They had healed, he said, the hurt of the daughter of his
people slightly, crying, "Peace, peace, when there was no peace."
But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of men's spirits as well as of
their bodies. He can turn the heart, He can renew the soul. None so
ignorant, none so sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits, but
the Lord will and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him,
strengthen him, if he will but claim his share in his King's mercy,
his citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune
again with himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all therein.
Keeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our perfect
King, is both the example and the inspirer of our souls and
characters, we may look without fear at the epistle for the day,
where it calls on us to be very different persons from what we are,
and declares to us our duty as subjects of Him who is meek and lowly,
just and having salvation. It is no superstitious, slavish message,
saying: "You have lost Christ's mercy and Christ's kingdom; you must
buy it back again by sacrifices, and tears, and hard penances, or
great alms-deeds and works of mercy." No. It simply says: "You
belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to Him and follow His
example.
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