Human Physiology. 239 



Man alone consciously reaches forward to the future, and en- 

 joys the anticipation of a life of unending happiness. He 

 alone, so far as we can judge, has the idea, the hope, the 

 assurance of immortality. 



Bodily pain is very terrible; but as every such pain comes 

 from the violation of some natural law, it can be almost or en- 

 tirely avoided. We are members one of another, all linked 

 together in a common life, and so suffer by sympathy the pains 

 of others, especially those near to us and those we love. Each 

 man must keep himself in those conditions which give happi- 

 ness and preserve from pain but this is not enough. He 

 cannot entirely save himself until others are saved. No one 

 can be quite well or quite happy until the whole race is in the 

 .same condition. We must, for our own sakes, love our neigh- 

 bour as ourselves. Our own highest, perfect good, rests in the 

 good of others. Supreme selfishness forbids us to be selfish. 



Physical pain, or the liability to it, and mental disorders are 

 hereditary. We suffer for the sins of our progenitors. It is 

 not easy to see how this is just, or why man should have been 

 formed with such liabilities. It is, however, the fact ; and we 

 must believe that there is no mistake and no injustice in chil- 

 dren suffering for the sins of their parents "to the third and 

 fourth generation." It is one more of the mysteries of which 

 life is so full. What we know is, that evil causes suffering, and 

 not alone to the evil doer. Every day we see the suffering of 

 wrong-doing fall upon an innocent victim, an injured woman 

 or an innocent child. What we have to do is to live to the 

 highest law we can see to save ourselves from suffering by 

 doing our duty, and so do all we can to save others from sin 

 and its consequences. Nature is inexorable, but man is called 

 to exercise the highest and purest love the love of charity 

 .and that may possibly be a compensation at last for all physical 

 and moral evils. 



Health gives security from physical pain. In the highest 



