How shall I quiet my heart ? How shall I keep it still ? How shall I hush its tremulous start at tidings of good or ill ?
^ W. J. Armitage, Tlie Fruit of the Spirit, 32.
' F. E. Ridgeway, Calls to Service, 220. « E. M. Goulburn.
ST. JOHN XIV. 27 175
How shall I gather and hold contentment and peace and rest, Wrapping their sweetness, fold on fold, over my troubled breast ?
The Spirit of God is still, and gentle and mild and sweet, What time His omnipotent, glorious will guideth the worlds at
His feet; Controlling all lesser things, this turbulent heart of mine. He keepeth us under His folded wings in a peace serene —
divine.
So shall I quiet my heart, so shall I keep it still. So shall I hush its tremulous start at tidings of good or ill; So shall I silence my soul with a peacefulness deep and broad. So shall I gather Divine control in the infinite quiet of God.
4. Christ's peace reconciles us to our brother man. Man will not be at peace with man because he is ready to drift with every stream. That is the false peace, the peace of the Vicar of Bray ! Peace can never be gained by the surrender of sacred conviction. But a man has gone a long way towards the attainment of peace with his brother when he is willing to think of himself as only a part, and not the whole, of the human race. He has gone a long way towards union when he consistently thinks of himself as a soloist, and not a chorus. There will then be in his life a delicate considerateness, and he will be willing to fit in with other people with courtesy and grace.
^ Peace, then, was made. " I bury the hatchet," said Callieres, " in a deep hole, and over the hole I place a great rock, and over the rock I turn a river, that the hatchet may never be dug up again." ^
III.
The Potency of Peace.
Christ bids His disciples realize the potency of their new possession. The citadel of their soul is now invulnerable. " Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful."
1. This peace becomes the antidote to all dismay and de- spondency.— In the slow sad experience of life a Christian is in no
^ F. Pavkman, " Connt Frontenac, " Works, viii. 465.
176 CHRIST'S GIFT OF PEACE
wise exempt from losses and failures. It may be that he will realize that the argosy of his earthly hopes and plans has suffered shipwreck : yet the Lord is faithful who has promised, not " I will give thee success," but " I will give thee rest." Or he may find himself bereft and desolate and haunted with the dread of bleak, solitary years to come. Time, the subtle thief of youth, will rob him of most treasures at last, except that peace which the world can neither give nor take away. As we gaze down the shadowy avenue of our own future, who would not quail to think of those dark possibilities which it conceals, if he could not hear the Voice which says, " My peace I give unto you : let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid " ?
^ One of the greatest proofs of the blessed and eternal character of Christianity is that it applies to, and satisfies, the very deepest want and craving of our nature. The 'deepest want of man is not a desire for happiness, but a craving for peace ; not a wish for the gratification of every desire, but a craving for the repose of acquiescence in the will of God ; and it is this that Christianity promises.^
^ What rest is to the body, peace is to the mind. Peace internal, peace external, peace eternal, peace with men, peace with God, peace with oneself. " Seek God," says F^nelou, " within yourself, and you will assuredly find Him, and with Him peace and joy. One word from Christ calmed the troubled sea. One glance from Him to us can do the same within us now." ^
^ Peace is what all desire, but all do not care for the things that pertain unto true peace.
My peace is with the humble and gentle of heart ; in much patience shall thy peace be.
If thou wilt hear me and follow my voice, thou shalt be able to enjoy much peace.
What then shall I do. Lord ?
In every matter look to thyself, as to what thou sayest ; and direct thy whole attention unto this, to please me alone, and neither to desire nor to seek any thing besides me.
But of the words or deeds of others, judge nothing rashly; neither do thou entangle thyself with things not entrusted unto thee. Thus it may come to pass that thou mayest be little or seldom disturbed.
' F. W. Robertson, Sermons, iii. 138.
' Lord Avebury, Peace and Happiness, 356.
ST. JOHN XIV. 27 177
But never to feel any disturbance at all, nor to suffer any trouble of mind or body, belongs not to this life, but to the state of eternal rest.^
2. It is a peace superior to outward circumstances. — The world has tried hard to put an end to the Christian's peace, and it has never been able to accomplish that. The whole might of our enemies cannot take it away. Poverty cannot destroy it ; the Christian in his rags can have peace with God. Sickness cannot mar it ; lying on his bed, the saint is joyful in the midst of the fires. Persecution cannot ruin it, for persecution cannot separate the believer from Christ, and while he is one with Christ his soul is full of peace. " Put your hand here," said the martyr to his executioner, when he was led to the stake, " put your hand here, and now put your hand on your own heart, and feel which beats the hardest, and which is the most troubled." The executioner was struck with awe, when he found the Christian man as calm as though he were going to a wedding feast, while he himself was all agitation at having to perform so desperate a deed.