The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-01-19
The Joy of Christ.

There is a prevalent misconception
concerning the daily life and expert
ence of the Lord Jesus when He was
with us. We think Of Him as the
man of SORROWS" and rightly. "He
carried our sorrows;" the burden Of
our guilt was upon Him. He was so
in sympathy with men that their bur-
dens and sorrows became His. The
incompleteness of character, the hy-
pocrisy and deceit which met Him
everywhere, the thousand forms of in
EQUITY which filled the world, our
guilt laid upon His soul, did indeed
fill Him with sorrow; there was 10
sorrow like His.
1t was a deep undercurrent that
became greater as He approached tho
end. Even when all would seem to
be far removed from this, when the
multitudes were about Him seeking
His blessing, we hear Him say: My
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even I'M
to death" q. &
But with all this His heart was
full Of joy. There was sorrow, but
there was no sadness; there was a
burden, but there vas no disappoint-
ment; there was the keen sense of
the guilt of sin and of the agony of
the atonement, but there was no hesi-
~tation. We see the tumult, but He
speaks Of my peace" His own pecul-
lar peace; we see the suffering, but
His highest wish for His disciples was
that my JOY might remain in you
and that your JOY might be fully
Suffering and happiness are not in.
compatible; sorrow and joy are, not
so .antagonistic that they may not
dwell in the same heart. There Is a
grace which rises above the suffering,
and makes 1t minister to joy. 1t Is
one Of the wonderful things Of grace
that it SO lifts us up put of our sur
roundings, and out Of ourselves, that
there is perfect peace ever when the
suffering Is greatest. We have seen
the victim of disease racked with
pain whose face beamed with joy and
whose words were songs of praise.
The martyrs sang as they burned. So
with Jesus; at the very time. when
His cup was filled to the OVERLOOKING
He talked with His disciples opt Of
a heart perfectly at rest. :
There was to Jesus the joy of His
sinless nature. We cannot measure
that, but we may sometimes have a
foretaste of it; there may be such a
sense of pardon and Of Divine love
that we are as in the presence of God,
but our highest short experience Is
far below the blessedness which was
perpetual in the soul Of Jesus. To
Him there was the joy of infinite
love. He gave Himself for others,
and In their salvation His JOY was
above all suffering. The prayer of
the p%enitent thief was to Him the joy
of love prevailing, even over the
thorns and the nails.
There was the consciousness of Ills
Fathers love and support. He dwell
on that love. Even with the cross be.
fore Him, in the communion of the
holy fellowship His very garments
shone with the glory Of God. He was
Knocked and scorned, but all the time
He saw His work prevailing. The
lame man walking, the n dumb
man singing the praises Of God, the
dead coming back to life, were typical
. of a greater work of love in the sal
walton of men. He thought of the
nal whose sins were forgiven as one
saved, and not simply healed. How
great. the joy of that hour as He
prayed, Holy Father, keep those
whom Thou hast given Me-"
We a know but little of that
higher world in which Jesus lived,
for it is the world of perfect holiness
and infinite love, but we see some
thing Of it; we have something in
common with Him, Sc that we can
enter into His joy sufficiently to
know that it crowned all labor and
sweetened all sorrow. The man OF
sorrows" let Him ever be to us, but
also we should open our hearts to re-
ceive the infowing of His eyer-pres-
ent. unbounded joy.-United Presby-
terrain. O..