The road to happiness

Contents

CHAPTER

I. God's Letter to Us

II. What Christmas Means to You and Me

Chapter I

OD has written a letter to us — to you. And though He has employed different human amanuenses — that it may be the more readily understood — yet it comes straight from Him. In it, He reveals His love for us, and its chief object is to win our love for Him, that He may give us endless happiness. As it was intended exclusively for the inhabitants of our little world — individually — it has been through the ages, the comfort and inspiration of millions upon millions of our race. I want to induce you to read it. I have found girls most eager to appropriate any bit of advice about how to be acceptable to their own little social circle, but I want to try to lead you to find that which will insure your welcome in the best society of two worlds, here and hereafter ; with happiness thrown in by double handfuls!

As the old negro said, "We all has our upsettin' sins"; they may differ, but human hearts have a close family resemblance, so that I may quote from the experience of one very faulty one in order to help others.

Now God's method of communication with our hearts is principally through that wonderful book, the Bible, about which I should like to talk to you a little. This is not only the greatest book in the world — it is a whole library bound in one volume. It is a collection of the writings of hundreds of different authors living through the ages, in Egypt, Palestine, the desert of Arabia, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Glance for a moment at the list of authors on the front page — only an approximate one. Some were brought up in palaces, like Moses, the reputed heir to the throne of Egypt; others were country boys, shepherds, like Amos. Ezra was a scribe — an instructor in the law. Nehemiah was the cup-bearer to Artaxerxes of Persia, a statesman and courtier.

One of his duties was to taste the wine he poured for the king, to secure him from poison, at his own risk. Isaiah was of princely rank. David and Solomon were absolute monarchs. Daniel was a prince, carried captive to Babylon when a child and made viceroy during Nebuchadnezzar's madness, when he believed himself to be an ox. Habakkuk was a Levite, Matthew a tax-gatherer, Luke an educated physician of Antioch, Peter and John were fishermen, and Paul was a cultured Pharisee. Their styles of writing are as different as their personalities.

Not only was this collection of books written in many different languages, but in different ages of the same language — a proof of great antiquity.

The lapse of time between Moses and Malachi — for instance — changed the Hebrew into a dead language, understood finally only by the literati and the priestly class, just as Latin and Greek have become the tongues of the learned now, and the English of Chaucer is understood by the few.

The dates of the actual writing of the Bible run over twelve centuries. Its subject-matter — history and prophecy — covers the whole circuit of time.

But in spite of its many authors, in many lands, separated by ages of time, there is so marvellous a unity that it is called "Bible," meaning "The Book." One thought runs through it from cover to cover — God. He is its hero throughout. Its theme is His will and love for mankind.

There is only one explanation possible of how these writings should all have come together from such widely different sources, how type (that is, something that prefigures) and antitype (the reality), prophecy and fulfilment should be found, and bound within the same covers: that explanation is divine guidance in their preservation and selection.

Its first chapters tell of the world evolving out of

chaos, in its last we read of a new Heaven and a

new earth, "for the former things are passed away."

At its beginning we learn of man's sin, Satan and

evil triumphant, a curse upon the earth, sorrow,

sickness, death. At its close man is redeemed, Satan

bound — "there is no more curse," no more death,

"neither sorrow nor sighing" — and all between is

the leading of man from condemnation to salvation.

Is it not a wonderful book? You have made a mistake if you have thought of it as dry. If you are interested in literature and desire the culture that comes of acquaintance with the world's masterpieces, this book is the first English classic. Every author ranks it first — not on the ground of spiritual claims, but as containing the purest English, the utmost dignity, strength, and simplicity of style. All young authors are advised by the masters to study it in order to form their own style upon its models.

Charles Reade, the novelist, calls it a literary marvel, and says that, speaking merely as an artist, the Acts of the Apostles eclipses all human narratives, and declares that Jonah is the most beautiful story ever written in so small a compass, containing but 1,328 English words. He once proposed that several author friends should compete with him in trying to tell the story of Jonah with all its wealth of incident, sufficient dialogue to carry on the action, the characters not stationary but growing, within the limits of the Bible narrative. Their failure was ludicrous. It is the power of condensation that declares the master.

This same veteran author says that a written work loses fifty per cent, in human esteem by crossing a frontier or a channel. Translation lowers it ten per cent. Oriental poetry is but a glue of honeyed words, the Koran to an Occidental Christian "the weakest twaddle that ever drivelled from a human skull. It does not shock him. It is a mild emetic to his understanding." The Bible, an Eastern book, ranks first in Western thought; a product of antiquity, it is prized by modern men and women as their daily guide to purity and peace.

If you are interested in what took place in this world, what sort of people lived and loved and suffered and enjoyed before our important selves appeared, we have here the story of the human race, showing us, too, by examples, how God dealt with it : a story which we may ponder heedf ully. Draw upon your picture-making faculty to enhance your appreciation. Take, for instance, the drama of the Creation. The auditorium is dark at first ; then the scene is suddenly illuminated, God's fiat has come, "Let there be light !" and then the curtain successively rises and falls on the six acts of the

drama.

Professor Godet holds that the account of Moses is so like that of an eye-witness that, as he could not have been present at the Creation, the revelation must have been made to him in a vision, a typical day of each period made to pass before him as in a panorama.

The account in Genesis is so graphic that, as you may know, modern science, calling electricity to its aid, has been able to give a miniature representation of the Creation — which is most interesting.

Do you like biography? Well, you know, perhaps, that there are no biographies in literature that can compare with those of the Bible. You are not told how witty the heroine is and then find everything that she says perfectly commonplace. The story is not clogged with little essays on the personality of each character. They are self-evolved, they show what they are by their speech and action. They are all faulty. In the most truthful biographies ever written no excuses are made for the faults of the good ones, and the fine traits of the bad ones are frankly told.

And then the love-stories ! The Bible is always in advance of every age, even in narration, and the endless details that used to be in vogue, and of which we are now so impatient, have no place here. It is "hot pressed narrative," Was there ever a more ardent lover than Jacob, laboring seven years to win his sweetheart ? And "it seemed to him as one day for the great love wherewith he loved her." And when humbugged and the wrong woman was foisted upon him — poetical justice for his own double-dealing — he set to work again for another seven years. It is such a relief to know that Rachel was given him at the end of a year, though he continued to give his services for the other six to his hard-fisted fatherin-law.

What a gentleman Boaz was ! How delicate the wooing by the rich man of the modest young widow, trying to support herself and her beloved mother-in-law in a strange country.

Then in the story of Samson and Delilah we have the love of a man for an unworthy woman and where it leads him. And oh, the human nature, the "eternal feminine" which she displays in coaxing him to

tell her his secret! She sobs and cries and is "so hurt," and tells him that he does not love her ; and that is too much for the strong man — such tactics have been for many a strong man ever since — and he tells her the whole story.

The word of God was likened by Christ to a seed, which is composed of two parts, the outer or shell, and the inner part containing the life. We have only thus far been talking of the sheath, made to conserve and protect the life. The relative values are evident.

This book alone tells me that God is my loving Father, instead of a judge to be propitiated. But for this book we should have no certainty of assurance of any life beyond this present one — that we shall ever see again the dear dead faces that have been hidden from our sight.

It answers all the questions asked by every human heart — " Where do we go when we die ? Why do we ever have trouble? How may we find happiness, how escape the fear of death, how grow into our noblest, highest possibilities ?" It also tells us what God is. Never could we, apart from this revelation, have imagined that the All-Mighty One, the Creator

XI of the seventy millions of worlds and suns which we call stars, loves us individually with infinite tenderness, His care for us far transcending the intimate interest that a mother takes in all that concerns her little child.

This book has given to us women our freedom, our rights as human beings. James Freeman Clarke, in his "Ten Great Religions/' says that one of the first evidences of the sway of Christianity among a people is that they begin to treat their women with honor and consideration.

How strange it is that we should have to be urged to read this book !

In the days when it was a punishable offence to own a Bible one woman preserved hers from the men sent to search her house by concealing it in the dough for a loaf of bread which she calmly placed in the oven.

Another family fastened an open Bible under a footstool which was conveniently turned upside-down when read, and effectually hid the book when not in use.

One little maid defied them to take away the

GOD'S LETTER TO TJ S

Twenty-third Psalm, for "she had it in her head" — the best possible place for our Bibles.

How does it concern you personally?

As you go through life you will have many joys, I am sure of it, but also some sorrows, trials, experiences, problems — every one has them — else we should grow selfish, shallow, hard, frivolous. God who made us knows how to manage us for our good.

But you cannot open it at haphazard and find the words of comfort, of guidance, of love and forgiveness when your time of need comes. You would not know where to look. During a terrific cyclone at sea I saw a very "smart"-looking young man holding an open Bible — upside-down — as he would have clung to a life-preserver — quite ignorant of how to use it, as he afterward confessed. You know what would happen to your body without food, to your mind if it had nothing to feed upon. The fact that our spiritual nature has no appetite shows it to be sick or weak. A healthy mind, body, and soul are very hungry things.

Our neglect of the Bible may be partly because we know that we are not what we should be and dis-

*3 like to have that fact brought home to us ; but, bless you ! the Bible is the "lovingest" book in the world. It even has the monopoly of certain words of love. It took two English words bracketed to express the tenderness of the original of "loving-kindness" and "tender-mercies," and "grace" means "blessingfull."

If there is one thing more than another likely to astonish the angels, it must be to hear some lightminded girl or shallow young man speak slightingly of the Bible. I heard that Carlyle once said to such a one, as though thinking aloud : "Ye're a puir peetyfu' creature!"

Let me tell you persuasively that this book holds for you comfort in all your trials : hope, encouragement, inspiration. It takes the sting out of trouble, it carries to your self-accusing heart the message of God's forgiveness, and the assurance that, however lonely or unappreciated, you are dear to Him; it tells how to "overcome" and to triumph gloriously. It is God's declaration of love to you.

WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO YOU AND ME

Chapter II What Christmas Means To You And Me

jHRISTMAS is our festival of gladness. He who made us to laugh, who gave us our love of fun, must be pleased to see His children merry. God has all the attributes of fatherhood and motherhood united — multiplied by infinitude. Many of us worship an "unknown God/' and represent Him to ourselves as far less lovable and attractive than the most ordinary earthly parent.

A little child at his prayers one Christmas night suddenly looked up, and with a gurgle of laughter, exclaimed: "I almost said 'Merry Christmas' to God!"

"I think He must have smiled," said his mother, sympathetically.

"I guess He laughed right outf" the little one replied with conviction.

May not the child's conception of the Father be nearer right than ours ?

If you want to know what God is like think of the loveliest mother as a moral stepping-stone to your thoughts, and then study God's love in the light of Christmas Day. He deigned to "make friends" with His disobedient world and sent His offer of reconciliation by a little Child in whose person Godhead and humanity met. Jesus came to show us what God is, and what man ought to be.

You know, perhaps, that the promise of His coming was first made to Adam and Eve. At the very beginning of the sorrow of our race, when Satan had inflicted its mortal wound, God, while pronouncing the penalty for disobedience, promised that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head."

Man has worked by the sweat of his brow ever

since — not a curse, God's kind remedy for a curse.

The curse lay in the evil incurred. Woman has

brought forth children in pain and sorrow — but they

have been her chief joy and the source of her best

development. Good out of evil is God's method.

The race was condemned to death, Satan seemed victorious, but One was promised who should overthrow his power. He who of all who have lived could be called "the Son of the woman," having no earthly father, should tread underfoot "that old serpent, the devil." The Old Testament holds the Promise, the New Testament the Fulfilment. To Abraham the promise is repeated. Where he lived the deity worshipped was the Moon-god. Abraham was called upon to leave the heathen environment, unaccompanied by every protection known to his age — the great reward and incentive being that through his family "all the families of the earth should be blessed." Not a promise about which many of us, even nowadays, would be very enthusiastic ! — vide our languid interest in missions — and yet, where should we be but for missions ?

The Promise is again repeated to Isaac, discarding Ishmael; to Jacob, discarding Esau. It is this birthright that the unbelieving Esau "despised," not his patrimony. When Isaac was old, Esau was a rich emir with four hundred men under him.

Moses, David, all the Prophets, tell of the Messiah

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("the Anointed," "Christ," being the Greek form). Daniel and all who wrote after him paint Him as a Heavenly being. All earthly kings should bow before Him and all the idols utterly perish.

We are seeing that fulfilment. The divine purpose unfolds until in Isaiah (who wrote seven hundred years before Christ) we read plainly that the Promised One shall be born, as a little child, of a virgin mother, and nearly every detail of His life and death. It reads like history, not prophecy. Micah said that Bethlehem should be His birthplace.

All the Old Testament, exactly as we have it now, was in circulation, jealously guarded, three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

Let us see what our world was like when God sent His only-begotten to its help. Rome had conquered all nations. Peace reigned at last. Augustus was on the throne, receiving divine honors. The people had lost faith in their gods or paid them perfunctory sacrifices. The old and sick were turned out to die, burdensome, no longer of use.

Babies were exposed naked to the elements. If delicate this would be "a good riddance." Women were toys or slaves — divorce so common that marriage was, as a rule, only a temporary relation. Children might be sold for their fathers' debts. Cruelty was a matter of course.

But out of evil God brings good. The sway of one great power made travel from country to country safe, so the way was made for the spread of the gospel — the "God-story."

The Greeks worshipped deities, physically beautiful but morally abominable — often with shocking rites. Their nobler spirits sought for truth through the reason, and immortality was a hope, a dream.

But man-made systems are so cold, so sad ! "Man has one advantage over the gods," said the Stoics, "he can die." Suicide was applauded.

Among the Jews religion had become a thing of forms and formulas. The rabbis held the national conscience in their grip, imposing rules and machinemade prayers for every action of the day.

"Having risen from bed it was lawful to move four steps, and but four, before washing the hands and face." Two famous schools of Pharisees quarrelied over the question whether an egg laid on the Sabbath could be eaten ! Religion was a slavery !

Theirs was the very delirium of pride. "On our account Thou hast created the world. Other nations are nothing, they are as spittle," was one of their modest claims.

Their country being reduced to a Roman province, they emphasized the more all that was said of a triumphant Messiah — believing what they wished to believe — that He would scatter their enemies and give them national supremacy, discarding all prophecies that seemed to contradict this.

But Judaism had its faithful ones, whose conception of the Messiah's kingdom was pure and lofty. Among these there lived at Nazareth a godly pair, named Joachim and Anna, direct descendants of royal David, and the parents of the little sixteen-year-old maiden who out of all womankind was chosen to be the mother of our Lord.

The family had become obscure, but Israel (especially the tribe of Judah, because of its promise of the Messiah) preserved jealously all family records.

Let us gather what we may know of her whom the angel called "blessed among women." The Roman Church has gone so far in doing her honor that Protestants lean to the other extreme. I have heard narrow-minded folk refer to her much as they might to a heathen goddess !

St. Luke is believed to have gathered his account from her own lips. She lived until eleven years after the crucifixion, and would naturally have been sought by the disciples.

Joachim and Anna, after twenty years of marriage, had no child, and once when Joachim carried his voluntary gift to the Temple, the high priest called upon him roughly to confess the sin that had caused God to withhold so common a blessing. Joachim protested innocence, and fled to beseech God to grant him offspring.

Meantime Anna was praying the same words, and to both, tradition says, an angel in a vision promised their hearts' desire. At her birth, Mary, like Samuel, was consecrated to God, and was left when three years old at the Temple, where maidens devoted to a religious life were educated.

When Mary was of marriageable age her parents

*3 chose for her a husband in Joseph — "a just man," a nephew of her mother's and therefore of her own lineage. Though a humble carpenter he was one of the noblest blood of his race, and legal heir to the throne of David.

The betrothal took place at the home of the bride. It was more than an engagement, to be broken only by a formal divorce.

According to custom the bride was to remain afterward in her own home for weeks, months, sometimes for a year.

During such an interval, Mary, while alone, saw suddenly appear before her an angel — "Gabriel, sent by God," who exclaimed : "Hail, thou that art highly- favored !"

The angel then tells her that she shall have a child: "That holy thing born of thee shall be the Son of God." A miracle should happen. She is told the divinely-given name, "Jesus," nieaning "Saviour," and of His everlasting, boundless kingdom, thus identifying Him with the expected Messiah.

*4

Troubled at first she finally answers with dignified humility: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word." Whereupon the angel departs.

The angel had told her of his message to her cousin, Elisabeth. Naturally longing for sympathy and advice she went "with haste" to her kins-, woman's home, several miles distant. Upon seeing Elisabeth her full heart vented itself in a burst of joyous praise.

Like some ideal Puritan maiden, deeply read in the Scriptures, when moved by lofty emotions she falls naturally into Old Testament phraseology. How innocently happy her exclamation, "Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed!"

The sublimity of her psalm of joy reveals the quality of her mind. Its strength was shown when she stood by the cross.

After three months with Elisabeth, Mary returned home. We may imagine her reluctance, fearing misunderstanding.

Appearances led Joseph to believe his betrothed unfaithful to him, but, noble and gentle, he resolved to divorce her privately.

In the midst of his anguish an angel appeared in a dream and told him the truth. Without hesitation he obeyed God's word, accepting his part: to give mother and child a man's protection and support.

The wedding was celebrated. There was feasting, and a procession of girls, carrying lighted lamps and garlands of myrtle, according to the custom.

A few months later, a decree of Augustus ordering a census of the people preparatory to their taxation, Joseph was obliged to register his name at Bethlehem, the city of his family. Though it was a three days' journey from Nazareth, Mary accompanied him.

So many were drawn to the little town that they found upon arrival at the khan, or inn, that there was no room left. The only accommodation available was a natural cave in the hillside against which the khan was built, where cattle were stabled at night. Such caves were the homes of the very poor.

A khan is a low, stone structure built around a courtyard. Small rooms raised a few feet above this court open upon it. Travellers bring their own food, and carpets upon which they sit and sleep. Their cattle are tied in the courtyard. This particular khan had a history.

The house of Boaz — the patrimony of David — was bestowed by the latter upon Chimham, a Gileadite, for military services, and became the khan of Bethlehem. Here, then, on the hereditary land of His earthly ancestors, Jesus was born.

Meantime, out under the stars shepherds were guarding their flocks from wolves and robbers while the little town lay asleep.

A region of unusual brightness in the sky must have attracted their attention, increasing and enlarging, when before their dazzled eyes an angel appeared, proclaiming: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy ! For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the

Lord ! And this shall be a sign unto you : Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly a multitude of the Heavenly host join them, singing:

" Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men."

This Christmas carol of angels is the only Heavenly music ever heard by mortal ears. It is our Emancipation Proclamation.

When Lincoln proclaimed the freedom of the slaves many of them did not believe it, some thought it too good to be true, others were content in their present condition. So, with our Champion's coming, our liberty was proclaimed, and then by His life and sacrificial death He bought us, He ransomed us. We are His own by right. But He will force no claim. He says: "Come/' There is no condition attached but the faith to accept.

Faith is absolutely necessary to the reception of any gift. Especially is this true of forgiveness and of love. If a man tells a woman of his love, however much she wishes to believe it, the fact has no reality for her until she does believe it. It is true of material things.

Christ was God's Christmas gift to you. There is but one thing that you can give Him, for which He cares : Yourself. That is always the only thing that satisfies true love. Make yourself a present to Him. It is His birthday !

WHAT GOOD FRIDAY MEANS TO YOU AND ME

Chapter III What Good Friday Means To You And Me

IN a certain church in New York a three-hour service was held last Good Friday in memory of the time that Christ hung upon the cross. A short prayer, a hymn, a brief address were repeated seven times, each having for subject the successive utterances of our Saviour in His supreme agony — His second "Sermon on the Mount." The clergyman was young, impassioned, in dead earnest, and the vast congregation, hushed in profound reverence, listened eagerly, hungrily.

At the close, after the shout of victory, "It is finished!" and the words, "He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit," the "passing bell" began to toll — thirty-three strokes — the sum of a Young Man's years.

The people instinctively fell on their knees for silent prayer. When, at the concluding stroke, the organ pealed forth the "Hallelujah Chorus," we felt that we had part in the angels' acclaim of welcome to the Conqueror.

The contrast between the recital of the greatest tragedy the world has ever known and the soulstirring paean of joy and victory was most impressive.

We feel the same contrast when we accept the salvation purchased by Christ's death.

Do you girls indeed know that this wonderful salvation from the penalty of every sin may be yours for the taking?

Deliverance from the power of sin is a matter of time, but God undertakes to lead His child step by step in this, too. The Christian life begins with forgiveness.

Until I was seventeen I did not know this. I thought that if I were very good God would forgive me at death. Meantime I should carry the burden of all my evil doings with an ever-present sense of God's disapprobation. I thought that, when I should have become very virtuous, God would be won over to cancel the past.

One wonderful day I was told that, because of Christ's atonement, God would accept me at once, just as I was, with all my sins and imperfections on my head. Frankly, I did not believe it. I dared not take the risk, lest this view might be mistaken. I began to study the Bible and found it confirmed by type and symbol, plain statement, prophecy and fulfilment in both Testaments.

I found that the Passover Lamb stood as a symbol to the Israelites of their deliverance from bondage through the sacrifice of an innocent victim. When John the Baptist pointed out the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world/' Andrew and John needed no explanation.

I pondered the meaning of such a text as "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

At last I surrendered, touched by God's love and mercy. Oh, how happy I was ! I seemed to walk on air. It was like being in love — when love is returned ! I thought that nothing could ever trouble me again. I looked up into the blue sky and smiled, for I realized that it but veiled my Father's face!