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CHAPTER XIV.

Peace in Believing.

MAY we not yet say a few words, which shall have a tendency to excite more earnest desires and more strenuous efforts after the attainment of this peace, in those who are not already enjoying it?

The first step toward the accomplishment of this object, is to produce a thorough conviction that such an assurance of the love and mercy of God is both their privilege and their duty. We heartily condemn the Spirit of the prodigal in demanding a portion of his father's goods. We are content to wait patiently for that which we ought to wait for. But surely there is no unfilial feeling in the humble desire that we, and all the children of God, may enjoy whatever he intends for and has actually given us. May we not say, on the contrary, that it would be most unfilial to disregard, and much more to decline it?

Surely our blessed Redeemer gave to his disciples, and left with them, for their immediate occupation and benefit, this heavenly peace-this untroubled and unfearing peace-his own peace. Unless there is that in Christ the belief of which tends to the immediate production of such peace in our hearts, there is no force in his words, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid; ye believe in God, believe also in me." And if our Lord Jesus did mean this for us. if he did mean that we should have his gift in immediate possession, we ought not to disregard his intention. If untroubled peace is one of the natural consequences of faith in the revelation which Jesus Christ has made of himself in the Gospel, do not the doubts and fears that disturb our peace, show, that if we are not entirely destitute of faith, it is not as sure and as strong, as broad and as deep as it ought to be. If any are not enjoying this peace, there must be some willful obstruction in their hearts, amounting to a refusal of the Saviour's gift. Whatever gracious dispositions the Holy Spirit may have wrought in them, so far the kind intentions of our Saviour are defeated by their unbelief. They may so believe as not to enter into final condemnation of God, yet these troubled and fearful ones are for some reason falling short of the great privilege which their loving and compassionate Redeemer intended for and has given them.

And when, on the other hand, we hear one like Paul, in the midst of the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, the good and the evil, which he felt within him, crying out in his strong confidence of victory, as one already rejoicing over a prostrate foe, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord;" or at another time, in a more subdued, but no less confident spirit, "I know whom I have believed;" or, like one of old, who "had not received the promises, but had seen them afar off, and was persuaded of them, and embraced them," declaring, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" when we hear such things, do we not feel that it is neither robbery nor presumption, but a precious right of every one that believeth?

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There is, there must be comfort for us in Christ amid all the tribulations and temptations of the world. When our blessed Saviour, who stands knocking, knocking, and ever knocking at our hearts, till we open the door and let him in-when he who is all grace and compassion fulfills towards us his promise, and comes in, and sups with us and we with him, there must be some means by which we may know it, know it, or the promise can have no fulfillment for us.

His presence can afford us no comfort unless it manifest itself to our consciousness.

And now, if all these things are so, why is it that 80 few are found in the enjoyment of this peace in Christ? How is it that trouble and fear have come

to be regarded as an almost necessary part of true religion, and doubting an indication of becoming humility; as if the humble acceptance of what our Saviour so freely gives, were not consistent with the deepest self-renunciation and self-abhorrence? How is it that many regard this peace as connected with a high and almost hopeless advance toward perfection, and therefore, in most cases, the proud boasting of a self-righteous spirit; instead of being seen as it is, one of the humblest things in the world? It would seem according to the language of our Saviour, to be a privilege within the reach of all his disciples-a general provision for the wants of his pilgrim people, like the refreshing pools of the valley of Baca, as thou goest toward Jerusalem, the holy city. Why then, is it so often looked upon as a blessing not connected with any act of our hearts in accepting it, but altogether dependent upon the sovereign pleasure of the Spirit, like the wind which "bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?"

If our faith is not producing such fruits of joy and peace as abounded among the early Christians, must it not be different from theirs? Must there not be some defect in our faith, owing, perhaps, to defective knowledge of the truth? And then comes another important question; whether the de

fect in faith, which has its conclusive proof in our doubting, fearful state, may not produce consequences, to ourselves and to others, more lamentable than the loss of that personal comfort which our Saviour intended we should enjoy. If the Church does not live up to her privileges in this respect—if this heavenly peace ever becomes a stranger within her walls, not only may it impair the vigor of direct effort which she should put forth in the cause of God, crippling her energies and depriving her of one great incentive to all holy activity; but those heavenly ways which of old were pleasantness and peace, shall come to seem gloomy and forbidding, instead of being lovely and attractive to others. We cannot invite others to be partakers of our joy and hope. Never will the Church arise from the dust, and shine, and put on her beautiful garments, until the glory and grace of her Lord are more clearly seen by the vision of faith—until with a firmer confidence she rejoices in him as the God of her salvation.

But the question comes to us as individuals. Have we found peace in believing? Are our hearts at rest in Christ? Have we ceased to resemble the troubled sea whose waves are driven with the wind and tossed? Shall he whose single word lulled the angry billows of the sea of Galilee, speak in vain to our troubled hearts? Are there any depths in our sorrow or fear that can resist the power of his command

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