next, and moving with slow step. That is not the natural conception of God. That is not the conception which the natural and therefore the Christian religion would give of God. A deeper, better thought is that which goes back to think of God as the "God of gladness and the God of glee," and which finds in the element of joy in simple, untainted, natural things, the true note of nature. Now what is true in nature below man is true also of the living things that are about us, men, women, and children. When Jesus said of children, "of such is the kingdom of heaven," what did he mean by it? Why, the thing that fascinates us in a little child is, in the first place, its sense of wonder and its delight in all new, fresh things; that, in the morning it gets up without a headache and springs and trips along the floor and breaks out in song as natural as the song of a bird; it is in kindly relation with strangers and does not fear anybody; and, until selfishness has tainted it, gives and shares freely. This is the fascinating thing about a little child; and when Jesus Christ said the kingdom of God was made up of the child-like and of children, he meant the sense of wonder and delight in new things that are continually opening to men in nature and in life. One of Browning's most exquisite poems is that of the little silk winding girl named Pippa, who, on her only holiday in the whole year, New Year's Day, goes along singing this song: "The year's at the spring, The hill-side's dew-pearled; The snail's on the thorn; God's in His heaven All's right with the world." And, in this connection, let me repeat that verse which I have read before: "Iterate, reiterate, snatch it from the hells, Circulate and meditate that God is well; Pay the ringers to ring it, put it in the mouths of the bells; Get the singers to sing it, that God is well." But, again, from the mouths of little children, as well as from the voices of birds and the flowers, comes this thought to us, the permanent element of joy in natural, simple life. It has been true also of men and women who have not been spoiled in the making; those who have carried their heart of faith up into their manhood and womanhood; who have learned to do the kindly offices of friendship in the neighborhood; who love one another, and who have little children about them, and have leisure for taking a share in life; they, too, have somehow felt as if there was an element of joy in life, that it is good to live, like the Homeric man whom Thoreau found cutting wood, who just laughed from his pure enjoyment of life. I know many such. I know many unhappy people, miserable people, tragic lives, and pitiful cases; but I have always thanked God that the sorrow of the sorrowful has never made me believe that it is a world of sorrow; nor has the corruption of one man made me think that all are corrupt. And I believe that those of us who try to keep the heart free in the simple and natural relationships of friend and neighbor, will say that there is a permanent element of joy in nature. God meant life to be glad and not dark. The New Testament is saturated with just this thought; wherever Jesus went there gladness seemed to come. The hope that was in man found its way to the fore. Little children climbed upon his knees; others whispered their play into his ear; young men and women came to him to know what they should do about life; the merriment went on, with its festivity, at the table; the musicians never stopped their singing; everywhere the presence of Christ was the presence of joy; the awakening to the distribution of the joy and light that was around them and in themselves. Somehow the best that was in a man came out, and not the worst. It was only that man who was slinking along on his way to rob some widow or orphan of her portion, that, as he went by, hurled at this man the accusation that he was a gluttonous man and a wine bibber, and the friend of sinners. All simple, kindly, natural men and women that went about the work of life, who were not grasping or avaricious, found in his presence. a joy they could not explain, the lift of life, the elevation of spirit; somehow the world looked lighter and kindlier to them. It is true of all those who followed him. Take your concordance and find how often the word joy is repeated in the gospels and in the epistles. It would seem to you as if it were the one great word to them-"that joy might be full;" that his disciples might have his joy in themselves; that they might have the patience to endure because of the joy that they saw in a serious and earnest and consistent life. It runs all through it. In the first century, when the persecutions were the fiercest and the christian was thrown to the lions, then those that hid in the catacombs pictured out their happiness in this way: They drew the picture of Orpheus, the sweetest of all singers, and they drew about him the beasts that had been conquered by the melody of his harp; how he had conquered Cerberus, the Dog of Hell, and found and brought back the wife that he loved from the world of shadows; or they pictured Christ as a young vine dresser coming down from the mountain. heavy laden with grapes, or as a young shepherd with a lamb in his arms-every picture which the imagination of man has created to try to realize for himself the joy that was in this life, all these are found rudely charactered on the walls of the catacombs, while the hungry Roman was hunting for them often, and they knew the end of life was to be a torch for Nero or to make a holiday for the Roman people. Oh, yes, this element of joy runs through the conceptions of life that Jesus and the early apostles and christians had. It is harmonious with the joy of nature; and as in nature and in little children and simple, natural men and women, so there was in Jesus Christ and those about him the life of joy. It sustained him during the troubles of life, and enabled him, as it enabled them, to endure the shame of the cross. Down underneath the surface of the heart, unrevealed by any word, unuttered by any voice of man, a central peace kept house in the midst of the endless agitation. A life of joy! I want to bring to you as the great heritage of every living person, as the promised birthright of every little child, as belonging to us all, the life of joy; that God is the God of gladness, of happy thoughts, and homes and hearts, and of all that makes life happy. I can not shut my eyes, of course, to the things that make life the opposite of joyful; to the embittered prospects of many that start out in life with the brightest. of expectations; to the sad experience of the young; to the misanthropy of those who have missed success in life; to the friendlessness and tragedy of lost honor, and truth and virtue. All these experiences exist. We must not ignore them. They are facts and we must face them. Whatever is a fact in this world must not be overlooked. But it seems to me he reads history, nature and religion wrong, who does not see that in the provision that is made for human nature in this physical nature that is about us, there is this wonderful gift of joy; that God meant it to be so, and that all simple, natural folks and things find it so until they lose it, when the shades of the prison-house gather around the growing life. Now it were well to ask ourselves for a moment or two what are the elements of joy in life; what gave to Jesus Christ this joyful spirit; what could give to you and to me a life of joy. I think, as I try to analyse it, that in the first place there was a consciousness of the presence of God. God is everywhere, we used to be told as children. Only we were told it in such a dreadful way! We were told it as if he were spying out everything that we did, frowning at things, as if the plays of children and the happy activities of life were foreign to his nature. Why, I heard a minister say, but a few days since, "Christianity is not a natural thing, it is the natural thing to do wrong; Christianity does not grow up out of the heart of nature, but it is a provision made to withstand the natural tendency to degradation of the soul." Dear friends, I do not believe that. I believe that Christianity opens to us the thought of God as a presence in nature and in life, It was this innateness, this abiding presence of the power of the spirit which we call God that made life a glorious thing to Jesus Christ, which opened up to him in the heart of every flower the secret of the Divine presence. It made him see in the care which every bird had the universal, allcomprehending providence. It made him know that whether we sleep or wake we are under his care and protection; that while we, in our distribution of justice, might not let the sun shine upon the evil and upon the good, God lets it fall with impartial bounty. It was this presence of God in star and sun, in wind and leaf that made the thought of God a joy to Jesus Christ. |