(1.) What tremendous evils are we freed from when justified! Before justification we have no peace with God, we are under a law which we have broken, we are under its curse, we are guilty before God; the wrath of the Lord most holy and mighty is upon us; there is nothing between us and eternal punishment except the brittle thread of life. No. words can express the sinfulness, the misery, and the ruin of our condition, while we are in unbelief and sin, unpardoned and unjustified. While in that state, what does the word of God say to us, Isa. xlvii. 22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked! and again, Isa. xlviii. 22. There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked. They may speak peace to themselves; false teachers may cry, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace; but if we have not believed with the heart unto righteousness, there is no peace to us. It is being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no middle state between being justified and unjustified, being righteous and wicked. And must not all the wicked be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power? How many, and of what vast import, are the threatenings of the book of God against the wicked! How great, then, is this privilege of the justified! to be free from these tremendous evils; to have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus, which the chief of sinners might enjoy, if they would only hear what God saith to them in his law and in his gospel; both fitted to convince them, that while unbelievers, out of Christ, they have no peace, and that they have nothing to which they can trust for peace that will bear to be exposed at the bar of God, or be tried impartially by the word of God, and the gospel to assure them, that while they seek to be justified by faith, they shall have peace with God.

(2.) What an inestimable blessing do we possess, when we cordially believe on the Lord Jesus as our righteousness! When any truly receive the testimony of God concerning the Lord Jesus; when it is evident they do so, by cordially receiving the atonement and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, for pardon and justification from the Lord, they are justified, and have peace with God. Whilst in unbelief, we were under the power of a carnal mind, that was enmity against God; but now, believing on the Lord Jesus, we are reconciled to God, through the death of his Son; and now, though he was angry with us, his anger is turned away, and he comforts us; a state of friendship is established between the Lord and us; the Lord is become our Friend, and we are become the sincere friends of God. We, by the grace of Christ, are conformed to his image; hence, we love his image, and delight to do his will, and he delights in us, as the creatures of his grace, as his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Union, and the most delightful and gracious kind of communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the privilege of the justified. Not a hollow, a pretended peace, such as men profess to serve themselves, and cover their ill designs; no, it is a hearty, a solid peace, such an one as may with the greatest satisfaction be rested in. What is indeed the import of peace? Is it not union after discord and separation? Does it not imply, that breaches are made up? feuds buried in oblivion? strangers and enemies made friends? and the pleasures of solid friendship enjoyed? Ask the justified by faith what this peace is, and he will tell you, that it passeth understanding, that it keeps the heart and mind in the knowledge and love of God, that it was received in a way of justification by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, that it inclines. to live in peace with all mankind, and to use all divine

means to bless all mankind with this blessed peace, and that it is the common privilege of all that are justified by faith in Christ Jesus.

(3.) Great as the privilege of peace with God is, all that truly believe in the Lord are always blessed with an interest in this peace, and, not unfrequently, with a delightful sense of it. Being in Christ by faith, there is no condemnation to them; having asked of the Lord, they have received living water, springing up in them to everlasting life; being begotten again, to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, that hope abides, amidst every storm, as the anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast, and entereth into that within the veil; being born of God, they cannot sin, because they are born of God; having, by faith in Christ Jesus, a special interest in the favour of God, they are kept by the power of God, through that faith, unto salvation. Though believers may fall into sin, lose their comfort in Christ, and walk in great trouble and anxiety under the chastising hand of God, they do not fall under the dominion, the reign of sin; for they are not of them that draw back to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

(4.) But although we are, as justified by faith, blessed with a state of peace and friendship with God, we are not always favoured with a comfortable, satisfying sense of this peace. When we are enabled to exercise faith on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, to rely on the faithful promise of God with confidence, being fully persuaded, that what God hath promised to such as believe on Christ, he will perform, we have a sense of peace. When faith evidently purifies the heart, and works by increasing love to spiritual things, and this is made evident to us, by the illuminating influence of the Spirit of God opening the Scriptures, and shining on the work of faith in our souls, then is that word of God fulfilled to us, Great

peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

How great is the blessedness of such as are favoured with this delightful sense of peace with God! They have truly joy unspeakable, and full of glory. But this is not always the experience of such as are justified by faith.

[1.] Some, though true believers, are weak in faith, and troubled with doubts and fears. They lay hold of the hope set before them with a trembling hand, therefore their sense of peace is very imperfect; but their being justified, and having peace with God, does not depend on the strength of their faith, but on the truth of it.

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[2.] We sometimes mistake the evidences of a state of justification, and thereby our peace is sadly disturbed. We make the circumstances attending the conversion and salvation of others, the rule for ours, though those circumstances are various in different persons. suffers long under a spirit of bondage before he obtains peace in Christ, whilst another scarcely knows what a spirit of bondage is, so quick is the transition from the spirit of bondage to the spirit of liberty in Christ Jesus. One can scarcely say when or how he was made wise unto salvation; he can only say, "Whereas I was blind to the evil of all sin, and to the excellences of Jesus Christ, now I see;" whilst another is sensible of the various steps by which he has been awakened, humbled, and saved in Christ Jesus. In these, and in the means used in the conversion of sinners, there is a great variety; therefore when we judge ourselves by the circumstances attending the conversion of others, rather than by a turning from self to Christ Jesus, from sin to holiness, we often deprive ourselves of the sense of peace.

[3.] The peace of weak Christians is often much broken, by expecting the same degrees of divine fruits

from their weak faith as from a strong faith; as if a child had the understanding, the capacities, and the works of a man in full vigour; as if every believer in Christ were a Moses, a Joshua, a Samuel, a Job, or a Paul, and capable of all their works and sufferings; and were bound to consider themselves as no believers, because they are little children, and are not grown up to be young men and fathers. The question is not, "Have we already attained? Are we already perfect as the strongest believers ?" but, "Are we built by faith on the Lord Jesus? are we, whereto we have attained, walking by the same rule? are we minding the same thing? are we, laying aside malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speaking, as newborn babes, desiring the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby ?"

[4.] How frequently has the peace of believers been much injured, by looking for that in ourselves which is only found in Christ; and that in this world which will only be found in the world to come. The believer most earnestly desires to be free from all sin; he watches and strives earnestly against it; but so far does he fall short of what he ardently desires, so sensibly does his folly, his ignorance as to the deep things of God, his unsuitableness to the excellency of divine things, his failings in all the services of the Most High affect him, that he often fears, lest he should prove an unprofitable servant, and be cast into outer darkness. "If (saith he) I am a genuine believer in Christ Jesus, how is it that my faith is no more operative? how is it that my sanctification is so imperfect?" Thus he is frequently cast down, and his thoughts trouble him, and he sees great reason to use the prayer of the Psalmist, Psal. cxxxix. 23, 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

[5.] How far from a sense of peace have many genuine