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The
Fountain Of Songs
"The
whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:
they break forth into singing."—Isa. 14:7
Nature is joyful. There is something that wells up in the
heart of things which breaks forth in song. W have heard
of the music of the spheres. There is harmony which makes
itself heard above the discords This world is not a place
of melancholy. Its drab color when properly blended become
beauteous. Its discord may be merged into harmonies.
Happiness is the normal state of all life. Our tears are
meant to be only the cleansing rain which refreshes and
beautifies life. There is an echo of far-off must' in all
the sounds of nature. Rejoicing is everywhere Happiness is
God's will for all his creation. "Sing, O ye heavens
. . . shout ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into
singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree
therein" (Isa. 44:23).
This universal joyfulness is also thus expressed,
"The valleys . . . shout for joy, they also
sing" (Ps. 65:13) Again, "Let the nations be
glad and sing for joy" (Ps. 67: 4). In nature
sentient things are happy even though life for them is
full of danger and hardship. The birds sing even tho they
know they are surrounded by enemies . Constant dangers do
not silence their songs. In spite of all the cruelties of
fang and claw, and undeterred by storms or cold, hunger or
privation, the voice of joy still rises in melody.
Man is likewise permeated by the same cause of joyfulness.
Difficulties may come, dangers may surround him, he may
make failures, have losses, and sometimes almost despair.
Notwithstanding all this his spirits will rise superior to
his difficulties and the song of joy is never fully
quenched in any normal human being. Troubles, when they
lie in the past, may be quickly forgotten. The young trees
bent over by the snowfall rise again when the snow is
melted to gaze anew upon the sun. So man rises from his
troubles. He lifts his head up into the sunshine and again
his heart breaks forth in joyfulness. The heart is
naturally merry and God would ever have it so. He says,
"My servants shall sing for joy of heart" (Isa.
65:14).
While preparing to write the chapters that follow I took
my concordance and Bible and looked up some of the words
that express rejoicing and happiness, such as rejoicing,,
gladness, happy, blessed, joy, rest, etc. I found that
these words and others of similar import occur nearly nine
hundred times in the Scriptures. Even then my search was
only partial. Assuredly this fact should convince us not
only that happiness is the natural state of man but that
it is God's will for him.
Again and again we are exhorted to rejoice, to be glad and
to give expression to our joy. The poet has said,
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast." Joy
is more powerful than sorrow. Peace is more lasting than
trouble. Sorrow is but transitory. Life has balm for all
our woes, light for all our darkness. Morning breaks after
the darkest night. There is sunshine after the fiercest
storm. There is warmth and beauty after the cruel winter.
In the normal life happiness is the rule; unhappiness the
exception. Troubles will come. There are things to be
endured, but these need not take out of life its beauty,
its happiness, or its worth.
One thing should ever be present in our thoughts of life.
Our happiness does not depend upon our environment, our
station, our circumstances, or any external thing. The
songs come from within. They bubble up out of the heart.
Someone has spoken a great truth in the lines that follow:
"There's no defeat in life Save from within,
Unless you're beaten there You're bound to win."
It is what we are within that counts. It is our outlook on
life, our purposes, our ideals, our hopes, our faith.
There are joyful beggars. The most thankful, the most
appreciative, are often those who have little. Some of the
most contented, cheerful, and light-hearted people I ever
saw were people whose situations seemed least tolerable.
In my ministry I have gone into homes where poverty
abounded, where sickness and sorrow existed, yet I found
in some of those homes happy, trustful, rejoicing hearts.
Favorable external circumstances may encourage the song in
the heart, but the lack of these things need not still the
song. External things alone cannot produce a song in the
heart. A favorable condition of heart is like the reed of
the wind instrument. The wind itself can produce no music
without the reed. So the music in human hearts is born in
hearts and as the reed in the instrument makes the
instrument vocal so the proper qualities in the heart make
joyous music even in the night of sorrow.
Too many people have a wrong philosophy of life. The
pessimist makes his own clouds. The optimist sees the
sunshine on the other side of the clouds and is happy.
Some modern idealistic religious systems, tho based on
false metaphysics and a false natural philosophy, have,
outside of these things, a true philosophy of happiness
and success, at least for the present life. Many of us
could learn much from these philosophies that would be
very helpful. We need not accept the vagaries of their
metaphysics or natural philosophy nor their spiritual
concepts, but the philosophy of the hopeful outlook, the
expectation of success, and the discounting of that which
is unpleasant and undesirable, is the true way to
happiness. The God who made the birds that sing so sweetly
desires the same melody of song in the heart of the
highest of his creation. Believing this we face life with
the elements that create melody active in our hearts to
teach us the Secret of the Singing Heart.
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