Article March 12, 1927 Issue

Joy

WILLIAM R. RATHVON

In Christian Science joy is an effect of faith and an aid to healing. "Be of good cheer," are words that were frequently on the lips of the great Physician. There is a favorite hymn which says, "Joy cometh in the morning." But we need not wait until the morning to find joy, for it is never far away. In his invocation to God the Psalmist sings, "In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Christian Science affirms that God is substance; and the Scriptures declare that "faith is the substance of things hoped for." So as joy is the outcome of faith, its spiritual lineage is not conjectural, but demonstrable.

Rejoice always! It is a mistake to confine joy to circumstance or things. He who can rejoice even when things go wrong is the one for whom things will soon go right. Light and joy go hand in hand, as do darkness and sorrow; but as light dispels darkness, so does joy dissolve sorrow. The two cannot exist in the same place at the same time; sorrow and its kind have no place in the realm of good, where joy abounds. There are no tears in heaven; since, as Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 468), "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation."

But joy is not merely an effect: it may be said to be a cause also. It is not only a result of harmonious conditions, it produces them. It is a great restorer. To say of a friend, "He is happy because he is well," may indicate a wrong concept; for it may be that he is well because he is happy. Joy needs to be invited, fostered, and protected; but it is always waiting for an opening to come to you, always on the lookout for a hint from you that it will be welcome. Work for it. It pays better wages than sorrow, selfishness, and sin all combined. Heaven is commonly pictured as a place where joy reigns and the angels sing. But the angels never sing dirges—the thoughts that pass from God to man are clothed in lightness and brightness. Their wings are of joy, not of feathers. They soar upwards; but they can also descend to us. Where do we look for them? Down? Never! Straight ahead? Sometimes! Up? Always! To realize good is always uplifting, upholding, and upbuilding. Look forward and look upward for the good that cometh down from "the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Beasts look to the earth; men look to heaven.

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