ll tno The Gospel of p Conf Pam 12mo #714 ANGELICAL TRACT SOCIETY,) ^ ± Petersburg, Va. f No. 220. THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. Sin hag wrought variance between God and man. It has broken the bend that fastened them together, and made distance where before there was nearness, estrangement where before there was friendship and peace. Such and so terrible is the evil of sin ; so ruinous its nature ; so great its power,. It was the law that gave to sin this' separating, alienating power. It was the law that enabled sin to break the peace be- tween God and man. Fur the law said, ''There can bo no peace between thehofy and the unholy ; there can only be enmity and War." Such and so awful is tho holiness of the law; so perfect fca nature ; so fad its power. How then sha41 this aAvful law bo persuaded to forego its claims, or allow the righteous and the -unrighteous to com'e together? — How shall the ruined peace between God and man be recovered, and the broken friendship restored? How shall the king and his revolting subjects be reconciled, and yet the law of the realm stand firm? How' shall God ray to the law-breaking rebel, "Come, enter into frii dth me?" If it was sin, thru, that made' us "out of peace" with God, we can only be made to be at peace with. Him through the taking away of that which came between us and God. No other way would have bee; \ or honorable- to God. Peace given us in any other way would have been false and insecure. It would nut ha , and it could not last. God has taken the one true and blessed way of making peace. He has taken out of the way that which made peace impossible. He has sent His Son to I f the. great hindrance. "That Son has come, and taken s i tim, though He had no sin of his own. He has i to seize upon Him, and con- demn Him, as if he were the sinner. He has borne everything that we should have borne, and done everything that we should have done. Thus the law has been wondrously honored by His. ing : it has not only been shewn to be "holy, and just and good," but far more holy and- just and good than it wits ever seen to be before. This Divine obeyor of the law, and bearer of its penalties, and answerer of its claims, has done far more to honor the law than we had done to dishonour it. Had 2 THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. the law kept hold of us for all eternity, and pressed its awful claims, it could not have gotten half so much satisfaction as it has done, by the one obedience and endurance of the Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ having done all this in the sinner's stead, the law has no right nor power to insist upon its claims be- ing answered by us in our own persons. These claims, no|doubt remain the same, for the law changes not in one in jot or tittle ; it remains the same terrible and inexorable law ; but then one has been found able to take all these claims upon himself, and meet them to the lull. Thus the law is honored, righteousness is satisfied, God is glo- rified ; and all in a way which provides for the removal of- that sin which stood between the sinner and God. Thus the sinner's pardon is made truly a righteous thing ; an act of justice as en- tirely as it is an act of grace. The sinner's salvation does more for the honor of God and of Ills law than his condemnation could have done. And all the reasons that might once have been urged for his being condemned, may now be urged with far greater force for his being forgiven. This is the foundation which God has laid^ for our peace. — Surely it is deep, and broad, and sure enough" to bear the load that is laid upon ft. For thus it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stcne, a tried stone, a precious corner- stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste" (Isa. xxviii. 10.) All this having been done, God now "preaches peace to us through Jesus Christ." And from the Way in which it has been brought about, we are assured that it is a peace that will stand. However violently it may be assaulted, it will not give way. It is not a peace which we have still to "make," as many seem to suppose, when they say to a dying man, "Make your peace with God." It is a peace already made— made by God, through the work of His Son on Calvary — "Having made peace through .the blood of his cioss" (Col. i. 20.) "The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed" (Isa.' liii. 5). It is this finished peace that God is now making known to the sons of men. And hence He is called the "God of peace," and the gospel which He has given us to preach is called, the "gospel of peace"— that is, the good news of a peace which God has made, jsx peace which he holds out to us so freely, that in simply believ- ing the good news concerning it, we get at once the peace whieh- they contain. Hence the apostle prayed, in behalf of the brethren at Rome, vThe God of hope fill you with all joy and pejace in believing" (Rom. xv. 13). Hence, in another part of the same epistle, he set i'orih the ground on which they stood — "Being justified by faith, -we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.'-' And hence he prayed in behalf of the Thessalonian brethren. THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. 6 "The Lord of peace give you peace always, by all means" (2 Thess. iii. 10). In the Lord Jesus, then, as the atoning one, the mediating one, the reconciling one, r we have peace. "He is our peace," says the apostle. He is the '"Prince of peace; '* says the prophet; and again, "The chastisement of out peace was upon him." "I will reveal to them," says Jehovah, "the abundance of peace ; w and again, "The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever;" and again, "I will make with them a covenant of peace;" and again, "In this place will I gyve peace." The good news announced in the angelic song was, "On earth peace, good-will toward men." — Nay, in looking forward to the birth of this great Peace-maker, thus the aged j£ac h arias sang: "Thou, child, shaft be called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou shall go before the face oi the Lord, to prepare his ways: to give knowledge of salvation unto bis people, by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God ; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited ug, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow oi death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Such. then, are the 'good news. of the Divine Peace-maker and His peace-making work. All that was needful for the securing of our peace has been finished by Him on the cross. There is no part ot our peace that requires still to be made. That which re- mains for us is not to make our peace, but to receive the divinely- made peace of the great Reconciler. The knowledge of Him, and of what lie has done, is all we need for the ' tai.ning and pre- serving of peace in our souls. In the "gospel of peace" God comes to us d daring the pro- vision which has been nude for effecting reconci vtionwiih Him- self. He tells us that there is no longer an\ reason why we should be afraid of Him, or wand aloof from Him, as if He were our great enemy. The reasons that existed ior this dread have been taken out of the way. The character in which he has re- vealed Himself is such as to invite, not repel, us. The name lie takes to Himself— "the God of peace," "Jehovah-shalom"-is Bueh as is fitted to win our confluence, and make us feel how safe the sinner "is in coming back to God, and intrusting to Him his all for eternity. The sending of the Son as the Peace-maker shews us how truly his thoughts toward us were thoughts of peace. The giving us the Holy Spirit to reveal to us this Peaces-maker and His blessed work of propitiation, shews how bent He is on carry ing into effect these thoughts of peace. His reconciling so many thousands of enemies in ages past, shews us that he is resolved that the neace-making blood shall not be shed in vain, and that men shall sec how thoroughly it can doits work of bringing back the sinner to Himself, oi* casting out fear, and of producing love and trust. His many- words of gracious welcome shew us how earn- THE GOSPEL OP PEACE. estly He presses upon us the reconciliation of his cov peace — "lurn ye, turn ye, for why will' ye die?" "0 t 6* fa •enant of # that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments !• then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." In preaching to us thp good news of peace. He-is pressing upon us still the same proposals of grace. lie will not let us rest. "He knows that distance from Him is misery, and that enmity to Him is theory essence of hell ; and, therefore/Tie is desirous that we should return and he at peace with him. He knows that there is no cure for the soul's many maladies,' nor- rest from the soul's many troubles, save in friendship with Himself; and, therefore, lie entreats us to be reconciled, and become His friends. He knows the infinite blessings of fellowship with Hiii-.self ; the cloep and wondrousjoy that there is in His 1'ove ; and, therefore, He ceases not to ply us with every argument that might persuade us to come and share, this gla