Though I have a body that had languished under great weaknesses for many years, and my diseases have been such as require as much exercise as almost any in the world, and I have found exercise the principal means of my preservation till now, and, therefore, have as great reason to plead for it as any man that I know, yet I have found that the foresaid proportion hath been blessed to my preservation, though I know that much more had been like to have tended to my greater health. Indeed, I do not know one minister in a hundred that needs so much exercise as myself. Yea, I know abundance of ministers, that scarce ever use any exercise at all, though I commend them not in this. I doubt not but it is our duty to use so much exercise as is necessary for the preservation of our health, so far as our work requires; otherwise, we should, for one day’s work, lose the opportunity of many. But this may be done, and yet the work that we are engaged in, be done too.
Richard Baxter

Halow

Halow

HALO

BASIC R.C. BELIEF A golden circle of light pictured about the head of a saint. It is supposed to symbolize the light of grace and sanctity.

CHRISTIAN COMMENT This originated centuries before the Christian era; it was common in Greek mythology, and was adapted in much the same way as other pagan symbols were brought into the church and “Christianized.”

PERIODICALS From THE UNION LEADER, Manchester, NH 4/17/87. “Like so many Christian customs, the halo was adopted from older pagan customs. Centuries before Christ, natives used to adorn their heads with a circle of feathers. They did so to symbolize their relationshiop with the son god. Their own `halo’ of feathers represented the circle of light that was around the sun. Indeed, some people came to believe that by adopting such a crown, they turned into a kind of sun themselves and into a divine being.”