But is there not, my friends, a still higher peace? Will war amongst nations finally cease, as long as the inhabitants of a city, the members of a congregation, neighbours and acquaintances, cannot maintain peace with one another? Are not the differences in these subdivisions of a community the fruit of that discord, that want of unity and love, which prevail in the interior of so many families? And again, what is the spring of domestic discord? How comes it to pass, at any time, that parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, do not live in love with one another? Alas! we must go back to that discord which has its native dwelling in each individual human heart; to that distracted, mournful condition of our inward nature, which is the wages of sin. Hence flow all the disorders and evils which we discover in families, in larger communities, and in nations; and here the process of recovery must begin. Not till, through the power of Him whom God has sent, and who is "our peace," will the mournful dissension in every human heart be allayed, the deadly power of sin broken, and, under the mild influences of the Spirit of Christ, the peace of God, which passeth understanding, be shed abroad in the believing soul;—not till separate households build themselves on the ground of this peace, acknowledging and treating each other as standing in the same relation to Jesus, and, as the children of God, allowing this peace to rule in their hearts, and the word of Christ to dwell richly in them, while they strive together to hold "the unity of the Spirit in

the bond of peace ;"-not till whole congregations are pervaded by the same spirit as separate christian households; and finally, not till christian nations, which are called to one body, unite themselves to each other in that love which is the bond of perfectness; -Not till then, my friends, will the precious fruit of righteousness ripen on earth; not till then, where before was envy, and strife, and confusion, and every evil work; where before only the works of the flesh were manifested, "hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders;" will the noble fruits of the Spirit flourish, "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," Gal. v. 22. Oh that the time were already come, in which it shall be said, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other!" Psa. lxxxv. 10.

My brethren, let us with joy meditate on the expression of the apostle, "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." Let us long for the possession and enjoyment of such fruit. Let us renew our resolutions to pursue after peace, under whose gentle influences alone, real profit is to be found; and since the Everlasting Father has blessed us so abundantly with temporal good, let us invite the presence of the Prince of peace, that he may satisfy us with the eternal blessings of salvation.

But there may be some among you, who have not had so large a share as others in the late abundant harvest, and who consequently look with anxiety on

the future, and are rather disposed to utter complaints than to express their gratitude before God this day. Oh, let them be cheered by the thought, that though "all chastening (and therefore the comparatively small returns of their fields) is not joyous, but grievous," yet the chastisement which they are now enduring will hereafter yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby, Heb. xii. 11. Thus we may all, whether we abound or suffer want, whether joy or sorrow be our present lot, unite in humble adoring praise to Him, at whose birth the angels proclaimed "peace on earth;" whose best salutation to his disciples was, "Peace be unto you," John xx. 19; and whose most precious bequest was, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you," John xiv. 27 ; peace, which the God of peace has prepared in Christ for them that love him. Happy are those who long after and preserve this peace: happy are those who promote and diffuse this peace, for they shall be called the sons of God. Amen.

LECTURE XIII.

JAMES iv. 1-10.

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts, that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

THE apostle concludes his description of false wisdom, and of that which is true and heavenly, with that beautiful expression which we considered in our last lecture," The fruit of righteousness is sown in

peace of them that make peace." He now proceeds with his subject by asking, "Whence come wars and fightings amongst you?" That peace which ought to find its home and constant abode among christians, since it is the bequest of the Prince of peace, after whose name they are called, and whose followers they profess to be; alas! from how many hearts, from how many marriage-unions, from how many families, is it banished! Instead of "the meekness of wisdom," and the other fruits of righteousness which can only flourish where peace is maintained, envy and bitter strife is to be met with, both in individuals and in families; not to mention the bloody wars that have so often disturbed the tranquillity of professedly christian nations. With all this in his thoughts, if not immediately before his eyes, the apostle asks those whom he was addressing, "Whence come wars and fightings among you?" Not that he was at a loss respecting the causes of these disorders; for out of the large treasures of his own experience, he proceeds to lay open in the first three verses of this chapter, the sources of discord; in the three following, he warns and protests against these evils, and from the seventh to the tenth verse points out the means of their removal.

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Whence come wars and fightings amongst you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and