Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-08
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cause the avoidance of fear and anger
/ There is no greater enemy than fear
and anger. Few persons have the
! slightest idea to what extent fear in
fuences life. Apart from fear in re-
gard to sickness and death, there is
another-the fear of the sick mind,
people who have unreasonable fears,
who are bound hand and foot, and are
| powerless to free themselves.
THE Christian religion is to eradicate
fear. The Christian religion in the first
place sprang from fear. Christ came
/ into the world to reveal to us a God
of love and to take away fear.
"A person who has an unshaken
| faith in God does not know fear. /
know that for our earthly life we
| have need of earthly prudence, but
| beyond that we need to trust in him
| to whom there is nothing unknown. =
"We don't help ourselves by our
worries and fears, but we do all we
can to bring to pass that of which we
are afraid. If we fear calamity, it will
come; but if, as with st. Paul. calam-
| ity comes we Know it not, or knowing
| it, turn it into victory.
Fear and Anger Hurt
eve hurt ourselves by our fears,
but we hurt others by our anger. We
| have been told to overcome evil with
good. That is one of the most pro-
found secrets of the gospel, and has
been ridiculed as a romantic dream
! but when it is put into life it trans
forms it. At least every one of you
knows what it means to live with at
least one peaceable person. If we have
peace in our hearts we will have peace
in the home.
I'm our work in Boston we asked a
number of our people not to lose their
tempers for a week. and not to allow
a disagreeable expression on their faces.
AT the end of the week we had a meet
ing and some of the expressions at that
meeting were very interesting. A large
number tried it over again, and, for
myself, it seemed that life was almost
beginning over again. I do not say that
[ have not been i'll humored since. I
wish that 1 could, but 1 can say that
my temper is improving. 1 do not mean
to speak of righteous Indignation, but
of i'll humOr and peevishness, which
absolutely have no place in the Chris
tian religion.
Just here let me say a word for the
child. l believe there is hardly a
| greater sin before God than that of
becoming angry and striking a child.
We injure them by nagging and sharp
and sudden words.
have III 1Illl1u IL lllllG SlIl UOW IL
years old. When she was years old
one morning at the breakfast table
she was playing with her teaspoon and
a little silver mug, just as all children
should. The noise angered her father
and he spoke to her sharply: Be still;
don't speak again. The child took him
at his word and for three years did not
speak word. The father was heart
broken, for he thought that he had
made an imbecile Of his child. When
she was brought to me 1 taught her to
speak again, but it was not to her
father at first, but to her mother.
Inner Peace Needed
1--WE have great need at the present
time of peace in our hearts. There has
never been a time since the world be-
gan when a man needed to husband his
nervous forces as at the present. Our
demands are SO great that if we do not
find some inner power our civilization
will perish by exhaustion.
THAT was a beautiful book, The
Simple Life by Pastor Wagner, but at
the same time President Roosevelt
started the strenuous life. 1t is most
imperative for us to gain an inner
peace.
"Of the application of the Christian
religion prayer is one Of the most strik-
ing signs of the times. Many who have
| ceased to pray for a number Of years,
or perhaps never have prayed, are now
doing so. They feel they are getting
something through prayer. That is one
of the most delightful sides of our
work. This is true not only Of women,
who are naturally more devOut, but es-
pecially of men, who are praying
earnestly today and who feel desire
for prayer.
Recently a man came into my office
+oI1 L, \ ~ L.
had done about everything bad except
commit murder. He had read my book,
about the first and last book he ever
had read. He thought he could get
something out of it, and began to try
it. After about six months he decided
he could get more from prayer. But
he had never prayed, and was ashamed
and afraid to pray. When he heard his
! voice, that had been more used to bias
phemy, uttering a prayer, he said he
! felt as if he must swoOn, but ever since
| that time he had had a great peace
within himself.
Convinced by Facts
'I know the difficulties about prayer,
| but I also know facts regarding it.
Darwin said that man might illumine
the world with a theory, but if his facts
were wrong, it was all wrong. l have
also doubted, but there is one thing
/ that l cannot doubt-that prayer is
answered. I have seen so many ans
wered that absolutely no power could
make me doubt prayer.
ITO those who are praying and who
seem to accomplish nothing by prayer,
| let me cite the case of Monica and her
son Augustine. The mother suppli-
Gated God to care for her son and
convert him from his wrong ways, but
the son resisted, yet he said that the
knowledge that his mother was pray
ing for him had great effect upon
him. The mother consulted with the
archbishop Ambrose, who said: Be
cause he is the child of such prayers
he could never perish At last the
conscience of Augustine was reached
and he gave himself to God. It was the
pleasure of Monica to give to the
church and the world the most sanity
man since st. Paul.
"In our work we have simple SER
vices without sensation. It is a re-
newal of the old New England prayer
meeting. The principal object of the