New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-13
rur UrRRy or MODERN LIFE.

~ :. Ouiot DAYS. or Retreats" have become
widely uopular in the Episcopal Church. AL
most every week one may see nohces IN tho
1onomnaticnaI organs that "Quiet Day. for
women or Retreat for oergymen Will be
held at s,mo church. 4 Retreat generally
continues for several days, and its object n to
rive those who take part in it al opportunity to
withdraw for time from the pclplextics and
distractions Of their work ard mediate on tho
great problems Of life and death. One of their
number. with a special aptitude for spiritual
teaching. is appointed to deliver series OF
mcditations on the topics that come most nearly
home 20 the life of the pastor. For a time the
worldliness and ma,erialism in which even tho
Clergyman of to-day must so largely live are
bani,hed. and time is given for sober, quiet
conservative though. about the things that lie
at the very base Of religion and life. The
Quiet Days" for women are similar Ill their
general character except that the meditaions
and addresses are made to bear on the peculiar
duties and temptations Of women.
To many people there Will seem something
strange and foreign in this idea of retiring from
the world something perhaps, akin to mediae-
valiSm or m,nasciSm Doubtless many also
would be inclined TO look upon such " Retreats
Us in Sone sort an institution opposed to tho
modern VOC aday spirit and the modern pro
gres,ivo movement Of the age. What right, 1t
might he urged, have gr0wn-up men and women
TO abstract themselves from The great army of
workos just to speculate and think? is there
not something essentially selfish and morbid in
the desire 70 get away from the strenuous and
busy world in which we are placed in order to
I...f. ifa and -. ton
denotes? What practical good can result from
such " Retreats?
But such superficial objections are not valid
The idea underlying these Retreats" is good
one. and deserves 10 be encouraged, just because
modern life is 50 filed with work, and activity.
All of life should not consist in doing; there
should also be time in it for thinking for reck-
ching mp lis failures and mistakes, for discerning
moro clearly it., real meaning and ultimate ten
denies, and for gaining that knowledge Of the
relationship between self and tho world that is
50 essential 70 its true appreciation. Americans
lack rcpJSc, we are constantly told by the foreign
captions critic and because he is foreign and
capti0us we are too apt to regard his criticism
as unworthy Of notice. Indeed, there is a we'll
marked tendency among lis 10 cxat our fcvcrlsh
unrest and material ACTIVITY into something
sacred and 10 point TO il Is a note of the trurs'
and bo,t progress. Work, movement. without
rest, without pause We cry. Always work, a-
WAYS movement, with no single moment for bar
zen and fru'lgss thought. What terrible and
terrifying spectacle is this fataliStic movement
Il modern lie when we come 70 consider It
Ever the clangor Of The conflict and the groans
Of the death struggle for material supremacy in
orr caiS And ever the thought that life Is an
intending series Of lightning changes from one
task t. another, shutting ont the truth that in
The la, analysis lie is more than meat and the
body more than raimcnt. Until finally we reach
tho oblivion Of the grave without ever having
hal moments time 20 know ourselves or our
relation to the world in which we live.
'Thcrc is no need to-day Ia preach the gospel
If activity. Of industry. Of material progress. 10
The American. That gospel gets itself preached
from ten thousand pulpitS erected in our marts
Of 1adc and in every nook and corner of our
common life. We are all ready, and more than
ready, TO crown with chaplct, ard greet with
hoSannas such preachers CT this gospel as can
show us some short cut to wealth or power VI
knowledge or some new form of activity for mir
already too busy hands. But what is needed Is
a gospel of rest, of rcpoSc. of meditation plea
for some moments Of time in our crowded lives
when we can get our true bearings, and when
we can give full play - that better and nOblcr
and diviner part of us which can find no adc-
quatc expression in orr material activities.