The angel of Bethesda, visiting the invalids of a miserable world [Seven lines of quotations] / By a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The angel of Bethesda, visiting the invalids of a miserable world [Seven lines of quotations] / By a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Table of contents

Title page

Nishmath-Chajim. The Probable SEAT of all Diseases, and a General CURE for them, further Discovered. More particularly, for Splenetic & Hysteric Maladies, which make so great a part of our Distempers.

De Flatibus Humanum Corpus Molestantibus.

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[Page]

[Page]

The Angel of Bethesda, Visiting THE INVALIDS OF A MISERABLE WORLD

Spi [...]i [...]s hil [...]is Aetat [...] [...]rid [...]m facit: Spi [...]s [...] Ex [...] O [...] ▪

E [...]dem a [...] Regi [...] S [...]itatis Sa [...]er [...]i [...]:

Fol. III.

Si [...]ibi def [...]i [...] M [...]i [...]ci, M [...]d [...]ci [...]ibi [...] ▪

H [...] [...], [...]

Qu [...] V [...]s [...] i [...]sum, [...];

Psal. C [...]ii 10.

BY a FELLOW of the ROYAL SOCIETY.

NEW-LONDON: Printed and Sold by Timothy Green.

1722.

Nishmath-Chajim. The Probable SEAT of all Diseases, and a General CURE for them, further Discovered.
More particularly, for Splenetic & Hysteric Maladies, which make so great a part of our Distempers.

[Page]

I. THERE is a Spirit in Man; A Wonderful Spirit, which from very good Authority may be called, NISHMATH-CHAJIM, [Or, The Breath of Life:] And which may be of a Middle Nature, between the Rational Soul, and the Corporeal Mass; But may be the Medium of Communication, by which they work, upon one another. It Wonderfully receives also Impressions from Both of them; And Perhaps it is the Vital Ty between them. The Scriptural Anatomy of Man, into Spirit, and Soul, and Body, seems to favour and invite the Apprehensions, which we are now proceeding to.

[Page] II. THE Great GOD who formed all things, and who after a Singular manner forms the Spirit of Man within him, has Endued this Nishmath-Chajim, with Marvellous Faculties; which yet are all of them short of those Powers, which Enable the Rational Soul, to Penetrate into the Causes of Things; To Do Curious and Exquisite Things in the Mathematical Sciences; And above all, To act upon a Principle of Love to GOD, and with the Views of Another World.

III. SOME Rays of Light Concerning this Nishmath-Chajim, have been darted into the Minds of many Learned Men, who have yet after all remained very much in the Dark about it.

FAMOUS have been the Sentiments of Helmont (and some other Masters of Obscurities) about it; who would Exhibit it under the Name of the Archaeus; and with much of Reason Press, that in the Care of Diseases, there may be more of Regard Paid unto it.

ACCORDING to Gr [...]mbs (Writing, De Ort [...] Rerum) it is, Medium quid inter Vitam at Corpus, et Vel [...]i Aura nit [...] Splend [...]sque▪ A Sort of Luminous Air, which is of a Middle Nature, Spirituous and Corpor [...]us.

IT has the Denomination of, The Astral Spirit, with some Philosophers, who Trouble the [...], more than there is any Need for.

[Page] EVEN the Galenists themselves, have not been without some Suspicions, yea, some Acknowledgments, of our Nishmath-Chajim, and have given very Broad Hints Concerning it. And no doubt, they may thank the Old Platonists for Instructing of them. The Great Fernelius, one of the most Illustrious Men that ever shone among them, (Writing, De Abditis rerum Causis) gives a very Lively Description of it. Yea, He finds it in the, To ENORMON, or, Inciter, of Hippocrates; and having a great Power of Incursion, like the Wind, he allows it some Affinity with the Nature of Body; But inasmuch as it is Invisible, it must also have some Affinity with what is Incorporeal▪ So, he will have it of a Middle Nature between Both. But he supposes it, the Vehicle, and proper Seat of the Soul, and all its Faculties; and if we call it, their Body, we shall have his Permission for it.

AND indeed, the Old Platonists had a Notion, of a certain Excellent Body, Pelluced, and Ethereal, Subservient unto the Faculties of the Soul, and Uniting it unto the more Terrestrial Body.

HEURNIUS, whom some Reckon and Value next unto Fernelius, (in his Institutions) describes it as, A kind of Etherial Spirit, Ela [...]er [...] out of the purest part of the Blood, and changed into the Substance of a very subtil Air;[Page]and the prime Instrument of the Soul, for the performance of its Functions.

IV. OUR Nishmath-Chajim seems to be Commensurate unto our Bodies; and our Bodies are Conformable to the Shape which GOD our Maker gives to that Plastic Spirit, (if we may call it so:) But by what Principle the Particles of it, which may be finer than those of the Light it self, are kept in their Coh [...]esion to one another; tis a thing yet Unknown unto us.

V. AND how it fares in the Case of Amputations on our Bodies; Whether like a Flame Violently Struck off, what is so, may not nimbly, as by a sort of Magnatism, Re-unite with what it belongs unto: But then, how far it becomes for the Present folded up into it: Or, Whether it be not Entirely Lost, but what remains, may have the Power to Produce a Recruit, when there shall be a Lodging again Provided for it; This also is yet Unknown unto us.

VI. THE Nishmath-Chajim is the Spirit of the Several Parts, where it has a Residence; and it is the Life by which the Several Parts have their Faculties Maintained in Exercise. This tis, that Sees, that Hears, that Feels; and Performs the Several Digestions in the Body. And the Animal World, having Anima [...] Pr [...] Sale, if it were not for This, would quickly Putrify.

[Page] VII. WE have sometimes been led by our Microscopes, into some Apprehensions, That our Bodies are Originally folded up, in Inconceivably Minute Corpusculicunicules; and that Generation is nothing but the Evolution of the Stamina so Involved: Which Operation is carried on, by filling them up with a matter agreeable to them, till they have an Augmentation to the utmost Extent of the Dimensions, that they can reach unto: And that the Resurrection of the Dead, which is in the Sacred Scriptures called, A Filling of the Dead Bodies, will find out the Old Stamina of the Forsaken Body, again Shrunk up into its first Parvity, and Replenish it with a more Etherial Matter, fit for the Coelestial Employments and Enjoyments intended for it. But this Hypothesis is Encumbred with Difficulties, which drive us unto a Nishmath-Chajim, either to Support and Perfect the Hypothesis, or to yield us a Better upon the fai [...] of it.

VIII. THE Nishmath-Chajim is indeed, Generatienis Faber ac Rector; and as it Leads to the Acts Requisite in Generation, without any further instructor, So it is the Spirit, whose Way we know not, for Shaping the Bones, and other Parts, in the Womb of her that [...] with Child▪

IX THERE are indeed many Things in the Humane Body, that cannot be solved by [Page] the Rules of Mechanism. Our Nishmath-Chajim will go very far to help us in the Solution of them. Indeed we can scarce well Subsist without it.

X THERE is an astonishing Operation, & indeed some Illustration and Explanation, of the Nishmath Chajim, in Pregnant Women; Whose Imaginations frequently makes Impressions on the Unborn Infants, that would Exceed all Belief, if we had them not continually in View before our Eyes. The [...]nces are so Numerous and so Various th [...] One might Compile a Large Volumn of them; and almost ask a Paleph [...] to a [...]rd a [...]i [...]ie for it. But in what other way to be accounted for?

XI. FOR the Nishmath-Chajim we may safely be Traducians. It is a [...] in, and so Derived from the [...]. And this Traductian (which is [...] L [...]min [...]) may help us considerably, in our Enquiries, How the Dispositions of our [...] Convey'd & Infus'd into us?

XII. IT was of Old, yea, it is at this day, a prevailing Opinion, among the Strangers to the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God; That the Manes, which remain after Death, have still an Humane Shape, and all the Parts both External & Internal, which there were in the Body that is now deserted: yea, That there [Page] is a Food which this Departed Spirit craves for & Lives on. Homer inflicts Punishments on the Wicked after Death, which there must be a Sort of Bodies to be the Subjects of. And Plato Speaks of those that are Punished in Hell, as having such Members and Faces as they had once upon the Earth. Indeed Justin Martyr argues from it, that these old Gentlemen must needs have some Knowlege and Belief of our Doctrine of, The Resurrection of the Dead. But what shall we say, when our Glorious LORD-REDEMER, in His Parable of the Rich man, supposes his Body in the Grave, and yet being in Hell, he cries out of a Body, and particularly, of a Tongue, that is tormented there? Many of the Ancients thought, there was much of a Real History in the Parable; and their Opinion was, That there is, DIAPHORA KATATAS MORPHAS, A Distinction (and so a Resemblance) of men as to their Shapes after Death. We find This was the Opinion of Iraen [...]s; who proves, from what our SAVIOUR Speaks of the Dead Man, that the Souls which have put off their Bodies, do yet Characterem Corporum Custodire, Preserve the Shapes of the Bodies, to which they were United. And from the same Speech of our SAVIOUR, Tertullian does infer, E [...]igiem Animae et Corporales Lineas, the Shape and Corpoperal Lineaments of the Soul, I will say nothing [Page] of what Thespesius returning to Life reported about the, [...]A TONE PSEUCONE CROMATA, The Colours of Souls, & the Ulcers by their Passions left upon them.

XIII. THE Nishmath-Chajim is much like the Soul which animates the Brutal World; Even that spirit of the Beast, which goeth downward unto the Earth; but is by the Hand of the Glorious Creator impregnated with a Capacity, and Inclination, for those Actions, which are necessary for the Preservation of themselves, & the Propagation of their Species. The Nidification of Birds, the Mollification of Bees, and a Thousand such Things, how surprizing Works done in the Brutal World, without any Rational Projection for them! And hence, there are also many Actions done by us, that have a Tendency to our Safety & Welfare, which are not the Effects of any Rational Projection; but such as we do by what we call, A meer Instinct of Nature, fall into. The Sucking Infant, yea, and the Nursing Mother too, do very Needful and Proper Things, without Consulting of Reason for the doing of them.

XIV. HAVING at some time or other felt a Considerable Smart, or been Considerably Sick, from something that we have met withal, we have an Abiding Horror for that thing perhaps all our Days. Tho' we Certainly [Page]Know that the Thing will now do us No Hart, but rather do us Much Good, yet no Conviction of Reason will Overcome our Abiding Horror, We cannot Swallow the Pill, or take the Meat or the Drink, & do an hundred Things, which we have heretofore been horribly frighted at. Our Nishmath-Chajim has an lncurable Aversion for them.

XV. TIS the Nishmath-Chajim, that is the Strength of every part in our Body, and that gives Motion to it. Here perhaps the Origin of Muscular Motion may be a little accounted for. And this is the Spirit, and the Balsome, & one might almost say, the Keeper, of each part, which is Occupied and Befriended with it. Yea, what Construction shall we make of it, when People have Lived without any Brains in their Heads, & after the Destruction of almost all the Bowels in their Bodies? We are supplied and surprized with many most Credible Relations of such Things. And I Question, whither any thing will do so well, or go so far, as our Nishmath-Chajim, to account for them?

XVI. THE Principal Wheel in the Animal Oeconomy, is the Stomach. And we shall now find that which above all things the Digestion there, is to be ascribed unto. Dispute, O Philosophers, and Physicians, How Digestion is Performed in the Stomach. Tis the Nishmath-Chajim [Page] after all, that is above all, the Main Digester. Else, how could a Stomach that is actually Cold, and has in it no very Tastable or Notable Humour for this purpose, Digest the very Stones that are taken down into it?

THE taking of some Repast, is in our Sacred Scripture sometimes called, The Establishing of the Heart. The Heart, is not seldom, a term for our Nishmath-Chajim.

XVII. IT is the Nishmath-Chajim, that is more Eminently the Seat of our Diseases, or the Source of them. To pass by what they quote of Herophilus, we find Plato Elegantly Demonstrating▪ That all Diseases have their Origin in the Soul. Yea, as long ago, as the Days of Hippocrates, the Essentials of Diseases began to be Discovered; and the Pacifying & Rectifying, of the Enforcing Spirit was proposed as the most ready way to Cure them.

QUAERE; How far the Decays of Old Age are to be found in the Circumstances of the Nishmath-Chajim falling under Impairments? And Whence it came to pass that when Moses was very Old, yet his Eye was not dim, nor his Natural Force abated?

IS not this the true, Humidum Radicale, they use to talk of?

AND is not this the Microcosmic Air, whereto Tachenius ascribes the Cure of the [Page] Gout by a strong pertu [...] of the Mind; upon which he concludes it animated?

XVIII. IT is Probable, that when we Dy, the Nishmath-Chajim, goes away, as a Vehicle to the Rational Soul; and continues unto it an Instrument of many Operations. Here we have some Solution for the Difficulties, about Place, and the Change of it, for such an Immaterial Spirit as the Rational Soul; And some Account for Apparitions of the Dead: The Spectres, which are called both, Spirits, and Phantasms, in our Gospel. Yea, We are certain of it, That Persons before they have Died, upon strong Desires to Visit and Behold some Objects at a Distance from the Place to which they were now Confined, have been thrown into a Trance, wherein they have lain some Considerable. While without Sense or Breath; and then Returning, have reported what they have seen. But incontestible Witnesses have deposed, that in This Time, they were actually Seen at the Place, which they affirmed they had gone unto.

AND here also we do a little understand, how our Apostle in the Raptures (which the Scoffing Lucian derides him for) wherein he supposes he might be Out of the Body, yet he heard Words; he was yet Sensible of Occurrences.

XIX. IN the Indisputable and Indubitable Occurrences of Witchcrafts (and Possessions) [Page] there are many things, which, because they are Hard to be Understood▪ the Epicurian-Sadducees content themselves, in their Swinish Manner, only to Laugh at. But the Nishmath-Chajim well understood, would give us a marvellous Key to let us into the Philosophy of them.

XX. AND now, for some Important Consequences.

MOST Certainly, the Physicians that can find out Remedies (particularly in the Mineral or Vegitable Kingdom) that shall have a more Immediate Efficacy to Brighten, and Strengthen, & Comfort, the Nishmath-Chajim, will be the most Successful Physician in the World. Especially, if he can Irradiate the Spirit in the Stomach, he will do Wonderfully.

THOSE things also, which Fortify the Blood, and restore a Volatil Ferment, in the Vapid and Languid Blood, will do Wonders for us. It is impossible to Kill a Man (the Nishmath-Chajim will never leave him) till the Circulation of his Blood be ruined.

XXI. WE read, Heaviness in the Heart of man makes it stoop; but a Good Word makes it Glad. We read, A Chearful Heart does good like a Medicine; but a broken spirit dries the Bones. The Invigoration, or the Debilitation of the Nishmath-Chajim, is that wherein these ancient Observations are accomplished.

[Page] IT is a Remark of Baglivi, but it may have been made by Ten Thousand more; ‘That a great part of our Diseases, Either do Rise from, or are Fed by, a Weight of Cares, lying on the Minds of men. Diseases that seem Incurable, are easily Cured by agreeable Conversation. Disorders of the Mind, first bring Diseases on the Stomach; and so the whole Mass of Blood gradually becomes infected. And as long as the Passions of the Mind continue, the Diseases may indeed change their Forms; but they rarely quit the Patients.’

A BONIFACIUS heretofore Address'd the Physicians on this Occasion, in such Terms as these. ‘Tranquility of Mind, will do Strange Things towards the Relief of Bodily Maladice. Tis not without Reason, that Hofman in this Dissertation, Des Moyens de vivre longtems, does insist on Tranquility of Mind as the chief among the Ways to Live Long; and that this is the cause why we read, The Fear of the Lord tendeth to Life. They that have Practised, The Art of Curing by Expectation, have made an Experiment of what the Mind will do towards the Cure of the Body. By Practising, The Art of Curing by Consolation, you may carry on the Experiment. I Propound then, Let the Physician with all possible Ingenuity of Conversation, find out, what matter [Page] of Anxiety, there may have been upon the Mind of his Patient; what there is, that has made his Life Uneasy to him. Having Discovered the Bu [...]n, let him use all the ways he can devise to take it off. Offer him such Thoughts, as may be the best Anodynes for his Distressed Mind; especially, the Right Thoughts of the Righteous, and the Ways to a Composure upon Religious Principles. Give him a Prospect, if you can, of some Deliverance from his Distresses, or some Abatement of them. Raise in him as Bright Thoughts as may be, and Scatter the Clouds, remove the Loads, which his Mind is Perplexed withal: Especially, by Representing and Magnifying the Mercy of GOD in CHRIST unto him.’

XXII. IT is well known that if one Third of our Diseases, be those which we call, Chronical, more than one Half of this Third, will be those, which in Men go under the Name of Splenitic, and in Women go under the Name of Hysteric; tho' the Spleen and the Womb are often enough unjustly accused in these Denominations. It is marvellous to see, in how many Forms we undergo Splenetic and Hysteric Maladies; The very Toothache it self often belongs unto them: And Marvellous will be the Success, Marvellous the Esteem, of the Physician that can Discover'em & Encounter'em.

[Page] THE Sagacious Dr. Sydenham, seems to have the Scent of our Nishmath-Chajim, when he tells us, That as the Outward Man is fram'd with Parts, obvious to Sense, thus the Inward Man does consist of a due Series, and as it were a Fabric, or Spirits, to be view'd only by the Eye of Reason: And as this is united with the Constitution of the Body, so the Frame of it is more or less easily Disordered, by how much the Constitution of the Spirits is more or less Firm within us. And that the Origin of the Splenetic and Hysteric Ataxy in the Body is a Feeble Constitution of the Spirits, and the breaking of their System, so that they are easily Dissipated, or have an Unequal Distribution.

THESE Maladies have many Symptoms, which may serve as Diagnosticks for them; Especially these Two: That the Urine is Clear, Limpid, & Copious. And, That the Patient is Chiefly affected with his Indispositions, when he has just had his Mind under some Disturbance and Affliction.

IT is Plain, that these Diseases are not mainly in the Humours; inasmuch as Evacuations do not Relieve, but fearfully Produce & Increase the Diseases. Only indeed, when the Ataxy of the Spirits, has by its Continuance at last Considerably Vitiated the Humours,—Then a little Purging & Bleeding may be allow'd of.

[Page] THE Cure is; First, Quiet the Spirits with Proper Anodynes. Then bring them to Rights, and Revive them & Refresh them, & bring a New Strength into them. In short, Confirm the System. Chalybeates do Wonders this way; And usually the Steel in Substance, more than many of the Common Preparations. Corroborating Plants, infused in Generous Wine, or a Tea of them, have also done Wondrously. Yea, Venice-Treacle alone (our Sydenham says) as Contemptible as it may seem, yet if often used, and a long while, it is a Great Remedy in This, as well as very many other Diseases, and perhaps the most Effectual that has hitherto been known in the World.

THE Force of the Peruvian Bark Regularly administred, for giving a Vigour to the Blood, and so to the Spirits, has also been very Surprising And for the Recovering of People to an Healthy Constitution out of Splenetic and Hysteric Diseases.

BUT there is nothing like the Exercise of Riding on Horse-back, Every Day, when the Weather will allow it; and increasing the Journey by Degrees till one comes to a Score of Miles in a Day.

XXIII. UPON the Whole;

OF all the Remedies under Heaven, for the Conquering of Distempers, & for the Preservation of Health & Prolongation of Life, [Page] There will now be found none, like Serious PIETY. Many Remedies have done Virtuously (& had their Virtues) but thou Excellest thou all. The Rational Soul in its Reflections h [...] Powerful and Wonderful Influences on the Nishmath-Chajim. Now in the Methods of PIETY, get a Soul into the Peace of GOD, with Assurance of a Reconciliation to Him; and walk in the Fear of GOD, & the Comfort of the Holy Spirit; Keeping always in, and Filled always with, His Love; and Indulge none of those Lusts, which render the Wicked like the Troubled Sea. Keep a Conscience, which in a Continual Aim at what is Right shall make a Continual Feast. Be not Anxious about Futurities, nor Disturbed upon Provocations: But let the Strong Faith of a Faithful SAVIOUR Performing the Thing that is Appointed for us in all that happens, Produce a perpetual Tranquillity & Serenity in the Soul. Go on Singing in the Ways of the Lord, & Casting all Burdens on Him, & Rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of GOD. Thus, I show you a most Excellent Way.

XXIV. LET this be Remembred; Moderate Abstinence, & Convenient Exercise; and some Guard against Injurious Changes of the Weather, with an HOLY & EASY MIND, will go as far, in Carrying us with Undecay'd Garments thro' the Wilderness, to the Promis'd & Pleasant Land, which we are Bound unto, as all the Prescriptions with which all the Physicians under Heaven, have ever yet Obliged us.

De Flatibus Humanum Corpus Molestantibus.

[Page]

By another Hand.

RES levis est flatus: Sed enim firmissima quaeque;

Concutit, et terris et dominatur aquis:

Horrenda ignivomo reboare tonit [...]a caelo

Audisti, et trepidis fulmina missa pelis?

Iratum vastis agitari fluctibus aequor

Vidisti, et mersas per freta faeva rares?

Annosasque ima quercus tellure revulsas,

Et validas rurres, et cecidisse domos?

Tum sonitu ingenti torqueri immania saxi

Pondera per longos ignibus acta tabos?

Sensisti et quondam tremere intima Viscera terrae,

Credulus extremum jam fore jamque diem?

Scilicet efficiunt violenti haec omnia [...]at [...]s:

Qui simili afflictant Corpora nostra modo:

Si quando inclusi per summa▪ per ima vagantur,

Et miseris Vexant Viscera torminibus.

Magis nocet nimius Animi affectus,

Quam nimius Corporis motus.

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Title statement

The angel of Bethesda, visiting the invalids of a miserable world [Seven lines of quotations] / By a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N01982

ID [TCP]

N01982

ID [STC]

Evans 2352

ID [NOTIS]

APX1705

ID [IMAGE-SET]

2352

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99018390

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 2352.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N01982)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 2352)

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Source

— The angel of Bethesda, visiting the invalids of a miserable world [Seven lines of quotations] / By a Fellow of the Royal Society., Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728., Winthrop, John, 1681-1747..

Extent

[2], 17, [1] p. ; 16 cm. (12mo)

Printed and sold by Timothy Green.,. New-London [Conn.]: :: 1722.. (This text forms ch. 5 of the larger work of the same name.) (Running title: Mishmath-chajim. The seat of all diseases & their cure.) (Attributed to Cotton Mather by Holmes.) ("De flatibus humanum corpus molestantibus. By another hand."--p. [18], in verse. Probably written by John Winthrop.)

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