Remarks on fasting, and on the discipline of the body : in a letter to a clergyman / by a physician.

Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on fasting, and on the discipline of the body : in a letter to a clergyman / by a physician. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    bodily functions, than the practice of fasting at stated periods, as enjoined by our Church. The frequent recurrence of the inquiry, how far our senses and appetites are under our control, is a discipline which cannot fail to produce the most Avholesome effects upon both body and soul. At these seasons, the questions which should engage the attention of one, who duly estimates the intimate connexion of these two parts of our nature, would be such as the following. Am I using my body as the temple in which the soul is to dwell not only in this life but throughout eternity ? Do I look sufficiently to its state of order, of subjection, of purity? or do I merely employ it as an instrument or machine, which has no other use than to do the bidding of my will, regardless of its tendency to re-act on my thoughts and affections, and to usurp the mastery over that will to which it should be in subjection? Do I, on the one hand, indulge those appetites, which are given me as guides for the preservation of my body, to such a degree that they have lost their proper use, and no longer may be safely followed; or do I, on the other hand, neglecting the warnings of legiti- mate appetite, devote myself so exclusively to my pursuits, whatever they may be, that the fabric so fearfully and wonderfully made falls out of repair, and becomes unable to respond to the impulses of the mind, which, in its turn, (such is the intimacy of the union of both,) languishes and falls into decay, or, losing its harmony of action, deviates into some