13. The body must be kept in that condition (as far as we can) that is fittest for the service of the soul; As you keep your Horse, neither so pampered as to be unruly, nor yet so low as to disable him for travel: But all that health and strength which makes it not unruly, maketh it the more serviceable. It is not the Life of the Body, but the Health and the Cheerfulness which maketh it fit for duty: And so much pleasing of the flesh as tendeth but to its Health and Cheerfulness, is a duty, where it can be done without greater hurt the other way. A heavy body is but a dull and heavy servant to the mind; yea, a great impediment to the soul in duty, and a great temptation to many sins▪ as sickly and melancholy persons, and many dull and phlegmatic people know by sad experience. ⟨p. 267⟩It is as great a duty to help the Body to its due alacrity and fitness for service, as it is to tame1 it, and bring it under by fasting and sackcloth when it is proud or lustful. And they that think fasting on certain days, in a formal manner, is acceptable to God, when the state of the body is not helped, but rather hurt and hindered by it, as if it were a thing required for it self, do mistakingly offer a Sacrifice to God, which he requireth not; and take him to be an enemy to man, that desireth his pain and grief, when it tendeth not to his good. A Mower that hath a good Sith will do more in a day, than another that hath a bad one can do in two: every Workman knoweth the benefit of having his Tools in order: And every Traveller knows the difference between a cheerful and a tired Horse. And they that have tried health and sickness know what a help it is in every work of God, to have a healthful body, and cheerful spirits, and an alacrity and promptitude to obey the mind. When the sights of prospects, and beauteous buildings, and fields, and countries, or the use of walks, or gardens, do tend to raise the soul to holy contemplation, to admire the Creator, and to think of the glory of the life to come (as Bernard used his pleasant walks); this Delight is lawful, if not a duty where it may be had. So when Music doth cheer the mind, and fit it for thanks and praise to God:
13. The body must be kept in that condition (as far as we can) that is fittest for the service of the soul; As you keep your Horse, neither so pampered as to be unruly, nor yet so low as to disable him for travel: But all that health and strength which makes it not unruly, maketh it the more serviceable. It is not the Life of the Body, but the Health and the Cheerfulness which maketh it fit for duty: And so much pleasing of the flesh as tendeth but to its Health and Cheerfulness, is a duty, where it can be done without greater hurt the other way. A heavy body is but a dull and heavy servant to the mind; yea, a great impediment to the soul in duty, and a great temptation to many sins▪ as sickly and melancholy persons, and many dull and phlegmatick people know by sad experience. ⟨p. 267⟩It is as great a duty to help the Body to its due alacrity and fitness for service, as it is to tame1 it, and bring it under by fasting and sackcloth when it is proud or lustfull. And they that think fasting on certain days, in a formal manner, is acceptable to God, when the state of the body is not helpt, but rather hurt and hindered by it, as if it were a thing required for it self, do mistakingly offer a Sacrifice to God, which he requireth not; and take him to be an enemy to man, that desireth his pain and grief, when it tendeth not to his good. A Mower that hath a good Sythe will do more in a day, than another that hath a bad one can do in two: every Workman knoweth the benefit of having his Tools in order: And every Traveller knows the difference between a cheerful and a tired Horse. And they that have tryed health and sickness know what a help it is in every work of God, to have a healthful body, and cheerful spirits, and an alacrity and promptitude to obey the mind. When the sights of prospects, and beauteous buildings, and fields, and countrys, or the use of walks, or gardens, do tend to raise the soul to holy contemplation, to admire the Creator, and to think of the glory of the life to come (as Bernard used his pleasant walks); this Delight is lawful, if not a duty where it may be had. So when Musick doth cheer the mind, and fit it for thanks and praise to God:
- 1Yet it's true which Petrarch saith, li. 2. Dial. 3. Valetudo infirma, Comes injucunda est, sed fidelis, quae te crebro vellicet, iter signet, & conditionis admoneat: Optimum in periculis monitor fidus. Et i. 1. Dial 3. Multis periculosa & pestilens sanitus est, qui tutius aegrotassent. Nusquam pejus quam in sano corpore, aeger animus habitat. Et Dial. 4. Quamvis mala, quamvis pessima aegritudo videatur, optabile malum tamen, quod mali remedium sit majoris.
