{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10395/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10395","id":"gutenberg_10395","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10395","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Spiritual life -- Christianity"],"text":"JOY AND POWER\n\n\nThree messages with One meaning\n\nby\n\nHenry van Dyke\n\n\n\n\n1903\n\n\n\n\nDedicated to my friend John Huston Finley\nPresident of the College of the City of New York\n\n\n\n\nTHE PREFACE\n\n\nThe three messages which are brought together in this book were given\nnot far apart in time, though at some distance from one another in\nspace. The one called Joy and Power was delivered in Los Angeles,\nCalifornia, at the opening of the Presbyterian General Assembly, May 21,\n1903. The one called The Battle of Life was delivered on Baccalaureate\nSunday at Princeton University, June 7. The one called The Good Old Way\nwas delivered on Baccalaureate Sunday at Harvard University, June 14. At\nthe time, I was thinking chiefly of the different qualities and needs of\nthe people to whom I had to speak. This will account for some things in\nthe form of each message. But now that they are put together I can see\nthat all three of them say about the same thing. They point in the same\ndirection, urge the same course of action, and appeal to the same\nmotive. It is nothing new,--the meaning of this threefold message,--but\nit is the best that I have learned in life. And I believe it is\ntrue,--so true that we need often to have it brought to remembrance.\n\nHenry van Dyke\n\nAvalon, July 5, 1903\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\ni. Joy and Power\n\nii. The Battle of Life\n\niii. The Good Old Way\n\n\n\n\nJOY AND POWER\n\n    <i>St. John viii. 17: If ye know these things, happy are\n    ye if ye do them.</i>\n\nI ask you to think for a little while about the religion of Christ in\nits relation to happiness.\n\nThis is only one point in the circle of truth at the centre of which\nJesus stands. But it is an important point because it marks one of the\nlines of power which radiate from Him. To look at it clearly and\nsteadily is not to disregard other truths. The mariner takes the whole\nheavens of astronomy for granted while he shapes his course by a single\nstar.\n\nIn the wish for happiness all men are strangely alike. In their\nexplanations of it and in their ways of seeking it they are singularly\ndifferent. Shall we think of this wish as right, or wrong; as a true\nstar, or a will-o'-the-wisp? If it is right to wish to be happy, what\nare the conditions on which the fulfilment of this wish depends? These\nare the two questions with which I would come to Christ, seeking\ninstruction and guidance.\n\nI. The desire of happiness, beyond all doubt, is a natural desire. It\nis the law of life itself that every being seeks and strives toward the\nperfection of its kind, the realization of its own specific ideal in\nform and function, and a true harmony with its environment. Every drop\nof sap in the tree flows toward foliage and fruit. Every drop of blood\nin the bird beats toward flight and song. In a conscious being this\nmovement toward perfection must take a conscious form. This conscious\nform is happiness,--the satisfaction of the vital impulse,--the rhythm\nof the inward life,--the melody of a heart that has found its keynote.\nTo say that all men long for this is simply to confess that all men are\nhuman, and that their thoughts and feelings are an essential part of\ntheir life. Virtue means a completed manhood. The joyful welfare of the\nsoul belongs to the fulness of that ideal. Holiness is wholeness. In\nstriving to realize the true aim of our being, we find the wish for\nhappiness implanted in the very heart of our effort.\n\nNow what does Christ say in regard to this natural human wish? Does He\nsay that it is an illusion? Does He condemn and deny it? Would He have\naccepted Goethe's definition: \"religion is renunciation\"?\n\nSurely such a notion is far from the spirit of Jesus. There is nothing\nof the hardness of Stoicism, the coldness of Buddhism, in Christ's\ngospel. It is humane, sympathetic, consoling. Unrest and weariness, the\nfever of passion and the chill of despair, soul-solitude and\nheart-trouble, are the very things that He comes to cure. He begins His\ngreat discourse with a series of beatitudes. \"Blessed\" is the word.\n\"Happy\" is the meaning. Nine times He rings the changes on that word,\nlike a silver bell sounding from His fair temple on the mountain-side,\ncalling all who long for happiness to come to Him and find rest for\ntheir souls.\n\nChrist never asks us to give up merely for the sake of giving up, but\nalways in order to win something better. He comes not to destroy, but to\nfulfil,--to fill full,--to replenish life with true, inward, lasting\nriches. His gospel is a message of satisfaction, of attainment, of\nfelicity. Its voice is not a sigh, but a song. Its final word is a\nbenediction, a good-saying. \"These things have I spoken unto you, that\nmy joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.\"\n\nIf we accept His teaching we must believe that men are not wrong in\nwishing for happiness, but wrong in their way of seeking it. Earthly\nhappiness,--pleasure that belongs to the senses and perishes with\nthem,--earthly happiness is a dream and a delusion. But happiness on\nearth,--spiritual joy and peace, blossoming here, fruiting\nhereafter,--immortal happiness, is the keynote of life in Christ.\n\nAnd if we come to Him, He tells us four great secrets in regard to it.\n\ni. It is inward, and, not outward; and so it does not depend on what we\nhave, but on what we are.\n\nii. It cannot be found by direct seeking, but by setting our faces\ntoward the things from which it flows; and so we must climb the mount\nif we would see the vision, we must tune the instrument if we would hear\nthe music.\n\niii. It is not solitary, but social; and so we can never have it without\nsharing it with others.\n\niv. It is the result of God's will for us, and not of our will for\nourselves; and so we can only find it by giving our lives up, in\nsubmission and obedience, to the control of God.\n\n  For this is peace,--to lose the lonely note\n  Of self in love's celestial ordered strain:\n  And this is joy,--to find one's self again\n  In Him whose harmonies forever float\n  Through all the spheres of song, below, above,--\n  For God is music, even as God is love.\n\nThis is the divine doctrine of happiness as Christ taught it by His life\nand with His lips. If we want to put it into a single phrase, I know not\nwhere we shall find a more perfect utterance than in the words which\nhave been taught us in childhood,--words so strong, so noble, so\ncheerful, that they summon the heart of manhood like marching-music:\n\"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.\"\n\nLet us accept without reserve this teaching of our Divine Lord and\nMaster in regard to the possibility and the duty of happiness. It is an\nessential element of His gospel. The atmosphere of the New Testament is\nnot gloom, but gladness; not despondency, but hope. The man who is not\nglad to be a Christian is not the right kind of a Christian.\n\nThe first thing that commended the Church of Jesus to the weary and\ndisheartened world in the early years of her triumph, was her power to\nmake her children happy,--happy in the midst of afflictions, happy in\nthe release from the burden of guilt, happy in the sense of Divine\nFatherhood and human brotherhood, happy in Christ's victory over sin and\ndeath, happy in the assurance of an endless life. At midnight in the\nprison, Paul and Silas sang praises, and the prisoners heard them. The\nlateral force of joy,--that was the power of the Church.\n\n  \"'Poor world,' she cried, 'so deep accurst,\n    Thou runn'st from pole to pole\n  To seek a draught to slake thy thirst,--\n    Go seek it in thy soul.'\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Tears washed the trouble from her face!\n    She changed into a child!\n  'Mid weeds and wrecks she stood,--a place\n    Of ruin,--but she smiled!\"\n\nMuch has the Church lost of that pristine and powerful joy. The furnace\nof civilization has withered and hardened her. She has become anxious\nand troubled about many things. She has sought earthly honours, earthly\npowers. Richer she is than ever before, and probably better organized,\nand perhaps more intelligent, more learned,--but not more happy. The one\nnote that is most often missing in Christian life, in Christian service,\nis the note of spontaneous joy.\n\nChristians are not as much calmer, steadier, stronger, and more cheerful\nthan other people as they ought to be. Some Christians are among the\nmost depressing and worryful people in the world,--the most difficult to\nlive with. And some, indeed, have adopted a theory of spiritual ethics\nwhich puts a special value upon unhappiness. The dark, morbid spirit\nwhich mistrusts every joyful feeling, and depreciates every cheerful\nvirtue, and looks askance upon every happy life as if there must be\nsomething wrong about it, is a departure from the beauty of Christ's\nteaching to follow the dark-browed philosophy of the Orient.\n\nThe religion of Jesus tells us that cheerful piety is the best piety.\nThere is something finer than to do right against inclination; and that\nis to have an inclination to do right. There is something nobler than\nreluctant obedience; and that is joyful obedience. The rank of virtue is\nnot measured by its disagreeableness, but by its sweetness to the heart\nthat loves it. The real test of character is joy. For what you rejoice\nin, that you love. And what you love, that you are like.\n\nI confess frankly that I have no admiration for the phrase\n\"disinterested benevolence,\" to describe the main-spring of Christian\nmorals. I do not find it in the New Testament: neither the words, nor\nthe thing. Interested benevolence is what I find there. To do good to\nothers is to make life interesting and find peace for our own souls. To\nglorify God is to enjoy Him. That was the spirit of the first\nChristians. Was not St. Paul a happier man than Herod? Did not St. Peter\nhave more joy of his life than Nero? It is said of the first disciples\nthat they \"did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.\"\nNot till that pristine gladness of life returns will the Church regain\nher early charm for the souls of men. Every great revival of Christian\npower--like those which came in the times of St. Francis of Assisi and\nof John Wesley--has been marked and heralded by a revival of Christian\njoy.\n\nIf we want the Church to be mighty in power to win men, to be a source\nof light in the darkness, a fountain of life in the wilderness, we must\nremember and renew, in the spirit of Christ, the relation of religion to\nhuman happiness.\n\nII. What, then, are the conditions upon which true happiness depends?\nChrist tells us in the text: If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye\ndo them.\n\nThis is the blessing with a double if. \"If ye know,\"--this is the\nknowledge which Christ gives to faith. \"If ye do,\"--this is the\nobedience which faith gives to Christ. Knowing and Doing,--these are the\ntwin pillars, Jachin and Boaz, on which the house of happiness is built.\nThe harmony of faith and life,--this is the secret of inward joy and\npower.\n\nYou remember when these words were spoken. Christ had knelt to wash the\ndisciples' feet. Peter, in penitence and self-reproach, had hesitated to\npermit this lowly service of Divine love. But Christ answered by\nrevealing the meaning of His act as a symbol of the cleansing of the\nsoul from sin. He reminded the disciples of what they knew by\nfaith,--that He was their Saviour and their Lord. By deed and by word He\ncalled up before them the great spiritual truths which had given new\nmeaning to their life. He summoned them to live according to their\nknowledge, to act upon the truth which they believed.\n\nI am sure that His words sweep out beyond that quiet upper room, beyond\nthat beautiful incident, to embrace the whole spiritual life. I am sure\nthat He is revealing to us the secret of happy living which lies at the\nvery heart of His gospel, when He says: If ye know these things, happy\nare ye if ye do them.\n\ni. \"If ye know,\"--there is, then, a certain kind of knowledge without\nwhich we can not be happy. There are questions arising in human nature\nwhich demand an answer. If it is denied we can not help being\ndisappointed, restless, and sad. This is the price we have to pay for\nbeing conscious, rational creatures. If we were mere plants or animals\nwe might go on living through our appointed years in complete\nindifference to the origin and meaning of our existence. But within us,\nas human beings, there is something that cries out and rebels against\nsuch a blind life. Man is born to ask what things mean. He is possessed\nwith the idea that there is a significance in the world beyond that\nwhich meets his senses.\n\nJohn Fiske has brought out this fact very clearly in his last book,\nThrough Nature to God. He shows that \"in the morning twilight of\nexistence the Human Soul vaguely reached forth toward something akin to\nitself, not in the realm of fleeting phenomena, but in the Eternal\nPresence beyond.\" He argues by the analogy of evolution, which always\npresupposes a real relation between the life and the environment to\nwhich it adjusts itself, that this forth-reaching and unfolding of the\nsoul implies the everlasting reality of religion.\n\nThe argument is good. But the point which concerns us now is simply\nthis. The forth-reaching, questioning soul can never be satisfied if it\ntouches only a dead wall in the darkness, if its seeking meets with the\nreply, \"You do not know, and you never can know, and you must not try\nto know.\" This is agnosticism. It is only another way of spelling\nunhappiness.\n\n\"Since Christianity is not true,\" wrote Ernest Renan, \"nothing interests\nme, or appears worthy my attention.\" That is the logical result of\nlosing the knowledge of spiritual things,--a life without real interest,\nwithout deep worth,--a life with a broken spring.\n\nBut suppose Renan is mistaken. Suppose Christianity is true. Then the\nfirst thing that makes it precious, is that it answers our questions,\nand tells us the things that we must know in order to be happy.\n\nChristianity is a revealing religion, a teaching religion, a religion\nwhich conveys to the inquiring spirit certain great and positive\nsolutions of the problems of life. It is not silent, nor ambiguous, nor\nincomprehensible in its utterance. It replies to our questions with a\nknowledge which, though limited, is definite and sufficient. It tells us\nthat this \"order of nature, which constitutes the world's experience,\nis only one portion of the total universe.\" That the ruler of both\nworlds, seen and unseen, is God, a Spirit, and the Father of our\nspirits. That He is not distant from us nor indifferent to us, but that\nHe has given His eternal Son Jesus Christ to be our Saviour. That His\nSpirit is ever present with us to help us in our conflicts with evil, in\nour efforts toward goodness. That He is making all things work together\nfor good to those that love Him. That through the sacrifice of Christ\nevery one who will may obtain the forgiveness of sins and everlasting\npeace. That through the resurrection of Christ all who love Him and\ntheir fellow-men shall obtain the victory over death and live forever.\n\nNow these are doctrines. And it is just because Christianity contains\nsuch doctrines that it satisfies the need of man.\n\n\"The first and the most essential condition of true happiness,\" writes\nProfessor Carl Hilty, the eminent Swiss jurist, \"is a firm faith in the\nmoral order of the world. What is the happy life? It is a life of\nconscious harmony with this Divine order of the world, a sense, that is\nto say, of God's companionship. And wherein is the profoundest\nunhappiness? It is in the sense of remoteness from God, issuing into\nincurable restlessness of heart, and finally into incapacity to make\none's life fruitful or effective.\"\n\nWhat shall we say, then, of the proposal to adapt Christianity to the\nneeds of the world to-day by eliminating or ignoring its characteristic\ndoctrines? You might as well propose to fit a ship for service by taking\nout its compass and its charts and cutting off its rudder. Make\nChristianity silent in regard to these great questions of spiritual\nexistence, and you destroy its power to satisfy the heart.\n\nWhat would the life of Christ mean if these deep truths on which He\nrested and from which He drew His strength, were uncertain or illusory?\nIt would be the most pathetic, mournful, heartbreaking of all phantoms.\n\nWhat consoling, cheering power would be left in the words of Jesus if\nHis doctrine were blotted out and His precept left to stand alone? Try\nthe experiment, if it may be done without irreverence: read His familiar\ndiscourses in the shadow of agnosticism.\n\n'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is a hopeless poverty.\nBlessed are the pure in heart, for they know not whether they shall see\nGod. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, for ye\nhave no promise of a heavenly reward.\n\n'Enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut the door, keep silence,\nfor thou canst not tell whether there is One to hear thy voice in\nsecret. Take no thought for the morrow, for thou knowest not whether\nthere is a Father who careth for thee.\n\n'God is unknown, and they that worship Him must worship Him in ignorance\nand doubt. No man hath ascended up into heaven, neither hath any man\ncome down from heaven, for the Son of Man hath never been in heaven.\nThat which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the\nspirit is a dream. Man shall not live by bread alone, neither shall he\nlisten for any word from the mouth of God. I proceeded forth and came\nfrom darkness, I came of myself, I know not who sent me. My sheep hear\nmy voice, and I know them, and they follow me, but I can not give unto\nthem eternal life, for they shall perish and death shall pluck them out\nof my hand. Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe not in God, ye\nneed not believe in me. Keep my commandments, and I will not pray for\nyou, and ye shall abide without a Comforter. In the world ye shall have\ntribulation, but be of good cheer, for ye know not whether there is a\nworld to come. I came forth from darkness into the world, and again I\nleave the world and return to darkness. Peace I leave with you. If ye\nloved me ye would rejoice because I said, I go into darkness, and where\nI am there shall ye be also.'\n\nIs it conceivable that any suffering, sorrowing human soul should be\ncomforted and strengthened by such a message as this? Could it possibly\nbe called a gospel, glad tidings of great joy to all people?\n\nAnd yet what has been omitted here from the words of Christ? Nothing but\nwhat men call doctrines: the personality of God, the divinity of Christ,\nthe Atonement, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the\nsovereignty of the Heavenly Father, the truth of the divine revelation,\nthe reality of the heavenly world, the assurance of immortal life. But\nit is just from these doctrines that the teaching of Jesus draws its\npeculiar power to comfort and inspire. They are the rays of light which\ndisperse the gloom of uncertainty. They are the tones of celestial music\nwhich fill the heart of man with good cheer.\n\nLet us never imagine that we can strengthen Christianity by leaving out\nthe great doctrines which have given it life and power. Faith is not a\nmere matter of feeling. It is the acceptance of truth, positive,\nunchanging, revealed truth, in regard to God and the world, Christ and\nthe soul, duty and immortality. The first appeal to faith lies in the\nclearness and vividness, the simplicity and joy, with which this truth\nis presented.\n\nThere has not been too much preaching of doctrine in this age. There has\nbeen too little. And what there has been, has been too dull and cold and\nformal, too vague and misty, too wavering and uncertain.\n\nWhat the world wants and waits for to-day is a strong, true, vital\npreaching of doctrine. The Church must realize anew the precious value\nof the truths which Christ has given her. She must not conceal them or\ncast them away; she must bring them out into the light, press them home\nupon the minds and hearts of men. She must simplify her statement of\nthem, so that men can understand what they mean. She must not be content\nwith repeating them in the language of past centuries. She must\ntranslate them into the language of to-day. First century texts will\nnever wear out because they are inspired. But seventeenth century\nsermons grow obsolete because they are not inspired. Texts from the Word\nof God, preaching in the words of living men,--that is what we need.\n\nWe must think about the doctrines of Christianity more earnestly and\nprofoundly. We must renew our Christian evidences, as an army fits\nitself with new weapons. The old-fashioned form of the \"argument from\ndesign in nature\" has gone out with the old-fashioned books of science\nwhich it used. But there is a new and more wonderful proof of God's\npresence in the world,--the argument from moral ends in evolution. Every\nreal advance of science makes the intelligent order of the universe more\nsublimely clear. Every century of human experience confirms the Divine\nclaims and adds to the Divine triumphs of Jesus Christ. Social progress\nhas followed to a hair's breadth the lines of His gospel; and He lays\nHis hand to-day with heavenly wisdom on the social wants that still\ntrouble us, \"the social lies that warp us from the living truth.\"\nChrist's view of life and the world is as full of sweet reasonableness\nnow as it was in the first century. Every moral step that man has taken\nupward has brought a wider, clearer vision of his need of such a\nreligion as that which Christ teaches.\n\nLet not the Church falter and blush for her doctrines. Let her not turn\nand go down the hill of knowledge to defend her position in the valley\nof ignorance. Let her go up the hill, welcoming every wider outlook,\nrejoicing in every new discovery, gathering fresh evidences of the\ntruths which man must believe concerning God and new motives to the\nduties which God requires of man.\n\nBut in doing this we must put the emphasis of our preaching to-day where\nit belongs, where Christ puts it, on the doctrines that are most\nimportant to human life and happiness. We can afford to let the fine\nmetaphysical distinctions of theology rest for a while, and throw all\nour force on the central, fundamental truths which give steadiness and\ncourage and cheer to the heart of man. I will not admit that it makes no\ndifference to a man of this age whether or not he believes in the\npersonal God and the Divine Christ. If he really believes, it makes all\nthe difference between spiritual strength and spiritual weakness,\nbetween optimism and pessimism. I will not admit that it makes no\ndifference to a learned scholar or a simple labourer to-day whether he\naccepts or ignores the doctrine of the atonement, the doctrine of\npersonal immortality. If he knows that Christ died for him, that there\nis a future beyond the grave, it makes all the difference between\ndespair and hope, between misery and consolation, between the helpless\nfrailty of a being that is puffed out like a candle, and the joyful\npower of an endless life.\n\nMy brethren, we must work and pray for a true revival of Christian\ndoctrine in our age. We must deepen our own hold upon the truths which\nChrist has taught us. We must preach them more simply, more\nconfidently, more reasonably, more earnestly. We must draw from them the\nhappiness and the help, the comfort and the inspiration, that they have\nto give to the souls of men. But most of all, we must keep them in close\nand living touch with the problems of daily duty and experience. For no\ndoctrine, however high, however true, can make men happy until it is\ntranslated into life.\n\nii. Here is the second if, on which the power of religion to confer\nhappiness depends: If ye know, happy are ye if ye do these things.\n\nBetween the knowing and the doing there is a deep gulf. Into that abyss\nthe happiness of many a man slips, and is lost. There is no peace, no\nreal and lasting felicity for a human life until the gulf is closed, and\nthe continent of conduct meets the continent of creed, edge to edge, lip\nto lip, firmly joined forever.\n\nIt is not a blessing to know the things that Christ teaches, and then go\non living as if they were false or doubtful. It is a trouble, a torment,\na secret misery. To know that God is our Father, and yet to withhold\nour love and service from Him; to know that Christ died for us, and yet\nto deny Him and refuse to follow Him; to know that there is an immortal\nlife, and yet to waste and lose our souls in the pursuit of sensual\npleasure and such small portion of the world as we may hope to\ngain,--surely that is the deepest of all unhappiness.\n\nBut the right kind of knowing carries in its heart the doing of the\ntruth. And the right kind of doing leads to a fuller and happier\nknowing. \"If any man will do God's will,\" declares Christ, \"he shall\nknow of the doctrine.\"\n\nLet a man take the truth of the Divine Fatherhood and begin to conform\nhis life to its meaning. Let him give up his anxious worryings, his\nmurmurings, his complainings, and trust himself completely to his\nFather's care. Let him do his work from day to day as well as he can and\nleave the results to God. Let him come to his Father every day and\nconfess his faults and ask for help and guidance. Let him try to obey\nand please God for love's sake. Let him take refuge from the trials and\nconfusions and misunderstandings of the world, from the wrath of men and\nthe strife of tongues, in the secret of his Father's presence. Surely if\nhe learns the truth thus, by doing it, he will find happiness.\n\nOr take the truth of immortality. Let a man live now in the light of the\nknowledge that he is to live forever. How it will deepen and strengthen\nthe meaning of his existence, lift him above petty cares and ambitions,\nand make the things that are worth while precious to his heart! Let him\nreally set his affections on the spiritual side of life, let him endure\nafflictions patiently because he knows that they are but for a moment,\nlet him think more of the soul than of the body, let him do good to his\nfellow-men in order to make them sharers of his immortal hope, let him\npurify his love and friendship that they may be fit for the heavenly\nlife. Surely the man who does these things will be happy. It will be\nwith him as with Lazarus, in Robert Browning's poem, \"The Epistle of\nKarshish.\" Others will look at him with wonder and say:\n\n  \"Whence has the man the balm that brightens all?\n  This grown man eyes the world now like a child.\"\n\nYes, my brethren, this is the sure result of following out the doctrines\nof Christ in action, of living the truths that He teaches,--a simple\nlife, a childlike life, a happy life. And this also the Church needs\nto-day, as well as a true revival of doctrine.\n\nA revival of simplicity, a revival of sincerity, a revival of work: this\nwill restore unto us the joy of salvation. And with the joy of salvation\nwill come a renewal and expansion of power.\n\nThe inconsistency of Christians is the stronghold of unbelief. The lack\nof vital joy in the Church is the chief cause of indifference in the\nworld. The feeble energy, the faltering and reluctant spirit, the\nweariness in well-doing with which too many believers impoverish and\nsadden their own hearts, make other men question the reality and value\nof religion and turn away from it in cool neglect.\n\nWhat, then, is the duty of the Church? What must she do to win the\nconfidence of the world? What is the best way for her to \"prove her\ndoctrine all divine\"?\n\nFirst, she must increase her labours in the love of men: second, she\nmust practice the simple life, deepening her trust in God.\n\nSuppose that a fresh flood of energy, brave, cheerful, joyous energy,\nshould be poured into all the forms of Christian work. Suppose that\nForeign Missions and Home Missions should no longer have to plead and\nbeg for support, but that plenty of money should come flowing in to send\nout every missionary that wants to go, and that plenty of the strongest\nand best young men should dedicate their lives to the ministry of\nChrist, and that every household where His gospel is believed should\nfind its highest honour and its greatest joy in helping to extend His\nkingdom.\n\nAnd then suppose that the Christian life, in its daily manifestation,\nshould come to be marked and known by simplicity and happiness. Suppose\nthat the followers of Jesus should really escape from bondage to the\nevil spirits of avarice and luxury which infect and torment so much of\nour complicated, tangled, artificial, modern life. Suppose that instead\nof increasing their wants and their desires, instead of loading\nthemselves down on life's journey with so many bags and parcels and\nboxes of superfluous luggage and bric-a-brac that they are forced to sit\ndown by the roadside and gasp for breath, instead of wearing themselves\nout in the dusty ways of ostentation and vain show or embittering their\nhearts because they can not succeed in getting into the weary race of\nwealth and fashion,--suppose instead of all this, they should turn to\nquiet ways, lowly pleasures, pure and simple joys, \"plain living and\nhigh thinking.\" Suppose they should truly find and show their happiness\nin the knowledge that God loves them and Christ died for them and heaven\nis sure, and so set their hearts free to rejoice in life's common\nmercies, the light of the sun, the blue of the sky, the splendour of the\nsea, the peace of the everlasting hills, the song of birds, the\nsweetness of flowers, the wholesome savour of good food, the delights of\naction and motion, the refreshment of sleep, the charm of music, the\nblessings of human love and friendship,--rejoice in all these without\nfear or misgiving, because they come from God and because Christ has\nsanctified them all by His presence and touch.\n\nSuppose, I say, that such a revival of the joy of living in Christ and\nworking for Christ should silently sweep over the Church in the\nTwentieth Century. What would happen? Great would be the peace of her\nchildren. Greater still would be their power.\n\nThis is the message which I have to bring to you, my brethren, in this\nGeneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. You may wonder that it is\nnot more distinctive, more ecclesiastical, more specially adapted to the\npeculiarities of our own denomination. You may think that it is a\nmessage which could just as well be brought to any other Church on any\nother occasion. With all my heart I hope that is true. The things that I\ncare for most in our Church are not those which divide us from other\nChristians but those which unite us to them. The things that I love most\nin Christianity are those which give it power to save and satisfy, to\nconsole and cheer, to inspire and bless human hearts and lives. The\nthing that I desire most for Presbyterianism is that it should prove its\nmission and extend its influence in the world by making men happy in the\nknowing and the doing of the things which Christ teaches.\n\nThe Church that the Twentieth Century will hear most gladly and honour\nmost sincerely will have two marks. It will be the Church that teaches\nmost clearly and strongly the truths that Jesus taught. It will be the\nChurch that finds most happiness in living the simple life and doing\ngood in the world.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BATTLE OF LIFE\n\n    <i>Romans vii. 21: Overcome evil with good.</i>\n\nThe Battle of Life is an ancient phrase consecrated by use in\nCommencement Orations without number. Two modern expressions have taken\ntheir place beside it in our own day: the Strenuous Life, and the Simple\nLife.\n\nEach of these phrases has its own significance and value. It is when\nthey are overemphasized and driven to extremes that they lose their\ntruth and become catch-words of folly. The simple life which blandly\nignores all care and conflict, soon becomes flabby and invertebrate,\nsentimental and gelatinous. The strenuous life which does everything\nwith set jaws and clenched fists and fierce effort, soon becomes\nstrained and violent, a prolonged nervous spasm.\n\nSomewhere between these two extremes must lie the golden mean: a life\nthat has strength and simplicity, courage and calm, power and peace. But\nhow can we find this golden line and live along it? Some truth there\nmust be in the old phrase which speaks of life as a battle. No conflict,\nno character. Without strife, a weak life. But what is the real meaning\nof the battle? What is the vital issue at stake? What are the things\nworth fighting for? In what spirit, with what weapons, are we to take\nour part in the warfare?\n\nThere is an answer to these questions in the text: <i>Overcome evil with\ngood.</i> The man who knows this text by heart, knows the secret of a life\nthat is both strenuous and simple. For here we find the three things\nthat we need most: a call to the real battle of life; a plan for the\nright campaign; and a promise of final victory.\n\nI. Every man, like the knight in the old legend, is born on a field of\nbattle. But the warfare is not carnal, it is spiritual. Not the east\nagainst the west, the north against the south, the \"Haves\" against the\n\"Have-nots\"; but the evil against the good,--that is the real conflict\nof life.\n\nThe attempt to deny or ignore this conflict has been the stock in trade\nof every false doctrine that has befogged and bewildered the world since\nthe days of Eden. The fairy tale that the old serpent told to Eve is a\npoetic symbol of the lie fundamental,--the theory that sin does not mean\ndeath, because it has no real existence and makes no real difference.\nThis ancient falsehood has an infinite wardrobe of disguises.\n\nYou will find it pranked out in philosophic garb in the doctrines of\nthose who teach that all things are linked together by necessity of\nnature or Divine will, and that nothing could ever have happened\notherwise than just as it has come to pass. Such a theory of the\nuniverse blots out all difference between good and evil except in name.\nIt leaves the fence-posts standing, but it takes away the rails, and\nthrows everything into one field of the inevitable.\n\nYou will find the same falsehood in a more crude form in the popular\nteachings of what men call \"the spirit of the age,\" the secular spirit.\nAccording to these doctrines the problem of civilization is merely a\nproblem of ways and means. If society were better organized, if wealth\nwere more equally distributed, if laws were changed, or perhaps\nabolished, all would be well. If everybody had a full dinner-pail,\nnobody need care about an empty heart. Human misery the secular spirit\nrecognizes, but it absolutely ignores the fact that nine-tenths of human\nmisery comes from human sin.\n\nYou will find the same falsehood disguised in sentimental costume in the\nvery modern comedy of Christian Science, which dresses the denial of\nevil in pastoral garb of white frock and pink ribbons, like an innocent\nshepherdess among her lambs. \"Evil is nothing,\" says this wonderful\nScience. \"It does not really exist. It is an illusion of mortal mind.\nShut your eyes and it will vanish.\"\n\nYes, but open your eyes again and you will see it in the same place, in\nthe same form, doing the same work. A most persistent nothing, a most\npowerful nothing! Not the shadow cast by the good, but the cloud that\nhides the sun and casts the shadow. Not the \"silence implying sound,\"\nbut the discord breaking the harmony. Evil is as real as the fire that\nburns you, as the flood that drowns you. Evil is as real as the typhoid\ngerm that you can put under a microscope and see it squirm and grow.\nEvil is negative,--yes, but it is a real negative,--as real as darkness,\nas real as death.\n\nThere are two things in every human heart which bear witness to the\nexistence and reality of evil: first, our judgments of regret, and\nsecond, our judgments of condemnation.\n\nHow often we say to ourselves, \"Would that this had not come to pass!\"\nHow often we feel in regard to our own actions, \"Would that I had done\ndifferently!\" This is the judgment of regret; and it is a silent witness\nof the heart to the conviction that some things are not inevitable. It\nis the confession that a battle has been lost which might have been won.\nIt is the acknowledgment that things which are, but are not right, need\nnot have been, if we and our fellow-men had seen more clearly and\nfollowed more faithfully the guiding star of the good.\n\nAnd then, out of the judgment of regret, springs the deeper judgment of\ncondemnation. If the failure in duty was not inevitable, then it was\nbase. The false word, the unjust deed, the foul action, seen as a\nsurrender to evil, appears hateful and guilty. It deserves the\nindignation and the shame which attach to all treason. And the spirit\nwhich lies behind all these forms of disloyalty to the good,--the spirit\nwhich issues in selfishness and sensuality, cruelty and lust,\nintemperance and covetousness,--this animating spirit of evil which\nworks against the Divine will and mars the peace and order of the\nuniverse is the great Adversary against whom we must fight for our own\nlives and the life of the world.\n\nAll around us lies his dark, secret kingdom, tempting, threatening,\nassaulting the soul. To ignore it, is to walk blindfold among snares\nand pitfalls. Try if you will to shut it out, by wrapping your heart in\ndreams of beauty and joy, living in the fair regions of art or\nphilosophy, reading only the books which speak of evil as if it did not\nexist or were only another form of goodness. Soon you will be shaken out\nof the dream into the reality. You will come into contact with evil so\nclose, so loathsome that you can not deny it. You will see that it has\nits soldiers, its servants, its emissaries, as ardent and enthusiastic\nin its cause as if they were serving the noblest of masters. It inspires\nliterature and supports newspapers; now intelligent and cultured,\ndrawing the arts into its service; now coarse and vulgar, with pictures\nthat shock the taste as much as they debase the conscience. It wins\nadherents and turns them into advocates. It organizes the dealers in\ndrunkenness and debauchery into powerful societies for mutual\nprotection. It creates lobbies and controls legislatures. It corrupts\nthe government of great cities and rots out the social life of small\ntowns. Even when its outward manifestations are repressed and its\ngrosser forms resisted, it steals its way into men's hearts, eating out\nthe roots of human trust and brotherhood and kindness, and filling the\nair with gossip and spite, envy, malice and all uncharitableness.\n\nI am glad that since we have to live in a world where evil exists, we\nhave a religion which does not bandage our eyes. The first thing that we\nneed to have religion do for us is to teach us to face the facts. No man\ncan come into touch with the Divine personality of Jesus Christ, no man\ncan listen to His teaching, without feeling that the distinction between\ngood and evil to Him is vital and everlasting. The choice between them\nis to Him the great choice. The conflict between them is to Him the\ngreat conflict. Evil is the one thing that God has never willed. Good is\nthe one thing that He wills forever. Evil is first and last a rebellion\nagainst His will. He is altogether on the side of good. Much that is,\nis contrary to His will. There is a mighty strife going on, a battle\nwith eternal issues, but not an eternal battle. The evil that is against\nHim shall be cast out and shall perish. The good that overcomes the evil\nshall live forever. And those who yield their lives to God and receive\nHis righteousness in Christ are made partakers of everlasting life.\n\nThis is the teaching of Jesus: and I thank God for the honesty and\nvirility of His religion which makes us face the facts and calls us to\ntake a man's part in the real battle of life.\n\nII. But what is the plan of campaign which Christianity sets before us?\nIn what spirit and with what weapons are we to enter the great conflict\nagainst the evil that is in the world?\n\nThe natural feeling of the heart in the presence of evil is wrath, and\nthe natural weapon of wrath is force. To punish crime, to avenge wrong,\nto put down wickedness with a strong hand,--that is the first impulse of\nevery one who has the instincts of manhood.\n\nAnd as this is natural, so it is, also, within a certain sphere\nneedful, and to a certain extent useful. Armies and navies exist, at\nleast in theory, to prevent injustice among nations. Laws are made to\npunish wrong-doers. Courts, police-forces, and prisons are maintained to\nsuppress evil with power.\n\nBut while we recognize this method of dealing with evil as useful to a\ncertain extent and necessary within a certain sphere, we must remember\nthat it has its strict limitations.\n\nFirst, it belongs to the state and not to the individual. When the\nprivate man assumes to punish evil with force he sanctions lynch-law,\nwhich is a terror to the innocent as well as to the guilty. Then we have\nthe blood-feud and the vendetta, mob-rule and anarchy.\n\nSecond, the suppression of evil by force is only a temporary relief, a\nprotection for the moment. It does not touch the root of the matter. You\nsend the murderer out of the world by a regulated flash of lightning.\nBut you do not send murder out of the world. To do that you must reach\nand change the heart of Cain. You put the thief in prison, but when he\ncomes out he will be ready to steal again, unless you can purify his\nconscience and control his will. You assault and overthrow some system\nof misgovernment, and \"turn the rascals out.\" But unless you have\nsomething better to substitute, all you have done is to make room for a\nnew set of rascals,--a new swarm of mosquitoes with fresh appetites and\nlarger capacities.\n\nThird, the method of fighting evil with force on its own ground often\nhas a bad effect on those who follow it. Wrestle with a chimney-sweep\nand you will need a bath. Throw back the mud that is thrown at you, and\nyou will have dirty hands. Answer Shimei when he curses you and you will\necho his profanity. Many a man has entered a crusade against\nintemperance and proved himself as intemperate in his language as other\nmen are in their potations. Many a man has attacked a bad cause with\nrighteous indignation and ended in a personal squabble with most\nunrighteous anger.\n\nNo, my brother-men, the best way to fight against evil is not to meet it\non its own ground with its own weapons. There is a nobler method of\nwarfare, a divine plan of campaign given to us in the religion of\nChrist. Overcome evil with good. This is the secret of the battle of\nlife.\n\nEvil is potent not so much because it has command of money and the \"big\nbattalions,\" but because it has control of the hearts of men. It spreads\nbecause human hearts are lying fallow and ready to welcome the seeds of\nall kinds of weeds. It persists because too much of what we call virtue\nis negative, and selfish, and frost-bound,--cold storage virtue,--the\npoor piety which terminates in a trembling anxiety to save our own\nsouls.\n\nThe way to counteract and conquer evil in the world is to give our own\nhearts to the dominion of good, and work the works of God while it is\nday. The strongest of all obstacles to the advance of evil is a clean\nand generous man, doing his duty from day to day, and winning others, by\nhis cheerful fidelity, to serve the same Master. Diseases are not the\nonly things that are contagious. Courage is contagious. Kindness is\ncontagious. Manly integrity is contagious. All the positive virtues,\nwith red blood in their veins, are contagious. The heaviest blow that\nyou can strike at the kingdom of evil is just to follow the advice which\nthe dying Sir Walter Scott gave to his son-in-law, Lockhart: \"Be a good\nman.\" And if you want to know how, there is but one perfect and supreme\nexample,--the life of Him who not only did no evil but went about doing\ngood.\n\nNow take that thought of fighting evil with good and apply it to our\nworld and to ourselves.\n\nHere are monstrous evils and vices in society. Let intemperance be the\ntype of them all, because so many of the others are its children.\nDrunkenness ruins more homes and wrecks more lives than war. How shall\nwe oppose it? I do not say that we shall not pass resolutions and make\nlaws against it. But I do say that we can never really conquer the evil\nin this way. I hold with Phillips Brooks that \"all prohibitory measures\nare negative. That they have their uses no one can doubt. That they have\ntheir limits is just as clear.\"\n\nThe stronghold of intemperance lies in the vacancy and despair of men's\nminds. The way to attack it is to make the sober life beautiful and\nhappy and full of interest. Teach your boys how to work, how to read,\nhow to play, you fathers, before you send them to college, if you want\nto guard them against the temptations of strong drink and the many\nshames and sorrows that go with it. Make the life of your community\ncheerful and pleasant and interesting, you reformers, provide men with\nrecreation which will not harm them, if you want to take away the power\nof the gilded saloon and the grimy boozing-ken. Parks and play-grounds,\nlibraries and music-rooms, clean homes and cheerful churches,--these\nare the efficient foes of intemperance. And the same thing is true of\ngambling and lubricity and all the other vices which drag men down by\nthe lower side of their nature because the higher side has nothing to\ncling to, nothing to sustain it and hold it up.\n\nWhat are you going to do, my brother-men, for this higher side of human\nlife? What contribution are you going to make of your strength, your\ntime, your influence, your money, your self, to make a cleaner, fuller,\nhappier, larger, nobler life possible for some of your fellow-men? I do\nnot ask how you are going to do it. You may do it in business, in the\nlaw, in medicine, in the ministry, in teaching, in literature. But this\nis the question: What are you going to give personally to make the human\nlife of the place where you do your work, purer, stronger, brighter,\nbetter, and more worth living? That will be your best part in the\nwarfare against vice and crime.\n\nThe positive method is the only efficient way to combat intellectual\nerror and spiritual evil. False doctrines are never argued out of the\nworld. They are pushed back by the incoming of the truth as the darkness\nis pushed back by the dawn. Phillips Brooks was right. It is not worth\nwhile to cross the street to break a man's idol. It is worth while to\ncross the ocean to tell him about God. The skilful fencer who attacks\nyour doubts and drives you from corner to corner of unbelief and leaves\nyou at last in doubt whether you doubt or not, does you a certain\nservice. He gives you exercise, takes the conceit out of you. But the\nman who lays hold of the real faith that is hidden underneath your\ndoubt,--the silent longing for God and goodness, the secret attraction\nthat draws your heart toward Jesus Christ as the only one who has the\nwords of everlasting life,--the man who takes hold of this buried faith\nand quickens it and makes you dare to try to live by it,--ah, that is\nthe man who helps you indeed. My brothers, if any of you are going to be\npreachers remember this. What we men need is not so much an answer to\nour doubts, as more nourishment for our faith.\n\nThe positive method is the only way of victory in our struggle with the\nevil that dwells in our own nature and besets our own hearts. The reason\nwhy many men fail, is because they thrust the vice out and then forget\nto lay hold on the virtue. They evict the unclean spirit and leave a\nvacant house. To cease to do evil is important, but to learn to do good\nis far more important. Reformation never saved a man. Transformation is\nthe only way. And to be transformed, a man must welcome the Spirit of\nGood, the Holy Spirit, into his heart, and work with Him every day,\ndoing the will of God.\n\nThere are two ways of fighting fever. One is to dose the sick people\nwith quinine and keep the fever down. The other is to drain the marshes,\nand purify the water, and cleanse the houses, and drive the fever out.\nTry negative, repressive religion, and you may live, but you will be an\ninvalid. Try positive, vital religion, and you will be well.\n\nThere is an absorption of good that guards the soul against the\ninfection of evil. There is a life of fellowship with Christ that can\npass through the furnace of the world without the smell of fire on its\ngarments,--a life that is full of interest as His was, being ever about\nHis Father's business; a life that is free and generous and blessed, as\nHis was, being spent in doing good, and refreshed by the sense of God's\npresence and approval.\n\nLast summer, I saw two streams emptying into the sea. One was a\nsluggish, niggardly rivulet, in a wide, fat, muddy bed; and every day\nthe tide came in and drowned out that poor little stream, and filled it\nwith bitter brine. The other was a vigorous, joyful, brimming\nmountain-river, fed from unfailing springs among the hills; and all the\ntime it swept the salt water back before it and kept itself pure and\nsweet; and when the tide came in, it only made the fresh water rise\nhigher and gather new strength by the delay; and ever the living stream\npoured forth into the ocean its tribute of living water,--the symbol of\nthat influence which keeps the ocean of life from turning into a Dead\nSea of wickedness.\n\nMy brother-men, will you take that living stream as a type of your life\nin the world? The question for you is not what you are going to get out\nof the world, but what you are going to give to the world. The only way\nto meet and overcome the inflowing tide of evil is to roll against it\nthe outflowing river of good.\n\nMy prayer for you is that you may receive from Christ not only the\nwatchword of this nobler life, but also the power to fulfil it.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOOD OLD WAY\n\n    <i>Jeremiah vi. 16. Stand ye in the ways and see; and ask\n    for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk\n    therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.</i>\n\nThis advice was given to people who were in peril and perplexity. The\nkingdom of Judah was threatened with destruction, which could be averted\nonly by wise and prompt action. But the trouble was to decide in which\ndirection that action should be taken. The nation was divided into loud\nparties, and these parties into noisy wings. Every man had a theory of\nhis own, or a variation of some other man's theory.\n\nSome favoured an alliance with the East; some preferred the friendship\nof the West; others, a course of diplomatic dalliance; a few stood out\nfor honest independence. Some said that what the country needed was an\nincrease of wealth; some held that a splendid and luxurious court like\nthat of Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar would bring prosperity; others\nmaintained that the troubles of the land could be healed only by a\nreturn to \"simpler manners, purer laws.\" Among the nobility and their\nfollowers all kinds of novelties in the worship of idols were in fashion\nand new gods were imported every season. The philosophers cultivated a\ndiscreet indifference to all religious questions. The prophets taught\nthat the only salvation for the nation lay in the putting away of\nidolatry and the revival of faith in the living and true God.\n\nJudah was like a man standing at the cross-roads, on a stormy night,\nwith all the guide-posts blown down. Meantime the Babylonian foe was\nclosing in around Jerusalem, and it was necessary to do something, or\ndie.\n\nThe liberty of choice was an embarrassment. The minds of men alternated\nbetween that rash haste which is ready to follow any leader who makes\nnoise enough, and that skeptical spirit which doubts whether any line of\naction can be right because so many lines are open. Into this atmosphere\nof fever and fog came the word of the prophet. Let us consider what it\nmeans.\n\nStand ye in the ways and see: that means deliberation. When you are at a\njunction it is no time to shut your eyes and run at full speed. Where\nthere are so many ways some of them are likely to be wrong. A\nturning-point is the place for prudence and forethought.\n\nAsk for the old paths, what is the good way: that means guidance. No man\nis forced to face the problems of life alone. Other men have tried the\ndifferent ways. Peace, prosperity, victory have been won by the nation\nin former times. Inquire of the past how these blessings were secured.\nLook for the path which has already led to safety and happiness. Let\nhistory teach you which among all these crossing ways is the best to\nfollow.\n\nAnd walk therein: that means action. When you have deliberated, when you\nhave seen the guiding light upon the way of security and peace, then go\nahead. Prudence is worthless unless you put it into practice. When in\ndoubt do nothing; but as long as you do nothing you will be in doubt.\nNever man or nation was saved by inaction. The only way out of danger is\nthe way into work. Gird up your loins, trembling Judah, and push along\nyour chosen path, steadily, bravely, strenuously, until you come to your\npromised rest.\n\nNow I am sure this was good counsel that the prophet gave to his people\nin the days of perplexity. It would have been well for them if they had\nfollowed it I am sure it is also good counsel for us, a word of God to\nsteady us and stimulate us amid life's confusions. Let me make it a\npersonal message to you.\n\nStand in the ways: Ask for the good way: Walk therein:--Deliberation,\nGuidance, Action,--Will you take these words with you, and try to make\nthem a vital influence in your life?\n\nI. First, I ask you to stand in the ways and see. I do not mean to say\nthat you have not already been doing this to a certain extent. The great\nworld is crossed by human footsteps which make paths leading in all\ndirections. Men travel through on different ways; and I suppose some of\nyou have noticed the fact, and thought a little about it.\n\nThere is the way of sensuality. Those who walk in it take appetite as\ntheir guide. Their main object in life is to gratify their physical\ndesires. Some of them are delicate, and some of them are coarse. That is\na matter of temperament. But all of them are hungry. That is a matter of\nprinciple. Whether they grub in the mire for their food like swine, or\nbrowse daintily upon the tree-tops like the giraffe, the question of\nlife for those who follow this way is the same. \"How much can we hold?\nHow can we obtain the most pleasure for these five senses of ours before\nthey wear out?\" And the watchword of their journey is, \"Let us eat and\ndrink and be merry, for we do not expect to die to-morrow.\"\n\nThere is the way of avarice. Those who follow it make haste to be rich.\nThe almighty dollar rolls before them along the road, and they chase it.\nSome of them plod patiently along the highway of toil. Others are\nalways leaping fences and trying to find short cuts to wealth. But they\nare alike in this: whatever they do by way of avocation, the real\nvocation of their life is to make money. If they fail, they are hard and\nbitter; if they succeed they are hard and proud. But they all bow down\nto the golden calf, and their motto is, \"Lay up for yourselves treasures\nupon earth.\"\n\nThere is the way of social ambition. Those who walk in it have their\neyes fixed on various prizes, such as titles of honour, public office,\nlarge acquaintance with prosperous people, the reputation of leading the\nfashion. But the real satisfaction that they get out of it all is simply\nthe feeling of notoriety, the sense of belonging to a circle to which\nordinary people are not admitted and to whose doings the world, just for\nthis reason, pays envious attention. This way is less like a road than\nlike a ladder. Most of the people who are on it are \"climbers.\"\n\nThere are other ways, less clearly marked, more difficult to\ntrace,--the way of moral indifference, the way of intellectual pride,\nthe way of hypocrisy, the way of indecision. This last is not a single\nroad; it is a net-work of sheep-tracks, crossing and recrossing the\ngreat highways, leading in every direction, and ending nowhere. The men\nwho wander in these aimless paths go up and down through the world,\nchanging their purposes, following one another blindly, forever\ntravelling but never arriving at the goal of their journey.\n\nThrough all this tangle there runs another way,--the path of faith and\nduty. Those who walk in it believe that life has a meaning, the\nfulfilment of God's will, and a goal, the attainment of perfect harmony\nwith Him. They try to make the best of themselves in soul and body by\ntraining and discipline. They endeavour to put their talents to the\nnoblest use in the service of their fellow-men, and to unfold their\nfaculties to the highest joy and power in the life of the Spirit. They\nseek an education to fit them for work, and they do their work well\nbecause it is a part of their education. They respect their consciences,\nand cherish their ideals. They put forth an honest effort to be good and\nto do good and to make the world better. They often stumble. They\nsometimes fall. But, take their life from end to end, it is a faithful\nattempt to walk in \"the way of righteousness, which is the way of\npeace.\"\n\nSuch are some of the ways that lead through the world. And they are all\nopen to us. We can travel by the road that pleases us. Heredity gives us\nour outfit. Environment supplies our company. But when we come to the\ncross-roads, the question is, \"Boy, which way will you ride?\"\n\nDeliberation is necessary, unless we wish to play a fool's part. No\namount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life, with\nits eyes shut, is a kind of wild insanity. A drifting life, with its\neyes open, is a kind of mild idiocy.\n\nThe real question is, \"How will you live? After what rule and pattern?\nAlong what way? Toward what end?\"\n\nWill you let chance answer that question for you? Will you let yourself\nbe led blindfold by the first guide that offers, or run stupidly after\nthe crowd without asking whither they are going? You would not act so in\nregard to the shortest earthly journey. You would not rush into the\nrailway station and jump aboard of the first train you saw, without\nlooking at the sign-boards. Surely if there is anything in regard to\nwhich we need to exercise deliberation, it is the choice of the way that\nwe are to take through the world. You have thought a good deal about\nwhat business, what profession you are to follow. Think more deeply, I\nbeg you, about how you are to follow it and what you are to follow it\nfor. Stand in the ways, and see.\n\nII. Second, I earnestly advise you to ask for the old paths, where is\nthe good way.\n\nI do not regard this as a mere counsel of conservatism, an unqualified\ncommendation of antiquity. True, it implies that the good way will not\nbe a new discovery, a track that you and I strike out for ourselves.\nAmong the paths of conduct, that which is entirely original is likely to\nbe false, and that which is true is likely to have some footprints on\nit. When a man comes to us with a scheme of life which he has made all\nby himself, we may safely say to him, as the old composer said to the\nyoung musician who brought him a symphony of the future, \"It is both new\nand beautiful; but that which is new is not beautiful, and that which is\nbeautiful is not new.\"\n\nBut this is by no means the same as saying that everything ancient is\ntherefore beautiful and true, or that all the old ways are good. The\nvery point of the text is that we must discriminate among\nantiquities,--a thing as necessary in old chairs and old books as in old\nways.\n\nEvil is almost, if not quite, as ancient as good. Folly and wisdom,\namong men at least, are twins, and we can not distinguish between them\nby the grey hairs. Adam's way was old enough; and so was the way of\nCain, and of Noah's vile son, and of Lot's lewd daughters, and of\nBalaam, and of Jezebel, and of Manasseh. Judas Iscariot was as old as\nSt. John. Ananias and Sapphira were of the same age with St. Peter and\nSt. Paul.\n\nWhat we are to ask for is not simply the old way, but that one among the\nold ways which has been tested and tried and proved to be the good way.\nThe Spirit of Wisdom tells us that we are not to work this way out by\nlogarithms, or evolve it from our own inner consciousness, but to learn\nwhat it is by looking at the lives of other men and marking the lessons\nwhich they teach us. Experience has been compared to the stern-light of\na ship which shines only on the road that has been traversed. But the\nstern-light of a ship that sails before you is a head-light to you.\n\nYou do not need to try everything for yourself in order to understand\nwhat it means. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that he gave his\nheart to know madness and folly; and that it was all vanity and vexation\nof spirit. It will be a wise economy for us to accept his lesson without\npaying his tuition-fee over again.\n\nIt is perfectly safe for a man to take it as a fact that fire burns,\nwithout putting his hand into the flame. He does not need to try\nperilous experiments with his own soul in order to make sure that lust\ndefiles, that avarice hardens, that frivolity empties, that selfishness\ncankers the heart. He may understand the end of the way of sensuality by\nlooking at any old pleasure-seeker,\n\n  \"Gray, and gap-toothed, and lean as death,\"\n\nmumbling the dainties that he can no longer enjoy, and glowering with\nbleared eyes at the indulgences which now mock him even while they tempt\nhim. The goal of the path of covetousness may be discerned in the face\nof any old money-worshipper; keeping guard over his piles of wealth,\nlike a surly watch-dog; or, if perchance he has failed, haunting the\nplaces where fortune has deceived him, like an unquiet ghost.\n\nInquire and learn; consider and discern. There need be no doubt about\nthe direction of life's various ways.\n\nWhich are the nations that have been most peaceful and noble and truly\nprosperous? Those that have followed pride and luxury and idolatry? Or\nthose that have cherished sobriety and justice, and acknowledged the\nDivine law of righteousness?\n\nWhich are the families that have been most serene and pure and truly\nfortunate? Those in which there has been no discipline, no restraint, no\ncommon faith, no mutual love? Or those in which sincere religion has\nswayed life to its stern and gracious laws, those in which parents and\nchildren have walked together to the House of God, and knelt together at\nHis altar, and rejoiced together in His service?\n\nI tell you, my brother-men, it has become too much the fashion in these\nlatter days to sneer and jeer at the old-fashioned ways of the\nold-fashioned American household. Something too much of iron there may\nhave been in the Puritan's temper; something too little of sunlight may\nhave come in through the narrow windows of his house. But that house had\nfoundations, and the virile virtues lived in it. There were plenty of\nred corpuscles in his blood, and his heart beat in time with the eternal\nlaws of right, even though its pulsations sometimes seemed a little slow\nand heavy. It would be well for us if we could get back into the old\nway, which proved itself to be the good way, and maintain, as our\nfathers did, the sanctity of the family, the sacredness of the\nmarriage-vow, the solemnity of the mutual duties binding parents and\nchildren together. From the households that followed this way have come\nmen that could rule themselves as well as their fellows, women that\ncould be trusted as well as loved. Read the history of such families,\nand you will understand the truth of the poet's words:--\n\n  \"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,--\n  These three alone lead life to sovereign power.\"\n\nLook around you in the world and see what way it is that has brought\nyour fellow-men to peace and quietness of heart, to security and honour\nof life. Is it the way of unbridled self-indulgence, of unscrupulous\ngreed, of aimless indolence? Or is it the way of self-denial, of\ncheerful industry, of fair dealing, of faithful service? If true honour\nlies in the respect and grateful love of one's fellow-men, if true\nsuccess lies in a contented heart and a peaceful conscience, then the\nmen who have reached the highest goal of life are those who have\nfollowed most closely the way to which Jesus Christ points us and in\nwhich He goes before us.\n\nIII. Walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls. Right action\nbrings rest.\n\nRest! Rest! How that word rings like a sweet bell through the turmoil\nof our age. We are rushing to and fro, destroying rest in our search for\nit. We drive our automobiles from one place to another, at furious\nspeed, not knowing what we shall do when we get there. We make haste to\nacquire new possessions, not knowing how we shall use them when they are\nours. We are in a fever of new discoveries and theories, not knowing how\nto apply them when they are made. We feed ourselves upon novel\nspeculations until our heads swim with the vertigo of universal\nknowledge which changes into the paresis of universal doubt.\n\nBut in the hours of silence, the Spirit of Wisdom whispers a secret to\nour hearts. Rest depends upon conduct. The result of your life depends\nupon your choosing the good way and walking in it.\n\nAnd to you I say, my brother-men, choose Christ, for He is the Way. All\nthe strength and sweetness of the best possible human life are embodied\nin Him. All the truth that is needed to inspire and guide man to noble\naction and fine character is revealed in Him. He is the one Master\naltogether worthy to be served and followed. Take His yoke upon you and\nlearn of Him, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.","title":"Joy and Power: Three Messages with One Meaning","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11873}