'
Now he fell a-thinking what this peace could be. And it came into
his mind as he thought, that Jesus had spoken in another place about
giving rest to those that came to him, while here he spoke about 'my
peace.' Could this my mean a certain kind of peace that the Lord
himself possessed? Perhaps it was in virtue of that peace, whatever
it was, that he was the Prince of Peace. Whatever peace he had must
be the highest and best peace--therefore the one peace for a man to
seek, if indeed, as the words of the Lord seemed to imply, a man was
capable of possessing it. He remembered the New Testament in his
box, and, resolving to try whether he could not make something more
out of it, went back to the inn quieter in heart than since he left
his home. In the evening he returned to the brook, and fell to
searching the story, seeking after the peace of Jesus.
He found that the whole passage stood thus:--
'Peace 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.'
He did not leave the place for six weeks. Every day he went to the
burn, as he called it, with his New Testament; every day tried yet
again to make out something more of what the Saviour meant. By the
end of the month it had dawned upon him, he hardly knew how, that
the peace of Jesus (although, of course, he could not know what it
was like till he had it) must have been a peace that came from the
doing of the will of his Father.
Pages:
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530