ing also. You
will know that God sends you the peace, and sends it you the more the
more you pray for it: but how He sends it you will not understand; for
it springs out of those inner depths of your being which are beyond the
narrow range of consciousness, and is spiritual and a mystery, and comes
by the inspiration of the holy Spirit of God.

But remember that all your prayers will not get that peace if your heart
be tainted with malice and selfishness and covetousness, falsehood and
pride and vanity. You must ask God first to root those foul seeds out of
your heart, or the seed of His Spirit will not spring up and bear fruit
in you to the everlasting life of love and peace and joy in the holy
Spirit. But if your heart be purged and cleansed of self, then indeed
will the holy Spirit enter in and dwell there; and you will abide in
peace, through all the chances and changes of this mortal life, for you
will abide in God, who is for ever at peace. And you will inherit a
blessing; for you will inherit Christ, your light and your life, who is
blessed for ever. And you will love life; for life will be full to you
of hope, of work, of duty, of interest, of lessons without number. And
you will see good days; for all days will seem good to you, even those
which seem to the world bad days of affliction and distress. And so the
peace of God will keep you in Jesus Christ, in this life, and in the life
to come. Amen.

SERMON XX. GRACE

Eversley. 1856.

St. John i. 16, 17. "Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for
grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ."

I wish you to mind particularly this word GRACE. You meet it very often
in the Bible. You hear often said, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you all. Now, what does this word grace mean? It is really worth
your while to know; for if a man or a woman has not grace, they will be
very unhappy people, and very disagreeable people also; a torment to
themselves, and a torment to their neighbours also; and if they live
without grace, they will live but a poor life; if they die without grace,
they will come to a very bad end indeed. What, then, does this word
mean? Some of you will answer that grace means God's Holy Spirit, or
that it means what God gives to our souls by His Spirit. But what does
that mean? What does God's Spirit give us? What is the grace of Jesus