(2) Again, it is the peace of perfect trust. Our want of peace is very often just want of confidence. We are not at ease in our mind, because we are not sure of those on whom some interests that are dear to us depend. We are not sure of ourselves. Great responsibilities are entrusted to our wisdom and skill ; but we are not sure whether we are wise enough,
ROMANS viii. 6 403
or clever enough, to. carry the business committed to us to a successful issue. Or we are not sure of some other persons who have under their control things that are of great value in our eyes. We are not sure of the captain of the ship in which we are sailing, or of the lawyer who is conducting our case, or of the doctor under whose charge we have placed ourselves. Or we are not sure of God, and of His wise and righteous government of the world. And the consequence is that we are nervous and restless. Everything would be different if we were more trustful. We may be dwelling in the midst of noise, and strife, and confusion, and yet we will not be disturbed or anxious if we believe in those who are at the helm any more than we would be anxious, amid all the racket and disorder incident to the building of a great house, if we had reason to trust the architect and contractor. To have peace, we must have faith.
(3) Once more, this peace is the peace of those who are fully occupied. There are other powers belonging to us besides the powers by which we love and trust; and our unrest in this world is due, in part, to the fact that these powers are not employed or only imperfectly employed. It is not our labours but our limitations which keep us in a state of dis- quietude. There is never such a sensation of perfect bodily contentment as when all the powers of the body are in full play, and yet not painfully fatigued or overstrained. And there is never such spiritual rest as when all the powers of the spirit have been brought fully into operation, and a man is, so to speak, carried wholly out of himself, and every part of him is engaged in the work for which it is fitted, and for which it was created. That is the rest of Heaven. There, they serve Him night and day. There, room is found, and opportunity, for every man, and not only for every man, but for every gift and power with which every man has been endowed.
^| The same Apostle who describes the peace of God as passing all understanding is he who laboured more abundantly than all. Let St. Paul be our type. Peace — the peace which Christ has left us — is not only consistent with the manifold occupations, energies, interests, cares of life; but through and in these we must seek it.1
1 J. B. Lightfoot
404 THE CARNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL
We ask for Peace, 0 Lord !
Thy children ask Thy Peace ; Not what the world calls rest,
That toil and care should cease, That through bright sunny hours
Calm Life should fleet away, And tranquil night should fade
In smiling day; —
It is not for such Peace that we would pray.
We ask for Peace, 0 Lord!
Yet not to stand secure, Girt round with iron Pride,
Contented to endure : Crushing the gentle strings
That human hearts should know, Untouched by others' joy
Or others' woe; —
Thou, 0 dear Lord, wilt never teach us so.
We ask Thy Peace, O Lord!
Through storm, and fear, and strife, To light and guide us on,
Through a long, struggling life: While no success or gain
Shall cheer the desperate fight, Or nerve, what the world calls
Our wasted might; —
Yet pressing through the darkness to the light.
It is Thine own, O Lord,
Who toil while others sleep; Who sow with loving care
What other hands shall reap. They lean on Thee entranced,
In calm and perfect rest : Give us that Peace, 0 Lord,
Divine and blest,
Thou keepest for those hearts who love Thee best.1
1 Adelaide A. Procter.
The Owner's Mark.
Literature.
Holland (H. Scott), Fibres of Faith, 67.
Newman (J. H.), Parochial and Plain Sermons, ii. 217.
Pusey (E. B.), Parochial and Cathedral Sermons, 472.
Talbot (E. S.), Sermons at Southwark, 61.
Christian World Pulpit, xi. 299 (Swing) ; lix. 377 (Campbell
Morgan) ; lxxii. 280 (Snell) ; lxxv. 305 (Scott Holland). Church of England Pulpit, lx. 298 (Boyd Carpenter). Churchman's Pulpit, pt. xix. 97 (Newman), 101 (Woods), 102 (Monro). Church Pulpit Year Book (1907), 115. Five-Minute Sermons by Paulists, i. 274. Sunday School Times, xxxv. 769. Treasury (New York), x. 815. World's Great Sermons, viii. 149 (Fowler).
The Owner's Mark.
If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. — Rom. viii. 9.
This is one of the most searching passages that can be found in the Bible. It takes hold of the question of our salvation in a very substantial and thorough manner. It removes utterly, almost infinitely, from this problem of our destiny, all shadow of uncertainty or of doubt. It brings us squarely to the facts in our character. On the force of this Scripture we are lifted to a platform where we stand with our hearts uncovered and naked before the eye of God.