SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1204, 29 March 1895, Page 28

SUNDAY READING.

THE ESOTERIC JOY. By Kev. William Birch, D.D. Ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable. 1 Peter, i.,8. (ri.V.) Lifers friction is hard to bear. To His disciples our Lord said, "In this world ye shall be nailed." It is Only the few who light on their feet and turn everything they touch into gold ; the many fall heavily, wounding the soul and bruising the heart. Scripture is true ; " every creature groaneth." Yet to be joyless is unnatural, like an instrument; out of tune —it can and should be tuned. Do you say that the stumble in business, family, health, or reputation which has flailed you is like a limb out of joint ? True; but cannot the limb be set—need it be always out of joint? The joy of our lext is experienced by the few, though meant for all. It arises from the conviction that God rules well. We do not see ; we believe ; "it is well with my soul ! u I. Analyse Unspeakable Joy. (1) It is not mirth. Mirth is effervescence, the smile, laugh, shout, leap or frenzy resulting from titillating the senses, and is like the movement of the tide on the Bhore ; but joy is the silent spring which feeds the well, the. invisible gravitation that upholds the earth. (2) It is not rapture. The child has rapture when he sees a bright light or a scarlet robe ; the trader is glad when prices go as he wants them ; with door-locked and blind ' drawn down, the miser is "in heaven" while ) he gloats over his hidden gold ; having been ' answered by the whispered " Yes," the young man "for a few days is in paradise ; but all these pass away or one grows accus- ) toraed to them, and the rapture is only a) memory. On the other hand, joy is like the ' ever-flowing stream, quietly going around the big boulders, day and night sweetly moving on, rippling against the bridge, but flowing on all the same ; disturbed by the paddling of the children, but flowing on—joy is an unspeakable " flow." (3) It is not the pleasure of sin. To gratify self is most pleasurable, but it is a bad coin and does not help us in our journey to be nobler, better men, while joy is genuine and the excelsior talisman which sweetens every hour. Sinful pleasure is unreliable, like grass on a marsh ; sooner or later, it lets you down ;. but joy is the good road on which we peacefully walk even in the shadow of death. Besides, the sinful gratification of self is more in the thought or pursuit than in the doing ; it is the blue rocket which makes the darkness more dense, the sugar that cloys the taste, the obtained prize which, having ceased to be valued, cankers the soul. Joy however is like tb'e flavour of wholesome bread of which one never tires—three times a day, the smell of it refreshes the hungry man, and it is always palatable.

(4) It is not a fiction. Though unspeskable, yet, as an influence, it must be tangible to us. As yonder river has a source or fountain, so joy comes from a fountain, and is a felt experience. It is the divine breathing in our spirit—the same power expressed in a spiritual way which once said " Light be 1" It is heaven atmosphere inhaled by our inner self; and we know, we feel, that while our body moves on earth, we, the inner we, live and move and have our being in God. To prove it to a sceptic, who is only an intelligent locomotive vegetable, is impossible ; for it shows only as the zephyr is shown by the fleecy cloud it blows, and reveals itself in the ineffable quietness with which we bear the jostle and upset of daily care. It is the highest possible obtainment; the gracious graft, which, with sweet almighty power, inspires the growth of a pure and an unselfish life, and is the bliss of heaven begun on earth. 11. Thjs Conditions of Unspeakable Joy. (1) The certainty of one's sins being pardoned. An honourable man who is in debt is under the flail every day ; and to die with the knowledge that the debt cannot be paid is torment. But were his father living and to come saying, " My poor poy, I have paid the debt I" both rapture and permanent peace would be felt. The Gospel is our Father's voice to every penitent spirit, saying, "I have paid tty debt." You ask for the receipt, and I point to the cross on which your Kedeemer died. If you are as anxious to get rid of your sins as an honourable man of his debts, and yearn to sin no more, your heavenly Father, while lam preaching (and while"you are reading) gives the assurance that your sins are blotted but for evermore. Neither yourself nor any angel—not even God—will remember your sins ; they will be absolutely blotted out from memory and book. (2) The immovable conviction that our Father cares for one's eternal welfare. The fabled Mercury, with wings to his heel, represents a man who acts the part of divine father to himself—" Oh, that I could change this for that i"—but when one is truly penitent and therefore fully forgiven, we soon learn that God fathers us as His little child, and have unspeakable joy. Though a storm rages over the ocean, the "telegraph-cable below is undisturbed. So joy is the spiritual faithcable between God and us. Scourging and stocks in midnight darkness rage through the flesh and cramp the bones, but through the faith-cable, God telegraphs, " I see, I feel, I comfort; it is for your eternal glory 1" —and overpowered with silent heaven-joy, Paul and Silas burst into songs of praise.

(3) The possession of our inheritance in Heaven. About to undergo an operation certain to restore sight a blind boy exclaimed, " Mother, in a few days.l shall see, see you .—shall do no'lr'ng "he but see T' So when

the death-operation shall take off the veil which covers our immortal eyes, we shall Bee our Father, see the loved ones who gather to welcome and congratulate us, see our lot, our house and portion fair—do nothing else but see! Meanwhile, in this blessed Gospel of our Father, we hold the title deeds ; we are owners.

(4) Is there another condition ? Yes ; it is living to bless one's family, and to be useful to others. Some of the churches have preached people into heaven —or supposed they did —but have they preached Christ into their nature ? To believe in Christ as one believes in Oliver Cromwell or George Washington may or may not benefit us, but to receive the teaching of Christ as our rule of life, as that of arithmetic for the rule-of-three, is the condition which obtains unspeakable joy. A man who is religious only to save his own soul cannot receive the joy which is inhaling and exhaling the breath of the unselfish Heaven.

If we are lovingly willing to obey our heavenly Father, unspeakable joy is not difficult to obtain like pearls at the bottom of the sea, but like your garden seat under the tree and as free as the street fountain with the cup for you to drink. Do you reply that you are lost, like one that is dead ? Listen to the God who loves you—" lam the resurrection and the life !" Look to Him as Redeemer, Saviour, Father ; in such a look He breathes pardon, purity, peace and joy. Have, you a sorrow which almost every hour wounds your heart—a hidden sorrow like a room locked up from even God 1 Listen to Him, " Behold, I stand at that door and knock ; let me hold thy hand, and, together, we will enter that secret room with light ; do not despair, the tangled string shall be unravelled, the crooked thing made straight, and the broken heart healed ; come, my weary sorrowing child, kneel down and tell me all—l know it, but tell me ; for knowing all, I thee all the same P Troubled soul, sorrowing heart, penitent daughter, starving prodigal son, do not despair while our heavenly Father calls you " child !"