derive this blessing from any other source than the free, the full, the ever flowing fountain of Jesus' grace. Listen to His voice, accept His invitation, and you shall be abundantly supplied. These are its terms-Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah lv. 1.)

There are others who look to the world for peace when sorrows overtake them, whether arising from sickness, disappointment, or the reproaches of a guilty conscience. guilty conscience. But can the world give peace? It pretends to do so. We shall see how it fulfils its promise. Our Lord, as though to caution His disciples against so delusive a resource, expressly contrasts it with the peace which He intended to bestow. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. The friendship of the world satisfies thousands for a time, though they know not God. The dissipation, the excesses of the world, while they last, will banish from the mind every uneasy or serious thought, and dissipate all fear of a future reckoning. The flatteries of the world will sometimes hush to rest the terrors awakened by recollections of a mispent life. The possessions and the luxuries of the world will satiate the body till the soul is forgotten, and no happiness is desired beyond present gratification. Thus, in one way or another, the world giveth peace; but it is the peace of death.

The soul is dead in trespasses and sins. No wonder, therefore, that it is as insensible to the happiness or miseries of a future world, as a claycold corpse is to the beauties of creation, to the joys or the miseries of life.. Tell some men of the world that they have no peace, and they will deny it. They are not always conscious of their want of this treasure, because ignorant of its nature, unconscious of its importance, and undisturbed in their earthly enjoyments. Others contradict their feelings when pretending to be free from all uneasiness of mind. They cry, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. To seek it from the world, is like going to a well without water, or hewing them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jer. ii. 13.) As the wicked, when rioting in ungodliness, are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, which casteth up mire and dirt; (Isaiah Ivii. 20.) so the peace which they obtain from the world is as the calm of the ocean when the wind is at rest. It is always heaving and swelling, and its surface is ruffled in an instant by the gentlest breeze. Ask the man who has been in trouble, or at the point of death, what peace the world could give him then? He will tell you, if he tells the truth, that the ground of his hope that he once thought firm enough, seemed to rock under him as if convulsed by an earthquake, and filled him with dismay. Whatever peace men may pretend that they derive from the world, the prophet contradicts

them in the name of the Lord. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah lvii. 21.) If they persist in calling their stillness peace, it is the peace of forgetfulness, of pride, of drunkenness, of death. But again, remember that Jesus Christ says, Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. His peace is sound, it is permanent; because it is the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, and keeps the heart and mind through Christ Jesus. (Phil. iv. 7.) It sweetens the bitterness of mortal pain; it soothes the breast of the mourning penitent; it disarms man's last enemy of his sting; it lights up the dark valley of the shadow of death; it reveals a bright prospect beyond the grave; and finally enters with the soul into the rest of heaven.

DISCOURSE II.

PEACE APPROPRIATED BY FAITH.

BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.-Rom. v. 1.

To know that Jesus Christ has bequeathed to His disciples a legacy of peace, ought to produce in every one an anxiety to secure it in proportion to its value. The man who is remembered in the will of a departed friend, does not rest satisfied until he has obtained the property to which he is entitled. To question his right to it, will serve only to make him the more impatient to get it into his possession; and his diligence will be stimulated by any doubts that may arise to threaten him with disappointment.

Similar to this should be the solicitude of every one to ascertain his interest in the Redeemer's bequest. He has not indeed revealed the names of those for whom the boon is intended, but He has described their character. All, therefore, who answer to the description which He has given

of His disciples and servants, are free to appropriate to themselves the promised peace. A true and lively faith in His word is the only principle wherewith to receive it. There are, however, too many adverse objects which solicit and gain the attention of mankind, though of a value as inferior to this blessing as earth is to heaven. What multitudes do we see forego the liberty, the happiness, the treasure of Immanuel's peace, for sordid gain, the friendship of the world, or the excessive indulgence of their appetites. Thousands of human beings destined for immortality, who do not question the existence of that world to which they are hastening, nor the truth of that religion which alone can teach them how they may be happy there, are yet regardless of the future, and give themselves as little concern about the attainment of peace with God, as if they had settled it in their minds that they can have no interest in the Christian's legacy. Yet who can be so heedless when on the confines of Eternity? Who that is unprepared for it, can disregard his appalling situation when death draws near, and contemplate without alarm the approaching judgment? In that terrific hour most men think seriously of making their peace with God. How thoughtless soever before about the salvation of their souls, yet when all hope of prolonging their days is cut off, and the fear of punishment for the past is forced upon them, then arises, in almost every mind, the momentous