II.

Health is an incorrupt integrity, and soundnesse of the body pre­served by, and depending upon the strength and virtue of the radical Balsame.

WHence followes this Conse­quence, that the more strong and virtual the Balsame is, so much the more vegetous and healthful is the body.

III.

The strength and virtue of the Bal­same, depends upon the equal and mutual conspiration of the Hypo­statical Principles, that by their e­ven and peaceful consistency, the Balsame also may legitimately per­form his functions, by which he may advantage and strengthen himself with the received aliment or food which is taken in, and may also (when separation is perform­ed [Page 10] by the stomack,) cast out through his proper Emunctories what is not nutritive, and may further provide that the seeds of diseases (if any lurk in the flesh, or in the blood, in the disguise of that tincture,) break not out, and bring suddain destruction to the body, or else may cause that those [...]ll seeds may by the balsames strength and vigour, be cast out of the bo­dy as superfluous impurities, which cannot consist with the health of man.

IT is truth therefore which the most noble and learned Crollius speaks in his preface to his Basilica Chymica: In what body soever (saith he) the Hypostatical principles con­sist by union, that body may be judged to be truly sound.

IV.

Medicine or Physick, treats either of the preservation, or of the restora­tion of health.

I.
Lead a pious and an holy life.

FOr Piety (as the Apostle tea­cheth) is profitable for all things, having the promise of this present life, and of that which is to come. Now all piety consists in thi [...], that we love God with all our souls, and our Neighbours as our selves. Won­der not therefore, that so many in this age perish so suddainly and so soon. Impiety now bears the sway: true and unfeigned charity hath no place to abide in; Perjury, Trea­chery, Tyranny, Usury and Avarice, or (where these are not,) a vicious, lascivious, and loose life, are every where in request. The soul, which God made and ordained to be the nobler essence, and the mistress, is now the bond-woman, and the ser­viledrudge to the vile body. We dai­ly see, that one Groom will serve to [Page 13] dresse and look to many Horses, one sheepheard will keep a thousand sheep, one Herdsman as many Kine or Oxen: but to dresse and feed one voluptuous body

And I would to God that all these would suffice! A most unhappy truth was that of the Stoic, He is a servant to many, that serves but one body: for doe but imagine thy selfe placed in the Clouds, or neare the Starres, and from thence to looke down and observe our actions upon earth, thou shalt not see one man quiet, they runne all as busie as Ants over Sea and Land, through Citty and Country, by right and wrong, to become Lordly and rich.

What wouldst thou say at such a sight as this? wouldst not thou cry out with Seneca, Oh the faith of God and men! how many persons doth one ambitious stomach imploy? If brutes and wild beasts devour or eat one another (unless they be compel­led unto it by extream famine) we presently cry out, it is a prodigie: but what thing (I beseech thee) a­mongst mankind, is more frequent then such prodigies? The Satyrist askes the question,

But men, whom God adorned with rationall soules, kill one ano­ther, and those to whom nature, reason▪ and the faculty of speech, did (above any other creatures) com­mend love and unity, do by troopes (as it were for spectacle and ostenta­tion,) murther and butcher them­selves. Add to this, that (as Seneca saith) a Dogge will bite before he barks; stormes will threaten us be­fore they dissolve upon our heads; buildings will crack before they fall, and smoke will give us warning that fire is at hand: but the destruction of man by man is suddain, and without the least notice: nay, the nearer it is, it is by so much the [Page 16] more diligently concealed. And what then is one man to another? who smiles, when he hates, salutes and embraceth, when he intends destru­ction, who under a serene smooth countenance hides poyson, violence and blood-shed▪ Certainly thou wilt erre, and erre grievously, if thou wilt trust to those faces, that meet thee civilly, and salute thee fairly: they have (indeed) the complexi­ons of men, but the conditions of Devils. Nay, thou wilt meet with some, who (as the same Satyrist hath observed,)

But thou wilt reply, that Sal­vages, Barbarians, and Canibals, may (perhaps) commit such villa­nies. Art thou no better acquainted with our Saints of Europe? that hu­mane society and commerce, that godlinesse and sanctity, which we so much celebrate and commend our selves for, is nothing else but meere monopolizing, meere deceit, and a mutuall imposture. And amongst us Saints, who (in our owne opinion) are mighty righteous, tender-heart­ed and brotherly, there is nothing more usuall, then to have store of Anthropophagi, or Men-eaters: for the rich, and the great amongst us, not onely feed upon and live by the sweat, the slaughter, and the blood of the poor and opprest, but esteem them (of all others) their choicest dain­ties, [Page 18] for they are swallowed without much chewing, and there is none to deliver them: Insomuch that those sheepheards, who were said to flay their sheep, robbing them of their Wool their skins, and their flesh, and leaving them onely their bare bones, may be truly said to be more merciful then those men. So that man to man, is no more a God, but a Woolf and a Devil. Wonder not then (as I said before,) that so many amongst us dye so suddainly, and so soon for they had rather die sooner, yea and die for ever, then become so­ber▪ charitable▪ and truly pious.

II.
Follow after Sobriety.

FOr as drunkenness and immo­derate feeding oppress and wea­ken the virtue of the radical balsame: so sobriety preserves from sickness [...], and diseases. Sober above most Kings [Page 19] was Massinissa the Numidiar, who standing alwaies, and at his Tent­doore, would in the open field eat his meat without sauce, being con­tented with dry bread, and military Commons. For which very reason he was so vegetous in old age, that at the years of fourscore and six, he begat a Sonne, and after ninety two, did in a pitched field over-throw the Carthaginians, who had broken their league made with him; in which battel he did not onely supply the place of an active, and expert Leader, but performed all the duties of a common Souldier. By the bene­fit of this virtue of temperance, did M. Valerius Corvinus live to be an hundred years old▪ and retain'd at that age a sound mind in a sound body. And Socrates continued all his life long in a perfect undisturbed health: yea, sobriety (if we should fall sick,) will restore us to health. There are some who think, that Cae­sar [Page 20] used no other remedy to cure his falling sicknesse, which tooke him first at Corduba in Spaine, so that by a meere spare dyet, hard labours, and tedious watchings, he escaped, and overcame that dangerous and most commonly fatall in disposition.

III.
Eat not greedily, and drink not immoderately.

NAture in Vegetables, doth not swallow down her nutriment, nor take it in ravenously, and all at a time. She doth all things leasurely, and by degrees, that her motion may be covenient and useful, or assisting to her Preservation. It is thy con­cernment to imitate Nature, and to do as she doth, when thou dost eat, and when thou dost drink. It is a most foul blemish upon the memory of Alexander, that after most of his Victories, he used to riot it with his [Page 21] Officers, inviting them to delicious and sumptuous feasts, in which he used alwaies to drink Prizes, and he that could tun in more then all the rest, was rewarded with a Talent: But this intemperate eating and drinking, did cast him into such a violent, suddaine disease, that with­in three dayes he dyed of it.

IV.
Let thy meat be simple and un­arted.

FOr such victuals (saith the most industrious Pliny,) are the most wholesome and agreeable: Nature is but one, therefore she doth most delight in one kinde of meate and drink. Whence followes this conse­quence,

[Page 22] For they are of an Heterogeneous nature, and the fire of Nature, which is but one and the same cannot work equally upon them all, and prepare (legitimately) a nutriment for his own body, out of divers and diffe­ring cibations. Every thing the nea­rer it is to unitie, is by so much the more perfect and durable. There are infinite sorts of Trees which live ve­ry long, but they use all of them (without change) onely one kind of nutriment: But if it be so, that thou canst not abstaine from variety of meats, yet be sure (if possibly thou canst) that they have some agree­ment and correlation amongst them­selves: For Contraries, (as Hippo­crates affirmes) will move sedition and differences, while some of them are sooner, some latter digested and communicated to the body. Octa­vius Augustus, would never have above three dishes of meat to his sup­per: Imitate him, and use not too [Page 23] much indulgence towards thy selfe, so shalt thou live the longer and the better.

V.
Accustome not thy selfe suddainly to meats and drinks, which formerly thou hast not been used to feed up­on, unlesse they be prescribed thee by some expert and learned Physi­cian for thy healths sake.

FOr every Change is dangerous. Nature is simple and alwayes the same: Other manner of operation is simple too, and without change, and she delights altogether in con­stancy, and simple nutriments: but if thou dost change, she also will suffer the like change. We see daily, that those birds which are taken, and put into Cages, by changing their naturall dyet, fall into divers diseases, and dye frequently. A Lamb that is nourished with the milk [Page 24] of a Cow, seldome comes to any improvement, but most commonly dyes.

VI.
Use Antidotes frequently, to preserve thee from poysons, and private or accidental mischiefes.

LEst thou perish by venemous meats or drinks, or by the aire thou livest in, which may be poy­soned as well as thy food. Mithri­dates by the frequent use of an An­tidote, which from him is still called Mithridate, did so strengthen na­ture, that no poyson could hurt him: And when he tooke a vene­mous, deadly confection of purpose to kill himselfe, it could not so much as make him sick: So that being o­verthrown in battel by his Enemies, and not being able to poyson him­selfe, he was forced to command his Armour-bearer to thrust him through, and so dyed. There be di­vers [Page 25] kinds of Antidotes. I shall one­ly mention the most effectuall. The first is Quercetanus, his confection of Juniper and Vipers, described by him in his private dispensatory, page 349. The second is his blessed Theriac: the third, his celestiall Theriac, called so by way of Emi­nency, and described both in the same Book. The fourth is ( rollius his Theriac of Mummie, with another very soveraigne, one described by him in his Bafilica Chymica. Use these Antidotes according to the Philosophers prescriptions, and (God assisting) no poyson shall be able to hurt thee.

VII.

Fly contagious airs, and if the aire thou livest in, be infected, change thy habitation.

VIII.
Take Physick in the spring-time, [Page 26] and in the Autumne.

LEt us consider the nature of Ser­pents and Vipers: these in our stated seasons of Spring & Fall, cast off their old skins, and are clothed with new. That Medicine or course of Physick, which in all its circum­stances answers to the great world, will work the more easily, the more prosperously, and will have the greatest effect. Seeing therefore that Trees, and all Roots, which in the Winter time seem dead, doe about the entrance of the Spring break forth and bud, putting on greenness, and a renew'd youthfulnesse and fresh vivacity as it were, therefore the wise Ancients did at the very same time (by observing them) take their purging and restorative Physick, and by that meanes (God cooperating with them) did migh­tily strengthen nature, and multiply their dayes upon earth. Such Physick [Page 27] as this, is the starre of man improg­nated with the Physicall tincture. Others use onely the Philosophicall stone These glorious medicines (whomsoever God shall reveale them to,) may in their just Dose be taken once in every week to the sin­gular comfort, and incredible im­provement of nature: So the Philo­sophers tell me. The dose of the u­niversall medicine, is the weight of one graine.

IX.

MAn for procreations sake, should not abhorre the Con­cessions and Priviledges of lawfull love, but let him eschew all wanton­nesse, and confine his desires to na­turall▪ and legitimate, and that too within the bounds of Wedlock: But in this also there must be moderati­on. [Page 28] Solons Law was thrice in the moneth. Emission of seed weakens all bodies: This experience tells us, for men that are addicted to this intem­perance, have the most nice and ten­der constitutions, easily offended, and seldome fruitfull▪ like Trees, which bearing too much in one year, yeeld nothing but leaves in the next. You are to understand from this Paragraph, that seed is two-fold, Radical, and Prolific. The Radical seed, is the innate balsame of the bo­dy, which if it be advantaged with perfect digestion, will yeeld effusion, and a balsame of the same nature as it selfe. In this balsame the body lives as in his proper seed. Hence Anonymus Leschus, Tract. 7. in­structs us, that so long as there is seed in the body it lives; but the seed being consumed▪ the body dies. It is no wonder then, that so many have perished by the intemperance, [Page 29] who It was not long before the publishing of this peece, that I was told by a very noble Gentleman, that in his late travailes in France, he was acquain­ted with a young French Physician, who for a long time had beene suiter to a very handsome Lady, and ha­ving at length gained her consent, was married to her, but his Nupti­al bed proved his Grave, for on the next morning he was found dead. It was the Gentlemans opinion, that this sad accident might be caused by an excessive joy, and for my part I subscribe to it; for a vio­lent joy hath oftentimes done the worke of death: this comes to passe by an extreame attenuation, and diffusion of the animal spirits, which passing all into the exterior parts, leave the heart destitute, whence followes suffocation and death. Scaliger Exercit. 310. gives the reason of this violent ef­fusion and dissipation of the Spirits: Quia similia maxime cuprint inter se uniri, ideo spiritus, veluti exire conantur ad objectum illud ex [...]er­num [...] atum ac jucundum, ut vi­delicet cum eo vniantur, Illud (que) sibi maxime simile reddant. If any will suspect, that together with this excessive joy, there was a con­currency of the other excess men­tioned by my Author, I permit him his lib [...]rty, but certainly I thinke he will be deceived. going to bed in a vegetous, perfect health, were found dead next morning. If you excite a Tree to bear fruit by violent and unnatural means, or by artificiall, as by kindling fire under his branches in an unsea­sonable time, you will but kill the Tree, and manifest your own in­discretion.

I.

That part of Physick which teacheth us the restoration of health, is an Art laying down in certaine pre­cepts or rules, a sure & safe way to redeem or free sick persons from di­seases. It is termed by th [...] Greci­ans [...].

II.

In this we are to consider, first, the disease, and all its circumstances: secondly, the cure of it.

[Page 32] For the true method consists in knowing, first the disease, and after­wards the cure. The Doctrine of di­seases, is termed by the Grecians, [...].

III.

Disease or sicknesse, is a privation, or the loss of health.

IV.

Therefore; because health depends upon the strength and vigour of the radical balsame, sicknesse must needs proceed from the weaknesse and indisposition of it.

V.

But when the strength of the Bal­same followes the conspiration of the Hypostatical principles, as his proper [...] [...]r inclinatior, then or in that cause the insirmity of the balsame proceeds from the in­d [...]sposition of the principles. [Page 33] Whence followes this consequence.

THat those bodies, whose princi­ples agree not amongst them­selves, may be truly judged to be sick­ly and ill disposed.

VI.

Touching the disease, there are two things to be considered. First, The conjoyn'd and apparent cause of the disease, which we shall terme Ex­trarious. Secondly, the cause of that Extrarious or conjoyn'd cause.

I.

The conjoyned' apparent cause of the [Page 34] disease, I terme Extrari­ous signifies such a sub­stance, that is quite a­nother thing, and of another disposition than ours is. by reason it is a Cause most remote from, and altogether a stranger to, our nature.

II.

This Extrarious Cause is twofold, Substantial and Accidental.

THe substantial is so termed, be­cause it is the substantiall Es­sence, or matter of the disease. The other is termed accidental, by reason that the conjoyned cause signified by it, is an accident, not a substance.

III.

The substantial extrarious Cause, is either an impure tincture, or a Meteor.

IV.

An impure tincture, is an impure spiritual nature, so exactly mixt with the most inward parts of our substance, that at the time of its commixtion, it doth not presently and manifestly hinder nor preju­dice the functions of the Balsame, but remaining quiet and inoffen­sive at first, and for a time, doth afterwards by degrees, discover its enmity and force, and so infects the body.

TO this place must be referred; first, those impure seminal tin­ctures▪ by which the prolific seed is tainted, and the child that is borne of it, comes to be Hereditarily in­fected with the Diseases of his pa­rents.

Secondly, the impurity of the bo­dy, that proceeds from the bloud, with which the child is fed and nou­rished [Page 36] in the wombe: from which last impurity, if the substance of the Childe were not vindicated, and free'd by frequent breakings out, by the Measels, and divers other extru­sions, and petty and indispositions, besides the dayly discharge of it through the proper Emunctories of the body, it were not absurd to con­clude, that his whole nature must needs be depraved and overcome by it. Purgations of this kind hap­pen sometimes sooner, sometimes la­ter, according to the strength of the Radicall balsame▪ which in some is slower, in others quicker and more vigorous; as we see it exemplified in our very fields, of which some are more barren, some more fruitfull, according to their scituation, and the aspect of the Sun-beames, shi­ning directly and favourably upon some, upon others glancingly, and for a short time, which makes some places more forward, some more [Page 37] back-ward, and their productions, whether flowers, or Hey, or Corne, to differ accordingly, some being ve­ry good, some very bad.

V.

A Meteor is either volatile or coa­gulated, both kindes are Extrari­ous.

I Call it a Meteor, because I would have the Reader to inquire, how the I promise my English Reader, that (if God will blesse me with health, and his perform­ing assistance) I will shortly com­municate to him, (according to the Hermetic principles) a most accurate Treatise of Meteors, their Generation, Causes, quali­ties, peculiar Regions aud Forms: what spirits governe them, and what they signifie or fore-shew. Meteors of the greater world are ge­nerated, and by their Generation, to learn and find out the true Doctrine of the Mi­crocosmical Meteors.

VI.

The volatile Meteor, is commonly called an Exhalation, and that is either dry or moist.

THe dry Exhalation is termed a Fume, and the humid a Vapour: the fumid Exhalation, because it is a fume arising from a dry body or Principle, is hot, dry, light and sub­tile, alwayes tending upwards, and is near to a sulphureous fiery narure, which will easily inflame and kin­dle, and so is set on fire▪ and burns. Contrarily, a vapour is an humid flux, which if it be deprived by any exterior heat of its owne cold qua­lity and so carried up into the Re­gion of the Air, and there conden­sed by cold, is presently (because of [Page 39] its thin, Mercurial and aqueous na­ture,) forced to resume its former state, and is turned againe into the nature of water. For as we see in the greater world, that tho [...]e Vapors and Exhalations, which by the heat of the Sun, the influence of the Stars, and by their owne proper internall calidity, are excited and stirred up, doe afterwards afford matter for va­rious, miraculous Meteors, and bo­dies imperfectly mixt both in the Region of the Air, and in the bowels of the Earth; and that those which are of a Mercurial, cold, moist, and watry nature, doe alwayes produce Clouds, Raine, Hail-stones, Snow, Frost and winds; but those which are sulphureous, hot and dry gene­rate Coruscations, Lightnings, Fire­drakes, Thunder-bolts, and other burning Meteors: so in the lesser world, that is in the body of man, the like, and the very same vapours and Exhalations, afford matter for [Page 40] the generation of many and diffe­rent kinds of Meteors. Hence it is, that so many and such various sorts of Diseases afflict man-kind. Some of them being Mercurial, cold and moist; others sulphureous, hot and dry: Nor are they so in meer forme and accident, but in substance, that is to say, they are such in their essen­tiall virtue, and are generated as wel in the inferiour Region, the breast, the stomack, and the belly; as in the superiour, the head and the braine, which parts do exactly quadrate and correspond with the airy Region, and the subterraneous Concavities of the earth. See Quercetanus, Tetr. page 45. 46.

VII.

The Coagulated Meteor, is termed Tartar, of which we shall treat in the following Chapter.

I.

Tartar is an acrimonious, pricking and corroding, or an aluminous, acid and styptic mucilage, which is bred in the body, and being se­parated from its proper juyce, is by the supervenient spirit of Salt, ac­cording to the various inclination of nature, at a set time, and in those places which are most apt to receive it, collected together, and coagulated; or if that juyce be not separated from it, it putrifies: from whence come worms and other in­numerable symptoms.

QUercetanus in his advice against the Joynt-gout, and the Stone, describes it thus. Salsugirous sub­stances, because they have alwayes [Page 42] mixt in them some portion of earth (though the predominant part in them be Liquefactive,) are in the body of man termed Tartar; a most apt (in truth) and most significant terme, which was first given them from the Analogy, or similitude that was found betwixt the humours in mans body, yea betwixt his very blood and the substance of wine: which of all the fruits of vegetables, doth most abound with Tartar. I doe not meane by Tartar in this place that substance which is dis­solved, and flowes in new Wines, while they are thick and turbid, which being afterwards separated, or (as the common phrase is) settled, doth as the grosser, earthy, and more impure part subside into a feculent substance, found alwaies in the bot­tome, and called Dregs. Neither doe I mean that Tartar onely, whose se­paration is performed by a long Tract of time, and sticks to the [Page 43] Dregs or Lees of old Wine-pipes. But I meane that Tartar also, which is in perpetual liquefaction and com­mixture with the most refined wines, and which gives them their tincture either red or any other. This true Tartar, either by Evaporation, or simple distillation, or a Balneum Maris, is easily discerned to be mo­derately hot, for the more liquid part of the humour (which was the Vehiculum, in which the Tartar in its dissolution was contained) being separated from it, the Tartar alone remaine in the bottom. This liquid humour, though of red wine, distills all bright and limpid, but the hea­vler red substance, which I call Tar­tar, stayes all behind: a solid sub­stance, and the more you fetch out of the substantifical humour, it be­comes by so much the more hard and the dryer. Nor is this Tartar onely in red, or white Wines, but in any other though decocted and al­so [Page 44] in the humours of mans body. Nor is it there onely in the Chylus, or nutriment, which answers in pro­portion to wine newly made (for from the Chylus, as from new win [...], divers impure and tartareous dregs are separated,) but also in the very blood, yea in the most pure, and af­ter the very same manner, as we de­scribed it to be in wine. And as the Art of distilling (even that which is performed by the most gentle fire) discovers and manifests unto us this kind of Tartar: so nature also by her naturall fury both ranne and daily doth performe such separati­ons of Tartar, by a consumption of the humoural parts of our bodies▪ out of which the Dogmatical Wri­ters of Physick, suppose the stone to be generated. And it is wonderfull to consider, how many sorts of Di­seases by the intervening of obstructi­ons or [...]ppilations, arise out of this meere separation, particularly the [Page 45] joynt-gout, and the stone: which diseases according to the sentiment of these Dogmatists themselves, happen most frequently to those, who have the hottest Livers▪ and consequently the coldest stomacks: Who ingenerate much crudities and mucous matters, which for want of a through-digestion, may be com­pared to raw fruits, that failing of their due and perfect maturity, (which is performed by a contempe­rate heat that is all concocting and digesting,) remaine acid, bitter, sowre and green. These being mixt with, and in the whole Masse of blood, are there by the natural heate againe concocted, and a separation is made of the more crude and tarta­reous portion, which sticks after­wards to the inward parts, and cau­sing divers obstructions, is at length forcibly carried into the joynts, where it stayes and lodgeth. For e­very part of the body of man doth [Page 46] naturally delight in, and attract to it, that which is most like to it selfe: the fleshie parts are nourished by that portion of the blood, which is most thinly moist, and mercuriall: the fat and marrowish parts, by that which is most oily, or sulphureous, but the joynts which are parts that be naturally glutinous and mucila­ginous, love that portion which hath most likenesse and affinity with their nature; whence it comes to passe, that this Salsuginous and Tar­tareous matter is taken in by them. Now, when it happens that these parts in some bodyes, either for their weakness, or an innate hereditary disposition, or some such cause can­not by a proper and particular di­gestion, inoffensively digest, nor ex­pell this crude and indigested Tarta­reous matter, then is this matter, be­ing of a saltish, viscous nature coa­gulated in them, and the ligaments of the joynts come to be stuffed up [Page 47] and stiffened with it, whence pro­ceed those acute intolerable paines which attend this Disease. And this is the true and genuine conjoyn'd cause of the paines and knottines of the Joynt-gout. The same cause is sometimes lesse acute, sometimes more, according to the nature and condition of the Tartar. For as we see that there is in the greater world, a great diversity of Salts, for the Earth yeelds first Salt-gemme, which answers in proportion to Sea-salt, that is onely saltish in tast; then Salt-nitre which is bitter in tast, and Salt-alum which is austere and Astringent: afterwards Salt of Vi­triol, and Salt Armoniac which are acid and hot: and lastly▪ those corrosive sharp Salts which are ter­med Alkal [...], with others that are sweet and pleasant as Sugar: so in the lesser world, that is in the body of man, there is generated a Tartar or Salt, which being dissolved, cau­seth [Page 48] onely a saltish humour, which the Dogmatical Physicians term sal­tish phegme, in plaine termes, a salt water or humour. There is also ge­nerated, a nitrous or bitter Salt, which mixeth with the Urine, and causeth bitter Choler; and a vitrio­lated acid salt which predominates in acid phlegme and melancholy. In like manner there be also alumi­nous and austere kinds of Tartar, and other sorts which resemble the acrimonie of Salt, as it is manifestly seen by the various affections of con­tractures and astrictions of the si­news, and the many perilous trou­bles of acrimonious humours in Dy­senteries and, divers Ulcers as well inward as outward, all which are caused by the many and dif­ferent kindes of Salts, which are generated in the body. For why should not this be done by those things which are most like to doe it and most significant, and which do [Page 49] most properly and fully expresse the natures and diversities of Causes, having their derivation and apposi­tenes from the very fountains of na­ture, who is the best Interpretress of her own concernments. These Salts (believe me) doe better expresse and discover unto us the essences and di­stinctions of Tartareous or saltish di­seases, then those four humours which are commonly termed the Sanguine, the Phlegmatic, the Bili­ous, and the Melancholy, both be­cause that these latter termes, signi­fie nothing unto us of the essence or matter of the Disease, and also be­cause that those Dogmatists them­selves, Hallucinate and stagger very much both in the formation or apt­nesse, and in the application of their said termes.

II.

Tartar is two-fold, Adventitious and Innate.

III.

Adventitious Tartar, proceeds from meat and drinke, and the Impres­sions of the Firmament.

EVery thing that we eat and drinke, hath in it a Mucilagi­nous, reddish and sandy Tartar, ve­ry noxious to the health of man. Nature receives nothing for her own use, but what is pure. The stomack, which is an instrument of the Ar­chaeus of man, or an internall, in­nate Chymist, and implanted there by God, presently upon the recepti­on of that which is chew'd and swallowed down separates the im­pure▪ Tartareous part from the pure nutriment: If the stomack be vigo­rous, especially in its faculty of se­paration, the pure portion passeth presently into all the members to nourish and preserve the body, and the impure goes forth into the [Page 51] Draught: if the stomack be weake, the impure portion is through the M [...]saraic veines conveyd to the Li­ver, where a second digestion or se­paration is made. Here the Liver se­parates againe the pure from the im­pure, the Rubie from the Chrystall, that is to say, the Red from the White: The Red is the nutriment of all the members the heart, the brain, &c. The white [...]or that which is no nutriment, is driven by the Liver to the Reyns and it is Urine, which is nothing else but Salt, which being exprest from the Mercuriall portions, by the violence of the separation, is forced to a dissolution: It is dissol­ved into water by the Liven & so cast forth. If the Liver, by reason of its debility, makes no perfect separati­on, it casts that Mucilaginous and Calculous impurity upon the Reyns, where for want of a [...]ight and through separation it is (accord­ing to the concurrency and Method [Page 52] of nature) by the mediation of the spirit of Salt coagulated into Sand, or Tartar, either Massie and Solid, or Mucilaginous. This Tartar there­fore is the Excretion of meat and drinke, which is coagulated in all mens bodies by the spirit of Salt, un­less the expulsive faculty by its owne peculiar vigour or virtue, can com­mand it into the Excrements, and so cast it out by dejection.

IV.

There are four kinds of this Adven­titiousTartar, which proceed ori­ginally from the four distinct fruits or Cibations which we receive from the four Elements.

THe first kind proceeds from the use of those things that grow out of the Earth, as from all sorts of Pulse, Grains, Fruits, Herbs and Roots, upon which we feed.

The second proceeds from those [Page 53] nutriments which we take out of the Element of Water, as from fish, shel­fish, &c.

The third is from the flesh of Birds and beasts, &c.

The fourth comes from the Fir­mament, which the spirit of Wine, in respect of its subtilty, doth most resemble. This kind of Tartar is of a most forcible impression, while the Air being primarily infected with the vapours of the Earth, the wa­ter and the firmament doth after­wards annoy us: as wee frequently see in those acute and pernitious A­stral Diseases, the Pleurisie, the Plague, the Prunella, &c.

V.

Tartar innate, is that which is coge­nerated with man in his mothers wombe.

VI.

Besides these impure Tinctures and Meteors, there is another sub­stantial Extrarious cause, which cannot be reduced to a certa [...]ne kind.

TO this must be referred, those Insecta's or quick Creatures which sometimes (though rarely) are generated in the body, as Snakes, divers worms, &c.

Secondly, those things must be re­ferred hither, which by inchant­ment and the mediation of evill spi­rits, are invisibly and insensibly con­veyed into the bodies of men and Women.

Thirdly, We are to reduce to this Aphorisme or Canon all Splinters, Bullets, or other weapons, which being violently thrust or shot into the body, lie deeply in the flesh, or under the skin.

VII.

We have now done with the Substan­tial Extrarious Cause. To the Ac­cidental, I shall referre all dispro­portions of Limbs, Gibbosities, Luxations, Wounds, and fractures of bones.

I.

This Cause I shall divide into six heads or branches. The first of which is God. 2. Excesse and de­fect of Necessaries. 3. Fire. 4. He­reditary [Page 56] impurity. 5. Imaginati­on. 6. Ʋiolent Illation. Of these I shall treat in their order; and first of GOD.

MAn, because he is made in the Image of God, is bound al­so to live according to his Will. I mean his will revealed and laid down in the Ten Commandements, and the holy Scriptures, namely in those Bookes onely which were left unto us, and which (with­out scruple) we have received from the holy Prophets, and the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour: but when we transgresse and violate this Law and will of our maker, then doth God send upon us condigne punish­ments, amongst which Diseases are numbred in the very Booke of the Law. For thus saith the Lord: If ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soules abhor my judgements, so that ye will not do my Commandements, [Page 57] but that ye break my Covenants: I also will do this unto you, I will even appoint over your terrour, consump­tion and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart. I will also smite thee in the knees and the legges with a sore botch, that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of the Head. I will make the Pesti­lence cleave unto thee, untill it hath consumed thee from off the Land which thou possessest. And in ano­ther place, The Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption, with a Fea­vour, and with an inflammation and extream burning, and with the Sword, and with Blasting, and with Mildew: and they shall pursue thee untill thou perish. And the Heaven that is over thy head, shall be brass, and the Earth that is under thee shal be Iron. The Lord shall make the Raine of thy Land powder and dust, from heaven shall it come down up­on [Page 58] thee, untill thou be destroyed. Leviti [...]. Cap. 29. 16. Deuteron. 28. And in the new Testament, that e­verlasting and blessed Physitian, the Holy JESUS, who came not to de­stroy, but to save the world; after he had healed the impotent man, who had beene sick of his infirmity eight and thirty years he dismissed him not without this loving and gracious caution: Behold, thou art made whole sinne no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. S. John Chap. 5. 14. and S. Paul also in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, re­buking that new and sinfull custome (which had crept then into that Church) of prophaning the Lords holy Supper, with their own intem­perate feasts, objects to them, that sharp visitation by Diseases, which (for that very abuse) God had pu­nished them with: For this cause (saith he) many are weak and sick­ly among you, and many sleep: for [Page 59] some of them had beene punished with death. Thus is the just and all­seeing God, the first and supreme cause of the Extrarious cause.

I.

Externall fire is the producent of Extrarious Causes by its separa­tive power or faculty, by which it separates & extracts them from o­ther bodies, & communicates them afterwards to our nature.

II.

The Internal, innate fire, produceth Extrarious causes, when by dige­stion it separates the impure part, from that food or matter in which it first resided, whence our natural substance comes to be infected.

SO the naturall heat digests our meat, and by the assistance of the innnate Salt dissolves it, that man may retain or keep in his body, that which is agreeable to his nature, and joyne it to his essence: but that which is contrariant, he segregates from the other, and casts forth at his proper Emunctories. This Segrega­ted matter, or Excrement, doth of­tentimes mightily afflict the body, and that it doth two manner of waies. The first by being retained in the body, or for want of evacuati­on. The second, by a noysome f [...]tid Exhalation, and sent ascending from [Page 66] it to the nobler parts, when it is so retained. It offends by retention first, when it is carried (indeed) to the naturall Emunctories, or deijcient parts; but the weakness of the ex­pulsive faculty is so great, that it cannot drive it out. Secondly, When it is left in the very stomack without farther Exclusion. Thirdly, when some subtil poyson, in and together with the nutritive portion or Chy­lus, doth convey and insinuate it self into the most inward parts of the body: which poyson was first taken in with meat and drink. It happens often (saith the most learned and expert Quercetanus) that when the naturall Balsame is tainted by some impurity proceeding from food or nutriment, it doth afterwards give way and occasion for many dange­rous symptomes and diseases. This Paracelsus, the great Father and leader of the German Philosophers, in his Treatise of the Being, and na­turn [Page 67] of poyson doth most learnedly expound. The Stars also doe fre­quently powre down into the Aire, and upon the Earth, certaine Astral Emunctions, and Arsenical vapours, with other noxious Excretions and Exudations. See his Treatise of the Being, and the power of the Stars o­ver inferiour Bodies. Hence proceed Distraction, Phrensies, Plurisies, the Plague, and frequent, suddaine Dy­senteries. Putrified things grow to be noysome and hurtfull, by the meanes of those corrosive Salts and fuliginous Exhalations, which partly by an externall, partly by their own internall heat, are ex­cited out of them and dispersed. Moreover the Excrements of man, when they happen to be retained in the body, are subject to a Re-pu­trifaction, and frequently doe so, and Wormes are generated out of them: In this Case, the fuliginous, malignant spirits of that foul Masse, [Page 68] ascend to the braine, whence pro­ceed suddaine madnesse, the Verti­go, the Falling-sickness, and divers other lamentable diseases. There are also certaine living Creatures, which (if they be applyed to man) will by their natnrall heat, sud­dainly indispose him, by emission of that which is most remote from, and inconsistent with his nature. Cantharides are so full of this viru­lency, that being onely externally applyed, they prove oftentimes per­nicious. Bartholomew Montagna­na reports, that a certain Citizen of Padua, applying them onely to one of his knees, did bleed at the Urinary passage, five quarts of blood. He af­firms also, that the like inconveni­ence happened to another, who ap­plyed them to his great Toe, to take off the Leprous scurfe of his Nayls. The Basilisk hath such a subtil and violent poyson in his eyes, that his very looks infect and kill. How hurt­full [Page 69] Minerals are, when elevated into Mercuriall vapours, may be read at large in Paracelsus his books, Von den Bergfrancfhe [...]ten.

III.

That Extrarious Causes, and divers indispositions, are introduced by common fire, none is ignorant.

ALchymists, Goldsmiths, and Colliers, can sufficiently prove this point, who are oftentimes so of­fended with vehement searching, Sulphureous, Arsenical and Mercu­rial smoaks, that they fall into des­perate and most painfull Diseases. The smoake of Galbanum, and Hartshorne will induce the Le­thargy.

I.

Hereditary infection, is a transplan­tation of extrarious Causes, per­formed by impressing a fixt tincture, springing from another fixt salt into the prol [...]fic seed, which Pa­rents contribute to the Generation of Children.

SAlt alone and onely, is of all the three Principles fixt and f [...]e. Therefore those Diseases which pro­ceed from the indisposition of the Salt, are radically fixt, and for the most part Hereditary, as the Lepro­sie, the Stone, the Joynt-gout, and the like. But those Diseases which spring from any infirmity of the fluxible [Page 71] and volatile principles, that is to say, from Mercury and Sulphur (as all manner of Cathars and Feavers do,) cannot so easily infect posterity: for these Diseases neither fix their seeds firmly, nor deeply, because they have not their tinctures so tenaciously imprest. The nature of this kind of fixed Salt or Sulphur, may be perfectly discern'd in the seeds and the roots of Plants: for if you take but some particles of them, and transplant them▪ those very peeces will take root and grow, and bear fruit: But neither the leaves, nor the flowers in which the volatile Mercury & Sulphur have their seat, will do so. Now the fixed Salt is al­waies conserved in the root, and in some pithy stalks & Siens or Graffes: but the fixed Sulphur is in the seed. And this is the reason that the trans­plantation of all Vegetals, is perfor­med by these onely: but by the Mer­curiall parts, which easily fade and [Page 72] wither, it cannot be done; nor by those parts, which have onely in them a volatile Sulphur, as the flowers, and the leaves of some Vege­tables. See Quercetan, in his advice against the joynt-gout, and the stone.

Therefore (saith the same Quer­cetanus) whatever lodgeth in the body of the parents, that with a firm, spiritual, impure, and malignant tincture can affect or infect the radi­cal Balsame, the vital seed, and the very root or fundamentall of hu­mane nature: that same impurity (whatever it be) doth by an Here­ditary transplantation pass into, and infect the Children. But if these im­pure seeds of Diseases, have not ta­ken such a deep root, nor so far cor­rupted the radicall Balsame: or if by the helpe of nature, and her inter­nall Balsame, there is a separation made of them; or if by the ministry of Art, and externall, specifical Bal­sames [Page 73] of Physick, they are effectually allayed and weakned, or are come to their proper terme and utmost du­ration, so that their virulency and force is quite spent and broken: in any of these Causes, Gouty and Le­prous persons, doe not alwaies beget Gouty and Leprous Children. For by these means, the roots of Diseases, even the most fixt and malignant are eradicated, impure seeds are pu­rified, and the morbid tincture by long traduction becomes quite ex­tinct. This Eradication of heredi­tary Diseases, and Purification of diseased seed comes to passe by the benefit and assistance of good Seed­plots, that is, by the excellent, whole­some temperament of the Matrix, in vegetous and healthy women: whence it happens, that the Fathers seed, though tainted with some morbific indisposition, is by the laudable vigour of the mothers ra­dical Balsame amended, so that [Page 74] Arthritical and Calculous Fathers beget Children, which all their life­time continue healthy and unat­tempted by such Diseases. Yea, they beget such Children▪ as are not ob­noxious or liable to such indisposi­tions▪ In like manner also it happens, that a vegetous, healthy Father, contributing good seed, may have a sickly, impure issue, troubled with hereditary infirmities, the Fathers seed attracting to it the malignant propriety of those Diseases which possessed the Mother. Thus good Corne, if it be cast into a bad soile, will degenerate into Tares, or yeeld a very bad and a thin Crop: but sow it againe in good ground, and it will recover its former goodnesse and perfection.

I.

Imagination is a Star, excited in the firmament of man, by some ex­ternall Object.

II.

When the Imagination is inflamed, or at the height, then strange passions and defections follow.

III.

It is inflamed first, when it feigns some object to it selfe, and longs for it, but cannot enjoy it.

HEnce it comes to passe, that pregnant or breeding women (whose imagination is most vehe­ment, because of the Starre of the [Page 76] Child, which upon some singular longing, doth most powerfully move them,) doe by the force of an infla­med or exalted imagination (when they faile to come by that Object they long for) impresse into the ve­ry child, the perfect forme or figure of it; yea, it oftentimes causeth mis­carriage, and the death of the Child, as may be seen in this following Hi­story. A certaine woman great with child, seeing a Baker carrying Bread into the Oven with his Doublet off, longed for a peece of the Bakers shoulder, and when any other meat was offered unto her▪ or brought in to her sight, she would presently fall to vomit. Her Husband distrest be­twixt love and pitty, offered such a large summe of money to the Baker, that he consented, & suffered her to bite off two morsels of his flesh, but being not able to endure the pain the third time, the woman presently fell in Labour, and was delivered of [Page 77] three boyes, whereof two were alive, and the third dead. Mizaldus in his first Century, relates it out of Lan­gius. To this first Division, must be referred those unfortunate Aspirers, who affecting some great knowledge or science, and missing to attain to it, by reason of a blockish stupidity, or imbecillity of apprehension, come to be distracted and stark mad.

IV

Secondly, The Imagination comes tomes to be inflamed, when by some unexpected Object or Accident, a man or woman is suddainly frigh­ted.

SUch Accidents prove oftentimes very pernicious. A causeless, i­maginary fear in times of infection, hath cast many into the Plague, and the Plague hath beene their death. There lives at Gueilburg, a certaine Bakers wife, who being young with [Page 78] Child, went into the adjoyning Woods or Forrest, to gather sticks, and being very intent in gathering with her face towards the ground a Citizen of that place comming sud­dainly at her, did so fright her, that (not knowing well what to doe▪) she struck one hand into the other, and continued rubbing them toge­ther with a very strong compression for a good while. This woman was shortly after delivered of a Son with one hand onely, which Childe I my selfe saw, and taught there in the publick free-Schoole. In the like manner, some men that have been frighted by Phantasms, and spi­ritual Apparition in the night time, have instantly fallen into grievous diseases, and some have dyed. Others by the excesse and violence of the horrour had the hairs of their heads changed from the native colour, into a quite contrary, especially that part which they chanced to touch at the [Page 79] time they were so frighted. I my self have known two, who affirmed, that such a change did happen to them upon the like occasion: the one had halfe his Beard turned gray, the o­ther had part of the haires of his head turned perfect white, the rest retaining still their first colour.

V.

Thirdly, The imagination is infla­med, when the stomack is offended by some object of sence.

SUch perturbations happen of­ten, and men are frequently in­clined to vomit, when they looke earnestly upon those Ejectments which another hath cast up.

VI.

Fourthly, The imaginationis in fla­med, when any person imagines or fancies, that paine or trouble he is [Page 80] in, to be intolerable for him, and incurable.

HEnce it comes to passe, that men despairing of their health or redemption, contrive their owne death, and make themselves away.

I.

Corporally, when a man or woman is wounded, thrust, or shot, or fallen, or their bones broken.

II.

Spiritually, when by the meanes and [Page 81] ministry of evill spirits, a man or woman is either blinded, or maimed, or any extraneous visible matter, is invisibly and without manifest violence, conveyed into, and lodged in their bodies, or when they are by any other preternatural wayes and meanes set upon and af­ [...]licted.

THat such things may and have been done, we shall prove by the truth of this following relation. In the year of our Lord, 1539. there lived in the village of Fugesta, with­in the Bishoprick of E [...]steter, a cer­taine Husbandman, named Ulrich Neusesser▪ who was grievously pain­ed in the Hypochondriacal Region, with most violent and sharp stitches; whose sury and persistance made him send for a Chirurgion, and (incision being made) there was found, and taken out of his side, an Iron Naile, which lay under the [Page 82] skin, without the least external sym­ptome▪ or discoloration of the part. This, notwithstanding the pain cea­sed not but was dayly exasperated▪ and did more and more increase: whereupon this miserable man re­solving with himselfe, that there could be no cure for him but death, snatched a knife out of the hand of his attendant, and did therewith cut his own own throat. Upon the third day after, when his body was to be drest for buriall, there were present, Eucherius, Rosenbader of Weisenburg▪ and John of Ettenstet▪ (a Town in the Dukedome of Ba­varia,) both Chirurgions who in the presence of as many persons as came to the Funeral did cut up the Body, and in the fore part of his belly, betwixt the Cartilages and the Navill, towards the side-region there were found, and taken out, and seen by them all (a prodigious and won­derfull [...]ight [...]) a round and long [Page 83] peece of wood, foure knives of steel made partly with edges, and partly with teeth like a saw, and two pee­ces of sharp and rough Iron▪ each of them being more then a span in length, and underneath all these, a great lock of haire wrapt close to­gether and made up in the forme of a Ball. Mizaldus in his sixth Cen­tury, relates this sad History out of Langius.

Section 1.
What▪ and how manifold the Cure is.

Section 2.
How a Physician ought to be qualified.

Section 3.
Of Medicines, what their qua­lities should be, and how prepared.

Section 4.
Out of what things Medicines must be sought.

Section 5.
Why Medicines cannot alwayes re­store sick Persons to their former health.

O [...]waldus [...]roll [...]us, a cruly learn­ed and expert Physician, in his Preface to his Basilica Chymica, doth most fully and judiciously handle this point. His words are these. It is observed sometimes, that [Page 105] sick persons by the most convenient and effectual Medicines, cannot be healed for some one or more of these eight subsequent reasons.

The first is, because their appointed time or terme of life is come, which by no humane wit or Medicine can be prolonged. For there is no reme­dy upon earth, by which our corrup­tible bodies can be freed from death, the decreed penalty, and the wages of our sinnes: But there is one thing, which (if we add holinesse to it,) will keep back and restrain corrupti­on, renew youth, and lengthen our short life as heretofore in the Pa­triachs. Now though our life may be short­ned and The terme of life is moveable, not fixed: conditi­onall, not positive, as appears by that commandement, which S. Paul ob­served to be the first with a pro­mise; and by ma­ny other reasons, which cannot be in­serted in this place. prolonged; yet because of the pu­nishment for sinne, we must by the immuta­ble decree of the eter­nal Law, unavoyda­bly [Page 106] die: for a con­junction of different Natures, and things (suppose a Spirit and a Body) must necessarily induce a dissolution, else we should state a Pythagorical Me­tempsuchosis, or a revertency in ages as Plato did. And in this Case the use of our universall and supreme Medicine, will prove as vaine and ineffectuall, as an old womans Reci­pe [...] because the Marriage of souls and bodyes, ordained by an inevitable necessity for divorcement and separa­tion, can by no industry of Artists, nor Ayds of nature be rendred per­petuall; for the statute Lawes of the present things, and their great Law­giver, are inviolable. It is impious therefore to seeke, and impossible to find out such a Medicine, that will carry us alive beyond those bounds, which the very Father of life will not have us to transpasse.

[Page 107] The second reason is, Because that sick persons are too too often brought to such a lamentable passe by the ig­norance of unlearned Physicians, and their pernicious Recipe's, that the best and most virtual medicines can doe them no good, their bodies be­ing utterly poysoned, and made im­medicable by those fatal Tormentors and Executioners of mankind. In this desperate [...]ase (most common­ly) is the Chymicall Physician cal­led upon; but then would I have him to call to mind, that saying of Trophilus in Plutarch, which af­firms that man onely to be the com­pleat Physician, [...]: and not to cast away (but of vaine­glory,) their soveraigne and unde­served medicines, to [...]alve the credit of such detestable villaines, whose infamy is past cure: [...]: Let them beware also, that they suffer not their [Page 108] Medicaments to be mingled with the sluttish and venemous compositions of others, lest the ill consequence of such doings be laid to their charge, and the success or good event (if any comes to passe▪) be arrogated by, and ascribed unto those impudent and clamorous impostors; for such a perverse and execrable envy posses­seth these Medicasters, that to dis­grace those that are more learned and expert than themselves, and to keep up their owne decaying repute, they will (if they can have that op­portunity) cast those Patients which are curable and towards recovery, into an incurable and hopelesse con­dition. Hence it comes to pass, that amongst the common sort of people, (who suffer most by them) they are publiquely saluted by the most ap­posite▪ Title of Profest Poyso­ners.

The third reason is, Because the Physician is called upon too late, [Page 109] when nature is quite mastred or ore­come, and the disease hath got his full sway; otherwise if convenient or proper medines were seasonable, (that is to say, in a time of preven­tion, by resisting the beginnings and first attempts of diseases) admini­stred, no doubt but (with Gods bles­sing and assent) the consequence and effect would be happinesse and health.

The fourth reason is, because the sick person will not punctually ob­serve the Physicians prescriptions: for it happens too often, that Di­seased people charge the Physician or his Medicines, with those ill events which by some omission or irregula­rity (contrary to that golden Law of the Locrenses in Ael [...]anu [...],) they have drawne upon them­selves.

The fifth reason is, because the [Page 110] nature or peculiar propriety of some persons, are not inclinable or adap­ted to health, as we see some timber to be so tough and knotty, and out of a certaine natural defect, to dege­nerate into such an untowardnesse, that by no force or Art it can be cleft or wrought: And it happens very frequently, that the time chosen for healing, together with the indispo­sition of the Stars, oppose the Cure: for what ever Disease is unseason­ably, that is to say, immaturely heal'd, the party will be ever after subject to a relapse, because it is the seasonablenesse or fulnesse of time, that (like harvest) gives a firme and a fixed health. A ripe Pear will fall off the Tree spontaneously, but if we seeke to have it off, while it is green, we must either bruise the tree by shaking it, or with more violence break off the bough. Therefore, if these considerations be neglected, e­specially in the Cure of Astral di­seases, [Page 111] we shall but lose our labour, and come off with prejudice. Phy­sicians also must religiously provide, that the remedies they give, prove not worse then the Disease, therefore let them never advise their Patients to any impious course, nor consent to doe those things, which by sal­ving the sore, destroy the soule and the body too: let it be their chiefe care not to hurt, if they cannot help. By doing so, they will keep a good conscience, which is a continuall [...]east, but for a bad one there is no medicine.

The sixth reason is, because the disease is come to that pitch or con­firmation, from whence there can be no regress by the Laws of nature, as in perfect, absolute, and confirmed bi­tuminous, massie, sandy, and stony coagulations: for in such consumma­ted Diseases, no medicines can availe: nor in a native deafnesse or blindness: [Page 112] for what nature her selfe hath once deprived us off, that cannot be re­stored by any Artists, no more then corporall disproportions and birth­maimes, or transpositions can be a­mended.

The seventh Cause or Reason is▪ the sordid, tenacious parcimonie of some rich Patients, which makes the Physician (for no Money is better disbursed, nor more honestly gotten) discontented and carelesse: some­times also the diffidence, incredulity, and suspition of Patients, (though the Physician be never so faithful and diligent,) hinders the operation of the Medicine, and is a great impedi­ment to the Physician himself.

The eighth and last reason is, the wisdome and the goodnesse of God, who (without further toleration) takes away the Patient, lest being recovered, he should commit more, [Page 113] and more heynous offences against his Maker, his Neighbour, and him­self, to the utter misery and perditi­on of his soul. For every disease is an expiatory penance, and by this divine affliction, correction and rod of judgement is the patient called upon, and required to amend his life: or else by this fatherly visitati­on and imposition of the Crosse, which every child of God (in imi­tation of his blessed Sonne) must patiently bear, he is purposely exer­cised to be an example of piety, sub­mission, and perfection unto others; for God doth oftentimes permit some particular persons to be afflicted with many and grievous Diseases, whom the cheerefulness and health of the flesh▪ with their dayly continuation in sins (if left without rebuke,) had cast at length into some desperate spirituall malady, to the manifest hazard of their eternal welfare: for health▪ without holinesse, and a pe­nitent [Page 114] resentment of of our frequent infirmities, is no token of Gods mer­cy, but rather of damnation, and the portion of this life. Moreover, sinnes by weakning the forces and activities of the soule, make her im­potent and unfit to govern the body; so that the principall part being sick and unapt to rule, the bodily facul­ties are profusely wasted and abused, and so death is hastned on, and with it a total and a finall destruction. At least by this yoke and bridle of sick­nesse, as by a wholsome kind of pur­gatory, men will be retained in the ordinary offices of piety, and (though they be but few, who are effectually reclaimed or converted by it,) yet this detainment of their health (which i [...] still left to them, they had still abused,) will in some mea­sure restrain and cut off from them, both the liberty and the power of sinning. Hitherto the most learned Crollius.

[Page 115] Thou wilt now (perhaps) object, that seeing all Diseases are not cu­rable, it is consequently absurd, to terme any Medicine universal I an­swer, That is termed universall, not becaus it takes away all diseases at all times & in all Causes, for that it can­not do; but because it being but one, can expell and cure all those diseases, which by all other particular or specifical Medicines whatsoever can, or have been healed and eradicated; yea, and some diseases which by no appropriated particular medicine can be healed, as the Gout, the Fal­ling sicknesse, the Dropsie, the Le­prosie, &c. Therefore it is termed u­niversal, because it hath in it real and effectually, all the manifest and oc­cult virtues of all other specifical me­dicines & that eminently, or by way of transcendency, so that all other medicines are subordinate and ac­comptable unto this.

Section 6.
How Medicines ought to be admi­nistred to the sick, and after what manner the Physician must be­have himself in their admi­nistration, and generally in his practise.

Section. 7.
How the sick man should behave himself, while he is in a course of Physick.