Year: 1877




The idea that religion makes people
gloomy is a very great mistake. The
man or woman who has an experiment
tai knowledge of the love Of Christ, in
the heart should be the happiest per-
son on earth. To 90 around with a
face as long as your arm is not true
representation of religion but only a
counterfeit, which may have the gen.
eral form, but not the brightness and
ring of the true metal. If we would
reach the young we must be bright
and cheerful ourselves. Satan taught
his servants that fact long ago, The
gilded saloon and SNOWY dance hall,
with the light from an hundred gas Jets,
is yearly drawing young men and wo-
men away from the church, and down
to destruction. We should strive to
make our churches more like pleas
ant homes, letting in the fresh airand
ridding them Of that tomb-like smell,
which is foundin so many of them.
AS christians we should set the eX-
ample of eheerfulness, not offriyolity.
but if full of love to God and to our
fellowmen, we should let it be seen,
We should throw open the shutters of
our souls END let the warmth and light
within cheer the passer-by. But we
must be sure we have that light with
in, and fear too many of us are
more in the dark than we need to be.
We use our hearts as many do their
house. They have a large pleasant
house which they might enjoy but in
stead of using it, we find them living
away at the backside, or down in the
basement, where the sun never could
shine in and there they live with all
that great house shut up, not daring
to open it for fear of fading something,
or wearing something out, They have
everything to make themselves COM
Portable and happy, yet they will per-
sist in shutting out the bright cheerful
sunlight and live in little bacllroom.
Too many Of us christians are living
in the backroom, or in some dark cor
ner of our hearts. Let us throw wide
open the shutters and let out the dark
ness and dampness and general musti-
ness, and letin the warming and cneer-
ing rays from the sun of righteousness.
Then we shall be "Living epistles
known and read of all men," not to
their destruction, but to their eternal
salvation. Let us drop that sepulch-
raj tone Of voice and that stiffness of
manner which we are so apt to assume
the moment we begin to talk on relig-
ious subjects. / know that one thing
that kept me from Christ in my young
er days, was hearing certain ones get
up in the prayer meeting and speak OF
the peace and joy Of the christian, with
countenance and tone of voice that
to me was such an evident contradic-
ton of these words that in my mind I
laid them down as humbugs. OF
course | now know they were not, and
have no doubt but that they have by
this time become accustomed to the
light and joy Of Heaven, which they
might have begun while here on earth
and instead ofrepelling, have attracted
others to follow their example. Then
let us be more cheerful, fitting our
selves for that Getty that has no need
of the sun, neither of the moon to
shine in it for the glory of God does
tighten it and the Lamb is the light
thereof. "Let us begin here to sing
that 'Enew song which with the hun
dred and forty and four thousand" we
hope to sing around the throne Of God
in Heaven. ONE OF THEM.


Albany, vt.