s by
the Creator is intended for our benefit, and is conducive to health,
happiness and longevity, but that their neglect or their abuse leads to
misery, pain, affliction, disaster and disease.

The lesson to be conveyed is that moderation is essential in all things.
Why is it that the sickly and the ailing sometimes survive the strong
and hearty? Because suffering has taught the former moderation, whilst
the sense of power leads the latter to excesses which too often prove
fatal. Everyone has, in his experience, known instances of the kind.

But the use and not the neglect or abuse of the faculties is the
observance of the laws of God and Nature. If neglect and misuse of our
faculties lead to loss of power, so their abuse leads to bad conduct and
its pains and penalties. What has been here termed moderation, as a
medium between neglect, use and abuse, is really obedience to the laws
of God and Nature.

The whole secret of health, happiness and longevity lies then in this
simple observance, if it can only be fully understood, appreciated in
all its importance, and carried out in all the smallest details of life.
As such perfection is rare, and somewhat difficult to attain--the trials
and temptations of life being so great--so are none of the results here
enumerated often arrived at; but that is no reason why man should not
endeavour to reach as near perfection as possible, and enjoy as much
health and happiness as he can. One of the most common and one of the
greatest errors is to suppose that happiness is to be obtained by the
pursuit of pleasure and excitement. The temporary enjoyment created by
such is inevitably followed by reaction--lassitude and weariness--and
human nature is palled by the surfeit of amusement as much as it is by
the luxuries of the table. There cannot be a more humiliating spectacle
than that of the man of the world, as he is called, or the woman of
fashion or pleasure. Blase is too considerate an expression. Such
persons are worn-out prematurely in body, mind and intellect--they are
soulless and unsympathetic--the wrecks of the noble creatures God
created as man and woman in all the simplicity of their nature.

It is surely worth while, then, considering whether the enjoyment of
health and happiness is not worth a little study and a little sacrifice
of the vain and imaginary pleasures of the world. There is no doubt that
some amount of restraint and some power of self-control are requisite to