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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
that was useful and lovely. He planted for them a beautiful garden.
No herb nor flower nor tree was wanting which might be for use or
ornament. The Creator of man knew that the workmanship of His
hands could not be happy without employment. Paradise delighted
their souls, but this was not enough; they must have labor to call into
exercise the wonderful organs of the body. The Lord had made the
organs for use. Had happiness consisted in doing nothing, man, in his
state of holy innocence, would have been left unemployed. But He
who formed man knew what would be for his best happiness, and He
no sooner made him than He gave him his appointed work. In order to
be happy, he must labor.
God has given us all something to do. In the discharge of the
various duties which we are to perform, which lie in our pathway,
our lives will be made useful, and we shall be blessed. Not only
will the organs of the body be strengthened by exercise, but the mind
also will acquire strength and knowledge through the action of those
organs. The exercise of one muscle, while others are left with nothing
to do, will not strengthen the inactive ones any more than the continual
exercise of one of the organs of the mind will develop and strengthen
the organs not brought into use. Each faculty of the mind and each
muscle has its distinctive office, and all require to be exercised in order
to become properly developed and retain healthful vigor. Each organ
and muscle has its work to do in the living organism. Every wheel
in the machinery must be a living, active, working wheel. Nature’s
fine and wonderful works need to be kept in active motion in order to
accomplish the object for which they were designed. Each faculty has
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a bearing upon the others, and all need to be exercised in order to be
properly developed. If one muscle of the body is exercised more than
another, the one used will become much the larger, and will destroy
the harmony and beauty of the development of the system. A variety
of exercise will call into use all the muscles of the body.
Those who are feeble and indolent should not yield to their inclina-
tion to be inactive, thus depriving themselves of air and sunlight, but
should practice exercising out of doors in walking or working in the
garden. They will become very much fatigued, but this will not injure
them. You, my sister, will experience weariness, yet it will not hurt
you; your rest will be sweeter after it. Inaction weakens the organs that
are not exercised. And when these organs are used, pain and weariness