Joy Power | Page 6

discovery, gathering fresh evidences of the
truths which man must believe concerning God and new motives to the
duties which God requires of man.
But in doing this we must put the emphasis of our preaching to-day
where it belongs, where Christ puts it, on the doctrines that are most
important to human life and happiness. We can afford to let the fine
metaphysical distinctions of theology rest for a while, and throw all our
force on the central, fundamental truths which give steadiness and
courage and cheer to the heart of man. I will not admit that it makes no
difference to a man of this age whether or not he believes in the
personal God and the Divine Christ. If he really believes, it makes all
the difference between spiritual strength and spiritual weakness,
between optimism and pessimism. I will not admit that it makes no

difference to a learned scholar or a simple labourer to-day whether he
accepts or ignores the doctrine of the atonement, the doctrine of
personal immortality. If he knows that Christ died for him, that there is
a future beyond the grave, it makes all the difference between despair
and hope, between misery and consolation, between the helpless frailty
of a being that is puffed out like a candle, and the joyful power of an
endless life.
My brethren, we must work and pray for a true revival of Christian
doctrine in our age. We must deepen our own hold upon the truths
which Christ has taught us. We must preach them more simply, more
confidently, more reasonably, more earnestly. We must draw from
them the happiness and the help, the comfort and the inspiration, that
they have to give to the souls of men. But most of all, we must keep
them in close and living touch with the problems of daily duty and
experience. For no doctrine, however high, however true, can make
men happy until it is translated into life.
ii. Here is the second if, on which the power of religion to confer
happiness depends: If ye know, happy are ye if ye do these things.
Between the knowing and the doing there is a deep gulf. Into that abyss
the happiness of many a man slips, and is lost. There is no peace, no
real and lasting felicity for a human life until the gulf is closed, and the
continent of conduct meets the continent of creed, edge to edge, lip to
lip, firmly joined forever.
It is not a blessing to know the things that Christ teaches, and then go
on living as if they were false or doubtful. It is a trouble, a torment, a
secret misery. To know that God is our Father, and yet to withhold our
love and service from Him; to know that Christ died for us, and yet to
deny Him and refuse to follow Him; to know that there is an immortal
life, and yet to waste and lose our souls in the pursuit of sensual
pleasure and such small portion of the world as we may hope to
gain,--surely that is the deepest of all unhappiness.
But the right kind of knowing carries in its heart the doing of the truth.
And the right kind of doing leads to a fuller and happier knowing. "If

any man will do God's will," declares Christ, "he shall know of the
doctrine."
Let a man take the truth of the Divine Fatherhood and begin to conform
his life to its meaning. Let him give up his anxious worryings, his
murmurings, his complainings, and trust himself completely to his
Father's care. Let him do his work from day to day as well as he can
and leave the results to God. Let him come to his Father every day and
confess his faults and ask for help and guidance. Let him try to obey
and please God for love's sake. Let him take refuge from the trials and
confusions and misunderstandings of the world, from the wrath of men
and the strife of tongues, in the secret of his Father's presence. Surely if
he learns the truth thus, by doing it, he will find happiness.
Or take the truth of immortality. Let a man live now in the light of the
knowledge that he is to live forever. How it will deepen and strengthen
the meaning of his existence, lift him above petty cares and ambitions,
and make the things that are worth while precious to his heart! Let him
really set his affections on the spiritual side of life, let him endure
afflictions patiently because he knows that they are but for a moment,
let him think more of the soul than of the body, let him do good to his
fellow-men in order