Spiritual Joy # 1

Spiritual Joy # 1

I devote this address to the consideration of a topic intimately connected with your present happiness as Christians; I mean, "spiritual joy," which follows justification; for "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Before justification, we have no right to joy; and after it, we have no reason for misery. The spirit of true religion is essentially a spirit of pure and elevated joy, and it is thus distinguished from superstition, which is as essentially a spirit of gloom, and fear, and abject sorrow. Situated as the believer is between one paradise lost by sin, and another restored by grace - he may be expected to combine in his experience, the seemingly opposing states of mind described by the apostle, where he says, "sorrowful - yet always rejoicing," and the tears which he sheds for his transgressions, however numerous and penitential, should still be irradiated with a predominant smile of delight, and appear like dew-drops sparkling in the sun.

The most superficial acquaintance with the Bible must teach us that it is a book to make us happy - as well as holy. The two Testaments are like two ministering angels sent down from heaven to conduct the child of sin and sorrow - to the fountain of peace! Even the older economy contains innumerable exhortations to the people of God, to rejoice and be glad; yes, "to cry out, and shout for joy." And if a believer when placed amidst the clouds and shadows of the Jewish dispensation, where he could not but be awed by the thunders of Sinai, and pressed in no small measure with the spirit of bondage, was called upon to rejoice, how much more may such a frame of mind be expected in the Christian, on whom the Sun of righteousness has risen, and poured the noon-tide brightness of his glory!

The Christian, then, ought to be both a joyful, as well as a righteous man. His religion should not only adorn his character with the beauties of holiness, but array his countenance with the smile of peace. Yet how few seem to rise to this privilege. If we look into the Bible, we might expect to see all who really believe it, and live under its influence, as so many happy spirits, carrying about with them the springs of their own felicity, independent alike of the joys and sorrows of mortality; neither greatly elevated by the one, nor much depressed by the other - and yet when we look at the great bulk of professors of religion, we are sadly disappointed, and even in reference to their happiness as well as to their conduct, are led to ask, "What do you have, more than others?"

By spiritual joy, I do not mean simply the joy of pious people, for all their joy does not answer to this description. But I mean - the joy produced by true religion. It is that holy peace which is the result of Divine truth - understood, believed, and contemplated. It is not mere exhilaration of the animal spirits, the joyousness produced by good health, worldly prosperity, friendship, or gratification of taste. Much of the Christian's enjoyment upon earth is produced by those susceptibilities and possessions which belong to him as a man - and this portion of his gratification is perfectly innocent; but this is not properly speaking spiritual joy. True it is that his spiritual delight may blend itself, and does, with his more common pleasures, sweetening, sanctifying, and elevating them all; and may indeed itself be somewhat modified by them - but still it is of a different kind. It is the joy of faith, of hope, of love - it is joy in God, in Christ, in holiness, in heaven.  

It begins when the trembling sinner, after a season of unrelieved anxiety and oppression on account of his sin, loses the burden of his guilt at the Cross - and in that case it is altogether the joy of faith; it continued to increase as he advances in holiness, and is then the joy of love, united with that of faith; it is sustained amidst all the trials of earth, by the prospect of heaven, and then it is swelled by hope, adding its influence to that of faith and love. This is spiritual joy, that agreeable and comfortable state of mind, which is produced by the believing contemplation of the great object of revealed truth of God, in His nature, attributes, providence, and covenant relations to His people of Christ - in His person, work, faithfulness, and grace - of the promises of Scripture; and all this strengthened by the joy resulting from the testimony of a good conscience, the consciousness of growing holiness, and the assurance of hope.

Such is spiritual joy - not necessarily a state of great excitement. Occasionally, indeed, it does rise into a strong and elevated emotion; it is more than peace, it is delight; more than delight, it is ecstasy. The saints have sometimes soared on the wing of rapture into the element of devotion so highly as to be far above the ordinary attitude of religious experience. But the physical nature of some scarcely admits of this excitement at all, nor can any bear it long. It should be recollected that the differences of our mental temperament and constitutional susceptibility will much modify even our spiritual feelings. The joy of some believers, as to the emotion itself, will be much stronger than that of others, without supposing there may be any clearer understanding of the objects that produce it, any stronger faith in them, or any greater practical influence of them; but simply because there is a stronger physical susceptibility of excited emotion.

Hence the necessity of suggesting the remark - that emotion alone is a very equivocal and deceptive test of personal piety. Spiritual joy is ordinarily a calm, unruffled feeling; a composed and serene state of mind. It is usually denominated peace, and though unspeakable and full of glory, because it is produced in part by the hope of celestial bliss, it is still a tranquil river, and not a torrent, that flows through the soul, noiseless in proportion as it is deep. Or, changing the metaphor, it is a sweet rest, diffusing a feeling of joyous repose over the heart, rather than filling it with the tumultuous exhilaration of a festival. "It is that peace of which the Saviour spoke, when being about to leave the world, and wishing to comfort His sorrowing disciples, He said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you;" His peace, the sweet serenity of mind which He enjoyed Himself, and in the enjoyment of mind which He went forward in the performance of every duty, and met with such calm dignity, such entire self-command, such cheerful resignation to the Divine will, the overwhelming trials He had to endure."

~John Angell James~

(continued with # 2)