In every form and condition of matter, laws pervade and preside over it. We call them laws of matter, but they are really the Lawgiver's own vital presence in matter,—laws to which He continually subjects matter. And every infraction of these laws, we know, is attended with more or less suffering. Our corporeal frame has its laws—beneficent and God-ordained; and bodily health and comfort can be enjoyed only on condition of the strict observance of these laws. They cannot be transgressed with impunity. If we overwork our bodies or our brains, if we indulge our appetites to excess, if we take poison (be it food or drink) into the system, if we breathe a vitiated atmosphere or neglect all bodily exercise for a considerable time, we must suffer the penalty of every such infraction of the body's laws,—a penalty always proportioned to the extent of the violation.
Now, mind has its laws as well as matter. There are laws of the soul as well as of the body. And it is just as essential to the health of the soul—as essential, therefore, to human happiness—that these spiritual laws be obeyed, as it is to the body's health and comfort that we obey the laws of our physical being. All these laws are divine—are God's laws; and none of them can be transgressed with impunity. If the soul's laws, therefore, be violated, the soul will be sick and suffer, and unhappiness will ensue; as certainly as bodily sickness and suffering follow the transgression of the body's laws.
But where and what are the laws of the soul, on the observance of which human happiness is conditioned? They are all contained in the Word of the Lord. The Word is, indeed, the Book of Life, for herein are recorded
