Dated the 10th instant wherein you seem very inquisitive to know what may further contribute towards the Perfecting your Health and render the means yet more effectual Unto which I must answer If you would exercise your Body by Walking Riding Bowling Pumping or Shooting in the Long-Bow or the like for by Labour and Exercise we get both our bread and our health and Adams curse becomes a blessing unto a Christian That in the sweat of his brows he should eat his bread Idleness one of Sodom sins becomes a great punishment The running Stream is pure and clean when standing water gathers mud But on the contrary you ought to be Cautious of violent motions lest thereby you extinguish the flame of Natures Candle by walking too fast you may make more hast than good speed and leave your health behind you Many people like the two Disciples running not out of love as they did but out of rashness into a Sepulchre But yet moderate Exercise is of great advantage to warm the Blood and open Obstructions and excite the operation of Medicines and render them much more effectual In a Physical sence bodily Exercise profiteth more than a little Sir so often as your Pen gives me a tast of your Ease and recovery I relish much happiness who am Your Sympathizing Friend J. M. LETTER XXV SIR ONce more give me leave as a Friend to tell you that I am confident the Air taken in a morning this pleasant month of May wherein nature provides something to entertain all your Senses would prove exceeding advantageous and make your Dyet-drink more prevalent for there is a Nitre in the Air that contributes nourishment to all beings especially to follow a Plow and suck in the cherishing steams from the breasts of your Mother the Earth and if you can your native Soyl where you drew in your first breath But on the other hand have a care of that which we Vulgarly call taking Cold for Death sometimes creeps into the body through the pores of the Skin so that if at any time the alterations of the Air put a stop to the genuine operation of Medicines do not unjustly blame the Physician or the Remedies have a care of taking cold in your feet lest you go wet-shod to your Grave or of leaving off a Garment lest you put on a Winding-sheet The humors in mens bodies are tost in the Air like