August 28

Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable. - 1 Peter 1:8.

SOME suppose the apostle means to intimate that there is such a peculiarity in this joy that it is so inexplicable that it cannot be communicated to others so as to be properly understood. And this is very true; therefore the apostle says, in another place, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

There are many expectations that are very unreasonable, and there are persons who look for evidence which it is not in our power to communicate, nor in their competency at present to receive. They witness our rejoicing, wish to know what we have that makes us so happy, and when we make as fair and full a report as we can, they are unable to understand either the nature or the sources of our joy. They must know and feel these for themselves. “He that believeth hath the witness in himself,” and it is only by experience that it can be known. They must taste and see that the Lord is good. But there is nothing peculiar in this: we know that we cannot communicate the pleasures of learning to the illiterate, or the pleasures of melody and harmony to a man who has no ear for music.

Hence it is that the Christian talks so little of his hidden life, and the deeper, richer parts of his experience, to the people of the world; it would be only “casting pearls before swine.” They say, with David, “Come unto me, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul.” But when the apostle says that this joy is “unspeakable,” he means to intimate the greatness of it, so that words are very inadequate properly and fully to express it. Worldly joy is easily expressed and described; much more is always said of it than it deserves, and it never, in any instance, realizes the expectations which it excites; we therefore often find that the successful votary of the world, even when he has seized his prey, sighs over it; I thought I should be happier when I had obtained such a possession, when I had reached such an elevation, and when I had acquired such a position. And when most successful, are they happy now? Is it not still their cry, “Who will show me any good?” But oh, how different is it with the Christian!

This joy is always worthy the name, and above every other joy, however highly it may be recommended and prized. If we had the tongue of angels as well as men, we should only beggar the subject by speaking of it. It is “unspeakable,” says the apostle. Who can describe it? Who can describe properly the efficiency of it,-how it will bear up the poor mind under every pressure, and enable its possessor to rejoice-under every deprivation? It can tranquillize the soul in the midst of tribulation, and fill it with holy confidence amidst the most alarming changes and revolutions, so as to enable it to say, with the church, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swellings thereof.”