The pilgrims do not plod wearily in silence, but, like the tribes going
up to the feasts, burst out often, as they journey, into song. They are
like Jehoshaphat's soldiers, who marched to the fight with the singers
in the van chanting 'Give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth
for ever.' The Christian life should be a joyful life, ever echoing
with the 'high praises of God.' However difficult the march, there is
good reason for song, and it helps to overcome the difficulties. 'A
merry heart goes all the day, a sad heart tires in a mile.' Why should
the ransomed pilgrims sing? For present blessings, for deliverance from
the burden of self and sin, for communion with God, for light shed on
the meaning of life, and for the sure anticipation of future bliss.
'Everlasting joy on their heads.' Other joys are transitory. It is not
only 'we poets' who 'in our youth begin with gladness,' whereof 'cometh
in the end despondency and madness'; but, in a measure, these are the
outlines of the sequence in all godless lives. The world's festal
wreathes wilt and wither in the hot fumes of the banqueting house, and
'the crown of pride shall be trodden under foot.' But joy of Christ's
giving 'shall remain,' and even before we sit at the feast, we may have
our brows wreathed with a garland 'that fadeth not away.'