Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-07-27
Sunday ReaafHs,
EDITED BY REV. f. L. LEEPER.
Peace With God.
Christian Index.

mean by this is, that conscious SIN
makes him unhappy. 1t is not SO
much any one or more wrong things
that he has done, that causes his dis.
tress, but rather consciousness that
his nature is depraved, and that his
condition is one of estrangedness from
God. The sense of Unborn guilt
would make him miserable, even If
he knew that there were no hereafter,
and no penalties of any kind. The
mere consciousness of being at enmi-
ty with God brings wretchedness to
any man. But when he remembers
the hereafter, and eternity, and judg-
ment, and the world to come, then
his anguish is enhanced. He knows
that sin is the cause of all sufferings,
yet strange to say, he clings to it,and
is not willing to renounce it. He
seems to hate it and love it both at
the same time. Full pardon and free
forgiveness through Jesus Christ are
offered to him in the Scriptures; but
while he longs for the blessing, he
turns away from the offer of it, and
thus seems to nurse and cherish his
own wretchedness. After much re-
sistance to proffered mercy, he at
last does two things which he might
have done at first. He lets go, and
takes hold; he lets go of sin and self,
and takes hold of Christ and eternal
life. He is now a justified sinner.
He has experienced justification by
faith, and guilty as he is, God holds
him guiltless. He stands before his
Maker as if he had never committed
a sin, and as if he had never breath
ed the breath of a sinful creature.
What is his next experience?
There comes over him, either sudden
ly or otherwise, a strange feeling of
serenity, tranquility, composedness,
complacency, satisfaction, and happy
repose and comfortableness of mind
and spirit. The storm is past, and
delicious calm succeeds; clouds disap-
pear, and all is sunshine; instead of
the harsh wind there is the balmy
zephyr. What does all this mean?
Has he forgotten both his actual sins
and his sinful condition? Not at all.
He remembers them as wildly
as ever; indeed, they are constantly
before him, but their sting is gone.
There still is penitence, it is true, but
it is not painful penitence. He may
have tears to shed, but there is a
strange sweetness in the tears and
there is joy in shedding them. How
is it that the thoughts of his guilt has
ceased to shock him? Oh, he sees
his sins as plainly as ever, but they
are nailed to a cross, and, on that
same cross there hangs his Right
eousness. His sins are his no longer.
Christ has adopted them, and make
them his. That glorious Righteous
ness belongs to the sinful man, be-
cause being permitted to adopt it, he
has adopted it; and the rightfulness
of his claim is acknowledged in
heaven. Surely this is enough to
make any man happy. The change
from storm to calm is not surprising
if there were no such change, that
would he surprising indeed. But
does he know that all this is so? He
believes it. Abraham believed God
and it was counted to him for right
eousness; and the power of faith now
is as fresh and vigorous as it was in
the far-away days of Abraham. In
consequence of faith the man is jus
tilted, then comes peace. We spoke
of it Just now as a state of serenity
tranquility, and comfortableness O
mind describing it with many words
but the apostle describes it in three
words only-peace with God. 1t il
faith in Christ that leads us to where
God, Through his Son, sends peace
to us. All that we have said, occu
plying so much space in the column
is said by the Apostle in one sen
tence: Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with Goo
through our Lord Jesus Christ
Rom. V. |.
Peace with God? What more hav,
the angels? What more is heaven
Peace with the eternal, self-existen
Being, peace with the Almight!
One, peace with the great Create
and King of heaven and earth, peac,
with the Supreme Majesty of the uni
verse, peace with the infinite holi
ness, peace with impersonated eX
cellence, peace with the only infinite
Lover! What unspeakable joy doe
such peace as this diffuse through