We are indebted to
Him for everything that gives value to our existence, and we give Him,
in return, with cheerfulness and gladness, our heart, our life, our all.
Ah, why did I so late Thee know,
Thee, lovelier than the sons of men?
Ah, why did I no sooner go
To Thee, the only ease in pain?
Ashamed I sigh, and inly mourn
That I so late to Thee did turn.
[A] Since the above was written we have published a book
entitled JESUS: A PORTRAIT. Look at it.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
1. While the tendency of infidelity is to make men miserable, it is the
tendency of Christianity to make men happy. When I was living at
Burnley, an infidel came to me one morning and said, "Barker, we may say
what we will, but those Ranters, (meaning the Primitive Methodists) are
the happiest men alive. There is one lives next to me, and he sings all
the day long. He gets up singing and goes to bed singing." They _are_
the happiest men alive. And real Christians of all denominations are
happy.
2. Some time after my return to Christianity, I spent a few days in the
house of a Primitive Methodist, a farmer, on the Cheshire Hills. I
seemed in Paradise. The master and the mistress were cheerful and kind,
and the daughters and girls were almost continually singing delightful
Christian melodies while busy at their work.
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