"BEING justified by faith, we have peace with God; - that is, we enter into the state of peace immediately. He is a rich man who has a thousand acres of corn in the ground, as well as he who has so much in his barn or the money in his purse. So Christians have rest and peace in the seed of it, when they have it not in the fruit; they have it in the promise when they have it not in the possession. All believers have the promise of rest and peace, and we know that the truth and faithfulness of God stand engaged to make good every line and word of the promise to them. So that though they have not a full and clear actual sense and feeling of rest, they are, nevertheless, by faith come into the state of rest." Flavel. "THE peace of God is that with which God Himself is at peace."-Augustine. Jesus "having made peace through the blood of his cross," our reconciliation with the Father is already accomplished. Faith has only to accept it and rest in it as a part of the Redeemer's finished work. Here is a matter of fact, not a matter of feeling. Faith does not create anything or change anything; it simply apprehends what is and counts it true. "The lightning's flash did not create The lovely prospect it revealed; It only showed the real state Of what the darkness had concealed." "O Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." The wondrous things are there already atonement, redemption, peace-all these are accomplished realities, standing for their support alone in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We only need sight to behold them, and a believing trust to rest in them. When after a foreign war our nation had sent ambassadors abroad to treat with the foe and they had returned, only the one word "Peace" was shouted out from the ship that brought them into harbor, and in a few hours all the city was thrilling with joyful congratulations.* It was the truth that a reconciliation had been effected that brought this happy peace of mind to the people; it was not their peace of mind that brought the reconciliation. In other words, fact supplied the ground for feeling, and not feeling for fact. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God." The faith which rests on Him who "is our Peace;" which trusts in Him who has "slain the enmity, so making peace;" which credits Him who "came and preached peace"†this it is which brings a true sense of reconcilement to God. In other words, it is Christ's work * Memoir of Francis Wayland, p. 38. † Eph. 2: 14 17. for us that gives us peace with God, and not Christ's work in us. Talk we about making peace with God! That we cannot do, and are not required to do, since the Lord has done it for us already. "Blessed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of God." Here as elsewhere our Lord Jesus, the strong Son of God, has the highest beatitude. He is the great Peace-maker, mighty to save because a partaker of God's almightiness, and therefore alone of all the sons of men able to accept God's challenge, "Let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. So then our peace with God rests solidly and solely upon the finished work of Christ. The Peace of God is quite another matter, depending for its reality on the work of the Holy Spirit within us. This is an inward experience, as the other was an outward fact. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts," says the apostle. The holy calm in which God dwells without fear, without disquiet, without forebodings-can be so imparted to our souls, and by the Spirit of |
