CEREBRUM AND THE LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL 103 



very well be that the best working days will come later in 

 the week. Still, the important fact remains that a balance 

 must be maintained, a'nd the seventh day, bringing change 

 if not rest, is invaluable. 



A word regarding the relation of attendance on church 

 services to the health of the nervous system may not be out 

 of place. If we hold to the principle that a contrast in 

 thought and feeling is what we must seek to secure when 

 we turn from our common, necessary interests to others 

 which invite our attention, we shall find that much can 

 be said in favor of the formal exercises of religion. To 

 cease from our narrow calculations, our competitive 

 endeavors, the struggle to please all types of associates, 

 and to contemplate fixed and eternal realities is to alter 

 as completely as possible the currents of mental life. 



It may be said in this connection that the atmosphere 

 of very many churches at the present time is far less favor- 

 able to this bitterly needed substitution than it was 

 twenty-five years ago. When a church becomes a socio- 

 logic forum its power to restore the jaded individual is 

 obviously lessened. We cannot wholly regret the heroic 

 note in current preaching, the insistent call to social 

 service and political reform, but this is a function which is 

 shared with the press and the secular platform, while 

 spiritual renewal is the preeminent office of the church of 

 Christ. 



