Christianity as Jesus taught and demonstrated it was a religion of joy, a daily way of life that lifted the thought in praise and gladness, healing sickness and sin and overcoming every type of human difficulty. We find the Master admonishing his followers to weep not, to be of good cheer, to rejoice, to he glad. Even though he himself was reviled, maligned, he could tell his disciples that when they were hated and persecuted they should he glad. He said to them; Luke. 6:23), "Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven." He knew that to experience this rejoicing that causes one to "leap for joy," it is necessary to know and understand God, to realize the at-one-ment of God and man, God's spiritual idea.
To keep the commandments as Jesus expounded them—to love God above all else, and one's neighbor as oneself—is precedent to this inner glow, this joyous sense of security and freedom. In John we read (15:10. 11): "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
For about three hundred years the followers of Christ Jesus continued his healing work. In spite of persecutions, trials, and mockeries, many were able, with singing and rejoicing, to maintain a sense of victory and gladness. Imprisonment, sickness, fear, sin, death—all such tribulations were overcome by prayers of gratitude and praise.
