The Fulness of Joy

O LORD our Governor! Thou dost give us, even here, and we bless Thee for it, Joy; sweet hours in which we may be glad and praise Thee. But it is not fulness of joy that here we know. We have had no joy yet that contented us; none so rich that we could not wish it richer. The cup has never been quite filled for us. When it was sweetest, there was ever some little tinge of bitterness. We drink, and into the cup our tears fall, and they are always sad. Thou dost give us the joy, we offer the cup. And what is our cup? Mortality, flesh, earthliness. Mortality stained with sin; flesh spotted with lust; earthliness that seeks the dust. In such a cup how can it be all sweetness? In Thy presence, in Thy pure presence, is fulness of joy. Write this sweet sentence on our hearts, “Fulness of Joy;” because in Thy presence there is pureness too: at Thy right hand there are pleasures for Evermore.

Almighty! how that great word mocks this little life of ours! What have we that lasts for evermore? Those whom we love most dearly Thou dost call to Thyself all too soon. Our purest thoughts, our holiest longings, pass too quickly from us. Some sad sleep of the soul smothers, before they be grown up, its good desires, its wholesome purposes. With us nothing is for Evermore!

At Thy right hand stand the holy ones whom we have lost; the dear and pure ones who have washed their robes and made them white. They are at Thy right hand, and there are pleasures for evermore. Speak these sweet words into our hearts: “Pleasures for Evermore!” When we wake in the night, may they, like angels’ songs, lull us back into needful rest. When the long hours go so drearily and painfully by, may we remember them. Thus waking, watching, working, weeping, may they be ever in our thoughts, giving us strength for the toils of life, and patience for its pains.

And these things we do ask, in the name of Jesus Christ.—AMEN.