1892 46 Peace with God

is a state of mind in the unclouded consciousness of what God is (but necessarily according to His nature) to us according to the value of Christ's work, and in Him.

There is another order of peace from the conformity itself to this nature — a subjective peace. "The mind of the Spirit is life and peace."

__________

The Spirit of Heaven and that of the World.

1892 110 The one gathers and unites; the other scatters and divides. Get a centre on earth, and around it may he those who regard it in one common light; but in this you separate from Christ and those who are His. Let Christ in heavenly glory be really seen by faith, and those who so see Him must by the Spirit's power be gathered round Him, on ground of God's word, from which nothing but ignorance or earthliness can keep apart any that are His.

Musical Service: is it Right?

1892 128 {By a clergyman of the Church of England (Nisbet & Co)}

This tract is a plain and decided protest against the musical fashion of the day. The critical remarks are not equal to the general principles or the exhortations, for reasons already given in noticing "The Figurative Language of scripture." Worship, says he, "is a matter of much more vital consequence than most Evangelicals seem to suppose. Let none speak or think of it, or of any thing connected with it, as small or trifling. It is that in which God, the All-Great, delights. It is that which, as our Heavenly Father, He Himself 'seeks'! It is the solemn eight-times-struck key-note of the New Covenant! Let us hear no more the vain and foolish words, 'I like this,' or 'I prefer that,' in connection with any of the principles or practices of Divine worship, but let us all humbly unite in offering our Father in heaven that which He so plainly told us He likes and we need." Again, says he, "Musical service is wrong — as
I. Unscriptural.
II. Unreal.
III. Selfish.
IV. Sensuous.
V. Worldly.
VI. Uncongregational.
VII. Unprotestant.
VIII. Doing evil that good may come.
IX. Injurious to the ministry."
Appendix B. shows that "there is no direct warrant for the use of instrumental music in the Church of Christ, either in the New Testament, or in any of the writings of the first three centuries."