INTRODUCTION.

To promote the health of the community has, for a long time, been the aim of the Government of this country. Undoubtedly, health and prolongation of life may become much more universal than at present amidst all classes of society. These blessings, however, can only be expected through individual attention to the requirements of the living economy, independent of what sanitary measures may be devised and carried out as the law of the land.

The requirements are-Intellectual, moral, and religious culture in relation to God, ourselves, and fellow creatures. A pure atmosphere. Protection by dress and habitation

against extremes of heat, cold, and damp. Alternate exercise and rest. Cleanliness. Diet.

It is not sufficient to attend to some of these things. None of them can be neglected with impunity. Man is so constituted that they are necessities. The rational spirit, the animal soul, and the corporeal substance, are linked together to form one common organization the condition of the two former influence the latter, and vice versâ, that of the latter influences the former. The blood of the body is one continuous stream of vital nutriment, with one channel for its distribution. And all the nerves, whether for the conveyance of vital energy throughout the frame, of sympathetic influence from one organ to another, or, of any kind of impressions to the brain, are woven into one complex web. If. any part of the physical machinery suffers, other parts become affected, and the door is thus opened to other injurious agents, which cooperate and give rise to complicated disease.

In the brief resumé of sanitary agents, which constitutes this little work, the writer, after deliberate reflection, has placed the Sabbath first. The spirit and the soul are not only the highest attributes of life, but the active agents of man's nature. The body is but the instrument of action. As the regular action of the hands and wheels of a watch depend upon the mainspring, and that of the locomotive upon steam and its appliances, so the condition and life of man's body much depend upon these inner principles.

Now, what is the condition of the spirit and soul of man? They are in a state of wreck, full of uncontrolled emotion and

vicious propensities, and against the laws of God.

of this? Mental anguish,

continually acting

What is the result

corporeal suffering,

organic disease, and premature, if not sudden death; and it is calculated that this suffering and mortality far exceed that which arises from malaria and all the wars in the world.

How is this to be remedied? By cultivating the divine principles which constitute the renewal of the image of God, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, in the use of the means of grace. The Sabbath was instituted

by God for this purpose. Add this use of the sacred day to bodily rest, and the Sabbath must rightly stand where the writer has placed it, first in the category of sanitary agents.

Man's reason and experience, and the word of God, clearly point out his wants. Each day testifies to the superabundance of means given by the Great God to meet them; and each hour proves that if these means are rightly used, they bring the greatest amount of health and peace attainable now, and, through the mercies of redemption, more than primæval happiness in the life to come.

But, what does man do? Although on suchand-such conditions, he is intended for some high position, privilege, and perpetual enjoyment in the presence of his Creator, he com