E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Melissa Er-Raqabi,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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What Peace Means
By
Henry van Dyke
New York Chicago
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh
Copyright, 1919, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street
To
My Son in the Faith
My Brother in the Work
Tertius van Dyke
FOREWORD
his little book containsthree plain sermons whichwere preached in NewYork in the Easter seasonof 1919, in the Park AvenuePresbyterian Church, of which myson is minister. I had no thought thatthey would ever be printed. They were,and are, just daily bread discourses meant toserve the spiritual needs of a congregationof Christian people, seekers aftertruth, inquirers about duty, strangers andpilgrims, in the great city and the troubledworld.
But if, as friends think, these simplechapters may be of service through theprinted page to a larger circle of readers,I willingly and freely let them go.
May the blessing of Jesus follow themon their humble path. May the Spirit ofTruth bring them home to some heartsthat want them,—to those who desire toescape from evil and do good,—to thosewho "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 Igive unto you.—ST. JOHN 14:27.
eace is one of the greatwords of the Holy Scriptures.It is woven throughthe Old Testament andthe New like a goldenthread. It inheres and abides in the characterof God,—
"The central peace subsisting at the heart
Of endless agitation."
It is the deepest and most universaldesire of man, whose prayer in all ageshas been, "Grant us Thy Peace, O Lord."It is the reward of the righteous, theblessing of the good, the crown of life'seffort, and the glory of eternity.
The prophets foretell the beauty of itscoming and the psalmists sing of the joywhich it brings. Jesus Christ is its DivineMessiah, its high priest and its holyprince. The evangelists and prophetsproclaim and preach it. From beginningto end the Bible is full of the praise ofpeace.
Yet there never was a book more fullof stories of trouble and strife, disasterand sorrow. God Himself is revealed init not as a calm, untroubled, self-absorbedDeity, occupied in beatific contemplationof His