\ The Christian may have, must have, an outer life in the world, of training, toning, educating — in fact of " tribulation " ;
^ Madame Guyon, in Life by T. C. Uphara, 130.
2 A. Moody Stuart, Recollections of John Duncan, 218.
56 THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST
but with equal certainty he has a true life, an inner life, " in Christ." The character of the inner life — as of the majestic life of the Eternal even in His Passion — is this, " in Me ye may have peace." Examine, then, some of the conditions of the Mystery of Peace. And think, I have called it (and rightly, have I not ?) a mystery. It is no mere acquiring the right of rest by the sacrifice of principle, it is no mere buying of freedom from dis- turbance at any price, it is no mere " making a solitude " and calling it " Peace." No, it is an inner condition of soul realized, and blessed ; and that it may be ours some conditions must be fulfilled. What are they? Sin must be forgiven, its weight removed, its tormenting sense of ever-reviving power attenuated, the wear and tear of its memories softened and relieved by penitential tears. This is a possibility of supernatural life ; this is a result, a blessed outcome of life " in Christ." ^
(3) The peace of a harmonized life. — Not a little of our acutest misery is due to an internecine war which rages in man, and which makes itself felt subsequent to our forgiveness and renewal. The Apostle paints an elaborate picture of it in the seventh chapter of Eomans, and calls our attention to that dual self of which every nature consists : the flesh and the spirit, the law of the members and the law of the mind. Both strive for the ascendancy, and full often the battle waxes hot. Virtue contends with vice, pure instincts with unholy tendencies, aspirations of the heavenliest with desires the most hellish. Assuredly this is never the life of peace our God intends us to find. The human soul was never meant to be the scene of conflict so terrible. Can it end ? Is there a deliverer ? Thank Heaven, the Apostle found an answer to his question. With unmistakable clearness his voice proclaims that the strife can end, the discord can cease, " the life-long bleeding of the soul be o'er." Listen to him : " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
Christ comes to restore our whole nature. As the able physician searches into the out-of-the-way places of our body, and shows no mercy to the microbes which would lay waste our
1 W. J. Knox Little, The Mystery of the Passion, 168.
ST. LUKE II. 13, 14 57
earthly house, but drives them thence, so Jesus has no pity for our carnal self. He tears it out root and branch, destroying the works of the devil, and making man at one with Himself and at one with his God. And this is the way of peace : peace at any price is not the will of our Father. We are not to be content with the peace that comes from making concessions to the carnal nature, or with sundry respites from the more serious strife, but only with the peace that comes from the complete rout of the foe, deliverance from bondage to the flesh, the elimination of the law of antagonism, the restoration of our inner life to its original homogeneity. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. And this, too, is peace on earth.
If Steep Cliff Bay is now a Christian village. A dramatic incident took place not long ago in the middle of a great native feast in North Kaga. The biggest chief of the whole district was present — one of the few then still heathen. He stepped forward, and handing his war-club to the giver of the feast, announced that it was to be chopped up and distributed among the other chiefs as a declaration of peace and good-will.^
I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet \J
The words repeat Of peace on earth, good- will to men !
And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good- will to men !
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day, ^
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good- will to men !
Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
^ Florence Coombe, Islands of Enchantment, 10.
58 THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST
It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The household born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head ; "There is no peace on earth," I said; ^ "For hate is strong