Joy and Power

Joy and Power, subtitled Three Messages with One Meaning, is by Henry Van Dyke. The preface says the three messages brought together in the book were given not far apart in time, though at some distance from one another in space. The preface names Los Angeles, California, as where the message called Joy and Power was delivered, at the opening of the Presbyterian General Assembly, May 21, 1903. The preface says The Battle of Life was delivered at Princeton University, June 7, and The Good Old Way at Harvard University, June 14, each on Baccalaureate Sunday.

The text says that Christ never asks us to give up merely for the sake of giving up, but always in order to win something better. On the subject of conflict, the text names the evil against the good as the real conflict of life. On covetousness, the text says the goal of the path of covetousness may be discerned in the face of any old money-worshipper, keeping guard over his piles of wealth.