trast their present peace with the restless fears and jealousies to which they were a prey when they served the world.
Now that they have given themselves to God and placed all their confidence in Him, none of these alarms can reach them. Their calm resignation to His will has wrought such a change in them that they can hardly believe themselves the same beings. In truth, grace has transformed them by creating in them new hearts. Can we, then, be surprised that such souls enjoy a peace which, the Apostle says, surpasses all understanding?
He who enjoys this favor cannot but turn to the Author of so many marvels and cry out with the prophet: "Come and behold ye the works of the Lord, what wonders He hath done upon earth, making wars to cease even to the ends of the earth. He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons; and the shields He shall burn in the fire."[1] What, then, is more beautiful, more worthy of our ambition, than this peace of soul, this calm of conscience, which is the work of grace and the privilege of virtue? As one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost, peace is the effect of virtue and its inseparable companion. It is one of those blessings which give us on earth many of the joys of Heaven. For the Apostle tells us: "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."[2] According to the Hebrew version, justice here means the perfection of virtue, which, together with
