Consolation in Jesus will abound as our sorrow for sin is deep, and our desire for obedience sincere. If our peace be marred amidst our upright desires to please the Lord, it is because of self-willed purposes mingled with those upright desires. We speak of our comfort and peace being marred by the ways of others towards us, little considering that Self-will is the author of our vexation. It is our duty to be always happy. True, we may be sorrowful; but if we be unhappy, it is because we have been drinking of some foul stream, and not of our fountain of joy—God Himself. A happy, joyful spirit spreads joy everywhere; a fretful spirit is a trouble to ourselves, and to all around us. Let us solemnly consider how much we may injure others when we are fretful and wilful, and how much we may help others when we are joyful in God. If God impart to us peculiar joy in the Holy Ghost, filling us with Christ and His love, causing us to keep holy Sabbath in the soul by faith of Jesus, it is for this end—that we may come down from the mount to do the work of the Lord, ready to bear all things for Jesus' sake. If any believer lack peace and joy, let him examine himself by the Word, and use diligence in cleansing heart and conscience by the blood of Jesus. The joy of the Holy Ghost is a holy, solemn thing. It always humbles the soul, and keeps it low. Not so the joy of the flesh. Begin every day with the Word of God and prayer, if you would enjoy settled blessedness. It is in the Word of God that the fulness of Christ is revealed, as the rich portion of every one who trusts in the blood of Christ. The peace of the believer, through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus, if the soul be flourishing, flows like a river; joy in believing is the same river overflowing its banks. Let watchfulness keep pace with joy. Church Discipline The discipline exercised by the church of God should be a picture of our heavenly Father's character. A sober mind, a tender heart, a watchful spirit, should mark those who put away the evil doer. All God's corrections and judgments are designed to bring to repentance. So likewise any censure pronounced by an assembly of saints, while manifestly righteous, should be as a medicine to restore, that the spirit may be saved in the day of Christ. (1 Cor. 5:5.) Paul says not to the Corinthians, when he reproves their evil, "lest my God should humble you," but "lest my God should humble me among you;" not "lest I should be wrathful and cut off many," but lest I should "bewail many which have sinned" (2 Cor. 12:21). My brother, defiling himself, is my own hand touching pitch. In this mind we are like Christ, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and is able to succour the tempted. In how many instances, alas! where sharp or bitter reproof is given, heavenly wisdom would deal in tender-hearted counsel and admonition.