He is just.
Try to be that. God will at the last day take you as He finds you. Let
Him find you such as _that_--walking not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit; and then, and then only, there will be no condemnation for you,
for you will be in Christ Jesus. Do not--do not talk about making your
peace with God some day--like a naughty child playing truant till the
last moment, and hoping that the schoolmaster may forget to punish it.
No, I trust you have received the Spirit. If you have, then look facts
in the face. I trust that none of you have received the Spirit of
bondage, which is slavery again unto fear. If you have God's Spirit you
will see who you are, and where you are, and act accordingly--you will
see that you _are_ God's children, who are meant to be educated by the
Son of God, and led by the Spirit of God, and raised day by day, year by
year, from the death of sin, to the life of righteousness, from the
likeness of the brute animal, to the likeness of Christ, the Son of Man!

VIII. ST. PETER; OR, TRUE COURAGE.

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that
they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took
knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And they called
them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of
Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye."--ACTS iv. 13, 18, 19.

I think that the quality, the grace of God, which St. Peter's character
and story specially forces on our notice is courage--the true courage
which comes by faith. The courage which comes by faith, I say. There is
a courage which does not come by faith. There is a brute courage which
comes from hardness of heart; from obstinacy, or anger, or stupidity,
which does not see danger, or does not feel pain. That is the courage of
the brute. One does not blame it or call it wrong. It is good in its
place, as all natural things are which God has made. It is good enough
for the brute; but it is not good enough for man. You cannot trust it in
man. And the more a man is what a man should be, the less he can trust
it. The more mind and understanding a man has, so as to be able to
foresee danger and measure it, the more chance there is of his brute
courage giving way. The more feeling a man has, the more keen he is to
feel pai