irmities and Weaknesses, which a Man brings
along with him into the World, which he deriv'd from his Parents and could
not avoid, may make him sickly and unhealthful, notwithstanding all his
Care and Precaution: And outward Accidents (from which no Man is free) may
cut off the Thread of Life before it is half spun out. There is no fencing
against the latter of those, but as to the former, a Man may in some
Measure correct and amend them by a sober and regular Life. In fine, let
a Man's Life be longer or shorter, yet Sobriety and Temperance renders it
pleasant and delightful. One that is sober, though he lives but thirty or
forty Years, yet lives long, and enjoys all his Days, having a free and
clear Use of all his Faculties; whilst the Man that gives himself to
Excess, and lays no Restraint to his Appetites, though he prolongs his
Life to Threescore or Fourscore Years (which is next to a Miracle) yet is
his Life but one continu'd doseing Slumber, his Head being always full of
Fumes, the Pores of his Soul cloudy and dark, the Organs of his Body weak
and worn out, and very unfit to discharge the proper Offices of a rational
Creature. And indeed Reason, if we hearken to it, will tell us, that a
good Regimen is necessary for the prolonging our Days, and that it
consists in two Things, first in takeing Care of the Quality, and secondly
of the Quantity, so as to eat and drink nothing that offends the Stomach,
nor any more than we can easily digest.

And in this, Experience ought to be our Guide in those two Principles,
when we arrive to Forty, Fifty, or Sixty Years of Age. He who puts in
Practice that Knowledge which he has of what is good for him, and goes on
in a frugal Way of Living, keeps the Humours in a just Temperature, and
prevents them from being altered, though he suffer Heat and Cold, though
he be fatigued, though his Sleep be broke, provided there be no Excess in
any of them. This being so, what an Obligation does Man lie under of
living soberly, and ought he not to free himself from the Fears of sinking
under the least Intemperature of the Air, and under the least Fatigue,
which makes us sick upon every slight Occasion?

'Tis true, the most sober Man may sometimes be indisposed, when they are
unavoidably obliged to transgress the Rule which they have been used to
observe; but then they are certain, their Indisposition will not last
above two or three Days at most, nor can they fall into a Fever: Weariness
and Fai