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<p>One false charge against the children of God, is that <br />
        they are <strong>a poor, moping, miserable people</strong>, who . . .<br />
        know nothing of happiness, <br />
        renounce all cheerfulness, mirth, and gladness,<br />
        hang their heads down all their days like a bulrush,<br />
        are full of groundless fears,<br />
        nurse the gloomiest thoughts in a kind of melancholy, <br />
        grudge others the least enjoyment of pleasure and happiness, <br />
        and try to make everyone else as dull and as miserable as <br />
        their dull and miserable selves. <br />
        <br />
        Is not this a false charge? <br />
        <br />
        You know—that you never had any real happiness <br />
        in the things of time and sense—that under all your <br />
        'pretended gaiety' there was real gloom—that every <br />
        'sweet' was drenched with bitterness—that vexation <br />
        was stamped upon all that is called pleasure and <br />
        enjoyment.<br />
        <br />
        <strong>You never knew what real happiness was</strong>, until you <br />
        knew the Lord, and were blessed with His presence, <br />
        and some manifestation of His goodness and mercy!