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140 mortification, rather than to run the risk of having to give them up altogether because of excesses. I give you this advice, being persuaded that you are not likely to fall into the error of some, who, though they pass for spiritual persons in the world, yet are they deluded and led astray by their deceitful nature into over-carefulness about the preservation of their bodily health. So jealous and anxious over it are they, that for the most trifling matter they live in fear and dread of losing it. There is nothing they think about more, or are more ready to speak of, than the management of their bodily health. Hence they are also planning how to procure food suited rather to their taste than to their digestion, which latter has often been impaired by their indulgence in delicacies. And, although this is done under the pretext of being able to serve God better, it is but a vain attempt to unite two deadly foes, the spirit and the flesh,—an attempt which results in benefiting neither and in injuring both, for this same over-carefulness impairs the health of the one and the devotion of the other.

A certain degree of liberty in these matters is safer and more profitable as a rule; yet it must be accompanied by the discretion of which I have been speaking, and have regard to the differences of constitution and spiritual state, which cannot be subjected to an uniform rule.