[From the Signs of the Times, Mountain View, Calif., Oct. 23, 1923]

Persons whose hearts are ever overflowing with praise and thanksgiving disperse good cheer, comfort, and courage wherever they go. They are to the home what sunshine is to the landscape. They chase away the shadows, and make everything look brighter. We enjoy having such persons around; only sometimes a jealous thought suggests itself that they are shallow, happy-go-lucky, and do not sense the serious side of life. Still, they do; yes, they know life has hard experiences, but they also know their God, who has sustained them in trials, made them victorious in conflicts with the enemy, and brought them safely out of furnaces of affliction. So they trust Him; and with hearts full of gratitude, they try continually to praise Him "who hath delivered, who doth deliver, and who will deliver." It is good to praise God. It cheers and strengthens our own hearts as well as the hearts of others. It changes the murmuring stream of life, with pools of bitter waters standing along the edges of the channel, to a pure, sparkling stream, singing songs of praise and thanksgiving all along the way.

[Dr. Noel Porter, in the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., Oct. 8, 1923]

We must have faith in our fellow-men. Faith brings out the best in men. That, after all, is God's method of bringing out the divine in men, by trusting them, by showing faith in them. No matter what their station or condition, He gave them a message from high heaven. Was it denunciation and impending doom? No. His was the ministry of confidence. "The kingdom of God," he said, "is within you." This, then, is God's way of making men strong—make other men trust them, show their belief in them. Love and trust are the great reagents for character. Furthermore, we must have faith in God and in His Christ.

The cloud may grow larger and blacker and may break, but we shall lose neither our grip nor our nerve nor our honor. For we know that "all things work together for good to them that love God," "all things are possible to him that believeth." Let us try, then, to keep untroubled hearts through faith in God, who never faileth, and through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

[Rev. Robert Hopkin, in the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., Oct. 22, 1923]

The optimism for to-day is that which manifests a firm faith in the race's attainment of its God-appointed goal. We were made for the day, and not the night. We were made for the beauty of right living, and not for the ugliness of wrong. . . . Every Christian is an optimist, yes, I will go farther and say no pessimist can be a Christian. . . . The Founder of Christianity was the greatest optimist of all human history. I know of no words of any recognized leader that are as optimistic as the words of Jesus. Optimism is ever the characteristic note of the gospel which Jesus lived and taught. . . . He did close his eyes to the sin and the sorrow of the world, yet he never for a moment lost faith in the final triumph of his method of the world's redemption. He never thought of surrendering humanity to the devil, as so many of his professed disciples are doing to-day. In the midst of the injustice and all the tragedy of the world's disordered heart, his unfailing exhortation was, "Be of good cheer!" The echo of this call comes across the great bleeding heart of humanity to-day, to you and to me, inviting us to manifest the spirit of Jesus in our faces and in our deeds.

A true religious faith is the only foundation upon which a genuine optimism can stand. I say religious faith, not sectarian bigotry. I believe that God's plan for a redeemed world includes the gradual education and elevation of the race. When this work is finished, we shall have a world wherein dwelleth righteousness, and "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Christian optimism lives ever in the vision of a New Jerusalem descending from God into the midst of men; in other words, a transformed human environment, created by transformed souls. A Christian optimist is never neutral in the struggle for justice and right. Not only does he hope for a better day, but diligently labors to bring the better day about.

[From the Ridgefield Park Bulletin, Ridgefield, N. J., Sept. 28, 1923]

In reply to a lengthy criticism concerning the danger of the growth of Christian Science, we not only fail to see any reason for undue alarm, but confess to ample justification for its wondeful progress in the fact that it has strongly impressed upon its members a most remarkable serenity of mind. Its members display a most tolerant spirit toward others, even under the most trying circumstances. Another thing in their favor is that they have learned to smile, the smile that won't rub off—the wholesome, heartfelt smile. Danger never lurks in a spontaneous smile, for it is the reflex, kindly impulse of a good-natured soul. There can be no danger in the spread of tranquillity—an evenness of mind that is tolerant of the intolerant. Such growth can only be regarded as a worth-while accomplishment. If there were no other achievements to its credit, these reasons alone afford abundant justification for its growth. Who will dispute the great value of a smile that springs from the heart? Who will gainsay the great value to health of a tranquil mind, free from fear and care? Do not peace, serenity, harmony, tranquillity, love have a bearing which finds an outlet, an inspiration in every thought and every deed of our lives?

[From the Credit Monthly, East Stroudsburg, Pa., September, 1923]

The difference between true success and failure is a matter of spiritual values. These values are measured by the extent to which . . . giving or getting dominates and controls the daily impulses. The difference between the really successful man and the unsuccessful is that the former as he goes along gives out of his talent and himself in the work he undertakes without thought of personal reward, and the latter can never dismiss or suppress the sense of what he himself has to get out of his labors. . . . There is success and happiness for the business man who sees his enterprise as a means of contributing substantially to the wants and delights of men and looks upon those who labor with him as associates in a worth-while enterprise. . . . Some there are who think they must search the wide world over to find that which can give happiness and a touch of success to their work. The credit man, right where he is, in his chosen filed, no matter whether it be called small or expansive, has the interest that should often draw him out as an inspirer of new impulses and a guide for those who have missed the way.

[From an editorial in the Press, Fort Myers, Fla., Sept. 1, 1923]

There seems to be a close connection between the sixth and seventh Beatitudes. The sixth reads: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God," and the seventh: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." . . . We should think and talk peace as among different groups of society. How stupid and sinful the war between capital and labor!. . . In the list of seven things which the book of Proverbs tells us God hates, one is: "He that soweth discord among bretheren." Just now we need to think peace, talk peace, write peace, that we may live in peace with those who may belong to a different group, a different race, or a different nation. And to this end each of us should possess his soul in perfect peace. "First keep thyself at peace," said Thomas a Kempis, "and then thou shalt be able to keep peace among others." May God hasten the day when strife shall end. . . . This is not too much to expect and to work for. It boubtless is a long way off; but he who taught his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," did not ask them to pray for what he knew would never be realized.

[Julia W. Wolfe, in the Christian Guardian, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 12, 1923]

If a person is happy, he must be happy now; if he is to be happy, he must be happy in himself and not in his condition. A great many people speak of heaven as if it were a walled city, through the gates of which they hope, by some blessed mercy, to pass at some future time, at some distant place; not knowing that nobody enters heaven who does not enter it through the gate of life, and not the gate of death; and that life eternal begins now, or began long ago, but under no circumstance can begin in the future. It is a present possession. Not many years ago a learned man wrote: "Contentment is success. It consists in finding that we already have what we wanted, and in being happy from the outset instead of only at the end. If we exchange life for the mere means of life, we never really live. A poor bargain it is to buy happiness at the price of our capacity for it."

[Dr. Porter, in the Mercury Herald, San Jose, Calif., Sept. 24, 1923]

Most of us start out in life without fear. The world is very beautiful to youth—it sees no shadows; but as we go on, unless we have a serence faith, shadows, doubts, and fears come. . . . Whatever the cause of worry, fear always robs us of happiness and efficiency. For the conquest of fear we must substitute for fear . . . the attitude of cheerful expectancy. This comes from serene faith in God. . . . He, God, knows how to help us to be strong and brave and true. Let us keep, then, untroubled hearts, through faith in God who never faileth, and in His Son, Jesus Christ.

[Rev. James L. Elderdice, in the Christian Advocate, Baltimore, Md., Nov. 1, 1923]

There is but one road that leads to the attainment of happiness, and that is the one pointed out by the great Teacher sent from God: "If ye know . . . happy are ye if ye do." According to Jesus, the kind of happiness we are considering comes from the knowledge of our true relations to God and man, and the observance of the duties arising therefrom.

[From the House Publication of the Kalamazoo Pant Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., September, 1923]

Why is it that all over the world men and women are so full of hate and fight, so restless and ill at ease, when they might get so much more out of life in the way of health, happiness, and prosperity if they would just cultivate a little more poise and sense the fact . . . that . . . . pure, unadulterated love for all things good, is the only lever that will lift mankind to a higher level.