Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/236

 232 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. Eu. The Holy Scriptures condescend to those low expressions because of the dulness of men, to signify a mind pure from alt commerce of sensible things. Fa. Then what is the difference between an angel and a mind ? Eu. The same that is between a snail and a cockle, or, if you like the comparison better, a tortoise. Fa. Then the body is rather the habitation of the mind than the instrument of it. Eu. There is no absurdity in calling an adjunct instrument an habitation. Philosophers are divided in their opinions about this. Some call the body the garment of the soul, some the house, some the instrument, and some the harmony; call it by which of these you will, it will follow that the actions of the mind are impeded by the affections of the body. In the first place, if the body is to the mind that which a garment is to the body, the garment of Hercules informs us how much a garment contributes to the health of the body, not to take any notice of colours of hairs or of skins. But as to that question, whether one and the same soul is capable of wearing out many bodies, it shall be left to Pythagoras. Fa. If, according to Pythagoras, we could make use of change of bodies as we do of apparel, it would be convenient to take a fat body and of a thick texture in winter time, and a thinner and lighter body in summer time. Eu. But I am of the opinion that if we wore out our body at last as we do our clothes, it would not be convenient; for so having worn out many bodies, the soul itself would grow old and die. Fa. It would not truly. Eu. As the sort of garment that is worn hath an influence on the health and agility of the body, so it is of great moment what body the soul wears. Fa. If indeed the body is the garment of the soul, I see a great many that are dressed after a very different manner. Eu. Right, and yet some part of this matter is in our own power, how conveniently our souls shall be clothed. Fa, Come, have done with the garment, and say something con- cerning the habitation. Eu. But, Fabulla, that which I say to you may not be thought a fiction ; the Lord Jesus calls his body a temple, and the apostle Peter calls his a tabernacle. And there have been some that have called the body the sepulchre of the soul, supposing it was called aiofia, as though it were <rr)/ua. Some call it the prison of the mind, and some the fortress or fortified castle. The minds of persons that are pure in every part dwell in the temple. They whose minds are not taken up with the love of corporeal things, dwell in a tent, and are ready to come forth as soon as the commander calls. The soul of those that are not wholly blinded with vice and filthiness, so that they never breathe after the air of gospel liberty, lies in a sepulchre. But they that wrestle hard with their vices, and cannot yet be able to do what they would do, their soul dwells in a prison, whence they frequently cry out to the deliverer of all, Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name. They who fight strenuously with Satan, watching and guarding against his snares, who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, their soul is, as it were, in a garrison, out of which they must not go without the general's leave. fa. If the body be the habitation or house of the soul, I see a great many whose mind is very illy seated. Eu. It is so, that is to