t as the very highest of all
temporal things. There is no kind of achievement you could make in the
world that is equal to perfect health. What to it are nuggets or
millions?"

[1] Frederic Harrison, _Popular Science Monthly Supplement_.

[2] _Plain Living and High Thinking_.

[3] These rules are given by J. Freeman Clarke in his work on
Self-Culture.

CHAPTER IX.

EARNESTNESS.

Another word for earnestness is enthusiasm. The Scriptural equivalent
is zeal. It means putting our whole heart into whatever we are doing.
It is a sweeping, resistless energy, which carries everything before
it, like a river in full flood. Its nature is well expressed in the
saying of the old huntsman, "Throw over your heart, and your horse will
soon follow."

Earnestness is not to be confounded with noise, vehemence, or outward
demonstration.--It is often exceedingly quiet and undemonstrative.
Notice when the machinery of an engine is standing still, how the steam
makes a great noise as it issues from the safety-valve, but when the
vapor is turned into the cylinder and is used in driving the engine all
that thundering sound disappears. It does not follow that there is no
steam. It is going in another direction, and doing its appropriate
work. It is a great mistake to imagine that enthusiasm and what is
called _fuss_ are identical. The most enthusiastic men are often the
quietest. No one can doubt the enthusiasm of a man like Livingstone.
He had enthusiasm for science, for philanthropy and for religion. It
was unflagging; yet not a boast, not a murmur escaped his lips. He did
the thing he meant to do, and made no noise in doing it.

Earnestness is often regarded with suspicion and condemned.--It is the
fashion with many to sneer at it. It is often alone, and then it is
not respectable. It is often in excess, and is therefore ineffective.
It is often disturbing to the sleepiness of others, and is therefore
hated by them. Our Lord was an enthusiast in the eyes of the
Pharisees. St. Paul was an enthusiast to Festus. The early Christians
were enthusiasts to the pagan world because they turned it upside down.
The martyrs and confessors of all times have been regarded as
enthusiasts by those of their own time who were not in sympathy with
them. An enthusiast is called by many a fanatic, and a fanatic in the
eyes of some is a most dangerous member of society.

All the great leaders of the world have been men in