Vital Godliness: A Treatise on
Experimental and Practical Piety
CHAPTER 23
Joy
Joy
is delight at something esteemed good in possession
or in prospect. It is one of the most powerful affections of the mind, and under
the various names of satisfaction, cheerfulness, gladness, mirth, triumph,
exultation, and rejoicing—enters in various degrees into the experience of
mankind. Accordingly there are different words in the original Scriptures, as in
our English text, signifying different degrees of joy. The Scriptures draw a
wide distinction between lawful and unlawful joy. This should always be
maintained. The hypocrite, no less than the true servant of God—the stony-ground
hearers, no less than those who received the word into good and honest
hearts—had joy. This was very different in the two classes, but real in both.
Unlawful joys are such as are not warranted by
God’s word or providence; such as spring from false hope; such as have their
basis in our wicked feelings; or such as have some iniquity as their motivating
cause. They always prove men depraved, and always make men worse.
Lawful joys are of various kinds, some of which are
common to mankind in all ages, such as the joy of mothers in beholding their
smiling infants, the joy of the farmer in harvest time, the joy of full health
and vigor, inclining us to leap and run. There are also lawful joys in the
exercise of our intellects, in solving difficulties, in achieving mental
triumphs, in finding out hidden causes and dark sayings. True friendship has its
joys. The soul, enlightened, comforted, transported—by the power of God’s
Spirit, has great joy. It cannot be otherwise. The joy which we have in things
temporal is inferior to that in things eternal. Things of sense cannot give such
enjoyment as spiritual delights. It would be a calamity if anything on earth was
equal to the joys above.
One of the oldest and most mischievous slanders against true
religion, is that it is unfriendly to enjoyment. Some admit that it makes ample
provision for future blessedness, but contend that in this life it makes no
proper return for the sinful pleasures which it prohibits. This objection
assumes many shapes, and is urged with various degrees of zeal and subtlety.
More men feel its power than are ready to confess it. Particular answers may
properly be given to particular forms of it. But some general remarks meet the
objection in its leading principles.
1.
Suppose it were a fact that God’s people lose all joy on earth, and in this life
have only sorrow and mortification, but a sure hope of being eternally saved;
who is the truly wise person—the man that weeps for a day and rejoices forever,
or the man who is merry for a day and mourns forever? No wise man doubts what
answer should be given to that question. It is better to endure even a great
evil for a moment, than to have a comparatively small evil inflicted for a long
time. It is agreeable to reason that great enjoyments are not to be sought if
they will be followed by long-continued evils. To burn down a house to avoid the
chilliness of a night, to take a powerful narcotic to relieve a slight pain,
cannot be justified at the bar of reason. Can any temporal evil compare with
everlasting sorrow? Can any earthly good compare with an eternity of bliss? What
is an hour of joy, compared to ages of woe? What is a day of weeping, compared
to ages of bliss? Even if in this life, piety gave nothing in lieu of what it
takes away, and yet secured eternal life, it would be the height of wisdom to
fear God and keep his commandments.
2.
It is a suspicious circumstance that this objection
is never made by the people of God, but only by those who know nothing about our
joys. No enemy of God has any experience by which he could possibly be qualified
to judge whether the exercises of piety are conducive to enjoyment. What does an
unconverted man know of faith, penitence, hope, peace, or the comfort of love?
No more than a blind man knows of the colors of a rainbow; no more than the dead
man knows of the joyousness of life. The unrepenting sinner knows nothing of the
beauties of holiness; nothing of joy in the Holy Spirit, nothing of the
attractions of Christ. To all such, our Savior is as a root out of a dry ground.
To them his name has no music, nor is it as ointment poured forth. They are in
darkness. They are blind. To those who cannot see, one painting has as few
attractions as another. What do the deaf know of harmony? To them thunder and
the flute, the roar of the lion and the song of the nightingale are the same.
Here is a miser. His joy is in heaping up gold, counting it
over, increasing it, and beholding it with his eyes. A very sordid joy this is,
but still it is a joy. Next door to him lives the man who loves to feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, help the needy, and make the widow’s heart to sing for
joy. See his eagerness and alacrity in doing good. His face beams with pleasure
as he makes others glad. His dreams are of deeds of mercy. He does not rest
well, unless he has done his best to make men happy, wise, and good. Then he
sleeps as if he had nothing else to do. Is that miser a fit man to sit in
judgment on this philanthropist? Can he weigh his deeds in the scale of sober
truth, and compute the sum of all the joy! that spring from a life of love? No
more can a sinner calculate what joys a saint may have.
3.
The joys of the Christian consist of things invisible to the eye, and
unappreciable by any natural man. “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear
him, and he will show them his covenant.” Communion with God is wholly secret.
Even one Christian, knows nothing of the richest blessings which descend upon
his brother. The child of God says,
In secret silence of the mind,
My heaven, and there my God I find.
Not so the wicked. When they have much joy, they kindle
bonfires, they fire cannons, they get up processions, and march about with
music. They mingle in the dance with the sound of music. How can he whose mirth
finds scope in noise and revelry, be a judge of him whose joys make him love
communion with God, and lead him to “be still?” Will mankind never learn the
truth, that true piety does not expose her secret joys to unconverted men? Cecil
says, “The joy of true religion is an exorcist to the mind; it expels the demons
of carnal mirth and madness.” All Christians may adopt the language of one of
the ancients “We change our joys, but do not lose real delights.” Carnal men can
never understand that saying of Augustine, “How sweet it is to be rid of your
sinful sweets.”
4.
Moreover the joys of God’s people are sober things.
Even Seneca said, “True joy is a serene and sober emotion; and they are
miserably deceived, who think that laughter is true joy.” All our best joys are
somewhat sober. The purer and greater they are, the more will they partake of
seriousness. The farmer who sees his abundant harvests secured; the merchant
whose risks in honorable trade have returned him many fold; the father whose
child surpasses all his fond expectations; the teacher whose pupil is winning
golden opinions from his generation—all have joys, but they are not to be
expressed by laughter. Never does a noble father feel less like noisy merriment
than when for the first time he hears the strains of a commanding eloquence
poured forth from the lips of his darling son. So the joys of the saints are
sober things. They are more: they are solemn; they are the joys of the Lord.
They spring from forgiveness of sins, from peace with God, from glorious views
of the great and awesome God, from fellowship with the Father and the Son,
through the Holy Spirit.
5.
In true and great joy, there is a calmness and
stillness which men of the world do not understand. A little drop of joy in a
human mind will agitate it. But when the fullness of divine comforts is poured
upon the heart, it is quiet. It sits, admires, adores, walks softly, and is
afraid of losing its hold on God. Reverence abounds in proportion to its joys.
If a little joy makes one giddy, much will make him quiet; it may even overwhelm
him. For joy, the disciples at first believed not the resurrection of Christ.
6.
Besides, the joy of a wicked man is either in sin,
or in God’s changing creatures. But the joy of the pious is chiefly in things
the most pure, permanent, and powerful. So that they “rejoice evermore;” they
even “rejoice in tribulation.” If they have beyond most, a keen sense and a sad
experience of the ills of life, they have also a sovereign antidote. To them, as
to others, affliction is not joyous, but grievous; nevertheless God reigns,
Jesus lives, the covenant is ordered in all things and sure, and floods break
forth to them in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, and thus they are
made glad. It was not the floggings, nor the chains, nor the innermost prison,
nor midnight darkness, nor the cruelty of the Philippian jailer—which made Paul
and Silas sing praises unto God. These were all evils, and some of them very
great grievances, but they could not drown the joys these holy men had in God
through the hope of glory, and by the power of the eternal Spirit. When the Sun
of righteousness arises in the soul with healing in his wings, midnight becomes
noon, prisons are transformed into palaces, and the small “rills of sorrow” are
transmuted into “rivers of delight.” Did the martyrs die like they were
miserable? Do real Christians weep and howl like the wicked when in trouble?
7.
Add to this that all of us, even wicked men have seen cases where joy expressed
itself by tears. It is often so when one returns home after long absence or
great perils. It is often so when enmities are buried, and a reconciliation is
effected between old friends who had been sundered by strife and feuds. Why
should it not be so when reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ is
effected? Those tears of penitence
which are shed by the child of God at the foot of the cross, are so sweet that
he would gladly weep them always. His gratitude often melts him down. Is
thankfulness in its highest exercises painful to the virtuous mind? God’s people
may weep much, without proving them unhappy.
8.
It is also true that the pious often weep over the wicked who are deriding them
as miserable. They mourn to see men rushing headlong to ruin. For twenty years
that pious, delicate, refined lady has wept for the sins and follies of her son,
father, or husband. Tears have been her food day and night, while he for whom
they are shed seems more than ever bent on wickedness. She knows that unless he
is speedily and thoroughly converted, she must soon bid him an eternal farewell.
In God she is happy; by grace she is upheld. But rivers of water run down her
eyes as she sees him sell himself to do evil. Long has she hoped for a change in
his character; but hope deferred makes her heart sick. Her spirit almost dies
within her. She weeps in secret places. He sees her in tears—and charges all her
sadness to religion. Yet his vileness and impenitence are the cause of the
sorrows he sees. Were all men seeking the Lord and walking in his ways, the
righteous would not have half the griefs that now afflict them. Is it fair, is
it just—by wickedness to cause the godly to grieve, and then to accuse their
piety as the cause of their sadness?
9.
God’s people have also cause of grief in their own hearts. They are but
partially sanctified. They have a world of sorrow—not with their personal
holiness, but with their lack of more entire conformity to God. It is not the
new man, but the old man; not the image of Christ, but the body of death—which
casts them down.
10.
Finally, “out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established.” The witnesses in any matter must be both competent and credible.
In the matter before us, God’s people are capable of giving testimony. They have
tried a life of sin, and found it vanity. They have tasted and seen that the
Lord is gracious. They know both sides by experience—and are able to calculate
the truth. And they are credible witnesses. What do these people say? Without a
dissenting voice in any age or country, they declare that “the ways of wisdom
are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” that they choose “to
suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season;” that Christ is a good Master, and his service is freedom and joy.
They all sing, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they will be still
praising you.” The Bible is full of such testimonies. God would never command
his people to “rejoice evermore,” if they had no cause for joy.
Uninspired writers of all classes of God’s people speak the
same language with those who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Scripture and Christian experience alike declare that “True religion is joyful.”
Robert Haldane
says, “The Christian should speak nothing boastingly so
far as concerns himself, but he has no reason to conceal his sense of his high
destination as a son of God and an heir of glory. In this he ought to exult, in
this he ought to glory, and in obedience to his Lord’s command, to rejoice
because his name is written in heaven. The hope of eternal salvation through the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot but produce joy; for as there can be no
true joy without such a hope, so it carries with it the very essence of joy.”
Matthew Henry
said, “A life spent in the service of God and communion with him, is the most
comfortable and pleasant life that anyone can live in this world.” His
distinguished sister Mrs. Savage, dying, said, “I here leave the testimony of my
experience, that Christ’s yoke is easy, and his burden light.”
In his commentary on the Galatians, Luther says,
“Where Christ is truly seen, there must needs be full and perfect joy in the
Lord, with peace of conscience.”
Joseph Alleine
said to his wife, “I live a luxurious life; but it is upon
spiritual dainties, such as the world knows not and tastes not of.”
John Newton
says, “I am sure the real Christian, who has peace with
God and in his own conscience, has both the best title to joy and the best
disposition for it.”
Evans
says, “It is the habitual and fixed judgment of every sincere Christian’s mind,
that Christ and his benefits are more to be rejoiced in, than all worldly good.”
Barrow
says, “It is a scandalous misrepresentation, vulgarly admitted, concerning
piety, that it is altogether sullen and sour, requiring a dull, lumpish, morose
kind of life, barring all delight, all mirth, all good-humor. Whereas, on the
contrary, it alone is the never-failing source of true, pure, steady joy, such
as is deep-rooted in the heart, immovably founded in the reason of things,
permanent like the immortal spirit wherein it dwells and like the eternal
objects whereon it is fixed—which is not apt to fade or cloy, and is not subject
to any impressions apt to corrupt or impair it.”
It is a very noticeable fact, that
true piety promotes joyfulness just in
proportion as it is fervent, constant, and full of devout meditation.
Horne
having finished his commentary on the Psalms, and calling to mind the sweet
thoughts he had had of God, says, “And now, could the author flatter himself
that anyone would have half the pleasure in reading this exposition, which he
has received in writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labor. This
employment has detached me from the bustle and hurry of life, the din of
politics, and the noise of folly. Vanity and vexation flew away for a season;
worry and disquietude came not near my dwelling. I arose fresh as the morning to
my task; the silence of the night invited me to pursue it; and I can truly say
that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every psalm improved infinitely
upon my acquaintance with it, and no one gave me uneasiness but the last—for
then I grieved that my work was done. Happier hours than those which I have been
spent in these meditations on the songs of
When such sentiments are rehearsed in the audience of God’s
people, they win their hearty and unanimous approbation. Are not all these
witnesses to be believed? Who knows the truth, if they do not? Why do they thus
agree, if they speak not the truth? What motive have they for giving false
testimony? All these views are heightened by a just comparison of the joys of
the wicked and of the righteous, so far as they are different. The righteous are
not cut off from lawful delights even here. And the joys of all the wicked are
strongly mixed with pains. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked,” says God. And
although for a long time the enemies of God may seem joyful, may have great
outward prosperity, may be very skillful in concealing their wounds—yet it is
still true that “the wicked have many sorrows.” Their consciences are ill at
ease. This is true of all God’s enemies. In the checks and clamors and
forebodings of the monitor within (the conscience), are found present sorrows
and infallible tokens of coming wrath. A man would be better off, to quarrel
with a lion, than with his conscience and his God.
The righteous have peace with God, and their consciences are
purged from dead works. The wicked are sources of sorrow to each other. There
are many aspirants for every post of honor, many rivals for preeminence in every
profession, and many haughty despisers of the unfortunate and unsuccessful. Both
in this life and the next, the wicked often torment each other. The righteous
have pleasure in each other. No amount of worldly success can ever satisfy the
lusts of ungodly men. Their ambition, pride, covetousness, revenge, and envy
burn the more vehemently—the more they are gratified. To indulge them is to give
them fresh power. They kindle a terrible, tormenting flame in every bosom, which
is never extinguished but by the grace of God. “In all worldly joys, there is a
secret wound.”
But sin has lost its dominion over God’s people. The truth
has made them free. The Son of God has wrought their deliverance. The very
truths of religion, which gladden the hearts of believers, are sources of sorrow
to the wicked. It is pleasing to the righteous, but dismal to the wicked, that
this life will soon be over. It rejoices the humble, but afflicts the haughty,
to know that God resists the proud and will surely abase them. The resurrection
of the dead and the final judgment—two events quite essential to the
completeness of Christian joy—are among the most gloomy of all topics of
reflection to the wicked. The Lord reigns! says God’s word—and the
righteous shouts for joy; while the wicked say, “If that be so, my doom is
sealed, and my damnation certain!” The wicked are not secured, but plagued by
the covenant, promises, and perfections of God. Is God almighty? then he can
destroy them. Is he righteous? then he will mark iniquity. Is he kind? they have
provoked his displeasure by despising his mercy. Is he faithful and true? his
threatenings will as certainly be executed as his promises.
The wicked are in reality, against themselves. They are
self-destroyers. They hate life, and refuse good. They wound their own souls.
They fasten their own chains upon themselves. They will forever do what many of
them often do here; that is, curse their own folly.
And all nature
is against them. The stars in their courses fight against them. Yes, “the
stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer
it.” The fowls of the mountain, the beasts of the field, the serpents in the
wall, and all the elements are ready at any moment to break out against the
wicked, whenever God shall give them permission.
And their best joys
are so short-lived. “As the crackling of thorns under a pot—so is the
laughter of the fool,” (Eccl. 7:6). “The time is short. It remains that both
those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who rejoice as though
they rejoiced not,” (1 Cor. 7:29, 30).
And the end
of their joys is sorrow, and the end of their sorrow is wailing and howling! So
that always, in all worlds, “Their grapevines come from the vineyards of
The
joys of the righteous, on the other hand, are pure.
They never cloy the appetite. They are beneficial, and do good as a medicine.
They last. They outlast the sun. When the joy of the saints begins to be
absolutely perfect—the joy of sinners ends forever.
“See their short course of vain delight
Closing in everlasting night.”
O the impenetrable gloom of despair! O that night which will
have no morning!
The objects of
Christian joy are clearly set forth in Scripture. The chief of these is
God Himself.
So says David, “I will go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy,”
(Ps. 43:3). Paul says, “And not only so, but we rejoice in God,” (Rom. 5:11).
Again, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, rejoice,” (Phil. 4:4).
Isaiah says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my
God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels,” (Isa. 61:10). In Psalm 5:11, we
read, “But all who find safety in you will rejoice; they can always sing for
joy. Protect those who love you; because of you they are truly happy.” So also
in many other places we are exhorted and commanded to rejoice in the Lord.
Above all, God is most fit to be an object of unfailing joy,
because he is God—infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all conceivable
perfections. The fullness that is in him meets all our needs. The pious delight
in God; so that prayer, which would otherwise be a task, and praise, which would
otherwise be a mockery—are refreshing to the soul as it cries, “Abba, Father,”
and “Hallelujah!”
In like manner all the duties of the Christian life become
pleasant by our joy in God. Our Rock is perfect. In him is no darkness at all.
Jesus is an ocean of love—an infinitude
of matchless loveliness! “He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved,
and this is my Friend.” When he speaks peace, none can give trouble. When he
makes glad, none can give sorrow. The mind of the child of God has no more fears
that the resources which are in God will ever fail—than the mariner has that the
sea will go dry. There is none like him, none before him, none with him, none to
be compared to him, none besides him.
Our Lord
Jesus Christ
is a special object of joy. “Whom, having not seen, you love; in whom,
though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and
full of glory,” (1 Pet. 1:8). None like him gives “the oil of joy for mourning,
and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,” (Isa. 61:3). This joy,
of which Christ is the object, is founded upon his person, his design in coming
into the world, the perfection of his obedience, the completeness of his
sufferings, the excellence of his teachings, the virtue of his blood-shedding,
the immaculateness and spotlessness of his righteousness, the glory of his
intercession, the perpetuity of his kingdom, the blessed provisions of the
covenant of which he is the surety, the justification, adoption, sanctification,
peace with God, access to the mercy-seat, communion with the Father, growth in
grace, and final victory accomplished through our blessed Savior. Truly “this is
life eternal, to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.” “Christ was set
for a light to the Gentiles, that he should be for salvation to the ends of the
earth,” (Acts 13:47).
Would you avail yourself of all the fullness and fatness that
are here? “Consider the apostle and high-priest of your profession, Christ
Jesus.” Set your faith steadfastly in him. Say with Peter, “We believe and are
sure that you are that Christ, the Son of the living God,” (John 6:9).
Your joy in Christ will ever be
proportioned to your faith in him. Christ is never truly revealed to the
soul of a believer, but he is made more or less joyful in him. It is so in the
first dawn of a good hope; it is so in fuller manifestations of his glory; it is
so in the day when Christ leads the soul into his banqueting-house, and his
banner over it is love. Then its language is, “Strengthen me with raisins and
refresh me with apples because I am weak from love.”
In like manner the
Holy Spirit
is an object of joy. So Paul declares that “the
Christians also rejoice in God’s
They also delight in the
Worship
of God, and cry, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.” In
the people of God, his church, they also rejoice, saying, “If I forget you,
In his
Word
too they have great joy. David said, “Your testimonies are the rejoicing
of my heart.” “How sweet are your words to my taste; yes, sweeter than honey to
my mouth,” (Ps. 119:103). So God’s people rejoice in all that pertains to God,
all that is pleasing to him, all that makes them like him.
If these views be correct, then it follows that,
1.
The knowledge of divine things is very necessary to the existence and completion
of a true Christian character. Charnock says, “Who
can delight in God, who has no sense of the goodness of his nature, and the
happiness of fruition? Who can delight in his ways who does not understand him
as good and beneficent in his precepts—as he is sweet and bountiful in his
promises? If we did truly know him, we would be as easily drawn to rejoice in
him, as by ignorance we are induced to run from him. Such charms would be
transmitted to our hearts as would constrain a joy in them in spite of all other
delights in perishing pleasures. Knowledge of God is a necessary preface to
spiritual joy in him. ‘My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in
the Lord.’ What pleasure can a man, ignorant of God’s nature and delightful
perfections, and who represents him through some mistaken gloss which imprints
unworthy notions of God in his mind—what pleasure can such a man take in
approaching to God, or what greater freedom can he have in coming to him—than a
malefactor in being brought before a judge?”
Let the knowledge of God therefore dwell in you richly in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding. If you would be more joyful, know more of
divine things. “Acquaint yourself with God, and be at peace.” “Search the
Scriptures.”
2.
Our joy need not be feeble and sickly, but provision is made that it may be
abundant. Even when sorrowful, we may be always
rejoicing, (2 Cor. 6:10). Men may persecute and defame us; but this is our
rejoicing, the testimony of our consciences, (2 Cor. 1:12). We may be
exceedingly glad in the duties of religion, and find it good to draw near to
God. If kept from uniting with his people in public worship, God himself can be
to us—a little sanctuary. When the springs of earthly comfort go dry, then to
the believer “the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land shall
become springs of water,” (Isa. 35:7). When we are denied the things of the
world, we may rejoice in the assurance of a better and more enduring substance.
When everything looks dark and discouraging for the interests of religion, then
we may rejoice in knowing that Jesus Christ loves the church better than we do,
and that she is engraved on the palms of his hands.
Our joy may go so far as to make us glory in tribulation. It
can keep us from regretting that we have undertaken the service of Christ; so
that the more we are tried, the more it will be manifest that we cleave to him
with full purpose of heart; and though we may be weary in his service, we are
not weary of his service.
3.
True holy joy is one of the most operative of all the gifts of the Spirit.
Nothing but spiritual joy, will more certainly or
thoroughly arouse men to do their utmost for the cause of God. Paul testifies of
the
Indeed the human mind is so constituted as to be easily and
powerfully moved by all the kinds of pleasing affections—of which none is more
powerful than joy. And so we uniformly find men to be happy whose lives are
given up to labor for the good of others. Their holy delight in deeds of mercy
leads them to lives of self-denial, and this exercise of their loving
dispositions strengthens them. Among the many thousands of letters I have
received, many have been from missionaries in frontier settlements and in
heathen lands; and although some of them have detailed painful scenes, yet I do
not remember one that was in a despondent mood. So wherever you find one
animated by the spirit of Howard or of Elizabeth Fry, you invariably find them
of a happy temper. Their converts were to the apostles a joy and a crown. Paul
says to some, “Now we live, if you stand fast.” Even stripes and prisons and
chains could not repress the ardor of holy men of old. They were not sent to war
at their own expense. God was with them.
4.
This subject explains to us how the people of God are brought to bear so well
the losses, sorrows, bereavements, and disappointments of life.
“Joy never feasts so high—as when the first course is of
misery.” The highest joy to the Christian, almost always comes through
suffering. “No flower can bloom in paradise which is not transplanted from
In all the righteous is more or less fulfilled the prophecy:
“A highway will be there, a roadway. It will be called the Way of Holiness.
Sinners won’t travel on it. It will be for those who walk on it. Godless fools
won’t wander onto it. Lions won’t be there. Wild animals won’t go on it. They
won’t be found there. But the people reclaimed by the Lord will walk on it. The
people ransomed by the Lord will return. They will come to
Nor are the godly glad for no reason. There are no comforts,
no cordials, no delights—like those which God gives to his well-beloved. To the
blind world all pious joys may seem like fanaticism; but the human mind is never
more sound, its operations are never more safe—than when in holy triumph, the
people of God take joyfully the confiscation of their property, or are filled
with ecstasy at the suffering of reproach for the name of Christ. The hosannas
and hallelujahs of the house of God on earth are as seasonable and as
reasonable—as those of heavenly glory. It is an apostolic direction, “Is anyone
cheerful? Let him sing praise.” We have apostolic example also for singing
praises to God in the most trying circumstances. Paul says, “Therefore we do not
give up; even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is
being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us
an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what
is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal,” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
It has long since been determined in the church, that it is
better to suffer for Christ, if he will give strength and joy—than to live in
ease and quiet. The hotter the battle—the more renowned the victory. The harder
the labor—the sweeter the rest. The darker the night—the more joyous the
morning.
5.
It is wise to be pious—to be strictly, earnestly, scripturally pious.
All the doctrines of Christianity are true, safe for man,
honorable to God. All the duties of true religion are reasonable and ennobling.
Christ is no hard Master; he requires nothing degrading. In the progress of his
battles, Napoleon Bonaparte judged it necessary to divorce the wife of his
youth. In accomplishing this object he required her son to lie, and publicly
declare his approval of the divorce—while all the time his heart was burning
with rage at the atrocity perpetrated against his mother. Here was real
degradation.
Jesus Christ has sometimes called his people to die for him,
but he never asked one of his servants to do a contemptible thing, a thing which
made him gnaw his tongue for resentment, and yet to profess that all was
necessary. No! He imposes no duties but those which will elevate our character
forever.
The eternal
realities opened before the truly pious, are no less pleasing than their
duties. It is not denied that there are conflicts and sharp sorrows in the
service of God; but even these end in the greater joys. An old writer says,
“Give me a man who, after many secret stings and hard conflicts in his bosom,
upon a serious penitence and sense of reconciliation with his God, has attained
to a quiet heart and is walking humbly and closely with God; I shall bless and
emulate him as a subject of true joy; for spiritually there never is a perfect
calm—but after a tempest. Set me at full variance with myself, that I may be at
peace with you, O God.” Nothing but a true and powerful pious principle could
have made Paul, in the depths of his sufferings, say, “I am filled with comfort,
I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation,” (2 Cor. 7:4).
6.
It is the duty of all God’s people so to live that they may enjoy piety.
Much has been done for them; they ought to make much of
it. Many and great things have been granted them; many and great thanks should
be rendered by them.
Unless our religion makes us to some extent joyful, it quite
fails of its object. From this remark we should except cases of deep melancholy.
Poor Cowper exclaimed, “Could I be translated to
Jesus Christ said that his teachings were designed to make
his people happy. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain
in you, and that your joy might be full.” Again, “These things I speak in the
world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves,” (John 15 11; 17:3).
John says the same: “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full,”
(1 John 1:4). So that if we have no pious enjoyment, it is either because we
have no religion or but little religion, or because we are sadly afflicted and
diseased. True piety is as sure to have joy—as it is to have penitence and
faith.
“The fruit of the Spirit is joy,” (Gal. 5:22). “They who sow
in tears, shall,” sooner or later, “reap in joy,” (Ps. 126:5). Satan may tempt,
providences may look dark, friends may grow cold, faith may be weak, disease may
enfeeble and for a time bury the mind in a cloud, but whenever reason re-ascends
the throne and grace resumes her sway, there will be joy. Christians, labor to
be happy. Strive to commend your religion by being well “anointed with the oil
of gladness.”
7.
This subject specially invites our attention to heavenly things.
God’s people have real satisfaction here on earth—but in
his immediate “presence is fullness of joy; at his right hand are pleasures for
evermore,” (Ps. 16:11). “We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn
down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not
built by human hands. For in this one we sigh, since we long to put on our
heavenly dwelling,” (2 Cor. 5:1-2). And so “when desire comes, it is a tree of
life,” (Prov. 13:12). In that blessed heavenly world—sin, temptation, sorrow,
sickness, and death have no place. Faith is swallowed up in sight, and hope in
enjoyment. Ignorance gives place to perfect knowledge. In this present world,
the soul had long said of God, “Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none
upon earth that I desire besides you.” There it sees his full glories revealed
in the person of Jesus Christ, and is satisfied to all eternity in the visions
of uncreated splendors.
One of the ancients said, “Praise the sweetness of honey as
much as you can—he who has never tasted it cannot truly understand the
sweetness.” The same is true of holy joys on earth, and much more of the perfect
joys of heaven. Of the latter God gives his people a foretaste in the comforts
of the Holy Spirit. It is true they are but as a few clusters from the vintage
of
One of Bunyan’s dying sayings was, “Oh, who is able to
conceive the inexpressible and inconceivable joys that are in heaven? None but
those who have tasted of them. Lord, help us to put such a value upon them here,
that in order to prepare ourselves for them, we may be willing to forego the
loss of all deluding pleasures here.” Another saying of his was, “If you would
better understand what heavenly glory is, my request is that you would live
holily—and go and see.” Hall says, “My soul, while it is thus clogged and
confined, is too narrow to conceive of those incomprehensible and spiritual
delights which you, O God, have provided for your chosen ones who triumph with
you in heaven. Oh teach me then to wonder at that which I cannot attain to now
know, and to long for that happiness which I there hope to enjoy with you
forever!”
Meikle thus contrasts the present and the future life— “In
this present life, I may have at times a good measure of health; but in
eternity, I shall have always perpetual vigor! In this life I may have some
tainted pleasures; but in eternity, I shall always have pure delights and holy
raptures! In this life I may have at times a few friends for a few days—but in
eternity, I shall have my friends with me forever! In this life I may have some
acres of ground; but in eternity, I shall have always an unbounded inheritance
in the heavenly
Whatever evil you have here—you shall have the opposite good
in heaven. Whatever good thing you have here—you shall have the same in
perfection, or something far better, at God’s right hand. To go to heaven is to
“enter into the joy of your Lord.” “In Your presence there is fullness of joy!
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore!” (Ps. 16:11).
