p. 154 | A CHEERFUL HEART.- by Dewey

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1873

A CHEERFUL HEART.—

By Dewey

I once heard a young lady say to an individual, “Your countenance to me is like the rising sun; for it always gladdens me with a cheerful look.” A merry or cheerful countenance was always one of the things which Jeremy Taylor said his enemies and persecutors could not take from him. There are some persons who spend their lives in this world as they would spend their lives if shut up in a dungeon. Every thing is made gloomy and forbidding. They go mourning and complaining from day to day that they have so little, and are constantly anxious lest what little they have will escape out of their hands. They look always upon the dark side, and can never enjoy the good that is present for the evil that is to come. That is no religion. Religion maketh the heart cheerful; and when its large and benevolent principles are exercised, men will be happy in spite of themselves. The industrious bee does not complain that there are so many poisonous flowers and thorny branches in his road, but buzzes on, selecting the honey where he can find it, and passes quietly by the places where it is not. There is enough in this world to complain about and find fault with, if men have the disposition. We often travel on a hard and uneven road; but with a cheerful spirit we may walk therein with comfort, and come to the end of our journey in peace. —Dewey.