^ A. Maclareu. * James Stalker.
* Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, 1st Ser., 220.
58 LOVE AND JOY IN BELIEVING
^ The climax of every emotion is silence. The climax of anger is not the thunder, not the earthquake, not the fire, not even the still small voice ; it is the absence of any voice at all ; we say habitually, " He was speechless with rage." The climax of grief is not the cry, not the shriek, not the paroxysm ; it is the numbness, the deadness, the torpor, the insensibility to all around. And the climax of praise or joy is silence. When did you experi- ence most difficulty in expressing your admiration of a thing ? Was it not when you were thoroughly carried away with rapture ! A girl plays a piece of music with great brilliancy. She receives gushing compliments from all but one. That one has been sitting in rapt attention all the time of the performance, yet at the close he only says, "Thank you." I should esteem his the greatest praise of all. His silence comes from the "joy unspeakable" — from an admiration too deep for words, too high for compliments, too intense for plaudits.-^
^ Did you ever ask yourself when it was that according to the Book of Revelation there was " silence in heaven about the space of half an hour " ? It was when the seventh seal was opened and the prayers of the saints ascended as incense to the Father. In other words, the moment of silence was the moment of ecstatic praise ; thanksgiving expressed itself in speechless adoration. There are members of the choir invisible who at times cannot sing — not because they have hung their harps upon the willows, but because they see no willows on which to hang them ; they are too full of joy to sing ; the fulness of their joy makes it un- speakable.^
^ Dr. Berry of Wolverhampton received a call from Brooklyn to succeed Henry Ward Beecher. He hesitated much. " When I left him on the Friday," says his biographer, " he was still in uncertainty. On the Sunday morning, however, a letter reached the deacons intimating that the call had been declined. I shall never forget the scene when, in the course of the service, the letter was read. The church was crowded; the faces upturned to the pulpit were wistful, sad, and apprehensive. But when, after listening to a forcible statement of the broad and vital issues presented by the invitation to America, the sentence was read by Mr. Bantock, ' I must remain in England,' the moment will never be forgotten by any who were present. There was no sound except a rustle and sigh of relief — not the slightest breach of Christian decorum, only the silent and unconscious tokens of a relief and thankfulness too deep for words and outward signs.
^ G. Mathesou, Messages of Hojie, 161. ^ lOid.
I PETER I. 8 59
His people realized the responsibilities they were assuming in retaining him, and in promising him as their pastor a sphere of usefulness, a ministry as wide as that which would have been his nad he chosen to accept one of the most illustrious pulpits in the world, in succession to one of the greatest preachers of the age." ^
(2) Because it is too subtle. — The joy which wells up in the Christian's heart cannot be conveyed in language, being too subtle and volatile a thing, evaporating in the very attempt to pour it from the heart into the bottles of grammatical construction. It cannot be told out. Hence Christians, after exhausting all the vocabulary at their command, feel the utter ijiadequacy of their highest efforts.
There are sounds, like flakes of snow falling
In their silent and eddying rings ; We tremble, — they touch us so lightly,
Like the feathers from angels' wings.
There are pauses of marvellous silence,
That are full of significant sound, Like music echoing music
Under water or under ground.
That clarion again! through what valleys
Of deep inward life did it roll. Ere it blew that astonishing trumpet
Eight down in the caves of my soul ? ^
2. It is " full of glory," i.e. glorified.
(1) Joy in Christ is higher than the joys of the world. — There is nothing more ignoble than the ordinary joys of men. They are too often like the iridescent scum on a stagnant pond, fruit and proof of corruption. They are fragile and hollow, for all the play of colour on them, like a soap bubble that breaks of its own tenuity, and is only a drop of dirty water. Joy is too often ignoble, and yet, although it is by no means the highest concep- tion of what Christ's Gospel can do for us, it is blessed to think that it can take that emotion, so often shameful, so often frivolous, so often lowering rather than elevating, and can lift it into loftiness, and transfigure it, and glorify it, and make it a power,
» James S. Drunniiond, Charles A. Berry, 63. ^ F. W. Faber.
6o LOVE AND JOY IN BELIEVING
a power for good and for righteousness, and for whatsoever things are lovely and of good report in our lives.
^ With a mighty victory over himself, Francis sprang from his horse, approached the leper, from whose deformed countenance the awful odour of corruption issued forth, placed his alms in the outstretched wasted hand — bent down quickly and kissed the fingers of the sick man, covered with the awful disease, whilst his system was nauseated with the action.