p. 227 | A Joyous Religion by Watchman

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 15, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 15.

A Joyous Religion.

By Watchman

THE ministration of sorrow may be accounted providential. The somber-faced angel has, doubtless, a divine mission. An experience of sorrow tends to soften and deepen one's nature. Still, is it not true that those bright-faced angels that drink ever at the fountain of perennial joy are the angels which excel in strength? The glad heart is strong for conquest. A joyful soul works to far better advantage than a discontented and gloomy spirit. A complaining mortal, skilled chiefly in grumbling, would make neither an efficient soldier nor a good general. A man soured is in no working mood. Imagine such a one appointed agent of a missionary society! It would be the death of it. Such a man needs to be born again,—born into a better temper of mind,—and baptized with the oil of joy; when, with a happy heart, he can take up the thread of duty, and hopefully labor for the incoming of a better day. A sorrowful face and dolorous tone will never win the world to Christ. They do not properly advertise that religion whose substance is love, and whose key-note is joy. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." The primary elements of the kingdom of God are "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." "He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men."—Watchman.