Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-02-10

BY REV. VIM. T. HERRICK OF CLARENDON.
Tho principal requisites to health of
body and the preventative of disease, are
exercise, cleanliness and temperance
These are more effectual than any or all
of the thousand and one h,tnl5atg medi-
oines or modes of practice, that each cures
all diseases; nay, they are more efficient
in promoting health, and in preventing
and even removing disease, than the pre-
scriptions of the well-read and skillful
physician.
Now the relation of body and mind is
such that strong analogy. exists between
the requisites of sound and healthy
body, and those of vigorous and well
cultivated mind. What we call with ref
erence to the body, exercise, cleanliness
and temperance, may be called with ref
erence to the mind, activity, purity and
self-control.
1. AS exercise is necessary to the pro-
per development of all parts of the physi-
cal system, every bone, nerve, muscle and
tissue, and to the circulation of the blood /;
80 activity is essential to growth and
health of mind. An indolent mind lives
sort of dreamy, shadowy life; and, in
o stead of being stimulated by difficulties,
is disheartenvd even by slight obstacles.
1t breads exertion, and is averse to the
, introduction of any subject that demands
attention and thought. Not so with the
active mind. 1t is stimulated by difficult
ties, and expands and strengthens its
powers by exerting them, as the body
does its muscles by using them. Such a
mind gains new vigor by every renewed
in ola init ~
and freedom, to which the indolent mind
is an utter stranger.
2. Again, cleanliness and purity of per-
son are essential to a sound state of bodily
health. These are ornaments which all
can and ought to possess and which are
"A far greater commentator to their
possessor in the estimation of all the wise
and good, than any external accomplish
ments without them. And if these bodily
adornments are so valuable that their
place can be filled by no substitutes, what
mental accomplishments, what readiness
of wit, what extent and variety of learn
ing, what holiness of intellect, what blaze
of poetic fire. can atone for the want of
purity of mind ? How enrolling and
elevating is purity of mind and how
strange that men of the greatest genius,
capable of the sublimest flights of poetry
or oratory, should descend so low as to
"sport themselves in the filthy puddles of
sensual pleasure" and feed on garbage,
when they might eat angels food Who
would not be Cowper with all his melan-
choly, or even madness, and yet be the
author of his sweet, paintive and heaven
born melodies, rather than be Byron with
all his genius, and all his shameless i'm
purity
3. As temperance, that is, the bodily
appetites and passions, is necessary to
health and strength of the body so is
self-coutrol essential to the right develop
meut of the mind. For what is mind
ungoverned but ship at sea without
rudder or compass, driven about by every
wind, and in danger of being wrecked
by the first tempest ? The mind that
does not control and arrange its thoughts,
follows the lao Of association, as it is
called, in its thinking, and in talking and
writing. One thing suggests another and
it has not power to exclude all but what
properly belongs to a subject. The I'M
disciplined immethodical mind may be
compared to farmers lumber room or
clubhouse, into which all sorts of tools
and implements are tumbled pell-mell so
that the owner must overhaul the whole
in order to find one article. On the other
hand, the we'll disciplined mind resembles
the same clubhouse, with a place for
everything, and everything in its place,
so that any one thing may be found, even
in the dark, without moving any other.
Or, the mind that controls and regulates
its thoughts may be compared to we'll
arranged dinner table, on which every
dish is in its own proper place and all are
filled with nutritious and pleasant food :;
whilst the mind. destitute of method,
which receives all that is poured into it,
without arranging its materials of knowl-
edge and digesting them, may be. aptly
likened to a table on which the various
dishes, - meats and gravies, soups and
vegetables, pies and cakes, nuts and rails
ins, with coffee. tea, and sugar, are tum-
bled all together in one huge tureen, and
we'll mixed, with all sorts of spices thrown
in to make the mixture "sla5 and good"
Two suggestions: 1. Without self-con-
troll, self-knowledge is impossible. 2. No
one is qualified to instruct and govern
others, who has not first learned to gov
ern himself