not measured by its disagreeableness, but by its sweetness to the heart
that loves it. The real test of character is joy. For what you rejoice
in, that you love. And what you love, that you are like.

I confess frankly that I have no admiration for the phrase
"disinterested benevolence," to describe the main-spring of Christian
morals. I do not find it in the New Testament: neither the words, nor
the thing. Interested benevolence is what I find there. To do good to
others is to make life interesting and find peace for our own souls. To
glorify God is to enjoy Him. That was the spirit of the first
Christians. Was not St. Paul a happier man than Herod? Did not St. Peter
have more joy of his life than Nero? It is said of the first disciples
that they "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart."
Not till that pristine gladness of life returns will the Church regain
her early charm for the souls of men. Every great revival of Christian
power--like those which came in the times of St. Francis of Assisi and
of John Wesley--has been marked and heralded by a revival of Christian
joy.

If we want the Church to be mighty in power to win men, to be a source
of light in the darkness, a fountain of life in the wilderness, we must
remember and renew, in the spirit of Christ, the relation of religion to
human happiness.

II. What, then, are the conditions upon which true happiness depends?
Christ tells us in the text: If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye
do them.

This is the blessing with a double if. "If ye know,"--this is the
knowledge which Christ gives to faith. "If ye do,"--this is the