Spiritual Evolution of Society 165 



not coming to see that men will only be happy when 

 they all can have the necessaries of life without excess 

 of labour, but only as the reward of some labour ex- 

 pended in the service of society, with sufficient leisure 

 to be devoted to the highest physical, intellectual, and 

 spiritual development of each unit therein. The cry is 

 always that individualism cannot be suppressed, that 

 man must have a motive for exertion, and that his only 

 motive is gain. No doubt that has been the rule 

 hitherto on the average, but there have been many 

 instances fortunately in which " the only way " has 

 been the " path of honour " and has proved the " path 

 of glory," and has involved the renunciation of all that 

 the world holds dear — wealth, possession, and even life 

 itself. The only way for heroes like W. T. Stead, 

 Colonel Astor, Isidore Straus and his wife, Captain 

 Smith, and many others who, " humble and nameless, 

 the straight hard pathway trod," in the recent terrible 

 disaster, was to help the helpless, and, when no more 

 could be done, give up their lives that others might live. 

 Their worldly possessions have gone to others ; they 

 have parted with the seen and temporal, but theirs is 

 deathless fame and everlasting glory ; theirs is the 

 unseen and the eternal. 



Canon Horsley, writing lately about the " Factors of 

 Happiness," gives the result of his experience in regard 

 to the acquisition of wealth : "I have known people 

 in all ranks of society come into money by legacies and 

 cannot recall an instance of their being morally or 

 spiritually improved — usually the contrary." This is 

 valuable evidence, and accords with the experience of 

 all accurate and unprejudiced observers. Mr. Arthur 

 Machen also has written recently a series of articles on 

 the " Secret of Happiness," and in the first of these the 

 following sentence occurs : " Men can only be happy 

 and enjoy a state of well-being through the exercise 



