^ The Practice of Christianity, 111.
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coming : " The thing that hath been it is that which shall be, and there is no new thing under the sun." But with the Kesurrection on the third day old things passed for ever away. Jesus risen is the one essentially new thing in the world. He is our hope for the future : our well-spring of life and energy and gladness. Fast bound in misery and iron, humanity has "an eye unto him" and is " lightened." To Him as the risen Saviour and Revealer of God, it can lift the Psalmist's cry, " All my fresh springs shall be in thee." So the last book of the New Testament closes with the vision of the holy city, " New Jerusalem," coming down from God out of heaven. Here then is the keynote of our faith ; a new doctrine, a new covenant, a new commandment, new wine in new bottles, a new name, a new creation, a new man, a new song, a new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness : all things new}
2. Bitterness is turned into blessing. — A wonderful sentence comes to us from the Middle Ages. Out of the turmoil, the vice and the bloodshed of the Florence of that day, we hear the voice of the great poet as he says in his immortal words : " In sua voluntade h. nostra pace" ("In the doing of His will lies our peace "). How did Dante know that ? Has any thought risen higher than that through all the centuries ? In the doing of God's will, the surrendering of ourselves to His appointment, the accepting of the cup because He sent it, is not only the discipline we need, not only the promise of strength and attain- ment, but, far more than this, the deep abiding Divine peace of the soul.
II I know no more intellectually of the Truth than when I first believed; but what a result comes from its abiding! A deeper, deeper happiness absorbs the heart and pervades the soul. A deepening calm rules and assimilates the faculties, and compels them into action ; not excitement, but definite and proper action. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, which baffles analysis, which has an infinitude of depth about it. As you cannot understand remote stars, nor the everchanging vault which you cannot at all explore, but can only feel as you feel your life, so you cannot touch this Peace of God with your understanding. It lies round you like an atmosphere. It dwells in you like a fragrance. It goes from you like a subtle elixir vitae. "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not as the 1 E. L. Ottley, The Rule of FaUh <md Hope, 71.
REVELATION xxi. 5 325
world giveth give I unto you." May God double to you His peace.^
It is a rest that deeper grows
In midst of pain and strife; A mighty, conscious, willed repose,
The death of deepest life. To have and hold the precious prize
No need of jealous bars; But windows open to the skies,
And skill to read the stars !
Who dwelleth in that secret place,
Where tumult enters not, Is never cold with terror base,
Never with anger hot. For if an evil host should dare
His very heart invest, God is his deeper heart, and there
He enters into rest.
When mighty sea-winds madly blow,
And tear the scattered waves, Peaceful as summer woods, below
Lie darkling ocean caves : The winds of words may toss my heart.
But what is that to me ! 'Tis but a surface storm — thou art
My deep, still, resting sea.^
3. The unproductive has hecome fruitful. — The promise is, "Ye shall bear much fruit." This is to be the measure and the reward of true discipleship. This is Christ's reward. This is how He is to see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. There is that in every heart which responds to this thought. We can all understand something of the feeling of the farmer leaning on his gate and looking at the waving fields of grain about him. He has planted and cultivated, and waited for the harvest, and here it is. He has made the waste land fruitful, and his soul is filled with a supreme satisfaction. Look at the light in the face of the young father over his new-born child, or the joy of the mother as for the
^ Letters of James Smetham, 81.
2 George MacDonald, Poetical Works , i. 294.
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first time she presses her infant to her heart. Life has produced life. Fruitfulness has come, the blessed gift of God. We all know its significance ; even the dullest and weariest long for its privileges.
T[ Sir Wilfrid Lawson the elder (father of the late baronet), on reaching middle life, had a dangerous illness ; and when brought (as he thought) to death's door, and when the unseen realities of the eternal world seemed breaking upon him, he longed for religious instruction, guidance, and consolation. This he did not expect to find among the worldly or sporting parsons of the neighbouring parishes, and so he sent for a humble Presbyterian minister from the neighbouring hamlet of Blennerhasset — a Mr. Walton — who, by his instructions and prayers, by God's blessing, brought peace of mind to Sir Wilfrid, so that when he rose from his sick-bed it was with a new view of life and a new purpose in living. In a word, he had become a true earnest Christian upon personal inquiry and conviction, and his tastes and inclinations and aims were completely changed, and he determined henceforth to spread those views of truth that had changed and blessed him, by devoting time and thought and means to their diffusion among his neighbours and friends. Having obtained a peace of mind never known before, he was anxious that those around should share the same priceless treasure. The Scriptures were a new revelation to him, and with strong faith in Jesus Christ as a loving, ever-present Saviour, he felt constrained by example and word and walk to lead others to trust in and serve Him.^