time to sleep. 5. Shall seldom be troubled with the head-ache.183
Sereno Dwight, "then arranged them under their proper heads, ready for subsequent use; of regularly strengthening the faculty of thinking and reasoning, by constant and powerful exercise; and above all of gradually molding himself into a thinking being."182
A Chocolate Lover
Jonathan was determined to take time to think about the implications of what he observed, going so far as to skip dinner if it threatened to interrupt the flow of his thinking. As he had done to everything else in his life, he had carefully observed and analyzed which foods best suited his mental labor.
Some said that his discipline in eating left him thin and frequently ill, but Jonathan evidently gave great consideration to his diet. He wrote,
By a sparingness in diet, and eating, as much as may be, what is light and easy of digestion, I shall doubtless be able to think clearer, and shall gain time. 1. By lengthening out my life. 2. Shall need less time for digestion after meals. 3. Shall be able to study closer without wrong to my health. 4. Shall need less time to sleep. 5. Shall seldom be troubled with the head-ache.183
There is one hint that his disciplined lifestyle had at least a small indulgence. He loved chocolate, which came in "cakes," and could be melted and served as a beverage consumed at breakfast. A letter remains of his request that a courier to Boston be sure to procure chocolate for him. 184 "Though he never totally abandoned his strict spiritual discipline, he did look back on these early days with mature eyes and declare it a time of 'too great a dependence on my own strength; which afterwards proved a great damage to me.'"185
The created world he loved to study also caused him to grapple with bigger questions, such as the reason that God created the world in the first place. What desire of God could creation possibly satisfy? In his recorded thoughts of his analysis, Jonathan concluded that God gains nothing from creating; His happiness in Himself is perfect, and nothing can be added to it. But God desired creatures who could see and enjoy the beauty of that perfection—His glory. Jonathan said that everything God has done is for the single purpose of the love and praise of His intelligent, created beings.