A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner...

CHAP. LXXI. Present Retribution to the Temperate.

SOlomon amongst the Elogiums he bestows upon Spiritual Wisdom, gives this for one; That length of days is in her right hand: and upon Observation it will be found true. For (besides other Conside∣rations) the Rules of Temperance prescribed by our Religion, for the Government of our Appetites, de mightily conduce to the preservation of Health and long Life, and many other Commodities, which shall be hinted at in the following Paragraphs.

1. Johannes de Temporibus may justly go for an Antesignanus, in the Front of this Chapter, Armour-bearer to Charles the Great, a Man of great Temperance, Sobriety, and Contentment of Mind, and lived to the Age of 361. Hackwel. Apol. L. 3. C. 1. Sect. 6, &c.

2. Lescius, in his Hygiasticon, speaking concerning Sobriety, reckons up the several Commodities of it thus:

• 1. It frees from almost all Diseases; Catarrhs, Coughs, Wheezings, Dizziness, Pains of Head and Stomach, Apoplexies, &c.
• 2. It fortifies against outward Causes; Heat, Cold, Labour, Wounds, Bruises, putting out of Joynt, breaking of Bones, (for Flux of Humours doth much hinder the Cure, and causeth Inflama∣tions) against the Plague, &c.
• 3. It mitigates incurable Diseases; as ulcers in the Lungs, Hardness in the Liver and Spleen, &c.
• 4. It conduceth to long Life, and an easie Death, except in Cases extraordinary.
• 5. It makes the Body agile, lightsome, fresh.
• 6. It maintains the Senses in their integrity and vigour.
• 7. It mitigates the Passions, especially Anger and Melancholly.
• 8. It preserves the Memory.
• 9. It helps the Wit and Understanding.
• 10. It quencheth Lust, and doth wonderfully prevent the Temptations of the Flesh, &c.

3. Hippocrates, to one asking his Advice concerning the preservation of his Health, made Answer, Let Meat, Drink, Sleep, Venery, all be moderate. Nor did he only prescribe so to others, but practi∣sed himself; and accordingly he lived One hundred and Four Years, Verulam. History of Life and Death.

4. Galen, who lived in Health, except One Day's Sickness, the space of an Hundred Years, being asked what Diet he used, answered, I have drank no Wine, touched no Woman, eat nothing raw or un∣ripe, kept my Body warm, and my Breath sweet. Some say he lived One hundred and forty Years Fulgos. L. 8. C. 14.

5. Cicero prescribeth thus for the Health: Concoction, Chearfulness, Walking, Temperance, Re∣creation, and the Belly soluble. Marcil. in Pyth. Carm.

6. Sir Matthew Hale, with some other young Students, being invited to be merry out of Town, one of the Company called for so much Wine, that notwithstanding all that Sir Matthew Hale could do to prevent it, he went on in his excess, 'till he fell down as dead before them; Mr. Hale thereupon went into another Room, shut the Door, and pray'd earnestly to God, both for himself and his Friend, making a Vow to God, That he would never again keep Company in that manner, nor drink a Health while he lived. His Friend recover'd, and he religiously kept his Vow to his dying Day, and though sometimes roughly treated, because he would drink no Health, but especially the King's; yet he fared never the worse, either in God's Favour, or the King's: as appears by the Divine Blessing upon his Practice, and the Preferments he had at Court. See his Life.

7. Ludovicus Cornarius, a Venetian, and a Learned Man, wrote a Book of the benefit of a Sober Life, and produceth himself as a Testimony thereof, saying, Ʋnto the Fortieth Year of my Age I was continually vexed with variety of Infirmities; I was sick at Stomach of a Fever, a Pleurisie, and lay ill of the Gout. At last this Man by the Perswasion of Physicians, took up a way of living with such Tem∣perance, that in the space of One Year, he was freed almost of all his Diseases. In the Seventieth Year of his Age he had a fall, whereby he brake his Arm and Leg, so that upon the Third Day no∣thing but Death was expected; yet he recovered without Physick: for his Abstinence was to him in∣stead of all other means; and that was it which hindred a recurrency of malignant Humors to the Parts affected. In the Eighty third Year of his Age, he was so sound and chearful, so vegete, and so entire in his Strength, that he could climb Hills, leap upon his Horse from the even Ground, write Comedies, and do most of those things he used to do when he was young. If you ask how much Meat and Drink this Man took, his daily Allowance for Bread, and all manner of other Food, was Twelve Ounces: this was his usual Measure; and the said Cornarius did seriously affirm, That if he chanced to exceed but a few Ounces, he was thereby apt to relapse into his former Diseases. All this he hath set down of himself in Writing, and it is annexed to the Book of Leonardus Lescius, a Physician, which was Printed at Amsterdam, Anno Dom. 1631. Drexel. Oper. Tom. 2. p. 794. Lescius Hygiastic. C. 4. Sect. 25. p. 86.

8. Mr. W. Garaway, of whom I have made mention elsewhere in this Book, is now going upon the Eighty first Year of his Age, very healthful and stout in his Body, of perfect Sence, and good Me∣mory, to a wonder: but the wonder is abated, when we consider his Caution used in Dieting of him∣self; for he keeps a Fast, and abstains from all Fond, at least, One Day every Week; and at other times ordinarily abstains from Wine and strong Liquors, unless now and then a Glass, by way of Cordial.