The out-and-out Christian is a joyful Christian. The half-and-half
Christian is the kind of Christian that a great many of you are--
little acquainted with 'the joy of the Lord.' Why should we live half
way up the hill and swathed in mists, when we might have an unclouded
sky and a visible sun over our heads, if we would only climb higher
and walk in the light of His face?



'IN THAT DAY'

'And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will
give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.'--JOHN xvi. 23, 24.

Our Lord here sums up the prerogatives and privileges of His servants
in the day that was about to dawn and to last till He came again.
There is nothing absolutely new in the words; substantially the
promises contained in them have appeared in former parts of these
discourses under somewhat different aspects and connections. But our
Lord brings them together here, in this condensed repetition, in
order that the scattered rays, being thus focussed, may have more
power to illuminate with certitude, and to warm into hope. 'Ye shall
ask Me nothing.... Ask and ye shall receive.... Your joy shall be
full.' These are the jewels which He sets in a cluster, the
juxtaposition making each brighter, and gives to us for a parting
keepsake.

Now it is to be noticed that the two askings which are spoken of here