Proverbs 11:17

The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but [he that is] cruel troubleth his own flesh.

Ver. 17. The merciful doth good to his own soul.] His chief business is with and for himself: how to set all to rights within, how to keep a continual sabbath of soul, a constant composedness. He will not violate his conscience to get or retain riches, as Proverbs 11:16, or purchase earth with the loss of heaven. And inasmuch as the body is the soul's servant, a and should therefore be neither supra negotium, above the business, nor infra negotium, below the business but par negotio, fit for the soul's business - it ought not to be pined or pinched with penury and overmuch abstinence, as those impostors, Col 2:23 and our Popish merit mongers, that starve their genius, and are cruel to their own flesh. These shall one day hear, "Who required these things at your hands?"

a Corpus, sive corpor, quasi cordis por, - i.e., puer, sive famulus; ea forma qua mancipor. - Quintipot. Camer.