The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-06-03
RELIGIOUS READING.
THE JoYFULSEss OF BELIKyrrG.


The conception which some people have
Of religion and the religious life as a joyless.
solemn. painfully restrained state. full Of
crucited natural desires and impulses, seems
so little borne out, either by Scripture or
human life, that one cannot help wondering
how 1t ever came to get such u hold upon
the average mind. Apparently it is one Of
those strange, clinging misconceptions with
which the history of the human race
abounds; like the idea that recreation is a
waste of time, or that book knowledge Is
incompatible with practical efficiency. How
these utterly senseless old notions have
clung to modern thought, almost up to the
present time, and how hard tits to root out the
old prejudices against play except for chill
dren, and book-learning except for professors
and wool gathering theorists Not one whit
more reasonable is the notion that religion
is sour and joyless, than the notion that the
learned man Is necessarily all thumbs and
goggles. AS matter of fact, there are no
people in the world quite so evenly and per-
ennially, and supremely happy as are Chris
tians. There Is a rapture and a peace In
having something to believe, that the unre-
generate heart knows nothing Of 1t is like
the peace Of the sailor who rides at anchor,
taking hold upon the foundations Of the
world, while other ships, scorning the cable,
are tossed by the storm whithersoever 1t
will.
"These things have spoken unto you,"
said Christ, that my Joy might remain In
you, and that your JOY might be full" Is 1t
thus that the worlds Redeemer strikes the
keynote Of a faith of sad self-denials and
compulsory gloom2 The first outcome of
His teaching, as He looked back upon 1t,
was the JOY, the personal happiness Of the
believer. How significant Christ might
have said that He had spoken His words of
life that the Christian might have wisdom :;
that he might have sobrlety and seriousness
OF mind that he might have q supreme
hatred of evil. But no the first thought of
Christ is the Happiness of his followers-not
the mere surface pleasure, but the great,
deep-down, blessed joyfulness Of knowing,
and believing, and living the grandest moral
and spiritual principles ever uttered by
human tongue. The world knows better,
nowadays, than to honestly and seriously
believe that Christians are mlrthless, joy
less, sombre folk, concerned only with the
great, tragic experiences Of life, the mystery
Of death, and the miSt-enveloped problems
of the future. In all that makes life rich and
sweet and lovely: In all that elevates and
charms and humanizes the race; in every
form Of innocent enjoyment in oil sunshine,
laughter, music, friendship, enterprise, love !;
In the best things, the truest things, the hap
piest things. the Christian in accordance
with the joy-bringing purpose of his Master,
takes, and forever will take, the lead Of all
the world. Shrink not from Christianity,
young man, young woman, because you fear
it will curtail the legitimate joy OF life! For
instead OF casting so much as a hands,
breadth of shadow upon your soul, it will so
food life with the very sunshine of God that
you will seem to have risen into q new
world, a new atmosphere, genuine as light
and beautiful as dreams.