have done, stable though new institutions, an empire of recent origin
but already firmly established. "Not as the world giveth, give I unto
you."

But He does give them that which all other bequests aim at producing:
"Peace I leave with you." Men may differ as to the best means of
attaining peace, or even as to the kind of peace that is desirable, but
all agree in seeking an untroubled state. We seek a condition in which
we shall have no unsatisfied desires gnawing at our heart and making
peace impossible, no stings of conscience, dipped in the poison of past
wrong-doing, torturing us hour by hour, no foreboding anxiety darkening
and disturbing a present which might otherwise be peaceful. The
comprehensive nature of this possession is shown by the fact that peace
can be produced only by the contribution of past, present, and future.
As health implies that all the laws which regulate bodily life are being
observed, and as it is disturbed by the infringement of any one of
these, so peace of mind implies that in the spiritual life all is as it
should be. Introduce remorse or an evil conscience, and you destroy
peace; introduce fear or anxiety, and peace is impossible. Introduce
anything discordant, ambition alongside of indolence, a sensitive
conscience alongside of strong passions, and peace takes flight. He,
therefore, who promises to give peace promises to give unassailable
security, inward integrity and perfectness, all which goes to make up
that perfect condition in which we shall be for ever content to abide.

Jesus further defines the peace which He was leaving to the disciples as
that peace which He had Himself enjoyed: "_My_ peace I give unto
you,"--as one hands over a possession he has himself tested, the shield
or helmet that has served him in battle. "That which has protected Me in
a thousand fights I make over to you." The peace which Christ desires
His disciples to enjoy is that which characterised Himself; the same
serenity in danger, the same equanimity in troublous circumstances, the
same freedom from anxiety about results, the same speedy recovery of
composure after anything which for a moment ruffled the calm surface of
His demeanour. This is what He makes over to His people; this is what He
makes possible to all who serve Him.

There is nothing which more markedly distinguishes Jesus and proves His
superiority than His calm peace in all circumstances. He was poor, and
might have resented the incapac