Exercise and Health
261
Mental and Physical Activities Equalized—Students should not
be permitted to take so many studies that they will have no time for
physical training. The health cannot be preserved unless some portion
of each day is given to muscular exertion in the open air. Stated hours
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should be devoted to manual labor of some kind, anything that will
call into action all parts of the body. Equalize the taxation of the
mental and the physical powers, and the mind of the student will be
refreshed. If he is diseased, physical exercise will often help the system
to recover its normal condition. When students leave college, they
should have better health and a better understanding of the laws of life
than when they enter it. The health should be as sacredly guarded as
the character
Youthful Energy—How Rashly Squandered—The youth in the
freshness and vigor of life little realize the value of their abounding
energy. A treasure more precious than gold, more essential to ad-
vancement than learning or rank or riches—how lightly is it held! how
rashly squandered!...
In the study of physiology, pupils should be led to see the value of
physical energy and how it can be so preserved and developed as to
contribute in the highest degree to success in life’s great struggle
Activity Not to Be Repressed but Guided—Our children stand,
as it were, at the parting of the ways. On every hand the world’s
enticements to self-seeking and self-indulgence call them away from
the path cast up for the ransomed of the Lord. Whether their lives
shall be a blessing or a curse depends upon the choice they make.
Overflowing with energy, eager to test their untried capabilities, they
must find some outlet for their superabounding life. Active they will
be for good or for evil.
God’s Word does not repress activity, but guides it aright. God does
not bid the youth to be less aspiring. The elements of character that
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make a man truly successful and honored among men—the irrepress-
ible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous
application, the untiring perseverance—are not to be discouraged. By
the grace of God they are to be directed to the attainment of objects as
12
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 82, 83
.
13
Education, 195, 196
.