cannot rest. Now, peace of soul is the work of the Holy Spirit entering the soul, and taking possession of it for his eternal dwelling-place; then are passions hushed in peace-and these are both the fruit of the gospel. Both the conscience, the heart, and the will, have peace. Dear friends, having thus spoken in general of this peace, I come now,

2ndly, To show that it is not a natural peace. There is a peace which all are born with, and, notwithstanding all God has said against it, many still retain it from the cradle to the grave; others have a peace of conscience, and they would sooner part with life than part with it: but this is not the peace spoken of in the text; for what need then had Christ to say "My peace I give unto you," if they had it already by nature. Nothing marks more clearly a false profession to be a false peace than just this natural peace-they had it when children, and they never wanted it, and never lost it. Now this is their own peace-dear friends examine this closely. Those who have Christ's peace have lost their own peace by discoveries of guilt. They got no rest till they heard the voice of Jesus saying, "My peace I give unto you." Like the dove from Noah's ark they got no rest. So those present who are God's children have lost their own peace-they were brought to a state of anguish. Now, let us inquire how this peace is to be got-it is by the Word. If you get it not in this way, you are building upon a dream. You cannot obtain it without the Word; and all who have obtained it can tell that it was through the Word preached, or read, or meditated upon, that he obtained this peace. Sometimes a single word will give peace to a weary tempest-tossed soul, just as when Jesus was asleep in the vessel and was awaked by Peter-he rebuked the waves, and there was a great calm. This peace is given by Christ through the Spirit. If ye have got peace by the Word, and not by the Spirit, it is a false peace. When a man has his conscience awakened and can get no rest,-he goes to church, he goes to God's word, he consults in order to obtain peace, godly ministers, but he finds none. I remember once a person told me: I thought I had got peace till I spoke with a godly minister, and he showed me I had got a false peace.' God in giving it shows the sovereignty of grace; and it may be when a soul has been reading, praying, and finds all to be darkness, yet he may remember one passage, and peace may break in upon his darkened soul there to continue. This is the Spirit bringing home the word. But we cannot dwell longer on this part of the subject; enough has been said to prove that this peace is not natural but supernatural.

3rdly, This peace is a sovereign peace. Many here may be`saying, "Peace, peace," louder than Jehovah can say "There is no peace.' That is a peace the condemned criminal might speak to himself in prison the night before his execution; he may dream of pardon and of liberty-he may dream of being restored to his home, his wife, and his helpless children-he thinks he hears their rejoicing, the rejoicing of friends—but he awakes, and alas! it is but a dream. He hears a sound, it is true, but it is the death-knell for his execution. Behold it was all a dream. So will many of you awake at last from your dream of peace; but infinitely above this miserable peace is that which comes from God, from the Judge of all the earth, from the throne of God and it must be true peace.

4thly, This peace is a holy and righteous peace. The peace of the natural man is founded on a disbelief of holiness and justice; a peace against which the truth and all the attributes of God are arrayed in eternal hostility: it can only survive if the attributes of Jehovah were extinguished. The peace of Christ however is a holy and righteous peace, not founded on any obedience of our own. It is a peace which grows out of the fulfilling of the law; for, dear friends, you know, in the death of Christ, that righteousness and peace kissed each other; though mercy stood by blowing her silver trumpet, yet justice and truth stood also demanding satisfaction, so that there could be no peace till Jesus hung upon the cross bearing the sins of his people and expired under the load of God's wrath. There was no peace till the wrath and curse of God

were laid upon Jesus. Now there is peace, peace with justice, peace with truth. O! they are sadly deluded who seek peace in their own good deeds, or by the tears they may have shed for sin; it is only because Emmanuel hath magnified the law that now there is peace for the chief of sinners. God's attributes were all lying asunder, and all creatures could not bring them together. It was only when Emmanuel bled and died, when he lay a cold corpse in the lonely sepulchre; it was then that mercy and truth kissed over the body of Emmanuel sacrificed for us. Now, when the man is drawn by faith to contemplate a crucified Saviour-when he goes, as it were, to Gethsemane and to Calvarywhen he looks by faith there, then he obtains peace, peace which passeth all understanding.

5thly, It is a reigning peace. There is a peace but it does not possess the throne of the heart. It may be there to-day and cast out to-morrow. O! poor sinner, you cannot tell how long it may last. You are just like a tenant ready to be cast out at the will of a cruel landlord-be cast out and left houseless. So it is with every natural soul. When Jesus comes it will be cast out-when the Sun of Righteousness rises it will be dispelled like mist of the morning; but the saint may be saying, "How is it I am so often cast down and disquieted?" Dear friends, all this may be while peace reigns though not undisturbed. There may be war in the country and the throne be safe, so it is with the soul of the believer, the world is against you, so your peace is disturbed, but when the King of Glory comes then will you enjoy undisturbed peace. Satan will be busy; and the world with all its temptations, its vanities, and its cares and its lies, and last of all the flesh, the body of sin, and death-but all these you will bid an eternal farewell to when you enter the portals of the New Jerusalemall these you will leave upon a deathbed, and you shall enter singing "Victory, victory, through the peace speaking blood of Emmanuel :" for in heaven there will be no sin-there all will be peace, the peace of a perfect triumph. O! yes, we will enjoy in heaven an eternal peace; but the peace of a natural man is not eternal, it is like the vapours on the mountain side in the morning sun; so their peace will be all gone when death, judgment, and eternity come-but true peace will only then be undisturbed.

APPLICATION. We would press the question on your consciences,-What kind of a peace is it which makes you sit still in your seats to-night? Comes it from Calvary, or is it your own peace? O! there are many here to whom it would be a great benefit if they lost their peace. Jesus comes to destroy the peace of the hypocrite, liar, drunkard, the worldling, the decent professor, the Pharisee-He comes to send the sword with its sharp flaming edge, to cut the heart of those who say "Peace, peace." If their is a man here who has found peace by his own works, that man's peace is false, it is the world's peace, it is Satan's peace, it is hell's peace. If any man has got peace by his tears, his peace is built upon the sand. If a man has peace in an unregenerate state, peace in idols, peace in the world, or in living to himself, or in any other way without passing through the strait gate of regeneration, that man's peace is not Christ's peace,—it is a peace that death will shake, judgment will dissipate, and hell will howl for. But some have this true peace, and what is their character? They have very little peace. God is at peace with them, and yet they cannot take peace to themselves-they have got a soul-humbling view of themselves and their own corrupt hearts. They may be known by their poverty of spirit, by their holy fear of sin-they are known by their love to Christ, and by their complaining that they cannot love him more -they complain much of sin to God; these are the marks: and O! if we believe Jesus, they are a little flock. There are not many going about this world carrying Christ's peace along with them; they walk tremblingly, like a man on a highway carrying precious jewels-they are afraid to encounter any thing that would rob them of their jewels. O! the man and the woman who can walk in the sight and sound of sin and mingle in it, show that they have not found the peace of Jesus. They who have this peace walk in armour

they sleep in armour-they will not put it off till the conflict is over; and that will only be when the saint has overcome the last enemy, which is death. Are any here then saying, "I see that mine is but a false peace. O! how can I get true peace?" Then read the text,-"My peace I give unto you." Not in the world is this peace found, not in ordinances, not in instruments, not in prayers-all these are but refuges of lies. If ye are resting in them, I direct you to go to Christ himself; he refuses none because they are too vile, or too guilty, or too hard-hearted. If you are not very guilty then Christ will not receive you; but the man who is most polluted, most putrified in the corruption of sin, is the one most suited to Christ. His word is, "I am come to seek and to save them who were lost." The accusation against him while on earth was, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." Now, I wish you to understand that none need despair of getting peace because they are vile; if you feel yourselves to be thoroughly undone, just sliding into hell, then here is peace for you, peace from Calvary's cross sounding forth in unison with glory to God. If you want to look to Christ, look to him on the cross, by faith, and take peace, for He is our peace; and take comfort, for it is not in the sinner, but in the Saviour. O! Jesus loves to give this peace. It is more blessed to give than to receive. O! then, let us all go to Calvary together-let us sleep at Calvary, awake at Calvary, live at Calvary, and die at Calvary. If ye live, live to Christ; if you die, die unto Him; that whether living or dying you may be Christ's. May he give you all this true peace, and to his name be all the praise. Amen.

Fragments and Choice Sayings.

THE EARNEST CHRISTIAN.

SAID a weary pilgrim in Chicago the other day:

"I long to be rid of this world, and to depart where I may sing the praises of God for ever and ever. Would to God that I were in heaven!"

Said a brother who had been intently listening to his rapturous description of heaven:

"Better stay here, brother. You are wanted more in Chicago than in heaven just yet."

The former seemed the earnest Christian; the latter was one. The first requisite of an earnest man is faith. Men who need so many hundred dollars a year, and the American Board to back them, don't make very earnest missionaries. These are the kind that make out that yearly report of one convert from heathenism, and two deaths, three lapses from the faith, and general declension. Think of Paul not starting out until he had drawn on five hundred dollars, to keep body and soul together. Paul had faith-so has the latter. One in God, the other in his salary.

To be really in earnest, a man must

believe impossibilities. He must cut loose from his base entirely, and trust God to help him forage on the country. First of all it must be faith, not in himself, not in means, not in man, not in his Word even exclusively, but what includes them all, faith in Christ. It must be an unreasoning, not an unreasonable faith.

Christian, you must ask no questions when you see a line of duty. Does God or conscience, for this is his voice, say, "Do this?" Do it, if the heavens fall. 'Danger here!" is the devil's device to kill faith. No man ever went to ruin, loving the truth too much.

WINNING SOULS.

THERE was great force in the words of Christ when he sent forth his ministers with the injunction, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." There is necessity of wisdom in winning souls to Jesus as much as in the business of this world. In illustrating the use of peculiar methods by ministers, adapted to peculiar circumstances, a writer in the Zion's Advocate mentions an incident in the

LYRICS FOR THE HEART.-" FROM THE SHADOW TO THE SUBSTANCE."

BY W. POOLE BALFERN.

From the shadow to the substance,
From the darkness to the light;
From the evening to the morning-
Morning ever fair and bright.

From the conflict and the battle,

To the home where strife must cease;
From the storms of time's rude ocean,
To the port of endless peace.

From the silence to the singing,
From the winter to the spring,
From the sorrow and the distance
To the presence of the King.
From the college to the teacher,
From the lessons to the love;

From the glimmerings and the shinings,
To the light all clouds above.

From the letters to the language,

From the portrait to the prince;
From the passing looks and glances,
Of our childhood's impotence.
From the childhood to the manhood,
Broken lispings weak and few,
To the heart's sublimest utterance,
In an anthem ever new.

From the mist, and clouds, and starlight,
Fitful gleams all far away,

To the full orbed bright effulgence
Of a pure and perfect day.

Page for the Young.

THE YOUNG WITNESS.

A little girl, nine years of age, was a witness against a prisoner, who was on a trial for a crime committed in her father's house.

"Now, Emily," said the counsel for the prisoner, upon her being put in the witness box, "I desire to know if you understand the nature of an oath."

"I don't know what you mean," was the simple answer.

"There, your Honour," said the council, addressing the court, "is there anything further necessary to show the force of my objection? This witness should be rejected. She does not know the nature of an oath."

.

'Let us see," said the judge. "Come here, my little girl."

Assured by the kind tone and manner of the judge, the child stepped toward him and looked up confidingly in his face, with a calm, clear eye, and in a manner so artless and frank that it went straight to the heart.

"Did yon ever take an oath?" inquired the judge. The little girl stepped back with a look of horror, and the red blood mantled in a blush all over her face and neck, as she answered