^ A manifold enjoyment of Christ is a large component of this blessedness. The believer draws such pure delight from the Lord in whom he trusts. How grandly St. Peter states it: " Whom having not seen ye love,!' The loving of Christ is such unalloyed pleasure. None can know the rapture save only they who experience it. " In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice" And how splendid the quality of the joy ; " with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Joy in Christ ! Joy that cannot be spoken ! Joy shot through with glory ! Is not
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this blessedness ? The so-inclusive enjoyment of Christ is a rich element in the believer's blessedness.^
3. It gives us the light and power of the Holy Spirit. We have not only an outward testimony ; we have an inward witness beyond all that was ever bestowed on man before the day of Pentecost — the full illumination of the Kingdom of God. Before the ascension of our Divine Lord, we read that even Apostles knew not the Scriptures. Cleophas and his fellow *' hoped that it was he which should redeem Israel " ; and the eleven, at the hour of His ascension, asked, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? " They knew Christ after the flesh, and their faith was as yet obscure. Therefore our Lord said to them, " It is expedient for you that I go away " ; for you the withdrawal of My visible presence is needful. , " For if I go not away, the Paraclete will not come unto you ; but if I go, I will send him unto you ; and when he is come, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance." " The spirit of truth shall be with you and in you " for ever. And on the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and His illumination filled their inmost soul : their whole intelligence was enlightened, a fountain of light sprang up from within, and truths already known were unfolded with new and deeper meanings. They saw the full mystery of the Kingdom of God, of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; of the love of the Father in the gift of His Son, of the Son in giving Himself to be made man to suffer and to die ; of the Holy Ghost, who was already upon them and within them. They perceived that their Divine Master had ascended to sit down upon His Father's throne, crowned with power, to possess His Kingdom ; and the whole earth to them was lightened with His glory.
"Where is your God?" they say; — Answer them, Lord most Holy I
Pteveal Thy secret way Of visiting the lowly :
Not wrapped in moving cloud,
Or nightly-resting fire ;
But veiled within the shroud
Of silent high desire.
» D. T. Youug, Tim Crimson Bool; 63.
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Come not in flashing storm, Or bursting frown of thunder:
Come in the viewless form Of wakening love and wonder; — ■
Of duty grown divine,
The restless spirit, still ;
Of sorrows taught to shine
As shadows of Thy wdll.
0 God ! the pure alone, — E'en in their deep confessing, —
Can see Thee as their own. And find the perfect blessing:
Yet to each waiting soul
Speak in Thy still small voice,
Till broken love's made whole.
And saddened hearts rejoice.^
4. It transfigures our character. The sense of transfigured character goes far to constitute this blessedness. He who believes thereby gains the secret of holiness. Faith is evermore the root of noble character. The man who believes becomes. His nature, already regenerated, is eternally being "changed from glory to glory." Is not this a large portion of Christian blessedness ? Belief in manifested God secures Godlikeness.
All faith is incomplete that is the confession of our want of knowledge and our need for help, but the most complete faith is that which lifts the whole nature, vibrates the whole man, which is felt at heart, and shown in action. When faith begins with the easy acceptance of some statements, or from admitting certain arguments, there is danger that it ends there ; but when one is guided upwards by a wish for higher life and help, when the spirit is crying out for a living God, and when the yearning is so strong that we are willing to dispense with proof, and to reach out our inward hand humbly to take a gift from God, there is very little danger that any part of our life shall escape from our religion. We cannot take the mind and leave the heart in sin, nor can we take these two and leave the conduct of our daily life ; and that complete sacrifice is what has value before God.
^ Those Christians are blessed who need to leave their simple views of childhood's faith no more than the field-lark does her
' James Martineau.
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nest — rising right over it to look at God's morning sun, and His wide, beautiful world, singing a clear, happy song, and then sinking straight down again to their heart's home. But those are not less blessed who, like the dove, lose their ark for a while, and return to it, having found no rest for the sole of their foot save there. They have a deeper experience within, and carry a higher and wider message to the world. The olive leaf in the mouth, plucked from the passing flood, is more than the song at coming daylight. It is as Paul's "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory," compared with the children's " Hosanna." i