The person who thinks religion must be sombre has misread his Bible and misinterpreted his Master. It may be serious and earnest, but never morose and gloomy.---A despondent person is no ornament to religion. It is the joy-lighted face which inspires and wins. The people who are really living want a religion which is more than a fashion or a convenience. It must include a working program which means something and is not too easy. When we widen it, plant primroses in it, and take the stones out of it, we no longer have a path of salvation. Then real followers of God no longer care to walk in it. The nature of a man can be altered or reversed.---It is the power of the will to resist or submit. Whoever is not physically equal to an hour or two in the sanctuary is hardly a fit candidate for the world’s responsibilities. The problems of the age are ethical and social. Fundamental to ethical and social problems are spiritual conditions. The Christian Gospel is an ethical and social message based on spiritual principles. The divine plan looks only to the constant narrowing of the chasm between man and God. We all know perfectly well that life is not all that it ought to be without the presence of the Personality which completes us. The only argument against [Jesus Christ] is an unfaithful follower, and that is refuted by a follower who is true. There is no danger that [Jesus Christ] will ever be driven out. If there is any danger for Him today, it is that He be crowded out.---But many say, “I haven’t time.” Only one thing should lead one to dedicate his life to Christian work. It is the great compulsion. One has it when he is conscious that he cannot do anything else and be quite content. Any great idea or interest, however spiritual in its nature, must be incarnated in an institution or it will die.---An institution must make them visual, real, and effective. Such is the reason for the existence of the church. The mission of the church is to make itself unnecessary. It will be dispensable when all the world shall at last have conformed to the purposes of God. Jesus introduces a man and a truth to each other and sees that they become friends. [Jesus] will become the spiritual ruler of the hearts of men. No power can go beyond that. There is nothing in the purpose or the kingdom of God that needs fear the light [i.e., knowledge of the truth]. What will not stand the light is not of His designing. The best that His gospel and His power can ask is to be investigated and tested. The world has always had strange ways, however, of putting an indefinite construction upon the words of Jesus. ...the wonder of them...their beauty...their truth. They are not so many, however, who venture to take them for a life program.