may be the children of your Father in heaven." Paul says--"Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put
away from you, with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tender
hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath
forgiven you."

Here then is our duty plainly pointed out. If we will exercise this
spirit of benignity to our enemies, subdue all our revengeful
passions, and indulge a spirit of love and friendship, of meekness and
cheerfulness towards our friends and neighbors, we shall not only be
happy as our natures can bear, not only revel in all the rational
enjoyments this life can impart, but we shall in the common course of
providence live to old age. All those, with very few exceptions, who
have lived to 80, 90, and 100 years, have been remarked for their
equanimity. They were mild spirited, kind, cheerful, and of such a
temperament, that neither misfortune, nor any outward circumstances,
that agitated the world, could disturb their heaven-born repose.

Thus we see that the path of duty, enjoined in the sacred scriptures,
is not only the path of peace and joy, but conducts to a good old age.
The goodness of the Divine Being is most strikingly exemplified in
uniting health and temperance, happiness and longevity, and our duty
to our fellow creatures, all in one.

Long life and good days, however, depend more upon the state of our
minds than upon almost any other circumstance. He who lives in fear
and trouble arising from any cause whatever; whether from
contemplation of endless misery in the future world, or from the
apprehension that his earthly prospects will be blasted and his
fortune laid in ruins--or if he is continually involved in quarrels,