We know, too, that a certain amount of bodily exercise is indispensable to bodily health. Weakness and infirmity are the sure consequences of inaction, while exercise promotes health and vigor. And this is true alike of the whole body and each of its component parts. If any part is exercised more than the rest (provided the exercise is not carried to excess), that part is sure to outstrip the others in strength and vigor. Look at the blacksmith's brawny arm, and contrast it with that of one who has left that limb unexercised!
What, then, is the conclusion to which we are forced by the analogies of nature? Clearly this: That life in heaven must be one of intense activity. The denizens of the celestial realms must be actively and usefully employed. Nature (and this is but the lowest plane of the Divine activity) in all her kingdoms is a vast theatre of action, and of action tending always to some useful end. Nothing is idle here; nothing stands still; nothing is inactive. Earth, sun and stars are always in motion. The air and the ocean pulsate continually. They have their tides, their eddies, and their currents, and through ceaseless activity are preserved in a salubrious condition. And the multitudinous forms of animal life all have a determinate mode of action corresponding to the nature and use of each. And not only is activity needed to the health and comfort of each, but indispensable to its complete development. And in the healthy condition of the human system, how active is every organ and every minutest part of it! Although their modes of action and the uses they severally perform are infinitely various, yet they are mutually adapt-
