ive up merely for the sake of giving up, but
always in order to win something better. He comes not to destroy, but to
fulfil,--to fill full,--to replenish life with true, inward, lasting
riches. His gospel is a message of satisfaction, of attainment, of
felicity. Its voice is not a sigh, but a song. Its final word is a
benediction, a good-saying. "These things have I spoken unto you, that
my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

If we accept His teaching we must believe that men are not wrong in
wishing for happiness, but wrong in their way of seeking it. Earthly
happiness,--pleasure that belongs to the senses and perishes with
them,--earthly happiness is a dream and a delusion. But happiness on
earth,--spiritual joy and peace, blossoming here, fruiting
hereafter,--immortal happiness, is the keynote of life in Christ.

And if we come to Him, He tells us four great secrets in regard to it.

i. It is inward, and, not outward; and so it does not depend on what we
have, but on what we are.

ii. It cannot be found by direct seeking, but by setting our faces
toward the things from which it flows; and so we must climb the mount
if we would see the vision, we must tune the instrument if we would hear
the music.

iii. It is not solitary, but social; and so we can never have it without
sharing it with others.

iv. It is the result of God's will for us, and not of our will for
ourselves; and so we can only find it by giving our lives up, in
submission and obedience, to the control of God.

For this is peace,--to lose the lonely note
Of self in love's celestial ordered strain:
And this is joy,--to find one's self again
In Him whose harmonies forever float
Through all the spheres of song, below, above,--
For God is music, even as God is love.

This is the divine doctrine of happiness as Christ taught it by His life
and with His lips. If we want to put it into a single phrase, I know not
where we shall find a more perfect utterance than in the words which
have been taught us in childhood,--words so strong, so noble, so
cheerful, that they summon the heart of manhood like marching-music:
"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Let us accept without reserve this teaching of our Divine Lord and
Master in regard to the possibility and the duty of happiness. It is an
essential element of His gospel. The atmosphere of the New Testament is
not gloom, but gladness; not despond