2 Samuel 20:9 And Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. The lesson of this close interaction of mind and body is that we should put the whole treatment of the body on a moral basis. De Quincey closes the section dealing with health of his treatise on casuistry with some strong words, which have added weight from his own mistakes in dealing with himself: "Casuistry, justly and without infringing any truth of Christianity, urges the care of health as the basis of all moral action, because, in fact, of all voluntary action. Every impulse of bad health jars or untunes some string in the fine harp of human volition, and, because a man cannot be a moral being but in proportion of his free agency, therefore it is clear that no man can be in a high sense moral, except in so far as through health he commands his bodily powers, and is not commanded by them." (Hugh Black, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. |
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