X.

JOY WITHOUT ENDING.

"Rejoice evermore."-1 THESS. v. 16.

WE find in the Book of Truth some apparent inconsistencies, which can hardly fail to strike even a superficial reader. This injunction of the apostle Paul, for instance, seems to involve even a positive contradiction to the very first words of our Lord's first recorded sermon,- "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn." What can be more incompatible than joy with mourning? Light and darkness are not more antagonistic in their nature. Yet experience in the things of God will resolve all such paradoxes. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God. While the things of the Spirit are foolishness to the natural man,with the upright, God will show himself upright, and wisdom is justified of her children.

Let us observe here, that when a man joins

himself in covenant with the Lord, and enters upon the path of life, he does not, as the Devil suggests, and as the world imagines, bid farewell to joy and gladness. He merely chooses new objects of his joy. This misapprehension is simply one of the depths of Satan-that liar from the beginning—who is ever putting darkness for light, and who seeks by defaming God to murder the souls which He has made. Many are his works of darkness, and not least destructive is that whereby he misrepresents the nature of true godliness, and vilifies the ways of wisdom.

Light is sown for the righteous, and joyful gladness for such as are true-hearted. The Gospel is the glorious Gospel of God, bringing glad tidings of great joy; but the aim, and the achievement, of the god of this world, is to blind the minds of them which believe not, lest that Gospel should shine unto them. His influence is not limited to a few. He "deceives the nations;" nay, "the whole world;"—and except, by the help of the Lord who made heaven and earth, we escape out of the snare of the fowler, we cannot see that kingdom of God, which is not only "righteousness and peace," but also "joy in the Holy Ghost,"we cannot "with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation."

Now, not only are the ways of wisdom in themselves ways of pleasantness and paths of peace, but there is no true joy in any other ways. It would be idle here to enlarge upon the frailty of the foundations of the highest earthly happiness. We all admit this, at least, that he who drinks of this water shall thirst again. In truth, if our joy does not spring from a more lasting source, we shall thirst for ever. We all must acknowledge, in our tranquil moments, that instability is stamped upon everything our eyes behold,-that there lies a worm at the root of every earth-born joy. And "if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness," which shall quench the light of this world. Let him at least remember that these things come to an end, if he cannot yet be persuaded that vexation of spirit attaches to all pursuits beneath the sun. The truth is, all the foundations of this earth are out of course. With God alone is the Fountain of Life; and the streams which make glad the city of God must be derived into our hearts, before we can possess in ourselves a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Now God is the God of all consolation and comfort, and when he calls us to cease from feeding upon that which is not bread, and drinking

from broken and polluted cisterns, he provides for us instead a feast of good things, and wine and milk without money and without price. He excites a new hunger and thirst in the soul which he draws. But the man whom the Lord causes to approach unto Him is blessed, for he can and shall be satisfied; and his joy is strong in proportion to the strength and clearness of his faith.

Let us first notice briefly the obligation of what is here enjoined, "Rejoice evermore ;" and then consider wherein this rejoicing consists.

You observe that these words of the apostle Paul, who wrote as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, are couched in the form of a command. If it be only an invitation to rejoice, it is from God, remember; and an invitation from royalty is a command. But it is, in fact, as express an injunction as what precedes,-namely, to pursue ever that which is good, or, as the direction of the succeeding verse, to continue in prayer. We find the same thing urged by Isaiah, where he calls off the soul from grovelling in the things of time and sense," Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." And in another epistle St. Paul reiterates the charge,—

"Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, rejoice." This rejoicing, then, is not merely a privilege, but a duty; it is not only a pleasant, but a good thing also. In fact, the joy of the Lord is his people's strength. It upholds them in passing through the wilderness to the land of promise, and fortifies them to sustain the assaults of their various enemies.

Let us consider now wherein this joy consists. Judge whether it be a well-grounded joy, and examine yourselves also whether you are partakers of it.

Observe, at the outset, that in order to possess spiritual joy, a man must be "born of the Spirit;” otherwise, however eloquently he may talk of it, it is a matter of which he can have no experimental knowledge. It is only they who are after the Spirit, who mind the things of the Spirit; and without His indwelling there cannot be that joy which is one of his fruits. Now, he produces this joy by opening our hearts to believe the things which are freely given us of God. When he discloses to us our real condition, and makes us feel the wants we actually have, he also reveals the excellence of that provision which God has made for their supply. Here is the solution