Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-08-13
KEY TO HAPPINESS AND JOY.
By Rev. A. Macdonald Reoch

These things have I spoken unto
you, that My Joy might remain in you
and that your joy might be full
John Is: 2.
All music is composed from the one
scale, comprising seven notes. Good
and bad music, dirge and anthem, all
are made up from these notes and
their notifications.
In like manner all the varieties of
character are developed from a few
notes with combinations. By naming
these terms as we do in music, or in
the scale of colors, with which there
is also parallel, we get this ascend
ing scale: Birth, physical impulse,
reason, faith, hope, love and joy.
Jesus came to earth that human
lives might become anthems instead Of
dirges and be filed with Joy and glad
ness. Any life which is under the
sway Of physical impulse only must
be subject to all kinds of bitter pas
sions and can never be filled with
peace and joy.
The life which boasts Of it's COM
plete control by reason cannot be-
ideal, for there is much in man that
is higher than reason. Moving up the
scale, we discover faith to be the pri-
nal force and energy of the moral
realm, the world of personalities.
When we critically inspect the steam
ship or interrogate the captain we are
using our reasoning powers, but when
we commit our well-being to the care
Of the captain and ship to cross an
unknown sea 1t Is the moral force in
herent in faith, and that only, which
gives the power to do it. Faith holds
the same relative position in the realm
Of personality that physical energy
does in the realm Of the material. It
furnishes vital energy for the moral
and religious life.
But we must pass above faith to
hope, for hope opens vistas of posi-
bility and inspires faith to new ven
lures, becoming the means of moral
and spiritual vision. By it Columbus
saw new worlds in floating reeds,
which faith, seeking afar, found. "Ev-
cry one that hath this hope in him"
said the apostle, referring to the life
to come, ''purifeth himself"
Greater than all is love, of which
Jesus was speaking when He pointed
the simple way to the happy life. Love
is the final condition of entrance into
is one of the most powerful factors in
our being. When grief gives place to
joy new lease of life is issued. The
very chemistry of the blood IS
changed. This powerful emotion Of
joy is attendant upon well-doing and
well-being. Jesus was eminently faith
full in all His work conquering temp
tation and becoming obedient even
unto DEATH" dwelling always in the
consciousness of the Fathers love;
therefore His life was full of JOY. IF
you do as l am doing" He said, keep
ing Gods commands and abiding in
His love, My joy shall be in you and
your capacity for joy shall be full"
Consciously or not, by putting the
chief emphasis on one or another note,
we choose a keynote for our charac-
ter and destiny. Theoretically we
may choose joy as the keynote and
practically put the emphasis upon i'm
pulse or some other note and wonder
why our life is not full Of joy. The
keynote for Jesus was love. This put
Him in touch with God, who IS love,
and the consciousness of Gods love
made hope buoyant, inspired faith, IL.
lumined reason and led impulse cap
tive. Joy and happiness could not be
absent from such life. This Joy will
come to other lives and their JOY will
be full as they follow this ideal life.