Peace, Perfect Peace: A Portion for the Sorrowing

“Peace, perfect peace!” What music there is in the words! The very mention of them fills the heart with longings which cry out for satisfaction, and will not be comforted. Sometimes, indeed, we may succeed in hushing them for a little, as a mother does a fretful child; but soon they will break out again with bitter and insatiable desire. Our nature sighs for rest, as the ocean shell, when placed to the ear, seems to sigh for the untroubled depths of its native home.

There is peace in those silent depths of space, blue for very distance, which bend with such gentle tenderness over our fevered, troubled lives. There is peace in the repose of the unruffled waters of the mountain lake, sheltered from the winds by the giant cliffs around. There is peace at the heart of the whirlwind which sweeps across the desert waste in whirling fury. The peace of a woodland dell, of a highland glen, of a summer landscape, all touch us. And is there none for us, whose nature is so vast, so composite, so wonderful?

There is. As Jacob lay a dying in his hieroglyphed chamber, not far from the Pyramids, his face shadowed by approaching death, but aglow with the light of the world d fco which he was going, he told how Shiloh, the Peaceful One, the Peace-giver, should come to give peace to men. Weary generations passed by and still he came not, until at length there stood among men One, whose outward life was full of sorrow and toil; but whose sweet calm face mirrored the unbroken peace that reigned within His breast. He was the promised Peace-giver. He had peace in Himself; for he said, “My peace.” He had the power of passing that peace on to others; for He said, “My peace I give unto you.” Why should not each reader of these lines receive the peace which Jesus had Himself, and which He waits to give to every longing and recipient heart?

A poor woman timidly asked the gardener of a gentleman’s hothouse if he would sell hex just one bunch of grapes for Tier dying child. He gruffly threatened to summon the police unless she auickly left the place. But as she sadly turned away, she was recalled by a girlish voice, bidding her stay, asking her story, and insistiner on her having as many bunches as she could carry with her. And when she offered her few halfpence in return, she was met by the sweet, laughing answer, “Nay, my poor woman, this is my father’s hothouse; we don’t sell grapes here, but we are very Dieased to give them; take them and welcome, for vour dying child.” It is so that Jesus gives His neace to all weary, tired ones. Whv not to you?

His peace is perfect (Isa. xxvi. 3). Unbroken by storms. Uninvaded by the rabble rout of care. Unreached by the hierhest surges of sorrow. Unstained by the contaminat* ing touch of sin. The very same peace that reigns m Heaven, where all is perfect and complete.

His peace is as a river (Isa. xlviii. 18). The dweller on its banks in time of drought is well supplied with water. It is flowing at early dawn, as he goes to his daily toil. It is there in the scorching noon. It is there when the stars shine, hushing him to sleep with the melody of its waves. When he was a child, he plucked the flowerets on its banks; and when his foot shall tread its banks never more, his children’s children shall come to drink its streams. Think, too, how it broadens and deepens and fills up, in its onward journey, and from its source to the boundless, infinite sea. So may our peace be, abiding and growing with our years.

His peace is great (Isa. liv, 13). 11

The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, yet shall it abide. Its music is louder than the tumult of the storm. Learn the lesson of the Lake of Galilee; that the peace which is in the heart of Jesus, and which He gives to His own, can iuell the greatest hurricane that ever swept down the mountain ravine and spent itself on the writhing waters beneath. For when the Master arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still,” the winds ceased and there was a great calm. “Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.”

His peace is compatible with much tribulation (John xvi. 33). If we never find our path dipping down into the sunless valley, we may seriously question whether we have not missed our way to the Celestial City. 12

The road to the Mount of Ascension invariably passes through the shadowed Garden of Gethsemane, and over the steep ascent of Calvary, and then down into the Garden of the Grave. “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” But amidst it all it is possible to be kept in unbroken peace, like that which possessed the heart of Jesus, enabling Him calmly to work a miracle of healing amid the tumult of His arrest.

His peace passeth all understanding (Phil. iv. 7). It cannot be put into words. It defies analysis. It must be felt to be understood. The thing most like it is the gladsomeness of a child in its father*s home, where wealth and love and wise nurture combine to supply all its need; but even that falls short of the glorious reality. “Eye hath not seen, nor 13 ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. We have the mind of Christ.” And (bringing out the deep meaning ol! the Greek) we may say, that this peace will sentinel our hearts and minds, going to and fro, like a sentry before a palace, to keep off the intruders that would break in upon the sacred enclosure. Oh that we might be ever protected by a guardianship so benign and watchful and invul* nerable to attack.

There are a few conditions, however, which demand our careful thought.

1. The Basts of Peace is the

Blood. — *’ He made peace by the

Blood of His Cross” (Col. i, 20).

We sometimes hear men speak of

14 malcing their ‘peace with God, But that is wholly needless. Peace has been made. When Jesus died on the Cross, He did all that needed to be done, and all that could be done, so far as God was concerned, in order to bring peace to men. Nothing more is requisite, save to lay aside fear and suspicion, and to accept the peace which He now sweetly and freely offers. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them .... now be ye reconciled” (2 Cor. V. 19, 20).

There were many obstacles to our peace, but they have been entirely met and put out of the way. God’s Holy Justice, which would pursue us with its drawn sword, can say nothing against us, because it has been more vindicated in the death. of the Son of God, than it could Id nave been in the perdition of myriads of worlds. The broken law, which might press its claims, is silenced by the full and complete satisfaction rendered it in the obedience and death of the Law-giver Himself. Conscience even, with its long and bitter record of repeated sin, feels able to appropriate forgiveness without scruple or alarm; because it understands that God can be just, and yet justify the believer in Jesus. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us.”

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