THE HAPPY LIFE-IT'S SECRET

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."-Solomon.

H

UMAN life of'times presents a strange intermingling of sorrow and joy. Within a very short period of time there may occur simultaneously occasions of great joy and extreme sorrow. We do not wonder when asked: "Why these startling paradoxes?"

Still, the world's quest is for happiness. How can it be found? What is the remedy for the world's sadness? The wise man says: "Out of the heart are the issues of life". We know this is true in the world of nature, for life finds its beginning in the heart of the seed. All development is from within outward, whether it be the sprouting of a seed, the growing of a tree or the blooming of a flower. So in the realm of the soul-the heart is the reservoir of life. Jesus said: "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh". The issues of life are not then in the pocket book; nor in culture but in the heart. Hence the poet sings: "True happiness is not the growth of earth,

The soil is fruitless if you seek it there;

'Tis an exotic of celestial birth,

And never blooms but in celestial air.

Sweet plant of Paradise, its seeds are sown

In here and there a breast of heavenly mould;

It rises slow and buds, but ne'er has known

To blossom here-the climate is too cold.”

-R. B. SHERIDAN.

Happiness is the accompaniment of moral perfection; the natural expression of the pure in heart. A happy heart is the secret of a happy life.

Naturalists inform us that the power of the loadstone is in the presence of certain congenial elements of nature. Thus the happy life is maintained in keeping close to and possessing within the power of the great magnet-Christ, for in His presence all solicitation of evil fails to draw away from God. David prayed: "Create for me a clean heart, O God". The Saviour said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". All of which teaches us to "be good and we will be happy".

The road to home happiness lies over small stepping-stones. Slight circumstances are the stumbling-blocks in families. The prick of a pin, says the proverb, is enough to make an empire insipid. The tenderer the feeling, the more painful the wound. A cold, unkind word checks and withers the blossom of the dearest love, as the most delicate rings of the vine are troubled by the faintest breeze. The misery of life is born of a chance observation. If the true history of quarrels, public and private, were honestly written, it would be silenced by an uproar of derision.-Selected.

THE MINISTRY OF SONG

"Serve Jehovah with gladness and come before his presence with singing."-The Psalmist.

MUS

USIC has been defined as "A divine art, a universal language, a vehicle of worship, a soothing, inspiring and saving force." A writer from Africa says: "Nothing is done there without song. The boatman sings all day long, keeping time with his paddles; the woman beating rice beats in time to her voice; the carriers sing to their tread; the farmer to his hoe." That was a true utterance which says: "Religious faith has kindled the music of the world". Unbelief has no comforting songs; despair no sonnets. Sinful conditions are unfavorable to exaltation or praise. Doubt begets no joy. The world has no sacred songs, but Christ brought life and immortality to light. Religion fills the heart with gladness, the mouth with songs of praise. To make a man happy is not always to change his surroundings, but change the man.

Paul, the great Apostle, evidently believed in christian song. He writes to the Colossians: 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God".

Our Saviour sang. And why should he not? His heart was full of sympathy; he had a clear conscience. He foresaw the ultimate triumph of goodness and truth. The Gospel tells us that

even when the disciples were gathered with Him at the Last Supper, He sang.

How the early Christians must have sung. Indeed the Church of Christ has come down through the years like a singing bird with the dew of the morning upon its wings.

Our fathers sang-some of the grand old hymns are echoing in our ears to-day. The Church of Christ must ever be a singing Church. David had a choir of three hundred voices; there were in the Jewish Church 4,000 Levites who praised God on musical instruments. So in our day and generation let us not surrender to the forces of evil all the beautiful vehicles of the divine art, but capture and hold for God's glory, all instruments of whatever name, that we may win men to the discipleship of Jesus.

"O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer's praise,
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace!
My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of thy name."
-CHARLES WESLEY.

IN MEMORIAM

TO MOTHER, FATHER, BROTHER AND SISTER

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me."-David.

A

NSWER me, burning stars of night; where is the spirit gone,
That, past the reach of human sight, even as a breeze

hath flown?

And the stars answer'd me, "We roll in light and power on high, But, of the never-dying soul, ask things that cannot die."

O many-toned and chainless Wind! thou art a wanderer free;
Tell me if thou its place canst find, far over mount and sea?
And the Wind murmur'd in reply, "The blue deep I have cross'd,
And met its barks and billows high, but not what thou hast lost."

Ye Clouds that gorgeously repose around the setting sun,
Answer! have ye a home for those whose earthly race has run?
The bright Clouds answer'd, "We depart, we vanish from the sky;
Ask what is deathless in thy heart, for that which cannot die!"

Speak then, thou Voice of God within, thou of the deep low tone! Answer me through life's restless din, where is the Spirit flown? And the Voice answer'd, "Be thou still! enough to know is given; Clouds, Winds, and Stars their task fulfil, thine is to trust in

Heaven."

—Mrs. F. D. Hemans.