real test of character is joy. For what you rejoice
in, that you love. And what you love, that you are like.

I confess frankly that I have no admiration for the phrase
"disinterested benevolence," to describe the main-spring of Christian
morals. I do not find it in the New Testament: neither the words, nor
the thing. Interested benevolence is what I find there. To do good to
others is to make life interesting and find peace for our own souls. To
glorify God is to enjoy Him. That was the spirit of the first
Christians. Was not St. Paul a happier man than Herod? Did not St. Peter
have more joy of his life than Nero? It is said of the first disciples
that they "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart."
Not till that pristine gladness of life returns will the Church regain
her early charm for the souls of men. Every great revival of Christian
power--like those which came in the times of St. Francis of Assisi and
of John Wesley--has been marked and heralded by a revival of Christian
joy.

If we want the Church to be mighty in power to win men, to be a source
of light in the darkness, a fountain of life in the wilderness, we must
remember and renew, in the spirit of Christ, the relation of religion to
human happiness.

II. What, then, are the conditions upon which true happiness depends?
Christ tells us in the text: If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye
do them.

This is the blessing with a double if. "If ye know,"--this is the
knowledge which Christ gives to faith. "If ye do,"--this is the
obedience which faith gives to Christ. Knowing and Doing,--these are the
twin pillars, Jachin and Boaz, on which the house of happiness is built.
The harmony of faith and life,--this is the secret of inward joy and
power.

You remember when these words were spoken. Christ had knelt to wash the
disciples' feet. Peter, in penitence and self-reproach, had hesitated to
permit this lowly service of Divine love. But Christ answered by
revealing the meaning of His act as a symbol of the cleansing of the
soul from sin. He reminded the disciples of what they knew by
faith,--that He was their Saviour and their Lord. By deed and by word He
called up before them the great spiritual truths which had given new
meaning to their life. He summoned them to live according to their
knowledge, to act upon the truth which they believed.

I am sure that His words sweep out beyond that quiet upper room, beyond
that beautiful incide