(Continued from p.76)

"For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

A very capable colored preacher was asked to give the secret of his success as a speaker. He replied:"Well, I fust takes my tex'. Then I 'splains it, then I 'spounds it, and afterwards I adds de rousements." W. E. Gladstone, when he heard the story, said that it contained the secret of success in the House of Commons.

There is, perhaps, somewhat greater reason for explaining and expounding the present passage than in other cases. Its theme is very similar to that which precedes it, and variety of treatment revivifies minds that easily tire. It is as good a work to collect the wood for the fire as to set it alight. And both wood and match are necessary, if we would be warmed.

"He, Himself, is our peace" is the central thought of our text. We have learned of Him through the work that He wrought and the truths that He taught. He once said:"I am absolutely what I am saying unto you." He was equally absolutely what He was doing for them. Word and work are the beautiful oils that blend to limn His portrait.' From them His, face shines forth. And as work and word bring peace, so His Person is "peace." It is peace living and personified. Were it possible for word and work to be obliterated, He would still abide the pledge and promise of their reduplication. "All the promises of God in Him are Yea." He is the very Prince of Peace, last step in the ladder of ascending glories of Isaiah's stirring prophecy (Isaiah 9), and if the ordinary "peacemaker" be called "child of God," then the Great Peacemaker may well be hailed "Only-Begotten of God." How transcendently magnificent is the peace He has wrought!

This peace is one 'twixt man and man, and 'twixt man and God. Its tides flood the Universe. A Chinese exclusion wall had frozen off all approximation of Jew to Gentile, of Gentile to Jew, as we saw in our last meditation. A greater than Chinese exclusion wall barred all men from God. Christ broke down that partition wall. He "took it out from the midst." He leveled the mountain ranges of the "Great Divide." The valleys were filled, the hills were brought low. The crooked was made straight and the rough way smooth, that all men might see the Salvation of our God. Jew and Gentile were free to fraternize, and over them both God might bend in love. Father of a united family.

Christ, also, in His flesh, abolished "the enmity," "slew it." As the "fulfilling of the law" was love, so the breaking of the law was hatred,"enmity." To love's one's neighbor as oneself, to love God with all the soul, all the mind, all the strength-that is to keep the law. To hate one's neighbor, as Jew hated Gentile, and Gentile hated Jew, in a reciprocity of enmity, is breaking of the law. "Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, 0 My God," is in beautiful
contrast. It is in spirit law's finest keeping. It is love. It is love to God. Christ's reason for the Cross was, "That the world may know that I love the Father." It is love to man. "Who loved me and gave Himself for me" is the specific instance of "love to man."

" 'Twas love, unbounded love, to us,
Led Him to die and suffer thus."

Thus as the "commandments contained in decrees," broken, were "the enmity," so the commandments in decrees, kept, as Christ kept them, even unto death, were love, the love. And the commandments kept swallowed the commandments broken, even as Moses' rod swallowed the rods of the magicians.

Colossians 2, moreover, states that Christ took "the handwriting of ordinances" by which man was condemned before God, and nailed it "to His cross." The blood of the Cross "blotted out" the handwriting, the love of the Cross blotted out "the enmity." His love unto death annulled our death unto love.

And so the imagery glows into warmer intimacy. Jew and Gentile are not merged in a confederacy, nor consolidated into national unity, but a "new man" appears, Christ Himself the Head, and all can sing:

"O Son of God, whose love so free,
For men did make Thee Man to be,
United to our God in Thee,
Are we made one.

"And when this world shall pass away,
May we awake with joy and say,
Now in the bliss of endless day,
We all are one."

The Apostle then emphasizes the Godward aspect of the work, as he had been stressing the manward. The word "reconciled" with its lovely connotation, glides into the context, and suggests "Pacificator" as well as Pax. Reconciliation is an inward work. The peace that Christ has made "captivates" the heart, then "garrisons" it. Hatred for God is superseded by love. Understanding of God supplants misunderstanding. Evil passions with their strident call to strife are hushed by the in-breathings of God's gentle Spirit.

"Every tiger madness muzzled,
Every serpent passion killed."

Reconciliation also means the introduction of the first-fruits of the Spirit, "love, joy, peace." The heavens are now ever tranquil, no matter how the sea toss, or the flood "lift up its voice," for over him "who sitteth o'er the water flood" both sea and flood once beat, in utmost rage, on Calvary. Who then may henceforth be angry with a God who permits the storm, if upon that God have broken all its pent-up strength and fury! Yes, when we were yet "enemies," we were conciliated, appeased, "reconciled." The peace "ever flowing from God's thoughts of His own Son" has ushered in the calm, in which we, as once the disciples on the tranquillized lake, shall reach the other shore.

But our text, seemingly loath to leave so blessed a subject, now apparently retrogrades. "He came and preached peace to you that were afar off and peace to them that were nigh." As a matter of fact, however, we know that our Lord did not Himself, personally, evangelize the nations. Is the order then actually distorted? Is the statement really a perversion? Perish the thought. The reply to the first question is that logic may have a place, but logic may not always control language. A preacher, once criticized for wandering from his text, was defended by, "True, he does wander from his text, but always right into your heart." The "freezing reason's colder part" may have its crystal beauty, but the living beauty of the rose transcends it, and both logic and psychology play their role in Scripture. We have seen Christ as our "peace," and now we see that. "Peace" preaching peace, the message and the messenger blending themselves in a quickening sermon.

"Peace, bring us peace," was often the substance of the anguished cry of the natives of Africa, as David Livingstone moved among them. "And beautiful upon its plains" were the feet of that messenger of God as he brought the glad evangel of Christ to them. "Wherever you run across the footsteps of David Livingstone in Africa," writes Henry Drummond, "there lingers the fragrance of his memory." But that memory was sweet with the Christ-life and the Christ-message. And so we find the answer to our second question. Christ came to all the world when He came from God to Judea. The message of God's reign of love in Christ was too mighty, too important, to be cooped up within the narrow confines of any single country, any single empire. "L'Empire, c'est la paix," boasted Napoleon the Third, but his empire suffered cataclysmic overthrow in the bloody strife around Sedan. "God is love" was the assurance of the first great Evangelist, and Christ's "empire" of love is peace indeed down all the ages. They that were afar off heard the message, and they "that were nigh." And still its sound goes forth:

"If thou wouldst trust, poor soul,
In Him who rules the whole,
Thou wouldst find peace and rest,
Wisdom and sight are well, but Trust is best."

The closing words of our text:"For through Him we both have access unto the Father," suggest the power behind the message, the Blessed Spirit of our God, and another secret of our peace. However blocked and choked our lines of communication in the world, the "line is never busy" that communicates with heaven. "With all prayer and supplication," then, "with thanksgiving," let us approach the Father, for "truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."

May that same blessed Spirit add the "rousements" for rousing, and yet calming, soothing too, is the theme upon which we have lingered so long. F. C. Grant

(To be continued in next number, D.V.)