The second degree of joy, in the natural scale, will be found in the hearty amen; especially if it be born of the Spirit. A great many amens were never born of the Spirit; they are counterfeits. How blessed are the sanctified amens. How rich the service that is well interspersed with them. The amen corners in our churches are of inestimable value; as much so as the Urim and Thummim in the Mosaic dispensation. It clearly revealed the presence of the Most High; so do the spirit-inspired amens. How encouraging the unctious amens to the saints. How it lifts the preacher while proclaiming the everlasting gospel. Oh, that God would baptize the church with more sanctified, Holy Ghost amens. The note of praise running still higher in the scale of holy joy will be, “Praise the Lord.” How little we hear of this, to what we ought to hear. But as we advance in the divine life, the praises of God will increase in our hearts, and upon our lips, and we shall feel like saying: “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” The next higher note of joy will be “Glory.” This will spring up so natural if you occupy just the right spot on the scale of experience. You cannot pump it up, if the well is dry. There must be living water in the well. Jesus said, “The water that I give you shall be in you a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” As you ascend the mount of holiness, the next higher note struck will be “_Hallelujah!_” This note is sweeter than honey and the honey comb. In order to understand music on this key, you must live in the promised land. Thus far in the scale of everlasting joy we have language to express in a very faint degree the heaven that reigns within. But there comes a condition in our onward flight when all the language employed by mortal beings fail to express the joy that floods the soul. St. Paul, master of the Greek language, which is said to be very expressive, could not give it in that, so, doubtless, he gave it in the language employed by angels. “For,” says the Apostle, “Believing, ye rejoice with joy which is unspeakable and full of glory.” That must be a little of the bliss that we shall know when we surround the throne; bliss without alloy; joy unspeakable and full of glory. “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” God grant that the reader and the writer may have a great deal of this joy, regardless of the outer manifestation.