404 CHRISTIAN JOY
become moodily reminiscent of past glories and of vanished feasts. He feels the days before him. The pains of to-day are only the birth-pangs of a better to-morrow. The immediate difficulty is only a prickly burr which contains most toothsome fruit. Rome may separate the Apostle from his fellows, she is powerless to separate him from his Lord. Imprisonment still provides a room for two, and by no earthly conspiracy can he be bereft of his great Companion. The Lord is with him, and so the prison is ablaze with light. Old age glows with sunny optimism. The psalm of adora- tion rises night and day. And the captive sends forth to his fellow- believers the invigorating counsel, " Rejoice in the Lord alway."
3. This is the Apostle's farewell. When a Roman wished to say "Good-bye," he said, "Be well," "Be strong." When a Greek would say it, he said, "Be happy." And it is in this simplest sense first that St. Paul says " Rejoice." It is one, nearly the last, of the farewells which he essays again and again in this Epistle to his beloved Philippian Church. But just as we might dwell on our own formula of leave-taking, delighting to feel that in saying "Good-bye" we were saying the best and truest of prayers for those from whom we parted — if indeed it means " God be with you ! " — so St. Paul dwells on the formula and puts its full meaning into it, "Be happy"; yes, not only in the formal, idiomatic, complimentary sense, but in very truth. " Be happy, be happy always in the Lord." It is a wish, but it is more than a wish ; it is an exhortation.
^ Bishop Hacket chose as his motto, " Serve God, and be cheerful." Golden words these. I do not know how it may be with you ; but the remembrance of these words has often lifted me up from the pit, and dissipated the cloud of gloom. Yes, learn to connect with the direct service of God this obligation of cheerfulness — cheerfulness having its springs in Christian joy, cheerfulness flushing and refreshing the heart, cheerfulness over- flowing in deeds and thoughts of kindliness towards others, and of thankfulness towards God.^
^ The worst thing Carlyle did was his incessant barking at mankind, and it was an ill legacy to leave to us. It damaged all the rest of his work, made it less effective than it would otherwise have been. It pressed despair into the heart of man, and though
* J. B. Lightfoot, Ordination Addresses, 314.
PHILIPPIANS IV. 4 405
he pressed duty also into our hearts, the sense of duty he impressed was weakened by the sense of despair he encouraged. Had his statement been true, I should not complain. Let us have the truth by all means, however unpleasant it may seem. But his abuse was not true. Men are not "mostly fools." All work is not ill done. Cheating does not cover all business, nor gabble all speech, nor is the great river of things running in darkness. Whoever would get the good out of Carlyle, let him put apart all this side of him as one of the untrue things he himself denounced so heartily. The voice of the true Prophet speaks better things. He believes in God and therefore he believes in Man, God's child. And his face should be bright, his voice clear, his eyes with a light of victory, in his right hand the sword and in his left the trumpet. The spirit of St. Paul should be in his heart, and the praise of St. Paul on his lips.^
Eejoice we are allied
To That which doth provide And not partake, effect and not receive!
A spark disturbs our clod;
Nearer we hold of God Who gives, than of His tribes that take, I must believe.
Then, welcome each rebuff
That turns earth's smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go !
Be our joys three-parts pain !
Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!
Yet gifts should prove their use :
I own the Past profuse Of power each side, perfection every turn:
Eyes, ears took in their dole,
Brain treasured up the whole; Should not the heart beat once "How good to live and learn ? "
Not once beat " Praise be Thine !
I se3 the whole design, I, who saw power, see now love perfect too:
Perfect I call Thy plan:
Thanks that I was a man ! Maker, remake, complete, — I trust what Thou shalt do ! " *
* Stopford A. Brooke, The Kingship 0/ Love, 117. ' Browning, EabU Ben Ezra.
4o6 CHRISTIAN JOY
The Soukce of Christian Joy.
1. Tlie secret spring of Christian joy is union with Christ. — When we surrender self and lose ourselves in Christ, the fountains of joy are at once opened. Having yielded his heart utterly to Christ, man is at one with himself, and in this harmony begins a joy which this world can neither give nor take away.
To be " in Christ," which is commended to us here as the basis of all true blessedness, means that the whole of our nature shall be occupied with, and fastened upon, Him; thought turning to Him, the tendrils of the heart clinging and creeping around Him, the will submitting itself in glad obedience to His beloved and supreme commandments, the aspirations, and desires feeling out after Him as the sufficient and eternal good, and all the current of our being setting towards Him in earnestness of desire, and resting in Him in tranquillity of possession. And, says St. Paul in the great words of the text, such a union, reciprocal and close, is the secret of all blessedness. If thus we are wedded to that Lord, and His life is in us and ours enclosed in Him, then there is such correspondence between our necessities and our supplies that there is no room for aching emptiness ; no gnawing of unsatisfied longings, but the blessedness that comes from having found that which we seek, and in the finding being stimulated to a still closer, happier, and not restless search after fuller possession. The man that knows where to get anything and everything that he needs, and to whom desires are but the prophets of instan- taneous fruition — surely that man has in his possession the talismanic secret of perpetual gladness. They who thus dwell in Christ by faith, love, obedience, imitation, aspiration, and enjoy- ment are like men housed in some strong fortress, who can look out over all the fields alive with enemies, and feel that they are safe. They who thus dwell in Christ gain command over them- selves ; and because they can bridle passions, and subdue hot and impossible desires, and keep themselves well in hand, have stanched one chief source of unrest and sadness, and have opened one pure and sparkling fountain of unfailing gladness.