Indolence: A Shameful Sickness

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Indolence: A Shameful Sickness [1]

There once lived in Ghent a beggar, who was accustomed to collect alms upon the pretence that he had a secret disease lying in his bones and weakening his whole body, and that he dared not for shame mention the name of it. This appeal was exceedingly successful, until a person in authority more curious than the rest, insisted upon following him, and examining him at home. At last the beggar confessed as follows:: 'That which pains me you see not; but I have a shameful disease in my bones, so that I cannot work; some call it sloth, and others term it idleness.' Alas! that so many in our churches should be so far gone with This Same Sickness.

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