VIRTUE.

39

"Mortals that would follow me
Love Virtue, she alone is free:
She can teach you how to climb
Far above yon sphery chime;
Or, if Virtue feeble were

Heaven itself would stoop to her."

MILTON.

CHAPTER IV.

RELATIONS WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

Our soul, living and individual as it may be, is now in earthly conditions; and, to develop it to best advantage, we must consider its material envelop, and the proper treatment of that.

In what we have to say of the physical body, we hope it will be borne in mind that due allowance must be made for all the flaws and hindrances resulting from conditions over which we have no control. Because children's mental powers are of different grades, we do not send the bright ones to school, and keep the dull ones at home. Neither do we expect all to do equally well. We are satisfied, if reasonable, that all do as well as they can. Now, from the deficiencies of our ancestors, and from millions of outside particulars, our physical bodies vary in their adaptability to meet the requirements of their soul tenants. And, what is quite as bad, many of us are indissolubly associated in life with those who put hindrances in our way, it may be from ignorance, it may be from the dislike to soul culture which marks their undeveloped condition.

Now, for what we cannot help we are not responsible, though from the undeviating character of the laws of being all hindrances must impede our progress, though we be not responsible for them. We must do our best when hemmed in by circumstances, and take what we

CONTENTION HINDERS SOUL-GROWTH.

41

can, and if possible we may, if repressed in one direction, grow more vigorously in another, leaving it to the future to make our development symmetrical. In general, the overcoming of difficulties, if done without passion, strengthens our powers. It has been well said that if we overcome a difficulty, the strength of the difficulty passes into us.

But when our hindrances arise from the opposition of those to whom we are linked by earthly ties, it is often better to yield, than to get into the stormy state of mind that results from contention. And the result is often worse when we contend with one we love, for as Coleridge says:

"To be wroth with one we love

Doth work like madness in the brain."

It is very difficult to lay down exact laws for the government of the physical body. Different bodies require a somewhat different treatment. It should be noted also that a study of the special treatment of one's own body develops reason and self-control. Besides the inherent difficulty in laying down general laws for all is the danger arising from the fact that if some of our readers were prevented from following them in every particular, they would become discouraged and abandon the whole effort.

The ancients said, "A sound mind in a sound body." We add, that spiritual development requires that the body shall be under the mind. "Keep the body under," said Paul.

To keep the body in health, each one should learn the special weaknesses of his own, because the weakness of one organ prevents it from doing its full share of the

42

PERSONAL ILLUSTRATION.

work. The organ may be inherently defective, or it may have been injured by its abuse.

To illustrate, the writer, though in apparently perfect health, was suddenly prostrated by bilious colic at about the age of forty. Up to the time of this attack, she did not dream of liver trouble. In fact, the liver was good, but its powers had been abused by using too much of certain foods. The physician prescribed a change of diet. This change was not radical enough, and whẹn symptoms of the same trouble reappeared, she had recourse to an occasional liver pill, not knowing that the irritation produced would have worse results than the temporary clogging of the liver. Later, she found that the juice of lemons had a good effect, and they were used instead of liver pills till inflammation of the stomach was the result. She was feeling her way half-blind from point to point. Of late years, she uses no lemons, no liver pills, and is not bilious either, for she has learned to use the special foods that give sufficient nutriment, and yet do not produce an excess of bile.

But suppose the writer had been married to a man who from obstinacy or love for rich food had insisted on pies, cake, fried food, and other bile producers, had insisted on no change in the table diet. To avoid the oddity and the additional expense of two separate courses, she would have yielded, for she would probably have found that contention affected her inner being even worse than an excess of bile.

To develop mentally and spiritually, the physical body needs health; and health, making due allowance for hereditary conditions, depends on pure air by day and by night; food neither rich nor innutritious; mod

WINNING AN INDIFFERENT PARTNER.

43

erate temperature; clothing suited to the season and leaving the body unhampered and unburdened; exercise in pure air; cleanliness of body, clothes and surroundings; a calm and cheerful disposition; and freedom from all sexual excesses.

But many are united to partners who prefer the wrong foods, who think it wasteful to allow fresh air in the house in winter, who are cold if the thermometer in the room falls to 70° Fahrenheit, who do not like hygienic clothing, who prefer dirt to cleanliness, who demand sexual indulgence though children are not desired, and who are violent or sullen if they do not have their own way in every respect.

Friend, whether man or woman, thus unfortunately mated and yet desirous of securing proper conditions for soul-culture, no one can decide your course for you. That you must decide for yourself. By cultivating a sunny, cheerful disposition, by loving smile and tactful care, by showing a real wish to please and comfort, and by long patience, you may lead your partner to accede to your wishes in one little thing after another. Remember that his or her yielding in one point is no sign that he will yield the next one. Exert an influence that never fails in kindness and sweetness, and though you may not secure what you desire, keep control of yourself, and hold your inner being free from outside annoyances, and you will thus be gaining, in spite of untoward circumstances, the soul-culture for which you long.

Remember that your associate does not share your desires, because he is at a different stage of advancement, and that you cannot bring him or her to yours by scolding or by any severe means. Help your friend to grow