[ 1371] Wise Men dying as well as Fools.
IT is observed concerning Paracelsus,* 1.1 (a great Physitian, and a Man exceed∣ingly well verst in Chymical experiments) that he bragg'd and boasted, that he had attained to such Wisdome in discerning the Constitutions of Mens bo∣dies,* 1.2 and studying remedies, that whosoever did follow his rules, and keep to his directions, should never dye by any disease; casually he might, and of age he must; but he would undertaker to secure his health against all diseases: a bold undertaking! But he, who by his art promised to protect others to the extremi∣ty of old age from the arrest of death, could not by all his art and skill make himself a protection in the prime of his youth, but dyed even as one without wis∣dome, before or when he had seen but thirty: Thus it is, that Wisemen many times do not onely dye as well as Fools,* 1.3 but as Fools without Wisdome. They who have most Worldly wisdome, usually die with the least, in not preparing wisely for death; they may be said to have had Wisdome, but they die as if they never had had any;* 1.4 that is, they apply not their Wisdome while they live, to fit themselves for their death; they die before they understand what it is to live, or why they live; and so dying unpreparedly, they die foolishly.