But every thing pertaining to the building must be regarded. It is not sufficient that I pay close attention to the frame, while I neglect the covering and the furniture; or, that I attend to either of the latter, while I forget the others. Resistance to the surrounding natural laws must be made at every point, as well as at all times and seasons. Now, it should be my object to resist manfully against the foes which are perpetually tending to demolish my tenement. Every point should be guarded with the utmost strictness, as a point of danger. The least neglect to watch will not only expose to invasion, but provoke invasion.

Every part of the frame should be kept in the best possible condition. If a single brace is wanting in firmness, the injury is gradually propagated through every part of the frame, and the whole feels it. If a single brace or spar is misplaced, the whole is injured in like manner. It is as true of the frame of the house I live in, as it is any where else, that if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.

But if a slight injury or defect in the matter of braces and spars is not a serious defect, in itself, but an injury which is communicable to other parts of the frame, how much more serious are the consequences of defect in the larger and more important portions,-the joints, the posts, and the pillars! And yet, if I have passed my years of school life, without these latter injuries, I am one of a thousand. If the main support of this fearful and wonderful frame,—the spine,-be not more or less crooked or misplaced, or if none of my joints are in any way injured, then my lot is singularly happy. Few thanks in such a case are, however, due to the school-house, or its furniture, or the methods of instruction.

But if I am a sufferer in this respect, it is not the particular injured portion of my frame alone, that suffers, but the whole; and not only the whole frame, but the covering,-yes, and the furniture and not these alone, but all the processes and purposes for which this furniture is employed and intended.

I here repeat the general principle, for it is a great and important truth; and as I said before, is nearly as applicable to the house which I at present inhabit, as it was to the purpose for which it was primarily intended by the apostle; that, “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it."

Would that this principle were as well applied, as it is understood and admitted! Would that I made it a part of the business of each passing hour, to attend to, and keep in repair, and render as perfect as possible, not only the whole of my system, as a whole, but every part of it!—And O, that I could have been so instructed, so educated, in the family, in the school, in the church, every where, that I might never have overlooked, as I have done for weeks, and months, and years together, this whole matter! I do not mean to say, that it was then necessary, or is still necessary, that I should stop and reason at every step. It were far better to form habits, in early education, which should involve, as a matter of course, a due share of attention to this subject. There is no more difficulty, in the nature of things, of promoting at our every step, and without reflection, the well-being of our frames, than of injuring them. How happy will be that age of the world,

-a truly golden age,—when this body, designed to be a temple of the Spirit of God, shall be as happily adapted to its legitimate purpose, as it now is to the purpose for which it is too generally employed, that of preparing its inhabitant to be more and more miserable, at every successive step of his existence, and most heartily rejoiced, when he can get fairly and honorably out of it!

It

may, and undoubtedly will be said, "You make too much of the mere house of the soul. Of what consequence is a frail tenement, when we are destined to reside in it so short a time? Who hath required it of mere tenants, to devote a considerable portion of their thoughts to the dwelling, which at best they can occupy a hundred years, and from which they

are liable to be ejected by the landlord at any hour, and without a moment's warning? If we were the real owners of our dwellings, or we had even a lease of them,-were it but for one year, the whole case, we are told, would be altered. Or if we could leave them to our children, or to our friends, even this would afford us some little encouragement in the work of preserving them from decay, and prolonging their existence. But, as things now are, what solitary motive can we have for exertion? It is in vain for you to plead the cause you do,—it is in vain to dissuade from the universal practice of slighting the hovel, as beneath our care,-unless you can present us motives for not doing so. Or if there were existing motives at all, they would only apply to the case of infancy, ere the house has been injured or its uses perverted."

I reply, in the first place, that for myself, I find ample motives to a work of this kind. Were I to be turned out of doors the next hour, it would be wise in me to render myself happy while I remain. It sometimes surprises me, to hear it brought as an argument against rendering myself comfortable in a ship, a dwelling, a shop,-in any thing or any where, because I am to stay there for a short time only. Happiness depends, in no small measure, on the disposition or temper; and the temper depends very much on outward circumstances. If this be true, it follows, of course, that my happiness is very closely connected with the comfortable condition of the tenement in which I dwell. But if my happiness is dependent on my outward circumstances, during a hundred years of exposure to those circumstances, it is so during any part of a hundred years, even one day. It is, therefore, I say again, impossible for me to understand how it is so many content themselves by living quietly in a miserable house, when their only earthly excuse is, that they have only a little while to stay in it.

Secondly, it is not true, in the sense in which the phrase is commonly used, that we are thus liable to be turned out of doors. The dwelling is leased to us during life, and that life

may, as a general rule, be prolonged a hundred years, we know not how much more. The general rule is, that it shall last a long period; and when we find it going to decay, at an early period, at the end of a day, a month, a year, ten, twenty, or forty years, we may be sure there is error somewhere, usually in the inanagement of him who inhabits it. I say, therefore, with more distinctness than before, that there is no reason derived from the structure of the house the soul lives in, why it should not last a hundred years; or, were it not for the testimony of human experience, a much greater period. And even the testimony of human experience is of little consequence, in determining the point, because every dwelling of every soul of man has been hitherto injured, and made to tend towards decay, from the earliest to the latest period of its existence. So that, when I am told it is of no use to endeavor to render this tenement as perfect as possible, since I know not how long I shall inhabit it, I reply, that the conclusion is incorrect, because founded on the presumption, that I am the miserable slave of a capricious landlord; whereas the truth is, that this same landlord has not only given me a life lease of the tenement, but also the power of prolonging the duration of that tenement, in a degree which shall always bear a just and exact proportion to my own efforts.

Thirdly, it is said, that if any thing can be done in the way proposed, it is only, or at least chiefly, during the earliest part of life, the short period of infancy. But if this were granted, it only enhances the importance of effort. "The activity of childhood," said an able writer of seventy years ago,*" is given it for the wisest puposes, as it has more to do and to learn in the first three years of life, than it ever has in thirty years of any future period;" and nothing can be more true. It is, moreover, equally true, that more can be done in the way of prolonging the duration, and increasing the comfort of the

* Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh.

soul's habitation, during the first three years of its existence, than during any thirty subsequent years.

Finally, it is not true that I insist on an increased attention to the house I live in, merely for the sake of the house; though this seems to constitute the whole force of the objection. It is only, or at least chiefly, because it is the habitation of an immortal spirit, and because that spirit is, and must be affected, more or less, by the character of the habitation. I repeat the sentiment. Not only the anatomy and the physiology,—if I may be allowed to use such language, but even the psychology, pathology and history, the structure, nature, diseases and destiny, of the human soul, must be forever modified, in no small degree, by the structure, character and other properties of the tenement, to which, for the time being, it is attached, and with which for so long a period, but especially for a few of its first years, it is so intimately connected. It is not necessary, perhaps, to go the length of Professor Caldwell, of the Transylvania University, in his Thoughts on Physical Education, and affirm that "all the beneficial effects of training arise from the improvements produced by it in organized matter, rendering such matter, whether it be brain, nerve, muscle, lungs, or of any other description, a better piece of machinery for mind. to work with." That is, I am not driven to affirm that the soul is not susceptible of improvement, except through the improvement of the dwelling it inhabits. This opinion may, or may not, be true; and this too, perhaps, without justly exposing him who either holds or rejects it, to the charge of materialism. But it is enough, for my present purpose, if I show that instead of slighting the hovel as beneath my care, it should be studied and improved, to an extent which, in no instance, has ever yet been realized, and to which it is vain to hope mankind will go, till they are roused to the importance and necessity of the subject.

We must return to primitive apostolic ground. We must seek to present the whole being, body and soul, a sacrifice to