Life and Peace in Christ Alone
"To
be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace." -ROMANS
8:6 [KJV]
Just
in proportion as our heart and affections are engaged on heavenly
objects, shall we feel a sweet savour of heaven resting upon our
spirit; and as we can only give back what we receive, every going
forth of divine life from the soul below is but the fruit and effect
of the incoming of that life from above. Christ is our life above
[COLOSSIANS
3:4]; and as He
by His Spirit and grace maintains the life of faith in the soul, it
manifests itself in gracious actings upon himself.
Without
this spirituality of mind, religion is but a mere name, an empty
mask, a delusion, and a snare. God does not take into heaven, into
the fulness of His own eternal bliss, those whom He does not love,
and who do not love Him. It is a prepared people for prepared
mansions. And this preparedness for heaven, as an inward grace, much
consists in that sweet spirituality of mind whereby heavenly things
become our only happiness, and an inward delight is felt in them
which enlarges the heart, ennobles the mind, softens the spirit, and
lifts the whole soul, as it were, up into a holy atmosphere in which
it bathes as its choice element.
This
is "life," not the cold, dead profession of those
poor carnal creatures who have only a natural faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and the truths of His gospel; but that blessed life which
shall never die, but live in the eternal presence of God when earth
and all it holds shall be wrapped in the devouring flames. And it is
"peace"— the Redeemer's dying legacy—whereby, as
He Himself fulfils it, He calms the troubled waves of the soul,
stills every rebellious movement, and enthrones Himself in the heart
as the Prince of peace.
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
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