The best blessings.
"There shall be peace and truth in my days." These are God's twin blessings. There can be no peace without truth. There is veracity in,God's universe everywhere. It is only a seeming blessedness which exists apart from these things, for the flowers have no root. The dancing smile is only like phosphorescence on the face of the dead, if we are not at peace with God.
I. CHRIST'S LEGACY WAS PEACE. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." This is not peace of condition, but peace of conscience. The ocean, like Christ's life, may be troubled outwardly, but there is rest at the heart of it. We cannot judge by the surface-features of life. We must enter within to know if there be really peace. We must see the man in trouble, trial, solitude, and death. Then we shall see how true the acclamation is, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Bunyan had peace in Bedford Gaol; so had the confessors and martyrs of olden time.
II. CHRIST'S ATONEMENT GIVES PEACE. "Having made peace through the blood of his cross." We may be unable to give a theory of the atonement that can cover all its meaning—from the days of Anselm until now men have debated about that; but in depths of agony about sin we feel the need of a Saviour, and rejoice to sing—
"Nothing in my hands I bring.
Simply to thy cross I cling."
III. CHRIST GIVES PEACE THROUGH TRUTH. He tells the truth about our moral state and condition. He reveals the truth concerning the nature and purposes of God. He unveils the immortal life, not only as a doctrine, but in himself, in heavenly beauty of the earthly life. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." How comfortable it is to rest on this gracious promise, and to know that the True One cannot lie!—W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON