February 17

Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me.—Isaiah 27:5.

AM I at peace with God through faith in Christ Jesus? And if reconciled to him through the blood of the cross, do I endeavor so to live as to keep a conscience void of offence toward both God and man, that my peace may not be broken, through a sense of guilt? Do I so commit everything to God, and by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, so make all my wants known to him, that his peace, which passes all understanding, keeps my mind and heart through Christ Jesus?

Peace is the proper result of Christian faith and the Christian temper. It is the great kindness that our religion doth to us, that it brings us to a holy settledness of mind and heart, the happiness of which we call peace.—Br. PATRICK.

Our peace, if we love God, the prophet says, shall flow like a river. We hear it when we rise in the morning; we hear it in the quiet noon we hear it when the sun goes down; and if we wake in the night, the sound is still in our ears. The music of God's peace is never unheard in the faithful soul.

"Peace" was the word the Saviour breathed, When from our world his steps withdrew; The gift he to his friends bequeathed, With Calvary and the cross in view! Redeemer! with adoring love, Our spirits take thy rich bequest; The watchword of the host above, Our passport to their realm of rest!