_There's no argument equal to a happy smile._

_Stealing sorrow is as much a sin as acquiring stolen joys._

_Life's music is never perfect without the chord of pain._

_Happiness is never found by dodging my neighbour's sorrows._


IV

THE POWER OF HAPPINESS

Instead of the strength of your faith being marked by the length of
your sighs, the genuineness of your religion is to be known by its
joyfulness. The same God who gives the sunlight and the smiling
fields, who makes the brooks to laugh through the meadows and the stars
to sing at night, would rather see smiles than frowns on the faces of
His children. His glory is not in gloom but in gladness. He designed
this world for happiness, and religion is but the pursuing of His plans
for the good of His children.

That which is holy must be happy. Artificial sadness is always sinful.
A church is not sacred because it looks like a sepulchre; music is not
sacred because all the spring is taken out of it. You do not keep a
day sacred to divine ends by making it dismal. It is a religious duty
resting on all to cultivate happiness, to make this world less sad.

No matter how sincere a man may be, if his sanctity results only in
sorrow to others its satisfaction to him must count for nothing. There