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A HAPPY DUTY

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 19, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 12.

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A HAPPY DUTY

By Uriah Smith

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” Phil. 4:4. The duty here enjoined is to rejoice; and lest something might occur to interrupt the continuous flow of the happy stream, or the mind should not be sufficiently impressed with its importance, the apostle immediately repeats his instruction: “And again I say, Rejoice.”
To rejoice is to “experience joy and gladness in a high degree; to be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations; to feel joyful; to exult,” followed by at or in, as, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth.”
We judge from the context that it comes in as a remedy for disagreements in the Church. See verses 2 and 3. The apostle entreats and beseeches certain ones to be of the same mind, and to help each other in the gospel. And having come to that state of unity, then to rejoice in the Lord continually. Directions how to attain to the rest of faith are prescribed in verse 6, and this rejoicing is a prelude and preparation for it.
These words are an outburst from the cheerful heart of Paul; but to appreciate their force, we must remember the condition he was in when he wrote this epistle to the Philippians. He was a prisoner in one of the sub-dungeons of Rome; his life was at the mercy, and hung upon the insane caprice, of the tyrant who sat upon the throne; his circumstances were so dreary, comfortless, and hopeless that he expressed an earnest desire to depart by means of death from all his trials and sorrows, only he knew that his brethren needed his presence, labors, and counsels; and from his love for them, he was willing to abide in the flesh. Yet in this depressing condition, he was so wonderfully sustained that he could sit down and pen this earnest exhortation to his friends from whom he was so cruelly separated, to “rejoice in the Lord alway,” just as he had written before to the Thessalonians to “rejoice evermore.”
We learn from this that it was the apostle’s idea that God intended His own people to be constantly and habitually happy. This is a command, to rejoice. Everybody is willing to be in a condition in which he can rejoice; but the joy commanded here is something more than peace; it is demonstrative; it shines and sparkles, and fills the mouth with song. Joy is a bird; let it fly in midheaven, and fill the clouds with its music. It is a power for good. Sinners are attracted to Christ by the joy of the saints. More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. A cheerful Christian is a recommendation to the gospel; but a sour, desponding Christian is a misnomer and a misfit.
This rejoicing which the apostle recommends is contagious. Others catch the same spirit, and dismiss their gloom for joy and courage, when they see persons exercising these virtues, and prospering by so doing. This rejoicing is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and, like other fruits of the Spirit, can not be counterfeited. No man can long play the hypocrite with this grace, pretending that he has joy and rejoicing when he has not. He can not deceive others by trying to keep up this show, for any great length of time. The discerning will see through it, and he will have his reward.
A true view of life and its limitations, would help us to carry out the instruction of the apostle much more calmly, and cherish the spirit he recommends, right in this connection: “Let your moderation,” or your “fairness, consideration, equitableness,” as it might be more strictly rendered, “be known unto all men;” and, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Verses 5, 6. Who would care for great loss or gain to-day if he knew that Christ would come to-morrow?—No one. But the true Christian feels as he would feel if he knew this to be the case; for he knows for certain that the event sooner or later will surely come. And he anticipates that time, and makes it just as if it were in the past already. It is certain that much that agitates us intensely to-day, will, in a year hence, not interest us at all. So will it be with all human hopes and fears, pleasures, pains, jealousies, disappointments, successes, and losses. When the last day has come, they will have no life in them. They will be like the faded flowers of a banquet, which only mock us with past memories. What this world will be understood by all to be then, such it is now felt to be by the Christian. He looks at things as he will then look at them, with an uninterested and dispassionate eye, and is neither much pleased nor greatly disturbed by the accidents of life, because they are accidents.
But there is discrimination to be observed in regard to this rejoicing. It is not to rejoice in temporal things, or in pecuniary success, or literary or political honors, but only “in the Lord.” Many lay hold with avidity on the word “rejoice.” Even the worldly and sensual man prizes the word and the invitation to rejoice; but when the restriction comes, “in the Lord,” they lose their hold. They have no connection with the Lord, and take no interest in the invitation to rejoice in Him. With the Christian, it is very different. With him it is all in the Lord. He lives in the Lord. He labors in the Lord. He marries in the Lord. He dies in the Lord. While dead, he sleeps in the Lord. When raised from the dead, he is raised in the Lord. And when caught up at last to meet the Lord, it is to be “forever with the Lord.” So, now for the Christian there is no one to rejoice in but the Lord,—in what He is, in what He has done, and what He has promised to do for His children.
The time is also specified when, and during which, we are to rejoice in the Lord. It is “alway.” But, shall we not get out of material? Have we something to rejoice in, in the Lord, alway?—Certainly, so long as we have the Lord. Let us make Him our portion forever and rejoice in Him. If we read the sixty times David calls upon all to rejoice in the Lord, we shall find matter enough for rejoicing. “I will rejoice,” he says, “in thy salvation.” Ps. 9: 14. And salvation is a theme to which there is no end. Even inanimate nature is called upon to rejoice before the Lord. The floods are summoned to clap their hands, and the hills to be joyful before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth with righteousness, and the people with equity. Ps. 98: 8, 9. This is not merely a recommendation, left to the discretion of the hearer to heed it or not. But it is a command; and in not heeding it, we are disobeying the gospel.
And the apostle lays emphasis on the command, by repeating it: “Again I say, Rejoice.” He would have them be careful not to forget this, whatever else they might omit. But having once said, “Rejoice . . . alway,” does not that include all the time? and how can he add, “Again I say, Rejoice”? And what can this signify, but still adding to the fullness of our joy, till our cup runs over?
The calendar of the wicked has only a few days in the year marked “Festival days.” But every day of the Christian’s calendar is marked as a day of rejoicing. When Napoleon was banished to St. Helena, he adopted, in proud defiance of his fate, this motto: “Ubicumque Felix.”—“Everywhere happy.” This, in his case, was not true; but the Christian is to be happy, and to rejoice not only ubicumque, but semper—not only everywhere, but always.
U. S.