Chapter 38

38. Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him, for the Lord has created him, for of the most High comes healing, and he shall receive honour of the king, for the skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration. The Lord has created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them, for was not the water made sweet with wood, that the virtue thereof might be known? And he has given men skill, that he might be honoured in his marvelous works, for with such he heals men, and takes away their pains. My son, in your sickness be not negligent: but pray unto the Lord, and he will make you whole, for leave off from sin, and order your hands aright, and cleanse your heart from all wickedness. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour; and make a fat offering, as not being, then give place to the physician, for the Lord has created him, for let him not go from you, for you have need of him, for there is a time when in their hands there is good success. For they shall also pray unto the Lord, that he would prosper that which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life, and he that sins before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician. My son, let your tears fall over the dead, and begin to lament, as if you had suffered great harm yourself, and cover his body according to the custom, and neglect not his burial, and let your weeping be with shame, and make a bitter lamentation, and mourn with solemnity as he is worthy, and that for a day or two, lest you be evil spoken of, and then comfort yourself for your heaviness. For of sadness comes death, and it impoverishes the spirit, and wear not yourself out with sorrow, for it is grievous, and the heart of a man that is full of trouble is a great trouble, and all their travail is a great trouble. Consider that there is no returning again, for you shall not profit the dead by weeping, and you shall hurt yourself, for remember him not, for there is no hope of his returning, for the soul shall not be remembered, for his spirit shall go to the Lord, and his body shall return to the earth. The wisdom of a learned man comes by opportunity of leisure, and he that has little business shall come to be wise, but how can he get wisdom that holds the plough, and that glories in the goad, that drives oxen, and is occupied in their labors, and whose talk is of bullocks? He gives his mind to make furrows, and is diligent to give the kine fodder, so every carpenter and workmaster, that labors night and day, and all they that cut and grave seals, and are diligent to make great variety, and give themselves to counterfeit imagery, and waste their time to finish his work, and the smith also sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work, the vapor of the fire wastes his flesh, and he fights with the heat of the furnace, the noise of the hammer and the anvil is ever in his ears, and his eyes look still upon the pattern of the thing that he makes, he sets his mind to finish his work, and watches to polish it perfectly, so doth the potter sitting at his work, and turning the wheel about with his feet, who is always carefully set at his work, and makes all his work by number, he fashions the clay with his arm, and bows down his strength before his feet, he applies himself to lead it over, and he is diligent to make clean the furnace, and all these trust to their hands, and every one is wise in his work. Without these cannot a city be inhabited, and they shall not dwell where they will, nor go up and down, for they shall not be sought for in public counsel, nor sit high in the congregation, they shall not sit on the judges' seat, nor understand the sentence of judgment, they cannot declare justice and judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are spoken, but they will maintain the state of the world, and their desire is in the work of their craft.