[6.] In heaven there is a perfect peace ; in the new Jerusalem all is quiet : ' It is just with God to give you that are troubled, avecriv, rest,' 2 Thes. i. 7 ; and ' there is a rest that remaineth for the children of God,' Heb. iv. 9. There we rest both from our sorrows and our labours ; there is no trouble nor affliction more ; all privileges are at the height ; no more apprehensions of God's wrath, fears of death. Thei'e we are not only free from hurt, but danger ; our exercise is at an end: there we do immediately behold the king's face, which is not granted us here ; now we are in Absalom's condition, pardoned, reconciled, but cannot see the king's face. So much for the nature of this peace, and the observations that open it to you. Let us now apply all.
Usel. If peace be such an excellent blessing, and a main privi- lege of the gospel, then it puts us upon trial. Are we at peace with God through Christ ? If it be so, then— (1.) Enmity is laid aside ; God's enemies will be yours, and yours will be God's ; otherwise what peace ? What ! do we talk of peace with God, as long as we are in league with God's enemy? ' What peace as long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel are so many ?' Our league with God is defen- sive and offensive. There is a war with Satan,^ if we be at peace with God : the spiritual conflict is the best evidence we have of our unity with God. With the wicked, God is at open war : ' There_ is no peace,' &c., Isa. Ivii. 21. The devil may be at a secret peace with them, but God is at a distance, and abhorreth all communion with them. Christ is called ' the Prince of peace,' Isa. ix. G ; but it is to those that submit to his government ; to his subjects, he saith, ' Take my
^ ' Pax nostra bellum contra Satanam.'— reriuZ. ad Martyraa.
VeR. 2.] UPON THE EriSTLE OF JUDE. 71
yoke upon you, and ye shall find rest/ Mat. xi. 29. We are not in a capacity to receive this blessing till we take an oath of allegiance to Christ, and continue in obedience to him. (2.) The next note is, delight in communion with God: Job xxii. 21, 'Acquaint thyself with him, and be at peace.' A man that is at peace with God will be often in his company : bondage and servile awe keepeth us out of God's presence ; we cannot come to him, because we cannot come in peace. A man never delighteth in duties of commerce with God when either he hath a false peace or no peace : duties disturb a false peace ; and when we are raw and sour, we are unfit for work. When a peace is concluded between nations that were before at war, trading is revived : so will it be between God and you ; commerce will be revived, and you will be trading into heaven, that you may bring away rich treasures of grace and comfort.
Use 2. It presseth us to make peace with God by Christ. We speak to two sorts — the careless and the distressed. (1.) To the careless. Consider you are born enemies to God : they that loved him from their cradle upward, never loved him. You must make peace with God, for you cannot maintain war against him : ' Are you stronger than he ? ' What ! will you arm lusts against angels ? And do you know the terror of his wrath ? One spark of it is enough to drink up all your blood and spirits. Job vi. 4. The present life is but a vapour, soon gone. If God be angry, he can arm the least creature to kill you : the whole creation taketh part with God : Adrian was strangled with a gnat. But death will not end your sorrows. None can punish their enemies as God can ; he can ruin your body and soul for ever and for ever. How will you screech and howl like dragons ? But your tor- ments are without end and without ease. Be wise, then, and do not sleep when your ' damnation sleepeth not,' 2 Peter ii. 3 ; now is the time to make your peace with God. Ah ! that ' you knew in this your day the things that belong to your peace,' Luke xix. 41. Peace must be had now, or else it can never be had hereafter. The day of patience will not always last ; therefore let us get into the ark before the flood cometh. It is a dreadful thing to be under the wrath of God, and you know not how soon it will light : our care should be to be ' found of him in peace,' Peter iii. 14. Christ is now a Saviour, then a judge : you will yell and howl for mercy when it is too late. (2.) I am to speak to dis- tressed consciences. Lift up your heads, God oflfereth you peace ; he sent angels from heaven to proclaim it, Luke ii. 14. The ground of the offer is good-will, and the end of the offer is only his own glory. God hath no other reasons to move him to it but his own good-will, and no other aim than to glorify his grace ; see Eph. i. 6 ; and there- fore take hold of his covenant of peace, as it is called, Isa. liv. 10. He is content we shall have peace upon these terms, and peace assured us by covenant. Certainly it is not a duty to doubt, nor a thing accept- able to God, that we should always be upon terms of perplexity, and keep conscience raw with a sense of wrath and sin : wherefore did Christ bear ' the chastisement of our peace ' ? God is more pleased with a cheerful confidence than a servile spirit, full of bondage and fear.