WORRYING by Dr. Geo. L. Perrin

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 30.

WORRYING.

By Dr. Geo. L. Perrin

[From a sermon by Dr. Geo. L. Perrin.]

Worrying is a cowardly business; it has its spring in fear; the man who trusts does not worry; the man who has faith in God is not anxious. The worrying of the world is absolutely unnecessary. John Sherman said the way to resume specie payment was to resume, and I say the way to stop worrying is to stop worrying. Let a man hold on to himself and simply say: "I will not worry; this is God's world; I did not make it, I am not responsible for its government, it was here before I came, it will be here when I am gone. I will smile in the face of adversity, I will laugh when my plans go awry, I will keep my step elastic and my face from the furrows of care as far as I possibly can. I will believe in the moral order and will not anticipate evil." If a man given to worrying would make a resolution like this and bravely and honestly try to live up to it for a single year, he would find that the habit of worrying had vanished. At bottom it is a religious question, and Paul Fleming voices the religious philosophy in these fine words:—

"Let nothing make thee sad or fretful, Or too regretful; Be still. What God has ordered must be right; Then find in it thine own delight, My will. "Why shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow About to-morrow, My heart? One watches all with care most true; Doubt not that He will give thee too Thy part. "Only be steadfast; never waver, Nor seek earth's favor, But rest. Thou knowest what God wills must be For all his creatures, so for thee, The best."