Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/42

 yet from the hereditary evils to which we are all more or less prone, the path to inward peace is through struggling and warfare. O my soul! shrink not from this fight, but take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and apply the truth to the subjugation and dispersion of those inward foes of thy spiritual household, those evil passions, concupiscences, and iniquities, which, before regeneration, are the unruly inmates of thy mind.

These foes of our own house must be subdued and dislodged ere the affections and thoughts of the soul can be attuned to the harmony of heaven, in which harmony alone there is peace. Every evil passion is as a devil in the heart, and every false persuasion that leads astray from God, is as a wily Satan that conceals poison under the deceptive words that proceed from unclean lips! While these enemies are loved and cherished in the soul, peace will be a stranger within, and the beauty of holiness cannot be seen in the outward life. Inward peace, which is truly heavenly, flows as it were imperceptibly into the mind, as the lusts and evil passions of the heart are removed; and as these are removed, the man receives from the Lord the "covenant of peace." All that celestial tranquillity of soul enjoyed by the regenerate man, is comprehended in the word peace. It is a peace that passeth all understanding, because it is more a subject of delightful feeling than of thought or description; thus the Lord does indeed "bless his people with peace." (Psalm xxix. 11.) He, being the Giver of all good, is called the Prince of Peace, who mercifully said to his disciples, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." (John xiv. 27.) This inward