Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-05-23

knows nothing of being loved by others.
OF this sort of Joy good people know
nothings they can not derive one pulsa-
ton of 1t from the heart of God. 1t
enervates. rather than imparts strength.
1t enfeebles character, and paraiyzes
christian endeavour. 1t IS what the
philosophers call hedonism, and 1t COR
rodes every noble power in human ma
ture
But the JOY of the Lord imparts
strength. 1t is tonic to moral energy.
and it invigorates man for every form
of christian service, 1t is such Joy as
angels know who ''excel in strength. who
do His commandments, hearkening unto
the voice of His word"
Without it no great religious movement
has ever blessed the sons of men, and
with It no philanthroplc task has ever
failed of accomplishment. To the expe-
rience of it Nehemiah and Ezra called
the exiles when they were in the midst
of their heavy toll for the perfect resto-
ration of Jerusalem and the Temple, In
the possession Of II the little band of
Christians undertook the conquest of the
world for Christ utterly unappalled by
the magnitude of the commission which
He had given to them on the Mount of
Ascension: for of them It is said And
they worshipped Him, and returned to
Jerusalem with great JOY. and were con-
tinually in the temple, praisingi and
blessing Cod. duke xxiv:52 and 5S).
Mark how the note of joy sounds
through all the epistles of the great
Apostle to the Gentiles, who more than
all the rest laboured TO carry the gospel
to the uttermost parts of the world. In
his letter to the church at Rome he
asks for their prayers that he may come
to them with JOY by the win of God"
(Romans xv:32). To the church at Co
rinth he writes disclaiming any desire to
have dominion over their faith, and wish
ing only to be helper of their joy
I'll Cori:2D. To the Galatians he de-
clares that 'the fruit of the Spirit is love
joy, peace, etc" (Galbtians v:2O. even
as he wrote also to the Romans that 1.-THE
kingdom of God is not meat and drink
but righteousness, and peace, and joy I'm
the Holy Ghost. Romans xiv:1D. The
Philippians he calls his 'Joy and crown
(Phil. iv:D, and to the Thessalonians he
writes I'VE are our glory and joy. Paul
wrote his immortal letters In a gloomy
sad age. OF the world in which the great
Apostle lived and laboured Matthew Ar
mold said:
On that hard Pagan world disgust
And secret loathing fell:
Deep WEAKNESS and stated lust
Made human life a hell"
But in that dark world, which often
cast him into foul dungeons. Paul from
prisons wrote the gladdest letters to be
found among the epistles of men. How
they contrast with the querulous let
tiers of Cicero and SENEGAL Like
Gagged bird, whose sweet notes could not
be confined, he poured forth in mel
ancholy era the only joyous strains that
cheered its gloom, save the christian
hymns which issued from the same d.
vine sources of gladness.
In like manner Martin Luther, de-
spite the storms which broke upon
him, was a joyous man amid his great
and terribley tasks. How high sounds
his pean of triumph when ne sings, "A
Mighty Fortress is our Cod!
The Wesleys in their great work in
England, during the revival OF the
eighteenth century, were the gladdest
of men, although for a time the most,
hated and abused and prosecuted.
Charles Wesley breaks forth in the
heavenly strain.
20 for a thousand tongues to sing,
My great Redeemer's PraiseI
Again he sings:
20 how happy are they,
Who their Saviour obey,
And have laid up their treasures above
tongue can not 0ApICSSB
The sweet comfort and peace,
OF soul in its earliest love-"
And John Wesley, less given to song
but not stranger to the grace of JOY,
sang not less rapturously
How happy is the pilgrims lot,
How free from every anxious thought.
From worldly hope and fear!
Confided to neither court nor CELL
His soul disdains on earth to dwell,
He only. sojourns here"
George whitfield in his journal tells
us how stern old Jonathan Edwards
reioiced aloud in the house of God.
when that great movement known as
the sGreat Awakening" and of which
he was so powerful an agent. was IN
progress.
In the light of the Scriptures, and in
view of this great line of christian lead
ers so filled Joy, may we not dis
cover a source of weakness in the re-
lligion of today? It is too Joyiess. II
is busy with numberless enterprises. To
lit is given the greatest missionary OPP
portunity and obligation every given TO
the church in any previous age. But In
Its multiplied efforts and multiform
schemes it seems to have forgotten that
the Joy Of the Lord is its strength.
TO be sure there are plenty of giddy
men and women, whose names are en-
rolled on the registers of the churches,
pursuing with unresting feet every form
of frivolous pleasure They CAD from
watering-plaee to watertng-place, and