_THE JOY OF THE LOVER_
ROMANS xii. 9-18.
Love finds her joy in seeing others crowned. Envy darkens when she sees
the garland given to another. Jealousy has no festival except when she is
"Queen of the May." But love thrills to another's exaltation. She feels
the glow of another's triumph. When another basks in favour her own "time
of singing of birds is come!"
And all this is because love has wonderful chords which vibrate to the
secret things in the souls of others. Indeed, the gift of love is just the
gift of delicate correspondence, the power of exquisite fellow-feeling,
the ability to "rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them
that weep." When, therefore, the soul of another is exultant, and the
wedding-bells are ringing, love's kindred bells ring a merry peal. When
the soul of another is depressed, and a funeral dirge is wailing, love's
kindred chords wail in sad communion. So love can enter another's state as
though it were her own.
Our Master spake condemningly of those who have lost this exquisite gift.
They have lost their power of response. "We have piped with you, and ye
have not danced; we have mourned with you, and ye have not lamented." They
lived in selfish and loveless isolation. They have lost all power of
tender communion.