if
all the proprieties of deportment are observed, and each does his duty
to the other; true love makes us happy in each other; as love gives out
its warmth of affection, gladness is the sunshine that fills the home
with its brightness. Even in suffering or poverty, the members of a
loving family are a joy to each other. Without this gladness,
especially, there is no true obedience on the part of the children. It
is not the mere fulfilment of a command, or performance of a service,
that a parent looks to; it is the willing, joyful alacrity with which it
is done that makes it pleasing.

It is just so in the intercourse of God's children with their Father.
Even in the effort after a life of consecration and gospel obedience, we
are continually in danger of coming under the law again, with its, Thou
shalt. The consequence always is failure. The law only worketh wrath; it
gives neither life nor strength. It is only as long as we are standing
in the joy of our Lord, in the joy of our deliverance from sin, in the
joy of His love, and what He is for us, in the joy of His presence, that
we have the power to serve and obey. It is only when made free from
every master, from sin and self and the law, and only when rejoicing in
this liberty, that we have the power to render service that is
satisfying either to God or to ourselves. 'I will see you again,' Jesus
said, 'and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from
you.' Joy is the evidence and the condition of the abiding personal
presence of Jesus.

If holiness be the beauty and the glory of the life of faith, it is
manifest that here especially the element of joy may not be wanting. We
have already seen how the first mention of God as the Holy One was in
the song of praise on the shore of the Red Sea; how Hannah and Mary in
their moments of inspiration praised God as the Holy One; how the name
of the Thrice Holy in heaven comes to us in the song of the seraphs; and
how before the throne both the living creatures and the conquering
multitude who sing the song of the Lamb, adore God as the Holy One. We
are to 'worship Him in the beauty of holiness,' 'to sing praise at the
remembrance of His Holiness;' it is only in the spirit of worship and
praise and joy that we fully can know God as holy. Much more, it is only
under the inspiration of adoring love and joy that we can ourselves be
made holy. It is as we cease from all fear and anxiety, from all strain
and effor