age in the New Testament in which it is spoken of
disparagingly is where Paul contrasts it with the brighter glory of
what is to come: "He shall change our vile bodies, that they may be
fashioned like his glorious body." From this passage has come abundance
of reviling of the physical system. Memoirs of good men are full of
abuse of it, as the clog, the load, the burden, the chain. It is
spoken of as pollution, as corruption,--in short, one would think that
the Creator had imitated the cruelty of some Oriental despots who
have been known to chain a festering corpse to a living body.
Accordingly, the memoirs of these pious men are also mournful
records of slow suicide, wrought by the persistent neglect of the most
necessary and important laws of the bodily system; and the body,
outraged and downtrodden, has turned traitor to the soul, and played
the adversary with fearful power. Who can tell the countless temptations
to evil which flow in from a neglected, disordered, deranged
nervous system,--temptations to anger, to irritability, to selfishness,
to every kind of sin of appetite and passion? No wonder that the poor
soul longs for the hour of release from such a companion.

But that human body which God declares expressly was made to be the
temple of the Holy Spirit, which he considers worthy to be perpetuated
by a resurrection and an immortal existence, cannot be intended to be
a clog and a hindrance to spiritual advancement. A perfect body,
working in perfect tune and time, would open glimpses of happiness to
the soul approaching the joys we hope for in heaven. It is only
through the images of things which our bodily senses have taught us,
that we can form any conception of that future bliss; and the more
perfect these senses, the more perfect our conceptions must be.

The conclusion of the whole matter, and the practical application of
this sermon, is,--First, that all men set themselves to form the idea
of what perfect health is, and resolve to realize it for themselves
and their children. Second, that with a view to this they study the
religion of the body, in such simple and popular treatises as those of
George Combe, Dr. Dio Lewis, and others, and with simple and honest
hearts practice what they there learn. Third, that the training of the
bodily system should form a regular part of our common-school
education,--every common school being provided with a well-instructed
teacher of gymnastics; and the growth and de