Henry Van Dyke

Joy and Power Henry Van Dyke

I ask you to think for a little while about the religion of Christ in its relation to happiness. This is only one point in the circle of truth at the centre of which Jesus stands. But it is animportant point because it marks one of the lines of power which radiate from Him. To lookat it clearly and steadily is not to disregard other truths. The mariner takes the wholeheavens of astronomy for granted while he shapes his course by a single star. In the wish for happiness all men are strangely alike. In their explanations of it and in theirways of seeking it they are singularly different. Shall we think of this wish as right, orwrong; as a true star, or a will-o'-the-wisp? If it is right to wish to be happy, what are theconditions on which the fulfilment of this wish depends? These are the two questions withwhich I would come to Christ, seeking instruction and guidance. I. The desire of happiness, beyond all doubt, is a natural desire. It is the law of life itself thatevery being seeks and strives toward the perfection of its kind, the realization of its ownspecific ideal in form and function, and a true harmony with its environment. Every drop ofsap in the tree flows toward foliage and fruit. Every drop of blood in the bird beats towardflight and song. In a conscious being this movement toward perfection must take aconscious form. This conscious form is happiness, -the satisfaction of the vital impulse, -the rhythm of the inward life, -the melody of a heart that has found its keynote. To say thatall men long for this is simply to confess that all men are human, and that their thoughtsand feelings are an essential part of their life. Virtue means a completed manhood. Thejoyful welfare of the soul belongs to the fulness of that ideal. Holiness is wholeness. Instriving to realize the true aim of our being, we find the wish for happiness implanted in thevery heart of our effort. Now what does Christ say in regard to this natural human wish? Does He say that it is anillusion? Does He condemn and deny it? Would He have accepted Goethe's definition: "religion is renunciation"?Surely such a notion is far from the spirit of Jesus. There is nothing of the hardness ofStoicism, the coldness of Buddhism, in Christ's gospel. It is humane, sympathetic, consoling. Unrest and weariness, the fever of passion and the chill of despair, soul-solitude and hearttrouble, are the very things that He comes to cure. He begins His great discourse with aseries of beatitudes. "Blessed" is the word. "Happy" is the meaning. Nine times He rings thechanges on that word, like a silver bell sounding from His fair temple on the mountain-side, calling all who long for happiness to come to Him and find rest for their s