the gloom that gathers over the shows of earth we best can see the stars of heaven. Anything that bends us down into dependence is a blessing, for in Dependence lies our Peace. But Spiritual Peace depends, still being in harmony with God's will. more, on our This is indis pensable to solid Christian joy. It is only as we regard God as our Friend that we can delight in the recollection of His presence, and exercise dependence on His care; and we can never regard God as entirely our Friend, so long as our conscience tells us that we are not friends, desire not to be friends, with Him. All true and lasting peace, all sober certainty of waking bliss, depends on the condition of our own minds, the moral harmony that reigns within ourselves. It is because this harmony has been disturbed that man is miserable. And it is only in proportion as it is restored that he can be happy. And it is because this harmony is restored in the converted man, because he has received into his soul that Spirit of holiness which brings his will into accordance with the will of God, that he can rejoice in God as now his Father indeed; not in name and relation only, not by creation sustentation and daily benevolence merely, but as the Producer of a state of mind accordant with His own; as having begotten us again of His own Spirit, and created us anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which He had before ordained that we should walk in them. It is this fellowship of inward will that St. John especially refers to as the source of Christian joy. For he tells us, "if we say that we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another." And again," he that keepeth God's commandments dwelleth in him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us by the spirit which He hath given us." And this therefore Jesus presses on his followers as the source of all true inward joy. "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. And these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." And so felt St. Paul; "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." O it is indeed a peace that passeth understanding to feel, with all the wondering gratitude of conscious integrity, that we have taken God's will for our own, and that amidst our frequent infirmities and neglects and treacheries we do desire and endeavour to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; we do approve of God's law as holy just and good; admiring and loving it; co-operating with it; rejoicing in its partial fulfilment in ourselves and others now; and looking forward with a hopeful zeal to that predicted time when it shall be entirely fulfilled by all; when God's will shall be done in earth even as it is in heaven! What so exhilarates the heart as the assurance that we are truly at one with a bosom friend; that his confidence in us is not misplaced, that his affection towards us is returned, that there exist no private views and purposes in either mind, that we are together pursuing the same end, pleased with the same enjoyments, imbued with the same tastes, working out together the same results? And what then is it to be conscious that in some degree this fellowship exists with the Most High God; with the sentiments of the Most Holy; the purposes of the Most Wise; the workings of the Most Mighty; the honour and ultimate triumph of the Most Glorious; the King of kings and Lord of lords! The greatest blessedness that can be attained by mortal man is told in Scripture by one word; the greatest reward that can be given to the most devoted fidelity is assigned in a single syllable; and that is just the word and syllable which expresses all the peace we have been speaking of "Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness and he was called the FRIEND of God." Ye are my Friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." 66 Would you then, dear Reader, enjoy this friendship with God and all the peace which it produces, suffer me to remind you how this privilege was gained for you, and how it must be realized within you. 66 How it was gained for you. For it is written, Being justified by faith we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ;" and again, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement." This privilege then is not ours by birthright. It comes not of itself to us. It cannot be solicited for us by our fellow men. We cannot purchase it ourselves. Nor does it grow up in us by spontaneous development. No human heart is naturally friendly with the High and Holy One. As well might the outcast beggar aspire to friendship with the crowned monarch; or the condemned felon feel familiar with the robed man of justice; or the conscience-stricken murderer delight in the thought of him whose name he had put out from the earth. Nature, history, philosophy, Scripture, conscience, all declare that enmity, variance, suspicion, dread, are and must be the natural emotions of a guilty spirit toward its offended Maker Governor and Judge. And therefore to be friends with God we must become reconciled to Him. We must be made at one, before we can feel and love as one. The past must be settled before the future can be enjoyed. We must be brought into agreement before we can walk together. And just in order to this reconciliation, this at-one-ment, this making up, this bringing to agreement, God sent his only Son into the world to be the Mediator, the Restorer, the At-one-Maker, (as Tyndal calls him) the mutual interceding Friend.* "God was in Christ," says St. Paul, "reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of Reconciliation. Now then as ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." God has done everything on his part towards a reconciliation. Now do you do yours. God has made the first offers; has thrown down the existing barriers; has provided the necessary pledges; has condescended to the most encouraging assurances; has not spared his own Son but has given him up for us all; has opened wide his fatherly arms for * Whence To atone or make at one, is to reconcile two parties : "My prayers, my tears, my spirit-stirring grones Ancient Devotional Poetry, published by the Religious Tract Society, No. LIV. |