Isai. ivii. 20, 21. The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
WE need not wait till a future life in order to dis- cern the difference between the righteous and the
wicked : it is plainly discoverable now in their con- duct ; nor is it less so in the inward frame of their minds. To a superficial observer indeed the wicked may seem to have the advantage ; they being light and gay, while the righteous are often weary and heavy-laden : but God, who sees through the veil of outward appearances, affirms the very reverse of this to be true. We shall,
I. Confirm this divine assertion —
There certainly is a kind of peace which the wicked
may, and do, possess —
[By the " wicked " we are not necessarily to understand, those who are vicious and profane ; but all persons who are not devoted to God in the habitual exercise of righteousness and true holiness. And when it is said that such persons have " no peace," we must not imagine that they have no comfort or satisfaction in earthly enjoyments ; for they are full of life and spirit ; they shake off what they call melancholy ; they banish all thoughts of God, and indulge in conviviality and mirth a ; and, as far as animal gratifications can conduce to happiness, they are happy. Neither must we suppose them wholly destitute of what they mistake for peace : they often persuade themselves of the safety of their state, and in a very confident manner assert their relation to God as his children b. Having fixed the standard of duty according to their own mind ; and finding that, for the most part, they attain to what they deem a sufficient measure of religion, they " speak peace unto themselves, when alas ! there is no peace0" — ]
But of the peace of the gospel they are wholly
ignorant —
[The peace, which our Lord gives to his faithful followers, and which he emphatically calls his peace'1, is very different from any thing which an unregenerate man has ever experi- enced. It consists in a well-grounded hope of acceptance through Christ ; " and in " the testimony of our conscience " that we are walking agreeably to his mind and will. This peace is not a blind persuasion contrary to all the declarations of God's word, but an humble confidence founded upon the sacred oracles, and a joyful expectation that God will fulfil his gra- cious promises. Now such a peace as this, the wicked never feel : they do not seek it ; they would not even accept it upon
a Isai. v. 11, 12. b John viii. 39, 41.
c Jer. vi. 14. d John xiv. 27.