30426The Hiſtory of Life and Death.
I ſuppoſe alſo, that ſome Emaciating Diſeaſes well cured, do profit to long life, for
they yield new Juice, the old being conſumed; and, as (as he ſaith) To recover a
ſickneſs is to renew youth: Therefore it were good to make ſome Artiſicial Diſeaſes,
which is done by ſtrict and Emaciating Diets, of which I ſhall ſpeak hereafter.
they yield new Juice, the old being conſumed; and, as (as he ſaith) To recover a
ſickneſs is to renew youth: Therefore it were good to make ſome Artiſicial Diſeaſes,
which is done by ſtrict and Emaciating Diets, of which I ſhall ſpeak hereafter.
HAving finiſhed the Inquiſition according to the Subjects, as namely, of Inanimate
11To the 12,
13, and 14
Articles. Bodies, Vegetables, Living Creatures, Man; I will now come nearer to the
matter, and order mine Inquiſitions by certain Intentions, ſuch as are true and proper,
(as I am wholly perſwaded) and which are the very paths to Mortal Life. For in
this part, nothing that is of worth hath hitherto been inquired, but the contemplations
of men have been but ſimple, and non-proficients. For when I hear men on the one
ſide ſpeak of comforting Natural heat, and the Radical moiſture, and of Meats which
breed good Blood, ſuch as may neitber be burnt nor phlegmatick; and of the cheering
and recreating the Spirits; I ſuppoſe them to be no bad men which ſpeak theſe things:
but none of theſe worketh effectually towards the end. But when on the other ſide I hear
ſeveral diſcourſes touching Medicines made of Gold, becauſe Gold is not ſubject to cor-
ruption; and touching Precious ſtones to refrefh the ſpirits by their hidden properties
and luſtre, and that if they could be taken and retained in Veſſels, the Balſoms, and
Quinteſſences of living Creatures, would make men conceive a proud hope of Immorta-
lity: And that the Fleſh of Serpents and Harts, by a certain conſent, are powerful to
the Renovation of Life, becauſe the one caſteth his Skin, the other his Horns: (they
ſhould alſo have added the Fleſh of Eagles, becauſe the Eagle changes bis Bill) And
that a certain Man, when he had found an Oyntment hidden under the ground, and
had anointed himſelf therewith from head to foot, (excepting onely the ſoles of his feet)
did, by his anointing, live three hundred years, without any diſeaſe, ſave onely ſome
Tumors in the ſoles of his feet: and of Arteſius, who when he ſound his Spirit ready to
depart, drew into his body the ſpirit of a certain young man, and thereby made him
breathleſs, but himſelf lived many years by another mans Spirit: And of Fortunate
Hours according to the Figures of Heaven, in which Medicines are to be gathered and
compounded for the prolongation of Life: And of the Seales of Planets, by which ver-
tuesmay be drawn and fetched down from Heaven to prolong Life: and ſuch like fabulous
and ſuperſtitious vanities: I wonder exceedingly that men ſhould ſo much doat, as to
ſuffer themſelves to be deluded with theſe things. And again, I do pity Mankind that they
ſhould have the hard fortune to be beſieged with ſuch frivolous and ſenceleſs apprehenſions.
But mine Intentions do both come home to the Matter, and are far from vain and cre-
dulous Imaginatious; being alſo ſuch, as I conceive, poſterity may adde much to the
matters which ſatisfie theſe Intentions; but to the Intentions themſelves, but a little.
Notwith ſtanding there are a few things, and thoſe of very great moment, of which I
would have men to be forewarned.
11To the 12,
13, and 14
Articles. Bodies, Vegetables, Living Creatures, Man; I will now come nearer to the
matter, and order mine Inquiſitions by certain Intentions, ſuch as are true and proper,
(as I am wholly perſwaded) and which are the very paths to Mortal Life. For in
this part, nothing that is of worth hath hitherto been inquired, but the contemplations
of men have been but ſimple, and non-proficients. For when I hear men on the one
ſide ſpeak of comforting Natural heat, and the Radical moiſture, and of Meats which
breed good Blood, ſuch as may neitber be burnt nor phlegmatick; and of the cheering
and recreating the Spirits; I ſuppoſe them to be no bad men which ſpeak theſe things:
but none of theſe worketh effectually towards the end. But when on the other ſide I hear
ſeveral diſcourſes touching Medicines made of Gold, becauſe Gold is not ſubject to cor-
ruption; and touching Precious ſtones to refrefh the ſpirits by their hidden properties
and luſtre, and that if they could be taken and retained in Veſſels, the Balſoms, and
Quinteſſences of living Creatures, would make men conceive a proud hope of Immorta-
lity: And that the Fleſh of Serpents and Harts, by a certain conſent, are powerful to
the Renovation of Life, becauſe the one caſteth his Skin, the other his Horns: (they
ſhould alſo have added the Fleſh of Eagles, becauſe the Eagle changes bis Bill) And
that a certain Man, when he had found an Oyntment hidden under the ground, and
had anointed himſelf therewith from head to foot, (excepting onely the ſoles of his feet)
did, by his anointing, live three hundred years, without any diſeaſe, ſave onely ſome
Tumors in the ſoles of his feet: and of Arteſius, who when he ſound his Spirit ready to
depart, drew into his body the ſpirit of a certain young man, and thereby made him
breathleſs, but himſelf lived many years by another mans Spirit: And of Fortunate
Hours according to the Figures of Heaven, in which Medicines are to be gathered and
compounded for the prolongation of Life: And of the Seales of Planets, by which ver-
tuesmay be drawn and fetched down from Heaven to prolong Life: and ſuch like fabulous
and ſuperſtitious vanities: I wonder exceedingly that men ſhould ſo much doat, as to
ſuffer themſelves to be deluded with theſe things. And again, I do pity Mankind that they
ſhould have the hard fortune to be beſieged with ſuch frivolous and ſenceleſs apprehenſions.
But mine Intentions do both come home to the Matter, and are far from vain and cre-
dulous Imaginatious; being alſo ſuch, as I conceive, poſterity may adde much to the
matters which ſatisfie theſe Intentions; but to the Intentions themſelves, but a little.
Notwith ſtanding there are a few things, and thoſe of very great moment, of which I
would have men to be forewarned.
Firſt, we are of that opinion, that we eſteem the Offices of Life to be more worthy
than Ltfe it ſelf. Therefore if there be any thing of that kind that may indeed exactly
anſwer our Intentions, yet fo, that the Offices and Duties of Life be thereby hin-
dred; whatſoever it be of this kind, we reject it. Perhaps wemay make ſome light men-
tion of ſome things, but we inſiſt not upon them. For we make no ſerious nor diligent diſ
courſe, either of leading the life in Caves, where the sunbeams and ſeveral changes of the
Air pierce not, like Epimenides his Cave; or of perpetual baths, made of Liquors pre-
pared; or of shirts, and Sear cloths ſo applied, that the Body ſhould be always as it were
in a Box; or of thick paintings of the body, after the manner of ſome Barbarous Na-
tions; or of an exact ordering of our Life and Diet, which aimeth onely at this, and
mindeth nothing elſe but that a man live, (as was that of Herodicus amongſt the An-
tients, and of Cornarus the Venetian in our days, but with greater moderation;) or
of any ſuch Prodigy, Tediouſneſs, or Inconvenience: but we propound ſuch Remedies and
Precepts, by which the Offices of Life may neither be deſerted, nor receive any great
interr uptions or moleſtations.
than Ltfe it ſelf. Therefore if there be any thing of that kind that may indeed exactly
anſwer our Intentions, yet fo, that the Offices and Duties of Life be thereby hin-
dred; whatſoever it be of this kind, we reject it. Perhaps wemay make ſome light men-
tion of ſome things, but we inſiſt not upon them. For we make no ſerious nor diligent diſ
courſe, either of leading the life in Caves, where the sunbeams and ſeveral changes of the
Air pierce not, like Epimenides his Cave; or of perpetual baths, made of Liquors pre-
pared; or of shirts, and Sear cloths ſo applied, that the Body ſhould be always as it were
in a Box; or of thick paintings of the body, after the manner of ſome Barbarous Na-
tions; or of an exact ordering of our Life and Diet, which aimeth onely at this, and
mindeth nothing elſe but that a man live, (as was that of Herodicus amongſt the An-
tients, and of Cornarus the Venetian in our days, but with greater moderation;) or
of any ſuch Prodigy, Tediouſneſs, or Inconvenience: but we propound ſuch Remedies and
Precepts, by which the Offices of Life may neither be deſerted, nor receive any great
interr uptions or moleſtations.