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the saloon for drink. Would that somehow the homes of the crowded city people could be made attractive, and the conditions made healthful and happy! We should have solved in great measure our intemperance problem then.

And so we find that the temperance problem works out into the great social problem. There is no evil condition in the industrial world which does not cause or aggravate this evil.

Too many hours of labor, exhausting the strength; unhealthy conditions in factories; crowded tenements, without sunlight or fresh air; the excitement and pressure of our rushing business life; poverty and inherited disease; a degraded home life,-all these, as well as the temptations and weaknesses common to rich and poor alike, are back of the temperance problem per se.

Is it not true, therefore, that we must look for the final solution of the problem in the solution of these other social problems? And the Church is to do its part in the work. The work of the Church is to build up Christian character. To each other virtue, temperance is related.

Build up the whole man, would you have him equal to the temptations of appetite.

Build up the whole social structure of society, purify and strengthen it in all its parts, would you have it banish alcoholic stimulants and saloons.

You will not misunderstand me as undervaluing the direct influence of personal example, nor as deserting the total abstinence method, nor as underestimating the power of legislation. Again I say, these are vital methods and immediate duties. But I am more and more deeply impressed-and this is the one thing I wish to emphasize—with the necessity of taking the all-round view of our problem, and of working it out along the lines of the religious and social development of mankind. Change the conditions out of which intemperance and the saloon evil spring, and both will disappear. Would you go to the root of the problem?

Discover the causes of the drink habit, and, if these causes are evil conditions, correct them if they are natural cravings, not evil in themselves, minister to them in better ways. Build up the character of men and society, substituting good for evil, and the temperance problem will be solved.

DON'T WORRY.

[The following are extracts from Theodore F. Seward's recent book on "The Scientific Law of Happiness," published by the Brotherhood of Christian Unity, New York.]

The Insane Folly of Worrying.

Worrying is the most unreasonable habit that a human being can indulge. The truth of this proposition can be shown by simply asking two questions: (1) Does worrying increase our happiness? The idea is too absurd to be considered. Worrying occasions more unhappiness than any other cause, perhaps more than all other causes combined. (2) Does worry help us in our work? However important the crisis that lies before us, are we prepared to meet it any more successfully by carrying a burden of anxious thought about it? This question can have but one answer. No: our minds are rendered less fit for the coming problem by all the doubts and fears we entertain. The insanity of the habit is strongly emphasized by the fact that many people worry as much over the past as they do over the future. "If I had only done differently. If I had only avoided this or that mistake," they say with real anguish of spirit. What folly could be greater than to allow vitality to be wasted and happiness destroyed by that which cannot be recalled, changed, or in the slightest degree modified?

We also allow ourselves to be tormented by a thousand forms of fear. We are afraid of catching cold, afraid to eat this or that article of food, afraid that something unpleasant will happen to us. And what we so persistently expect we are very apt to get. Like Job, we are obliged to say, "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." The strangest thing about this slavery is that we have come to regard it as unavoidable, an essential element of life, a stimulus that is needed to keep us up to the line of duty. A group of travellers were looking from an eminence upon a landscape in which an insane asylum was to be seen a little distance away. One of the party said, "I suppose a large proportion of the inmates were brought there by unnecessary worry." "Is there any necessary worry?"

asked another of the group, with significant emphasis. The first speaker seemed startled by the question. He was a clergyman, yet acknowledged that he had gone through life with the idea that worry is an essential quality of human nature. He avowed that he would never again yield to that harmful delusion.

Americans are, above all others, slaves of the worry habit. It may truly be called a national vice. Business is too largely the predominant and all-consuming thought of the average American. An eminent Russian, Prince Wolkonsky, during a visit to this country expressed himself as follows at a public dinner:

"Business is the Alpha and the Omega of American life. There is no pleasure, no joy, no satisfaction. There is no standard except that of profit. There is no other country where they speak of a man as worth so many dollars. In other countries they live to enjoy life: here they exist for business."

At this point the prince's feelings apparently overcame him, and he broke out with this apostrophe: "O Lord, if I have to die soon, let me know a few days beforehand. Take me to a place where they have no appointments. Take me where I can hear something besides business. Give me one day of rest before I die, where I can see the bright sunshine and breathe the fresh air of heaven."

Such was the impression of a stranger whose nationality we do not regard as equal to our own in culture and development.

At the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago no one could fail to be impressed by the reposeful manner and dignified carriage of the Oriental delegates in contrast with the intense and high-pressure personality of the Americans. And, unfortunately, the evil is not diminishing. Brain exhaustion and nervous prostration-all the unhappy results of overwork and overworry-are increasing year by year. In fact, it has led to the naming of a new disease called "Americanitis." Dean Hodges says: "Saint Martha is the patron of the women, and Saint Vitus of the men." It is time to call a halt. There is a wide-spread feeling that the present strain cannot continue, that in some way relief must be secured. What is the remedy?

A small volume has recently been issued * which suggests an answer to this question. The author takes the ground that anger and worry are the germs of all the aggressive and cowardly passions,-envy, revenge, prejudice, jealousy, fear, impatience, etc. But in the final analysis may not these and kindred evils all be traced to the single germ of worry? Anger itself usually springs from a latent fear that some one will get an advan. tage over us or do us an injury,—simply a form of worry. Therefore, if worry can be conquered, nearly all the passions that destroy our happiness will disappear.

This author argues that worry should be treated as a germ or root, and that by directing attention specifically to the habit it may be overcome. He succeeded in his own case, and states that, after wrestling with the evil for a time, the tendency was so fully mastered that, when the usual occasions for worry presented themselves, he no longer dreaded or guarded against them, and was amazed at his increased energy and vigor of mind,-the strength to meet situations of all kinds and the disposition to love and appreciate everything. He says, "I have become, as it were, sensitive only to the rays of good, as some photographic films of recent invention are sensitive only to certain single colored rays of light."

In answer to the question whether the elimination of anger and worry may not take away some of the stimulation to effort that is necessary to human progress, the author replies: "Assuredly not. The absence of anger and worry is au evidence of strength, and not of weakness: even so-called righteous anger is a weakness in the presence of judicial calm. Without anger and worry one is stronger to ward off a blow, adminis ter a correction, or protect a principle. The emancipated mind is as eager for effort as a child is for play. Freed from anger and worry, one can shovel more dirt, plant more furrows, perform every duty better and with less fatigue than if under their influence."

Various examples are given by Mr. Fletcher of victory over the worry fiend. He himself has seen with perfect equanimity, the last train for the day leave the station just as the hotel porter arrived with his baggage. Business men, manufacturers with

*"Menticulture, or the A, B, C, of True Living." By Horace Fletcher.

their workmen, professional men, nervous women, testify to their success in emancipating themselves by realizing the needlessness of worry, and resolving not to yield to it. The suggestion of this author is timely and valuable. A true spirit of brotherhood is impossible when the soul is tormented with an undercurrent of anxiety. "Fear hath torment. There is no love in fear, but perfect love casteth out fear."

How can the Habit of Worrying be conquered?

It cannot be done without resolute and persevering effort. But with such effort the habit certainly can be mastered. If the following suggestions are intelligently observed, the habit will lose its power; and quietness and peace will take the place of the feverish anxiety, the undercurrent of restless feeling which robs the human heart of its natural happiness, and raises the question, so often heard, whether life is really worth the living.

RULES FOR CONQUERING THE WORRY
HABIT.

1. Realize it as an enemy which destroys your happiness.

2. Realize that it can be cured by persistent effort.

3. Attack it definitely, as something to be overcome.

4. Realize that it never has done and never can do the least good. It wastes vitality and impairs the mental faculties.

5. Consider what must be involved in the truth that God is infinite, and that you are a part of his plan.

6. Memorize some of the Scripture promises, and recall them when the temptation to worry returns.

7. Help and comfort your neighbor.

8. Forgive your enemies and conquer your aversions.

9. Induce others to begin the work of emancipation from the worry habit.

It will be observed that the first six rules refer to efforts we are to make for ourselves, and the last three concern our relation to others. The last rule is by no means the least important. No emancipation can be complete which does not seek to include the

neighbor. The habit of worrying is so universal and so deep-seated that, aside from the struggles with our own natural temperament, there is the added difficulty of resisting the atmosphere of anxiety by which American life is so pervaded. The greater the number of our friends and neighbors we can persuade to make the effort with us, the more rapid and substantial will be our own individual progress. There are two reasons for this: (1) giving expression to an idea emphasizes and confirms it in our own minds; (2) committing ourselves to others increases our sense of responsibility, and we are, therefore, more likely to be faithful to the purpose we have expressed, whatever it may be. With a wise appreciation of this principle, a far-seeing business man, who became interested in the emancipation idea, purchased two thousand copies of "Menticulture," the book referred to on a previous page,-and distributed them throughout his city, with a printed circular, or note, calling the personal attention of his fellow-citizens to the importance of the movement. If this example should be widely followed, our worry-haunted nation would be freed from its dominating passion in a single generation. If employers would bring the subject to the attention of their employees, letting it be understood that they were themselves striving to overcome the habit, it would be a bond of sympathy between them. It is not unreasonable to

hope that this movement is a step toward solving the great problem of capital and

labor.

The "Don't Worry Reform" touches life on all sides. Teachers can utilize the idea as a help in controlling their pupils. The suggestion in the school-room that a "Don't lead to the happiest results. The discipline Worry Society" be formed could not fail to of the school would be improved, and the blessing to the children of going into life with this principle fixed into their minds would be incalculable.

A separate organization is not needed for carrying on this reform. It should be a "plank" in the platform of every society that aims to promote the welfare of the public. Especially should this movement be engrafted upon all distinctly religious organizations, like the Christian Endeavor, the Young Men's Christian Association, the

King's Daughters and Sons, the Brotherhoods of St. Andrew and of Andrew and Philip, and all which have to do with the younger generation. Our young people should be led to realize that quietness is power, that they lose effectiveness of effort to the extent that they yield to impatience and fret. Anxiety is not only unwise, it is unchristian. It is actually bearing witness against the Fatherhood of God. Swedenborg says, "They who are anxious attribute to themselves that which is of the Divine Providence, and oppose the influx of life,— the life of good and truth."

And now comes another witness, the testimony of science, showing us that "thoughts are things," and that trust in a Supreme Power ruling and guiding our lives is an essential element of the highest reason. The remaining chapters of this small volume are devoted to a consideration of this inspiring and uplifting truth.

A Thought which is transforming the
World.

A transforming thought is slowly taking possession of the world. It is a new conception of the infinity of God, and of all that must be involved in the meaning of that word. That the Supreme Being is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, has heretofore been accepted theoretically; but it has been little more than a vague generalization. In fact, it could not become a working hypothesis until modern science appeared upon the scene, to show that what are called the laws of nature are simply God's methods of working in nature.

Men are talking of the allness and everywhereness of God, and the nowness of eternal life, and are beginning to comprehend the infinite inclusiveness of the words. The allness and everywhereness of God means that no atom of star-dust throughout the universe can exist without him, no microscopic inhabitant of the infusorial world can live without his life, no member of the human race, however degraded, can escape his loving plans.

Parallel with this stupendous revelation is another which saves us from being overwhelmed by it. It is beginning to be seen that Jesus, the Son of Man, the Christ of God, was and is the interpreter of the

mighty truth, the centre, the representative, the embodiment of the cosmic idea of God. His life and teachings expressed all the height, depth, breadth, immensity, of the modern conception of the infinitude of the Supreme Being. But how simple and gracious was the revelation. He showed us that this infinite Deity, this mighty cos mic force, is a heavenly Father. He clothes the grass and the flower. He takes a loving interest in and exercises a perfect supervision over his children, as if each was an only child. His care is so special aud so minute that he even numbers the hairs of their heads.

Christ's followers accepted this wonderful truth, and lived by it. They sought first his kingdom,-the spiritual kingdom, the kingdom within,—and rose superior to the things of this world. Persecution, suffering, dungeons, death, were of no account to them; for they had the fruits of the Spirit, the realities of eternal life in their own souls. How this faith was gradually lost to the world (but always retained by a loyal few even in the darkest ages) does not need to be rehearsed here. The sad story is too familiar to us all. The phase of history which at present concerns us is that the faith of the early disciples is returning to the world, and by a pathway which until now would have seemed an absolute impossibility,-by the pathway of science. The closing years of the nineteenth century are witnessing a ceremonial than which the heart of man can conceive nothing more glorious, more inspiring, more prolific of benefits to mankind,—the nuptials of science and religion.

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thinks of appealing to the minister to help him secure reasonable wages for a reasonable day's work, that the reformer in any line does not expect his co-operation.

But times are changing, and I doubt not that there is many a Parson Merrivale in the pulpit to-day. May they all have the courage to speak out as some are already doing, and as a few of the great and good ones of the past did, and stand firm for the oppressed till the burden is taken off!

Telling the poor that it is the Christian's duty to be content with his lot, that worldly possessions do not give happiness, that it is themselves, and not their conditions, that are at fault, that they must control their envy and jealousy, and quit complaining, work and pray and hope for their reward in heaven; reminding the rich that the poor are necessary to keep them from growing hard-hearted and selfish, asking them to band together to give food to the hungry, old clothes to the naked, flowers, advice, and prayers to the prisoner, medicine and care to the sick, who perhaps would rather die than get well, a few days' outing to the little city waif,-has not lessened the chasm between the rich and the poor, nor made them feel much more like saying, "Our Father, who art in heaven."

There is a better way of visiting the sick, sheltering the stranger, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked; and I believe the minister who is to be a power in his day and generation, and in the generations to follow, will not shun the great questions of capital and labor, temperance, social purity, crime and its prevention, etc., that concern the welfare of the whole nation.

I like the Unitarian, and feel sure it is doing a great work for Christianity.

Carthage, Mo.

M. E. SHANNON.

To the Editor of the Unitarian :—

Through the kindness of stranger friends in Jamaica Plain, Mass., I have had the pleasure of reading your magazine for the last two years, but have never seen any communication from this vicinity. We have a good many people here who fail to find in the old orthodox theology a belief that is satisfactory; and, if the more liberal ideas of Unitarianism could be introduced here, I feel that it would find many adherents.

We have a Methodist Episcopal and a Congregational church in our village; but we have here, and in the surrounding country, a good many disposed to think. I have called the attention of a number to sermons I have received through the postmaster, and all seemed favorably impressed with the views expressed. Could there be a movement made here to reach the people, it would no doubt be successful; and, as I read of the spread of the new theology in other places, I hope the time may come when we, too, may be reached. T. S. METZGER. Amity, Mo.

EDITORIAL.

TIME has grown so miVacation Time. serly of late, or else by estate has been so extensively subdivided, some democratic inheritance-legislation his that no one seems to have enough to remember him by; and, if it were not for life and machine law would soon rattle the vacations, and good long ones, machine

weak and foolish to death and exhaust even the strong and wise.

"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes."

He seems to have put a great many human beings into that wallet as tempting scraps for the huge and awful Moloch who, dumb and emotionless, makes no acknowledgment. Vacations keep us out of Time's grab-bag for oblivion.

Every life has a certain amount of original yeast; but the daily clip-clip and jinglejangle of the machine, running with an increasing momentum from the piled-up mass of back work, pounds and desiccates the fibre of the plant so that it cannot grow. Vacations ought to be yeasting times. For the church, for the home, for each man's business, and for every individual's own batch of life there should be a quiet season for the plucky little yeast plant to have a chance of leavening the lump.

To start the little life-yeast Life Yeast. plant on its noble vacation mission, some such epigrammatic, deeply suggestive little volume as the "Pensées"

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