Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1912 — The Joy of Christ [ARTICLE]

The Joy of Christ

His Sinless Nature and gj 'lnfinite Love .. J

THERE tea prevalent miscoas4| ception concerning the daflfp| life and experiences of th# \ Lord Jesus when he was with us. We think of him as tlwo “Man of sorrows,” and rightly. “He carried his sorrows;” the burden our guilt was upon him. He was so in ' sympathy with men that their burdens and sorrows became his. The incompleteness of character, the hypocrisy and deceit which met him the thousand forms of iniquity which filled the yforld, our guilt laid , upon his soul, did indeed fill him with sorrow; there was no sorrow like his. It was a deep undercurrent that be*|| came greater as be approached, the . end. Even when all would seem to be far removed from this, when the muH titudes were about him seeking fate,? blessing, we hear him say: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even, unto death.” But with all this his heart was full of joy. There was sorrow, but there - was no sadness; there was a burden, but there was no disappointment; there was the keen sense of the guilt of sin and of. the agony of the atonement, but'there was no hesitation., We see the tumult, but he speaks of : “my ffeaeei’ f hi* own peculiar 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 full.” Life’s Suffering and Happiness. Suffering and happiness are noti incompatible; sorrow and Joy are not | not dwell in the same heart. Th**»J is a grace which rises above the suffering, and makes it minister to Joy. It is one of the wonderful things of grace that It so lifts us up out of our surroundings and out of ourselves, that there is perfect peace even 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 aa they|| burned. So with Jesus;- at the very time when hte cup was filled to the overflowing, he talked with bis 1 disciples out of a heart perfectly at I rest There was to Jesus the joy of his sinless nature.’~VW® cannot measure | that, but we may sometimes have a$ foretaste of it; there may be such S 3 sense of pardon and of Divine toven.; that we are as In the presence of God, but our highest short experi* | euce is tat 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 hte Joy was above all suffering. The prayer of the penitent thief was to: him the Joy of love prevailing, even. over ih#| thorns and the nails? .There to him was the consciousness of his Father’s love and sufiport. He dwelt on that love. Even with the cross before him, in the commmqnlon of the. holy | fellowship his very garments' shone I with the glory of God. He was mocked and scorned, but ah the time he saw his work prevail? ing. AH'Typical of Hie Love. The lame man walking, the dumb dead man coming back to, life* were the salvation of men. He | the 'man whose sine were forgiven as on# saved, and not simply healed. The world redeemed wan ) not present to him. How great ? the Joy of that hour as he prayed. “Holy Father, keep those whom thertr hast given me!” We can 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 something of H; we-have some*'! thing in common with him, sot that we can enter into his Joy sufficiently to know that it crowned tdl labor and sweetened ail sorrow. The “Man of sorrows let him ever b# us, but also we should open oar ’ hearts to receive the Inflowing of hte ever-present, unbounded Joy. —United Presbyterteh.