ey 2 
29. 
30. 
sla. 
32. 
- 4 eee OY ee eS 
The Hiftory of Life and Death. ks. 
ee 
The quantity of meat and drink which a man, eating two mealsa day, receiveth inso i. 
his body is not {mall ; much more than he yoideth again either by ftool, or by urine, | — 
or by fweating. You will fay, No marvel, feeing the remainder goeth into the juices , 
and fubftance of the body. It is true ; but confider then that this addition is made twice 
_aday, and yet the body aboundethnot much, Inlikesmanner, though the {pirit be re. | 
paired, yet it grows not exceffively inthe quantity. =~. oy i 
It doth no good to have the Aliment ready, in adegree removed, butto have itof that | 
Kind, and fo prepared and fupplied that the {pirit may work upon it : for the ftaff of 
a Torch alone will not maintain the flame, unlefs it be fed with wax, neither can men | 
live"upon herbs alone. And from thence comes the /zconcotlion of old age, thereon 
there be flefh and bloud, yet the fpirit is become fo penurious and thin, and the 
juices and bloud fo heartlefs and obftinate , that they hold no proportion to 4hi~ | 
mentation. hie fF 
Let usnow caft up the accounts of the Needs and Indigences, according to the ordi. | 
nary and ufual courfe of nature. The Spirit hath need of opening and moving it-felf | 
in the Ventricles of the Brain and Nerves even continually, of the motion of the Heart 
every third part of a moment, of breathing every moment, of fleep and nourifhment | 
once within three days, of the power of nourifhment commonly till eighty years be 
paft: And ifany of thefe Zndigences beneglected, Death enfucth. So there are plainly 
three Porches of Death; Deftitution of the Spirit in the W4ozson, in.the Refrigeration, | 
in the Aliment. Gs 
It i an error to think that the Living Spirit is perpetually generated and extinguifbed, | 
as Flame is, and abideth not any notable time: for even Flame 2 felf ts not thus out of 
its own proper nature, but becaufe it liveth amongst enemies, for Flame within Flame 
endureth, Now the Living Spirit liveth among ft friends, and all due obfequiou{ne[s. So 
then, as Flame w a momentany fubjtance, Air is a fixed fubftance, the Living Spirit és 
betwixt both, : yi ae me 
Touching the extinguifhing of the Spirit by the deftryction of the Organs (which a 
canfed by Difeafes and Violence) we enquire not now, as we foretold in the beginning, alm 
though that alfo endeth in the famethree Porches. ..And touching the Form of Death st 
[elf tkus much, Tod wa . oul las 
There are two great forerunners of Death, the one fent fromthe Head, the other 
from the Heart ; Convalfion, and the extreme labour of the Pee; for,asfor the deadly 
Hiccough, itis a kind of Coxvulfox. ;. But the deadly labour of the Pxife hath that | 
unufual fwiftnefs , becaufe the Heart at the point of death doth fo tremble, thar| 
the Syfole and Diajftole thereof, are almoft confounded. There is alfo conjoyned:| 
in the P#/fe a weaknefs and lownefs, and oftentimes a great intermiffion, becaufe} 
the motion of the Heart faileth, and is not able to rife againft the affault ftoutly orn} 
conftantly. i ralkitncs ae 
The immediate proceeding figns of Death are , great unquietnefs and toffing inthe } _ 
bed, fumbling with the hands, catching and grafping hard, gnafhing with the teeth, 
{peaking hollow, trembling of theneather lip, palenefs of the faces the memory con--| 
fufed, {peechlefs, cold -{weats, the body fhoeting in length, lifting, up the white of | 
‘the cye, changing of the whole vifage, (as the nofe {harp, eyes hollow, cheeks fallen). | 
contraction and doubling of the coldnefs in the extreme parts of the body; infome; } 
fhedding of bloud or fperm, fhrieking, breathing thick and fhert, falling of the nea. | 
ther chap, and fuchlike. “ ‘escent 
| -'There follow Death a privation of all fenfe and motion, as well of the Heart and j — 
Arteries as of the Nerves and Joynts, an inability of thebody to fupportit {elf upright, | — 
ftiffnefs of the Nerves and parts, extream coldnefs of the whole body 5 after alittle | 
while, ‘putrefaGionand ftinking. 7S oe 
Beles, Serpentsand the Infetta will move a long time in every part after they are-eut f 
afunder, infomuch that Country people think that the parts ftrive to joyn together } 
again. ~Alfo Birds will flutter:.a great while after their heads are pulled off 3.and.the f 
hearts of living creatures will pant a long time after they are plucked out. Iremem- } 
ber Ihave feen the'heart of one that was bowelled, as fuflering for High Treafon, that 
being’ caft into the: fire, leaped at the firft at leaft a foot and half in height, and after{ 
by degrees lower and lower, for the fpace, as I remember, of fevenor cight minutes, ie 
‘There is alfo an ancient and credible Tradition ofan 0x lowing after his bowels were by 
plucked out. But there isa more certain tradition of aman, who being under the | 
2 l xecu- |) 
