eed of Joy in
all their lives; and others who may have planted a germ or two have
lived so little in sunshine that they never could come to maturity.

Whence, then, is joy? Christ put His teaching upon this subject into
one of the most exquisite of His parables. I should in any instance
have appealed to His teaching here, as in the case of Rest, for I do
not wish you to think I am speaking words of my own. But it so happens
that He has dealt with it in words of unusual fullness.

I need not recall the whole illustration. It is the parable of the
Vine. Did you ever think why Christ spoke that parable? He did not
merely throw it into space as a fine illustration of general truths.
It was not simply a statement of the mystical union, and the doctrine
of an indwelling Christ. It was that; but it was more. After He had
said it, He did what was not an unusual thing when He was teaching His
greatest lessons--He turned to the disciples and said He would tell
them why He had spoken it. It was to tell them

HOW TO GET JOY.

"These things have I spoken unto you," He said, "that My Joy might
remain in you, and that your Joy might be full." It was a purposed and
deliberate communication of His

SECRET OF HAPPINESS.

Go back over these verses, then, and you will find the Causes of this
Effect, the spring, and the only spring, out of which true Happiness
comes. I am not going to analyze them in detail. I ask you to enter
into the words for yourselves.

Remember, in the first place, that the Vine was the Eastern symbol of
Joy. It was its fruit that made glad the heart of man. Yet, however
innocent that gladness--for the expressed juice of the grape was the
common drink at every peasant's board--the gladness was only a gross
and passing thing. This was not true happiness, and the vine of the
Palestine vineyards was not the true vine. "_Christ_ was the _true_
Vine." Here, then, is the ultimate source of Joy. Through whatever
media it reaches us, all true Joy and Gladness find their source in
Christ.

By this, of course, is not meant that the actual Joy experienced is
transferred from Christ's nature, or is something passed on from Him
to us. What is passed on is His method of getting it. There is,
indeed, a sense in which we can share another's joy or another's
sorrow. But that is another matter. Christ is the source of Joy to men
in the sense in which He is the source of Rest. His people share His
life, an