[029]

Sunday.

The Way of Joy.

Rejoice in the Lord alwoy; and again I say, Rejoice!--Epistle for the Day.

          Earthly joy
Is but a bubble.
Herbert.

So soon made happy? Hadst thou learned
What God accounteth happiness,
Thou would'st not find it hard to guess
What hell may be His punishment
For those who doubt if God invent
Better than they.
Browning.

In every gladness, Lord, Thou art
The deeper Joy behind.
MacDonald.

I thank Thee too, that Thou hast made
   Joy to abound;
So many gentle thoughts and deeds
   Circling us round,
That in the darkest spot of Earth
   Some love is found.

I thank Thee more that all our joy
   Is touched with pain;
That shadows fall on brightest hours,
   That thorns remain;
So that Earth's bliss may be our guide,
   And not our chain.

For Thou, Who knowest, Lord, how soon
   Our weak heart clings,
Hast given us joys tender and true,
   But all with wings,--
So that we see, gleaming on high,
   Diviner things.
A. Procter.

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[030]

Monday. Fourth Week in Advent.

The Way Of Joy.

Ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand to.--Deut. XIL  7.

               Take joy home,
And make a place in thy great heart for her,
And give her time to grow, and cherish her!
Then will She come and often sing to thee.
When thou art working in the furrows; ay,
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.
It is a comely fashion to be glad--
Joy is the grace we say to God.
J. Ingelow.

Who is the angel that cometh?
               Joy?
Look at his glittering rainbow wings--
               No alloy
Lies in the radiant gifts he brings;
               Tender and sweet,
       He is come to-day,
               Tender and sweet,
       With chains of love on his tender feet.
'Blessed is he that cometh
   In the name of the Lord.'
A. Procter.

Put case,--I never have myself enjoyed,
Known by experience what enjoyment means,--
How shall I--share enjoyment?--no, indeed!
Supply it to my fellows?--ignorant
As so I should be of the thing they crave,
How it affects them, works for good or ill? . . .
Just as I cannot, till myself convinced
Impart conviction, so, to seal forth Joy
Adroitly, needs must I know Joy myself.
Browning.

Divinity hath surely touched my heart;
I have possessed more Joy that earth can lend.
Bridges.

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[031]

Tuesday.

The Way Of Joy.

As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.--Isa. lxii. 5.

When first Thy sweet and gracious eye
Voushsafed e'en in the midst of youth and night
To look upon me, who before did lie
               Weltering in sin,
I felt a sugared strange delight,
Passing all cordials made by any art,
Bedew, embalm and over-run my heart
               And take it in.
Since that time many a bitter storm
   My soul hath felt, e'en able to destroy,
Had the malicious and ill-meaning harm
               His swing and sway;
   But still Thy sweet original Joy
Sprung from Thine eye, did work within my soul,
And surging griefs when they grew bold, control
               And get the day.
If Thy first glance so powerful be
   A mirth but opened and sealed up again,
What wonders shall we feel when we shall see
               Thy full-eyed love!
   When Thou shalt look us out of pain
And one aspect of Thine spend in delight
More than a thousand suns disburse in light
               In heaven above!
Herbert.

     God tastes an infinite Joy
In infinite ways—one everlasting bliss;--
From Whom all Being emanates, all power
Proceeds;--in Whom is life for evermore,
Yet Whom Existence in its lowest forms
Includes. Where dwells enjoyment there is He;
With still a flying point of bliss remote,
A happiness in store afar, a sphere
Of distant glory in full view.
Browning.

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