in our hearts, we too, must
by His Spirit's help, purge the temple that He may enter and abide.

And so I come to the next point, and that is the Christian courage and
calmness that ensue from hallowing Christ in the heart.

The Apostle first puts his exhortation: 'Be not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled,' and then he presents us an opposite injunction,
obedience to which is the only means of obeying the first exhortation.
If you do not sanctify Christ in your hearts, you cannot help being
afraid of their terror, and troubled. If you do, then there is no fear
that you will fall into that snare. That is to say, the one thing that
delivers men from the fears that make cowards of us all is to have
Christ lodged within our hearts. Sunshine puts out culinary fires. They
who have the awe and the reverent love that knit them to Jesus Christ,
and who carry Him within their hearts, have no need to be afraid of
anything besides. Only he who can say, 'The Lord is the strength of my
life' can go on to say, 'Of whom shall I be afraid?' There is nothing
more hopeless than to address to men, ringed about with dangers, the
foolish exhortations: 'Cheer up! do not be frightened,' unless you can
tell them some reason for not being frightened. And the one reason that
will carry weight with it, in all circumstances, is the presence of
Jesus.

'With Christ in the vessel
I smile at the storm.'

The world comes to us and says: 'Do not be afraid, do not be afraid; be
of good courage; pluck up your heart, man.' The Apostle comes and says:
'Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts; and then, and only then, will
you be bold.' The boldness which fronts the certain dangers and
calamities and the possible dangers and calamities of this life, without
Christ, is not boldness, but foolhardiness. 'The simple passeth on, and
is punished,' says the book of Proverbs. It is easy to whistle when
going through the churchyard, and to say, 'Who's afraid?' But the ghosts
rise all the same, and there is only one thing that lays them, and that
is--the present Christ.

In like manner the sanctifying of Jesus Christ in the heart is the
secret of calmness. 'Fear not their fear, neither be troubled.' I wonder
if Peter was thinking at all of another saying: 'Let not your heart be
troubled; neither let it be afraid.' Perhaps he was. At any rate, his
thought is parallel with our Lord's when He said, 'Let not your heart be
troubled. Believe in God,