THE BROOKLYN ETHICAL ASSOCIATION. 671 



form a wonderfully united little community. The sense of their 

 common affliction seems to draw them very close together, while 

 the knowledge of their own dependence teaches them to be ever 

 ready to give a helping hand — to give it, too, gently, tenderly. 

 Epileptics have a terrible cross to bear at the best ; but in Bethel 

 it is lighter than elsewhere. In the world such people are bur- 

 dens on the labor of others, pariahs whom all men shun ; in their 

 own colony, however, they are respected citizens doing good work 

 in the world, and living upon terms of equality and sympathy 

 with their fellows. — The Contemporary Review. 



THE BROOKLYN ETHICAL ASSOCIATION. 



By LEWIS G. JANES, M. D. 



THE philosophical evolutionist looks for the regeneration of 

 society and the advancement of civilization by means of the 

 voluntary action of individuals, rather than by the multiplication 

 of state agencies. Society, to him, is not an artificial mechanism, 

 held together by legal compulsion, but an organic growth, depend- 

 ing for its strength and utility upon the intelligent volition of 

 its constituent units. To effect results, however, the units must 

 not illustrate an individualism which is antagonistic and repel- 

 lent, but an individualism inspired by the social sentiment — the 

 desire and purpose to co-operate voluntarily in all wise efforts for 

 the common good. 



As the coercive functions of the state decline, and the divorce 

 of church and government becomes more complete, efforts for the 

 moral and social improvement of the people are relegated more 

 and more to the control of voluntary organizations. This is espe- 

 cially true as the importance and indeed the necessity of applying 

 the method of science to the solution of the great social and po- 

 litical problems of the day is recognized by the public mind. It 

 is not surprising, therefore, in a country where the government is 

 " of the people, by the people, and for the people," to note that the 

 education of the people in religious matters has already passed out 

 of the control of the state, while in social and political concerns 

 voluntary associations are rapidly taking the place of the state 

 in the instruction of the people, and even in the enforcement of 

 the law and the administration of justice. The Citizens' Associa- 

 tion, the Society for the Prevention of Crime, the Societies for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Children and to Animals, labor organi- 

 zations and arbitration committees, the Prison Reform Associa- 

 tion, and the Social Science Association are factors in the training 

 of our people for good citizenship, and in the administration of 



