The Alaska citizen., 1915-04-26
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! 'o him will l give to eat of the .. 1 ' tree of life. Rev. 2:7. .
 {, ,o [. {, q . <. Q c . (, Q . BODILY HEALTH HAS ITS sPlR- | lTUAL AIDS AND ALLIES. 1 Beloved, 1 pray that in all things | thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. III John ?
 John, the youngest of the disciples, has given us much of the New Test ament. He wrote the Gospel that bears his name. three letters and the Revelation. The first epistle of John is a fine manual of Christian ethics. The second and third epis ties are personal letters; the former addressed to an "elect lady" whose name is unknown, and the latter to man named Gaius, his name is mentioned several times by Paul. but we know little of him except that he was an active, busy, thought ful Christian, walking in the truth" The text is characteristic of John whose courteous. fatherly advice and solicitude was never lacking over those to whom he extended his pastoral care, even to the bodily health and temporal prosperity
 The Old Testament makes frequent mention of temporal prosperity. upon which subject the New Testament is largely silent. Dr, Iiumbul re- minds us that prosperity is the bless ing of the Old Testament. but in the New it is diversity. Certain it is. however that there is no such emphasis put on prosperity as sign of heavenly favor as in the Old Testament. This is remarkable in that when it was found visiting the people that they were frequently leaning toward the old systems of faith, and net infrequently toward pagan religions.
 Jesus always strongly empha:iz the necessity of spiritual prosperity. This sometimes would be accom- plshed only at the sacrifice of ease and comfort. There is no call here for poverty or pain self-inflicted, for tleir own sake. but everywhere the duty is plain for rejection of temporal things to the following out of clear and well-defined Christian ethics. Jesus taught, Seek ye first
 
 prosperity and health he did not teach as worthless, but in real value as secondary.
 Now Gaius is an interesting man. He had put first things first His soul was prosperous; he was filled with good works, fed by a vigorous faith. John here says, Now Gaius want you to have temporal pros
 ,I,, surate with your spiritual state"
 Modern science has made 1t very plain that the spiritual and bodily health should be very intimate, Many of the lower animals keep nearly all of the Ten Command ments. The ancient Greeks were greatly given to caring for the body In life it was beautified and adorned and in death it's highest living state became the subject for the sculptor and painter.
 Then followed a period of med eval Christianity when the pendulum swung to the opposite extreme, and the body was in danger of gross neglect, and was punished for the sins of the soul. Modern Christian ity has adopted some forms where by the old Greek idea predominates.
 Modern science says clean up your cities and you will have less pain. Now there must be happy medium between neglect of the body and the old Greek idea of body worship. where the real truth lies-the prop CT laying hold of the relation of spirit and body.
 If bodily health has it's spiritual aids and allies, what are they? It Is obvious that moral habit culti- vated by a Christian code of ethics are actively promotive of bodily health You cannot keep the last seven commandments without put ting yourself in line for promotion in social and economical relation ships, for they are founded on the very physical constitution of man. Any sane mind will prove to itself that sabbath desecration. disobedi- ence to parents, impurity, murder dishonesty, falsehood, covetousness, promotes the highest physical injury. and careful observance of these things the highest physical welfare. Name the days of the week thus: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Fri day, Saturday, Holiday, Reaction day" and you spell destruction to bodily health. If you take up the other commandments in. like com parison you find that the Hebrew proverb holds, "The sinner shall not live out half his days "A short life and a merry one" con cludes in the light of experience that 1t is "a sad one for your child ren"
 Compare this with the habits of the consistent Christian. His graces read, faith. virtue, knowledge, tenn