Reader, do you know the meaning of this little word? If you know Christ, you do, for “He is our peace,” and His legacy to the sorrowing ones He left behind Him, when He went up on high, bore upon its perfumed breath the balmy, healing, and comforting message of peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you” (John 14:2727Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)). It was that word which rang through the vaults of heaven, and was proclaimed by the multitude of the heavenly host as they ushered in the glad tidings of the Saviour’s birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace” (Luke 2:1414Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14)). But, if you do not know Christ, it is a little word of five, letters, without meaning and without power to you; it is a word seldom, if ever, heard from your lips, for it has no place in the world’s category of expressions, it uses any other word you like, happiness, joy, mirth, fun, but never peace, and why? Because they know it not! “The way of peace they know not” (Rom. 3:1717And the way of peace have they not known: (Romans 3:17)). “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa. 57:2121There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:21)). Ah, someone may say, it is very easy to talk of peace when you have nothing to trouble you; wait till trial comes and difficulties are on every side, where is your peace then?
A friend said to me lately, “You seem to me to live in some enchanted scene where care never enters, you appear to have no troubles of your own, and are never worried by those of other people! Is it a dream you live in or is it a reality?” She knew not what it was to have abiding peace, “The peace of God which passeth all understanding.”
As I was going up the staircase of the Edinburgh Infirmary one day, I met one of the nurses.
“Are there any in your ward, nurse,” I said, “very near death?” “O yes,” she answered, “I have just left the bedside of a young girl who has been in some months, she is in very great suffering, day and night, and I should be glad to see her at rest, I do not think it can be many days now. She is a wonder to me, for she never murmurs, and seems quite cheerful, and yet she has no friends to visit her, and the ladies who come seem to pass her bed unnoticed.” “Will you take me to her?” I eagerly said. She turned back with me, and I was soon standing by the sufferer. Just as we entered the ward two nurses were endeavoring to ease her position by moving her gently in a sheet from one side of the bed to the other, and, though this was done with great tenderness and care, a looker-on could see it was agony to the dying girl; great tears rolled down her sallow cheeks, though no sound or cry escaped her save a gentle “Thank you, that will do now.” It always unnerves me to see suffering, and I had to sit silent a few minutes after the nurses had left, and, as she lay with closed eyes, I feared to disturb her. I spent the little time in prayer that God would give me the right word for her. Her breathing soon showed me she was not asleep, and though her eyes were still closed her lips sometimes moved and a very sweet smile passed over her features, which otherwise would have been plain and unattractive.
I gently laid my hand on hers, and said, “Will you tell me your name, dear?” “Agnes,” she answered, and, trying to raise her heavy eyelids, she said, “I cannot see you now, but I like your voice.” “Well, Agnes,” I said, “I think you must have listened to a much sweeter voice than mine ere this time.” “Yes, yes!” she answered with great earnestness, and, as if gaining a little gleam of strength (like the last flicker of a candle just dying out) to tell the good news for the last time, she breathed out her full heart’s story of love. “Yes, here in this bed He met me, that loving Saviour; it was in the stillness of the night, four months ago. He came and spoke peace to my soul, none ever spoke to me of His love in dying for poor sinners like me, and when He saw me suffering here He just came and told me Himself, and, oh, I have had such peace ever since; the suffering is nothing in prospect of being with Him so soon;” and again she smiled, one of those long, lasting, radiant smiles I had seen before, “and you know Him, too,” she said, trying to press my hand with her swollen, helpless fingers. I was just telling her of the Lord’s love to me too, when the nurses returned to move her again, and I hastily left the ward. As I said, “Good-bye, Agnes;” she whispered, “Do come tomorrow, come tomorrow.”
Tomorrow came, and the next day, and I was unable to visit Agnes, and, when at last I found myself in her ward, I feared to look at her bed lest it should be empty, but no, her poor suffering body was still there, and a nurse sat on the bed supporting her head on her shoulder. I saw she was just passing away. “O nurse,” I said, “I am too late, and Agnes wished me to come again.” In a moment she heard my voice, the sweet smile came once more and she felt over the bed for my band.
“Very soon you shall be past the reach of all, suffering,” I said; I know not if she heard me, but her lips moved, and the nurse said, “I think she is trying to speak to you.” She sank back exhausted on the pillow. I knelt down close to her to hear, if possible, her last words. There was silence for a few moments, a strange stillness seemed over all the ward; gently, yet clearly, her last testimony of her Saviour’s love name. “He gave me peace! perfect peace! abiding peace! soon I shall have everlasting peace with Him!” The lips closed, the sealed eyelids opened not, in a moment the happy spirit of Agnes was with Him who so loved her, and who had saved her, and given her peace through His blood the moment she rested upon His finished work.
Reader, do you know anything of that peace which Jesus gives, and has He ever said to you as He said to that woman which was a sinner, “Thy sins are forgiven, thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace”? (Luke 7.) Ah, some may tell me, “I think Christ has saved me, and yet I have not peace.” And why is this? Simply because you have not accepted the full salvation offered to you. Salvation is freely offered, and peace as freely proclaimed or preached to all who will have it. The two go together, “Saved through His blood, we have peace.” What would we have thought of her to whom the Lord said “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith, hath made thee whole: go in peace” (Luke 8), had she said, “Well, I believe I am healed, but I have no peace in the knowledge of it”? Impossible! the knowledge of pardon must bring peace, and it is a denial of the truth and word of God to say, I am saved and have no peace. Suffering Agnes, whom, perhaps, few might envy, knew this peace, and she was kept “in perfect peace,” her mind stayed on God. O do you know what it is to have your mind stayed on God in every circumstance? to be able to “joy in God,” to “rejoice in the Lord,” and that, perhaps, in the most trying circumstances? If so, you know a peace which the world can neither give nor take away. It may be this little paper is in the hands of some weary and heavy laden one, “weary because of the way,” yet you know the peace-giving power of the death of Christ; you can say, “I have that peace, but I want that deeper soul-satisfying peace that comes from abiding communion with Him.” Fear not! The Lord would have you enjoy it also. Are you really living in communion with God? do you walk with Him? is He your life, your all? “The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever” (Isa. 32:1717And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. (Isaiah 32:17)). I have been much comforted lately by that precious word, “The very God of peace” (1 Thess. 5:2323And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)). Once only is our God called. “The very God of peace,” and that where the hearts of His people are directed to the coming of the Lord. O what peace, what rest for each weary one here, the prospect of the Lord coming for His saints! Is your heart often sick and weary? Cheer up!
“The way may be rough,
But it cannot be long,”
For you, sorrowful one, there is a sweet word from Himself, “Behold, I come quickly.” “I will come again and receive you unto myself.”
Say not you are troubled and cast down, with such a prospect before you. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Dear soul, do not live below the privileges God has called you to enjoy. The very God of peace has not only called you, and saved you, but His word is full of the most exquisite sunbeams of peace for this cloudy wilderness path. Some go on with their heads hanging down, and their eyes ever dim with the dew drops of Baca, and so they miss much rich blessing by the way. “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6, 76Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6‑7)). “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without, spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:1414Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2 Peter 3:14)). K.