The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith is a guide for Christian living written in 1870. This book, which was a gift, came recommended to me by at least two people that I respect as believers in Christ. Even with such commendation, I had a hard time with this book. It seemed disjointed and at times I wondered if Smith had talked herself in a circle. I applauded parts; others I didn't. My apologies to fans of Smith.
The book had some points I did enjoy, however. Here is a lament on Christian service done simply by our own power:
I was expected to visit the sick, and pray beside their beds. I was expected to attend prayer-meetings, and speak at them. I was expected, in short, to be always ready for every effort in Christian work, and the sense of these expectations bowed me down continually. At last it became so unspeakably burdensome to me to live the sort of Christian life I had entered upon, and was expected by all around me to live, that I felt as if any kind of manual labor would have been easier; and I would have infinitely preferred scrubbing all day on my hands and knees to being compelled to go through the treadmill of my daily Christian work. p 192
While Smith goes on to talk about how joy in service comes through yielding to Christ and taking pleasure in being used by the Lord, I enjoyed her honesty.
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