lot fixed, and
his mind made up, and he sees his destiny before him, and quietly
acquiesces in it; his spirit is at rest. Great and deep is the peace
of the soldier to whom has been assigned even an untenable position,
with the command, "Keep that, even if you die," and he obediently
remains to die.

Great was the peace of Elisha--very, very calm are those words by
which he expressed his acquiescence in the divine will. "Knowest
thou," said the troubled, excited, and restless men around
him--"Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy
head to-day?" He answered, "Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace." Then
there is the other peace, it is the peace of gratefulness: "Be ye
thankful." It is that peace which the Israelites had when these words
were spoken to them on the shores of the Red Sea, while the bodies of
their enemies floated past them, destroyed, but not by them: "Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord."

And here brethren, is another mistake of ours: we look on salvation as
a thing to be done, and not received. In God's salvation we can do but
little, but there is a great deal to be received. We are here, not
merely to act, but to be acted upon. "Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts;" there is a peace that will enter there, if you do not
thwart it; there is a Spirit that will take possession of your soul,
provided that you do not quench it. In this world we are recipients,
not creators. In obedience and in gratefulness, and the infinite peace
of God in the soul of man, is alone to be found deep calm repose.

XII.

_Preached January 4, 1852._

THE CHRISTIAN AIM AND MOTIVE.

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect."--Matthew v. 48.

There are two erroneous views held respecting the character of the
Sermon on the Mount. The first may be called an error of
worldly-minded men, the other an error of mistaken religionists.
Worldly-minded men--men that is, in whom the devotional feeling is but
feeble--are accustomed to look upon morality as the whole of religion;
and they suppose that the Sermon on the Mount was designed only to
explain and enforce correct principles of morality. It tells of human
duties and human proprieties, and an attention to these, they
maintain, is the only religion which is required by it. Strange my
Christian brethren, that men, whose lives are least remarkable for
superhu