The Secret of the Lord

11 A new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.y — Rev. ii. 17.

There is a secret word which admits men into the Christian society, but it is a word that is spoken only to the heart; it is the word peace. This is the secret of the Lord that is with them that fear Him. The peace of Christ in the soul to the eye of an outward beholder is indeed a secret. He cannot explain it, he cannot account for it, he cannot understand it; it seems to him as if it had no right to be. He sees men joyous where he would be miserable, restful where he would be perplexed, calm where he would be appalled, and he asks, Whence is it so? There is a peace which does not pass understanding, which the world understands quite well, and can refer to reasonable causes. Wealth, fame, rank, power, freedom from the tossings and the heavings of the great sea of human trouble, anchorage within some earthly haven on which the storms never blow — all this the world can appreciate as a source of peace. But where riches are not, where fame and power are not, where freedom from the storm is not found, where the haven of anchorage is not known, — there the world wonders to find unbroken joy. It marvels to see rest amid unrest, calm amid storm, light amid darkness, lava amid shadow, life amid death; the peace of Christ is to it a secret.

My soul, it must be a secret to thee too even after thou hast possessed it. Thou nearest the sound of the wind, but canst not tell whence it cometh; so is it with the peace of Christ within thee. When that peace is within thee thou hast, indeed, a joy, but it is a joy thyself dost not understand; it passe th even thy knowledge. It lies beneath all human causes, it is independent of all human circumstances. Thou canst no more tell why thy heart shines than thou canst tell why the sun shines; it shines because it has become its nature so to do. It gets not its light from aught without, nay, it shall give its light to everything without — even to the shadows. It is not kindled by the glow of worldly fortune, nay, it will impart its own glow even to worldly mz’sfortune, will turn everything it touches into gold. 0 Divine Peace, that art a contradiction to them that know Thee not and a secret even to them that know Thee, let me be a sharer in Thy power. Let me experience the marvel of Thy presence within me without seeking to solve the marvel. Let me be content to be a secret unto myself, a wonder to the law of my own being. Let me know what it is to have the incomprehensible joy, the unexplainable rest, the stillness that cannot be stirred though the earth be removed and the mountains be cast into the depths of the sea. Let me experience the Divine sleep in the midst of the waves — the sleep that Thou promisest to Thy beloved; so shall I learn what it is to possess the secret of the Lord.