A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance
Or, a "joyful heart" F3; that is joyful in the God of its
salvation; that rejoices in Christ Jesus; is filled with joy and
peace through believing in him, in his person, blood,
righteousness, and sacrifice; that has a comfortable view of his
justification by his righteousness, of peace and pardon by his
blood, of the atonement of his sins by his sacrifice; to whom he
has said, "be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee", (
Matthew 9:2 )
; who has peace in him, though tribulation in the world: as such
a man's heart must be made glad, this will make his countenance
cheerful, or cause him to lift up his head with joy; as it is in
natural things, so it is in spiritual ones; but by sorrow
of the heart the spirit is broken;
a man is dejected, his spirits sink, and it is seen in his
countenance: there is a great sympathy between the body and mind,
the one is much affected by the other; when the heart is full of
sorrow, the animal spirits are low, the nerves are loosened, the
whole frame, of nature is enfeebled, and the body emaciated; this
is often the case through outward troubles {d}: physicians say
F5 that grief weakens the strength, and
destroys the spirits, more than labour does. "The sorrow of the
world worketh death", ( 2
Corinthians 7:10 ) ; and sometimes, through spiritual
troubles, a sense of sin and guilt of it, a legal sorrow, which
produces a legal contrition of spirit; and such "a wounded spirit
who can bear?" ( Proverbs
18:14 ) . This is the effect of a mere work of the law upon
the conscience; and stands opposed to the spiritual joy, and the
effects of it, the Gospel brings.