It is estimated that one half of the human race die before reaching 10 years of age! How few live to see a century! And why not, since God's laws are just and wise, and since life is natural and good health a luxury? Is it possible to live a century or more? If so, what course of life must be pursued to attain such a ripe and well-rounded old age?

Considering the sickness, the early deaths and the crowded cemeteries that dot the country and half girdle some of the great cities, these are momentous questions.

"Friend after friend departs;

Who has not lost a friend?"

Life is a blessing; and by life is not meant mere animal existence. The oyster exists, and so do the cattle that graze upon a thousand hills; but human beings live, and by life is meant living in the complete enjoyment of health - physical, mental and moral - a happy, harmonious and full-orbed manhood.

Existence in pain, or existence devoid of the full and free exercise of all our physical powers and mental faculties would scarcely be desirable; but to live a hundred years in this progressive period of the world's history, in the possession of good sound health, is a consummation devoutly to be desired. A serene and sunny old age, like a well-laden orchard in autumn time, is as beautiful as desirable.

Though there are inherited tendencies, yet sickness and physical disease came not from Adam's sin or Napoleon's ambition, but from personal transgression of law. It is cause and effect - it is obey and live; it is sin and die!

There are many centenarians alive at the present time. I am personally acquainted with several. There is a Shaker sister living in one of the Believer's families, at Mount Lebanon, New York, who has attained 105 years. Buff on says: "The man who does not die with disease reaches everywhere the age of 90 or 100 years," and Dr. Morton, in his "Anatomical Lectures" declares that "The human body as a machine is perfect; it bears no marks tending to decay, and is calculated to go on a hundred years, or we might say forever, did we not know to the contrary by experience."

Intelligence, calmness and a good temper are as necessary to a long life as health is to happiness. Abnormal tendencies or any disease contracted by the violations of physical law, may, by care, energy and the proper medical remedies, not only be modified, but completely eradicated. Louis Carnaro, a prominent Venetian, broken down in health at 35, so recovered it by reforming his habits and simplifying his mode of living as to reach 107 years.

Human life has been compared to a journey, to a battle and to a pathway of progress, along which are sunshine and shadow, smiles and tears. It has also been compared to a fire, and a flame requiring constantly more or less fuel. The body is the natural furnace; and when the food is well masticated and properly digested, the blood, with its life-giving elements: carbon, nitrogen and oxygen utilized through respiration - all combined - constitute just the fuel required. The carbonaceous components of the body are consumed - burned up, much as is the candle, or the oil in the evening lamp. The heat, the brightness of the flame, and the length of time that it will continue to burn, depend almost entirely upon the nature and quality of the fuel, so the length of human lives depends very largely upon the purity of the air breathed, the quality of the food eaten and the liquids drank. It is in our own power to lengthen our lives or to commit, as many do, gradual suicide.

Reasoning from the possible, and from the law of analogy, human beings ought, upon an average, to live a full hundred years; the law seeming to be that life, expressed in figures, should be five times the length of the period of growth.

Change is a law of the universe; and waste or decay, growth or assimilation, are the two opposing forces operating in every living organism. The chemical forces disintegrate or destroy; the vital forces and principles increase and build up. When blood corpuscles, molecules and out-worn particles die, new and more refined atoms, elements and substances should take their places in this magnificent structure, the human body, of which the thinking conscious Spirit is the builder.