All the
powers must be brought into harmony. This requires correct views of
life, knowledge of the truth, a strong will, a resolute purpose, a
high idea, a mind that learns by experience to correct its wrongs.
Thus he acquires the mastery over himself, and his passions become
his servants, which were formerly masters. Reason prevails over
feeling, and duty over impulse. If he has lost a friend, he does not
mourn inconsolably, nor seek to forget that friend. He turns his
thoughts more frequently to where that friend has gone, and so he
goes on until it becomes to him a loss no longer, but rather a
gain--a son, daughter, brother, or wife, immortal in the kingdom of
God, rather than mortal and perishing on earth. Gradually he
acquires a perfect command of himself, an equilibrium of all his
active powers, and so is at rest.
What is more beautiful in the earthly life of Jesus, than this manly
harmony, equipoise, and rest? He enjoyed peace, and promised it to
His friends. And this peace of His, He did not for others postpone
to a distant day, or shut up altogether in a future Heaven, but left
it to His disciples on earth. What, then, was His peace?
His peace was not inactivity.
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