Peace like a river.
"Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river." The prophet used the image of a river by intention, and in contrast with the figure of the sea. In ancient times, and Eastern lands, the sea was a terrible thing; so the prophet figures the wicked as like the "troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." The sea is restless, is storm-test, is a devourer. In ancient times there seemed to be no music in her ripple, her wave-swell, or the bass of her ceaseless moan. We feel quite differently, because for us the sea is almost conquered. It is a servant whom we may employ, and not a vague mysterious god whose trident we must fear. The state of mind and heart, the conditions of relation and circumstances, for those who know the redemption of God in Christ Jesus, will not go into any figures taken from the sea. Their peace is like a river. How does a river differ from a sea? We note that their peace is like a river; it is—
I. SUPPLIED FROM EXHAUSTLESS FOUNTAINS. The peace and joy of the worldly and the wicked can only be likened to the "crackling of thorns under a pot," very noisy, very short-lived. At the back of the good man's peace is the" God of all peace;" and "when he speaks peace, who shall make trouble?" Christ's peace is given to us. "My peace I give unto you." It—
II. FLOWS ON THROUGH A WHOLE LIFE. You cannot stop the rivers. Dam them up a little while, and they are sure to gather, and flood the land until they can find the stream again and flow on. So the cares and sorrows of life may seem to stop the good man's peace. But it cannot be; over and under and round the Divine waters will flow, find their way back to their channel, and flow on again. It—
III. REFRESHES AND BLESSES ALL THE LAND THROUGH WHICH IT FLOWS. The bordering fields are rich with grass and. flowers; the trees drink up its moisture, and hold out great leaf-clad branches, and the "little hills rejoice on every side." So the good man, the man of peace, the peace-lover, and the peace-maker, sweetens, soothes, sanctifies, all the society in which he takes his place. He makes a reviving, delightful atmosphere wherever he may be. We rejoice in him, even as thirsty lands rejoice in the sweet pure river, that day and night flows on unceasingly, past bank and brae.—R.T.