“I Should Like Something Bright.”
REV. J. W. HASLAM, an Episcopal clergyman of England, says: “I remember meeting an officer from Dover, at the Hanover-square Rooms in London, where I had been giving some addresses. He came up to me with a cheery countenance and said: ‘You Christians are such a gloomy lot; you do not recommend your religion at all; I am jolly, I should like something bright.’ “I said, ‘I agree with you, I like something bright too, and do not approve of a gloomy religion; for I think that we Christians have more right to be happy, and have more cause for happiness, than any other people in the world. But,’ I added, ‘I cannot help thinking, that even if it were otherwise, I would far rather have my gloom in this world than in the next. You would rather have it all bright and jolly now; that is a very poor choice.’ “He made no reply; but a fortnight afterwards he met me and said, ‘I do not want my gloom in the next world.’ “I was thankful to hear him say so, and pointed him to the One who alone could change his heart, and make him truly happy in this world, and happier still hereafter. “Surely it is not too much to expect that God can make his children more joyful than the devil can; and that Christ has pleasures at his right hand such as the world can never give. It is a great mistake for men to refuse salvation, and the service of the blessed Lord Jesus, because they desire happiness.”