sillusionises and saddens us. There is nothing that so sheds peace
over the heart as reliance, absolute and quiet, upon some object worthy
of trust. It is blessed to trust one another until, as is too often the
case, we find that what we thought to be an oak against which we leaned
is but a broken reed that has no pith in it, and no possibility of
support. So far as it goes, all trust is blessed, but the most blessed
is simple reliance upon, and aspiration after, Jesus Christ. Ever to
yearn for Him, not with the yearning of those who have no possession,
but with that of those who, having a little, desire to have more, is to
bring into our lives the one solid and sufficient good without which
there is no gladness, and with which there can be no unmingled sorrow,
wrapping the whole man in its ebon folds. For this Christ is enough for
all my nature and for the satisfaction of every desire. In Him my mind
finds the truth; my will the law; my love the answering love; my hope
its object; my fears their dissipation; my sins their forgiveness; my
weaknesses their strength; and, to all that I am, what He is answers, as
fulness to emptiness, and as supply to need. So, 'believing towards Him,
we rejoice.'

But note that the joy is strictly contemporaneous with the faith. Tear
away electric wire from the source of energy, and the light goes out
instantly. It is as another Apostle says, '_in believing_' that we have
'joy and peace.' And that is why so many of us know little of it.
Yesterday's faith will not contribute to to-day's gladness, any more
than yesterday's meals will satisfy to-day's hunger. Present joy depends
upon present faith, and the measure of the one is the measure of the
other.

Notice again--

II. The Characteristics of the Christian Gladness.

'Unspeakable,' and, as the word ought to be rendered, not 'full of
glory' but 'glorified.' Unspeakable. Still waters run deep. It is poor
wealth that can be counted; it is shallow emotion that can be crammed
into the narrow limits of any human vocabulary. Fathers and mothers,
parents and children, husbands and wives, know that. And the depths of
the joy that a believing soul has in Jesus Christ are not to be spoken.
Perhaps it is better that it should not be attempted to speak them.

'Not easily forgiven
Are those, who, setting wide the doors that bar
The secret bridal chambers of the heart,
Let in the day.'

It is in shallow streams that