Christ leads His followers into happiness through this route.  No one who partakes of His spirit can be an idler.  The world is full of work awaiting labourers; the harvest is ripe.  Those who try to imitate Christ will be planning for the extension of His Kingdom and for the comfort of God’s creatures.  The heart of the Christian—­the center of life and love—­will find satisfaction in being in sympathetic touch with all that is good and noble.

I have dwelt upon this point because the worldly are in the habit of picturing the Christian life as gloomy and forbidding.  It is a libel; a long-faced Christian is a poor Christian, if a Christian at all.  “Be of good cheer,” is a Christian salutation; Christ used it repeatedly.  In Matthew 9:2 He said to the man sick of the palsy, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”

In Matthew 14:27 He quieted the fears of His disciples, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”  In John 16:33 He inspired the Apostles, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Here we have three of the greatest sources of happiness—­Forgiveness of sins:  the presence of the Saviour and triumph over the world.

In Acts we find Him using the same words in addressing Paul and later Paul uses them in encouraging his companions.

Religion—­real, heartfelt religion—­transforms its possessor.  It moulds the disposition and disposition determines expression.  No beauty doctor can make a face as winsome as the face of one whose heart overflows with loving kindness; just as no face specialist can impose from without such lines of strength and intelligence as can be written upon it by the thoughts that pass through the brain.

The Christian life is the simple life.  Charles Wagner sounded a note that echoed around the world when, some two decades ago, he issued his eloquent protest against the burdensome complexities of modern life.  He made a plea for the natural life in which each individual will be his own master instead of being the servant of his possessions.  Wagner’s book, though first published in Paris, had a larger circulation in the United States than in any other nation—­not because our people have wandered farther than others into artificial social forms, but because they are sensitive to high ideals and free to reject harmful customs.

Social intercourse should be an expression of friendship, and friendship is both embarrassed and obscured by vulgar display.  The home should be a place of rest, where congenial spirits can gather for communion.  There is nothing edifying or satisfying in the mere comparing of apparel.  The aim of entertainment should be to refresh the guest and stimulate friendship; the end is defeated by a rivalry in extravagance that awakens concern as to one’s ability to return courtesies extended.  The increasing costliness of social functions not only robs entertainment of the enjoyment that it is intended to bring, but it