There
are few mature people of thoughtful temperament and refined moral nature who have not suffered a sense of unspeakable revolt as they recalled the occasions of the past when they said and did ignoble things, when they clung to brooding thoughts which were an offense to their present ideals.
It
is scarcely possible to lay too much emphasis upon the fact that joy is one of the essentials of our being, that it is to our mentality what sunshine is to fruit and flower.
The
sentence imposed upon Adam—"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground"—is usually remembered with a bitter sense of resentment on the part of those who believe that they must suffer endless pains and penalties because of the mistake made by their remote ancestor, but Paul gives a happier turn to thought when he says, "As in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Refinement
of experience is always preceded by purification of thought, the ennoblement of our living by the exaltation of our concepts, and it is this that gives such dynamic significance to the ideal.
The
first sentence of the Fourth Commandment—"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy"—is a metaphysical statement of the true manner of observing the Sabbath.
In
reading the Psalms, and especially those portions which were more frequently used in the temple service, one is impressed with the earnestness with which the Christian believer is enjoined to maintain a spirit of gratitude and rejoicing.
