i he Preface. 



rate praifes of Cbjmcal Medicines ; firft puffe up with vaine hopes , and 

 then faile then foile their Admirers, 



And as for that T>eath } whkh is caufed by Suffocation,Putrefactior., and 

 fcvcral Difeafcs , we fpeak not now ; For that pertainesto an Hifloryot 

 Phjfpk; Boi pneiy of that Death , which comes by a total Decay of the 

 Body , and the In-coneoction of old Age. NeverthelelTe, the laft ^dt of 

 Death , and the very Extinguifhing of Life it felfe , which may fo msny 

 wayes be wrought j outwardly, and inwardly ; (which notwithftanding 

 have, as it were, one common Porch, before it comes to the point of 

 Death; ) will be pertinent , to be inquired of in this Treatife 5 but we 

 refer ve that for the laft place. 



That which may be repaired by decrees , without a total wafte of the 

 firft ftock, is potentially eternal : As thcFeflal Fire. Therefore,when Pby- 

 ficians and. Fhilofopbers faw, that Living Creatures were nourifhed, and 

 their Bodies repaired : But that this did laft onelyfor a times And af- 

 terwards came old Age, and, in the end, Diffolution : they fought Death 

 in femcwhat , which could not properly be repaired 5 Suppofing a Ra- 

 dical Moijlure incapable of folid Reparation ; And which, from the firft 

 infancy, received a Spurious Addition, but no true Reparation 5 where- 

 by it grew daily worle and worfe And, in the end , brought the Bad, to 

 None at all. This conceit of theirs, was both ignorant and vaine. For 

 all Things, in Living Creatures, are, in their youth , repaired entirely; 

 Nay, they are, for a time, increafed in Quantity , bettered in Quality; 

 foasthe Matter of Reparation might be Eternal, if the Manner of Re- 

 paration did not faile. But this is the Truth of it ; There is 9 in the 

 Declining of Age, an un-equal Reparation; Some parts are repaired ea- 

 fily , others with Difficulty ) and to their lofTe- So as, from that time 5 

 the Bodies of Men begin to endijre the Torments of Mezentimy That 

 the Livi'iodte in the Embraces of the Dead ; And the Parts eafily reparable, 

 through their Conjunction with the Parts hardly reparable , do decay. 

 For the Spirits^ Blend, Flefh, and Fat, are, even after the Decline of years, 

 eafily repaired , But the Drier, and more Porous parts , (As the Mem- 

 branes ; Allti e JuticleS\ The Sinewes, Arteries, Fehs, Bones, Cartilages^ 

 Moft of t)ie Bowels ; In a wor.d,almoft all the Organical Parts- ) are hardly 

 Reparable , and to their lofTe. Now thefe hardly Reparable Parts, 

 when they come to their Office, of Repairing the other, which arc eafi- 

 ly reparable > finding themfelves deprived of their wonted Ability, and 

 ftrcngih, ceafe to performe any longer, their proper Functions. By 

 which mcancs , it comes topalie, that in proceffeof time, the whole 

 tends to Diffolution ; And even thofevery parts, which in their owne 

 nature, are, with much eafe, Reparable Yet through the Decay of the 

 Organs of Reparation , can no more receive Reparation; But decline, 

 and, in the end utterly faile. And the caufe of the Termination of 

 Life, is this; For that the Sprits , like a gentle Flame, continually 

 preying upon Bodies ; confpiring with the outward Aire , which is ever 

 Sucking, and Drying of them; Doe, in time, deftroy the whole Fa- 

 brick of the Body ; As alfo the particular Engines , and Organs there- 

 of ; And make them unable , for the wprke, of Reparation. Thefe 

 are the true wayes, of Natural Death, well, and faithfully, to be revolved 

 in our Mindes : For He that knowes not the wayes of Nature^ov/ can he 

 fuccour her, or turn her abput. 



Therefore, the Inqtiifitim ought to be two- fold : The touching tji e 

 Cwfiw?pjiQn 3 or Depredation ., of the Bo t dy of Man 5 The other , touching 



th e 



