Acts 8:39

THE JOYS OF LIFE

‘And he went on his way rejoicing.’

Acts 8:39

There must have been some very strong reasons why the eunuch should pursue his way down to Ethiopia that day rejoicingly. He was in the ecstasy of the delight of the first discovery of truth—that strange, that delicious sensation! He had just dedicated himself solemnly to God, and he had found that resting place, a fixed heart. He had received the grace of holy baptism, and the Holy Ghost, the spring of all life and joy, was in his soul; and within him and about him everything danced and sung like a new creation. He had the sweet peace of the sense of the forgiveness of all his sins—the deepest, the most incommunicable of all happinesses. That wonderful Person, whom Philip had just been revealing to him in the fifty-third of Isaiah—was now his own felt, precious Saviour. His heart was soft, and tender, and full of love. He carried with him a presence, which is the very ‘light of life,’ and before which all shadows fly away, and every obstacle becomes a thing of nought. And beyond the country to which he was travelling, there was another country, a new home. It was now opening to his view; it seemed but a step, and he would be there. These are the true joys of life, and he who has them is independent of the outer world. I do not wonder that ‘he went on his way rejoicing.’ And for you I am very anxious that you should ‘go on your way rejoicing.’

I. We do everything best when we are happy.—We pray best, we praise best, we work best, we bear best.

II. Joy is a great means of santification.—It is a fount of kindness. It helps very much to conquer temper.

III. It adorns religion, and makes it winning to those around us.

IV. It is like heaven; and a happy God looks down and sees His own reflection in a happy child.

V. It is right.—It is a command. I know no other command which is so reiterated, ‘Rejoice; and again I say, Rejoice.’

VI. We have so many things to make us happy.

Rev. James Vaughan.