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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
not when the act of eating is over and it has passed into the stomach. Joy, on the contrary, is an emotion and has the element of freedom in it. It is a state of gladness or exultation, and indicates exhilaration of spirits. In religious terminology, it signifies a state of being at once glorious and triumphant, as in the passage :
"Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" (Heb. XII, 2).
In order to have a full grasp of the idea of joy, we must consider some actual instance in which it arises ; for then alone we shall be able to understand its proper significance.
Let us take the case of the school-boy who has appeared in his annual examination, and who hears of his success and feels joy at the news. The question is, whence does his joy arise ? What, in different language, occasions the exhilaration of spirits in him ? If we analyze the mental change, effected by the news, we should find that it is not the news itself, nor the news of the success, but the certainty thereof which is clearly the occasion of his emotion. For if the news be not authentic, the proper feeling of exultation cannot be evoked, notwithstanding the highly agreeable nature of the information. Joy, then, is a state of the mind which has its roots in mental conviction, in other words, in faith. Pleasure, it will be seen, at a glance, does not depend on faith at all, for it is not an emotion and does not spring from a mental conviction.
Again, the boy feels joyous solely and simply because something lasting has been achieved, for he is assured that he shall not have to appear for that parti
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