The Religion of the Body.
By Editor
May not Health Reformers well take courage when articles like the following appear in our religious newspapers?—Ed. It is truly a religious duty to glorify God in our bodies, as in our spirits. The original design of man contemplated neither sickness nor sin, and it is a part of the design of redemption to make the body a temple fit for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. While then we do not advocate what has been called "muscular Christianity," we do believe that deformity, disease, pain and misery, declare not so much the will of God as the waywardness of man; his unwillingness to become an obedient servant of God with his body as well as with his soul. Many Christians seek to glorify God in their spirits, but are prevented from doing so, simply because they have neglected the other part of their duty; they have not restrained bodily appetites, or taken the right kind of exercise and food; they have violated what we call the laws of nature, which it would be better to call the sanitary laws of God. Or by some stupidity or disobedience, they have interfered with the beneficent intentions of the Creator of the human frame. It is well when such sufferers from their own neglect, or transgression, bear their self-inflicted woes with patience and serenity, instead of murmuring; but these cases are rare. The diseased body, the shattered nerves, the debilitated frame, exert a sad effect upon the whole moral and intellectual system; and patience, fortitude, and sweetness are unusual companions of disease, so that the coarse saying of Dr. Johnson is proved true in the cases of those who seemed least likely to prove it, "Every man becomes a rascal so soon as he is sick." In order to glorify God in our spirits we must endeavor to glorify Him in our bodies, by obeying the laws of health, by avoiding causes of disease, and abstaining from fleshly lusts and luxurious indulgences, as well as from undue privations and exposures.—N. Y. Observer.