~ i aa 
51 
full extent of your powers, but not to the injury of your health.” His 
life was a good illustration of this precept. 
It was, without doubt, the care he took of his health, and his 
temperate habits, that prolonged his useful life and enabled him 
to get through such a great amount of literary work. May we 
not add too that the habit of early rising acquired in his youth 
and maintained till the Jast conduced much to this end. It was 
his invariable custom to rise at six, and only during the last 
few years of his life, after his eightieth year, did he indulge in 
an extra half-hour in the morning. ° 
“Early rising (he writes) is a habit to which we should habituate 
_ ourselves from our youth. It not only adds to the length of each day, 
but increases the number of our days by promoting health. It has 
been observed that long livers have in almost all cases been early 
risers ; and again— 
“Life is, and even must be, uncertain ; so many accidents beyond 
our control may bring it suddenly to an end. But barring unforeseen 
events of this kind, health, upon which life mainly depends, is very 
much in our own keeping, much more so at least than is commonly 
supposed. If a man inherit a sound constitution and is free from the 
seeds of any organic disease, most illnesses arising from other sources 
may, with a moderate share of prudence be staved off. He may 
indeed, take the infection of some prevailing epidemic, but if he was 
previously in good health, he is not liable to do so. Abernethy used 
to say that half the complaints for which his patients consulted him 
were due either to stuffing or fretting. If to these causes of indis- 
position we add faking cold no doubt the three together will account 
for a very large proportion of the maladies that most commonly occur. 
Yet temperance, evenness of mind, and avoiding unnecessary exposure 
to cold, along with warm clothing would generally secure a man from 
such ailments. But how many pay not the least attention to these 
precautions. How many, in early life especially, take liberties as it is 
called with their constitution, and lay the foundation of lasting 
illnesses in after years. They cannot do this and be morally blameless. 
If it would be considered an act of suicide for a man to administer to 
himself a slow poison whereby he gradually shortened his days, it 
