The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-22
AMONG THE BOOKS
Charles Wagner's ''Simple LIFE
and Its Lessons.
Story Not Unlike That of Rev.
C. II. Sheldon.
is A BOOK OF PROTEST.
Plea for Simplicity Of Thought
and Speech.
Not Enough to Believe in God
Must Believe in Man.
A BOOK OF PROTEST..

pleasure by those who enjoy the essay
Of moral or ethical purpose is THE
Simple Life" a collection of sermons
by Charles Wagner the French clergy
man, with an Introductory sketch of the
author by the translator, Grace King,
3ust published by Mcclure, Phillips q
Co. Charles Wagner is one OF the most
prominent figures in the religious Wo&Bd
Of Paris where he breaches weekly to
the largest congregations in the city in
q large and handsome hall on the
Boulevard BeaumarchiaS with an oc-
caeional Sunday morning lecture to
different audience in the fashionable
Boulevard st. German. He IS OF the
Liberal Evangelical denomination and
besides his preaching contributes a
great deal to the little organ of the
church in Paris and is an active mem
Der, with tongue and pen of the Union
for Moral Action of which DesJardlns
was one of the founders.
The story of his life work reads not
unlike an account of the aims and ef-
forts of our own Charles M. Sheldon.
Their motives and principles are very
similar and there is something in the
simple, direct unaffected, healthtul
thought of the Wagner essays which re-
minds one of a Sheldon sermon. Pas |
eeur Wagner is a university man, has
Travelled widely. read much and thought
deeply He is a scholar and poet, but
the result of all his wanderings and
wonderings has been the conclusion to
which all valuable systems OF philoso-
ply, ethics and religion lead and which
IS epitomized in these quotations from
his writings: 1T is not enough to be-
lieve in God one must believe in man,
in humanity and its future" Homo
sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto-
Miracles, dogmas. forms which wor-
ried me at first worry me no longer.
Across them all 1 see only one thing
man in search of God. God in search OF
man" He is a practical humanitarian,
and therefore, as he sees it a practical
Christian All his life is devoted to
helping the wretched and unfortunate
of his fellowmen. BE man., the
text of one of his best known sermons
is the message of all his sermons, writ
ings and addresses For him there are
none of those insoluble problems which
are troubling the minds of many of his
contemporaries He sees no problems,
only men and women who can be made
better by leading better lives. And this
is his religion and the religion of his
followers; an alliance of effort for moral
action; union of workers based upon
no religious belief; not upon convictions
about life and death and the mysteries
of good and evil; but upon those of duty
as patriots and citizens.
The Simple Life" is a revolt against
the complexities of modern civilization
and a plea for simplicity of thought,
simplicity of speech, simple duty, simple
needs, simple pleasures, all of which he
defines in the incomparably clear con-
vincing style of one who Knows-who
is able to separate from the ccmpli-
Gated tangle of the unessental the fugi-
tive and the unreal the true, the perma-
nent and the worthy
Some quotations from his essays Will
illustrate his philosophy. as we'll as the
delightful qualities of his style:
Gould our fathers have foreseen that
we should some day have at our dis
posal the means and the forces we now
use in sustaining and defending our ma
terial life, they would have predicted for
US an increase of Independence and
therefore of happiness and a decrease
in competition for worldly goods; they
might even have thought that through
simplifcation of life, thus made possible.
a higher degree of morality would be at
tanned. None of these things has come
to pass. Neither happiness nor brother
" love, nor power for good has been
increased. Never has the question OF
food and shelter been sharper or more
absorbing than since we are better
nourished. better clothed and better
housed than ever. He errs greatly who
thinks that the query. What shall we
eat and what shall we drink, and where
withal shall we be clothed2' presents
itself to the poor alone, exposed as they
are TO the anguish of morrOws without
bread or a roof. With them the oues-
tiOn is natural. and vet it is with them
that 1t presents itself most simply. You
must go among those who are beginning
to enjoy a little ease to learn how great
~ satisfaction in what one has may be
disturbed by regret for what one lacka,
And if you would see anxious care for
future material good in all it's luxurious
development, observe people of small
fortune. and above all the rich. 1t is
not the woman with one dress who asks
most insistently how she shall be
clothed. nor IS 1t those reduced to the
strictly necessary who make most ques-
ton Of what they shall eat tomorrow
Impossible to conceive of the
fears Of a man established in life-their
number, their reach and their shades of
refinement. From all this there has
arisen throughout the different social
orders, modified by conditions and vary
ing in intensity. common agitation-a
very complex mental state, best COM
pared to the Detulance of the spoiled
child, at once satisfied and disconnected.
The more desires and needs
man has the more occasion he finds for
conflict with his fellow men; and these
conflicts are more bitter in proportion
as their causes are less just 1t is thu
law of nature to fight for bread. for tn
necessities. This may seem brutal bur
there is an excuse in its very harshness.
and it is generally limited to elemental
cruelties Quite different is the battle
for the superfluities-for ambition priv
ilege. inclination. luxury Never has
hunger driven men to such baseness as
have envy. avarice and thirst for pleas
ure. Egotism grows more maleficent as
It grows more refined"
'Do not the very sinews of virtue lie
IN mans capacity to care for something
outside himself2"
THE bitterness of attack against 9TH
ers' possessions is only a new proof of
the extraordinary Importance we attach
to possession itself. In the end people
and things come to be estimated at their
selling price or according to the profit to
be drawn from them. What brings moth
ing is worth nothing: he who has moth
ing is nothing. Honest poverty risks
passing for shame and lucre however
filthy, is not greatly put to it to be
accounted for merit"
Education, Ike the mass of our ages
inventions is only tool: everything de-
ponds upon the workman who uses it. So
II is with liberty. It is fatal or life-givins
according to the use made of it Is it
liberty still when it is the nrerogative
~ criminals or needless -blundererS =