The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-03

enQuEe hardness DlEa Win suCEA
I pering and grooming and complaining
that we wonder If they have ever heard
Of the all-sufhcienL grace OF Christ.
The joy of the Lord is a stranger to
them The way to Zion they CONSIDER
q dreary pilgrimage through q valley
of dry bones. Is it a wonder that
workings say. sfIf that is what Chris
tianity does for man. we'll have none
Of it2"
Life's sweets are tasted not by him
who gets. but by him who gives
HeIpfuIness is a more winsome grace
/ than beauty or brilliancy or culture.
/ The helpful person inevitably wins and
| holds both the admiration and the love
/ of his fellows All of US may not have
charms of person or mind, but all Of
US, even unto the least can have this
supreme and enduring charm of help
fulness.
CheerfuIness is not a little thing
when it shows men the joy of the Lord.
Christ's commands make mourn
full religion disobedience.
The catchism's first question is still
/ beyond most Of us. Mans chief end
/ is to glorify God and 60 enjoy him for
ever" we repeat glibly enough with
our tongues, but the truth is not de-
/ fined in our lives. Do we really enjoy
]
Father and we are his children? Is
/ It a source of real pleasure to US that
we are Christians? Are our lives more
songfuI and joyous than any worldly
4 life? If so, say so. We should let the
world know that Christ gives US sur
! passing joy. Glorify God by enjoying
4 him
Goodness is often robbed of its pow
4 er by being made ugly. We sometimes
act as If it made one sad to be good.
The long face, the self-righteous ap-
/ pearance, and the self-sufhcient atti-
/ tude have done harm to the cause of
/ religion. Christians ought to wear the
/ sympathy, and self-restraint. When
thus we beautify our lives we glorify
the Lord.
A long face is no indication of
deep life.
Religion is to be lived. preached and
enjoyed. 1t cannot be preached unless
1 it is lived, and it cannot be enjoyed un-
less it Is both lived and preached. Nor
can 1t be either lived or preached
properly unless it is enjoyed. These
| three purposes of religion are INSOFAR
ably bound together. Some of US lack
/ in a measure, all three of them, but
/ above all else we are deficient in the
joy of the Lord. We treat religion as
a burden to be borne, a school to be
endured, a flinty way to be Travelled
/ because of its end. But not sufficiently
have we risen to the truer and more
! glorious conception that the gospel is
| a gladstone thing, and that the hap
piest, fullest, and most radiant life is
that lived under its sway. Jesus is the
author Of joy.
Religion is not to be apOlogized for
/ but to be lived forth, gladly gratefully,
eXultingly- OF course We cannot enjoy
our religion if we are ashamed of it.
But when we are proud of the gospel
and the Saviour whose name We bear,
and when we rejoice to testify before
all men that we are Christians, then
there viii come to US a new confidence
and Joy that are GODS rewards to the
servants who are not ashamed of him.
SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS.
The pIeasantest things in the world
are pleasant thoughts, and the great
art in life is to have as many of them
as possibIe.-Bovee.
Plenty and peace breed towards; hard
OF hardness is mother.
Shakespeare
How unworthily of immortality do
bear myself. when my Impotence can
not wait year for a promised blessing
Amos r. Wells
1t is faith in something and enthusi-
assn for something that makes a life
worth looking at-O. ". Holmes.
My neighbor met me on the street
She dropped a word of greeting gay,
Her look so bright her tone so sweet,
stepped to music all that day.-Anon.
How much the sum of human hap
piness in the world is due to this one
f1,r- w Z .-F-.-
BY thine own souls law learn to live;
And If men bhwart thee, take no heed;
And If men hate thee, take no care;
Sing thou thy song and do thy deed
Margaret A Harrington.