Retain the peace by the exercise of that same faith which at first brought it.  Next, retain it by union with that same Lord from whom you at first received it.  Very significantly, in the immediate context, we have the Apostle drawing a broad distinction between the benefits which we have received from Christ’s death, and those which we shall receive through His life.  And that is the best commentary on the words of my text.  ’If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.’  So let our faith grasp firmly the great twin facts of the Christ who died that He might abolish the enmity, and bring us peace; and of the Christ who lives in order that He may pour into our hearts more and more of His own life, and so make us more and more in His own image.  And the last word that I would say, in addition to these two plain, practical precepts is, let your conduct be such as will not disturb your peace with God.  For if a man lets his own will rise up in rebellion against God’s, whether that divine will command duty or impose suffering, away goes all his peace.  There is no possibility of the tranquil sense of union and communion with my Father in heaven lasting when I am in rebellion against Him.  The smallest sin destroys, for the time being, our sense of forgiveness and our peace with God.  The blue surface of the lake, mirroring in its unmoved tranquillity the sky and the bright sun, or the solemn stars, loses all that reflected heaven in its heart when a cat’s paw of wind ruffles its surface.  If we would keep our hearts as mirrors, in their peace, of the peace in the heavens that shine down on them, we must fence them from the winds of evil passions and rebellious wills.  ’Oh! that thou wouldest hearken unto Me, then had thy peace been like a river.’

ACCESS INTO GRACE

   ’By whom also we have access by faith into this grace
   wherein we stand.’—­ROMANS v. 2.

I may be allowed to begin with a word or two of explanation of the terms of this passage.  Note then, especially, that also which sends us back to the previous clause, and tells us that our text adds something to what was spoken of there.  What was spoken of there?  ‘The peace of God’ which comes to a man by Jesus Christ through faith, the removal of enmity, and the declaration of righteousness.  But that peace with God, which is the beginning of everything in the Christian view, is only the beginning, and there is much to follow.  While, then, there is a progress clearly marked in the words of our text, and ‘access into this grace wherein we stand’ is something more than, and after, the ‘peace with God,’ mark next the similarity of the text and the preceding verse.  The two great truths in the latter, Christ’s mediation or intervention, and our faith as the condition by which we receive the blessings which are brought to us in and through