The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-01-18
The Peace of God

eLn all UNDERSTANDING, Siidii hSSP yOui
hearts and minds through Christ Je-
sus."-Phil. Az.
Peace is defined to be state of
quiet or tranquility, freedom from dis
turbance or agitation-calmness, re-
pose. Such state of mind our text
affirms of God. His is mind tran
quill, calm, undisturbed, never agitat-
ed, nor even wearied nor perplexed
by any of the cares Of His vast do
minion. Yet this perfect peace OF
God, the Scriptures show, is due
neither to the fact that there are no
disorders in His vast domain, nor yet
to any stoical indifference to pain or
pleasure, but rather to that perfect
poise of His glorious attributes which
makes Him Master of His situation as
Sovereign of the whole universe.
Have we admired the GOODNESS and
calm self-possession of a great gen
eral. such as Grant or Napoleon, in
the midst of the confusion and smoke
of battle? or of great statesman,
such as Gladstone or Bismarck, in the
midst Of national perplexities and
perils? or of skilled physicians or
others in critical times and places?
These are only faint illustrations of
the peace of self possession and self
confidence which rules in the mind OF
God He is never confused, bewild-
cred, perplexed, anxious or care-worn,
nor in the least fearfA that His plans
will miscarry or His purposes fail, be-
cause all power and wisdom inhere In
Him.
The scope of His mighty intellect
reaches to the utmost bounds of posi-
bility, comprehends all causes and dis
Germs with precision all effects; con-
sequently, He knows the end from the
beginning, and that, not only from
philosophical principles, but also by
intuition. AS the Creator of all
things and the originator of all law,
He is thoroughly acquainted with all
intricate subtleties Of physical, moral
and intellectual law; so that no prob
lem could arise the results of which
are not manifest to His mind. "God
is light and in Him is no darkness at
ALL John 1:5.
God, the Creator Of all things, is
also the competent Sustainer of all
things. In silent grandeur from Age
to Age, the whole physical universe
fulflls His will, without a suspicion
of disorder or mishap; and the same
power is pledged for its sustenance
throughout the eternal future.
Thus from his own vast, inherent
resources of Power and Wisdom
springs the peace Of God. But not
from this source alone is the Divine
peace; for peace is the certain con-
comitant of inherent goodness. God
is the impersonation of every virtue
and every grace; and consequently
He has the blessed satisfaction and
peace of conscious moral perfection
as we'll as inherent Wisdom and Pow
er.
Gods Emotional Nature.
Yet we find this peace of God CO.
existing with much of disorder and
trouble. AS Father, He shows US
that He bears a fathers love to all
His intelligent creatures-"the whole
family (of God) in Heaven and IN
.earth"--and that for His pleasure
they are and were created" (Eph. 81
Is; Rev. ALL He created them all
in His own likcness-with the same
mental and moral attributes, so that
He might have communion and fell
lowship with them as sons, and they
with Him as Father, that thus, in
mutual fellowship and communion, the
Creator and the creature might find
pleasure, happiness and delight.
This likeness Of God includes in all
not only the same mental faculties
but also tie free exercise of the same
in the formation of character. A
creature incapable of thus forming
character would not be in Gods like
ness. And for the purpose of develop
ing character the alternative of good
and evil must be placed before him.
The right and the wrong principles OF
action must discern and the individ-
ual left free of his own choice in the
matter, that the pleasure of God may
be realized in the virtuous character
resultant from the free choice OF
righteousness.
Since the love of God for His newly
created and innocent creatures is
akin to, but much stronger than, the
love of an earthly parent for an in
nocent infant; and since that loving
interest and solicitude does not grow
cold as the creature advances in
years, but earnestly watches for the
development of the principles and
fruits of righteousness, it is manifest
that, like an earthly parent, God ex-
reriences the sense or either pleasure
or pain, according as His free, intel.
ligent creatures choose the right
course or the wrong. Of this we are
fully assured not only by thus reason
ing from the fact of His Fatherhood
but also by all of those Scriptures
which speak of some things as abom'
Unable, displeasing, hateful and de
spicable to Him and as giving Him ne
pleasure; which say that His anger
burns against them, and that His in
dignation and wrath wax hot, ever
to their destruction. Other Scrip
lures speak of His pleasure, love
joy and delight in pleasing things
in the principles Of righteousness ant
those who obey them--the apprecia
ton of pleasurable emotions of an op
posite character, for pain and pleas
ure may properly be considered tn
ebb and flow of the same emotion.
These exhibitions of the mind o