The unbeliever is an utter stranger to peace —
[He may be stupid and insensible as a beast ; but he can know nothing of real peace : even his apathy vanishes when once he begins to think of death and judgment. As his sere- nity resembles that of the irrational creation ; so it arises from a similar source, a want of foresight or reflection in reference to the concerns of his soul. If he thinks of God, he is troubled, and will gladly have recourse to any thing to banish such uneasy reflections from his mind. This is his state, even when in the midst of all that the world accounts good and great : but how utterly devoid of peace is he, when once he is awakened to a sense of his real condition ! Then he is full of terror, like the three thousand on the day of Pentecost ; and, if he do not think of suicide, like the affrighted Jailor, he would gladly exchange condition with the beasts, if only the dissolution of the animal life might put an eternal period to his existence.
We speak not of the tumultuous passions by which the ungodly are agitated ; because there are some who by the mere force of philosophy are enabled in a very great degree to mode- rate their feelings. But none can reflect on an eternity beyond the grave, without being appalled at the thought of the doom that awaits them, if they are unprepared to meet their God : so true is that which is spoken by the prophet, " The wicked are like the troubled sea, that cannot rest : there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked''."]
But God promises this blessing to the believer —
[" The man whose mind is stayed on God, shall be kept in perfect peace." He shall have peace i?i relation to his pardon and acceptance with God. Often in the day of his flesh did our Lord assure persons that their sins, though numerous, were forgiven '^: and will he be less gracious to his people now? Though he will not give us that assurance by any audible voice, he will by the inward witness of his Spirit^. As once he sent " a Seraph to take a live coal from oft' his altar, and to touch with it the prophet's lips, and to say to him, Thine ini- quity is taken away, and thy sin is purged''," so will he now send his Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of promise, to apply the pro- mises to our souls, and to be within us a pledge and earnest of our heavenly inheritance'.
The Believer shall have peace also in relation to his perseve- rance in the divine life. He " knows in whom he has believed, and that he is able to keep that which has been committed to him^." He knows that his Lord and Saviour is " able to keep
e Isai. Ivii. 20, 21. f Matt. ix. 2. Luke vii. 47.
s Rom. viii. 16. '' Isai. vi. 6, 7. ' Kph, i. 13, 14.
^ 2 Tim. i. 12.