Place a few scriptures side by side, and then let us seek to learn the lesson they teach. "Rejoice in the Lord always:and again I say, rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).Before that it is said, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord" (Phil. 3:i). These Philippian saints had not evil in their midst like the Corinthians to mourn over. Those are never told to rejoice, but rather to mourn. The Galatians had fallen from grace, had taken up law, and they could not be told to rejoice in the Lord. When saints fall into evil ways, or into evil doctrines, the Spirit is grieved, and there cannot be joy in the Lord. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit; a saint who has grieved the Spirit cannot really rejoice. Such an one is called rather to mourning and confession, to turning away from that which has grieved the Spirit, putting it away and turning wholly to the Lord.

Then there is another side to this. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." We can take this in two ways. The mourner may be one who has not found the joy of the Lord, one learning the truth but not yet having found salvation, or we may take it as the mourning over the sin and misery around us. Paul tells us of himself, as "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," which characterized his later life. We can understand how this was, how the outward sorrows pressed upon him, but could not quench, or even dim the fire of joy that burned within his breast. So a saint of God may mourn and be sorrowful, and be always rejoicing. The mourning and the sorrow will come from the faith that sees what this world is as gone away from God, and the awful character of sin. This will keep down levity and cause a deep seriousness, but will not in the least hinder the joy which is the fruit of the Spirit.

Then as the child of God grows up into maturity, the vision of all that is seen by faith becomes clearer, and the joy grows and increases, and the sorrow and mourning, too. To such there come times of great sorrow, it may be times of almost overwhelming trial, or temptation to doubt, or there will be the chastening and discipline which is the portion of every real child of God, and of such we are expressly told, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Heb. 12:n). Our God may be disciplining, teaching, chastening us, and in the midst of such dealings we may not realize the joy that comes after the time of trial -is over, and the soul enjoying the fruits of endured chastening.

When saints go through deep trials with God, are led and kept by Him in them, and learn the lessons He has for them, they will afterwards enjoy the peaceable fruits of righteousness. And certainly one of those fruits is joy.

It is a blessed place to live in, the place of rejoicing in the Lord always. Think what it means to be always rejoicing! It means so much in a world like this. "Always," no cessation, not perhaps ever just the same, but it is always there in the heart, deep, full, overflowing joy.

It is in the Lord, in what He is, in what He has done. No more conscience of sins is one element of it. All my sins put away, gone forever, fully and completely borne by Christ on the cross. It is joy to live in the continual and vivid consciousness of this great work. It may become dim, it does become dim to many, but it need not. It should grow clearer, so that the heart is often lifted in praise to God, praise for sins all gone forever.
What joy that brings! No condemnation, no judgment. The Judge has paid the penalty, and God has accepted the payment. The One against whom the sin has been committed has fully and freely forgiven all. Is not this cause for continual joy?

Then the consciousness of what God is to us gives constant joy. The knowing that He is our God, the learning what this implies, the wonders which are wrapped up in that relation, what it means to have God for us,-as we come to know more and more what this means, it brings continual rejoicing. How much we have to learn about God. We see men searching nature, studying every kind of science, eager after knowledge, but all they learn of nature and all else dissociated from God is of so little worth compared with the knowledge of God which comes from faith, from knowing Him, becoming acquainted with Him. To live in the consciousness of His love for us, His kindness to us, to have these as realities, far more real than what we see about us or what is going on in the world, and to know that He never changes, and that the joy we have here is only a foretaste of the eternal joy we shall have there, why should we not be always rejoicing?

Men of the world dread old age, dread death, dread judgment; but for faith they are no cause for the least dread. Really, for faith which sees what God is to His people, there is nothing that can cause dread. The consciousness of His love removes all fear, the fear which hath torment. This faith and this joy are built up upon the word of God and the finished work of Christ. They cannot exist apart from these. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

This joy may be dimmed by worldliness, neglect of prayer and communion with God in secret, a careless walk, lack of watchfulness, and unconfessed sin. The believer knows when he has this joy; if he has it not, he is losing very much, and he should not rest till the joy is restored to him.
J. W. N.