Precept & Practice – MARCH 25 – Body and Soul

…..It must not be forgotten that man’s body, though an instrument, is not a mere passive instrument, of man’s spirit.   Man’s spirit does not simply shine through man’s body as light shines through uncoloured glass.   The body gives colour (strong and definite colour) to every ray of light which passes in and out of it.   Man’s body is not an instrument like a harp over which the hand of the musician sweeps.   It is not like the clay in the hands of the potter;  or the pencil in the hand of the limner;  or the chisel in the hand of the sculptor.   Man’s body, though an instrument, is an animated and active instrument;  it is an instrument which exercises very considerable power over the spirit which wields and uses it.   There is close union and solidarity between man’s body and man’s spirit.   They are so intimately related to each other;  each acts and re-acts upon the other with such strange, mysterious, mighty influence, that you might as well expect water running through a muddy pipe to be clean, as impressions conveyed through an impure body to be pure.   A pure body is a keen and sound instrument for a man’s spirit to work with;  an impure body is an instrument blunt and rotten.

Bishop Diggle (Sermons for Daily Life)

Every Christian must recognise the fact that the laws of health are the laws of God as much as are the precepts of the Decalogue.

J. H. Kellog

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW