The Washington herald., 1922-05-01
By. REV. ALLAN r. POORE,
A-..~.t,. n E. CAureh.

Anaeestia N. K. Chnreh.
ST. John 15-il: / have told you
this. that my Joy may be within
you-and your Joy complete.
We have become SO accustomed
to thinking of Christ as the Man
of Sorrows, and we are so much
inclined to be Influenced by our
own moods Of depression that we
often overlook the great undercur-
rent Of Joy which animated the
life and ministry of Jesus.
Jesus was not primarily = man
of sad countenance. Nor did He
repress> within Himself all the
buoyant and joyous impulses-as did
the Stoics of His day.
These Roman philosophers prided
themselves that they >were moved
neither by pleasure nor pain, and
they sternly disciplined themselves
never to show any sensitiveness to
suffering nor any exuberant enthu-
siasm. But IL any stole had ap-
preached Jesus with the desire to
learn the truth He would have
frankly shown the man that for
the life which 10 parmeated with
the love of God there is a con-
slant source of Joy yelling up
within the soul.
The Source Of Happiness.
We are somewhat afraid OF emo
tionalism and Of course some. carry
1t to extremes, but the man who
has Jesus in his soul ought to be
happy and let Joy overflow.
have no sympathy with that crowd
who persist in telling us to be
happy and base their hope eptirely
upon this vain world and its at
fractions to provide that happi-
ness. II is vain and far-fetched,
like Pollyamia
Being happy is not so much an
outward condition as inward expe-
rience. For the Christian who has
a vital experience of forgiving
love Of the Savior, religion becomes
the bright and beautiful interpre-
tation of life: worship is thanks
giving. and the song instinctively
comes to our lips, Gods in His
heaven, alPs right with the. world"
Now. I believe we may lay hold
OF three fundamental thoughts
which are guaranteed by Jesus:
Three Basic Truths.
1. The JOY of pardon. God Is
one who forgives our iniquities.
He is a pardoning God. We all
know that down deep in our
feeling of blameworthiRess in every
candid soul is so true to our con-
science that none of us dare. deny
say. Think no evil. hear no evil.
see no evil" This has been the
tendency during the war, but We
must know that "all. like sheep.
have gone astray."
2. The JOY OF deliverance. The
humankind began with a self-im-
posed ruin. A kind of perversity
that has ever been the despair of
those who dreamed of a higher
destiny for the sons of man who
has so perverted the ideslism of the
race that the wisest and best OF
earth have cried out, who shall
deliver ~us from the body of this
death?" The answer. the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all
sin. Christ came not to destroy:
His gospel of salvation, saved man
kind from those fatal elements Of
weakness which have proven so
often the despair of all known
hope.
3. The joy of anticipation. We
don't hear as much about heaven
as we should; we live too much in
this world. When was a boy we
used to sing a great deal about
heaven. 1t was our hope. our an
ticipation. To have this anticipa-
tion realized is Joy unspeakable.
Christ does not intend that the
solemnity of religion should crush
out the happy and buoyant in
stincts of your soul. He invites
you to come to Him today, unham-
pered by the traditions of an over
stern Puritanism and to rejoice in
the sunshine of His love and to
sing the song of thanksgiving with
those who have discovered His
truth