God’s justice and love are one.  Infinite justice must be infinite love.  Justice is but another sign of love.  The infinite rest of the “I am” of God arises out of the harmony of His attributes.

The next thing we observe respecting this divine peace which has come down to man on earth is, that it is a living peace.  Brethren, let us distinguish.  There are several things called peace which are by no means divine or Godlike peace.  There is peace, for example, in the man who lives for and enjoys self, with no nobler aspiration goading him on to make him feel the rest of God; that is peace, but that is merely the peace of toil.  There is rest on the surface of the caverned lake, which no wind can stir; but that is the peace of stagnation.  There is peace amongst the stones which have fallen and rolled down the mountain’s side, and lie there quietly at rest; but that is the peace of inanity.  There is peace in the hearts of enemies who lie together, side by side, in the same trench of the battle-field, the animosities of their souls silenced at length, and their hands no longer clenched in deadly enmity against each other; but that is the peace of death.  If our peace be but the peace of the sensualist satisfying pleasure, if it be but the peace of mental torpor and inaction, the peace of apathy, or the peace of the soul dead in trespasses and sins, we may whisper to ourselves, “Peace, peace,” but there will be no peace; there is not the peace of unity nor the peace of God, for the peace of God is the living peace of love.

The next thing we observe respecting this peace is, that it is the manifestation of power—­it is the peace which comes from an inward power:  “Let the peace of God,” says the Apostle, “rule within your hearts.”  For it is a power, the manifestation of strength.  There is no peace except there is the possibility of the opposite of peace although now restrained and controlled.  You do not speak of the peace of a grain of sand, because it cannot be otherwise than merely insignificant, and at rest.  You do not speak of the peace of a mere pond; you speak of the peace of the sea, because there is the opposite of peace implied, there is power and strength.  And this brethren, is the real character of the peace in the mind and soul of man.  Oh! we make a great mistake when we say there is strength in passion, in the exhibition of emotion.  Passion, and emotion, and all those outward manifestations, prove, not strength, but weakness.  If the passions of a man are strong, it proves the man himself is weak, if he cannot restrain or control his passions.  The real strength and majesty of the soul of man is calmness, the manifestation of strength; “the peace of God” ruling; the word of Christ saying to the inward storms “Peace!” and there is “a great calm.”

Lastly, the peace of which the apostle speaks is the peace that is received—­the peace of reception.  You will observe, throughout