The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 34

lypsc-theso nro the golden thrends from which the bright tissue is woven. So this is the first disUncUon between tho majestic Christian joy and the lighter-winged fluttering mirths and pleasures. It flows from no surface-pools, but from deep fountains, and is feel from everlasting fields of pure snow high on the mountains of God. Then we have tho depth and cnlm rapture of the joy in the strong word of the original, which expresses a high degree of exultation. Peter was possibly quoting our Lord's words to his pcrRecuted people, "Rejoice nnd ho exceeding glad." At all events, Christian joy should be no palo and feeble thing, but full-blooded and full-voiced. It is far unlike boisterous mirth, which is noisy like the thorn-bushes which crackle and flare in flame for a moment. "The gods approve the depth and not the tumult of the soul." A present salvation, fellowship with a present Christ, the large and sure hope of bis appeoring, the excrciso of faith and love and obedience, the immunity from fear, and the e~cape from the miseries of self-will, should all combine, like so many streams pouring down the hillsides, in this one deep and smooth-flowing stream of calm and equable gladness. Religion does us good only as it makes us glad. Any firm and adequate grasp of the facts and relations which the gospel brings will certainly make a man joyful. The,average religion of this day does not believe in its own creed heartily enough to find in it support against temptations or joy in sorrow. If our Christianity has not the power to bless us with gladness in our hearts, there is something wrong either in the completeness of our surrender to it or in the articles of our belief. If our religion is largely self-inspection, or if it dwells on the sterner side of truth, or is mainly a prohibitory law keeping us from doing what we would like, or if it is a languid emotion not half so powerful as common appetites, we cannot expect to get sweet juice of gladness from such shrunken fruit. The coexistence of this joy with sorrow is, further, brought into prominence here. This paradox of Christian experience has seemed so startling that the future tense has been proposed as the true rendering; but a much deeper and grander sense results from adhering to the present tense. It is possible that joy should live side by side in the same heart with sorrow, and neither converting the other wholly into its own substance, and each made more noble by the presence of its opposite. "Centtnl peace" may "subsist at the heart of endless agitation." Greek fire will burn under water. Flowers bloom on the glacier's edge. The depths of the sea are still, while winds rave and waves heave and currents race above. In the darkest night of sorrow and loss, starry and immortal hopes will Lrighten in our sky, and the heart that is united to Christ will have an inward solemn blessedness which no tempest of sorrow can extinguish. II. 'fBE BORROW OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. There is much unreality and consequent powerlessn~ss in the one-sided pictures of the religious life so often drawn. To listen to some people, one would fancy that religion was meant to abolish all trial and sorrow. A picture without shadows is unlike anything on earth. The true Christian view neither portrays an impossible paradise nor preaches a hardening stoicism. Here we have in half a dozen words a theory of the meaning and uses of pain and grief, suffi- cient to live by and to alleviate many a pang. 1. Notice the insight into the true nature and purpose of all sorrow. It is temptation, or, more properly, trial It is intended as a test-, a proof, to reveal us to ourselves and so to better us. We do not get to the bottom of our sorrows till we look at the moral purpose which they serve, and regard them as discipline rather than pain. They take a shallow view who contemplate only the smart of the wound and leave out of sight the surgeon's purpose. They take as shallow a view who dispute or deny the benefit of sorrow, and assert that happiness tends to a sweeter virtne than it does. '!'here is a lowly self-distrust quickly passing into calm faith which only sorrow can produce. 'l'he will is never bowed into snbmission without being softened iu the furnace, and there is no real goodness bnt from a submissive will. The props round which the heart twines its tendrils have to be cut down, that it mny fasten itself on the only true support. Only when wo have nothing else to lean on do we lean all our weight on him. 2. Observe, too, the recognition of the wise adaptation of our sorrows to our need. '!'hey are not sent unless "need be." They arn sent as nce,l is. In the great Surgeol).'s instrumcnt-c~se nre many shining blades, all for cutting antl paining. lie chooses the right knife, nnd cuts where wnuted, and close beside the sharp instrument lie bandage and balm. It is hard to believe th'\t a sorrow which 1trikcs mcmy is at the same tim0 pl'Oportioncd in its force to each. But faith knol\'s  28 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [cu. 1. 1-26