overnment upon His shoulder, He set up His reign
within you as the Prince of Peace. Happy for you, if to the increase
of His government there is no end; for of the increase of your peace
there will be no end either.

Combine these four--the sense of God's presence and providence in the
details of life; detachment from the world; a supreme love to God; the
recognition in everything that you are His slave--and you will comply
with the conditions of participating in the peace of Christ which He
offers. Some persons have a marvellous faculty of imparting their own
tranquillity in an accident, a storm, an illness; their aspect, tones,
manner, are like the repose of a summer's evening after a sultry day:
so shall Christ be to you, and you to others.

III. CHRIST'S GIVING CONTRASTED WITH THE WORLD'S.--"Not as the world
giveth, give I unto you."

The world wishes peace, but lightly speaks the word; frequently wishing
it when there is least warrant for it; wishing it without doing
anything to produce it; wishing it whilst glorying over a wrong,
healing slightly a wound, covering with the turf the crater of a
volcano. Christ, on the other hand, lays the foundations of peace in
suitable conditions of a holy and healthy life.

With the world, peace is a passing emotion; with Christ, a settled
principle of action--the perfect balance and equilibrium of the soul,
out of which comes all that is fair, strong, wholesome.

The world's peace consists in the absence of untoward circumstances;
Christ's is altogether independent of circumstances, and consists in
the state of the heart. It matters nothing to Him that in the world we
have tribulation. He bids us be of good cheer, because in Him we shall
have peace. The wildest conjunction of outward things cannot break the
perfect peace which nestles to His heart, as Noah's dove to the hand
which plucked it in from the weltering waters.

"Let not your heart be troubled," the Master says again. You may be
troubled on every side, but be not troubled. Do not let the trouble
come inside. Watch carefully against its intrusion, as you would
against that of any other form of temptation. Let My peace, like a
sentinel, keep you; and as you look forward to the unknown future, out
of which spectral figures emerge, do not be afraid. There is a part
for you to do, as well as for Me. I can give you My peace, but you
must avoid any and everything that will militate against its possession