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THE mind has much to do with the health and comfort of the body. It is not only a sustaining force in states of bodily disease, but is likewise a wonderful factor in repelling and overcoming the same. I think, if we look carefully into the subject, we will find that disease is very largely, if not, as some claim, wholly, referable to mental causes and conditions. The brain is an electric or nervous battery controlling all the functions of the body, and is endowed with a luminous principle of intelligence, and may and should come to know the use and abuse of all its bodily functions. A plant or tree is anchored to the earth, and is broad in the extension of its roots into the soil from which it derives its support and nutriment. Man is, so to speak, broad at the top. He is free to move about; but a small portion of his structure rests upon the earth. He is composed, it is true, in his outward nature, of earthly substance; but his look, his action, his achievements imply that he is something more than matter; his limbs, his physical organs, his entire structure are but the mechanism or tools through which his spirit works; they are to the real man what the hammer, the saw, the compass and plane are to the mechanic. The spirit, the

intelligent principle, is the true man, while the body is but its vehicle or medium of communicating its wishes and asserting its dominion over the outward world. We have said that man is broad at the top. What the earth is to the plant such is the atmosphere to the man. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that a human being can live several weeks without food, but he cannot live many days without water, and only a few minutes without air; consequently that which would seem to be the least is in reality the most important.

I will not dwell upon the sanitary point this thought introduces, - of the necessity and importance that the air we breathe should be pure and free from the contaminations of filthy streets, sewers, and cesspools; my purpose is more important even than that. There is something even more essential than pure air. I refer to an interior atmosphere or element without which earth, water, and air are of no avail to the structure; I refer to that force which causes the heart to beat and the lungs to inspire, and which has its seat in certain cells and fibres of the brain, which is, so to speak, the engine-house or electric-plant of the system. So, then, in the brain we find the fountain

head of all bodily conditions, and from this stand-point we must consider the philosophy of life and health.

The measure of a man is the measure of his brain-power. By this we do not mean simply the intellect or the vital brain alone, but the two combined. Now, if the brain-cells are feeble, the action of the heart and lungs will be feeble, the stomach will be weak, and digestion imperfect, the entire structure will lack force and endurance, and fall an easy prey to the vicissitudes of heat, cold, disease, and trials of life. But numerous contingencies are to be taken into consideration, and it often happens that one of feeble brain and deficient physical powers will outlive those of robust force but careless or vicious habit. Again, there may be abundance of power, but lack of balThe intellect may unduly burn up and exhaust the vital substance, or the vital powers may become absorbed and wasted in sensual pleasures. Vital power can be converted into thought; likewise may the substance of thought be transmuted into vital power. know now from the electric current we may produce either light or heat, but we must have the supervision of the wise and skilled electrician. So, too, in the case of man.

ance.

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While we have shown that the brain is the supreme substance of the body, and the brain, in its general sense, includes the entire nervous matter of the spine and physical structure, we must not fall into the mistake of believing this to be the Man. It is simply the central or first substance by which man is allied to and inca nated in the ultimates of matter.

The real man, then, is that Presence which pervades the brain, and, through the nervous system, the entire body.

Plato is by some accorded the distinction of being the first to recognize

this luminous principle which is above and behind life, and which men call the "Ideal," and which to him seemed a supreme reality. To his thinking, a house, a chair, a table were but material representations of the true objects which had their ideal existence in the mind of the carpenter. A block of marble became a thing of beauty because there existed a form of beauty in the mind of the sculptor. So, too, a man is a man in all his bodily parts and conformation because of a Divine "Ideal" at the centre of life, which, truly speaking, is the very Man, the real force and Luminous Presence which finds expression in life and nature in the degree in which the various faculties and powers of the brain accept and acknowledge its supreme right, and coöperate to pervade and subordinate the entire bodily structure with the benign influence of this potent and lofty Presence.

I have endeavored to show that above, behind and at the centre of man's life is a lofty ideal, a supreme Presence, a True Man. We must observe, however, that the faculties are more or less alienated; and, though still sustained and aided, they are not in the main coöperating with and accepting law from this supreme Pres

ence.

The various faculties of the brain are like the denizens of a populous city, with their many trades, pursuits, callings, tastes, and inclinations, who have fallen into a state of revolt and confusion through the abuse of the wide liberty allowed them by one we will call the governor of the city.

With fruitful fields and loaded vineyards, why should man be abstemious and temperate? Surrounded on every hand by seductive pleasures, why should he be virtuous? Now, this is the manner of reasoning from the out

ward senses, which do not at first realize that there can be greater joys and loftier pleasures in self-restraint and discipline. Now, should the governor of the city attempt to force this knowledge upon them, they would consider it a violent invasion of their rights, an attempt at tyranny, and would, consequently, plunge plunge to a greater depth in anarchy and confusion. The governor, however, knows that the construction of the universe, and likewise the constitution of man, is such that their rebellious career will, in time, be arrested by the pains and penalties of violated law; he even suffers indignities and violence in his own person because his steadfastness and virtue are a standing rebuke to the people; but, after a time, the better portion of the citizens begin to listen to his councils. It becomes clear to them that destruction must come upon the whole city unless something is done to check the mad career of crime and violence and rid the city of its vice and pestilence.

It is no easy matter, however, to change a people from a perverse or inverted state. A small nucleus, however, of convinced and well-disposed citizens is formed about the governor; and, as they have come now to truly appreciate the beneficent and supreme Presence behind life, they become earnest to win over others to the true wisdom of existence. It is not to be wondered at that they sometimes, in their zeal and indignation at the defiant boldness of vice, institute harsh measures; but, on the whole, progress is made, and often those from the depths of iniquity are won over to the side of order and virtue. And so the work goes on; and ultimately the whole city will be restored to the vision of the "good and beautiful."

Now, individually, we are in a con

dition corresponding to the city described. A few of our faculties accept the supreme Presence and coöperate with what we have called the governor of the city; but the rest are in revolt and given over to indolence, gluttony, intemperance, or vice; but darkness, ignorance, disease and all forms of vicious life are relatively negative conditions. They may, for a time, appear dominant and supreme; but spiritual light and heat are positive and regal forces. They give true thought and vital force to the brain; they are supreme and lofty educators.

To these divine attributes belong "the right of way" and "right of rule," and, as a consequence, they must ultimately prevail.

I have shown that we can live many days without food, that we can live a much less time without water, and only a few minutes without air; but without the elements of spiritual light and heat, that luminous and beneficent Presence at the centres of life, we could not live an instant. They are the breath and seal of life itself, and were the faculties of the brain and functions of the body fully coöperating with these forces, we should have that state of which it is said, "that one shall chase a thousand and that two shall put ten thousand to flight."

While this is a sublime truth, yet all are not prone to admit it. We reason from externals, and give most importance to that which I have endeavored to show is least; but there are seasons in the life of humanity as there are changes and seasons of the year; day succeeds night, summer succeeds winter, and we have evidences that we are mentally approaching a vernal period, that a season of higher fruitfulness is possible. Let us don, then, garments of light, vestments of life and power; bid the sluggish intellect awake; shake the