A GIRL'S RELIGION

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 17, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 24.

A GIRL'S RELIGION.

The author of "How to Be Happy though Married," published by the Scribners, has written a book on the "Five Talents of Women." He begins his chapter on "A Girl's Religion" with the story of the daughter of Jairus, and then goes on to say:—

"People are often puzzled about religion, and mystify themselves with problems which they fancy must be solved before they can become religious. There can, however, be little difficulty in understanding the only religion that a girl need much care to have. That is a very simple thing; for it begins and ends with a serious attempt to obey the Good Shepherd's word, 'My little lamb, I say unto thee, arise.' If a girl loves and tries to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, let her do so in a girl's way, and in a girl's place, and her face, instead of becoming long and sad, will reflect the bright happiness of her heart. Girls will be, and ought to be, girls; and a girl need not cease to be a girl because she is a Christian. She

ought to play games and amuse herself like a real girl. But in all she ought to show the Spirit of Christ. She ought to be cheerful, good tempered, and industrious. She ought to be free from frivolity and selfishness. She ought to have a horror of everything spoken or written that is in the smallest degree impure. She ought to be gentle, kind, and generous. She ought not to be ashamed to say that she refuses to do something because it is wicked and she fears God. She ought to take no part in the ridicule of sacred things, but meet the ridicule of others with a bold statement that for the things of God she feels the deepest reverence. "To be conscientious in duty, to go on errands of charity to the poor, to have the passions laid and the temper sweetened by a habit of prayer, to draw from the fountain of truth that truthful habit which expels all affectation and makes her at once confiding and worthy of confidence—this is the soul of all that enters into a woman's accomplishments; and without this her woman's accomplishments must want a soul, which is the most grievous of conceivable wants."