January 25

First pure, then peaceable. — JAMES iii. 17.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. — MAIT. v. 9.

HE who speaks this blessed loving text is God incarnate. God the Son, Jesus Christ, the only all-sufficient Saviour. In the economy of God he is the greatest peacemaker known to earth. For this peace he was "slain from the foundation of the world." For this peace, in God's love for the world, his only begotten Son was given. For this peace as the only able one, he made the only propitiation for the sins of the world, and thus bought us, one and all, and thus became as the God-man our Lord under the exaltation of God, who gave him a name above every name as a reward of his infinitely humble, acceptable, and profitable work, that every tongue should confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father. For this peace the Master sent his ministry forth and the Holy Ghost to bless them in the establishment of his Church for the salvation of men. For this peace he ascended into heaven to carry on his work in the presence of God, as the great Intercessor, with the marks of his love in his hands, with wounds in his feet, and with the open door in his side to his heart; and so he lives in the smile of heaven to the end of his mediatorial kingdom.

And now as is the tree so are the branches and fruit; they cannot help being blessed. It is in the very nature of things in the providence of God. And so we naturally read our text and learn our lesson, each in our own degree, as we faithfully apply its use.

Chas. F. Hoffman.

How sweet, how heavenly is the sight,

When those who love the Lord

In one another's peace delight,

And so fulfil his word!

JOSEPH SWAIN.