SECOND DAY.

The Life of
Life of Peace.

[N that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength: Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

Is. xxvi. 1-4, 12.

And when Jesus was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

St. Matt. viii. 23-27.

And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer : it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased.

St. Mark vi. 47-51.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. St. John xiv. 27.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

St. John xvi. 33.

T. V. FOSBERY.

PEACE is promised to those whose hearts are

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stayed on God. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.' What then is the nature of this possession so wonderfully bestowed and preserved to us by God himself? Peace is that

settled calm happiness which is more quiet and lasting than joy-more noble and worthy than pleasure. Pleasure may make us for a time forget pain, and a passing joy may take for a moment the place of a passing sorrow, but peace is deeper than these. Search the heart in which true peace dwells, and you will find it reaching down to the centre of life itself; pleasure, pain, joy, sorrow, may come and go, but peace abides through all.

It is remarkable that in the books and in the talk of the men of this world you rarely find the word peace. They seem to have found the thing itself beyond their reach; the life of peace appears to them an impossible condition here. You sometimes hear them speak of a tranquil life, but that only means a freedom from external disturbances. Now, the peaceful life of a faithful Christian is not one always of outward quietness. It may be one of constant busy employment; we have each of us our work to do, and much of this work may be fatiguing, troublesome, full of interruptions, distasteful in itself; and so we may lead anything but what the world means by a tranquil life, and yet it may be full of peace.

'There are in this loud stunning tide

Of human care and crime,

With whom the melodies abide

Of th' everlasting chime;
Who carry music in their heart

Through dusky lane and wrangling mart,
Plying their daily task with busier feet,
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.'

When our Lord said, 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you,' he added, 'Not as the world. giveth, give I unto you.' And indeed the peace of His bestowing is mysterious as the Giver. He who might have exempted the lot of the righteous from all suffering and sorrow has not done so. 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous.' Take such troubles as sore sickness, or the death of those we love. The Christian soldier is no stoic-his heart is full of deepest grief by the grave of the lost; but grief and peace may dwell together he sees the earthly hope blighted, but he has a hope full of immortality; he is not forbidden to grieve, but he cannot sorrow as others who have no hope. The hand of God is plain to him, directing this as all other things; and if he has placed himself under His care he knows that it shall be well with him-his heaviness may endure for a night, yea, it may not be wholly removed through all the night of this life; but the dawning of a better day is at hand, and joy cometh in that morning.

Peace then, such as God gives, is not destroyed even amidst the heaviest storms; and see how it avails under the common circumstances of life! What is it that gives real abiding cheerfulness to the day? What is it that makes the task so easy, the labour so light? What is it that spreads itself all around as a tranquil atmosphere, but the influence of peace? And it has a blessed effect upon others; there is nothing that wins men, nothing that sooner leads them to inquire

into the nature and power of the Gospel of Peace, than seeing peace manifested in the life, peace written on the very countenance of the holy. What good it does, too, to beginners, to those just setting out on their Christian course, when they thus learn how great a present blessing is within their own reach? And yet, as none can quite penetrate those depths of the heart where peace dwells, none can see in others a thousandth part of the blessing as it lies there; or perceive, if they have not themselves experienced it, how truly it is called 'the peace of God that passeth all understanding.' Indeed, how can it be understood? Is it not a mystery to a man's own self? In the midst of the many hopes and fears, doubts and distresses that are often in the heart, how wonderful it is that, on the whole, there is peace there-peace, like some rock that the heaving and surging waves hide for a moment from the eye, but which yet abides, fixed and unshaken for

ever.

ANCIENT COLLECT.

LORD God Almighty, Christ the King of glory,

who art our true Peace, and Love eternal, enlighten our souls with the brightness of Thy peace, and purify our consciences with the sweetness of Thy love, that we may with peaceful hearts wait for the Author of peace, and in the adversities of this world may ever