E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) WHAT PEACE MEANS by HENRY VAN DYKE New York Chicago Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh 1919 To My Son in the Faith My Brother in the Work Tertius van Dyke FOREWORD This little book contains three plain sermons which were preached in New York in the Easter season of 1919, in the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, of which my son is minister. I had no thought that they would ever be printed. They were, and are, just _daily bread discourses_ meant to serve the spiritual needs of a congregation of Christian people, seekers after truth, inquirers about duty, strangers and pilgrims, in the great city and the troubled world. But if, as friends think, these simple chapters may be of service through the printed page to a larger circle of readers, I willingly and freely let them go. May the blessing of Jesus follow them on their humble path. May the Spirit of Truth bring them home to some hearts that want them,--to those who desire to escape from evil and do good,--to those who "seek peace and ensue it." HENRY VAN DYKE. Park Avenue Church Manse, New York City. CONTENTS I. PEACE IN THE SOUL II. PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS III. THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE I Peace in the Soul _Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you._--ST. JOHN 14:27. Peace is one of the great words of the Holy Scriptures. It is woven through the Old Testament and the New like a golden thread. It inheres and abides in the character of God,-- "The central peace subsisting at the heart Of endless agitation." It is the deepest and most universal desire of man, whose prayer in all ages has been, "Grant us Thy Peace, O Lord." It is the reward of the righteous, the blessing of the good, the crown of life's effort, and the glory of eternity. The prophets foretell the beauty of its coming and the psalmists sing of the joy which it brings. Jesus Christ is its Divine Messiah, its high priest and its holy prince. The evangelists and prophets proclaim and preach it. From beginning to end the Bible is full of the praise of peace. Yet there never was a book more full of stories of trouble and strife, disaster and sorrow. God Himself is revealed in it not as a calm, untroubled, self-absorbed Deity, occupied in beatific contemplation of His own perfections. He is a God who works and labours, who wars against the evil, who fights for the good. The psalmist speaks of Him as "The Lord of Hosts, strong and mighty in battle." The Revelation of St. John tells us that "There was war in Heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon." Jesus Christ said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword."