. Paul to Timothy,
'willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of
the truth;' and therefore if they are not saved it must be their own
fault, and not God's; it must be they who will not be saved, though
God wills that they should be, as Isaiah goes on to show. For he
says--God cries to men, Peace! I create the fruit of the lips; that
is, I give men cause to thank me. I create it. I make it without
their help. I do not sell them my mercy. I give it them freely. I
say, Peace, peace, to them all, To him who is near, and him who is
afar off; peace to all mankind; peace on earth, and goodwill to men.
God is everlastingly at peace with himself, and at peace with all
his creatures, and with all his works; and he wills, in his
boundless love, to bring them all into his peace, the peace which
passeth understanding; that they may be at peace with him; and,
therefore at peace with themselves, and at peace with each other.

But how can they be at peace, when there is no peace in them? If
they will do wrong; if they will quarrel; if they will defraud each
other; if they will give way to the lusts and passions which war
within them: how can they be at peace? They are like a troubled
sea, says Isaiah, when it cannot rest, which casts up mire and dirt;
and there is no peace to them. It is not God who casts up the mire
and dirt. It is they who cast it up. God has not made them
restless: but they themselves, with their pride, selfishness,
violent passions, longings after this and that. God has not made
them foul and dirty, but they themselves, with their own foul words
and foul deeds, which keep them from being at peace with themselves,
because they are ashamed of them all the while; which keep them from
being at peace with their neighbours; which make them hate and fear
their neighbours, because they know that their neighbours do not
respect them, or are afraid of their neighbours finding them out.

What says brave, plain-spoken St. James?--'Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth he any man.' 'From whence come wars and fightings
among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your
members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and
cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask
not.'

But as for God, he says, from him comes nothing but good. Do not
fancy anything else. 'Do n