THE PRESENT POWER OF THE FUTURE AND NOTES1 Peter 1:1. Peter.—This may be called his official, his apostolic name, as distinguished from his personal name Simon, or Simeon. Christ gave it to mark His estimate of his character; it has come to indicate his office. Apostle.—That is, one directly called, commissioned, and sent, by Jesus Christ Himself. Compare the name “servant,” given to themselves by James and Jude, which suggests, and seems to imply, that they were not apostles in the first sense of the term. Jesus Christ.—As St. Peter writes mainly to Jews, this name is significant as assuming the recognised Messiahship of Jesus. He is Jesus the Messiah. Strangers.—ἐκλεκτοῖςπαρεπιδήμοις; chosen strangers, or elect sojourners of the Dispersion. Compare John 7:35, “the dispersion of the Greeks,” which must mean the “dispersed Jews who live among the Greeks.” Here “the dispersed of Pontus,” etc., means “the dispersed Jews who live in these countries.” Strangers is a confusing word; sojourners is better. Jerusalem is thought of as the Jews’ home; anywhere else he is a sojourner. The tone of the epistle is adapted to the Jew, and especially to the foreign-dwelling Jew. The countries mentioned are provinces of Asia Minor. The particular occasion of the letter is not indicated even by its contents.1 Peter 1:2. Elect.—The usual idea of the Jews as a nation. But Peter intimates that the Christian Jews were elect in a new sense. “The word and the thought that the disciples of Christ are what they are by the election or choice of God characterises the whole teaching of the New Testament.” Foreknowledge.—Plumptre says that the word hovers between a mere “prevision of the future” and the higher sense in which “knowing” means “loving” and “approving,” as in 1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9, and probably Romans 8:29; Romans 11:2. God the Father.—St. Peter’s clear conception of the Sonship of Christ gave him a clear and strong impression of the Fatherhood of God. Through sanctification of the Spirit.—Which practically carries out the electing purpose of God. “Separating,” rather than “making holy,” is the idea of sanctification here, after the familiar meaning of the term to Jews. Compare “consecration.” The election of God, as a Divine purpose, realised or manifested itself in their being separated from the world, and set apart as consecrated ones. Unto obedience.—The response of the consecrated one to the grace of his separation. To secure such obedience is the purpose of God’s election, and the work of the sanctifying Spirit. So the obedience of the Jewish nation was the proper response to the national election. Sprinkling of the blood.—Which bears direct relation to infirmities in the obedience of the sanctified ones, as is even more clearly expressed in 1 John 1:7. It should be noticed that this cleansing and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus is applied to those who are Christian, who are separated or sanctified. “The daily being sprinkled by Christ’s blood, and so cleansed from all sin” (Fausset). Grace … peace.—By peace is meant that inward composure of mind which attends upon the experience of electing grace. “Peace” is the old Hebrew salutation; the addition of “grace” makes it a Christian salutation.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 1:1-2 The Called-out Ones.—The epistle to the Hebrews is evidently written for the Jewish Christians, but it had no direct address or dedication to them. The only epistle besides 1 Peter, addressed to the Jews of the Dispersion, is the epistle of James; and that epistle should be carefully compared with this, in order to discover what common conditions each writer dealt with, and what peculiar perils or weaknesses each noticed. I. The Dispersion.—It is important to mark the distinction between St. James’ dedication and St. Peter’s. St. James addresses the “twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion,” apparently not wishing to press any distinction between Jews and Christian Jews. St. Peter, as is brought out clearly by the Revised Version, addressed only those who, of the Dispersion, had accepted the faith of Christ. “To the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion.” There is consequently a general tone on the counsels of St. James, and a precise and specific tone on the counsels of St. Peter. His interest in those to whom he wrote as, like himself, Jews, is evident in the illustrations and references of the epistle; but it is equally evident that St. Peter has in mind those who share with him in a distinctly Christian experience. The term that he uses, “sojourners,” suggests that he had not in mind those of the Dispersion who had settled down and made their homes in these lands, but rather those who were taking temporary shelter in these lands, because driven from their homes by persecution, or by some prevailing famine or distress. Sojourners of the Dispersion cannot be intended to suggest the Dispersion. As those in flight, and in fear, and in distressing circumstances, St. Peter’s assurances, and sympathy would be especially comforting to them. He thinks of them as elect ones, called out ones—as those who, in the persuasions of Divine grace, had been led to accept of Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour; to them had been given “like precious faith” with him. II. The basis of their call.—“According to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” St. Paul in a similar way says, “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.” The thought is almost peculiarly a Jewish one. It was the genius of that nation to see God’s mind, God’s purpose, and God’s hand in everything. A Jew could not look upon anything without the feeling: God thought it, God meant it, God did it. They were jealous of admitting that anything could ever happen which was not first in the mind of God. And it was quite natural that the Jewish apostles should be jealous of every attempt to separate the new life in Christ from God. The Christian faith and life was no independent thing. Every one who exercised the faith, and received the life, was known of God beforehand, and within all agencies that won the man for Christ was the Divine call, based upon the Divine foreknowledge. “Them He also called.” Difficulty is often made by unnecessarily assuming that the Divine foreknowledge involves Divine interference. It is thought that because God foreknew, therefore man could not be left free to act upon motives and judgments. It is even assumed that, all being settled beforehand in the Divine councils, men could be no other than saved or unsaved, as God arranged for them. But knowledge of what will happen is quite distinct from interfering to make things happen. The Divine eye, searching the ages, may see every one that will accept the offer of salvation in Christ, and yet all the ordinary agencies for the teaching of the truth and the persuading of the will may go on unhindered. God’s foreknowledge is a sublime mystery of the Divine nature, which comes comfortingly to Jewish toned souls, but in no way affects man’s freedom to act on considerations submitted, or his responsibility for making wise and worthy decisions. Even in the small spheres of family life, parents often feel quite certain how their several children will act under the same circumstances; but that parental knowledge—though it guides parental doings—in no sense interferes with the free expression of themselves by the children. III. The method of their call.—“The sanctification of the Spirit.” It is grammatically possible that the reference is not to the Holy Spirit, but to the man’s own spirit. And the idea of separation and consecration is that expressed by the one word “sanctification.” The call of God is an arousing of the man’s spiritual nature into activity. But God working in the spirit of man we recognise as the Holy Spirit. The first idea of sanctifying a man we express as spiritualising a man—wakening him to spiritual interests, to attention to spiritual claims and considerations, and to the making of spiritual decisions and resolves. St. Paul says, “Ye which are spiritual.” And God’s call is a “sanctifying,” because it awakens a man, and makes him spiritual. Illustration may be taken from the boy Samuel, who heard God’s call, and became spiritual from that hour. Or from Saul of Tarsus, who heard God’s call, and became spiritual from that hour. The proper act of the awakened spiritual life is consecration to God. To that God’s Spirit moves the spiritual man. That consecration is his sanctification. IV. The purpose of their call.—“Unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Compare St. Paul’s words, “To be conformed to the image of His Son.” Obedience is the epitome of right relations between God and His creatures, between the Father and His sons. But it is the spiritual obedience of spiritual men that is referred to; an obedience which is the expression of heart-devotion. By “sprinkling of the blood” may possibly be meant that sense of acceptance with God, that joy of fellowship with God, and that guarantee of maintained relations with God, which comes to us only through the sprinkled blood. The purpose God has in their call is to bring them into that holy life, to which He can respond by giving them fully His Divine favour and friendship. The greeting of this passage, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied!” becomes interesting as the sympathetic greeting of a specially called one, called to be “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 1:2. Election.—We may at once place aside, as having nothing to do with our subject, the question whether God’s knowledge of future events practically abolishes human freedom. We know absolutely nothing of the nature of God, excepting what He has revealed, and the question before us simply is, What did the writers of the New Testament mean? Who are the elect and chosen of whom they speak? Are they (whoever they are) arbitrarily chosen according to the determinate counsel of God? and if so, to what are they chosen? The apostles were Jews, and part of their mission was to explain why God should turn away from His elect people, and offer eternal life also to the Gentiles. St. Paul says, God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew, but as in the time of Elijah there was a faithful remnant, so those whose ears had been opened to hear the word of the gospel were the election of grace, as he calls it, and that they and the Gentiles who had been admitted to the privileges of hearing the word of the gospel through their fall, are now the elect people of God. In Romans 9, the apostle asserts the power of God to extend His chosen people, and reminds them that God had not acted in His choice of them as the elect people of God upon the principles of bare lineal descent, but that the revelation of His mercy and goodness has not been dependent upon any goodness of theirs, but on His sovereign will and pleasure. Not that God has no reasons, but that “He giveth not account” to His creature man “of any of His matters. God blesses some nations with peculiar blessings which He withholds from others. The Potter makes two vessels; one, the Jewish nation, God saw fit to devote to honour; the other, the Egyptian nation, He devotes to less honour, to make His power known. What were God’s favoured nation, the Jews, elected, chosen, predestinated to? Not, surely, final salvation, but to peculiar religious privileges—not to a blessing absolutely, but to a special privilege and advantage, and the offer and opportunity of obtaining temporal blessings, not extended to the other nations of the world, and of having committed to them the oracles of God. The Jews were not chosen for their obedience, for they were a peculiarly disobedient people, and their privileges were made to depend upon their obedience. They were left free to choose between blessing and cursing; a blessing if they attended to the voice of the Lord their God, and a curse if they refused to obey.—Robert Barclay. Election as held by Jews.—The Old Testament containing not only the germs of the doctrine of election in the contraposition of Abraham and the world, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Judah and his brethren, but also the germs of the doctrine of decrees in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and others, not to speak of the book of Ruth, and the book of Job, those grand representative exemplifications of Divine fore-ordination, it was quite natural that the idea of Divine predestination should be found living and active among the Jews, though it was very differently developed in the different systems of Judaism. The Sadducees openly asserted that each man was the master of his own destiny; while the Pharisees, with their mechanical separation of the effects of Divine blessing from the effects of human righteousness, made human destiny depend partly on Divine ordination and partly on human actions. The Essenes, representing that form of Judaism which was most mixed up with paganism, considered destiny as an inevitable fate; the whole idea, however, being peculiarly mitigated by the religious quietism which characterised the sect. The fate of Islam is the absolute, arbitrary despotism of Allah; and when the Koran in one place teaches the inevitableness of destiny, and in another the possibility of warding off Divine punishment, it simply contradicts itself. The fatalism of Mohammed referred, probably, only to the infidels; and when to the faithful he preached absolute necessity, with respect to the hour of death, he had probably only a practical purpose in view—to make them good fighters for his religion.—Herzog’s “Encyclopζdia.” Divine Election not Absolute.—What does the word “elect” mean here? Does it refer to an absolute and unconditional election of these Christians to eternal life? Such is the interpretation put upon the word by the followers of Augustine, Calvin, and many other Church teachers; but here, at least, it is otherwise defined. It is an election “unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”; and indeed, throughout the New Testament its primary signification is God’s choice of nations, or of individual men, to the enjoyment of special privileges (better say duties, obligations, missions), with a view to their eternal salvation if those privileges are rightly used. It is an election according to the foreknowledge of God—that foreknowledge which sees the end from the beginning, which embraces all the events of time, which is acquainted with the actions, lives, and motives, of all men; and which therefore, can never be taken by surprise. But God’s foreknowledge is not fore-determination. It does not interfere with human free agency. It does not deal with men as with beings who have no moral responsibility. In what way the thought of man’s freedom to will was reconcileable with that of God’s electing purpose, the writers of the New Testament did not care to discuss. They felt, we may believe, instinctively, half unconsciously, that the problem was insoluble, and were content to accept the two beliefs, which cannot logically be reconciled. In the words “the foreknowledge of God the Father” we find, perhaps, the secret of their acceptance of this aspect of the Divine government. The choice and the knowledge were not those of an arbitrary sovereign will, capricious as are the sovereigns of earth, in its favours and antipathies, seeking only to manifest its power, but of a Father whose tender mercies were over all His works, and who sought to manifest His love to all His children. From that standpoint the “choice” of some to special blessings was compatible with perfect equity to all.—Dean Plumptre. The Election of Christian Jews.—The term “elect” here marks off the Christian Jews from the rest of the Jewish settlers in those parts. God selected these particular Hebrews out of the whole number and made them Christians: but what He elected them to is abundantly shown in the next words.—A. J. Mason, M.A. Sprinkling.—By this word he alludeth to the sacrifices of the law, which all pointed to the sacrifice of Christ; and to show that as it had been nothing that a sacrifice had been killed, unless the blood thereof had been sprinkled upon the people (for so was the manner), so it avails nothing that Christ died, unless His blood be sprinkled upon us by the hand of a true faith, applying Jesus Christ to our consciences. It is not Christ that saves, but Christ’s death apprehended by a true and lively faith; for a particular persuasion hereof are we to labour,—John Rogers, 1657. Inauguration by Sprinkling.—Compare Hebrews 9:19; Hebrews 12:24. As the people themselves are “sprinkled,” and not their houses, the reference cannot be to the Paschal sprinkling (Exodus 12:22), but, as in Hebrews, to the scene under Mount Sinai, in Exodus 24:8, where, once for all, the old covenant was inaugurated by the sprinkling of the people. (A curious ceremony of sprinkling the people is observed in Madagascar.) It was to the same scene that our Lord referred when He said of the Eucharistic cup, “This is My blood of the new covenant.” Thus “elect unto the sprinkling of the blood,” seems to mean, “selected for admission into the new covenant, inaugurated by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.” But whereas the old covenant was inaugurated by sprinkling the people collectively and once for all, the new is inaugurated by individual application. Doubtless the participation of the Holy Communion is the act of “sprinkling” here before St. Peter’s mind, it being the one act which betokens membership in the new covenant-people, the new Israel.—A. J. Mason, M.A. Daily Sprinkling.—Not sprinkling in justification through the Atonement once for all, which is expressed in the previous clauses, but (as the order proves) the daily being sprinkled by Christ’s blood, and so cleansed from all sin, which is the privilege of one already justified, and walking in the light (1 John 1:7; 1 John 1:9-10; compare Hebrews 12:24; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 7:14).—Fausset. AND NOTES1 Peter 1:3. Blessed be.—A characteristic Jewish recognition of God’s mercy. Compare with 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3. Abundant.—πολὺ, much. Begotten us.—The choice of the nation is thought of as its first Divine birth; the call into gospel privileges is thought of as a new and second Divine birth (see John 3:5; Titus 3:5; James 1:18). Lively hope.—Living hope. “A life in which hope is the energising principle” (Alford). Macknight’s note is suggestive: “Believers of all nations are begotten to the hope of a new life after death, through the covenant of grace made with our first parents after the Fall. In the same hope they are begotten a second time, through the resurrection of Christ from the dead.” By the resurrection.—Here St. Peter speaks from his own personal experiences. The great revealing time, which brought to him the consciousness of a new life, was the resurrection of Jesus. Then he believed in Him with a belief that brought to him a new life. Archbishop Leighton makes the resurrection the efficient cause of our new birth.1 Peter 1:4. To an inheritance.—Still the Jewish national figure is in the mind of St. Peter. That nation was begotten to the inheritance of Canaan; we are begotten to a spiritual inheritance, figured for us as a heavenly Canaan. Incorruptible, etc.—“Exuberant description of the excellencies of the new Canaan.” In heaven.—The heavenly spiritual spheres. Reserved until you were quickened with the new life that could appreciate it. Not future heaven, but present heavenliness.1 Peter 1:5. Kept.—“Who, by virtue of God’s power, are under guard.” “As the inheritance hath been preserved, so are the heirs guarded; neither shall it fail them, nor they it” (Bengel). Through faith.—Not intellectual belief, but daily trust, which keeps us in spiritual union with God, and secures the Divine defence. Unto salvation.—Full salvation from all the frailties and consequent sorrows of this life; full development of the new life begun in us. Ready to be revealed.—A heaven actually prepared. A future that even now may be a spiritual presence. The idea of an inheritance gives the character to St. Peter’s figures. But heaven must be in man before he can be in heaven.1 Peter 1:6. Greatly rejoice.—The prospect brings all the joy of a present possession. “Salvation is realised by faith as a thing so actually present as to cause exulting joy, in spite of existing afflictions.” The rejoicing is in “the whole complex sense of the preceding verses, concerning the hope of glory.” In heaviness.—Or “ye were grieved, burdened, distressed.” Temptations.—Troubles, persecutions, regarded as trials or testings of faith (see James 1:2).1 Peter 1:7. Trial of your faith.—“Faith is not known to be what it is until it is tested by suffering.” More precious.—The faith is meant, not the trial of it. Illustration from the severe processes found necessary for the refining of gold. “More valuable than the trial of gold, which is perishable, and that is a fiery trial.” Appearing.—Better, “revelation.” The Early Church’s expectation of Christ’s coming is very difficult to understand, but it explains many apostolic expressions.1 Peter 1:8. Not seen.—Some MSS. read, “Whom not knowing, ye love.” Love.—The word of calm and Divinely-given attachment, not the word of warm human friendship. Compare our Lord’s commendation of those “who have not seen, yet have believed.”1 Peter 1:9. Receiving the end.—Getting now, up to measures of capacity, all the blessings of the salvation. “Their joy and peace in believing constituted a present salvation, the pledge and earnest of final and complete deliverance.”1 Peter 1:10. Read “prophets” without the article. Plumptre thinks St. Peter is speaking mainly, though perhaps not exclusively, of the prophets of the Apostolic Church. It is, however, usual to see reference to the prophets of the Old Testament. “All the prophets looked forward with envy to the prize now in their hands.” Have enquired.—Calvin says: “When he states that the prophets inquired and examined, this refers not to their writings or teaching, but to the private longing with which each was fired.” (Compare, however, Acts 1:6-7.)1 Peter 1:11. Spirit of Christ.—If this does not mean the “Messianic Spirit,” it would seem to support Plumptre’s limitation to New Testament prophets. Sufferings of Christ.—τὰεἰςΧριστόνπαθήματα: the sufferings for Christ, or “which pass on unto Christ.” “The sufferings spoken of are those which the disciples were enduring for Christ, and which he thinks of as shared by Him, flowing over to Him” (Plumptre).1 Peter 1:12. Unto us.—The better MSS. give “unto you.” Now reported.—By the Christian teachers and preachers. Application is direct to the Christian Jews of Asia Minor, who were late in receiving the good tidings, but entered into the full heritage of all the good things. Angels.—Read without the article.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 1:3-12 Present and Future Salvation.—The similarity between the “blessings” of 1 Peter 1:3 and the “blessings” of 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3, attracts attention, and requires explanation. It is quite possible that the expression, “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” had become fixed in the Early Church as a formula familiarly used; and, if so, we can readily recognise its value as a succinct statement of the primary Christian truths. It affirms that the Christian God is the one and only God, the same God whose unity and spirituality were the sacred trust of the Jewish nation; that this God, having been manifested to men in a Son, and in Sonship, may now be apprehended as the Divine Father; and that what He is to us we may learn from what He is to Christ: that Jesus is the Saviour from sin which His name expresses; and that, as Christ, or Messiah, He is sent of God to do that saving work; that He who saves from sin gains the right to rule the saved ones as Lord; and that the relation in which they stand to Him is a distinctly personal one, so that they can call Him “our Lord.” It is the Christian truth epitomised in the Christian name for God. And it fittingly introduces the references to the salvation which the Father God works by the ministry of “our Lord Jesus Christ.” I. The life which the Father quickens.—“Who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope.” “A life in which hope is the energising principle” (Alford). St. Peter is not here referring, generally, to the new birth, and the new life of the soul, but specifically to that new life which comes to men in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. St. Paul’s expression helps to explain St. Peter’s. He says, “If ye then be risen with Christ”; as if for the believer in Christ there was as truly a fresh life, as there was for Christ after His resurrection. St. Peter is writing to new-born souls, to those who have the life in Christ, and purposes to set before them their Christian privileges and responsibilities. The new life which the Father quickens is a double life; it is a present life of privilege, and it is the hope of a future life of blessedness. It is a living life, in the holy cheer of a living hope. It has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. It is the life of hope which the Father quickens, through the resurrection of Christ, that is St. Peter’s great point. That was the truth to cheer persecuted Christians who were driven from their homes, perhaps with the loss of all things. What had they for their comfort, save their Christian hope? If we would understand how this new life of hope comes to us through the resurrection of Jesus, we may consider St. Peter’s own experience. That resurrection made him a new man. If St. James was our Lord’s real brother, as is assumed, his belief in Jesus as the Messiah came as the persuasion of His resurrection, and St. James was “begotten again” through the resurrection. “Mystically speaking, the moment of our emergence into this new glow of expectation was that when the Messiah Jesus, who had been cut off, emerged from among the dead.” The believer is born again to this lively hope when the fact of the resurrection is acknowledged, and its significance realised. II. The future for which the Father quickens.—“Unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven.” Children are begotten, not only to life, but to the father’s property, that is their inheritance; it is theirs in reversion. Those who had been called to suffer the loss of all things might well remember that it was but a present and temporary loss—a loss of their banking account, not of their title deeds—it in no way affected their inheritance. If a man’s future is well secured, he can with comparative ease bear present disaster. The future as an inheritance is suggestively presented to us as our Heavenly Father’s home and estate; but instead of indications of the wealth and extent of it, our minds are occupied with the differences between it and the inheritances of earth. It is unchangeable, holy, permanent. Earthly properties are ever changing their values; sometimes consist of things of a low and degrading character, and are always uncertain; riches have a way of spreading wings. The Pontine dispersion had lost their inheritance in Palestine, but they have in no sense lost their title to their Father’s heavenly inheritance. III. The keeping until the future is ready.—“Who by the power of God are guarded through faith.” It were but to lift a part of the load to assure the persecuted believers that an inheritance for them was held in reserve. What would ensure their preservation through their present struggles; and what could be done for them in the long waiting-time? They were to think of themselves as now being kept, being guarded. That includes the supply of every present need, if only they can realise that it is their God and Father who is keeping His sons until the time of their entering on their inheritance. His keeping is fulness of blessing. But the keeping of God implies the watching and effort of the believer. The keeping is done through, or in connection with, the believer’s faith. He must keep up his faith if God is to keep him. The term that is used and translated in R.V., “guarding,” is a military term. As the heir of a royal house is never allowed to be without a watchful attendant, so for every “heir of salvation” there are God’s attendant ministering spirits. We are safe, we may be satisfied, till our day of possession comes round. IV. The discipline of the keeping time.—“Though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold temptations;” trials. A most sympathetic and wise reference to the calamities and afflictions which these Christians had to endure. St. Peter would have them thought of as only the school-boy discipline of the heir to an estate, who must be duly prepared for his coming responsibilities and privileges. Moral character can only be moulded through a discipline of severe experiences; and when we have entered on our inheritance, our surprise will be that God has been enabled to accomplish in us such fitness for it through so few earthly trials. Observe the suggestive relation of the many and various trials and the “little while” for which we have to be disciplined by them. There is always this great consolation connected with our earthly trials: they never do stay long. There is no element of permanency in human troubles. They would not be disciplinary if there were. They cannot stay one moment after God’s purpose in them is fully wrought. And so we can always truthfully speak of “our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” And there is always this consolation: God’s discipline now is the guarantee that He is preparing us for something by-and-bye. V. The present possession of that future.—“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” “Faith is the substance”—the actual, present realisation—“of things hoped for.” It is in one sense true that the heir to an estate, while he is only the heir, has nothing; but it is also true that in the feeling that all is coming to him, he has a present possession of everything; and, moreover, he has the use, up to present needs, of all that belongs to the estate. So the believer has all the comfort of knowing heaven is coming, and for the supply of all his present needs he has the full use of all the heavenly things. The attention of these persecuted men is turned away from the loss of their worldly goods, to the untouched, ever abundant supplies of spiritual good, which really are some of their future inheritance come to them now. “Poor in this world, rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom.” VI. The advantage which Christians have over Jews in this present spiritual possession.—The Jews’ advantages were all in the material, earthly sphere. A land of Canaan; a formal and ceremonial religion; an obedience of works. According to their ideas, a Messiah as an earthly conqueror and King. So outward was the entire Jewish range, that the more devout souls, the prophets, anxiously looked forward to the spiritual time, which the Christians had now entered upon (1 Peter 1:10-12). So far from Christian Jews wanting to go back to formal Judaism, the best Jews of the ages had always wanted to get on to Christianity; and even the angels were profoundly interested in this spiritual dispensation. There is nothing to envy in the past. It has had its day; it fitted to the needs of its day. But it only fitted to the average needs of men. In the old times the better, the more spiritual, men could not rest in it, could not be satisfied with it. Abraham “rejoiced to see Christ’s day.” And so did every man of faith, every man of spiritual insight and spiritual feeling, all down through the ages. If they anticipated the spiritual dispensation, how foolish those actually in the spiritual dispensation must be if they hankered after, and thought of returning upon, the old and formal and preparatory one. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 1:3. Hope as a Power in Moulding Character.—Three great graces—faith, hope, and love—are the abiding graces, vital in their influence on character, and central in their relations to Christianity; combining, they produce all the “fruits of the Spirit.” Faith, taking hold on the unseen, prevents us from giving too much heed to that which is visible; Hope, taking hold on the future, prevents us from giving undue attention to that which is temporal and present; Love, taking hold on the unselfish and the Divine, prevents us from being absorbed in carnal and idolatrous self-interest. In the original the emphasis grammatically falls on the word hope, for while the other words are participles, this is in the imperative. Literally translated, it would read thus: “Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The text suggests the power of hope as an inspiration in character and conduct, and indicates the objects of Christian hope, and the time when those objects shall be most gloriously and fully revealed. I. Look at the power of hope in human character.—What makes the difference between human beings and beasts? Very largely, the presence of hope as a factor in character. Hope is one of the foremost elements in human character; distinguishing man as man, giving him a higher rank than all the rest of the animal creation. And as it is a necessary factor in character, so it is in human progress. Any conditions in human society which tend to repress or suppress hope are abnormal and unnatural, and hostile to man’s well-being. We glory in our American civilisation because, more than in any other country on the face of the earth, men may here rise, give scope to hope, foster aspirations, and encourage all rational expectations. Hope presents a perpetual incentive to progress; not an ignis fatuus, a will-o’-the-wisp, beguiling us into marsh and mire, but impelling us continually onward to things higher and better. If we could reach our own ideal, further progress would be impossible. And hope helps us to bear trials. It surrounds us with a kind of “elastic medium,” so that when the terrible afflictions of this life beat against us, they rebound from us. There is a power in hope that prevents the severity of their blows from crushing us. II. What are the objects set before the Christian hope?—“The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Few of us ever think of this. When we speak of the grace that is revealed, we think of what is already manifested, of Golgotha with its cross, of Gethsemane with its agony, of the Garden with its rent tomb, of the ascending Christ and the descending Spirit. But in the third verse of this chapter the apostle says God “hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” Peter is speaking of something future, not grace already manifested, but an inheritance “reserved in heaven,” “ready to be revealed in the last time.” And so here, “The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ’s incarnation was not a revelation. His Divinity was rather hidden within the veil of His humanity: only now and then the glory of that Divinity shone forth, and then His disciples saw that He was the Son of God, and realised for a moment the greatness and the grandeur of His personality. When Jesus was here He was in disguise. God was only feebly and faintly manifested in the flesh, which obscured the glory. But when Christ comes a second time, no longer to make a sin-offering, but to bring full salvation unto His people, then will be the revelation of Jesus Christ. He will come like the King in His glory, and with Him all the holy angels and saints; not to pursue a weary way from the manger to the cross, but as a King to reveal and unfold Himself; and that will be the revelation of Christ. All the grace that comes to you, from the hour of your regeneration to the hour of your complete sanctification, is nothing in comparison with the grace that is to be revealed to you by Christ in the day when you are presented, faultless, before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. When Christ shall come to receive His saints to Himself there will be a revelation of grace in comparison with which all the grace that you now have, or have previously known, will be but as a drop in comparison to the ocean. III. The contrast between the objects of Christian hope and worldly hope.—What God promises stands firm—a verity, a reality; there is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. You do not see that inheritance yet. You are like a minor who has not yet entered on his estate, but who receives the revenue of it as the payments of interest come in: and so we have a foretaste of our future inheritance; the Spirit of God gives us an earnest of our possession until the day of redemption. There is nothing illusive in the Divine promise. And consider, once more, the permanence and reliability of the Christian objects of desire and expectation. We come to a limit in this world. You may have all the treasure of the world, and yet when death comes, from your relaxing grasp all these things disappear. You may have been applauded and admired by the world, but the applause of men will fade and faint on your ear as you reach the gates of the tomb. The glory of your possessions and your achievements will all pale and grow dim when you face the last great destroyer. But, blessed be God, the point at which human hopes are utterly blasted is the point at which Christian expectations only arrive at their consummation.—A. T. Pierson, D.D. The Resurrection the Chief Doctrine of Christian Faith.—If Christ had not risen from the dead there would be no Christianity; our faith would be in vain, and our hope void, the whole gospel a farce, and there would be no forgiveness of sin. The resurrection of Christ is the basis of all that we have and hope and love in Christ, but especially have we in it the surety of the hope of eternal life, because thereby all fear of death has been banished, and future blessedness and life have become a reality in Christ Jesus. He is our Head, and we through faith are members of His body. And since our Head has overcome sin and death and Satan, we partake of the triumph and the victory. For He has conquered our enemies for us and not for Himself. The victory is ours, as is also the triumph. When a ruler or a general conquers the enemies of a kingdom, he indeed triumphs, but the fruits and glories of the victory belong to the whole country and to all the citizens. Therefore all Christians triumph with Christ in His glorious resurrection.—Gossner’s Schatz-Kδstlein. The Resurrection Mystically Treated.—St. Peter is speaking, so far as himself is concerned, not mystically but literally, as his history before and after the resurrection shows. To him and to the other apostles the resurrection was a regeneration, and they became new beings. To subsequent Christians precisely the same effect takes place when (suddenly or gradually) the fact of the resurrection is acknowledged and its significance realised (Philippians 3:10). Yet we must not confine the meaning of the words to the effects of this conscious realisation. St. Peter is reviewing the transaction theologically—i.e., from God’s point of view, not phenomenally, from man’s. He speaks of the begetting, not of the being born—of the resurrection itself, not of the preaching of the resurrection. To God, with whom, according to St. Peter, time does not exist (2 Peter 3:8), there is no interval between His begetting of Christ again from the dead (Acts 13:33; Revelation 1:5) and His begetting of us again thereby. In the mystery of our union with the Incarnate Word, historical resurrection did, through baptism, in some ineffable manner, infuse into us the grace which makes new creatures of us. Archbishop Leighton well says, “Not only is it” [the resurrection] “the exemplar, but the efficient cause of our new birth.”—A. J. Mason, M.A. The Resurrection.I. In these words our attention is directed to Jesus Christ.—“Jesus Christ” is a name above all other names on earth. Many great names of heroes, military conquerors, philosophers, poets, scholars, artists, musical composers, scientific investigators, and discoverers, and great religious reformers, are dear to the heart of this country, and of the whole civilised world. But the name of Jesus is above all other names. Every Sabbath is the weekly memorial of His triumphant resurrection. II. Jesus Christ is considered in His human nature.—“Seed of David.” See Matthew’s Genealogy. He was also Son of God. “Thou art My Son.” “In the beginning was the Word.” As God, He could make an atonement for human sins. Yet He was human; a real man, with all our liabilities and limitations, experiencing our infirmities, and having a fellow-feeling with us. III. The emphasis given to our Lord’s resurrection.—“Remember.” The resurrection is more than a fact. Many facts are secret or private. But the resurrection of Jesus was a public, and thus a historical fact. IV. The entire Christian Church—east and west, north and south, is founded on the fact.—Every individual church, of every name and denomination, is founded on the fact. The church in Antioch, the apostolic churches in Europe, and all other churches, are built up on the same foundation. The observance of the Lord’s day bears testimony to the fact of His resurrection. V. The disciples of our Lord proclaimed far and wide the fact of the Lord’s resurrection.—They had seen the Lord, and they went into details. They preached everywhere, Christ the Crucified, and Christ the Risen. For their testimony they braved opposition, odium, and obloquy. Jesus also foretold His resurrection. Consider three theories. 1. Some person or persons had taken His body and hidden it. They could have had no motive for such theft. 2. His enemies took it and hid it, It was in their interest, as His enemies, to produce His body after the third day. 3. The disciples themselves stole the body and hid it. How could they dare martyrdom for a fable? VI. The Resurrection is a joyful fact.—“According to My gospel.” It was part of the “glad tidings of great joy” which it was His pride and delight to proclaim. The apostle appropriated it with rapture. “My” gospel. “Remember.” We are apt, in the daily jostle of daily business and engagements, to push aside and to forget this fact. Hence the importance of the anniversary of Easter Day, and of every successive Sabbath Day.—James Morison, D.D. 1 Peter 1:3-9. The Living Hope of the Christian. I. What gives us this hope? (1 Peter 1:3).—It is God who docs this, according to His great mercy. Without this love of God there is fear of Him, and a lack of trust in Him on the part of man, and an endeavour to base and build upon other foundations. Yet all of these prove to be dead hopes, and end in self-deception, or even despair. The living God, through the resurrection of His Son, has given a firm foundation for a living hope; the resurrection being the sure evidence that Christ’s atonement for our sins has been accepted, and that in Him and Him alone we can hope. II. Who can entertain this hope? (1 Peter 1:5).—It is those who are guarded through faith unto salvation. The only assurance and certainty in this living hope springs from the faith in God’s mercy, and Christ’s life and work. And reasons to believe we have now, as many as had the early Christians. To them, indeed, the Lord appeared visibly, even to Paul; but we have His sure Word and testimony, and the Holy Spirit working through that Word, convincing and convicting the heart. III. What does this hope bring? (1 Peter 1:4).—It is an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which this living hope guarantees. All this, however, is only possible under the presupposition that those who are to receive this realisation of their hopes are also alive, and have been raised from the tomb. Christ’s resurrection is thus to us also a sure sign that we too shall rise and live in and with Him eternally.—Wilhelm Bauer. 1 Peter 1:4-5. The Inheritance.—Most of the salutations in the epistles refer to the privileges of believers. We often dwell on the things which we do not possess, but in these introductions we are reminded of the things which we do possess. Our names are down in the old register—the election book. See 1 Peter 1:2. We trace back our lineage. Every step of the inquiry delights us, as we move from one number of the pedigree to another—martyr, apostle, prophet, priest, king, to the father of the faithful, yea, to Enoch, Enos, and Abel. But the last step is the grandest—to see our name in the old book of election by grace. The new birth,—see 1 Peter 1:3. We have a new heart of love and tenderness. We are bidden to look forward to the inheritance of the saints in light. I. That by the promise of the gospel we are entitled to an inheritance.—Begotten again, we are children, and as such, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The words which the apostle uses in the text appear synonymous, and yet they are not. (See the original.) 1. Immortal in its nature.—“Incorruptible.” The final state of godliness will be of such a spiritual nature that corruption will be impossible. In other words, it will be a state without sin, and, consequently, without its destructive effects. Present experience has its moments of foretaste of that state. Let us examine this matter. Returning on Wednesday evening from Box Hill, the heavens were generally covered with clouds, but in the west the setting sun had riven the clouds, and there was a streak of beautiful blue sky. So is Christian experience—clouds generally, but here and there beautiful light. I will look towards the heaven of your soul. Before the cross and the end of the ninth hour, the light returned. So when conviction made way for conversion; on the mount of transfiguration, overshadowed by the cloud of glory. So communion with God. “The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” Look to 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Peter 1:23, of this chapter. The life of Jesus is immortal—invulnerable. Strike the light, but you cannot wound it: so is the truth. Touches of these speak of the state when all shall be undying—thought, praise, purity, joy, etc.—all undying. 2. Pure in its administration.—“Undefiled.” It will be a state the enjoyment of which will preclude the possibility of abuse. The most perfect and delicate flower is the most susceptible of being tarnished or destroyed; the touch of the finger will do this. So with the Christian virtues. When we would do good, evil is present. There are interruptions. Let us name one or two. Interruption to continuous religious thought. The astronomer making observations, and the cloud coming between. Some gloomy thought. There are also circumstances outside ourselves that do this. Like the withering blast of the east wind, our prospects are often blighted. But the state of heaven will be such that no clouds will darken the mind, and no trials will harass the heart. The touch will be pure—even if we touch the throne itself there will be no dark Mark 3. Perpetual in its beauty. “That fadeth not away.” The beauty that was, has faded; the beauty that is, is fading; and the beauty that is to come must fade here—Nature’s beauty, human beauty, and fortune itself. Moral beauty. The fair and promising young man has gone wrong. Look at yonder garden. Body like unto His glorious body. The soul without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Virtue eternal as its Author. 4. Distant in its location.—“Reserved in heaven.” You must remove to a new scene, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. No battlefields there; no hospitals; no graveyards. No, not even a trace of sin. “Reserved.” Some lovely spot. “Behold, I go and prepare a place for you,”—crowns, thrones, etc. II. That believers are now kept under guard and discipline in order to the future enjoyment of that blessed state.— 1. Faith is the medium of power.—The power of resistance, and the power of perseverance. To reign with Christ in life is full of inspiration. We lay hold of eternal life. 2. Salvation is the end of faith. What is the voice of faith but a cry for a better state? We cannot rest till we reach the goal. We press forward. 3. Time is the revealer of salvation. You will see. The ages have rolled on—wonderful things. Time’s last effort. Bring in the inheritance. What is our title?—Anon. 1 Peter 1:5. Kept by the Power of God.—Believers, as a class, are thus described: “Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” The words bring before us the doctrine commonly known as that of “final perseverance,” as opposed to that of possible defection and perdition on the part of true believers and regenerated sinners. Look at the objections to this doctrine, as they seem to weigh upon the minds, not of speculative theologians, but of practical experimental Christians, whose belief is, in purpose and profession, founded on the word of God and the experience of His people. The objections are twofold: (1) The doctrine is unscriptural; (2) it is of evil tendency. These are virtually one; for the objection to the doctrine as unscriptural has no substantive existence or foundation apart from its imputed or alleged pernicious tendencies in practice. It must be admitted that in Scripture there is no categorical denial of this doctrine, or any statement absolutely inconsistent with it. If it is rejected it must be because it is believed to be pernicious. What, then, is the evil tendency imputed to this doctrine? 1. It is said to assume the final perseverance of the saints to be secured by a power inherent in themselves, or by something in the very nature of a saving change, precluding all defection as a sheer impossibility, entirely irrespective of the subject’s own religious state or dispositions, or of any influence exterior to him, over and above the impulse given at conversion, or the vis inerti� of his new-born nature—a belief which may be justly charged with tending to indulge a proud reliance upon self, and an habitual security, alike dishonouring to God and dangerous to man. 2. The only proof which it requires of the saving clause, from which it draws its proud security and absolute immunity from danger, is the consciousness or memory of inward exercises, not susceptible of formal proof, and wholly independent of the actual condition of the subject at the time when he asserts his claim to this prerogative or privilege of absolute exemption from the risk or possibility of a fall from grace. The rejection of the doctrine is always based on the assumption of an inherent independent power of self-preservation, or the sufficiency of mere subjective states and exercises, to demonstrate the possession of that power. But no such assumptions are imputed in the word of God. As in our text, the preservation is explicitly described as the effect of a power exterior and superior to themselves, as effected by a sovereign, a Divine, an almighty agency. If all depend upon the action of Omnipotence (the power of God), where is the pernicious tendency? If we can no more, in and of ourselves, secure our own continuance in this state than we could create it, or create ourselves, or than we could create a World, “where is boasting then? It is excluded.” It may, however, be said that if we look upon the exercise of the power of God as absolutely and irrevocably pledged for our protection, the tendency of this belief to generate security and licence is as evident and strong as if the power were inherent in ourselves; nay, more so, since the power, instead of being finite, is now infinite; instead of being human, is Divine; instead of being ours is God’s, and yet completely under our control. This specious representation quietly assumes that we ascribe the perseverance of believers to an absolute, immediate act of power, without the use of means or the prescription of conditions. But this aspersion on the doctrine is wiped off by the simple but authoritative language of the text, which, so far from representing this conservative agency of God’s grace and omnipotence as acting independently of faith in the preserved and persevering subject, holds up faith itself as in a certain sense the means by which the perseverance is secured, by which the preservation is effected. Faith is not a thing to be assumed at pleasure, but to be established as conclusive evidence; not that of consciousness, or memory, or fancy, but of actual experience and practice. Where the fruits of faith are not, there is no evidence of faith. Where faith is not, there is no pledge of God’s omnipotence to save from falling. It is only those who have this faith and bear this fruit that have a right to claim a place among the happy souls who are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”—J. A. Alexander, D.D. Kept unto Salvation.—Many of God’s people are at times full of fears concerning their personal interest in Christ. Perhaps it ought not to be so. We have to face the fact that it often is so. The work of sanctification is a quiet, gradual, unseen work, of which we cannot accurately trace all the stages. It may be likened to the currents that run below the surface of the ocean, and secretly bear the vessel on its way, or out of its way. Or it may be likened to the steady march of time, which changes all earthly things, wears away the framework of the Pyramids, and crumbles down the everlasting hills, though, watch as we may, we can hardly follow the process. In our times of fear, we more often doubt our right to the Divine promises than doubt the general fulfilment of the promises. At our darkest times we are assured that the promises are “yea and amen” for those, to whom they are given. Our difficulty is that they are not given to us. Sometimes these feelings follow on the encouragement of some loved sin. Keep that sin; call it by some milder name though you may, it will stand between you and God. Like the host of Israel that went forth against the city of Ai, you will return from your toil defeated and disgraced if some accursed thing be kept within your camp. Sometimes they follow on neglected means of grace. Only as the soul maintains a constant intercourse with God can it maintain a constant assurance of His love. Sometimes they follow on watching too minutely our own thoughts, and frames, and feelings. We may soon come to put our trust in those feelings, and then every change in our feeling will fling a shadow over us, and feeble feeling will fill us with despair. In our text may be found a threefold description of the true child of God, by the help of which we may scatter the doubts and fears that loom over us. He is one (1) on whom the preserving power of God rests; (2) one in whom the spirit of faith is working; (3) one for whom salvation is prepared. I. The child of God is one on whom the preserving power of God rests.—This is a description which links the believer with the king-psalmist of Israel, whose poetically recorded experiences we so greatly enjoy. Perhaps there was no thought brought so much peace to the psalmist as the thought that he was “kept by God.” To his thought, God was “a sun and a shield; the Lord would give grace and glory.” His prayer was, “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” God was to him “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land”: “the Keeper of Israel, who never slumbered nor slept.” He could say of God, “I flee unto Thee to hide me.” Christian experience ever deepens our conviction of our own weakness; our inability to protect and keep ourselves. We feel more and more every day that we need a guarding as well as a guiding hand. The promises Christ gave to His disciples show that this need was recognised. “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” Those disciples are the sheep and lambs of Christ’s flock. They may be quite sure that the Shepherd is ever near to protect, defend, and keep. Our Lord, in His great intercessory prayer, said, “I kept them in Thy name, and none of them is lost.” Discipleship to Christ involves Divine keeping; and the Saviour prayed as though He were bound to give an account to God of each believer’s safety. We may realise this preserving power of God in several ways. 1. In the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit. No doubt the operations of the Spirit are mysterious. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.” But He does take up His abode in the believing soul. His presence pledges the fact of the change wrought in us. His operation is designed to preserve the soul from all evil, and to guide it into all truth. Source whence all Divine blessings for the soul flow, whence all the food of the spiritual life comes, whence all developments of the spiritual life receive their furtherance, that Spirit is no less the “Great Heart” guide, by whom the pilgrim is defended and preserved, the champion by whom his foes are defeated and his difficulties overcome. His presence is our seal unto the day of redemption; His work to keep the soul unto the full salvation that is prepared. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the fulfilment of all the promises of the Divine Presence. When Moses stood before the burning bush, and received the Divine command for the deliverance of Israel, he was overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the charge, and received this comforting and strengthening assurance: “Certainly I will be with thee.” That promise was fulfilled in the presence with him of God’s Holy Spirit. When Jeremiah pleaded his incapacity for the prophetic office, so earnestly saying, “Ah, Lord God; behold, I cannot speak! for I am a child,” God’s promise came, comforting him: “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee.” That also was fulfilled in the presence of God the Spirit. And how much to us all is that promise and assurance of our ascending Saviour, “Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world.” However else we may think that promise to have been fulfilled, it was certainly fulfilled in the abiding presence with us of the Holy Spirit. We imagine a sort of threefold Divine presence that we enjoy. A presence of God the Father—a Divine eye watching our every step, searching our every thought and purpose; a presence of God the Son, the living Friend to whom our thoughts may be made known, whose companionship we may daily enjoy; and a presence of God the Spirit, working within us, checking, inspiring, guiding, keeping. But, if we think a little closely, shall we not find that these three are one? If we have the presence of the Spirit, have we not each person of the blessed Trinity—the loving Father, the only-begotten Son, and the all presiding Spirit. Surely the whole promise of a present God is fulfilled for you, if you know that the Spirit of God is with you. If you know His power in your heart, rejoice; it is the power of God, a power efficient to keep you unto the salvation ready to be revealed. 2. In the strength we derive from the exercise of prayer. The spirit of prayer is illustrated in the wrestling of Jacob with the angel at the Brook Jabbok. Intense earnestness is expressed in that determination, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” Prayer is a laying hold of the Divine arm, a reliance on the Divine strength. The very terms of Christian prayer indicate our sense of God’s interest in us, and concern for us. “Abba, Father,” gathers about us fatherly love, fatherly watchfulness, and fatherly preservations. Thankfulness in prayer is the recognition of the hand of goodness ever over us. And the substance of all prayer is, that in all the forms of our spiritual toil and struggle we may have the help of God; we may not be left to our own weakness; we may be upheld and kept. And so of all the answers we receive to our prayer. They may be summed up in one thing: the realisation of God’s presence with us, and power resting on us. The sense of Divine aid, Divine inspiration, Divine keeping, which we may bear about with us day by day, is the answer to our prayer. 3. In the actual experience of the believer. In their temple service the Jewish people might well sing, “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge,” because their entire history was lit up with continual signs of His presence and power. Delivered from the house of bondage with a high hand, the sea saw the majesty of their leader, and fled, leaving a highway for God’s people; waste deserts became lands of plenty, and foes failed when Israel’s God marched before them. Manifested in burning bush and fiery pillar, ruling as Theocratic King, raising up one and setting down another, delivering and redeeming again and again, no truth was brought home to the Jew like this one, “The Lord of hosts is with us.” And we are the Israel of God. The power of God is witnessed in all our past history. Looking at the way in which the Lord hath led us, we say, again and again, There God guided; there God preserved; there God conquered for us; there foes gathered thickly, but God put His hedge of mercy round us; there we made mistakes, and wandered into by-paths that might have led us to destruction, but God in mercy restored our wandering feet. Over all our past may well be written, “Kept by the power of God.” We have been like that servant of the prophet. We could see that the house was surrounded with foes, and there was no way of escape. We could not see what, nevertheless, we might have seen, that the mountains all round about were full of the chariots and horsemen of the Lord. Far “greater were those with us than all that could be against us.” II. One in whom the spirit of faith is working.—Faith is often dealt with as connected with our first approach to God; as the gate at the head of the way of life. But we need to see that this same “faith” is called for throughout the whole course of the Christian life. We live day by day, spiritually, only as we believe; our strength, our comfort, our success, are in direct proportions to our faith. The work being carried on in your hearts is a spiritual work; you cannot watch it with your bodily eyes. The Being working is a spiritual Being; you can never see Him by your side. His way of working is a spiritual way; you may not always discover it: only faith brings the comfort of the Divine strength and nearness. That is true for us which was but fabled of an ancient prince. He had lost his father, and when setting out to endeavour to gain tidings of him, one of the divinities came down, took the form of an aged counsellor, and accompanied him in all his journeyings. That is true for us, but we only feel it, only get the joy of it, only know the impulses of it, only walk strongly and safely, as faith realises the fact. There is a great difference between knowing things with the mind, and believing them with the heart. The doctrines, commands, and promises of God lie within this sacred book like dry bones in the valley. They are mere forms of truth; mere declarations of Divine wisdom; beautiful enough, but cold and dead. Faith comes, the faith which says, This is the Word of God, and the Word of God to me—and then the dry bones live; a creative breath seems to have passed over them all. Without faith the Word of God is as a harp fully strung, but silent. Even in its silence one feels there are within it the possibilities of beauteous song. But let faith come, and touch the chords; then music is drawn forth, which seems like earth-echoes of the angels’ songs above. Now it may be warlike tones, wild and clear, that nerve the Christian’s arm, and send him boldly forth to fight the good fight of faith; now gentle, soothing strains that calm the troubled breast, and whisper to the torn and tried, God’s eternal peace. Have faith in God. Lay hold thereby of the power of God. Let that be the spirit in you which grasps the Divine energy that would rest upon you. With the power on you, and the faith in you, you shall be kept unto the salvation prepared. Learn from that great chapter of Hebrews how faith can work in daily life. Faith marked the acceptable worship Abel offered. Faith gave the triumph in the hour of Enoch’s translation. Faith kept Noah when the judgments of God were in the earth. Faith guided Abraham in his journeyings. Faith saved Moses in the moments of danger. Faith discomfited the foes of God’s Israel. And what shall we more say? Time would fail to tell the triumphs of daily faith, the toil it helps us to perform; the sorrow it helps us to bear; the wisdom it helps us to gain; the evils it helps us to fight; the glory it helps us to win. III. One for whom salvation is prepared.—Our salvation begins when we begin to live for God. Peter speaks of “receiving now the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul.” But that salvation has another stage. It is really as yet undeveloped. “Now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” The salvation now is salvation in the world, that shall be salvation from the world. This is salvation going on amid dangers, temptations, and evils: that shall be salvation perfected in scenes of holy rest, and triumph, and peace. And that fuller salvation is ready, prepared, waiting to be revealed. This further salvation is God’s purpose in the work of His Son. However much the work of Christ accomplishes for us here on earth; however God’s grace beautifies character, conquers evil, gladdens the home, gilds life with brightness, and crowds it with blessing, we cannot limit the great salvation to that which is earthly and fleeting. The purpose of God in redemption is wide and broad and deep as the everlasting life, and long as the everlasting ages. It may find you a poor sinful soul, low down in degradation; it will cleanse all stains, heal all wounds, and bless you now; but it will not rest satisfied until you are placed as a polished jewel in the crown of the Redeeming King. This is the design of the preserving power that rests upon you. For what does He keep you I Why does an eye that never slumbers nor sleeps watch Israel? Why does the Almighty Friend ever abide with us? Why? It is this: that we are being “kept” to the salvation that is ready to be revealed. This is the end of our faith. Faith grasps much for this life; but it is like the foreign bird, brought from sunnier climes—it ever seems to be stretching its wings and striking the bars of its cage, as though it would be away to the home it loves. Faith, a heavenly thing, born of God, in sympathy with the high and heavenly, will press beyond the struggling and darkness of time, and strive to gain the light and peace of eternity. And all is to be revealed in the last time. We know when that is. When the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they be few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened; when the silver cord shall be loosed, and the golden bowl be broken; when the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it;—then shall the full salvation be revealed, and we shall enter the New Jerusalem, from whence they go out no more, and where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Kept now for sanctifying, one day we shall be glorified. 1 Peter 1:6. Rejoicing and Heaviness.—This verse seems to gather up the thought of the first nine verses. The tone of this epistle reveals the sanctifying influence of a Christian experience upon St. Peter. What strikes attention is the recognition of the twofoldness of religious life. If it breathes the air of heaven, it treads the soil of earth. We are often surprised to find the life is a constant struggle, and the soul is calm with a Divine peace. St. Peter intimates that this is the very thing we should expect. The best men cannot always live in the sunshine of hope. A Christian life on earth can hardly fail to be a mingling of rejoicing and heaviness. I. The spirit of the Christian should usually be a spirit of rejoicing.— 1. The rejoicing of love (1 Peter 1:8). Love to Christ. The love that comes with faith in the unseen. Accepted love is our deepest source of earthly joy. We feel a holy pride when we can say of the Lord Jesus, “This is my beloved, and this is my friend.” 2. The rejoicing of the promised future (1 Peter 1:4). But the future finds nothing for the soul apart from Christ. Heaven is everything if the “Lamb be the light thereof.” II. The spirit of the Christian may be for a time a spirit of heaviness.—The rejoicing is “without limit.” The sadness is “for a season,” and “if needs be.” The heaviness comes from the trying, testing, of the very faith whence the rejoicing comes. The struggle of life may be expressed in this form: Under how thick darkness can you cling to Christ? Beaten how ever severely by foes, can you still keep hold on Christ, refusing to be beaten off! Whatever your earth-trials may be, remember they are but passing things. The soul’s restful joy in God should be deep, abiding, eternal. Note by Archbishop Leighton.—“His scope is to stir up and strengthen spiritual joy in his afflicted brethren. In this thing ye rejoice, that ye are begotten again; that there is such an inheritance, and that you are made heirs of it; that it is kept for you, and you for it; that nothing can come betwixt you and it, and disappoint you of possessing and enjoying it. Though there be many deserts and mountains and seas in the way, yet you are ascertained that you shall come safely thither.” The Christian State.— 1. The Christian state is properly one of deep and abiding joy. See this in St. Paul. (1) Joy in the salvation wrought by God. (2) Joy in the salvation resting on God. A deep-sea calm. An above-clouds calm. 2. Apparently, the Christian state is one of agitation, anxiety, and heaviness. Observe, however, the qualifications of this—“for a season,” “if needs be.” Still, even with these qualifications, the Christian state is often one of heaviness. How is this? The soul’s joy is the sign of a life of faith, and this must be tested, as in the case of Abraham, David, Peter. Can anything keep up the soul’s joy under the heaviness. (1) Assurance that it is testing, not destruction, not punishment. (2) Assurance that God is watching the process, regarding it as a precious work of refining. (3) Seeing that the designed issue is a simpler hold of Christ; a clearer spiritual sight of Him. And so, through the experience, the joy really becomes “unspeakable and full of glory.” And so we receive now the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls (a) from fear, (b) from sin, (c) from corruption. And thus we are made ready for Christ’s appearing. We see what we ought to regard as our great Christian treasure—our souls’ joy in the great salvation. We are sure to have the joy if only we have, and can keep, holy admirations of Christ. The Future in the Present.—St. Peter here states a fact of common human experience, which takes its highest form in the Christian spheres. The future we anticipate does exert a present influence on us. What is to be is everywhere helping men to bear what is. The “castles in the air” of the boy or girl at school help them over present tasks and discipline. The future of business success strengthens men to bear with and to overcome present perplexities and difficulties. The “good time coming,” the “golden age,” are not altogether things in the by-and-bye. They are actually with us now, in the cheer and strength they give. 1 Peter 1:8. Things Unseen.—It takes a very strenuous effort to bring the unseen Christ before the mind habitually, and so as to produce effects in the life. You have to shut out a great deal besides, in order to do that; as a man will shade his eyes with his hand in order to see some distant thing the more clearly. Keep out the cross lights, that you may look forward. You cannot see the stars when you are walking down a town street and the gas lamps are lit. All those violet depths, and calm abysses, and blazing worlds, are concealed from you by the glare at your side. So, if you want to see into the depths and the heights, to see the great white throne and the Christ on it, who helps you to fight, you have to go out unto Him beyond the camp, and leave all its dazzling lights behind you.—A. Maclaren, D.D. The Love of One Unseen.—In Peter we have not a highly intellectual, cultured man, so it was not given to him to set the first forms and shapes to the expression of Christian doctrine. For that work the Apostle Paul was specially called, endowed, and educated, and the fitness of the Divine choice of instruments has never been more fully demonstrated than in the selection of Paul for that particular work. Peter evidently had a larger heart than head; his great feature was impulsiveness: sometimes it led him astray into forwardness, presumption, and over-positiveness; but sometimes it enabled him to make noble testimonies, and even sometimes to force an entrance into mysteries whose doors refused to yield at the bidding of sanctified intellect. It may be said, in a comprehensive way, that we are indebted to Paul for Christian truths that may be thought out. Paul, in his most enthusiastic moments, is a man of mind and culture, and he abundantly proves that the intellectual man need not be a cold, hard, dry, or unloving man. Again and again we find his soul catching fire of the truth with which he deals, all aglow with the fervour and enthusiasm which the truth he studies enkindles; bursting out in intense utterances of adoration, as if the emotions of his heart must force the bonds of silence, and send forth at least a cry. Peter adds to the circle of Christian truth and doctrine almost wholly those forms which bring satisfaction to the heart, which are found out by the sensitiveness of Christian emotion; and so his words come to us like fresh revelations in particular moods of our feeling. In our times of meditation, of quickened emotion, of sacramental preparation, we shall find words of Peter frequently suggested, and largely helpful; by their aid our souls may often gain wing, and fly into the innermost recesses of communion with Christ, and with His truth. Peter’s words have often proved, through the Divine Spirit, live coals from off the altar, which have reillumined the smouldering love of our souls, and set the flame rising high again, and burning bright for consuming the dross of self and sin. Our text is one of his most characteristic and best-remembered words. I envy no man who is so unsusceptible to its tenderness, its thrill of emotion, and its hallowed suggestiveness, that he can coldly study it, take it to pieces, criticise it, and set out the precise meaning of its parts. I cannot. I shall not try to. I shall not satisfy anybody to-day who asks exactly what it means, what it teaches and what it involves. I have wanted it to be to me a live coal, setting fire to holy feelings of love and truth within me. And now I want it to be a live coal to you, kindling such fires of thankfulness, faith, and love in you, that we may have an unusual time of refreshing and hallowed joy in presence of the emblems of our suffering, dying Saviour to-day. I want to lead you along this line of thought, staying a little while at each point for the needful unfolding and illustration. Salvation comes by love to a Person; that love may be sight-quickened, that love may be faith-quickened; the love quickened by faith will be altogether nobler, mightier, more satisfying than the love quickened by sight. I. Salvation comes by love to a Person.—I am always trying to make you see what a large, comprehensive thing our salvation is. With its varied forms of beginning, with its many-sided applications as it continues its working, and with its many endings of relation to soul-life, body-life, and social life, the salvation of a man may well be called “so great salvation.” Looking in some directions towards God and conditions of reconciliation and acceptance with Him; in others, towards ourselves and the effectual removal of the very love of sinning; and in yet others, towards our fellowmen, and perfecting the harmony of our intercourse with them;—verily a man’s salvation does grow to our thought as a very wide, rich, comprehensive thing. I cannot get all the fulness of the idea of a man’s salvation into the word conversion; that is but a point of it, a stage in it, a portion of it. Nor will it all go into the word sanctification; that, too, expresses a part only. The Bible words are regeneration and salvation—wide words, that arch over a man’s life, from the moment of spiritual awakening right through to the moment of “presenting faultless before the glory,” even as the arched dome of heaven spans our earth from utmost east to utmost west. Can we get any worthier impression of what God intends, and what he prophetically sees realised, when he begins to save a man? Surely He anticipates the poor half-burnt brand, not only plucked from the fire, but the fire-marks taken away; the brand quickened with new life, grafted into the true vine, filled in every duct and vessel with the rich vine sap, and bringing forth abundant fruit. The brand is not fully saved until the grape clusters hang thickly upon it. Surely when God touches the heart of the poor, weary, homeless, despised, and despairing prodigal with the thought of love and home, it is in the hope of finding him one day settled in the old son’s place, and filled with the old child-spirit of obedience and trust. The prodigal is not saved by being put back into the home, he is only saved when he gets again the spirit of the home. What does God see as the final issue when He begins to save a man? Surely a sight that must fill with rejoicing that heavenly Father’s heart. He sees one clothed in white robes, all stainless, which are the emblem of one at last made all pure and “glorious within.” He sees one crowned with a crown which is the seal of final victory in the life-battle with sin. He sees one tuning a right noble song from a heaven-harp; a song so sweet, so loud, it shall for ever tell what joys fill that soul with rapture which has reached the perfect righteousness and the full salvation. Let us but get this large idea of what it is for a man to be saved, and then we shall see the truth of the statement that salvation comes by love to a Person. No merely intellectual grasp of any truth, even the sublimest ever revealed to man, can work out this great and mighty change. The force that alters man for better or for worse is the force of His love. “Tell me,” it has been said, “the companions a man keeps, or the friends he has, and I will tell you what he is.” The great renewing, changing, saving power is our love to the Lord Jesus Christ, the infinitely excellent and loving One; or, as I like to think of it, it is our heart-grasp of Him; because all heart-grasps must be blended faith-holdings and love-holdings; and when faith and love hold together, love is sure to swallow up and absorb the faith: and when our love just opens our whole soul and life to Christ, and bids Him welcome to come right in, then all the saving power He has in His Divine right, and has won by His life, experience, and sacrifice, can be exerted in us; He can save us wholly; save us with His full salvation from the past, from our sins, from sinfulness, from death, from hell; save us by changing us into the likeness of His own obedience, trust, and love; and so prepare us to “shine for ever in the light of God,” the monuments of a great salvation. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/phc/ AND NOTES1 Peter 1:13. Be sober.—The word suggests a sobriety of the Nazarite type. To the end.—Margin, perfectly; hope with a hope that lacks nothing of completeness.1 Peter 1:14. Obedient children.—Lit. “children of obedience.” Read “lusts which were formerly yours in the time of your ignorance”—before the first revelation of Christ was made to you. It is implied that the ignorance is the mother of the lusts. The words are quite as applicable to unregenerate Jews as to unregenerate Gentiles.1 Peter 1:15. Conversation.—Behaviour, conduct; turning about in daily relationships; moving to and fro with others. Swift is the first writer who limits the word to talking. Read the first clause of the verse: “After the pattern of the Holy One who called you.”1 Peter 1:16. Be ye holy.—Or future “Ye shall be holy,” but with the force of an imperative. For application to Jewish nation see Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:26.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 1:13-16 Self Discipline.—Christian privilege ought always to act upon us as an inspiration to duty. But the first sphere of the Christian’s duty is himself, his own character, habits, and relationships. It never can be too constantly or too persuasively presented, that a Christian’s power lies first in what he is. The service a renewed man can render, and is called to render, is the service of his own cultured self. “Among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.” “Ye are the salt of the earth.” St. Peter has in mind, however, not only the duty of self-discipline, but the security that lies in it. The Christian who is diligently attentive to spiritual self-culture is guarded round, and protected safely from all the assaults of evil. Too much engaged, too interestedly occupied, to be overborne by any outward circumstances of persecution or trial. It may further be said that, in a well-ordered self-discipline the Christian finds so much personal pleasure that he is fully compensated for all losses of worldly pleasure which the self-culture may involve. Christian self-discipline is here seen to include:— I. Bracing up.—“Girding up the loins of your mind.” To His disciples our Lord gave the same counsel. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35). The figure is a familiar one, but it is more forcible when associated with the long, flowing garments of the East. The loose dress had to be turned up and bound round the waist, when active exertion was required. Thus, Elijah is said to have girded up his loins when he ran before the chariot of Ahab from Carmel to Jezreel (1 Kings 18:46), and the Lord required Job to “gird up his loins like a man,” to listen to His sublime response (Job 38:3). In modern times athletes brace up, or gird, the body before exertion. What is represented in the moral sphere we can well understand. There is a resolute dealing with ourselves in the face of difficulties—to use a familiar expression, a “pulling of ourselves together”—which enables us to present a strong front to the adversary, and to endure what may involve serious strain. Something of this severe self-dealing is indicated in the psalmist’s expression, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.” “I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Illustration may be taken from the soldiers in an enemy’s country, and on some dangerous expedition. Day and night they keep fully attired and armed, get what sleep they can beside their horses, ready at any moment to spring into the saddle—always braced up. The “loins of the mind” are the resolves and purposes. They keep the mind occupied, and brace it up for its duty. A striking instance of bracing up the loins of the mind, and standing four square to every temptation and every foe, may be found in Joshua, who was strong, and could say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” II. Self-restraint.—“Be sober.” Temperate in all things. Weakness attends upon excess in anything, partly because a rebound is sure to follow it, and all rebounds are perilous; partly because every excess tends to repeat itself, and the repetition involves entire loss of self-control. Moderation is essential to Christian virtue; and it has its application in the religious as well as the moral spheres. This, however, is seldom wisely insisted on, and many religious persons actually lose their power of self-restraint by excess in religious meetings, duties, and services. Self-restraint needs to be cultured in relation to everything. Physical health depends on our working up to, but never beyond, the limit of our powers, and so does moral health. But it is more practically helpful to show that each individual will find some particular sphere in which he is called to “be sober.” And the mastery of himself in that particular thing will be found a triumph which carries with it his easy restraining and ruling of all other things. It may be shown that we all need to win the power of self-restraint in relation to the “lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.” And the evils into which the unrestrained man falls may be vigorously described, as a warning against neglecting self-culture. III. Trust in provision and promise.—“Set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you.” It is possible to present the duty of self-restraint only on its sterner side, as the resolute mastery of tendencies that are evil. And doing this may give a severer view of the Christian life than is necessary. Self-culture is the nourishing of the good. There is the call to self-restraint that we may win good, as well as that we may control evil. St. Peter would have those he addressed master all depression, and fear, and indifference, and so set the Christian hope before them, that they should always be working towards its attainment. He really speaks of the grace that is “being brought” day by day, and not of some grace that is “to be brought” some one day. But it involves self-restraint for us to loosen the self-confidence so that we may wisely trust. IV. Distinct aim at holiness.—“Be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living.” Our Lord set this aim before His disciples. “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Self-discipline needs a pattern, a standard. It cannot be intelligent; it will not be wisely directed; it cannot hope to reach an effective result;—unless a man sees what he is restraining, disciplining himself unto. He is working at himself, at his moral character and relations; but to what end, after what pattern? When he has done his self-culturing work, what does he expect to be? Holiness, as God’s holiness, is the distinctly Christian aim, and it is the aim of no other religion besides Christianity. Holiness is more than cleanness and fitness of relations. It is an inward state of mind and feeling which ensures that the relations must be pure and right. And it is purity with a bloom on it, that makes it attractive, and gives it a peculiar power of influence. But it is practical, not dreamy and sentimental; and therefore St. Peter says, “Be ye holy in all manner of conversation”; holy in all the turning about, all the associations, of life. That tone on all life would in the most marked way distinguish the Jewish Christians from the older Jews, and from all the heathen world around them. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 1:13. Girding the Loins of the Mind.—The figure is Oriental. The Orientals wore a loose and flowing robe, which, dangling about the feet, hindered swift, straight motion. When they would move quickly and with precision, they must needs gather the trailing garment into the girdle about the waist. You remember how the children of Israel were commanded to eat the passover. The passover was the door of their deliverance. The lamb, slain, and roasted whole, they were to eat. How? Standing, with travelling-staff in hand, with loins girded. A journey was before them, They were to go forth from Egypt. On that journey no trailing robes were to hold them back. A definite aim was theirs—to leave Egypt, and march toward freedom and nationality. They were to be harnessed toward that aim. Robes, trailing, flowing down and out, catching at stones, sweeping up sticks—robes to be trodden on, and so the cause of stumbling—might do for the smooth floors of Pharaoh’s palace, might do for the even paths about their villages; but they would not do for men on the march. With girded loins they were to go forth. So, before these Christians to whom Peter wrote, there was an aim. They were to be sober, to hope to the end, to be obedient children, to refuse to live after the fashion of their former heathen lusts; they were to be holy, since He who had called them was holy. A shining and gracious aim was theirs. And there was but one way for them to reach it; wherefore toward this aim gird up the loins of your minds, says the apostle. Thoughts, loose and wandering; thoughts heedlessly trailing over this thing and that; allowed imaginings of your former heathen lusts; the robes of your minds unbound, and let down to flow over whatever they may list;—such ungirded thoughts will be as hindering to you, O Christians, as would have been the loose robes of the Israelites on their desert march. Girded thoughts are what you need. All this is very close and practical. Here is a young man who has come to the consciousness of life’s meaning and solemnity. “Ah,” he says, “I must be sober; I must take for my life a strong and noble aim.” But how may the young man make real and actual such aim? Here our Scripture comes in. By girded thought, not by thoughts loose and wandering. 1. What ungirds thoughts? (1) Pleasure as an end for life ungirds them. Duty is the sacrifice for the great altar of the life, and pleasure—recreation—is to come in only as it helps us lay that sacrifice more constantly and worthily upon that holy place. (2) Aimless and frivolous reading ungirds thoughts. (3) Bad associations, also, ungird thoughts. (4) Neglected Bibles and neglected secret prayers ungird thoughts. (5) Carelessness of attendance on religious services ungirds thoughts. (6) Sunday secular newspapers ungird thoughts. 2. What girds thoughts? (1) A high and determined purpose girds them. (2) Quick decisions for the Right gird thoughts. (3) Love for the true and good girds thoughts. The best and most helpful girdle for the thoughts is passionate devotion to the personal Christ.—Anon. Spiritual Sobriety.—This injunction may refer inferentially to the practice of temperance as commonly understood; but its significance and scope are much deeper and wider than that. Writing of the surpassing excellence of that great salvation of which prophets had prophesied, into which angels desired to look, which had really been made known by the Spirit of God (1 Peter 1:12), Peter urges his readers to “gird up the loins of their mind”—i.e., to call forth all their spiritual resources, that they may understand and appreciate it; he then bidsthem “be sober”—i.e., exercise in this great matter a sound judgment, command themselves, not to be led to harmful extremes, or give way to illusions that would disappoint them, but maintain a manly, intelligent, healthful self-restraint. Doing this, they might “set their hope perfectly” [to the fullest possible limit] “on the grace that was being brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ”—i.e., they might confidently expect the largest and richest blessings which the manifestation of the grace of Christ was fitted to bring with it. We may strive and we may look for the greatest good, the fullest prosperity, in connection with the gospel, but at the same time we must cherish and exercise spiritual sobriety. I. In the acceptance of Christian doctrine.— 1. The Church at Thessalonica had a strong hold on the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh” was its watchword, its prevailing thought. It had a right to anticipate the hour when there would be another manifestation of its Lord. But it fell into insobriety of thought and of conduct in this matter. Its members thought that, as Jesus Christ might appear among them at any hour, they need not concern themselves with the ordinary duties of life, with provision for its bodily necessities; and they began to be “disorderly.” They had to be rebuked by the apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 3), and summoned to be sober in doctrine and in deed. 2. The Church of Corinth had an unusual share of “gifts,” particularly of this “gift of tongues.” The members of that Church had a perfect right to make the most of its possession. But they were bound to hold their special powers in subordination to the great ends of glorifying Christ, and of edifying one another. This they did not do; they were not taking a sober view of the subject, and had to be corrected (1 Corinthians 14). 3. It is a distinct Christian doctrine that we must be “separate” from the world; that while in it we are not to be of it. But the hermits of the earlier time, and the monks and nuns and the ascetics of a later, and of the present, time, fell into sad insobriety when they sought to retire altogether from the engagements and relationships of human life. Painful facts have superabundantly proved that we cannot decline what our heavenly Father offers us without doing ourselves harm rather than good. On the other hand, proof abounds on every side that in accepting the joys and filling the spheres which open to us in the providence of God, we may “walk holily, righteously, and blamelessly,” and adorn the doctrine of our Saviour in all things. It is the sober view of separateness from the world which is the right, wise, Christian one. 4. That “we are justified by faith” is according to Scripture. By faith in Jesus Christ we have access to the grace of God; believing on Him we have eternal life. But when men say, as they have said, that when we have once believed, and been restored to the favour of God, we cannot forfeit His friendship by any folly, or even by any sin, they fall into the gravest spiritual insobriety; they push certain statements to an extreme, and they fall into dangerous, even destructive, error. 5. We are sanctified by the Spirit of God. When we have returned unto God and been received by Him, there remains much in us that has to be removed from us; there is much absent from us that has to be gained by us. We are not “complete in Him.” The process of spiritual completion is the work of the Divine Spirit. But when it is maintained, as it has been, that if we only give our hearts to Him, and invite His entrance, and make entire surrender of ourselves, we may be instantaneously lifted up to the full height of holiness, then the mistake is made of not “being sober” in thought and in belief. Christian maturity is a growth; it is the gradual upbuilding ourselves on our holy faith; it is the result of a strenuous struggle; it is the consummation of a wise and true Christian course; it is the blessed consequence of daily prayer, of the continual reception into our minds of the thoughts of God, of much fellowship with Jesus Christ, of the wise use of all forms of Christian privilege, of active work in the field of sacred usefulness, of the lighter and also the severer discipline of the Lord of our life, of the wise Father of our spirit. That is the “sober” view, strongly substantiated by Scripture, constantly confirmed by the experience of the good. II. In the regulation of Christian life. III. In the nourishment of Christian character.—There is a kind of spiritual sustenance which is pleasant “to the flesh,” but which is dangerous, if not delusive; it is that of perpetual religious excitement; the reading of those books, and the hearing of those sermons, which make an almost unbroken appeal to the imagination. This cannot be said to be taking milk (1 Corinthians 3:2), but drinking champagne. If we would build up a robust and fruitful Christian character we must eat the “strong meat” of Divine truth, which informs the mind, which enlarges the view, which braces the will, which sustains and strengthens the soul. There is much occasion here for attention to the apostolic admonition—be sober.—William Clarkson, B.A. TO CHAPTER 1 1 Peter 1:16. An African Figure of Holiness.—Dr. Livingstone once asked a Bechuana what he understood by the word “holiness” (foitsepho). He answered, “When copious showers have descended during the night, and all the earth and leaves and cattle are washed clean, and the sun rising shows a drop of dew on every blade of grass, and the air breathes fresh—that is holiness. AND NOTES1 Peter 1:17. The Father.—Better, “a Father.” God apprehended as Father through our apprehension of the Sonship of Christ. Plumptre reminds us that “the sequel shows this attribute of Fatherhood is not thought of as excluding the idea of judgment, but gives assurance that the judgment will be one of perfect equity.” Sojourning.—(See 1 Peter 1:1). Fear.—Not dread, but seriousness and self-distrust. “This fear is not cowardice (nor superstition); it drowns all lower fears and begets true fortitude” (Leighton).1 Peter 1:19. Precious blood.—Order of the Greek is, “with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (even that) of Christ.”1 Peter 1:20. Fore-ordained.—Lit. “foreknown,” which, however, implies “fore-ordination.” Last times.—“At the end of the times.”1 Peter 1:21. Faith.—πίστις. Relates to things present which, though invisible, are realised by the eye of the mind. Hope.—ἔλπις. Relates to things in the distant future, which are objects of such loveliness that they fill the heart and engage the affections, as if they were near at hand (Webster and Wilkinson).1 Peter 1:22. Good MSS. omit the word “pure.”1 Peter 1:23. Born again.—Better, “having been begotten again.”MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 1:17-25 The Fear of Son-like Sons.—The key-note of this passage is the sentence, “pass the time of your sojourning in fear.” There is a godly fear, and there is a slavish fear; the right fear of the child, and the wrong fear of the slave, or of the child in whom all right feeling is crushed. Such proper filial fear— I. Is based on right thoughts of God.—The point of 1 Peter 1:17 is brought out in the Revised Version. “And if ye call on Him as Father.” But that is precisely what our Lord taught His disciples to do. “When ye pray, say, Abba, Father.” A Christian is marked off from all the world by the thought he has of God, and the name in which he embodies his thought. He must, of course, seek to gain true and worthy thoughts of the Father, and they will always be such as the Lord Jesus Christ had, which led Him to address God as “Holy Father,” “Righteous Father.” It is thought that if men call God “Father,” they will think of him after the patterns of human fatherhood; but surely that is fully guarded against by associating the thought of God with the thought of fatherhood. What is added to our thought of God, by calling Him Father, is His personal interest in each one of us; His personal affection for each one; and His personal service to each one. There is no more reverent name than father, and no more reverent relation than father and son. The fear men have for a “thundering Jove,” or for an autocratic king, is ignoble when compared with that which they have for their fathers; and the fear of son-like sons of the Father-God is an altogether refined, gracious, inspiring, and ennobling feeling; it is the secret of the beautiful life. II. Is based on right thoughts of redemption.—“Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, … but with precious blood.” The expression, “from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,” makes precise application of the passage to the Jewish Christians, who had been brought over from formal Judaism into spiritual Christianity. The rest of the verses may be taken with a general application. They express the idea of redemption which will always nourish a true and worthy fear. Our redemption was a costly ransom: our liberty unto righteousness was obtained at a priceless price. In common life the cost of a thing puts a value on it, and we fear to lose it, or to damage it. And that is a right fear, the fear we should have for our spiritual life, because of the cost of its purchase. A cost only the more impressive that it is not weighted as silver and gold, but is spiritual value, life, even Divine life, figured for us as “precious blood.” “That blood, the life which it represented, poured out upon the cross, took its place among the things that were not corruptible.” The reference to the “lamb” is probably due to St. Peter’s thinking of John’s famous sentence, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Mason has a good note. “How Christ’s death freed them from their ‘vain conversation’ is not explained here; but we may give a twofold explanation. Historically, it did so, because, when they came to realise that their Messiah could only reach His glories through suffering, it gave them a new insight into the whole meaning of the system under which they had been brought up. It did also, however, doubtless, in a more mysterious way, such as we cannot imagine, procure in God’s sight their emancipation.” “The whiteness, the helplessness, the youth, the innocence, and the patience, of the lamb, make it a natural symbol of our Lord.” III. Is based on right thoughts of present claims (1 Peter 1:22).—“Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart, fervently.” It is the constant teaching of the apostles that Christianity makes two claims on men; first, the claim to love God; then the claim to love one another. And just as heart-love to God will guarantee the right service of God, so heart-love for the brethren will ensure and preserve right relations with them, and the due fulfilment of all brotherly duties. St. John puts the connection between the love of God and the love of the brethren in a very strong and impressive sentence: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen. And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.” The present claim, then, is to “love the brethren,” and the claim involves every service that love can render to them. But the question may properly be asked, Is it possible to make ourselves love? The answer is twofold. 1. We can create an ideal which is lovable, and which we cannot help loving; and we can see that ideal in our brethren, when they are not lovable in themselves. Our ideal is Christ. We cannot help loving Him wherever we find Him. 2. Though we cannot make ourselves love, we can put ourselves in such relations as will help to inspire love. We often find that knowing persons in the intimacy of life, in common work, or common sorrow, brings round to us a love for them which we should not otherwise have felt. And the apostles are so anxious about keeping up the fellowship, because that is the secret of keeping up the love. IV. Is based on right thoughts of fleeting time.—And the particular thought is, that all that belongs to the material, sensuous, earthly life is touched with this weakness—it is uncertain, transitory. Time stamps everything as frail. All time-conditioned things are below man, when man is seen to be a spiritual being. The regenerate man, begotten again of the incorruptible seed, is not time-conditioned, and nothing that he does is time-conditioned. Spiritual life belongs to the sphere of things permanent and abiding. By cherishing such thoughts as these we may dignify that new life with which we are quickened, and make altogether more important its culture, and its expression, in holy life and service, than the attainment of any earthly good, since on such attainment must always rest the frailty that belongs to the seen, the temporal, the transitory. Only the man who keeps in right relations with the spiritual and permanent can ever hope to be, or to keep, in right relations with the temporal and transitory. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 1:21. Three Stages of Faith.—What is the point of this text? It sets forth who is the final object of faith. It is God. Herein the text may appear to differ from the usual run of texts in the gospels and epistles: e.g., “By faith which is in Me” (Christ). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Can we find out the harmony of these apparently differing statements? This must certainly be the first and most absolute of truths: man’s glory and blessedness come of trusting God. Illustrate from Enoch, Abraham, Jacob, Davidic psalms, prophecies, etc. Such trust in God sets man right with God. Failing in such trust shows man to be wrong. Self-trust involves distrust of God. Still, it is the fact, that man has to be helped to trust by some agency—medium, mediator. Now, to St. Peter Christ seemed to be the highest, most efficient help to this faith in God. For the Jew, who has faith in God, Christ is the clearing, enlarging, and perfecting of faith. For the Gentile, Christ is the medium by which faith in God is reached. As Christianly-educated, we occupy in some degree the Jew-place. But, more truly, we follow on the line of the Gentile, and reach the full saving relation to God by three stages of faith. I. First stage of faith.—Faith in Christ. See the prominent place of Christ in the New Testament; in preaching; in the early experience of Christians. And yet, when the gospels are carefully studied, we are impressed by the persistency with which Jesus always puts God the Father first. Observe how well fitted Christ was to win the trust of men. Notice His appeals (1) to man’s understanding by His truth; (2) to man’s reverence by His miracles; (3) to man’s conscience by His appeals and by His life; (4) to man’s affections by His Spirit; (5) to man’s emotions by His cross. The whole man is swayed toward faith by the influence of Christ. II. Second stage of faith.—God’s relation to Christ. There was more in Christ than even the apostles could at first see. The relation does not come out during our Lord’s life. Then God witnesses to Him. The relation comes to view in His resurrection, ascension, and glorification. Then He comes to be apprehended as God in Christ. Sometimes it is said that Christ raised Himself, usually it is said that God raised Him, from the dead. Resurrection, and Christ in heaven, bring God into prominence. III. Third stage of faith.—In God. This is reached actually, as a result of Christian experience; but not always consciously. So, through Christ, the perfect restoration is effected, and man’s faith and hope are set on God. See in this faith in God (1) our perfect communion with Old Testament saints, (2) the true mediatorial work of Christ; He is bringing many sons unto the glory of this higher faith in God. The Father’s Part in the Work of Redemption.I. The part that the Father bore in the work of redemption.— 1. He ordained His Son to the mediatorial office. 2. He manifested Him to the world. 3. After suffering Him to be put to death, He raised Him up from the dead. 4. He exalted Him to heaven, and invested Him with all heaven’s glory. II. The effect that the consideration of this is intended to produce upon us. It should— (1) Confirm our faith; (2) enliven our hope. Address (1) those who are in unbelief; (2) those who yield to doubts and fears.—C. Simeon, M.A. The Agent and Cause of Faith.—The redeemed are also described here by their faith and hope, the cause of which is Jesus Christ. “You do by Him believe in God”—by Him as the author, encourager, support, and finisher, of your faith; your faith and hope may now be in God, as reconciled to you by Christ the Mediator. God in Christ is the ultimate object of a Christian’s faith, which is strongly supported by the resurrection of Christ, and the glory that did follow.—Matthew Henry. The Final Object of Saving Faith.—Already we are getting our springtime remindings of resurrection. Nature has begun her teachings. At times we feel the pleasant sunshine and the warmth of the air. Already the drooping snowdrops, the pale primrose, and the brilliant yellow daffodil have begun to whisper to us that winter is gathering up her skirts, and preparing to hasten away. Nature keeps her own times, and even now the “time of the singing of birds is come,” and the “flowers appear on the earth.” At this time we naturally cherish resurrection thoughts, and dwell on His being raised from the dead who has “brought life and immortality to light by His gospel.” The resurrection, of which all else seems to be but the shadow, and the symbol, and the suggestion, is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that should never be regarded as standing alone; it includes and involves our resurrection in Him, first from sin, and then from the grave. “Because He lives, we shall live also.” Three visions rise before us. We see Christ rising from the grave, “leading captivity captive, and receiving gifts for men.” We see the human soul rising from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, in response to the awakening call of Him who “liveth for ever and ever.” And we see that day of days, for which all other days were made, when “all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth.” In the text the reference to the resurrection is necessary, but it is subordinate to the purpose of the apostle. It stands in relation to another point which is more directly occupying the writer’s attention. He is really meeting a question which was then anxiously asked; which has always been anxiously asked; and which is anxiously asked to-day. Who is the final object of our faith? The apostle at first surprises us—upsets our cherished ideas. He says, God is the final object of our faith. God who was in Christ. God as He who raised up Christ from the dead. “Who, by Him, do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, … that your faith and hope may be in God.” In this way of putting the truth, there is at least a seeming variation from many familiar passages in the Acts and in the Epistles. “The Son of Man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” The eunuch said, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” The jailor at Philippi was required to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that he might be saved.” The apostle John declares, “He that hath the Son hath life.” It is perfectly certain that Peter could have had no intention of setting aside, or in any way dishonouring, Christ, when he put the truth in the particular way in which we find it presented in our text. How, then, can we set out the harmony of these two differing kinds of statement. Our faith is to be in Christ. And yet our faith is, through Christ, to be in God. This much is quite clear: the first, and the most absolutely universal of all truths is, that man’s blessedness comes, and can only come, out of trusting God. Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all lived before the Mosaic period, and they believed God, and it was counted to them for righteousness. The foundation law of Mosaism is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart.” But love implies a foregoing faith, on which alone the love can rest. The psalms are full of expressions of trust, but they are all trustings in God. The prophets unite to bid us “Trust in the Lord for ever”; and they assure us that the “just by faith shall live.” But this is also evidently true; man has always needed to be helped to trust in God by some medium, or agency. Vision and promise helped Abraham to his trust. Moses was the medium or mediator who helped the people of Israel to their trust. That trust alone sets man the creature in right relations with God the Creator and Father. He requires it, and we ought to give it. This must be clearly seen to stand as the absolute first and universal truth: man’s salvation—man’s realisation of his fullest and best possibility—comes out of trusting God. To the mind of Peter, Jesus Christ seemed to be the highest, the most perfect, the most gracious help to saving faith in God. Jesus Christ was to him God’s own way of helping His people to the trust in Him which saves. Peter wrote his epistle for Gentile Christians, as distinguished from Jewish Christians. It was he who opened the door to the Gentiles in recognising the Christian faith and standing of Cornelius the centurion. His epistle is addressed to the “strangers scattered abroad,” and we may properly look for some precise adaptations of the Christian truths to their circumstances and points of view. For the Jew, who knows God, the one living God, the truth could be put in this form by the great, the Divine Teacher: “Ye believe in God; believe also in Me.” “This is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God.” For the Gentile, who only comes upon the right knowledge of God through the revelation which centres in the “Man Christ Jesus,” the truth can best be put in this form by the disciples of the great Teacher: “Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead.” Gentiles must be set looking to Christ as the sole medium through which the right, the worthy knowledge of God can come. There is a sense in which, being Christianly educated, we occupy the place of the Jew. We come into personal relations with Christianity through a previous suitable apprehension of God; and yet we may more truly be said to follow along the line of the Gentile; for it is only through our Lord’s humanity that we can ever gain the right impression of His Divinity. It must be man first, then the God-man. The partaker of flesh and blood seen at last to be “God manifest in the flesh.” Personal religion of trustful love and devotion to Christ, leading us into saving and sanctifying relations with God—the One, the Triune God. More or less distinctly there can be traced three stages in the growth of Christian experience. There are three steps in Christian faith. By faith we come, in a regular advance, to apprehend three things. 1. Christ. 2. God’s relation to Christ. 3. God. Christian experience arrives at its perfection when God is “all in all.” On the Mount of Transfiguration, when the cloud had passed, the disciples saw “Jesus only.” On the Mount of Beatification, when all the cloud shadows of earth shall have passed, the disciples of Jesus will see “God only.” “Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” I. The first stage of faith is faith in Jesus Christ.—You cannot want me either to show, or to prove, or to vindicate the fact that the Lord Jesus has the most prominent place in the New Testament, in preaching, in teaching, in thinking, in writing, or in early religious experience. If there is anything self-evident, that is. Fully, heartily, rejoicingly acknowledging that fact, there is, nevertheless, something very remarkable that comes into view when we come to study it carefully. Christ always puts the Father before Himself. He never proposes to absorb the faith and love of His disciples. He receives them only that thus He might help the disciples into the love and trust of the Father. He says, “My Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” “My Father is greater than I.” “Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of.” “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by Me.” “I do always the things that please Him.” At first Christ is presented to the seeking soul, and He fills all his vision. And we could dwell long and lovingly on the ways in which Jesus Christ is fitted for winning the love and trust of men. He appeals to man’s understanding by the truths which He reveals and teaches—momentous truths concerning God and man, and sin, and salvation, and righteousness, and the future. He appeals to the reverence of men by the miracles, which declare that in Him is the great power of God. He appeals to men’s consciences by presenting the standard of the perfect human life. He appeals to men’s affections by His Divine tenderness, and pitying gentleness, and love. He sways the deepest emotions of men by the persuasions of His cross. Jesus Christ, in His human manifestation, in His earthly life of sympathy and of suffering, has a strange power on us. He seems at first to fill the whole foreground, and sways our whole manhood toward faith. Peter speaks the truth for us when He speaks of Jesus Christ in this way. “Whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” II. The second stage of faith is faith in God’s relation to Christ.—Once setting our heart on Christ, our faith wants to know better Him on whom it rests. Evidently there are more and deeper things in Jesus Christ than the soul can see in its first apprehensions of Him; than even the apostles could find out while they were with their Master in the limited fellowship of the flesh. Many of their fuller and deeper apprehensions come out to view in their epistles, which are precisely this: soul-readings of the mystery of Christ, in the illumination of the Holy Ghost. Only to one point of this can our attention now be given. In Christian life there is a strong, masterful instinct, which makes us linger, with chief interest and concern, about the records of our Lord’s resurrection. It is not peculiar to us in these days. The evangelists did; the apostles did. Paul writes, “It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again.” “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Now, what is it comes to view when we let the apostles guide us into the mysteries of the resurrection? This: God was in the closest relation to the Redeemer’s work. Sometimes it is indicated that Christ raised Himself, by His own inherent power; but usually it is intimated, as in our text, that God raised Him. The salvation was God’s, but it was wrought out by Christ, and in Him. The suggestions of resurrection and ascension are full of God, and they open to us the larger, richer meanings of familiar texts, such as these: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” In the second stage faith embraces both God and Christ, as working together in the accomplishment of human salvation. III. The third stage of faith is faith in God, which swallows up, absorbs, the faith in Jesus.—But this stage of faith is usually reached unconsciously. Many an advanced, experienced Christian stands high up on this level to-day, but does not know it, and would be half frightened if any one were to tell him that it was so with him. When I was a youth, and in the early periods of religious experience, I used to attend regularly the prayer-meetings, and found them specially helpful. I remember being struck with something which has given a key-note to the Christian thinking of my whole life. I observed that the young Christians prayed to Jesus, and the old Christians prayed to God. And I knew they both meant the same thing. In the young Christians’ prayers God was hardly mentioned. In the old Christians’ prayers Jesus was hardly mentioned. There is the sign of the growth of the Christian knowledge and experience. We begin, and we see Jesus, and God is in Jesus. We grow, and more and more we see God, until at last we see God only, and Jesus is in God. It remains still true that all the forms of thought are taken from Christ. The Christ-help to right thought, and view, and feeling, never passes away; but really the soul’s resting has come to be in God. And thus, in the most spiritual fashion, Christ’s work of restoration is fully accomplished for the individual. We apprehend God in Christ, we trust God, and so Christ is the means by which all Christ’s brothers are brought to His own son-like obedience to God, and trust in Him. Our faith and hope at last are fully set on God, and the law of life is fulfilled—God is become “all in all.” There are things suggested by this setting of truth, on which I invite you to dwell, meditatively, in the quiet hours of this day. 1. See the perfectness of our communion with all the Old Testament saints. A fellowship, not in the means by which they and we are helped to God, but a fellowship in the end. For, whether by angel-manifestation, symbolical ceremony, prophetic declaration, or the human life and teachings of the Son of God, we are all moving to one goal; for us all there is but one soul-rest—it is the rest that comes from the full trust, which carries our whole selves, and lays them on the everlasting arms of God. Enoch lay there. Abraham lay there. Moses lay there. Jesus Himself lay there. The whole round world is bound about with this golden chain of trust in God. One way or another, this way and every way, the souls of men are being caught, turned, helped to trust in God. 2. Dwell lovingly on the preciousness of that particular agency by which we have been thus caught, and drawn into our full trusting in God. I only heard Mr. Spurgeon preach a few times, but on one occasion he seemed to me to surpass himself, and thrilled us all with the holy passion of his utterance, childlike as the sermon was in its simplicity. He had taken as his text the words, “This is my beloved; this is my friend.” And the sermon was just a series of boastings and gloryings over Jesus, each section closing with the appeal, “ ‘This is my Beloved,’ will you make Him yours?” I should like to have my time open still, so that I might thus boast over Jesus my Saviour before you now. He is “worthy of more glory than Moses.” Poets did but sing out the deepest feeling of all loving souls, when they called Him— “Thou highest, sweetest, fairest OneThat eyes have seen, or angels known.”3. But shall we be content to stay with the human manifestation of Christ, with His life and with His death? Or shall we be willing to let Him lead us on to the holier mysteries of His resurrection, and show us that, trusting Him, we are really trusting God, who “raised Him from the dead.” Are you willingly staying down on the low-levels of spiritual apprehension? or are you climbing the heights where the air is pure and clear, and the soul can see the eternal realities, and even the Christ-garment of God has fallen off Him, and the sky is pure blue from rim to rim—not one cloud sails across to throw a shadow, and you think, you feel, you know, that Christ has “delivered up the kingdom to the Father”? You see God only, and God is all in all. It is heaven all about you on those heights of spiritual experience. At last, helped by Christ—so sweetly helped by Christ—you have come to this, and this has gained the forever stamp— “Your faith and hope are in God.”1 Peter 1:22. Fervent Love of the Brethren.—Selfishness, or the exaggerated love of self, was the source and seal of the fall of man. Love of God in Christ, through the power of the Spirit; and love of mankind, but most of all, love of those with whom God’s children shall dwell through all eternity—this is peculiarly and pre-eminently the work of the Holy Spirit. St. Peter is admonishing the brethren to abide in Christian kindness and affection; and he bids them consider the very purpose that God has wrought. I. The work accomplished.—“Seeing ye have purified your souls.” The grand point is having the heart good. The heart is impure. What vain thoughts, evil inclinations, presumptuous actions, vain fancies, are continually gushing forth, as from a deep stream! To be pure in heart is to be pure in life. Man is not a passive subject, but an active agent. There must be co-operation, on our part, with the influence of the mighty Spirit of God, otherwise there can be no purifying of the soul. II. The instrument of its accomplishment.—“Ye obey the truth.” It is a law of almost universal obtaining that, as we can do nothing without God, so, generally He will do nothing without us. He acts on the heart in order to achieve what He would have done; and so, in all the business of life, we have certain means to employ; and if we neglect them, or try to substitute our own, we have our toil in vain. The Divinely constituted means to the purifying of men’s souls is the truth. When men are disposed to find fault with God’s Word, and to discover imperfections in it, His people should honour it, cling to it, maintain it, exalt it, cherish it. To be immortal, great, and good, let a man study God’s Word. The grand point is to look beyond the instrument to the omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit. III. One special result of this work.—“Unfeigned love of the brethren.” It is not merely love and charity to all men, but specially and specifically love of those united to us in a new birth, in new relationship to God, many members in one body. This yearning affection is one of the most blessed signs that a man has purified his soul, by obeying the truth. IV. The beautiful exhortation.—“See that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently.” Do not mistake the injunction. We must not confound the precious jewel with the metal in which the jewel is placed, “Fervently.” With a pure, unselfish love, with no sinister motive. “Without dissimulation.” There must be no appearance, no pretence, but the reality. “Fervent,” not cold. How fervent in heaven, where all tin and dross are purged away, the soul will be, swallowed up in the love of God! 1. If you desire to be holy and happy, set about it in the name of the Lord Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, and in obedience.—You may judge materially how far the work is progressing, if you feel a glowing love to the Father for Jesus’ sake, and desire as you have opportunity to do good unto all men.” 2. We must not attempt to do this in our own strength and resolution.—Philanthropy, intellectual culture, moral training, are beautiful, but there must be the power of the Spirit of God. 3. You must cultivate that spirit always and ever.—Canon Hugh Stowell, M.A. 1 Peter 1:24-25. The Transitory and the Permanent.—This passage is brought before our minds every early summer time, by the sight and smell of the fields. The “fashion of this world passeth away.” “The Word of the Lord endureth for ever.” Away from changing, passing, transitory earth we may look upward to God, saying, “He liveth; and blessed be my Rock.” St. Peter evidently had in mind the poetical passage in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah. The figure of the grass is sufficiently impressive to us who see the swathes lying in the path of the mower; but it is more effective in the East, where the sudden blasts of scorching wind burn up the vegetation in an hour, and change freshness and flowers for barrenness and death. The Word of God endures for ever. It cannot be likened to anything on which rests the earthly stamp. It is not even like the giant trees, which grow on while the grass and the flowers of a hundred summers flourish and fade beneath them; for at last even the trees fail to respond to the wakening spring-breath, and the great trunks and branches crumble down to dust, and pass away. It is not even like the mighty hills, which, towering high above us, seem to have their foundations in the very centre of the earth. They also are weathering down, and shall one day change and pass. It is not even like the vast firmament, which keeps, through summer and through winter, its broad expanse of blue, though clouds all blackness, or clouds silver-tinged, sweep in ever-varying shapes across it; for at last “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise.” The Word of God is His revelation—His entire revelation. Not the Bible only, but every testimony that He is pleased to make to men of His will. Every utterance of God is permanent; it endures up to the very uttermost limit of necessity for it. I. The transient character of all earthly things.—Everything has a body and a soul; a form that can be apprehended by our senses, that we may see and touch, and a mysterious and invisible substance, which is its real self, and of which the form is only the expression. George Macdonald’s saying may be applied to things as well as to persons. “We are accustomed to say that we are bodies, and have souls; whereas we should rather say, we are souls and have bodies.” Within everything there is a soul that abides—that is its real self—however its form may change. The grass of each springtime falls before the mower, but the spirit of the grass abides through all the generations. The million flowers of gay and pleasant summer-time fade and drop away, but the work of the flowers, in the toned and scented air, and in the pleasure they give, abides long after they have passed. “The lily dies not, when both flower and leafFade, and are strewed upon the chill, sad ground;Gone down for shelter to its mother-earth,’Twill rise, re-bloom, and shed its fragrance round.”All nature seems to echo the message of the grass. The winter snow falls lightly, and lies in its white purity—mystic, wonderful—over all the land. But so soon it soils, and browns, and sinks, and passes all away! The spring flowers that come, responsive to the low sunshine and the gentle wind, are so fragile, they stay with us only such a little while, and then they pass away! The summer blossoms multiply, and stand thick over the ground, and they seem so strong in their rich, deep colours; yet they, too, wither and droop, and pass away. The autumn fruits cluster on the branches, and grow big in their ripening, but they, too, are plucked in due season, and pass away. The gay dress of varied leafage is soon stripped off by the wild winds and passes away. Down every channel of the hillside is borne the crumblings wasted from the “everlasting hills” that really are passing away. The hard trap rocks that hold in the wintry sea are yet worn down with its ceaseless chafing, and are passing away. And man!—does he differ from the things in the midst of which he is set? Nay, what a little thing is human life, even at the longest! We can scarcely reach to do anything great, or to get within sight of a life’s great purpose, before the call comes, bidding us away. It is not only true of us, it is true of our work. All the glory—all the goodliness—of man’s genius and enterprise and effort—it is all “as the flower of the field.” Man’s strength, and wisdom, and riches, and learning, and honour, and beauty, and science, and art—all are subject to change and decay. The moth and rust eat into them, and the thief steals them away. This is— 1. Impressively seen in the changes of our Church life. In a few years a congregation entirely passes away. 2. It is true of the very forms and modes in which one man strives to help and bless another. Some men’s ways of presenting God’s truth to us do help us more than the ways of others. But even our spiritual helpers do not stay with us long. II. The permanent character of all Divine things.—Especially of all Divine revelations and declarations, for these are properly gathered into the term, the “Word of God.” Everything that speaks to our souls of God is a revelation to us. It may be a touch of nature. It may be only a pure white flower. It may be the pale gold and green of a late sunset. It may be the snowy crest of an Alpine mountain, lying still and pure against the summer’s deep blue sky. It may be the weird mist of the gloaming, creeping over the landscape. It may be the glimpse down some woodland vale of the “many twinkling sea.” It may be the solemn shadows of the secluded mountain tarn. It may be the great thunder-noise of God, echoing through the valleys. It may be the voice of some fellow man, translating into human words for us the great thoughts of God. Howsoever the Word of God may come into our souls, it is true for ever. All things that our souls hear, and feel, and know, are Divine, and permanent, and eternal things. When the very soul of nature speaks to our souls, its message is Divine and eternal. Have you forgotten when you first heard the voice of the flowers? They lived, and spoke to you of God. Have you forgotten the quiet lying on the country hill-side, when lost strength was slowly returning, and in the stillness, the very music of the earth seemed to be heard, creation hymning its chorus, “Praise God, praise God!” When God speaks to us by Divine providence, the message is permanent; our souls get it, and keep it for ever. The spiritual influences of our life-experiences are eternal. That revelation of redemption—if it is really made to our souls—is a permanent revelation. Everything that pleads in us for duty is eternal, because all such things bear on character, and character endures; its flower never withers nor falls; God puts upon it the immortal stamp, and crowns it with the eternal righteousness. Every voice that brings truth home to the soul is permanent. Every uplifting of the mystery of being that gives us a glimpse of reality, and a new hold on God, is permanent. All God’s comfortings abide with us. The troubles pass, but the “everlasting arms” stay underneath us. God’s comforts suit the moment, but they last for ever. And when God kindles hope, it is hope that cannot disappoint, that will never make ashamed. In the “Life of Dr. Horace Bushnell,” it is stated that the following words of his were found dimly pencilled on a stray sheet of paper. Referring to the time of his infancy, when he “came out in this rough battle with winds, winters, and wickedness,” he says, “My God, and my good mother, both heard the cry, and went to the task of strengthening me and comforting me together, and were able ere long to get a smile upon my face.… Long years ago she vanished; but God stays by me still, embraces me in my gray hairs as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, and gives to me, as my joy, and the principal glory of my life, that He lets me know Him, and helps me with real confidence to call Him my Father.” It is true, but we need not trouble over it—“the fashion of this world passeth away.” It is true, and we will join in saying it with an exceeding great joy—“The Word of our God shall stand for ever.” TO CHAPTER 1 1 Peter 1:19. The Precious Blood.—One evening two soldiers were placed as sentries at the opposite ends of a sallyport or long passage, leading from the rock of Gibraltar to the Spanish territory. One of them, from the reading of the sacred Scriptures, was rejoicing in God his Saviour; while the other, from the same cause, was in a state of deep mental anxiety, being under strong convictions of sin, and earnestly seeking deliverance from the load of guilt that was pressing upon his conscience. On the evening alluded to, one of the officers, who had been out dining, was returning to the garrison at a late hour, and coming up to the sentry on the outside of the sallyport, and who was the soldier recently converted, he asked, as usual, for the watchword. The man, absorbed in meditation on the glorious things that had recently been unfolded to him, and filled with devout gratitude and love, on being roused from his midnight reverie, replied to the officer’s challenge with the words, “The precious blood of Christ.” He soon, however, recovered his self-possession, and gave the correct watch-word. But his comrade, who was anxiously seeking the Lord, and who was stationed as sentry at the other or inner end of the sallyport, a passage specially adapted for the conveyance of sound, heard the words, “the precious blood of Christ” mysteriously borne upon the breeze at the solemn hour of midnight. The words came home to his heart as a voice from heaven; the lord of guilt was removed, and the precious blood of Christ spoke peace to the soul of the sin-burdened soldier. He was afterwards, with others of his regiment, drafted for service in India, and proceeded to the island of Ceylon, where a long career of usefulness opened up before him, and where he became the honoured instrument, in the hands of the Lord, for the completion of a great and important work. Soon after arriving in Ceylon, his discharge was procured from his regiment, that he might fill the office of master of the principal school in Colombo, for which he was well qualified by a good education in early life. He soon acquired an intimate knowledge of the Cingalese language, and as a translation of the Bible into that tongue was lying in an unfinished state, owing to the death of the individual who commenced the work, he set himself to the task, and completed the Cingalese version of the Scriptures, which was afterwards printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in four quarto volumes.CHAPTER 2 LIFE CALLS FOR THE PUTTING AWAY OF AND Jewish Christians addressed in this epistle are thought of as “born again” into the Christian faith and life. The key-note of the epistle is “hath begotten us again.” (1 Peter 1:3) and “being born again” (1 Peter 1:23). The idea that on professing faith in Christ a man enters on and begins a new life, as a spiritual babe, in a spiritual atmosphere, in which, and in receipt of spiritual nourishment, he is to grow up into the fulness of the spiritual man in Christ, is decidedly Pauline. But St. Peter makes a special application of it to the Jews who became Christians, and might plead that they were already born of God, and that Christianity involved no vital change in their standing and relations; it was really no more than an unfolding, or reformation, of the life unto God which they already had. Both St. Paul and St. Peter distinctly claim for the Christian profession that it is a new life, beginning with a new spiritual birth, in the power of the Holy Spirit. If this is fully apprehended, the substance of the epistle will be understood as a varied help toward the training and shaping and nourishing of the spiritual babe up through its stages of growth, and the ordering of the various relations into which the babe must come as it grows. But there is a Jewish blending of figures and ideas taken from the old dispensation which is sometimes a little difficult for us to follow, but which would be very suggestive to those familiar with Judaism, who were directly addressed in the epistle. This chapter has been described as an exhortation to realise the idea of the new Israel. “The apostle bids them put away all elements of disunion, and combine into a new Temple, founded on Jesus as the Christ, and into a new hierarchy and theocracy.” Personally each professor of faith in Christ had begun a new life. Unitedly those who professed faith in Christ constituted a newly founded race, a spiritual Israel, a kingdom of priests.1 Peter 2:1. Wherefore.—Because the new life has begun for you. There is something befitting that new life. There are things associated with the old life which are manifestly unfitting, and must be put away. The things mentioned are precisely the besetting sins of the Jewish character. Laying aside.—The counsel implies recognition of their power to deal both with wrong feelings toward others and with wrong expressions of such feelings. Literally it is “having laid aside,” and it is implied that this is involved in the old life being ended, and the new life begun. This is what ouǧ ?ht to be. St. Peter urges them to make things be as they ought to be (compare St. Paul’s teaching concerning the lingering corruptions of the “old man,” as in Romans 7). Malice.—Generally wickedness, or disposition to injure others; perhaps resentment of supposed wrong, which was a characteristic evil of the Jewish mind. The relations of the Jewish Christians and Jews would provide easy occasion for such resentments. Guile.—The great weakness of Jewish character in every age. The Laban taint in the Abrahamic race. Hypocrisies.—Like, yet distinct from, “guile.” The idea here would be met by “insincerities,” over-anxiety to make a Christian appearance. The apostle would say “be genuine,” do not strain for effect. Let the new life grow naturally, and show itself and express itself how it will. We might put his counsel in this shape: “Beware of cant and sentimentality.” Envies.—These would spoil the fellowship of the Christians among themselves. Evil speakings.—With special reference to the characters of others. St. Peter would support the motto nil, nisi bonum. Augustine thus marks the significance of these terms: “Malice delights in another’s hurt; envy pines at another’s good; guile imparts duplicity to the heart; hypocrisy (flattery) imparts duplicity to the tongue; evil speakings wound the character of another.”1 Peter 2:2. Newborn babes.—The Greek word ἀρτιγέννητα implies the earliest stage of infancy. It was usual for Rabbinical writers thus to designate proselytes. Compare the term “neophytes.” Sincere milk.—Simple, unadultered. De Wette, “The pure, rational milk.” In view of the additions which had been made to the genuine Word of God by the Rabbinical schools, and its over-laying by perplexing and mischievous commentaries, St. Peter properly calls upon those beginning the new life to take nothing but the Word God as provided, and to cultivate an appetite for it. R.V. gives “The spiritual milk which is without guile,” and it adds to the verse the words “unto salvation,” for which there is good authority. For St. Peter’s use of the word “salvation” see 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 1:9-10.1 Peter 2:3. Tasted.—Or had a beginning of experience of personal relations with the Lord Jesus. The words are taken from Psalms 34:8, LXX. version. Gracious.—More precisely “usable,” “serviceable.” The figure in the Greek word is the mellowness of old wine. The idea of the apostle is that if the Christians were like newborn babes the food they had tasted once they would want again.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 2:1-3 Christian Growth is in Christian Control.—In these verses the growth is seen in what it enables a man to throw off. When men became Christians out of Pagan or heathen associations, there would necessarily be a great deal of the old life and habit that must be thrown off—a great incrustation of old evils that must be resolutely dealt with. The apostle Paul recognises how much had been done in this way by his Gentile converts when he says (1 Corinthians 6:10-11), “Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.” But St. Peter wrote his epistle mainly, if not exclusively, for Jewish converts, not for Gentile Christians. The point is, however, equally applicable to them. For there were characteristic moral faults of Judaism, and especially of the later, formal, and corrupt Judaism, which were quite as antagonistic to the Christian spirit, and the Christian life, as any of the open vices of Paganism could be. “Hypocrisies and evil-speakings “were characteristic Jewish sins. And they must be thrown off if the Christian life is to find free expression; they would be surely thrown off with advancing Christian growth. The point has its continuous application in every age, and to-day. More or less defined, every Christian life is a new start and a change. There has always been much in the old life which is unsuitable in the new. A man carries habits, tendencies, cherished ideas, infirmities, into the profession of faith in Christ, which he must gradually throw off if he is to “walk worthy of his vocation”; and the throwing off is not best done as a series of efforts, it is the natural result of growth in the Divine life. Grow, and the more vigorous life of the soul will surely shake off the old evils and frailties. In relation to the evils of our habits, disposition, hereditary tendencies, etc.— I. We can deal with the things that give them their opportunity and power.—In that sense we can “lay them aside,” “put them away.” A man may not have gained power over himself so as to allow himself to be placed in circumstances of temptation; but he may have gained such a power of control over his circumstances that he can alter conditions and relations which he knows are temptations to him. The familiar illustration is the man who has the craving for drink. He cannot directly master that craving, but he can watch everything, and carefully avoid everything that excites it. By so doing he can wear the craving out, and presently gain the full victory, and consciousness of full strength to resist. Shaping life so that there shall be no appeals to our natural frailties in it, is the duty which is seldom recognised. And yet, in that sense, the Christian’s life is in his own hands. II. We can suitably nourish the spiritual growth.—“The sincere milk of the Word” is not the “milk for babes” of which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews treats. St. Peter’s “sincere milk” is rational (intellectual), or more precisely spiritual milk; and he only calls it milk because his thoughts are occupied with the terms “begotten again,” “new-born babes.” He means this: Nourish yourselves into spiritual strength with just that spiritual food which is precisely adapted to your spiritual condition. It may be milk, if that is best for you; it may be strong meat, if that is best for you. The one important thing is that the Christian should grow; and the conditions of growth are very largely within his own control. He must meet his possibilities and responsibilities. III. We shall want to nourish that spiritual growth if we rightly apprehend the responsibilities of the Christian life.—Growth is the one demand of all life—vegetable, animal, intellectual, moral, spiritual. Wherever there seems to be life, we ask what we feel to be the testing question, “Does it grow?” Every life has an aim—it is moving toward something. It will never reach it if it does not grow. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 2:2. Things to be Laid Aside.—The apostle mentions five, but he includes others of like nature, and he means they are to be laid aside once for all, never to be touched, thought after, or desired again. Having been laid aside, the temptation to them must be resisted, and not one of these noxious weeds must be permitted to show its head. I. All malice—or all manner of malice. Malignity, or resentment of real or fancied injuries. You think that some one has done you a wrong, and you are angry with him; you owe him a grudge, you are determined to have your revenge. This is malice (Ecclesiastes 7:9). II. All guile.—Guile is deceit, and (opposed to truth and openness of mind. A man who cherishes guile is never to be trusted, and he is so suspicious that he can seldom trust any one himself. A true Christian is sincere. III. Hypocrisies.—These are allied to guile, and are indeed a species of it. Hypocrisy is acting a part as on a stage, where a person appears to be what he really is not. A. hypocrite is one who deceives, and intends to do so—does it knowingly. IV. Envies.—Some men see others better off’, more respected, and in possession of greater honours than themselves, and they envy them, want to be like them, and are mortified if they cannot be. V. All evil speakings or slanderings.—Envies lead to these, and these are the bane of all society. What heartburnings, and jealousies, and misunderstandings have arisen from the practice of evil-speaking! There are many ways of speaking evil of others. You may insinuate doubts as to their piety; you may ask questions about them which will lead others to ask questions still more significant. And it is an easy thing to blast the character of another, whilst it is a very difficult thing to repair the injury. These things the Christian is thought of as having already laid aside, and in all circles of true believers they are—and they should be—guarded against with the utmost care.—Thornley Smith. 1 Peter 2:3. Testing Conditions.—St. Paul commends the duty of self-examination and heart-searching in connection with the Holy Sacrament in 1 Corinthians 11. This verse of our text may suggest suitable preparatory self-examinations. I. The beginnings of a religious life.—“Tasting that the Lord is gracious.” We are very anxious to gain assurance that our beginning has been right. Perhaps we make too much of the initial stages. The New Testament describes the beginnings of religious life under a variety of forms and figures. Sometimes it is the passing in at a gate, or it is the first breath of a new life; or it is the first cry of new-born babe; or the first prayer of a penitent soul; or the healing in response to a look; or the answer to a call; or the laying of a life foundation. Here it seems to be the infant’s first taste of food—the wakening, as it were, of a new sense, which discovers that “the Lord is gracious.” St. Peter’s words may be read in the light of his own experience. There is one incident of unsurpassed tenderness in St. Peter’s life. It is his interview with Christ after the resurrection, when, again and again, but using somewhat different terms, Christ asked the searching question, “Lovest thou Me?” That was the time, above all other times, in which St. Peter felt the graciousness of the Lord. That was not his conversion, but it was his first “soul-taste,” the scene that henceforth toned his life. By this expression St. Peter evidently means— 1. A personal realisation of the graciousness of the Lord. He had been brought up in a knowledge of God that must have included His goodness. But such things as we may learn about God may lie on the mind as mere knowledge. St. Peter says that it must get in to a man, and become the man’s own. The soul, with its sensitiveness and receptivities, must touch and taste. It is easy enough for us all to sing, “God is Love.” It is a solemn moment when the soul wakes up to say, with a passion of personal feeling, “Yes, God is love.” “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” 2. A heart realisation of the graciousness of the Lord. Many a man’s mind has hold of it, but it is much more for the affections to be swayed and constrained by it, and for the graciousness to flow in on the soul like the tide of new life to one who has been sick. 3. And it is nothing less than the graciousness of God that is tested. That word “graciousness” must be meant to express more than goodness, more than kindness. God is good to all; kind to the unthankful and the unholy, but gracious to the penitent sinner. So “graciousness” is the sinner’s “taste” of the Lord. Now, cannot a man know for himself whether, made sensitive by sin-burden, he has “tasted that the Lord is gracious.” II. The privileges that belong to such a beginning.—Not to any particular degree of Christian attainment, but to the very beginning. First privilege—a right to the name, and to the hope, of a Christian. Second, a right of admission to Christ’s Church, which is the communion of such. Third, a right to kneel at the altar of the Lord, to sit down at the table of the Lord, which is the feast together of those who, in love, respond to love. God’s Graciousness.—This is the sweetness of the word, that it hath in it the Lord’s graciousness, and gives us the knowledge of His love. This they find in it, who have spiritual life and senses, and those senses exercised to discern good and evil, and this engages a Christian’s further desire of the Divine Word. They are fantastical, deluding tastes that draw men from the written Word, and make them expect other revelations. This graciousness is first conveyed to us by the Word; there first we taste it, and there still we are to seek for it; there the love of God in Christ streams forth in the several promises. The heart that cleaves to the Word of God, and delights in it, cannot but find in it, daily, new tastes of His goodness. Here it reads His love, and by that stirs up its own to Him, and so grows and loves every day more than the former, and thus is tending from tastes to fulness. It is but little we can receive here—some drops of joy, that enter into us; but there we shall enter into joy, as vessels put into a sea of happiness.—Leighton. AND NOTES1 Peter 2:4.—The figure is now changed, and the apostle deals with the Christian Church rather than the Christian individual. Two things were present to his mind—the material Jewish temple and the spiritual Jewish dispensation. He makes the one help to the understanding of the other. The Christian Church is like a new temple, built up from its very first foundation-stone. It is like a new dispensation, only instead of the new religious nation being represented by an order of priests, it is a kingdom of priests, represented only by one great High Priest. To whom coming.—In order to make a beginning in building the spiritual house. Living stone.—Not here natural rock, as distinguished from stone shaped by the mason; but spiritual foundation of a spiritual house. Chosen of God.—The rejection of Christ by the Jews is a historical fact: the acceptance of Christ by God is the spiritual fact implied in our Lord’s resurrection. Precious.—Or honourable. The assumed criminality of the crucifixion deceived neither God nor good men. No matter what Christ seemed to be, He was “holy, harmless, undefiled.”1 Peter 2:5. Lively.—Better, living, with the same idea as above. Men quickened with a spiritual life, therefore spiritual men; stones to match Christ, the living stone. (Perhaps the sentence should read, “Build yourselves up.”) Spiritual house.—The Christian Church, thought of as the spiritual reproduction of the Jewish Temple. Holy priesthood.—In old days the true spiritual temple was the nation of devout worshippers; it was represented by the tribe (twelfth part of itself), which was wholly devoted to the Temple ministry. The Christian Church is the new spiritual temple, every member being a priest, and all together offering up spiritual sacrifices. The blending of figures is sometimes puzzling; “the priests who sacrificed in the true temple were themselves the stones of which that temple was built.” R.V. has “a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.” Spiritual sacrifices.—No longer material sacrifices, but the spiritual things—thankfulness, love, devotion, etc.—which they represented. By Jesus Christ.—Who offered the model spiritual sacrifice—who offered Himself.1 Peter 2:6. In the Scripture.—Not precisely quoted from either Heb. or LXX. of Isaiah 28:16. The apostle evidently wrote from memory. In Sion.—The Temple was built on Moriah. Corner-stone.—With possible allusion to the corner of the Temple area that was built right up from the valley. But one of the stones in the foundations of ancient buildings was usually spoken of as the foundation-stone. Elect.—Better, “selected.” Precious.—Counted honourable. Confounded.—The idea given by the rendering in the LXX. Building on this foundation, we build securely; do not find our confidence misplaced.1 Peter 2:7. Precious.—Still the same idea, “held in honour “or in confidence. Such is your esteem that you have no hesitation in building on this foundation. Disobedient.—Involving unbelief finding expression in active rebellion. Disallowed.—Left in the quarry as unsuitable and unworthy. Head of the corner.—Is put in the most honourable position.1 Peter 2:8. Stone of stumbling, etc.—See Isaiah 8:14. “Their stumbling implies the judicial punishment of their rejection of Messiah. They hurt themselves in stumbling over the corner-stone.” Appointed.—The Jewish mind always regarded what did happen as what God had arranged should happen. No doubt the reference here is to the prophecies which had so plainly anticipated the rejection as well as the acceptance of Messiah. “Those who stumbled by disbelief were marked out by prophecy as men who would stumble.” But prophecy refers to a class, not to individuals.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 2:4-8 The Spiritual House.—The figures of this paragraph are precisely adapted to those who were familiar with the associations of Judaism, and more especially with the material tabernacle and the Temple, and the outward religious system associated with them. The material house of Judaism is contrasted with the spiritual house of Christianity. It is the contrast that is so fully elaborated in the epistle to the Hebrews. That was a material house, in which earthly men fulfilled prescribed temporal duties, and carried out a ritual and ceremonial system. This is a living, spiritual house, of living, spiritual men, who offer in it living, spiritual sacrifices. And yet St. Peter recognises that there was a spiritual within that old material. The spiritual had always been revealed to the spiritually-minded. The spiritual could now be more fully apprehended, and the old material building may now fade away, or be removed, as scaffolding is removed, when the Temple is complete. Or, using another figure, St. Peter says, the people of Israel were separated, consecrated people; the whole people were a “holy priesthood,” devoted to the service of God. This fact was represented, and so kept ever before their minds, by the separation of one tribe entirely to the priestly service. St. Peter sees that truth concerning Israel carried over into Christianity, and spiritually realised. The Church wants no delegation of any portion of itself for priesthood, because spiritually every member is a priest, and the entire Church makes up the “holy priesthood.” Fixing attention on the “Spiritual House,” notice three things:— I. Its foundation.—It is a living man—that is, a spiritual man. “Unto whom coming, a living stone.” It is the spiritual, Divine man, the Lord Jesus Christ. “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, even Christ Jesus.” The figure of the foundation stone is doubtless taken from that corner of the Temple-area which was built up from the valley with gigantic masonry. The figure of a foundation is somewhat difficult for us to apprehend, because our buildings do not in any sense rest upon a single stone. The right thought may come to us through the schools of philosophy, systems of theology, or other religions. We speak of Socrates as the founder or foundation of the Socratic School; of Calvin as the founder or foundation of the Calvinistic system of theology; of Mohammed as the founder or foundation of the Mohammedan religion. In each case we mean that on one man’s thoughts, doings, teachings, rests the house of thought or truth which has been reared. Christianity is the house of truth and life reared upon the thoughts, doings, teachings, sufferings, of the Lord Jesus; and it is a spiritual house, because the spiritual is the range of Christ. What He thought, did, felt, taught, were the spiritual things on which the spiritual house was reared. II. The stones of the building.—Living men—that is, spiritual men. Living in the sense in which Christ is spoken of as living. Connect with the idea of being begotten again, born again, quickened with the new, the spiritual life. St. John is the apostle of this new life. He “conceives of religion as consisting in the immediate personal relation of the soul, to God or to Christ. It begins with an impartation from God. To be born of God means to receive from Him a communication of spiritual life, whereby the soul is more and more transformed into Christ-likeness.” The stones of the building must be of the same nature as the foundation. Of material stones build the old Temple, on a foundation of stone from the quarry. Of spiritual stones—men alive unto God—build the spiritual temple, on a foundation of the spiritual stone, the man alive unto God, the spiritual man Christ Jesus. But another idea is suggested by the term “lively” or “living.” A living thing is a moving, acting thing, and the stones of the spiritual house are living men in their activity. It is a difficult association for us, but Eastern minds delight in involved and mixed metaphors. It may at least suggest to us that we give ourselves to Christ as living ones, “living sacrifices”—those who serve. III. The service within the building.—“To offer up spiritual sacrifices.” The building is a temple. And this is true whether we think of a single life or of the corporate Church. Within the temple of the individual life spiritual sacrifices have to be offered. Within the temple of the Church must be kept up the holy ministries. What the spiritual sacrifices are we may learn from the services of the older and material Temple. Find what was at the heart of the old ritual, and that, without the ritual, is the spiritual sacrifice of the new dispensation. Illustrate, from the inner significance of the primary form of sacrifice, the burnt-offering. That was the giving of a man’s whole self to God, represented by the giving of an entire animal. That giving of the whole self to God is the spiritual sacrifice which we can now offer as quickened, living men. And spiritual sacrifices include acts of praise, thanksgiving, trust; include everything that can fitly find expression for the new and spiritual life. That is the one and essential condition of acceptance. The new life must be in everything we say or do in the living temple. Formalities are of no value now, save as they are instinct with Divine life. One law applies to the whole service of the spiritual temple,—it must express the life of men who are “born of God.” Note by Dean Plumptre on the words “through Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter 2:5.—“In the addition of these words, we have at once the sanction for the Church’s use of that form of words in connection with all her acts of prayer and praise, and the implied truth that it is only through their communion with Christ as the great High Priest, and with His sacrifice, that His people are able to share His priesthood, and offer their own spiritual sacrifices.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 2:5. The Spiritual Temple.—This passage suggests that the Tabernacle and Temple were types and symbol of the true Church of God and even of the individual believer. Here the terms of communion with God are set forth in the altar of burnt offering, and the laver; one signifying expiation by blood, and the other the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Place, with its three articles of furniture, the golden candelabra, the table of shew-bread, and altar of incense, typifies the forms of communion, as Prof. Moore of Virginia beautifully phrases it. Here we are taught first the duty of a burning and shining testimony for God; secondly, of consecrated and constantly renewed offerings; thirdly, of unceasing prayer and heart-worship. The Holiest Place, with its cherubim, mercy seat, and shekinah, may represent heavenly and complete fellowship, in the immediate presence of the glory of God, where a redeemed and glorified humanity, reconciled to God and in perfect harmony with all created being, the Law of God perfectly enshrined in the heart, communes immediately and within the veil with Jehovah!—Anon. The Worshippers and the Temple the Same.—It is obvious, then, how fit, how essential it was that there should be a temple of stone for the partial dispensation; the presence of God in Christ for the transition state, when it was yet partial, but preparing to be extended; and for this last dispensation, which was to embrace all the world, what temple would have been sufficient but a temple co-extensive and identical with the worshippers themselves? As in the true Atonement there was no victim worthy of the priest but He who combined both in His own person, so, in the true worship, there could have been no adequate temple, unless the worshippers and the temple had been the same.—Bishop Hinds. The Christian Temple, or Spiritual House.—St. Paul, in his epistle to the Corinthians, speaks of the Christian Church under the symbol of a temple, but he uses the word—ναὸς—nowhere else, and St. Peter never uses it at all. There can be no doubt, however, that when he wrote these words the idea was in his mind, and that he thought of the Temple of Jerusalem, in contrast with which he calls believers a spiritual house—οἶκος—of which the Lord Jesus is the foundation, or the corner-stone. I. The foundation of this Temple,— 1. It is Christ Himself. St. Peter was a stone laid upon the foundation-stone, as also were each of the apostles. They were the first layer of the Temple, next to the foundation; but the foundation itself is Christ and none other. He is called “the living stone”; He has life, and gives life, spiritual and eternal, to all who trust in Him. A stone is hard, cold, and rigid, but this Stone lives and imparts life to every other stone of which the Church is built. 2. Its excellence is set forth by a contrast—“rejected, indeed, of men, but chosen of God and honoured.” St. Peter had said, before the Sanhedrin, “This is the Stone set at nought by you builders” (Acts 4:11). Christ is still rejected of men. The sceptic rejects Him. The rationalist rejects Him. The worldling rejects Him. God honours Him. Believers count Him “precious,” “honourable.” 3. The results of its being laid. “Unto you, therefore, which believe in the honour of belonging to the Stone, and of being united to the building of which it is the foundation.” Such is the import of 1 Peter 2:7. II. Look, at the superstructure.—“Ye also as living (ζῶντες) stones are built up a spiritual house.” 1. The materials are living stones. Such are Christian believers. Drawn out of nature’s quarry, they are cut and polished by the Spirit of the living God, and are then prepared for the place they are to occupy in the temple of the Lord of hosts. Of such materials must God’s house be built. 2. Composed of such materials, this temple is called a spiritual house. God has had three temples on earth—the temple of stone, the temple of Christ’s body, and the living temple of the Church. The first was destroyed and swept away; the second was removed, and is now in heaven, the third remains; and will continue to grow until the top-stone be brought forth with shoutings—“Grace unto it!” In the temple of stone the shekinah dwelt; in the temple of Christ’s body dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead; in the temple of the Church the Spirit dwells, filling all its courts with the light and glory of the Lord. 3. In this spiritual house there is a holy priesthood. Every living stone in this temple is also a consecrated priest, and has access by faith into the holiest of all by the blood of the everlasting covenant. 4. A temple implies sacrifices, and they are offered here. The sacrifices of God always were, and still are, spiritual sacrifices—the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart; the sacrifice of earnest prayer and faith; the sacrifice of a holy and devoted life.—Thornley Smith. 1 Peter 2:7. “The Preciousness.”—The alteration made in the R.V., which reads, “For you therefore which believe is the preciousness,” is less serious than at first sight it appears to be. It in no way changes the sentiment, it only alters the form in which it is expressed. It keeps in the line of the figure which the apostle is using—a characteristic figure for him who had himself been called a “stone”; the “rock-man,” on whose witness for Christ the Church was to be founded. St. Peter had spoken of coming to the Lord, the Lord Christ, as unto a “living stone,” that could be the foundation-stone on which to raise the temple of a holy life. He was not writing of the first coming of the soul to Christ, with the burden of sin—the coming for forgiveness and renewal—but of the coming of the believer when he proposes to make the endeavour to build a godly life. As Christ is the foundation of our hope, so He is the foundation of our life of character. Build a character upon nothing, and it sways with every wind, and is overthrown with the first storm. Build a character upon the self of resolve and human wisdom, and it is as the house upon the sand, which keeps fair enough under the summer rains, but is undermined and imperilled when the winter floods surge around it. Build a character upon the rock of Christ; let the foundation be His Divine claim and His model humanity, as held in the grasp of our faith; and then let life bring round what storms and floods of trial and temptation that it may, the house of character which we build may be weathered and worn, but it will not fall; it cannot be shaken. It is founded upon a rock: that rock is the “Rock of Ages.” That is the “living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious.” “It is contained in Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be put to shame.” The Temple of Solomon is evidently present to the mind of the apostle, and suggests his figure. That Temple was built upon the living rock of Mount Moriah; but the summit of the mount was not sufficiently large or level to permit the full size and proper shape of the Temple court. On the one side the ground dipped suddenly, and to complete the form of the required area, a corner-piece had to be raised, in heavy masonry, right up from the valley to the Temple level. It was a stupendous work for the age in which it was accomplished. It came to absorb attention rather than the rock of the hill itself. It was the national pride. It seemed as if the Temple was really built on that corner; as if that were its real foundation-stone. Every believer has a temple to raise—the temple of a Christly character, the temple of a holy life. There is the natural rock of disposition and heredity on which every man builds his house of character; but the believer wants something more than this. He needs a completion of its incompleteness and insufficiency by the laying of a “chief corner-stone.” That alone can make the foundation area satisfactory: that alone can be trusted to bear the full weight of the building; and that alone can give noble character to the building. And that chief corner-stone of the temple of a godly life God has provided for every man. It is Jesus the Lord, elect, precious: “the tried stone, the precious corner-stone.” But St. Peter points out that, though the corner-stone foundation is actually provided, and available for all, it must be individually accepted and individually used. And so it becomes the test of every professor. Where there is no actual, practical faith, giving tone to the daily endeavour to live the godly life, that corner-stone is neglected; it may even be “a stone of stumbling and rock of offence.” But where there is practical, living faith, there the stone is valued, held honourable; the grace of its provision is recognised, its uses are understood, and the life of holiness is so raised upon it that every part of the life feels the strength and support of that foundation. It is the interest which the man of faith has in the chief corner-stone, on which he wants to build every part of his spiritual house, which St. Peter suggests to us in this passage. And it does not matter whether we keep to the figure of the stone—an impersonal thing—and say, “Unto you therefore which believe is the preciousness”; or, seeing who it is that is meant by the stone—the personal, living Lord Jesus, our Saviour and Sanctifier—say, “Unto you that believe, He is precious.” As we may, however, gain a little freshness in the form and setting of very familiar truth thereby, we will take advantage of the impersonal figure preserved for us by the R.V., and let our text mean— I. By the believer the preciousness is discerned.—It will not be possible to deal wisely with this or the other points to be brought before us unless we first understand clearly who is meant by the “believer.” It cannot be too often asserted that the epistles are not written to unconverted persons as persuasions to a saving belief. However unworthy of the Christian name those addressed in the epistles may be, the assumption is that they do all bear the Christian name; they have all accepted Christ as their Saviour and Lord; they are all believers. The distinction is not sufficiently recognised between the act of faith and the life of faith. The act of faith is the beginning of a life of faith, and it has no effective value unless it is followed up by such a daily faith. The apostle expresses the belief in which we are just now interested when he says, “The life that I live in the flesh is a life of faith on the Son of God.” The act of faith ought to establish an attitude of faith, and that attitude should be a permanent attitude. It is by that daily and permanent attitude of our souls that the preciousness of Christ is discerned. To use the figure of the photographer, we may say that the act of faith renders the whole plate of the soul sensitive to particular things, sensitive to spiritual things; and they make their due impressions according as, day by day, their sensitiveness is maintained. There is a school of thought which exaggerates the importance of the act of faith. Salvation is regarded as the Divine response to that act; and a daily renewal of the act is required only as keeping up the daily right to the salvation. But our salvation is a much larger thing than the setting us in a new relation with God; it includes getting that relation rightly toned. And what we need to see so much more clearly, and to feel so much more adequately, is that our daily believing is a power of discernment, and a power of receptivity, and a secret of growth and sanctifying. Constantly, therefore, must believers be urged to believe. It may even be pressed upon us that the maintenance of the attitude of trust is the condition of all joy, and of all growth in the Divine life. It is not of chief importance to ask, “Have you believed unto the salvation of your soul?” It is most important, and it is most searching, to ask, Are you believing unto the sanctification of your whole life and relationships? To that life of faith the mystery of Christ is revealed: by that permanent daily mood of belief, of living trustfulness, the preciousness of Christ is discerned. In the Song of Solomon the lover is taunted with the words, “What is thy be loved more than another beloved?” He is all the more to her by what her love discerns in him; and Christ is all the more to us by what our faith—our trust, which is simply our faith with love in it—can discern in Him. Here is the figure of Christ presented in the gospels; here is the estimate of Christ formed by His apostles; here are the accumulated sentiments concerning Christ of saintly souls through all the ages. And yet, do most men, with all this help, discern the preciousness of Christ? They admire Him, it may be; they write about Him, it may be; they wrangle over Him, it may be; but they cannot discern His sweet secret. That comes only to the man of faith; that is the discovery of the trustful soul. It is “hid from the wise and prudent,” who think they know; it is “revealed unto babes,” who can only trust. Is it not a simple fact that these who are living lives of faith do see in Christ more, and more precious things, than any one else can see? It is no wonder at all that men should accuse us of extravagance when we speak of our Divine Lord. They cannot see in Him what we see, and they never will while they keep in their present conditions. To us He is “the chiefest among ten thousand,” the “altogether lovely.” The older prophet shows the difference that a true discernment can make in Messiah and in His mission. “We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions.” This daily faith is the quickening of new powers, and that will partly explain our keener and fuller discernment. There are spiritual powers. They lie dormant until faith quickens them. The man who believes in Jesus finds himself possessed of unexpected powers; and what is so remarkable about the new powers is that they are ever enabling him to discern more and more of the preciousness of Jesus. And the daily life of faith is ever training and culturing those new powers to a higher efficiency. Keep up the daily soul trust, and the spiritual eyes will be ever gaining quicker, keener vision; the spiritual ears will be ever gaining subtler sensitiveness to every sound of the Divine voice; and the spiritual hands will be ever gaining firmness to grasp the duties which are set before us by the Divine will. And what is it that the cultured powers will discern in Christ? What of His preciousness does stand out clear to those who live the life of faith? The answer can but be a series of hints. They see Jesus Himself, but Jesus in all His varying moods, graciously adapted to all their moods. Always in direct and helpful relations to them. Just the Jesus they need when the sunshine is all about them, and seems to have got into their souls. Just the Jesus they need when the clouds hang low over them, earth toil seems hard, and heaven “far to go.” Yes, that is the preciousness of Jesus which the man of faith discerns. His real and abiding presence, involving His relativity to all our changing need: Jesus, vestured as no worldly eye ever beheld Him, practically helpful in every endeavour of our godly life. There is a certain Eastern character in the figure of the text that makes it sound somewhat strange to us, but we can catch the idea it suggests. Let the stones, quick with a living faith, be put on the living stone, the corner foundation-stone, and there surely will be the thrill of life into life. The Living Stone will, as it were, bind and keep all the stones, and there will be the Life ever present in every stone, keeping in place all the spiritual house. Unto you that believe there is that preciousness of discernment. You can see how much He is to you who is your Living Stone, your sure foundation. But keep near to heart and thought, that the power of discernment must always depend on the believing, on the life of faith. Here, as in so many things, the law holds good, “According to your faith it shall be unto you.” II. By the believer the preciousness is enjoyed.—We only derive pleasure from things that answer to us, things with which we have affinity. And so the things that give pleasure to men are manifold, and vary from the trifling to the sublime. A diamond is no more precious to a child than any prettily coloured stone, or shining bit of stone. Only when trained to appreciate it can the precious stone be enjoyed. As we are cultured, as mental faculties, and moral sentiments, and religious interests, are developed, directed, and enlarged, we find our pleasure in ever higher, and nobler, and purer things. The merely material ceases to satisfy us, the moral and the spiritual prove able to provide ever-increasing enjoyment. We begin with pleasure in things, we advance to pleasure in truth, and in character; we attain our apprehension of the very highest pleasure when we find our joy in God. Christ is no personal interest, no source of ever-satisfying pleasure, to the great mass of men. When they see Him there is “no beauty that they should desire Him.” Why is this? He is what He is, but what He is is nothing to them. It is that they do not believe; the soul’s power of trust has never been awakened; the great gratitude of the sinful soul to its all-sufficient Saviour has not awakened the eyes to discern the transcendent loveliness of that Saviour. Only those who are living the life of faith can ever enjoy His preciousness. Everything depends on the mood of the mind. And it is singular to notice how the joy of the soul in Christ goes up and down with the varying moods of its faith. Cannot we make this a test of our spiritual state?—“Unto you that believe He is precious.” Do not ask, Are you full of admirations of Christ? Can you recognise His Divine fitness as the Saviour of the world? Be more searching than that. Ask yourself, Am I personally enjoying Christ? Does He fully satisfy me? In the love of Him do I find my soul’s rest? Is the “dearest spot on earth to me” that where I meet with Him? When I think of the beautiful does He seem to me more beautiful still? When I yearn for happiness do I find myself running right in to the shadow of His all-comforting love? Is He, indeed and in truth, my joy and my crown? Can I walk earth’s highway with a song in my soul—His song, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love”? And do I turn from all the glory and bliss of heavenly scenes to fix all eye and heart on Him that sitteth on the throne, the “Lamb as it had been slain?” Then surely by us the preciousness of Jesus is enjoyed; and it must be that, in some measure at least, we are living that life of faith. Is there any test of Christian standing better—more searching and more satisfying—than this? “What think ye of Christ?” Nay, rather, What is Christ to you? How do you feel towards Him? For “unto you that believe is the preciousness.” Our cherished sentiments concerning Christ keep pace with the daily faith that brings Him ever into the field of our soul-vision and our touch. III. By the believer the preciousness is responded to.—It is not that he only sees it; it is not that he only enjoys it; it is that he meets it, he answers to it. It becomes the holiest of forces moving him, the sweetest of constraints upon him. It presses him to all loving obediences, to all loyal services, to the constant endeavour to attain the likeness of the beloved one, and to a life of virtues and sweet charities as the only life well-pleasing to Him. The Christian life has its sentiments, and nourishes them; but the sentiments are impulses and inspirations; they are active powers; they give tone to conduct; they help the holy living. Let faith glorify Christ, and keep Him ever near, the object of unceasing admirations, the source of undying satisfactions, and then the soul will surely have its perpetual prayer, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” And the life will be one prolonged endeavour to do what the loved one would have done. We know in our every-day relations what a sweet and powerful constraint the enjoyment of our loved ones is. Who among us is not a better man or woman day by day because the preciousness of our loved ones is so fully discerned and enjoyed. Life for us is the sweet response we make to those whom we fully trust, whom we deeply love, whose fellowship we so much enjoy. And yet in the earthly spheres we are only learning Divine things. Away even from the earthly spheres and relations we soar into the regions of the spiritual. There, with the power of our faith—our trust, which is faith with love in it—we discern the preciousness of Jesus, our tried cornerstone, our sure foundation. There we feel the sweet fascination of Jesus, and enjoy the fellowship and all-embracing love, and find it heaven begun to sit at His dear feet. There we feel ourselves caught and held in His restraints, bound by love-cords to His service, and perfectly willing, gladly willing, to be just what He would have us be, go just where He would have us go, and do just what He would have us do. 1 Peter 2:7. Our Honour in Christ.—“Unto you therefore, the believers, belongs the honour.” So said in reference to His being called “a stone elect, honoured,” taken in conjunction with “shall not be ashamed.” Both the Hebrew and the Greek word rendered “precious” may, with equal propriety, be translated “honoured,” and this contrasts better with the “shame” just spoken of. Thus Dr. Lightfoot takes it. The argument is this: “God has selected Jesus for special honour, and has promised that all who trust in Him, instead of scorning Him like the Jewish rulers, shall have no cause to blush. Now, you do trust in Him, therefore to you belongs the promise, and the honour bestowed by God on Him reflects on you. You, like Him, are made parts of the Divine imperishable architecture.—Ellicott’s Commentary. Christ a Precious Saviour.I. To whom is He precious? To them that believe. II. Why is He precious to believers? 1. Because recognised as the medium of all earthly blessings; and 2. As the source of all spiritual blessings. III. When is He thus precious? 1. In certain frames of mind, as when the soul hungers after righteousness. 2. In certain duties, as in secret prayer, worship, etc. 3. In certain seasons, as times of danger, bereavement, sickness, trial.—J. M. Sherwood. Christ All in All.—Christ is all in all to His people. He is all their strength, wisdom, and righteousness. They are but the clouds irradiated by the sun, and bathed in its brightness. He is the light which flames in their grey-mist and turns it to a glory. They are but the belt and cranks and wheels: He is the power. They are but the channel, muddy and dry; He is the flashing life which fills it and makes it a joy. They are the body, He is the soul, dwelling in every part to save it from corruption, and give movement and warmth. “Thou art the organ, whose full breath is thunder;I am the keys beneath Thy fingers pressed.”—A. Maclaren, D.D. The Christ of Experience.—This is one of the undertones of Scripture, heard in all the pauses of its history or its argument. It is a recognition of the practical religious value of the Christ, of what He is to those who have put Him to experimental tests. Such recognitions make the New Testament the religious book of men’s practical life. Peter was a man far less profound and intentional than John, more realistic, more under the power of externalism and of mere ethics. He moves upon a lower plane of spiritual conception and Christian life. And yet how the fervency of his heart of religious love breaks forth! Here he is, setting forth the great value of Christianity as a source of strength and comfort and hope in the trials of human life. A stricter rendering of the text would be, “Unto you who believe is the honour.” So far from making you ashamed, trust in Him will be your highest honour; for through your trust in Him you will attain to all that constitutes the salvation of a man, the noblest life here, and everlasting glory hereafter. What is the estimate of Christ which they form who have tried Him? who have submitted their minds to His ideas, their hearts to His claims, their lives to His control? “He is precious.” The fundamental idea is value. In the commercial sense of the term, a precious thing is a priceful thing, a thing which fetches a price. Three things constitute value: 1. Rarity. 2. Beauty; 3. Serviceableness. All the qualities that constitute preciousness are in Christ, in a degree of excellence that imagination cannot overcolour, that even love cannot exaggerate. In respect of serviceableness, of personal beneficial relations to men, as their Redeemer from sin, His preciousness transcends all our words or thoughts. This is the form of the apostle’s thought. He speaks of the experimental value of the Christ—His preciousness to those who have practically come to Him as the living foundation stone; through whose vitalising properties they have been quickened into living stones of the spiritual Christian temple. 1. We might apply a comparative test, and put the preciousness of Christ into comparison with all other possessions of our human life. Or we might subject Him to a comparison with other good men. 2. Our estimates are largely influenced by the judgments of others. Think, then, of the estimates put upon Christ’s character and work by other moral beings. It is significant of His excellence that He attracts the most readily, and attaches the most profoundly, the holiest and noblest natures? Christ is never rejected because His moral teaching is false, His moral character defective, His moral inspirations corrupting. 3. The conclusive appeal is, however, to the conscious experience of our own religious souls. In personal experience we find our chief grounds for a high estimate of Christ. I. Christ is precious when we grope and stumble at the mystery of God. II. Christ is precious when the sense of sin is quickened within us.—When we awaken to the grave culpability of its guilt, when we realise its essential antagonism to the Divine holiness. III. Christ is precious in our struggle with practical evils.—As we fight with lusts, resist temptation, overcome worldliness, subdue selfishness, or mourn over failures and falls. IV. Christ is precious to us in times of great sorrow. V. Christ is precious in our own mortal conflict.—It is not a question of notions or beliefs about Christ, but of living experience of Him, practical appropriation of the grace that He brings, practical quickening by the life that He is.—H. Alton, D.D. The Verse a Quotation.—The words of this passage are quoted directly from the LXX., and properly represent the Hebrew. Almost all the best modern critics consider the psalm from which this verse is cited to be a late psalm, written subsequent to the return from Babylon, in which case it is most probable that the composer was directly thinking of the prophecy of Isaiah above quoted. The Messianic interpretation of the psalm would be no novelty to the Hebrews who received this epistle (see Matthew 21:9), though probably they had not perceived it in its fulness.—A. J. M. A Christian Test.—One of the testing passages, which help us to gain assurance of our Christian standing. Uncertainty about our personal religious condition may be neither right nor necessary, but it is felt by all Christians at times. Two other tests may be suggested. 1. Tenderness of conscience about sin. 2. Manifest difference in the things we now love and choose. In the text we have.— I. A description of the Christian.—“You that believe.” That fits precisely into apostolic preaching. In Acts we find St. Peter calling upon men to believe in Christ as Messiah, proved to be by His resurrection. Belief is more than, other than, knowledge, and indicates the Spirit’s power. Christians are they who in the teaching of the Spirit have come to believe, with a soul-reliance on Christ. II. A test of the Christian.—“He is precious.” The word is “honour,” “preciousness.” 1. Christ is honoured. Occupies the highest place of respect; the Divine place of worship. He who can speak lightly of Christ is no Christian. 2. Christ is valued. Precious, in the sense of costly. Involving a right estimate (1) of Christ’s person; (2) of Christ’s work. 3. Christ is loved. Those are precious to us whom we love. We love to think of His salvation, to realise His presence, and to do His will. In this way the testing of our spiritual condition is put in its most gentle, persuasive, and attractive forms. 1 Peter 2:8. Appointed unto Stumbling.—When St. Peter says that these unhappy Jews were appointed to stumble, he primarily means that the clear prophecies of the Old Testament which he has quoted marked them for such a destiny. It was no unforeseen, accidental consequence of the gospel. It had never been expected that all who heard the gospel would accept it. Those who stumbled by disbelief were marked out in prophecy as men who would stumble. Still, in fairness, we must not shirk the further question which undoubtedly comes in at this point. It cannot be denied, that, in a certain sense, it was God Himself who appointed them to stumble. There is no reference to condition after death. God does put men sometimes into positions, where, during this life, they almost inevitably reject the truth. These things remain unexplained, for the trial of faith.—Ellicotl’s Commentary. AND NOTES1 Peter 2:9. Chosen generation.—These terms describe the new spiritual Israel in terms taken from the old Israel. God chose the Abrahamic race; God called out a particular priesthood. The entire nation was holy, in the sense of separated unto God. The Jews were a peculiar, or purchased, people, in view of the redemption from Egypt, which was the beginning of their national life. So the new Israel was a race chosen in Christ, constituted as a kingdom of priests, separated from the world unto God, and specially related to God as the purchase of His own sacrifice. Out of darkness.—Not the darkness of heathenism, but of the formal Judaism of that day.1 Peter 2:10. Not a people.—For this figure see Hosea 2:23. The Jews are still addressed, but from this point of view—while they had disbelieved and rejected God’s Son whom He had sent, they were not God’s people. All disbelief and disobedience put them out of covenant relations. When they believed and obeyed Christ they became God’s people again, and now in a new and higher sense.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 2:9-10 Christian Jews are the True Jews.—These verses may at first sight seem to describe the dignities and privileges of the Jews as the elect nation. But any such praise of the Jews would be quite out of harmony with the truth St. Peter is presenting. His whole argument is that we have something now far better than old Judaism; something so much better that, for the sake of it, we may cheerfully give up the old. St. Peter is writing to Christian Jews, whom he regards now as the true Israel; he would not suddenly turn aside to praise those who clung to the older system. The figures of speech are taken from the older associations, and, however difficult the work may be to us, we must fit them to the new spiritual nation made up of Christian Jews. St. Peter even suggests that, before accepting Christ as Messiah and Saviour, these Christian Jews were “not a people”; by accepting Him, and by virtue of the new life in Him, they had become the true, elect race. They “now are the people of God.” They “had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” “The glories that attach to the company of believers in Christ are brought before us in a mosaic of Old Testament phraseology.” For “chosen generation,” see Isaiah 43:20. For “royal priesthood,” Exodus 19:6, LXX. For “peculiar people,” compare Deuteronomy 7:6; Isaiah 43:21; Malachi 3:17. The words would be better rendered, “a people of purchase.” The “praises” of 1 Peter 2:9 would be better rendered, “excellences,” “attributes,” “distinguishing qualities.” I. The Divine election is always to responsibility and service.—It is the Divine method, illustrated in every ration and in every department of life, to secure the advancement of moral beings by setting forth elect men. What we have in the Bible is simply the Divine election relative to the world’s religion. It is most helpful to the understanding of election, thus to recognise it as an ever-working Divine method. God always has had His elect nations; He has had, and has, His elect individuals in the spheres of government, science, art, poetry, literature, family life, priesthoods, ministries, etc. The election is always, and essentially, a special call to service, and it always involves the previous endowment of the man, by God, with the particular gifts which He will need for the service. The Jewish race had been called out by God for a particular service in relation to humanity, and for that service they were endowed with an extraordinary sense of God; that marks the Jewish off from every other human race. They were to keep, as living truths for humanity, the unity and spirituality of God, and they were to preserve the oracles which recorded the revelations of that one spiritual being. That was their service, and in rendering that service lay their responsibility. The Christian Jews are bidden to think of themselves as an elect race, called to this service for humanity, to show forth the excellences and the grace of God, as manifested in the person, and in the redemptive work, of His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ God had called them “out of darkness into marvellous light.” Their service was to show Him forth by life and by lip. It is the calling and election of every Christian now. II. The Divine election always carries with it dignity and privilege.—The mistake is often made of putting the privilege of Divine election before the responsibility; and this tends, in frail men, to nourish a perilous self-satisfaction. Men come to think of themselves as the “favourites” of heaven, to the disadvantage of others. And on this idea of election privilege, sects are formed which isolate themselves from the whole community of Christians. It is dignity to be called to Divine service, but we had better think more about the service than the dignity. It is privilege to receive a sacred trust, but it is healthier for us to think about the trust than about the privilege. We may cheer our souls sometimes with the thought of our privilege, but we should inspire our souls always with the thought of our trust. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 2:9. A Chosen Generation.—The greatness of the Christian privilege is a chief reason for our failing worthily to realise it. And we do not feel the claims and responsibilities aright when we are not duly impressed by the privilege. In this text we have— I. Christian privilege.—“A chosen generation.” There is reference to Abraham and Israel. Chosen in Divine sovereignty, and also in Divine love. This suggests duty as last clause of verse. II. Christian dignity.—“Royal Priesthood.” Reference to Israel as a nation. Union of two highest dignities, King and Priest, in Melchizedek. Explain the kingly sphere. Wherever God reigns—self or world, there the renewed man reigns as God’s vicegerent. Explain the priestly sphere. The renewed man is to be his own offerer. What have we to offer? “Sacrifice of praise.” “Ourselves as living sacrifices.” This involves duty. III. Christian quality.—“Holy nation.” Holiness is the profession of every Christian. Holiness is the expectation concerning every Christian. Holiness is first an internal quality, and then an external manifestation. IV. Christian peculiarity.—“A peculiar people.” Not meaning an odd people, but a separated, an appropriated people. A people having a definite set of characteristics. Peculiar as a family of one type of countenance, and one disposition. Peculiar as having a special idea and aim in life. Here, also, duty comes in. The better we know the privileges which Divine grace has bestowed upon us, and does bestow, the better shall we feel the claims which Divine grace makes upon us, and the more disposed shall we be to respond to them. Interest in Ancestry.—It is counted a matter of great moment unto noble families, if but for honour’s sake, to know their descent from houses more ancient and sovereign; that they have sprung from such and such marriages, and conjunctions of sovereign princes, although they be in alliance very far removed from them. So is this here to us; the saints are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,” as Peter speaks, the royalest family heaven or earth affords, and that in respect of the descent thereof.—Dr. T. Goodwin. TO CHAPTER 21 Peter 2:10. Marvellous Light.—The phenomena of light and vision have for all minds surpassing interest, whether in regard to the beauty of light or its utility. The beauty is seen spread over a varied landscape, in the verdure of fields and forests, among the beds of the flower garden, in the plumage of birds, in the clouds around the rising and setting sun, in the circles of the rainbow. And the utility is such that, if a man had needed to supply his wants by groping in utter and unchangeable darkness, even if originally possessed of all knowledge now existing in the world, he would scarcely have secured his existence for one day. Eternal night would have been universal death Light, then, while the beauteous garb of nature, is also the absolutely necessary medium of communication between living creatures and the universe around them. The rising sun is what converts the wilderness of darkness which night covered, and which, to the mind of a child not yet aware of the regularity of nature’s changes, is so full of horror, into a visible and lovely paradise.—Rev. W. Arnot. AND NOTES1 Peter 2:11.—This verse begins some direct counsels concerning the ordering of Christian conduct and relations. As they have a somewhat severe tone, they are commenced with an affectionate form of address—“Dearly beloved.” Strangers and pilgrims.—Sojourners, suitable to those who belonged to the dispersion, but specially suggesting the unworldliness of the spiritual life, in Christ, which they had begun. Fleshly lusts.—Which lead to drunkenness, gluttony, and uncleanness. There was special need for the Hebrew Christians to be vigilant, on account of the calumnies which the heathen were beginning to circulate about the Christians. For the “works of the flesh” see Galatians 5:19-21. Soul.—The higher element in man’s nature. Here the new spiritual life of the soul is referred to. The antagonism between flesh and spirit is a familiar Pauline topic.1 Peter 2:12. Conversation.—Behaviour in relationships with others. Honest.—Better, “seemly.” The word used is the ordinary Greek word for “beautiful,” and it distinctly means goodness that comes into sight. A daily walk that is attractive, winsome, to look at. Gentiles.—Everybody other than yourselves. Speak against you.—In different ways. Both the Gentiles and the bigoted Jews aspersed the character of the Christians. We cannot stop the slanderer, but we can jealously see to it that he shall have no ground for his slandering. We may be persecuted, as Christ was; we must try to be as free from blame as Christ was (see 1 Peter 2:20). Day of visitation.—Time of calamities which the early Christians regarded as the coming of Christ. “Not only the last great day, but on whatever occasion God brings matters to a crisis” (Canon Mason).MAIN OF THE —1 Peter 2:11-12 The Persuasive Power of Moral Goodness.—St. Peter urges these Christian Jews to live out fully their Christian life, to “walk worthy of their vocation”—they would find that give them their best influence, their best power of ministry. Men must heed when they see “what almighty grace can do.” Living out fully the Christian life involves two distinct, but closely related, things. I. Self-management.—“Abstain from fleshly lusts.” The Christian’s first and greatest difficulty is with himself. He has bodily passions which men around him are in no sense holding in control, and to which he has given power because once he did not hold them in control. When a man becomes a Christian he virtually pledges himself that henceforth he will “hold the vessel of his body in sanctification and honour.” But fulfilling that pledge he finds to be most serious and anxious work. Sins of the flesh, of sensual indulgence, are usually thought of as Pagan, Gentile sins, they are the sins of humanity. And no forms of sin so directly, or so ruinously, affect the spiritual life. They “war against the soul.” “The lusts are on active service, engaged in a definite campaign against the immortal part of the man.” II. Ordered conduct and relations.—“Having your behaviour seemly among the Gentiles.” The R.V. gives “seemly,” but the good old suggestive word “honest” might wisely have been retained. Honest includes simple, sincere, straightforward—even good-looking, commendable, persuasive. The honest man is a power wherever he goes. The type is found in Nathanael: “An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” The ancient philosopher was told that a certain man was slandering him. “Never mind,” he replied; “I will live so that no one will believe him.” We have always at our command the all-conquering power that lies in an honest and good life. That always does, sooner or later, “put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 2:12. Christians called Evil-doers.—St. Peter asserts distinctly that calumnies were really rife about some particulars of the Christian morality, at the time that this letter was written. It is a mark of a late date, for at first the Christians had not attracted sufficient notice, as a body, to be talked of, either in praise or blame. The heathen at first regarded them as merely a Jewish sect (Acts 18:15; Acts 25:18-20), and as such they received a contemptuous toleration. The first State recognition of Christianity as a separate religion, with a characteristic of its own, was the Persecution of Nero, A.D. 64. Now it so happens that we have almost contemporary heathen documents which bring out the force of this passage. Suetonius, in his life of Nero (chap xvi.), calls the Christians by the very name St. Peter uses: “the Christians, a kind of men of a new and malefic superstition.” Only about forty years later, we have Pliny’s famous letter to Trajan, written actually from the country in which St. Peter’s correspondents lived, and referring to some of the very persons (probably) who received the epistle, as having apostatised at the time of the persecution under Nero; in which letter Pliny asks whether it is the profession of being a Christian which is itself to be punished, or “the crimes which attach to that profession.” The Apologists of the second century are full of refutations of the lies current about the immorality of the Christian assemblies. The Christians were a secret society, and held their meetings before daylight; and the heathen, partly from natural suspicion, partly from consciousness of what passed in their own secret religious festivals, imagined all kinds of horrors in connection with the Christian mysteries. From what transpired about the Lord’s Supper, they believed that the Christians used to kill children, and drink their blood, and eat their flesh. Here, however, the context points to a different scandal. They are warned against the fleshly lusts, in order that the heathen may find that the Christians’ great glory lies in the very point wherein they are slandered. “Evil-doers,” therefore, must mean chiefly offences on that score. It is historically certain that such charges against Christian purity were common. Even as late as the persecution under Maximin II., in the year 312, it was reported that these meetings before light were a school of the vilest arts.—A. J. Mason, M.A. Charges against Christians.—The words indicate the growth of a widespread feeling of dislike, showing itself in calumny. The chief charge at this time was probably that of “turning the world upside down,” i.e. of revolutionary tendencies, and this view is confirmed by the stress laid on obedience to all constituted authority in the next verse. With this were probably connected, as the sequel shows, the accusations of introducing discord into families, setting slaves against their masters, wives against their husbands, etc. The more monstrous calumnies of worshipping an ass’s head, of Thyesteian banquets of human flesh, and orgies of foulest licence, were probably of later date.—Dean Plumptre. 1 Peter 2:11-12. Strangers and Pilgrims.—Archbishop Leighton paraphrases these verses thus: “If you were citizens of this world, then you might drive the same trade with the men of this world, and follow the same lusts; but seeing you are chosen and called out of this world, and invested into a new society, made free of another city, and are therefore here but travellers, passing through to your own country, it is very reasonable that there be this difference between you and the world, that while they live at home, your carriage be such as befits strangers, not glutting yourselves with their pleasures, nor surfeiting upon their delicious fruits, as some unwary travellers do abroad; but as wise strangers, living warily and soberly, and still minding most of all your journey homewards, suspecting dangers and snares in your way, and so walking with a holy fear, as the Hebrew word for a stranger imports.” 1 Peter 2:12. The Church in Relation to the World.—The relation in which Christians stand to those who are not Christians is of vital importance to understand and feel. The references to this are numerous and emphatic:—“I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me” (Psalms 39:1). “Also I said, It is not good that ye do; ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?” (Nehemiah 5:9). “In all things show thyself a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he who is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you” (Titus 2:7-8). These and like references inculcate the duty of conservating the Christian name and the glory of God. Such warnings would be in keeping with the Jewish faith, in which honour was fortified at any cost; but in the teachings of Jesus Christ the subject has received another and a better side—viz., that the exhibition of the Christian character should be perfect, with a view to exert on the unconverted the best possible influence. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” In addition to the duty to “give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully,” add the power which will convert reproach into praise, and make of the enemy a friend. Let this latter side of the matter have our present attention. That the Christian character should be perfect for the sake of its own beauty, is a truth worthy of prayerful solicitude at all times; but the Christian character is more than a garment to be observed—it is an influence to be imparted to others. That the name of Jesus, by which we are called, may not be dishonoured by the inconsistencies of our life, we need to lift the subject of holy living above the mere matter of duty, into that of service, wherein the glory of God will overcome the darkness of the human heart. I. We begin with the fact that we are watched by those who are of opposite tendencies.—We are under daily examination. We are searched, not for the good we may have, but for the blemishes that may be found in us, because the “carnal mind is enmity against God.” There are those who take a greater delight to look at an eclipse of the sun for five minutes than to enjoy its light for a lifetime. But if there were no light in the sun there could not be an eclipse. So with men of worth, the contrast between the excellent and the not excellent fixes the eye of envy upon them; but where excellency is, it cannot be altogether ignored. In this fact we rejoice, but our rejoicing is the more when only virtue is found. Let those who search us to discover weakness find none. Let the reflection of our virtue reveal to them their own unworthiness. II. Let us further consider the influence of the Christian character for the good of others.—“Glorify God,” etc. There is an error which must be removed from the minds of many to establish this remark in their minds. Too frequently it is supposed by some that because they cannot take a prominent part in gospel services, and thereby possibly become instrumental directly in the conversion of souls, their lives are comparatively unobserved and useless. Let us remove this notion. As there is not a single ray of light, or drop of water, or breath of air, which does not contribute to the vast system of light, of water, and of air, so there is not a single Christian example which does not minister in the circle of the Church, and lead to higher results. The old man, staff in hand, short step, all weathers, going by the squire’s house to chapel, made an impression at last, and the squire followed. He entered, and heard a sermon which touched him; the next Sunday he waited for the old man, but in vain. He went alone, and learnt from the preacher that the old man had gone home that morn. Men will feel the need of the change which they see in us. The sinner knows that there is something wrong within. He may not comprehend the mischief—he may not understand his sins; but he will perceive by the change in others that he also needs a change. Where there is sin there is sorrow and unrest. There is a perfect charm in the apostle’s description of the change—“the new man.” (Describe a man wasting by disease, who has been cured.) The new man breathes freely to heaven the aspirations of his soul. He walks uprightly, and runs in the way of God’s commandment. His arm is strong to do work. Another diseased man will see the change, and ‘in all need to Jesus go.’ As God has visited us to give us a new heart, so He will visit others, who have seen the change, to give them a new heart also. Conversions have been singularly blest in this respect,—“We will go with you, for we,” etc. Men will feel the need of the peace which we enjoy. You remember the invitation, “Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Men will feel the need of the prospect which cheers us. We have a good hope through grace. I was asked, when nearing New York, if I expected any one to meet me at the landing place, and I said, “Yes.” But the friend who asked said sorrowfully, “No one will meet me!” “I will come again, and take you to Myself.” Seeing that such glorious issues depend on the consistency of our character that others may follow our example and be saved, we have the highest inducement to live a godly life in this present world. Let us take others with us home to glory: we may meet by the way the lame; let us help him on. See the world outside the Church! What misery and degradation! We will take the gospel to them: the Christ of the Bible shall be a living Christ before them in our lives. Holy living shall be a song that they must hear. “O Friend O Brother! not in vainThy life so calm and true,The silver dropping of the rain,The fall of summer dew!”—. And, lastly, The influence of the Christian life leads to the highest result.—It may be that to-day we think so much of self that we cannot rise to the highest point of our life. The highest degree of Christian excellence is the service and glory of God. To realise this we must look beyond ourselves, and beyond those to whom we may bring salvation, and beyond any benefits faith may confer on either of them or us, to GOD. He will manifest Himself in the day of visitation, when we shall see and feel that our life is intended to reach even to Himself. In the day of visitation all matters will be seen in their true light. The life of the Church will never be fully and rightly comprehended until that day, when God will explain it. Therefore, labour on, brethren, leaving the consequences to the light of that day, striving only to do good, and save immortal souls.—Weekly Pulpit. 1 Peter 2:11-17. Our Pilgrim Life; How to Pursue It. I. The threefold exhortation—Abstain, suffer, submit (1 Peter 2:11-16). 1. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. These include all inordinate sensual gratifications of our physical nature. 2. Suffer. Christians living as strangers among the Gentiles in apostolic times were spoken of as evil-doers. Their characters were maligned, their motives were impugned, their conduct misrepresented in all manner of ways. They must endure such treatment as their Saviour did, with all meekness, having their behaviour, conversation (ἀναστροφή) good and honest. The good, patient, charitable living of the early Christians told upon their enemies. 3. Submit. The Early Christians lived under heathen governments, which, in many respects, were despotic, cruel, and unjust. But human institutions are indirectly of Divine origin, and Christians should submit to all lawful authority. Christianity helps the repeal of unjust and iniquitous laws, but it requires submissive obedience to all that is lawful. II. A summary of Christian duties.— 1. “Honour all men.” This duty has no limits. “All men, without exception, possess a certain value, first, as the creatures of God, and secondly, as redeemed by Christ. 2. “Love the brotherhood.” Such is the Christian Church—a brotherhood, a household of faith. 3. “Fear God.” This is the highest principle by which men can be actuated, in all the relationships of life. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and therefore the beginning of goodness, charity, love, and holiness. 4. “Honour the king” (see 1 Peter 2:13, and Proverbs 24:21). In virtue of his office, honour is due to him. Anarchy is a crime, loyalty is a virtue.—Thornley Smith. AND NOTES1 Peter 2:13. Submit yourselves.—This belongs to the care Christians should take not to be in any sense an occasion of offence in Society (Romans 13:1-7). Ordinance of man.—Every human institution. A spiritual life can find expression in every form of governmental and social life. For the lord’s sake.—Lest reproach should come on Him, through reproach coming on you. King.—Here an abstract word for the person in chief authority. Then an emperor.1 Peter 2:14.—Even an imperfect government aims to secure the general good. It is noticed that neither St. Peter nor St. Paul lay down any exceptions to the rule of complete obedience; and yet proper exceptions there must be.1 Peter 2:15. With well-doing.—Not with disputations, but with the irresistible persuasion of a holy life. Ignorance.—For the calumnies of Christians were spread by those who hated them without knowing anything correctly about them. The word implies a stolid and wilful ignorance.1 Peter 2:16. As free.—In regard to the ordering of personal life relations. Bound to meet all public obligations; free to shape their own life and conduct. Worldly maxims, social customs, common habits and opinions, have no binding force on Christians. In all this sphere the Christian is a “law unto himself.” Cloke of maliciousness.—“If under the pretence that they were asserting their Christian freedom they were rude, overbearing, insolent, regardless of the conventional courtesies of life,” this made the liberty a cloke of baseness.1 Peter 2:17. Honour.—By showing each one the respect that is due to him. Love.—With more than the love of complacency; with the love of family. Fear.—The feeling which recognises a supreme claim.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 2:13-17 Fitting the New Life into Old Relations.—When a man is born of God, and made conscious of a new life, with new interests, new motives, new desires, and new sympathies, he is often troubled by the difficulty of fitting his new self to the old associations. Those old associations he must keep. He cannot change his family circumstances, or his business, or his obligations, or his social conditions. He must find out how to fit his new life into them, so that it may ennoble them, and they may in no way hinder or injure it. The difficulty is seen very clearly in the case of Christians who had been heathen, and must still keep in heathen surroundings. Those heathen round them were keenly on the watch for grounds of accusation against them; quick to discern any inconsistencies. The Christians were bound to be careful not to give offence, and bring the Christian name into disrepute. In this paragraph one form of practical difficulty with which the Christians had to deal is indicated. Their new life could not fail to bring to them a sense of dignity; it might easily take a bad form, and become an assumption of superiority, which would spoil their every-day relations with men, and make them unwilling to submit to existing rule and authority. Their new life would give them a sense of freedom from all restraints, which might readily pass into resistance to, and rebellion against, the constituted authorities. Apostolic advice was specially needed under such circumstances, and St. Peter is fully in harmony with St. Paul in the advice that he gives. The particular case before St. Peter’s mind is that of Christian Jews driven from their own country and lifelong associations by persecution, and finding shelter for a time in foreign lands, where there were different systems of government, different customs, and people of different temperaments. There could not fail to be very much that grieved them, very much that tried them, and very much that provoked them. The serious question for them to answer was: How can the new life in Christ fit to these strange surroundings? How does it inspire us to think and to act? The kind of feeling which the presence of Christians in a community then excited is illustrated by the exclamation of the rabble that dragged Jason and certain of the brethren before the rulers of Thessalonica, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6). There evidently was a widespread suspicion that, wherever they went, Christians became elements of disorder. I. Christians should loyally accept the governmental system of the country in which they dwell.—It may be monarchical, republican, colonial, or otherwise. There are different systems of government, and there must always be differences of opinion as to which is absolutely the best, and which is relatively the best for a particular nation, at a particular time in its history. A Christian has a perfect right to his own opinion, and is free to find wise occasions on which to express it; but so far as his practical conduct and daily life are concerned, he should loyally accept existing conditions, and take care to be no disturber of the peace. A question of casuistry arises here. Is it ever lawful for a Christian to resist the law? Assuming Hampden to have been a spiritual Christian, was he justified in refusing to pay the “ship-money”? The answer may be that no rule is without exceptions; and that cases may occur in which principle is involved, and loyalty to the absolute right, which is loyalty to God, demands resistance, even at the cost of being misunderstood, and of suffering. Still, the general rule is that Christians should make peaceable citizens, and in so doing they help to secure that general protection from evil-doers, and security for honest trade, which are the primary duties of social government, whatever form it may take. II. Christians always have a power at command for the silencing of those who slander them.—“The ignorance of foolish men” means baseless, senseless slanders. Men in positions of authority are always subject to the malign influence of the slanderer. Christians in a heathen city could not fail to attract attention by their very difference from others. Slanders start with next to nothing, and grow until shamefully wicked things can be said, all utterly baseless, but too easily believed, because men find such strange pleasure in hearing of the failure of the good. Very seldom, indeed, can a slander be followed through, fought, and conquered. But the Christian can always live it down. He can be calm, he can be silent, he can keep on his life of purity and charity, and that will tell in the long run. Slanders have no staying power; well-doing has. The good man, if he will be persistent, is sure of victory, for God is on the side of the good. III. Christians are free to sustain all gracious relations.—An old divine, dealing with the saying that “a Christian is a man who may do what he likes,” replied, “That is quite true, only a Christian is a man with a new set of likes.” The Christian is free unto righteousness; free to do everything right, and kind, and worthy. But the Christian is not free to do wrong. He is under the strictest obligations not to do anything unworthy of the name he bears. What sort of things a Christian is free to do is indicated in 1 Peter 2:17. 1. Treat every man respectfully and considerately, as he would wish them to treat him. To a Christian man, every man, no matter how poor or ignorant he may be, is to be honoured for the image of God in him. 2. Keep up all that is becoming to the family relation within the Church of God. 3. Let the cherished, reverent sense of God put serious and careful tone on all the conduct and association of life. 4. Set good example of good manners in the social and national life. Good manners recognise what is due to persons placed in positions of trust and responsibility. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 2:16. Our Freedom in Christ.—There is not another word in human language with power to thrill human hearts like this word “liberty.” The victim of revolution exclaimed, “Oh, liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!” And we may say, “Oh, liberty! what deeds of philanthrophy and heroism have been wrought under thy inspiration!” There must be some sentiment, common to humanity, to which this word makes its appeal. It must be this: throughout humanity there is an inward consciousness of bondage under sin. Every offer of outward liberty—liberty of circumstance—is caught up by men, in the hope, more or less distinctly cherished, that its final issue will be liberty of soul. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ has its chief end “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” It proclaims “liberty to the captives.” I. Freedom in Christ is freedom of the soul.—Men want (1) freedom of circumstances; (2) freedom of thought; or (3) freedom to do wrong—the wrong that they wish to do. But freedom in Christ is no freedom such as these. It is the freedom of the soul. The sinner is the real slave. The drunkard, the worldling, the sensual, the passionate, the dishonest, the selfish, the proud, the unforgiving, the uncharitable, the unbelieving, are slaves. Christ comes, past all the fetters of human circumstance, right into the soul of man. He comes to strike off rings and chains from the wrists and anklets of the soul. This is the priceless boon. The only freedom worth having is liberty to do always the things that please God. And in that sense God has made us free in Christ Jesus. We are free to grow up into the likeness of God’s dear Son; our souls are free in righteousness. The Son has made us free, and we are free indeed. II. Freedom in Christ is freedom by the truth.—Falsehood binds to a practical life of sin. The root of all evil is a lie. Truth works out into goodness and righteousness; untruth always works out into unrighteousness and misery. Nothing can stand but the truth. Nobody can endure who is not true. Every opinion has some practical issue; it works toward something. If it be false and unworthy, it will surely tie the soul down to a life of indulgence and wrong-doing. If it be true and noble, it as surely leaves the soul free to fulfil, in the earthly spheres, the righteousness for which it was made. The truth ever makes free. Every lesser phase of truth, whether it be political, or social, or scientific, or moral, is a liberation of men. But it is that truth brought to light by Christ, taught by Him, and embodied in His life, which is the great liberator. It frees hand, and conscience, and heart, to know that God is the heavenly Father, and the Saviour of men by sacrifice. It frees us for seeking after righteousness to apprehend the truth, that this world is not the real world, and that a time is coming when the whole humanity shall be glorified. III. Freedom in Christ is freedom in the Spirit.—“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. That Holy Spirit works within us, in the secrets of our spiritual natures. He moulds, and restrains, and impels, and purifies, and quickens our inclination, and passion, and affection, and imagination, and intellect, and habit, plucking all the self-bondages, all the society bondages, all the sin-bondages, away. He who is quite perfectly in the sway of God the Holy Ghost—if there be such an one among us—is free from all the enticements and allurements of evil—free to follow God fully. Distinguish between liberty and independence; between freedom and licence: and then we may readily recognise those reasonable abridgments and restraints under which Christian freedom is set. The Christian man will not only find necessary limitations of his freedom, he will also voluntarily abridge his liberty, and put himself under restraints. Cultured and sensitive conscience, in respect of right and wrong, is sure to set limitations. But Christian interest in others, positions of influence on others, and, above all, the sacrificings of Christian love and charity, lead us constantly to refuse to do what, in a strict sense, we have full liberty to do. We must take heed “lest our liberty become a stumbling-block to them that are weak.” Liberty.—A brief sketch of history suffices for indicating the power which the cry for “liberty” has universally exerted. The hope of liberty called out of Egypt a tribe of slaves, and in seeking freedom they became one of the foremost nations of the earth. Liberty rallied the down-trodden sons of Israel round the banners of a delivering Barak, or Gideon, or Jephthah. Liberty fired the nation with a magnificent heroism, and led to the casting off of a foreign yoke, in the days of Judas Maccabeus. The freedom of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidel flung the noblest of Europe’s sons, in splendid and enthusiastic self-sacrifice, on the shores of Asia, in the time of the Crusades. Freedom from a hated tyrant’s power made a handful of Swiss mountaineers mightier than an empire of soldiers, in the legendary days of William Tell. Freedom to worship God sent the Pilgrim Fathers over the then almost trackless Atlantic, seeking new lands and homes. “Liberty, equality, fraternity”—grand words—have served for a sign that should arouse nations into hideous passions of revolution. Freedom for a million English slaves woke the response of the noblest English hearts in our fathers’ time. And still, if men would move the hearts of their fellows, they raise some cry of civil or religious liberty. False or true, worthy or unworthy, a host will surely follow him who offers a boon that is esteemed so priceless. 1 Peter 2:17. Honour.—To “honour,” as the word signifies, is to estimate the value of anything, and to proportion our regards to the ascertained value. Apply this rule to man. Estimate his value by his Creator’s love, and by his Redeemer’s sufferings; by his own capacity of religion, of morals, of intellectual advancements, of pleasure, of pain, by his relation to a life and to a death to come; and you will then feel that to honour a man is to respect him under these views and relations; to be anxious for his welfare; to contemplate him, not only with benevolence, but even with awe and fear, lest a prize so glorious should be lost, lest a being so capable should be wretched for ever.—Richard Watson. 1 Peter 2:1. Honour all Men.—The royal law of Christ rests not on the crumbling basis of varying ordinances, nor on the tottering foundation of disputable traditions, but on the foundation of broad, eternal truths, on the foundation of Christ Himself. For we cannot understand either why or how we should honour all men unless we know what this meaneth: “The Word became flesh.” I. “Honour all men.”—There is a strange universality about the precept. All but the brutish understand the duty of giving honour where honour is due; all but the vile honour those whose lives are beautiful with the beauty of holiness, and noble with the nobleness of God. But are we to honour the mean, the base, the despicable, the depraved? Yes, we honour the majesty of their nature even in its fall. We honour the man in the men. As Michael Angelo sees in the rough block of marble the winged angel, struggling to be free; as Flaxman walking in the slums, sees the beauties and possibilities of the “human face divine” even under the dirt and squalor of the gutter-child;—even so with pity and reverence the true Christian sees, even in the lowest, the marred work of Him who breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life. II. As life goes on, it is more and more our temptation to honour no man.—All our faith in human nature sometimes seems to be shaken to its foundations. Nor can we be surprised, our human nature being what it is, if even good and great men have succumbed at times to the fatal temptation of despairing of humanity. “Most men are bad;” there is the summary of the Greek philosopher, who deliberately left it as the maxim of his wisdom. III. Though there is so much weight of authority and evidence to support this despairing view, it would be fatal to us; fatal to the hope by which we are saved, and which is as a vernal breeze amid poisonous fogs; fatal to the glad enthusiasm which leaps up like a fountain amid the briny waves and corrupted currents of the world. In spite of all the facts and evidence, we would say, with a living writer: “I trust in the nobleness of human nature, in the majesty of its faculties, in the fulness of its mercy, in the joy of its love.” Has it never struck you how marvellous is the fact that words so noble, so far-reaching as these—“Honour all men”—should be uttered by a poor Jew, a Galilean fisherman? Had this rule been followed, what a different world we should have seen in the past! Every great crime of governments and of nations has been a crime against the inherent rights of the human race—slavery, despotism, priestcraft, etc. “Honour all men”—their inherent dignity, the infinite possibilities of their nature, their freedom of conscience, the awful price of their redemption, their immediate accountability to God. While this honour leads us to deep reverence for all human goodness, let it inspire us also with such hope and compassion as shall feel none to be too low, too fallen, for our pity or our help. Let us see humanity in Christ, and it will be indeed transfigured with heavenly lustre.—Archdeacon Farrar. The Sum of Our Duty.—These words have very briefly, and yet not obscured by briefness, but withal very plainly, the sum of our duty towards God and men; to men, both in general—honour all men; and in special relations, in their Christian or religious relations—love the brotherhood; and in a chief civil relation—honour the king. And our whole duty to God, comprised under the name of His fear, is set in the middle betwixt these, as the common spring of all duty to men, and of all due observance of it, and the sovereign rule by which it is to be regulated.—Leighton. The Image of God in Man.—The fact that there are in every man traces of the image of God, after which he has been created, and infinitely undeveloped capacities which might issue in the restoration of that image to its original brightness, was in itself a reason for treating all, even the vilest and most degraded, with some measure of respect.—Dean Plumptre. Honour Due to All Men.—Among the inestimable blessings of Christianity, not the least is the new sentiment with which it teaches man to look upon his fellow-beings—the new relation which it establishes between man and man. There is nothing of which men know so little as themselves. They understand incomparably more of the surrounding creation of matter, or of its laws, than of that spiritual principle to which matter was made to be the minister, and without which the outward universe would be worthless. Men have as yet no just respect for themselves, and of consequence no just respect for others. Nothing can make man a true lover of man but the discovery of something interesting and great in human nature. We must see and feel that a human being is something important, and of immeasurable importance. To show the grounds on which the obligation to honour all men rests, I might take a minute survey of that human nature which is common to all, and set forth its claims to reverence. But there is one principle of the soul which makes all men essentially equal, which places all on a level as to means of happiness. It is the sense of duty, the power of discerning and doing right, the moral and religious principle, the inward monitor which speaks in the name of God. This is the great gift of God. We can conceive no greater. It is this moral power which makes all essentially equal, which annihilates all the distinctions of this world. The idea of Right is the primary and the highest revelation of God to the human mind, and all outward revelations are founded on, and addressed to it. We little understand the solemnity of the moral principle in every human mind. We think not how awful are its functions. We forget that it is the germ of immortality. There is a foundation in the human soul for the honour enjoined in the text towards all men. By Christianity this duty is enforced by new and more solemn considerations. This whole religion is a testimony to the worth of man in the sight of God, to the importance of human nature, to the infinite purposes for which we were framed. True, Christianity speaks of man as a sinner—it deals with human sin; but it does not speak of this as indissolubly bound up with the soul, as entering into the essence of human nature, but as a temporary stain, which it calls on us to wash away. It gives none of those dark views of our race which would make us shrink from it as from a nest of venomous reptiles. The very strength of his temptations is one of the indications of his greatness. The sentiment of honour or respect for human beings is essential to the Christian character. A more faithful culture of it would do much to carry forward the Church and the world. I attach to this sentiment such importance that I measure by its progress the progress of Society. The various forms in which this principle is to be exercised or manifested, may be enlarged on. Honour man from the beginning to the end of his earthly course. Honour the child: on this principle all good education rests. Honour the poor; this sentiment of respect is essential to improving the connexion between the more and less prosperous conditions of Society. Perhaps none of us have yet heard or can comprehend the tone of voice in which a man, thoroughly impressed with this sentiment, would speak to a fellow-creature. It is a language hardly known on earth. The great revelation which man now needs is a revelation of man to himself. The faith which is most wanted is a faith in what we and our fellow-beings may become; a faith in the Divine germ or principle in every soul. Happy are they who have begun to penetrate that mystery of our spiritual nature, and in whom it has awakened feelings of awe towards themselves, and of deep interest and honour towards their fellow-creatures.—W. E. Channing, D.D. TO CHAPTER 21 Peter 2:14. Living Stones.—Figuratively, like plants, connected with and nourished by their roots. Stones still in the quarry are said to be living. The epithet means the firmness of that thing signified by the name of a stone, for nothing is firmer than stones growing in a quarry, as cleaving fast to a rock by the root.—Burder.Seeming Life of Radiant Stones.—Of course a living stone means a human being. The figure takes its origin from the seeming life of radiant stones, whose gleams and flashes have the seeming, at times, of will and life. A man is said in the Bible to be more precious than the gold of Ophir; and of a woman it is said, “Her price is far above rubies.” These were common comparisons. There is something in the glow of precious stones that peculiarly fits them to serve for such spiritual figures. There is about them a subtle light—a brilliancy—that burns without fire; that consumes nothing, and requires no supply; that for ever shines without oil; that is ever-living, unwasting, unchanged by any of the natural elements. A diamond that glows in the sunlight flashes yet more beautifully in the night. No mould can get root upon it; no rust can tarnish it; no decay can waste it. The jewels that were buried two thousand years ago, if now dug up from royal and priestly tombs, would come forth as fair and fresh as they were when the proud wearer first carried them in his diadem—fit emblems by which to represent spiritual qualities, and the beauty and imperishableness of Christian virtue. And a company of holy men, resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ, may well be compared to a palace built upon broad foundations, and sparkling to the very summit with living stones which throw back to the sun a differing flash through every hour of his rise or fall through the long day.—H. W. Beecher.Stones Left Unused.—Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries, long abandoned, or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks, squared and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them. Beware, lest God’s grand temple should be built without you, and you be left to desolation and decay.—A. Maclaren, D.D.1 Peter 2:13-17. Political Morality.—The teaching of the New Testament, as exhibited in this passage, imparts a new vitality to political economy. It forms a marvellous contrast to the ordinary teaching of Judaism—that civil obedience was not due to heathen governors except on compulsion. The Christian’s devotion to Jesus Christ is to be enthusiastic. All ordinary duties are His, and this consideration is to breathe a new spirit into the discharge of them. It makes the Christian, as circumstances require it, either the faithful public servant or the hero. It may be objected that the state is put forward rather in a negative than in a positive aspect. I ask, How, under existing circumstances, could it possibly have been otherwise? It was at this period so corrupt that to have taught a devotion to it would have been inconsistent with pure public morality. One cannot conceive of a holy man being fired with an ardent patriotism for such a condition of political society as that involved in the Roman empire during the first century of our era. Enthusiastic loyalty to the Roman emperors of that period was impossible. If, on the other hand, the writers of the New Testament had given a formal precept to Christians, enforcing on them the duty of becoming political reformers, this would have at once aroused the mighty power of the empire to crush the Christian Church. As there was nothing in the existing state of society to kindle a spark of enthusiasm in the discharge of duty, the New Testament asks the Christian to discharge his duties to the Lord Christ.—Row. AND NOTES1 Peter 2:18. Servants.—Slaves. Many of the early Christians came from the ranks of slaves, or freedmen. And their freedom in Christ made their bondage to an earthly master specially irksome. Perhaps “the οἰκέται here addressed are domestic servants, who were more exposed to the bad temper of their masters than the servants in the field.” Froward.—Crooked. One who is unreasonably exacting, capricious, and cross-grained.1 Peter 2:19. Conscience toward God.—Better, “consciousness of God.” This essentially belongs to the new life. Conscious of God’s presence as seeing, judging, helping, His servants. Wrongfully.—Without having given just occasion.1 Peter 2:20. Buffeted.—Cuffed with the hand, or smitten with the stick, as servants then were. Acceptable.—Same word as “thankworthy,” in 1 Peter 2:19.1 Peter 2:21. Were ye called.—Or, “this is involved in your call.” Example.—Of patience in bearing suffering, with the inward assurance of innocence. The Greek word suggests a drawing which the student is to copy.1 Peter 2:24. Bare our sins.—See Isaiah 53:12. Our sins, not His own. The Hebrew word may mean either to carry, or to lift or raise. It is not clear which precise meaning St. Peter intends. On the tree.—Cross. R.V. “upon the tree”; marg. “up to the tree.” Stripes.—Prophetic reference, Isaiah 53; historic reference, our Lord’s scourging by command of Pilate.1 Peter 2:25. Shepherd and bishop.—Episcopos, guardian, protector. See Ezekiel 34:11-12. Alford thinks that the apostle transfers the well-known name of the elders of the Churches, ἐπίσκοποι, to the great Head of the Church, of whom they were all the servants and representatives.NOTE ON 1 Peter 2:19.—Dr. R. W. Dale translates thus: “For this is acceptable, if through consciousness of God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully.” He holds that the Greek word which Peter used has sometimes the meaning “consciousness” and sometimes that of “conscience.” In this passage the former meaning is much more appropriate, and Dr. Dale uses it very effectively to prove that the knowledge or consciousness that Christians have of God becomes an effective force in the moral life. Such a knowledge is open to every Christian, for Peter here writes to slaves when he says, “This is acceptable if, through consciousness of God, a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully.”MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 2:18-25 The Example of Suffering.—However general may be made the applications of this paragraph, it is well-to observe that its counsels, and arguments, and persuasions, are directly addressed to “slaves,” and that, in their form, they are precisely adapted to such persons. The “servants” of the New Testament are not persons who offered free service upon fixed wage terms, but individuals whose personal liberty was lost, who were the property of some other man, and whose powers of body and mind—whose lives, indeed—were absolutely at their masters’ command. We need not associate African, West Indian, or American slave-horrors with the ancient slave-system, though it is true that Roman and other Pagan slaves often had the bitterest of bitter lots in other ways. The term that is here translated “servants” points to “domestic slaves”—those sustaining household relations, and occupied in household duties; and we have to think of the kinds of suffering which they would have to endure, more especially when they had become converts to the faith of Christ, as so many of this class had in those early days. We know enough of the difficulties which our servants have to endure now, when they are amongst ungodly and scornful fellow-servants, and in pleasure-loving, self-indulging families, to be able to imagine what burdens, and what trials, a Christian slave in an ancient Pagan family might have to bear. It was most fitting that the apostle should directly address these kindly, reassuring, and inspiring messages to them. A large proportion of the early Christian converts are known to have belonged to this class. It has been noticed that nearly all the names given in Romans 16, and many of those of other members of the Church, are found in the Columbaria, or Catacombs of Rome, as belonging to slaves or freedom. Conscious of a new and higher life, and of thoughts and hopes altogether transcending their human lot, these slaves could not fail to fret under their humiliating conditions; and they might easily fail to meet their daily responsibilities, and unduly repine under disabilities which now seemed to be overwhelming. Indeed, the question often came up before the regenerate slave, “Ought I to remain in this degrading servitude I Ought I not, at any cost, to strike for personal liberty?” If such an one took his question to the apostles, we know that they would have bidden him keep his place, and serve Christ, by fitting nobly into his position, and living before his fellow-servants and the family in the most attractive Christian spirit. “Let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God” is the apostolic principle applied to the slaves of that day. But St. Peter seems to know enough of the actual lot of these slaves to take them as types of the kind of suffering which Christians were then called to endure. He is not, it should be carefully noticed, dealing here with the sufferings which come from the accidents, disasters, or calamities of life, nor with those which belong to the inroads of disease, or to bodily infirmities, or to the action of heredity. He has in mind the sufferings which come out of our various relations with others, and especially the sufferings which attend on our endeavour to live out our Christian principles in those relations. The force of the Christly example, which he presents, is only seen when its sphere is thus circumscribed. It is quite true that our Lord is, in a general and comprehensive sense, our example; but here St. Peter does but present Him as an example of suffering, and of precisely such suffering as these slaves were called to endure. If these remarks seem, at first, to unduly limit the applications of this familiar passage, it will be found, on further examination, that it opens up detailed applications, within the limitations, which give fresh point to the apostolic advice. For it will be found to-day that most of our serious sufferings come in connection with our human relationships. Precisely what these Christian slaves felt was the bitterness of being punished when they were innocent. And this they often were, in the anger, or the tyranny, or the malice, of their masters. They also felt the difficulty of keeping patient under peculiar aggravations, and the apparent uselessness of their most heroic efforts to serve well; for they constantly failed to alter the conditions under which they so grievously suffered. This is St. Peter’s message to them: “For hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps.” Jeremy Taylor has a suggestive illustration of the help we may find by following the example of our Lord’s sufferings. “St. Wenceslaus, the Bohemian king, one winter night, going to his devotions in a remote church, barefooted, in the snow and sharpness of unequal and pointed ice, his servant, Redevivus, who waited upon his Master’s piety and endeavoured to imitate his affections, began to faint through the violence of the snow and cold, till the king commanded him to follow him, and set his feet in the same footsteps which his feet should mark for him. The servant did so, and either fancied a cure or found one, for he followed his prince, helped forward with shame and zeal to his imitation, and by the forming footsteps in the snow. In the same manner does the blessed Jesus; for, since our way is troublesome, obscure, full of objection and danger, apt to be mistaken, and to affright our industry, He commands us to mark His footsteps, to tread where His feet have stood, and not only invites us forward by the argument of His example, but He hath trodden down much of the difficulty, and made the way easier and fit for our feet.” I. The Christly example of suffering is the example of suffering innocence.—“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” This is precisely adapted to St. Peter’s declaration to the slaves: “For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endure griefs, suffering wrongfully.” St. Peter is not intending to make any general declaration here concerning the sinlessness of Jesus. He has no doctrine about it. He says, “Take any case of our Lord’s suffering; take the supreme case of His suffering the death of shame;—you will always find this to be true: He never suffered for a fault; His suffering could never be thought of as punishment for wrong-doing.” See what sympathy with Jesus the poor slaves would feel, when it was thus brought right home to them that their Divine Lord also “suffered wrongfully”—suffered in innocence. Even we may find how wonderfully near that brings the Lord Jesus to us. For the thing that sometimes almost overwhelmingly oppresses us is the thought of how much we had, and have, to bear in life, which has no relation whatever to our own wrong-doing, or even to our mistakes or negligences, and over which we have had, and can have, no sort of control. Our Lord felt the same oppressive burden. “He did no sin, … yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him: He hath put Him to grief.” There is our example of suffering innocence. It may not have been straightforwardly presented to us, that suffering which is the proper recognition of wrong-doing and sin is not Christian suffering. It is the proper lot of moral beings—there is nothing distinctively Christian about it; and Christ offers us no example of bearing the punishment of sin in that sense. There is much good advice to be given to those who suffer for their wrong-doing. But Christ’s example cannot be offered to them for their inspiration, since it does not in any way concern them. Keeping loyalty and obedience; walking in righteousness; preserving the “vessel of your body in sanctification and honour”; meeting nobly all your earthly obligations, nevertheless, is the fact for you that life brings round to you sufferings and distresses? White-souled with Christ are you, and is it nevertheless the fact that, along with Christ, you are misunderstood, maligned, illtreated, persecuted, turned out, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”? Then the inspiring, comforting example of Christ is precisely for you. II. The Christly example of suffering is the example of suffering patience.—“Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” It will at once be seen how precisely this example fits into the persuasion and argument which St. Peter addresses to the slaves. “For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” And concerning precisely this you have the helpful example of Christ. We are led in thought to the Palace of the High Priest; to the Prζtorium; to Herod’s Judgment Hall; to thorn-crowned Calvary. There is scorn, accusation, smiting, mockery, howling, scourging, taunt, and cruelty; and all this strain made it a poor, exhausted victim that at last they hung mid earth and heaven, as if He were unfit for either. And no resistance was offered by Him, no reproach was made—“a silent Man amid His foes.” “Taken as a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep dumb before the shearers.” And there was the sublimest triumph—moral triumph—earth has ever witnessed. There is, for slaves, or for us, the entrancing example of suffering patience. It is Christian suffering when we suffer in innocency. It is yet more truly Christian suffering when, so suffering, we suffer silently, with the heroism of a patient endurance. Buffeted for nothing, as Christ was; taking it patiently, as Christ did;—this is acceptable with God. But could any’ example be presented to us that could be so searching and so humbling as this is? It reveals our supreme life-failures. Just what “we seem never able to do is to suffer innocently, and at the same time to suffer patiently. Oh how ready we are to proclaim our wrongs! Oh the bitter things we say of those who do us wrong! Oh the frettings and the chafings under the wrongs which seem to us so wholly undeserved! See once again how He stands, calm and silent, dressed in the mock royal robes. See how restrainedly He bears the cruel scourge. See how He submits when the nails are driven through the living flesh. He, with His holy example, shames us into the dust. We can scarcely dare to look upon His holy example and by it appraise our conduct “When He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who judgeth righteously.” Christly suffering is suffering patiently. And that is something for us yet to win. III. The Christly example of suffering is the example of suffering love.—This indeed explains how the patient bearing became possible. Christ was sustained by a cherished purpose—a purpose of love. He could so calmly endure, He could be so restrainedly patient, because His sufferings were vicarious. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” He so endured in the inspiration of this most loving purpose, “that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness.” All was borne so well in the persuasion of service to others. We have reached at once the point of the example, and the power of the example. That suffering was borne, not for sin; not as accident, or necessity; but in the purpose of redeeming love—love to us. “For love of us He bled, for love of us He died.’ Christly suffering, suffering after the pattern and example of Christ, is vicarious suffering; suffering, not because we ought; not because we must; but suffering endured because we want to serve—and he alone can serve and save his brother who can suffer for him. Let the slave suffer for the Master’s sake. Let us see that if we follow the example of Christ, we present an example to others for Christ; and our suffering may be our bearing of sins, that those whom we love may die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. We shall never suffer well, never suffer after the Christly example, until we rise into a vicariousness of suffering like our Lord’s. When we take up somebody’s burden on our own hearts we can go on to our cross as calmly, as sweetly, as patiently, as Jesus went on to His. Look once again at what alone is Christian suffering—suffering after the example of Christ’s sufferings. You have much to suffer as a consequence and penalty of your sin. Christ never bore any such suffering, for He “did no sin.” You have much suffering to bear from circumstances altogether beyond your control—hereditary disabilities, natural calamities, social distresses, insidious diseases; and in all that natural sphere of suffering your Lord shared with you. But only because He shared with you in being a man. There is nothing specifically Christian in the suffering which belongs to the common human lot. But you have sufferings which come to you for somebody’s sake; which belong to your effort to serve others; which follow upon your whole-hearted purpose to serve Christ, in His purpose to save men. You suffer as mothers suffer for their children’s sake. You suffer as deliverers suffer who rescue the imperilled from flood and fire. You suffer by bearing somebody else’s woes upon your own mind and heart and life. You suffer in absolute loyalty of witness to Him who is for you the king of righteousness. You suffer as the martyr suffers rather than bring dishonour upon the “Name that is above every name.” Then you know what Christian suffering is. You know—and you may recall to mind what you know—that the Christly suffering is suffering innocence, and suffering patience, and suffering love. It is bearing somebody’s sin, or somebody’s woe, or somebody’s recovery, or somebody’s well-being, in your own body, on some tree of agony or shame. It is this: you suffer, because you want somebody to “die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 2:19. Suffering.—St. Peter is writing here to one particular class of Christians—to household slaves. “Slaves,” he begins, “be subject to your masters.” As St. Peter thinks over his Jewish flock of converts, he remembers that multitudes of them are Christian slaves in Pagan households. He teaches that suffering is thankworthy, a gift from God, and acceptable in turn to Him, if it be accompanied by two conditions. 1. It must be understood. 2. The suffering must be for conscience toward God.—This is it which makes pair at once bearable and bracing, when the conscience of the sufferer can ask the perfect Moral Being to take note of it. Mere suffering, which a man dares not offer to God, though borne patiently through “pluck,” as we term it, has no spiritual value. “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” This is the consecration prayer uttered on the cross, uttered, if in other language, wherever men suffer for conscience toward God; and by it suffering is changed into moral victory. There are two questions raised by our text. I. Why did not the apostles denounce slavery as an intolerable wrong?—By advising slaves to honour and obey their owners, they seem to sanction it indirectly. Nothing can well be more antipathetic than the spirit of the gospel and the spirit of slavery. The gospel proclaims the unity of the human race, and the equality of all its members before God. But the business of the apostles lay rather with the other world than with this—with this just so far as it bore upon the other. And the exact question for them to consider was whether slavery ruined the prospects of the human soul. II. Does not the advice of me apostle to submit quietly to wrong destroy manliness and force of character if acted on?—Moral strength, when at its best, is generally passive and unobtrusive. No moral strength ever approached that which was displayed on Calvary, when all that was before Him was present from the first to the mind of the Divine Victim, “who when He was reviled, reviled not again.” III. This truth, announced by St. Peter, is always applicable in every age and country.—Among ourselves there are many who endure grief for conscience toward God. It is no monopoly of any one class. Every rank in society has its petty tyrants. Law can do but little for these sufferers, but religion can do much, by pointing to the Crucified.—Canon Liddon. 1 Peter 2:21. The Imitableness of Christ’s Character.—Christ came to give us a religion. By a wise and beautiful ordination of Providence, he was sent to show forth His religion in Himself. Christianity is not a mere code of laws, nor an abstract system such as theologians frame. It is a living, embodied religion. It comes to us in a human form; it offers itself to our eyes as well as ears; it breathes, it moves in our sight. It is more than precept; it is example and action. The importance of example, who does not understand? And it is impossible to place ourselves under any influence so quickening as the example of Jesus. This introduces us to the highest order of virtues. This is fitted to awaken the whole mind. Nothing has equal power to neutralise the coarse, selfish, and sensual influences amidst which we are plunged, to refine our conception of duty, and to reveal to us the perfection on which our hopes and most strenuous desires should habitually fasten. It is possible, however, so to present the greatness of Jesus as to place Him beyond the reach of our sympathy and imitation. This needs to be carefully dealt with. 1. Real greatness of character, greatness of the highest order, far from being repulsive and discouraging, is singularly accessible and imitable. Greatness of character is a communicable attribute; I should say, singularly communicable. It has nothing exclusive in its nature. I know not in history an individual so easily comprehended as Jesus Christ, for nothing is so intelligible as sincere, disinterested love. I know not any being who is so fitted to take hold on all orders of minds; and accordingly He drew after Him the unenlightened, the publican, and the sinner. It is a sad mistake, then, that Jesus Christ should be presented as too great to allow us to think of intimacy with Him, or to think of making Him our standard. 2. Though so far above us, as at once man, and other than man, Christ is still one of us, and is only an illustration of the capacities which we all possess. All minds are of one family. When we speak of higher orders of beings, of angels and archangels, we are apt to conceive of distinct kinds and races of beings, separated from us and from each other by impassable barriers. But it is not so. There is no such partition in the spiritual world as you see in the material. All minds are essentially of one origin, one nature, kindled from one Divine flame, and all are tending to one centre, one happiness. This truth mingles, unperceived, with all our worship of God, which uniformly takes for granted that He is a mind having thought, affection, and volition, like ourselves. It is also demonstrable from the consideration that Truth, the object and nutriment of mind, is one and immutable, so that the whole family of intelligent beings must have the same views, the same motives, and the same general ends. All souls are one in nature, approach one another, and have grounds and bonds of communion with one another. I am not only one of the human race; I am one of the great intellectual family of God. There is no spirit so exalted, with which I have not common thoughts and feelings. No greatness of a being separates me from him, or makes him unapproachable by me. Christ never holds Himself up as an inimitable and unapproachable being, but directly the reverse. 3. There is one attribute of mind that should particularly animate us to propose to ourselves a sublime standard, as sublime as Jesus Christ. It is the principle of growth in human nature. We were made to grow. Our faculties are germs, and given for expansion, to which nothing authorises us to set bounds. The soul bears the impress of illimitableness, in the thirst, the unquenchable thirst, which it brings with it into being, for a power, knowledge, happiness, which it never gains, and which always carry it forward into futurity. When I consider this principle or capacity of the human soul, I cannot restrain the hope which it awakens. I no longer see aught to prevent our becoming whatever was good and great in Jesus on earth.—W. E. Channing, D.D. Of Patience.—In these words two things appear especially observable: a deity implied (the duty of patience), and a reason expressed, which enforceth the practice of that duty the example of Christ). We shall, using no more preface or circumstance, first briefly, in way of explication and direction, touch the duty itself, then more largely describe and urge the example. The word patience hath, in common usage, a double meaning, taken from the respect it hath unto two sorts of objects, somewhat different. As it respecteth provocations to anger and revenge by injuries or discourtesies, it signifieth a disposition of mind to bear them with charitable meekness; as it relateth to adversities and crosses disposed to us by providence, it importeth a pious undergoing and sustaining them. That both these kinds of patience may here be understood, we may, consulting and considering the context, easily discern: that which immediately precedeth “If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable to God” relateth to good endurance of adversity; that which presently followeth “who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered He threatened not” referreth to meek comporting with provocations: the text therefore, as it looketh backward, doth recommend the patience of adversities; as forward, the patience of contumelies. But seeing both these objects are reducible to one more general, comprising both—that is, things seeming evil to us, or offensive to our sense—we may so explicate the the duty of patience as to include them both. Patience, then, is that virtue which qualifieth us to bear all conditions and all events, by God’s disposal incident to us, with such apprehensions and persuasions of mind, such dispositions and affections of heart, such external deportments and practices of life, as God requireth and good reason directeth. Its nature will, I conceive, be understood best by considering the chief acts which it produceth, and wherein especially the practice thereof consisteth. 1. A thorough persuasion that nothing befals us by fate, or chance, or the mere agency of inferior causes; but that all proceeds from the dispensation, or with the allowance, of God: quotations on this point from holy writ. 2. A firm belief that all occurrences, however adverse and cross to our desires, are consistent with the justice, wisdom, and goodness of God; so that we cannot reasonably complain of them. 3. A full satisfaction of mind, that all, even the most bitter and sad accidents, do by God’s purpose tend and conduce to our good, according to those sacred aphorisms, “Happy is the man whom God correcteth,” etc. 4. An entire submission and resignation of our wills to the will of God, with a suppression of all rebellious sentiments against his providence. 5. Bearing adversities calmly, cheerfully, and courageously, so as not to be discomposed with anger or grief, not to be dejected or disheartened; but to resemble in our disposition of mind the primitive saints, who were as grieved, but always rejoicing, etc. 6. A hopeful confidence in God for the removal or alleviation of our afflictions, and for His gracious aid to support them well, agreeably to Scripture rules and precepts. 7. A willingness to continue, during God’s pleasure, in our afflicted state, without weariness or irksome longings for alteration, according to the wise man’s advice: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, etc. 8. A lowly frame of mind, sensible of our unworthiness and manifold defects; deeply affected with reverence towards the awful majesty of God,” etc. 9. Restraining our tongues from all discontented complaints and murmurings, all profane and harsh expressions, importing displeasure or dissatisfaction in God’s dealings with us, or desperation and distrust in Him. 10. Blessing and praising God (that is, declaring our hearty satisfaction in God’s proceedings with us, acknowledging His wisdom, justice, and goodness therein, expressing a grateful sense thereof, as wholesome and beneficial to us), in conformity to Job, who, on the loss of all his comforts, did thus vent his mind: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 11. Particularly in regard to those, who, by injurious and offensive usage, do provoke us, patience importeth— (1) That we be not hastily, over-easily, not immoderately, not pertinaciously incensed with anger toward them, according to those Divine precepts and aphorisms: “Be slow to wrath.” “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” “Give place to wrath” (that is, remove it). “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” “Cease from anger, let go displeasure, fret not thyself in anywise to do evil.” (2) That we do not in our hearts harbour any ill will, or ill wishes, or ill designs toward them, but that we truly desire their good, and purpose to further it, as we shall have ability and occasion, according to that law (even charged on the Jews), “Thou shalt not bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;” and according to that noble command of our Saviour, “Love your enemies; pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” (3) That in effect we do not execute any revenge, or for requital do any mischief to them, either in word or deed; but for their reproaches exchange blessings (or good words and wishes), for their outrages repay benefits and good turns, according to those evangelical rules: “Do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you.” “Bless them that persecute you; bless and curse not.” “See that none render evil for evil.” “Be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing.” “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.” “Say not, I will do to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.” “Say thou not, I will recompense evil, but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee.” In fine, patience doth include and produce a general meekness and kindness of affection, together with an enlarged sweetness and pleasantness in conversation and carriage toward all men; implying that how hard soever our case, how sorry or sad our condition is, we are not therefore angry with the world, because we do not thrive or flourish in it; that we are not dissatisfied or disgusted with the prosperous estate of other men; that we are not become sullen and froward toward any man, because his fortune excelleth ours, but that rather we do “rejoice with them that rejoice”; we do find complacence and delight in their good success; we borrow satisfaction and pleasure from their enjoyments.—Dr. Isaac Barrow. TO CHAPTER 21 Peter 2:15. Silencing the Foolish.—To a young infidel who was scoffing at Christianity because of the misconduct of its professors, the late Dr. Mason once said, “Did you ever know an uproar to be made because an infidel went astray from the paths of morality?” The infidel admitted that he had not. “Then do you not see,” said Dr. Mason, “that by expecting professors of Christianity to be holy you admit it to be a holy religion, and thus pay it the highest compliment in your power?” The infidel, of course, had no reply to make.1 Peter 2:17. “Honour all Men. Love the Brotherhood.”—When we speak of the larger class, “Honour all men,” it is as if we should say “all waters,” comprehending those that are in the sea, in the earth, and in the air; the salt and the fresh, the pure and the impure; absolutely and universally, all waters. When we speak of the smaller class, “Love the brotherhood,” it is as if we should say “all the clouds.” These are waters, too; these waters were once lying in the sea, and lashing themselves into fury there, or seething, putrifying under the sun in hollows of the earth’s surface; but they have been sublimed thence, they are now in their resurrection state, and all their impurity has been left behind. They are waters still, as completely and perfectly as any that have been left below. But these waters float in the upper air, far above the defilements of the earth and the tumults of the sea. Although they remain essentially of the same nature with that which stagnates cm the earth, or rages in the ocean, they are sustained aloft by the soft, strong grasp of a secret, universal law. No hand is seen to hold them, yet they are held on high. As the clouds which soar in the sky to the universal mass of waters, so are the brotherhood of God’s regenerated children to the whole family of man. Of mankind these brothers are in origin and nature, but they have been drawn out and from the rest by an unseen, omnipotent law. Their nature is the same, and yet it is a new nature. They are men of flesh and blood, but they have been eleyated in stature and purified in character. They are nearer God in place, and liker God in character. They are washed, and justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Besides the command, “Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate,” which they have heard and obeyed, the promise has been fulfilled in them, “Ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”—Rev. William Arnot.1 Peter 2:21. In the Footsteps of Christ.—Many seem to think that to go to Jerusalem and tread literally upon the ground He trod is following the footsteps of Christ; as if one, when showed a tree bearing delicious and wholesome and nourishing fruit, should neglect the fruit and try to feed on the leaves or bark: or as if, when he had received a package of most valuable goods, he should lay them by and make no use of them, but wear with much pride the canvas wrapper in which they were packed up.—Archbishop Whately.Footsteps as a Copy.—He left His footsteps as a copy, so the word in the original imports, to be followed by us. Every step of His is a letter of this copy, and particularly in this point of suffering He wrote us a pure and perfect copy of obedience, in clear and great letters, in His own blood. His whole life is our rule; not, indeed, His miraculous works—His footsteps walking on the sea, and such like—they are net for our following; but His obedience, holiness, meekness, and humility are our copy, which we should continually study.—Leighton,Looking unto Jesus.—The soldier whose officer says not “Go on,” but “Come on,” has tenfold the spirit for entering the battle. The mowers who mow in line have much more heart during the burden and heat of the day when their scythes sweep through the grass, keeping time to the stroke of a fellow-workman in front. Even walking along the roads ourselves, we know that we can walk better and continue longer if we be following some one that is a little way ahead. We have One always to look to, and we can most go out of ourselves when we look at Him.CHAPTER 3 THE SPIRIT IN SOCIAL AND main contention of St. Peter is that the Christian life and obligations are not intended to be, and never should be, made a disturbing force in social and family relations. Our Lord warned His disciples that Christianity would become such a disturber, by reason of the opposition which it would excite; but the disturbing force must never be in the Christian. As much as “lieth in him” he must “follow peace with all men.” Relations to masters and rulers have already been dealt with: the apostle now applies the Christian principles to the more limited, but oftentimes more difficult, spheres and relations of the home.1 Peter 3:1. In subjection.—The apostle is not dealing in a general way with the relations in which wives should stand to husbands. That must always depend on the sentiments and customs of particular ages and nations. St. Peter is giving precise advice to certain persons who were placed in difficult circumstances, and needed apostolic direction. The wives addressed had become Christians, but, in many cases, their husbands had not. The question naturally arose: Was becoming Christian to break, or to spoil, the marriage relation? And the apostle replies, Certainly not. Keep the old relations—of subjection or of equality, whichever they might be—only take care to put the new Christian tone upon them all, and get your power out of the better doing of all marital duties. The same advice is given to husbands. The subjection required is that which, in a natural way, belongs to woman’s dependent, receptive nature. It should never be thought of as a subjection of inferiority. Without the Word.—Direct efforts to teach and influence will often only irritate and provoke resistance. The silent persuasion of a dutiful and gracious behaviour is well-nigh irresistible. “The wife, without setting up for a preacher, ought, by the discreet charm of her piety, to be the great missionary of the faith” (M. Renan).1 Peter 3:2. Behold.—Keep their eyes on. Chaste.—In general sense pure and beautiful, but with a hint of the fear husbands would then have concerning the attendance of wives at the private Christian meetings. About this scandals were very freely raised. Fear.—Of being misunderstood, or of giving the faintest cause for suspicion. Perhaps there is also a hint of woman’s weakness, trepidation from the apprehension of real or imaginary dangers.1 Peter 3:3. Adorning.—Characteristic adorning, as a wife possessing the new spiritual life in Christ. The limitation of the advice to Christian women needs to be constantly kept before us, or the sharp points of the counsels will be missed. Outward adorning.—Care for merely personal appearance. Characteristic of the worldly mind is supreme interest in appearance. A proper concern about dress and manners is quite consistent with supreme concern for the inward things of character. The terms “plaiting,” “wearing,” “putting on,” suggest elaborate processes by which time is wasted.1 Peter 3:4. Hidden man of the heart.—As if there were a spiritual counterpart of the body, and that really called for appropriate dress and decoration. The invisible person. The inner self, which is the true self. Compare St. Paul’s “inward man.” Not corruptible.—Contrast with material things, “which moth and rust doth corrupt.” Meek.—Not self-assertive. Quiet.—Self-controlled. That does not readily give way under provocation.1 Peter 3:5. The holy women.—This appeal would be specially forcible to Jewesses, who regarded Scripture women as models of womanhood, and wifehood, and motherhood. Trusted.—Lit. “hoped”; with special reference to Sarah, who hoped and waited quietly for the fulfilment of the promise made to her.1 Peter 3:6. Daughters.—Compare “children of Abraham,” as those who have Abraham’s faith. “Daughters of Sarah;” those who have Sarah’s spirit of submission and hope. Not afraid.—This clearly has reference to particular conditions of the time; probably to the slanders and persecutions to which the Christians were exposed. Special efforts would be made to frighten the wives into giving up their profession. “Menaces of evil may assail the Christian wife, but let her be calm and confident, and let her pursue the pathway of obedience to the will of God, and the holy courage of Sarah will sustain her amid whatever terrors may arise.”MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 3:1-6 The Message of Christianity to Wives.—To understand what Christianity has done for woman, and especially for woman in marriage relations, it would be necessary to present, with much and careful elaboration, the customs and sentiments, in apostolic times, of different classes of society, in the different nations to which Christianity found entrance. It must, however, suffice to present the distinction between the Eastern and the Western modes of treating woman. In the East woman is almost everywhere an inferior being, a slave and a drudge, kept shut up in private apartments, allowed no freedom, no society, no education. The only exception given in ancient history is that of the Egyptians, whose respect for woman, and recognition of some approach to wifely equality, help to explain the steadiness and the high tone of their civilisation. The Pagans—especially of the Western world—in a way honoured woman, and the Romans secured at once nobility and stability, by cultivating the family virtues. There was indeed a sad side to the Pagan interest in woman, and it has to be kept in view when the apostolic counsels are considered. St. Peter, however, has chiefly in his mind the Jewish Christians who were living among Pagan populations, and might be badly influenced by the tone of Society, and the family customs with which they were surrounded. That woman was honoured and trusted in the Mosaic system is evident from the references and teachings of the Old Testament; and if the relations of a Jew with his wife were such as they should be, Christianity needed to do no more, and it could do no more, than put a new tone upon those relations. Indeed, Christianity needs to be understood as the power that relieves everything good of the pressure of surrounding evil, and puts a new tone and a new force into everything that is right, and wise, and worthy, and beautiful. The point which appears to be before St. Peter’s mind at this time is this: Christianity, as an actual fact, has been found very seriously to disturb existing social relations. Rightly enough; necessarily enough; but still anxiously, and oftentimes as occasioning serious distress. It did actually disturb the marriage relations, more especially in those cases in which the wife became a Christian, and had to find fitting expression for the new Christian spirit in the old Pagan home. St. Peter presents some practical principles. I. Christianity does not break up home relations.—It is a fixed apostolic principle that wherein a man is called, therein he is to abide with God; that is, whatever may be his class relation, and whatever his occupation or business (provided it is honest), when he is converted, he is to remain in it, and find expression for his new Christian life in connection with it. And this principle can be applied to wives. If they are called, being wives, they are to remain in that marital relation, whatever difficulties may gather round them, and find expression for the new Christian life in the associations of their home life. And it would not be difficult for them to do this, if they properly apprehended Christianity as a new life, sanctifying their daily life, and not a more creed to believe, or ritual to observe, or relation to sustain. The difficulty which was felt when Christianity entered the old Pagan homes is felt to-day when Christianity enters the Hindoo home, and becomes a converting and saving power to the women of the homes. For them to be baptized would be for them to be turned out of their homes, and exposed to a life of misery and even shame. For them to remain and force Christian practices upon their households would mean constant conflict and distress for everybody. And it is necessary to see clearly that Christianity never proposes the breaking up of home relations. It would be a new spirit in the heart of a wife, and do its gracious work through the moral influence of a sanctified life. Under no conceivable circumstances is any woman justified in breaking away from her home relations on the ground of her Christianity. Her new life must find its sphere in the old relations. II. Christianity perfects the harmony of the home relations.—It does this in two ways. 1. It is the most efficient power to enable a wife to bear the disabilities and difficulties of her home life. It nourishes just those passive, gentle graces which enable her to bear, and suffer, and endure. And 2. It guides her in the moulding and training of the character of the inmates, so that efficiently, but very unconsciously, she gets them all into harmony. And in her harmonising work she has not only the power of her own cultured character and influence, she has also the Divine power, which she draws down for her help, by her soul-openness and dependence, and by her daily prayer. It must be added that her harmonising work, being moral, cannot be sudden, and is not likely to be apparent to any one. It is the ministry of a life, and it often takes a life. III. Christianity triumphs over the difficulties that arise in the home relations.—We need not think of contentions. Where these are happily unknown, home life has its anxieties. The men are harassed and worried; the members are afflicted. Business cares, bodily diseases, frailties in children’s characters, failure in plans for the children’s well-being, all make varied difficulties. Sincere and earnest Christian feeling in the wife is the great secret of triumph in and over all such things. The ruffled find her at peace; the troubled are sure of her sympathy; the disappointed are cheered by her hopefulness. Her piety helps her to see a bright light in every cloud; her faith enables her to see God ever near, just behind the cloud. IV. Christianity works in homes through its power in personal character.—“The hidden man of the heart:” “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit:” “so long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” It may be true that the supreme power of Christianity in everybody, male and female, is its power in character; but the public activities of men seem to overshadow this truth. We see it quite clearly in woman. Her mission for Christ in the world lies mainly in that influence she can win just by being beautiful in character, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 3:1. The Wife’s Sphere in the Home.—The philosophy of marriage, as our Lord unfolds it, is this: a man and a woman made one all around the circle of their being; married in heart and thought and life; joined in desires and purposes and aims; in affections and interests one. Here is the starting point for the interpretation of the wife’s sphere and duty in the model home. Matthew Henry’s exposition must be quoted once more: “In creating woman”—for she was a new and fresh creation, and the last thing God did create, and hence His masterpiece—“God did not take her out of the head of man to be over him, nor from his feet to be under him, but out of his side to be equal with him, from under his arm to be sheltered and protected by him, and from near his heart to walk in sympathy and helpfulness by his side.” God made for Adam but one Eve, not two, nor ten. Mormonism has no authority from God. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. The union made by ordinance of God cannot be broken by ordinance of man, save by the one exception which Jesus Christ instituted. Hence the part of the wife in the happy home is equal in position and influence to that of the husband, but not the same. Woman is not merely a copy of man—a faded, second impression from the same plate—but another creation, enlarging and enriching life. It brought new and higher elements into the circle of being, adding to life’s joys and possibilities, and making man himself more, through her. The husband and wife are the two halves of one whole, and the whole is designed by God to be greater and better than the sum of the parts. Let her, then, not assume headship, much less lordship, putting on airs as if the Millennium would come when she got her fancied rights. “The wife must see that she reverence her husband.” Neither let her be fretted and chafed by an overbearing man, making her feel that she is an inferior by some jumping-jack of a husband. The Scotch have a proverb, “You may ding the devil into a wife, but you can never ding him out.” The husband and wife are in a true sense one. Whatever is good for him is good for her. Whatever is due from him to her is also equally duo from her to him. They move together. He owes no duty to her that she does not owe to him a counterpart. It is an even thing. What the wife requires of her husband, that let her give to him. She is married “for better or for worse”; let her resolve that it shall be for better. Matches are not made in heaven, and will be for the worse if there be no watchful, patient care to work them out on earth for heaven. It is the duty of the wife to cultivate the practical home-making, God-given gift, keeping her house bright and genial. In a churchyard in England I found this eulogy on a wife’s tablet: “She always made home happy.” Blessed is the home that shelters mutual love: but the ideals must be reduced to reality. Work for the husband is better than worship of him, if the buttons are not sewed on. The word “wife” means a weaver, and “lady” a loaf-giver. She can be no idle dreamer. If, before marriage, the maiden weaves cobwebs of fancy, after marriage she must weave the solid “cloth of gold.” That is an ornament which adorns. She is never so amiable or beautiful as when useful. Spurgeon, a prime minister of England, says: “I have no faith in that woman who talks of grace and glory abroad and uses no soap and water at home.” The wife’s sphere has home for its centre, and its circumference cuts, in its curves, all that is true and beautiful and good. It is not money that makes a happy home. Rich as Vanderbilt, the wife must seek to be an intelligent mistress of the house, with a smile that brightens and a touch that beautifies. Rich or poor, she must know how to guide affairs, and strive for the tact and taste that makes homely duties handsome. “She layeth her hands to the spindle, she clotheth her husband in scarlet.” In the home she may say she rules in queenly fashion: “I am sovereign by the grace of God. My home to me a kingdom is, and to all that enter this realm I will hold out the golden sceptre of blessing.” Marriage, to a woman, is more than a king’s coronation. The wedding ring is as much a symbol of power and influence in the home as the monarch’s signet. “There is great force hidden in a sweet command.” No life can be tame or limited when high aims are followed. The strength of a wife to lift up others in trouble, and hold them to worthy aims, is very great. Let the wife accept that mission cheerfully, if it be assigned to her, and work under pressure and without recognition, long and painfully, if it is called for. The reward is sure. God sees and remembers all. He that seeth in secret shall reward her openly. The pleasant home-making talent of the wife will curb bad temper and evil propensity. Thus, to suppress a moment’s anger may save a week of sorrow. She will strive to preserve all amenities of dress and manner, keeping the home orderly and inviting. Carefulness and courtesy in the home are never lost. Roughness and indifference are never safe, and coarseness breeds contempt. The wise wife will continue to do those things which first won her husband’s love. Treat your husband’s return from business cares with a joyous and smiling welcome, and make the home bright and winsome while he stays. He will stay the longer and be back the sooner. If you pout out, “Oh, you have come at last, have you? You care nothing for me, that is plain! I have no charm, I see, for you any longer,” you are in danger of throwing away the key to his heart. Never do it. He can’t be harassed in business all day and harassed by his wife at night. He will want to go out “to see a man,” or to go to “the post office and just step into the club house.” Peevishness and fault-finding will never do. Study to be a real help-meet to your husband, and never a drag on him—to be one meet to help such a one as he is. Contact with a noble-minded woman is good for any man. There has been a good wife, as a rule, close beside every eminent man. Seldom will a man become any greater than his wife will let him. She must strive to fit herself for his growing fortunes and to rise with him, and be a true helper in all the spheres to which he is called. That is the wife’s sphere, and if she does not keep even with him she will pull him down. A wife that is her husband’s help-meet, growing as he grows, is his best fortune. “Whoso findeth such a wife findeth good. He will not say, ‘I fell in love’; he will say, ‘I rose.’ ” But he will be thoughtfully tender of such a wife, and very careful to put no hindrance in her way. He will lend her every aid in family cares, that they may ascend the hill together. He is the sturdy oak, and she the ivy entwining. He will throw out his strong, protecting arms that she may reach the topmost bough in grace and beauty. Pity for the ivy that will not climb! In order to do this, there must be a life-long assimilation. When husband and wife first come together, they are alike at only a few points, and know really little about each other. They must study each other, and see the faults and virtues of each other, mutually helping and strengthening each other. So will they conform to one another, and grow more and more together, avoiding stirring up the bad in each, and developing the good. We all have our faults. Expect faults, and be not surprised at finding them. It is a great thing to kindly help one to get rid of them and beyond them. Very likely here is where the young wife will have her first cry. She has been such a darling in the home, and such a pet in society; and so long has she had her own way that when her husband gets tired of her egotism and selfishness, and brings her up with a square turn to consider that there are two to be consulted in that firm instead of one, it will overwhelm her. Hasn’t her husband always said that they are one?—“Two hearts with but a single thought!” and has she not been given to think that she is the one! And now, she thinks, he is a monster, and that life is not worth the living. But she is good and true at heart, and will find her head soon, and be a wiser and better wife. She will be married to her husband, after that, at a higher point in her soul. In this way, by self-denial and forbearance, they will, step by step, become truly joined in the nobler ranges, and secure a happy marriage union.—C. L. Goodell, D.D. 1 Peter 3:3-4.—The Higher Life for Woman.—There are two passages, and this is one of them, from which there has been derived by the Puritan and so-called Christian teachers the doctrine that it was wicked for women to wear jewellery and precious stones. They have not been so particular about plaiting the hair that, I know of, although that comes in under condemnation in the same way. Now, the whole point is lost where it is fixed on these things. The point is, that one should not expend the whole of life on making the outside beautiful, but that one should see to it that the inside is adorned also. You are not to cheat the soul of all its gems and virtues for the sake of making yourself attractive exteriorly by adornments of that kind. That is the point, but it has been commuted into a general declaration against ornaments of beauty—whether of the hair, or of the apparel, or of precious stones. Nothing could be farther from the spirit of the text than that. This, we are to bear in mind, is addressed in its original form to Oriental women. They were in the condition mainly that multitudes of men think they ought to be in now. They were stayers at home; they were managers of the household; they received no gifts of education whatever. It was not necessary that a woman should be expensively educated for the sake of making bread or mending stockings, and so they were but little better than slaves of the harem. Even in the very highest point of its splendour there was not in all Athens a single woman who was permitted to be educated, if she wished to have the reputation of virtue. Knowledge with women in Grecian days was a token of impudicity. If a woman meant to live as a courtesan, no pains were spared to educate her in taste, in knowledge, in philosophy, even in statesmanship. Here is the root of the explanation in regard to those dissuasions in the writings of the New Testament, that women should not speak in public. In the corrupt and degraded sentiment of those Oriental ages, for a woman to be able to speak in meeting and to rise to do it, would have fixed upon her the stigma of being common and corrupt. Therefore it was a wise decree of the apostle that, in such an age, and under such public ideas of what was feminine and pure, and what was unfeminine and impure, must be silent. They must conform in the churches to the public sentiment of their time, until Christianity should have changed the times, and rendered possible a larger liberty, felicitous and beneficial. Now, in such a case as that of women, whose desire to please and love of pleasure is strong—not perhaps stronger than in men, but under circumstances in which there were fewer ways of pleasing than men possess—what could they do but make their persons attractive? They were forbidden to make themselves beautiful within, and so they made themselves as beautiful as they could without, with braided hair, with all manner of pearls and precious stones, with all fancifulness and beauty of dress. But St. Peter and St. Paul alike said: “Do not spend yourself on external garnishing; look inward, and cultivate the inward life,” or, as St. Peter here calls it, “the hidden man of the soul.” In short, St. Peter and St. Paul were both in favour of higher education for women. They did not believe that the line of her life should not rise above the bread-trough, or the handling of the instruments by which she was to obtain victory in the industries of life. They believed that a woman should have a higher life, a higher inward development; and should not therefore turn to frivolous pleasures and external beauty.—H. Ward Beecher. TO CHAPTER 31 Peter 3:1. A Wife’s Power to Win.—“As I was conversing,” says a writer in the New York Observer, “with a pious old man, I inquired what were the means of his conversion. For a moment he paused—I perceived I had touched a tender string. Tears gushed from his eyes, while, with deep emotion, he replied: ‘My wife was brought to God some years before myself. I persecuted and abused her because of her religion. She, however, returned nothing but kindness—constantly manifesting an anxiety to promote my comfort and happiness; and it was her amiable conduct when suffering ill-treatment from me that first sent the arrows of conviction to my soul.’ ”1 Peter 3:3. Pride in Dress.—Goldsmith tells of a mandarin who took much pride in appearing with a number of jewels on every part of his robe. He was once accosted by a sly old fellow, who, following him through several streets, bowed often to the ground, and thanked him for his jewels. “What does the man mean? “cried the mandarin. “I never gave you any of my jewels.” “No,” replied the other; “but you have let me look at them, and that is all the use you can make of them yourself. So the only difference between us is, that you have the trouble of watching them; and that is an employment I don’t much desire.” AND NOTES1 Peter 3:7. Knowledge.—With thought and care; trying wisely to meet all circumstances, Giving honour.—In the spirit of Christian meekness and gentleness, which always puts others before self. Weaker vessel.—This is physically true, and it puts woman upon every good man’s consideration. Even the rights of the husband are qualified by Christian gentleness toward the frail and often suffering wife. Heirs together.—The new life and new hope putting a new tenderness into your marital relations. Not hindered.—Cut off, as they would be by one of them praying against the other.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 3:7 The Christian Husband.—The husband is the head of the wife, but not in such sense that she is to be under his feet, to be treated as his servant, or to be deemed his inferior. She is of his bone and of his flesh, and St. Paul therefore said, “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them” (Ephesians 5:25; Colossians 3:19). And here St. Peter is equally express: “Likewise,” or in like manner, “ye husbands, dwelling with the feminine according to knowledge, as with the weaker vessel, giving honour to those who are also fellow-inheritors of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” Such is the true rendering of the apostle’s words. What, then, is required of the husband? I. Consideration.—He is to dwell with his wife according to knowledge, as with the weaker vessel. Both are vessels—clay in the hands of the Potter, Who has formed them for Himself, giving to each the frame best suited for the end He has in view (Jeremiah 18:6; Isaiah 29:16, etc.); but the wife is physically the weaker vessel, and the husband, knowing this, is to treat her in every respect with kind consideration. She is subject to many trials as a mother, to many cares as the mistress of the household, to many diseases peculiar to her sex. Shall all this be forgotten? And shall the often suffering and sorrowful wife have no sympathy, or very little, from him to whom she has a right to look up? God forbid. It is a mistake to suppose that by “the weaker vessel” here it is meant that the wife is always mentally the inferior of the husband. In many qualities of the mind she often far excels him, and there have been, and still are, women whose acquirements in all branches of science and art equalled those of the most eminent men. The society of many a wife is better, in an intellectual point of view, than her husband will meet with away from home; and as for spiritual conversation and Christian fellowship, hers is often not to be surpassed. II. Honour.—Your wives, says the apostle, are fellow-heirs with you of the grace of life. It is here assumed that both are believers, and, if so, both are partakers of the gift of life flowing from the grace of God. Eternal life begins on earth and is consummated in heaven, so that two things are here implied: that the husband and the wife are one in Christ now, and that hereafter their union will continue in a brighter and a happier sphere. Shall they, then, be afraid to converse with one another on the things of God? Shall they have any secrets in reference either to their outer or their inner life? The union that subsists between them is so close and sacred that, as far as possible, their very thoughts should blend; and if any differences of opinion exist, either with regard to their family affairs or in respect to religious views, they should try to remove them as soon as possible, or should bear with one another in reference to them with all charity and love. Specially should they honour one another; and the husband who has a Christian wife should never for one moment fail to see in her one who, equally with himself, bears the signature and stamp of heaven. III. The apostle adds a special reason for all this.—“That your prayers be not hindered.” He assumes that the husband and the wife do pray; that they pray not merely for one another, but with one another; not merely at the domestic altar, but together, when no one else is near. It is said of Philip Henry that he and his wife constantly prayed together morning and evening, and from his own experience of the benefit of the practice he recommended it to all his Christian friends. That your prayers be not hindered, love one another with a pure heart, fervently, with that love which is essential to the happiness of married life (from Thornley Smith). The three points in relation to the Christian husband which this passage suggests are: 1. His authority, implied in his superiority of physical strength, and in that rule, in the ordering of life-relations, which is implied in “dwelling with them according to knowledge.” 2. His considerateness. Putting her interest before his own. Giving her all honour. 3. His religious helpfulness. The activity and energy, which are manly characteristics, finding expression in the shaping of the religious customs of the home. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 3:7. Honour to the Weaker Vessel.—Read, “as with a weaker vessel, with what is female.” This explains the saying, “according to knowledge.” The thing which the husband is specially to understand, and take into account, is that he is dealing with a thing less strong than himself. The whole of chivalry is in these words, and St. Peter, next after Christ, may be considered the founder of it. Weakness itself, by being weakness, has a claim upon the strong man’s deference and self-submission. The weakness here ascribed to the female sex is primarily that of the body, though it may, perhaps, indicate frailty in other respects as well. If the word “vessel” is to be here a description of a “wife,” as some contend on 1 Thessalonians 4:4, in a sense in which it does not equally describe a husband, it is difficult to see with what the vessel is compared and pronounced weaker. “Dwell with the female as with a more delicate vessel or instrument”—than what? If we answer, “than yourselves,” it becomes clear that the husbands are, by implication, less delicate vessels. And this is the case. In 1 Thessalonians 4:4 the word “vessel” (whether as receptacle or as instrument) is a description of the body, or rather of the self as manifested in the body. The word in itself may be used to describe anything made to be serviceable—machinery, tackle and gear, pots and pans, and, in fact, any kind of apparatus or implement; and here it might be very fairly rendered, “as with a weaker thing or object.” That which is translated “the wife” is really a neuter adjective, and it is a question whether we are to supply with it the noun “vessel”—“with the female as with a vessel which is weaker”—or whether it is to stand absolutely, “the female,” as we say “the good,” “the evil,” i.e. “that which is female.” The latter seems, on the whole, simpler and more forcible, as calling closer attention to the fact of weakness being inherent in the sex.—A. J. Mason, M.A. The Husband’s Sphere in the Home.—The true home is the brightest spot since the Garden of Eden; but it does not make itself, or come by chance. In building a glad and happy household, each one has a part to perform, and God’s choicest blessing comes only when all the members stand in their place and do their duty. The happy home grows out of a union of hearts and hands toward one cherished end. One person alone may do much, but no one can do all that is required. The best is only when there is sympathetic and harmonious blending together, like the different parts of music. When either part fails, there is discord and loss. Complete concert of action between husband and wife is a necessity in any well-ordered home. Perfect confidence and affection must exist between them. To draw apart, tears. To make the home the happiest and most helpful place in the world, each must give the best to it. Not to society, not to business, not to outside intimates, but to the family circle, must the choicest gleanings be brought from all the fields of life, as the bee brings to his hive, and not elsewhere, honey from all the sweetest flowers. The husband has an important sphere. The more he gives to the home, the more it will give to him. The more he is to it, the more it will be to him and to the world. His dividend will be in proportion to his investment. Some complain that their home joys are meagre. Let them remember how mean and beggarly are their contributions. They cannot reap where they do not sow. If they will, they can make the home a source of perennial comfort to themselves, and the means of blessing to many. It should be a bright beacon in this world’s night. The word “husband” means a house-band; a band of strength around the home, upholding, protecting, and keeping it together. The home was the first institution God made. The germs of the State and the Church are in it. The husband, as the head of the home, stands at the beginning of all the worthiest elements of Society. In the household he plants the seeds of religion for the Church, and of authority for the State. The family is the spring-head of the nation, the source of its purest spiritual and civil life. It is plain what manner of man the husband ought to be. The husband in the model home must love his wife. St. Paul says, “Husbands love your wives, and be not bitter against them.” These are strong words—Bible words. The Bible is the marriage ring. Marriage begins in love. It must continue and end there. The husband must see that the early, tender affection never fails; that the gentle tone of life’s morning does not grow harsh. He must love the wife down through old age, and on through fading youthful beauty, to the sunset years, with a love that makes wrinkles beautiful, and infirmities seem precious. Tell her how much you love her still. Tell it more and more, as the years go on. Never allow the white roses of affection to fade on your lips, and your mouth to grow dumb. A cold silence is a mildew. Some wives would be surprised to hear expressions of endearment from their husbands now. All that ceased long, long ago. Let the husband show his love by his presence, not leaving her, and deserting the home the long evening through, when he can help it. Let the husband cherish his wife, and appreciate what she does, causing her to feel that he sees and esteems her service. Let little attentions never cease, nor delicate thoughtfulness for her welfare. Let the husband shelter his wife under his strong arm, and smooth her path. Let him protect her and stand by her in her cares and trials, and know that she will never look to him in vain. Let him provide for her reasonable wants, that she come not into embarrassment, and feel that he demeans her. Ill temper and hasty words on his part—these are not for the happy home. Some seem to be more considerate of their horse and dog than of their wives, but many a husband is a mule. The true husband will be mindful of his wife’s good, and not indifferent to her, for in his smile she lives, and in his frown is chill. A husband’s love is the sunshine of the wife. It brings out her beauty of soul, as a spring morning opens the flowers, and sustains her in her deeper needs. Selfishness and disregard to the interests and happiness of the wife, planting one’s own self in the centre, and absorbing every good thing in one’s own greed, the wife drudging and denying herself for her husband, as the slave for his lord—running to serve his every whim;—this is not found on heathen ground alone. There are home heathens. Genuine love casts out selfishness, and ennobles the heart. It makes it generous and self-denying for all others’ sakes. Husbands, love your wives. These are some of the benefits that flow out of domestic love, and in proportion as this love ceases these benefits fail. What if love has ceased already? Do these things and it will come back, as the seeds begin to open when the spring sun shines again. Let the husband honour his wife. Peter says, “Ye husbands, give honour unto the wife, as being joint heirs of the grace of life.” Honour her by caring for her needs. In the hard places of life, stand by her side, and give her true sympathy. When children are ill, and burdens press, let her feel that she has a stronghold in you, and give her your comfort. Because she is your wife, you owe her what, without you, she can never have. Bland and polite as treacle some are to guests and outsiders, while in their homes they are domineering and exacting, finding fault with the wife, and criticising her before the children, blaming her for the mishaps, with seldom a kind word. “Oh, it is only my wife!” This is the gilt edge of married life, in a guilty age. Do you say you have no time for all these trifles? In the perfect home there are no trifles. “It is trifles that make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.” Honour her by sharing your joys with her, as she shares all your cares, taking on herself in the family the heaviest part. Allow her to be with you when she can, to go with you when she may, and to enter into your life. Do not add to her crosses by leaving her to doubt you. Do not lay up food for sad reflection when death comes, and plant thorns in your pillow against that hour. The time to love, honour, and help her, is when these things are needed. When death has entered, and plucked the lilies from her cheek, it will be too late then to lighten her lot, or speak her praises. Honour her by taking her into counsel with you. She will be wise with a true woman’s wisdom. Insight and intuition are her gift, and she will give her husband her best thought, and be happy that it is sought. In all the affairs of life, a true woman’s judgment has its uses. Many a man has failed for want of it. The counsel at his elbow would have saved him had he sought it. Thus honouring her, she will be made strong. Then, if he takes her into counsel, and honours her in his successes, when failures and reverses come, and trouble and misfortune sweep over them, as they do sometimes over the best and most prosperous, she will, in turn, grandly stand by him and become his polar star, enduring every hardship for his sake with sweet and abiding cheerfulness and courage, never breathing a murmur of complaint. Be worthy of her, and you will find she will be worthy of you. Your lives will develop together. Let the husband be faithful and true to his wife. The evils that I have been speaking of are the little foxes that spoil the vines. But intemperance and infidelity are what Dr. Abbott calls the wolves that destroy the home. The Lord Bishop of Durham founded the White Cross League. It asserts that the time will come when fatherhood will take its place beside motherhood, its Divine counterpart, as equal sharers in the cares which have so ennobled women as to make some of them akin to angels. The pledge of this order declares: “I will maintain the law of purity as equally binding on men and women. I will endeavour to spread these principles among my companions, and try to help my younger brothers. I will use every means to fulfil the sacred command, ‘Keep thyself pure.’ ” If the wife be led into sin, she is denounced and cast off as a thing unclean, with little effort for her reform; yet through all the husband’s excesses and untruth to her, and drunkenness and dishonour, she clings to him, pleading and toiling to draw him back into the true path. How the husband owes it to such a being to keep his marriage vows in all fidelity and truth! I have spoken of the little foxes and the wolves of the home. The vampire of wedded life is where an alien comes in between husband and wife, under sanction and authority of the husband, and frets, almost to breaking, the marriage tie, and sucks out the pure joys of connubial life. Every husband should be a Christian in heart and life, and unite with the wife in faith and prayer and the service of God. He should join with her in the training of the children for usefulness here and for heaven hereafter. The husband should not let the wife pray alone. The whole household needs it. He should not allow her to go alone to church. He requires it as much as she. He should be with her at the communion table. Above all, he should not leave to her the Christian education of the children. Alone in this, the wife is a bird with one wing. It is a great wrong to the wife, to put all these trying and difficult duties on her, when God lays them equally on him. Some of the most important ones can only be done by him. Others require their united Christian effort, the closest conference of Christian hearts. A married couple can never be truly one, in the greatest and profoundest interests of life, until both are Christians. The most sacred and blessed side of the soul, that bordering on eternity, they cannot walk together in, until they together know the Lord. How many times does a mother’s heart ache for the aid a Christian father could give to her, when perplexed in the household, when things are at cross purposes, and the load seems heavier than she can bear! How barren, after all, is wedded joy, to live together on earth, and for earth only, without the bright hope of dwelling together in eternity, meeting there, never more to part! That home cannot be happiest which looks for no reunion in heaven. The happiest home is always the Christian home, where husband and wife are one at the family altar, as one in interests and affection.—C. L. Goodell, D.D. AND NOTES1 Peter 3:8. Of one mind.—One aim and purpose. This is possible when all seek the honour of Christ; impossible when each seeks his own honour. Love as brethren.—Or “loving the brethren.” Pitiful—Towards each other’s frailties. “Good-hearted,” “sweet-spirited.” Courteous.—Having a considerate tone on all your intercourse. Recognising the spiritual equality which underlies all distinctions of rich and poor, master and servant. The Christian gentleman is gentle with every one.1 Peter 3:9. Should inherit.—“In order that ye might. “Because we are ourselves so blessed we may well become agents in imparting blessing.1 Peter 3:11. Eschew.—Put away as offensive to him (see Psalms 34:12-16.). Ensue.—A word not now used in this form. We now use “pursue.”1 Peter 3:13. Followers.—Imitators. Batter MSS. give “be zealous for.”MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 3:8-13 Christ-like-mindedness.—If such a term can be permitted, it may be regarded as the key-word of this paragraph. St. Peter would have those who live and worship together in the name of Christ, unanimous. The Greek word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, but the duty is often enjoined (Romans 12:16; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 2:2). It involves an agreement, not only in doctrine but also in practical aims. “Oneness of mind,” what is meant by it? How can we promote it? 1. By having compassion one of another, or sympathising in one another’s weal or woe, weeping with those who weep, and rejoicing with those who rejoice. 2. By loving one another, as brethren in Christ, truly and fervently. 3. By being pitiful, literally of strong bowels, like our Father in heaven, whose bowels yearn with tenderness towards His children, erring and wayward though they are. 4. By being courteous, humble-minded towards every one, and kind in thought and deed. This courteousness implies a sweet and gentle disposition, which displays itself in genuine regard to all around us, deeming every man worthy of respect and honour, however humble his station in life” (T.S.). Where this lowliness of mind exists, there will be found unanimity ὁμόφρονες, sympathy συμπαθεῖς, love, erga sanctos, φιλάδελφοι, compassion, erga afflictos, εὔσπλαγχοι. The teaching of this paragraph may be presented in three closely related divisions. I. Like-mindedness is a state of thought and feeling.—It must be a feature of the Christian life, or it never can find expression in the Christian conduct or in the Christian relations. The associations of the Christian are no mere arrangement of things upon intellectual decisions, or resolves of will. They are shaped and toned by what he is in spirit and character. So the culture of himself and the mastery of life are closely connected. Power in life follows power gained over self. The features of character which make this like-mindedness easy are sometimes merely parts of the natural disposition. Some people seem to be born amiable, and so are easy to live with. But perhaps for most people the conditions of like-mindedness are things to win. Not that they ever can be won by forcing the conduct into any particular moulds. They can only be won by tempering the heart and the thought and the feeling to a particular frame—the Christ-like frame. And that can only be done by the soul’s keeping in constant and sensitive relations with the living Christ Himself, and so changing into His image. They can be like-minded with their fellow-Christians who can say, “We have the mind of Christ.” II. Like-mindedness works out into practical expression.—How it does in the Church relations, and the social relations, may be illustrated by its working in the family relations. Let husband and wife be of one mind, and all the things of everyday life in the home are smoothed, and shaped, and ordered; difficulties are mastered; differing tempers are harmonised; and each member is helped to forget his own things for the sake of the things of others. In the Church let there but be like-mindedness in the supreme desire for the glory of Christ, and the practical relations will surely be rightly toned, and the difficulties, that must arise in all frail human fellowships, will be easily over-mastered. The quotation in the paragraph illustrates how practical are the ways of the right-minded, Christ-minded man. III. Like-mindedness, working out thus practically, gives a man the very best security in life.—For nobody wants to hurt the really good, kind man, who is always ready to serve others, and does it evidently in the inspiration of that highest of all persuasions, the constraining love of Christ. To injure such a good, kind, Christly man is to injure ourselves. To kill him is to deprive ourselves and others of his sweet ministry of blessing. Who would ever think of such a thing as injuring Elizabeth Fry or Florence Nightingale? “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). And the security is also guaranteed by Him whom the right-minded man serves. He is God’s servant, and God takes care of His servants. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 3:8.—The True Gentleman.—“Be courteous.” It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. He carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the mind of those with whom he is cast—all clashing of opinion or collision of feeling, all restraint or suspicion or gloom or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful toward the absurd. He can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favours when he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no care for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantages, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, “that we should ever conduct ourselves toward our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.” He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults. He is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing and resigned on philosophic principles; he submits to pain because it is inevitable, to bereavement because it is irreparable, and to death because it is his destiny.—Cardinal Newman. Courteousness.—This courteousness implies a sweet and gentle disposition, which displays itself, not in outward acts and formal manners, such as the fashionable world calls courteousness—the politeness and civility that courtiers practise—but in genuine regard to all around us, deeming every man worthy of respect and honour, however humble his station in life. The courteous man is affable, friendly minded, always trying to please others; and such a man will attract even those who are otherwise, as sweet music attracts the ear, or lovely flowers the eye. Courteousness is a magnet which draws all men to itself, and binds them together like a threefold cord. Some men possess it naturally, or by their training and education, whilst others are rough and uncouth in manner, and it is difficult for them to speak in gentle tones. But Christianity can polish the most unshapely diamond, and it almost invariably makes even the country peasant a true gentleman, however lowly his position, or however poor his garb.—Thornley Smith. 1 Peter 3:10-11. The Way to Secure Good Days. It is, on the whole, a healthy characteristic of our times, that men are asking what practical power Christianity can exert on human lives, and on Society. The religion of Jesus Christ is being judged by what it can do. But Holy Scripture throughout is mainly concerned with character and conduct. The examples of good men set before us in Scripture are not examples of men of excellent sentiments or opinions merely; they are examples of practically good men. The prophets are ever calling men back to God, and to practical goodness. Our Lord was the most practical of preachers, and even poured scorn on profession that had no fitting accompaniment in character and conduct. Apostles are never unmindful of the practical applications of the truths they proclaim. Religion that is unpractical has no sort of commendation in God’s Word. The spirit of the older age associated long and healthy life with moral goodness, and even regarded it as the Divine reward of such goodness. The apostles do not try to take the details of conduct into their control. They implant principles, and they present models and ideals, leaving these to exert their own influence. The text is a characteristic apostolic counsel, though the form of it is taken from one of the earlier psalms. It brings before us a reasonable desire, and reminds us how that desire may be attained. I. A reasonable desire.—“He that will love life, and see good days.” The love of life and desire to prolonged are quite natural. Life is God’s best gift to us, and it ought to be counted as our chief treasure. The love of life is the basis of Society; the secret of man’s right relations with his brother. For his jealousy in guarding the treasure of his own life makes him careful to preserve the treasure of life for his brother. It may be thought that the supreme interest which the Christian has in the life to come ought to make him indifferent to the continuance of the life that is. But that notion belongs to extravagant sentiment, and has no countenance in Bible teachings. Every one of us ought to try to live here on earth, keeping up our loving service to our Divine Lord, just as long as ever we can. And the restfulness and peace which piety brings ought to be important aids towards the prolongation of life. But St. Peter uses another expression for the befitting Christian desire. A man should hope for good days; days filled up with goodness, in the sense of good doings, and consequent good enjoyings. II. This reasonable desire attained.—The apostle lays down three conditions, and they are all thoroughly practical: all proved to be essential, as he declares them to be, by the experience of earnest men through all the ages. 1. He who would have good days will have to rule his speech. And his chief work will be restraining, holding back, keeping silence. Readiness to talk is the constant temptation. The most difficult of virtues, for most men, is “not answering again.” If we would see how this ruling of our speech stands related to “seeing good days,” let us think how many of the misunderstandings, and separations, and troubles, and wrongs of our lives have come out of hasty, unwise, unkind, impure speeches. Let us think how often we have spoiled the happiness of others, and broken up our own peace, by the utterance of foolish and unworthy words. 2. He who would have good days will have to order his conduct. That involves work of two kinds, each closely related to the other. As soon as we take our life into our hands, and resolve to got it into fair and good shape, we find there is much to get away, to cut off, to pluck out, to put from us. The attaining of good ever goes along with the clearing out of evil. And this makes the moral conflict of our lives. But the putting away of evil must be accompanied with strong feelings of repulsion towards it. The good man finds sin unpleasant in his mouth, and would fain be quit of it. He eschews evil. But our Lord taught that the house was in peril if the evil spirit were only driven out, and the house left “empty, swept, and garnished.” We must be doing good, seeking good, filling up our lives with good; filling them so full that evil cannot even squeeze in edgeways. Activity in goodness is our safeguard. 3. He who would have good days will have to tone his relationships. By peace we must understand peaceableness, the spirit of the peace-maker; gentle, considerate, charitable. The Christ-tone should be on all our intercourse, and on all our relations. And that Tightness, that gentleness, that graciousness, will mightily help to prolong our life, and bring round to us, over and over again, good days. 1 Peter 3:13. The Safety of the Good.—The Jews of the Dispersion found it very difficult to live Christian lives in the midst of heathen associations. Silvanus had come to St. Peter bringing tidings of exposure to a fiery trial of persecution. They were accused of being evil-doers, preaching revolutionary doctrines. The very name of, “Christian” exposed them to odium and outrage. St. Peter felt that he could not withhold his words of comfort and counsel from those who were thus suffering. After cheering them, by reminding them of their noble standing and high privilege in Christ Jesus, he tells them that their daily lives, in all their relationships, whether as slaves under masters or as citizens under rulers, should be such as to refute all slanders. “In all their sufferings they should follow in the footsteps of the patience and meekness of Christ,” their very submission and gentleness disarming all opposition. For all this there were the broad rules of holy living, such as Christ had taught; and those who lived according to these rules may surely trust in God’s protection. They know how to defend themselves, but their best defence will be the silent witness of their lives. I. Who may be called a “follower of the good”? What St. Peter understood by “the good” is indicated in 1 Peter 3:10-11. The good is always close kin with the “kind.” It means the gracious and kindly deed, and the love of peace. The follower of the good is— 1. One who can discern the good. When a man is “born again,” regenerate in the power of the Holy Ghost, one of the best signs of the change, and one of the best expressions of the new life, is quick discernment of anything and everything that is good. It is as if the magnet were charged with the Divine loadstone of Him who is good, and consequently found out, and drew to itself, the iron of goodness everywhere. We must have lost our proper sensitiveness as Christians if we find ourselves uncertain whether things offered to our thought, or to our enjoyment, are good or evil. We should discern the good. 2. One who chooses the good. The will and the effect must follow on the sensibility and the discernment. The Latin motto is, “I approve the better course, but I follow the worse.” But that is the un-Christian example. If we know good, we must do the good we know. If we see the good, we must follow it wheresoever it may lead. The Divine regeneration strengthens the will for the choosing and steadily working out of the good. 3. One who recognises the activity of good. The righteous are those who have goodness enough in themselves to oppose evil, and try to make other people good, and so win God His triumph. Passive goodness is but a poor, frail, sickly thing, if indeed there is such a thing. You must be good, in order that you may do good. The term “followers” implies “zealous for.” Every Christly person should be a “zealot” for the good. Goodness a holy passion with him; he living to get it enthroned everywhere. II. How may harm come to the followers of the good?—“Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.” St. Peter had chiefly in mind outward and temporal troubles, the spoiling of the Christian’s goods, the slander heaped on the Christian’s name, the peril of the Christian’s life. Men could harm the Christian’s body; they could hinder the Christian’s work; they could damage the Christian’s reputation. But all these are external to the man, they do not harm the man. Stone walls cannot imprison souls and keep them from their communion with God. Persecutions do not destroy faith. Martyrdom cannot touch the eternal life in Christ Jesus. Though we are not exposed to the perils of the early Christians, none of us fail to need St. Peter’s encouragement. 1. Some harm will come from the relics of personal frailty. There are bodily tendencies, inclinations, and passions, ever ready to do us harm. 2. The earnest Christian must take his share of the common evils that belong to human circumstances. 3. He must even take into account the harm that the foes of goodness may devise against him. These take varying shape for each age. Let men speak evil of us; let men set snares for our feet; let men persecute us according to the fashion of their times; it really does not much matter. Plato, being told that he had many enemies who spoke ill of him, replied, “It is no matter; I will live so that none shall believe them.” Goodness is an ever-triumphing power over all harm. Goodness can disarm persecutors. Goodness can shield from persecutors. Goodness outlasts the persecutors. Goodness can even get itself better through the persecutions. The Safe Conduct.—Detail as to Christian conduct forms a feature in the epistles which renders them exceedingly valuable to the Church. They contain specific directions for particular circumstances, and encouragement for moments of trial. St. Peter, in this chapter, deals with the duties imposed by marriage, and also with those inspired by Christian fellowship. He instructs us as to our conduct before the world. Moral courage is an essential element in that conduct (1 Peter 3:14-15). The hallowed presence of God in thought strengthens the Christian in every good purpose. We are strong to resist temptation, to bear trial, and to confront our adversari’s, when God is enthroned in our affection. I. To follow that which is good is to excite opposition.—“And who is he that will harm you?” Our persons, our characters, our families, and our worldly affairs, will be attacked. The lion is quiet enough in his den until he hears the footstep of the hunter. It is the tread of virtue in your life that rouses the anger of your enemy. Calmly reflect on the fact that what we must expect from a sinful world is opposition. If this fact is not borne in mind, especially by young Christians, a bitter disappointment will be experienced. The young heart, which has been born again, finds the world all changed. There is a frown where used to be a smile, a repulse where used to be a welcome, and a sharp cut where used to be a healing balm. That tender heart overlooks the fact that the change has taken place in itself, and not in the ungodly surroundings. If we change our front, how can we expect our old companions in sin to countenance us? Think of the accusations we bring against them. We tell them, by our conduct, that they are offenders against man and God, and that they deserve eternal wrath. Is it a wonder, therefore, that their anger should be kindled against us? When the commandment entered, sin revived, and St. Paul experienced a mortal struggle. We have felt the same. If the light of truth encountered such bitter opposition in our own heart, how much more so in the wide world? The Christian character is itself in active opposition to sin. There is a wide difference between the two opposites—the believer carries on a war with the enemy of the unbeliever for his own benefit, but the unbeliever wars against the friend of the believer to his intended hurt. We say intended hurt, because it is impossible to damage light. You may exclude it, but harm it you cannot. Truth, honesty, kindness, love, self-sacrifice, and the fear of God, no one can tarnish. Therefore, let not the good which is in us suffer on account of crooked following, but let our course be straight and thorough, that our very presence may excite the envy, malice, hatred, and destructiveness of the evil heart. II. To follow that which is good is to cultivate the noblest virtues.—St Peter in the second epistle, says, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord, according as His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust” (1 Peter 1:2-4). “Partakers of the Divine nature,” is an expression akin to that used by the apostle St. John: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The “new creature in Christ Jesus,” of St. Paul, and “of His own will begat He us with the word of truth,” spoken by St. James, echo the Master’s teaching to Nicodemus concerning the new birth: “Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” If such a tree be planted in the human heart, the result cannot otherwise be than the fruit of the Spirit—“love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” The tendrils of the Divine life in man stretch onward in the path of the goodness of God. The safety of the Christian character consists as much in the course it follows as in the overruling hand of God. That course is one of expansion of thought, communion with God, goodwill towards men, and a supreme effort to benefit all mankind by the dissemination of Divine truth. There is but one path to growth and strength before the new-born child. The germs of thought, of emotion, of moral obligation, and of life generally, will only thrive in the good soil adapted to their growth. Give the child wholesome food, fresh air, education, exercise, and exemplary society, and the attributes of manhood will develop and advance towards their final stages. The new man, created in Christ Jesus, in like manner, by following that which is good advances towards the enlargement of its capacities and the perfection of its being. The one path to eternal life yields the fruit of holiness, and imparts the strength necessary to pass over the ground. Therefore we advance in our faith from the bare fact that man cannot harm us, to the second great truth—viz., that the course of virtue affords nourishment for the spiritual man. By doing the right we gain strength, and become more valiant. Prayer to God, justice and mercy to man, and the general conformity to the will of the good God which the gospel prescribes, enlarge our capacity of resistance to evil. To follow that which is good is to “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” III. To follow that which is good ensures the Divine approval.—“If God be for us, who can be against us?” The history of the Church shows that “The chariot of God’s providence runneth not on broken wheels,” as the immortal Rutherford used to say. “Every movement is sure, and every turn of the wheel of Providence secures the good of the Christian. If God smiles upon us, what matters it who may frown?” “Do right. And thou hast nought to fear;Right hath a power to make thee strong:The night is dark, but light is near;The grief is short, the joy is long.”The power of right no one can describe. Government, the universe, yea, the throne of God, rests upon it. It has never yet suffered defeat. Sometimes its vindication has tarried long, but not for ever. Clouds cannot impede the course of the sun, although they may hide it from our view. So the chariot of justice cannot be delayed by wicked men. The power of goodness, we would almost say, is still greater. Every thought, word, and deed, which is prompted by eternal love, must travel on to its goal. There is a charm as well as power in doing good. You remember the line of Goldsmith— “And learn the luxury of doing good.”It must be done without pomp or desire of glory, as Pope puts it:— “Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”Furthermore, there is a sense of safety in doing good. We are never stronger than when we are conscious of following God as dear children in the matter of walking in love. Fountain has given us two beautiful lines on this.— “Happy were men if they but understoodThere is no safety but in doing good.”There is One who was called “Good Master.” He is the Fountain of Good, the Inspirer of Good, and the Giver of Good. He only can make us good. Unless we are made good we cannot seek it. The great secret of following in a good course is the good heart which the blessed Saviour gives. In the path of virtue, truth, and mercy, there is “a good hope through grace.” The greater brightness is at the farther end of the good way. Although there is a dark valley to cross, yet we shall fear no evil, for the Good Shepherd will be with us, to safely conduct us into His eternal fold.—Weekly Pulpit. Be Zealous.—The better MSS. give the word (zelτtai) which is commonly rendered “zealous for,” as in Acts 21:20; Acts 22:3. As a word in frequent use among devout Jews (as, e.g., in the name of the apostle Simon Zelotes), it has a special force as addressed to the Church of the Circumcision. “Be zealous,” he seems to say to them, “not as Pharisees and scribes are zealous, as you yourselves were wont to be, for the Law as a moral and ceremonial code, but for that which is absolutely good.”—Dean Plumptre. TO CHAPTER 31 Peter 3:8. Courtesy.—The Queen, accompanied by Lady Agnes Duff, was once visiting the fine falls of Corriemulzie. In crossing the high road, which runs between the cottage grounds and the site of the Falls, the party met a drove of cattle coming from the Castleton market. The drover, a fine-looking man from Atholl, addressing Lady Agnes, said, “Please, can you tell me if the Queen is forward to-night?” Her Majesty overheard the question, turned round, and bestowed on the stalwart Highlander a most gracious bow and smile. Sir George Grey then fell back, and told him that it was the Queen who thus bowed to him.Civility.—When old Zachariah Fox, the great merchant of Liverpool, was asked by what means he had contrived to realise so large a fortune as he possessed, his reply was, “Friend, by one article alone, in which thou mayest deal too if thou pleasest—civility.”Triumphing over Calumniators.—“If any one speaks ill of thee,” said Epictetus, “consider whether he has truth on his side; and if so, reform thyself, that his censures may not affect thee.” When Anaximander was told that the very boys laughed at his singing, “Ay,” said he, “then I must learn to sing better.” Plato, being told that he had many enemies who spoke ill of him, “It is no matter,” said he; “I will live so that none shall believe them.” Hearing at another time that an intimate friend of his had spoken detractingly of him, “I am sure he would not do it,” said he, “if he had not some reason for it.” This is the surest as well as the noblest way of drawing the sting out of a reproach, and the true method of preparing a man for that great and only relief against the pains of calumny—a good conscience.Suffering with Christ,—Wouldst thou inherit life with Christ on high?Then count the cost, and knowThat here on earth belowThou needs must suffer with thy Lord, and die.We reach that gain to which all else is loss But through the cross.Oh I think what sorrows Christ Himself has known;The scorn and anguish sore,The bitter death He bore,Ere He ascended to His heavenly throne;And deemest thou thou canst with right complain,Whate’er thy pain?Not e’en the sharpest sorrows we can feel,Nor keenest-pangs, we dareWith that great bliss compare,When God His glory shall in us reveal;That shall endure when our brief woes are o’erFor evermore! Simon Dach, 1640. AND NOTES1 Peter 3:15. Lord God.—Probably better, “Lord Christ.” “To sanctify Christ or God was to count His name as holy above all other names, His fear as the only fear which men ought to cherish, and therefore as the safeguard against all undue fear of men.”1 Peter 3:17. Suffer for well-doing.—Notice how prominent this idea is in the epistle. There must have been some precise circumstances to which the advice bore direct relation.1 Peter 3:18-22. This passage is fully treated in the Homiletic Notes. Here only certain meanings of terms need be dealt with.1 Peter 3:18. Read “Christ also suffered,” not “hath suffered.” For the unjust.—“OR behalf of,” not “in the place of.” Spirit.—Refers, not to the Holy Spirit, but to Christ’s own spirit. He became alive again in a spiritual sense.1 Peter 3:19. For “by which” read “in which.” In His spiritual, as distinct from His fleshly life. Spirits in prison.—Now in prism, because they were disobedient to the message of the spiritual Christ delivered by Noah. It makes no point in St. Peter’s persuasion against failing from the Christian profession if we think of Christ going to preach in Hades. The disobedient antediluvians are a warning example, and the salvation of obedient Noah is an inspiring example.1 Peter 3:21. Which also.—R.V., which water of the Flood, represented in baptism. Like figure.—“After a true likeness.” The apostolic use of Old Testament Scripture is very different to that of modern times.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 3:14-22 Power Gained through Suffering for Well-doing.—In order to understand, and to feel the force of, the points made in St. Peter’s epistle, it must be kept in mind that he wrote to persons who were placed in circumstances of disability, and even exposed to suffering and persecution, on account of their faith in Jesus as Messiah and Saviour, and on account of the Christian lives they were living. The great purpose of the apostle is to afford them consolation, and to strengthen them to bear and persevere. The most difficult passage now before us is greatly relieved of its difficulty when we clearly see that its object is not, primarily, any doctrinal teaching, but comforting, assuring, moral strengthening; and that its characteristic is rather illustration and persuasion than any forth-setting of doctrinal truths. The distinction we fully recognise in our own pulpit-work. Sometimes we are teachers, but sometimes we are preachers, persuaders, comforters; we illustrate and impress known truths; we show the relation known truth bears to existing conditions of difficulty and trial. St. Peter here is reminding the disciples of what they knew, rather than unfolding anything new to them. In the paragraph we may find— I. A possibility.—“But and if ye should suffer for righteousness’ sake.” It is but as a possibility for all; it was a realised fact for some. But when men are brought into suffering, their first idea is that there must be some wrong of which it is the punishment. The friends of Job, in trying to convict him of sin, do but represent the commonplace first explanation of all suffering. What we have to admit is, that a man may suffer who is righteous, and may even have to suffer because of his righteousness. That, indeed, is the fact for all ages, but it is the fact which comes out most clearly in these Christian times, because it is the fact so sublimely exhibited in the representative man, Christ Jesus; who “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.” This is surely a suggestive ground of consolation to the afflicted and persecuted. There is at least the possibility that they are suffering for righteousness’ sake, even as their Divine Lord had done. And Christian suffering is precisely that sort of suffering. Righteousness may be high principle, standard right, or the Christian profession. II. Suffering for righteousness is to be accepted as for Christ.—“Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord.” Not as Lord in any general or abstract way, but precisely as Lord of those who suffer for righteousness’ sake. He is their head, leader, representative; their living leader, whose actual present grace rests on all those who take the same suffering way, and bear their disabilities as loyalty and service to Him. Christ Himself suffered in the same way, “leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps.” And it should be a most comforting relief under persecution and distress, to feel that we are but “filling up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in our body,” or in our circumstances. The sting is gone when we know that we are suffering for Christ’s sake. III. We must not let suffering silence our witness for Christ.—Precisely that would be the temptation of those early Judaic Christians. When they saw that their witness for Christ brought them misunderstanding and persecution, their first idea would be to save themselves from the trouble by ceasing to make the witness. They would think to keep disciples, but would judge it to be altogether wiser to become silent and secret disciples. This is a most subtle form of temptation, which assails God’s people in every age. The psalmist felt it, and resisted it, for he says, “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation” (Psalms 16:9-10). And St. Paul is almost intense in his demand that confession of Christ shall always go with belief in Christ. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). The charm of St. Stephen’s example lies in his heroic persistence in rendering his witness for Christ, even in face of hatred and death. And St. Peter here urges these persecuted Christians not to let their troubles silence either the quiet witness of their lives, or the outspoken witness of their lips. Suffering, or not, let them be “ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear.” IV. Power to witness, and to suffer, depends on keeping a good conscience.—What makes trouble unbearable is the fear that it is deserved. A man is always soul-master of all circumstances, even the most distressing, when he has no conscience of wrong. We see this in its perfection in Christ. He felt suffering acutely, but He bore it nobly, because none could convict Him of sin, nor could His own conscience. “Keep conscience as the noon-tide clear,” and you can go through a midnight darkness, and a world of woes unspeakable. “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” St. Paul stands calmly before the raging Sanhedrin that longed for his blood because he could say, “Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day” (Acts 23:1). So St. Peter urges upon the persecuted disciples that they should have and keep “a good conscience, that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ.” V. Christians should find the model of their sufferings in the sufferings of Christ.—“Because Christ also suffered for sins once.” Yes, “for sins,” but not His own. He suffered, “the righteous for the unrighteous” And His sufferings are a model of ours in two ways. 1. They came upon Him through the malice and wickedness (sins) of men; and 2. They came on Him through His under taking to deal with the sins of men, to deliver men from their penalties and dominion. Christians are in the world to do what Christ did, and they must fully expect to have to suffer in the doing, even as Christ did. VI. Christians should find the suggestion of what their sufferings might enable them to do, in what Christ’s sufferings enabled Him to do.—St. Peter’s point here is this: Christ’s suffering in well-doing unto death, brought Him altogether unique spiritual power; and he suggests that just what the noble endurance of their troubles would bring those persecuted Christians was a unique spiritual power. To set forth this he uses an illustration, taken from a popular idea then prevailing in the Christian community, which was afterwards embodied in a strange and fantastic legend, known as the “Gospel of Nicodemus.” The 1 Peter 3:19-21 are properly an illustrative parenthesis, intended to illuminate the declaration that Christ, after His bodily suffering, was “quickened in the spirit “to become, what He has become ever since, an unique spiritual power; such a power as He could only become through the experience of suffering in well-doing; such a power as we only can gain through the same experience. The “baptism” of 1 Peter 3:21 is not the rite of baptism on confession of faith, but the baptism of suffering which the disciples were undergoing, and the reference is to the baptism of suffering which Noah underwent through all the long years of waiting, in which he was scorned and persecuted, but through which he was kept and saved. Noah kept a good conscience all through. His discipline was no “putting away of the filth of the flesh.” You, too, should keep a good conscience; then you would see that your sufferings, like Noah’s, and like your Lord’s, were no mere discipline, but were that sublimest of sublime things, vicarious ministry. VII. Christians should find the suggestion of what their sufferings will result in in what Christ’s sufferings resulted in.—Taking out the parenthesis, the point St. Peter would impress comes fully into view. “Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.” When Christ’s bodily sufferings in well doing reached even to the extremity of death, they proved to be but the way in which spiritual power was quickened and developed, and to that spiritual power, free for the largest, noblest service, the highest, holiest trusts and authorities are now committed. “Suffer on, then,” St. Peter would say, “suffering in well-doing, well borne, can but have such results for us as we see in the case of our Divine and blessed Lord.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 3:15. A Reason for our Hope.—The word is literally an apology, but that word is now used in the sense of an excuse, so that the rendering of our version is correct—a reason; and that every one should be able to give for his hope, readily and whenever he is asked for it. Not that we are bound, as Christians, to answer any scoffer that may assail our faith; but if any one comes to us and asks us on what we are resting our hope, what ground we have for it, or how we can defend it, we should be prepared to give a reply; yet, as Luther says, “not with proud words or with violence, but with such fear and humility as if we stood before the judgment-seat of God.” But can an unlettered Christian be expected to do this, especially in such times as these, when the Christian faith is assailed at every point in the most subtle manner, and with the greatest skill? Yes; for though he may not be able to answer all the objections of the sceptic, yet, inasmuch as his hope is a matter of experience, he can easily give such reasons for it as a candid mind would accept. And how many, who have been perfectly ignorant of the learning of the schools, perfectly unacquainted with the arts of disputation, have been able, in a few words, to put to silence those who have called their hope in question! But only those can do this who have a good conscience—a conscience void of offence before God and before man. He who keeps a good conscience is in possession of a good hope, and can defend that hope with good reasons which the world around him will not be able to gainsay. Of our hope we need never be ashamed, for we have answers for it ready—not far to seek; and if those who question us about it are not satisfied with them, we can maintain it still, assured that it will not fail us when we are anticipating its fruition. But there are times when silence is our best answer, and when it will have greater weight than all the assertions we can make, and all the arguments we can use.—Thornley Smith. The Reason of Hope.—There is here a play upon the words in the original Greek which we fail to see in our versions. In seems in English as if there were a contrast between the “giving the answer” and the “reason,” when, in fact, they are the same. We might read it: “Be ye ready always to give a justification to every one who would require you to justify the hope that is in you.” St. Peter, realising that the Christian religion is a hopeful religion, says to the strangers scattered abroad, to whom he writes, “You must have a reason for the hope that is in you. You must not be content to look only on the bright side of things and shut out the dark side, to hear only pζans of peace and not to notice the sounds of battle. You must have a reason for this hope in times of darkness and trial, as well as in seasons of sunshine and joy.” Let us try to answer this question: What are the Christian’s reasons for hope—hope for ourselves, for our families, and for our nation? I. We believe in a God of hope.—We believe that God created the world, that He is a God of foresight and love, that He knew what He was about when He made life, and that He will bring out of our imperfect life here a nobler and a better one. We believe that when He sowed the seed He knew that there would not be a gathering in of tares, but that the wheat would overbalance the tares in the last great harvest. We believe He is a God of hope, and that He understands human nature better than we can. He saw the darkness, but yet He hopes; and so we can hope. Again, He has given a definiteness to the hope. We look at the savage in his degradation; he is not the true man; he is only the beginning of man. We look at Society and we say, This is not God’s ideal of man. We come to the New Testament and we see the life of Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. He was the type of true manhood. In Him we see what God meant man to be. He represents what you and I are to be if we fulfil God’s plan. As we look at this pattern we hear the voice of God saying, You also are to be the sons of God. So we gather inspiration from the thought that this is what God intends man shall be. How shall man become this? I look at an acorn. It says to me, By-and bye I shall be a great tree; by-and-bye the birds will nest in my branches; by and-bye I shall be a shelter to those who dwell under my roof; by-and-bye I shall carry many over the great Atlantic. But, I say to the acorn, “Can you be all this?” “Yes, God and I!” So man will be like the great Pattern; for it is God and man. We see by faith, more and more, that God is doing this. We see Him moving and shaping man more and more in accordance with His purpose. If we could have seen the world in its first stage of creation, in its chaotic condition—“without form and void”—and if, then, any one could have said to us that this was to become a place where man should dwell in happiness and glory—that from all this should come order and beauty—we should have scoffed at the idea, unless we could have seen that God was there, that His Spirit was brooding over the water, and bringing out this great result. So we look on humanity, in its defects and imperfections, and we say: This is but the chaotic state; God is at work; He can change all to beauty. God is in human history and is bringing order out of chaos. But there are limitations of our hope. We must be willing to look at the dark side sometimes. Some hopes may be disappointed. Our desires may not be realised. We have hope for America; but Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and other great civilisations, have perished. We are not sure what plan God is to work out in this our beloved nation. But whether the nation perishes or lives, we know that humanity will still move on. God’s purposes are sure. We know that we love purity and truth all the more because there are some in our own dear land who are working against them. We are not sure of religious organisations. We are not sure that Congregationalism was the apostolic church. Congregationalism is not the great thing, but humanity. All things that mould human life may change, but man lives on. The tools are nothing, but the building; and that which God is building is manhood. The battle of the Reformation has passed, but the conception of the Reformation—that God is mercy as well as justice—remains. To-day we are debating on probation and a future life, as if we knew all about them, when how little we know! Churches, creeds, nations, may disappear, but human character will grow and grow, because God is begetting man, and working out His ideal manhood. These things are but His instruments. The seed enters the ground, and out of it comes the tulip, the lily, because God is working in it. Because we believe that God is working within man we have a sure hope of the future; for God knows what He is doing. This, you say, is a large outlook, but how about myself? I don’t care so much about the race as my own individual life. There are no large things with God and no little things with God. It is not a strange declaration of Christ’s that the hairs of our heads are numbered, and that not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice. The little things are the determining things. It is the small rudder that guides the great ship. We believe in a God who not merely deals with nations or with masses, but One who looks on every cradle, on every soul. We have a true hope, that cheers our hearts and is with us in darkness as well as in light. We believe in One whoso mercy is “from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.” In closing I want to turn to a second text: “Without hope in the world.” Atheism is hopeless. Can there be a nation without God? Do you write over that precept, “Put not your trust in princes,” put your trust in politicians? Without God there is no hope for a nation. There is no hope for a Church if there be not an open door to take in the love of God. What is your hope for your children? If there is no God to guide, you might as well attempt to lead them through the great wilderness of Sahara as to hope to guide them safely through this life, fraught with its many dangers. What is your hope for yourself? Do you carry God to your work, to your store, in society? Do you live with God? Our hope rests in God. We believe that there is One working in humanity who is shaping all according to His wise purpose. This is the reason of our hope.—Lyman Abbott, D.D. Rationalism.—This term is usually employed to describe an attitude of the mind adverse to religion, and especially adverse to the belief in Christianity. But this is incorrect and unfair. Christianity claims to be a rational religion. It sprang from the most rational, perhaps one might say the only rational, religion of the old world, the religion that protested against polytheism, and idolatry, that taught men to believe in God, and not to worship the hosts of heaven, nor to deify the forces of nature, nor to bow down to images graven by art and man’s device. The Israelites, so far as they were faithful to their religion, were the rationalists of their time; and Christianity claims to be a rational religion. This claim is distinctly made for it by Peter in our text, and as distinctly by Paul, when he speaks of the Christian’s presenting himself to God a living sacrifice as a “reasonable service.” Taking the whole of Christ’s teaching as recorded in the gospels, we can truthfully say of it that, while it contains much that is above our comprehension, and much that we may think hard in the way of precept, still it is a teaching distinguished by its reasonableness. The Reformers were, to a remarkable extent, rationalists. They found Christianity so corrupted in doctrine, in morals, in ritual, as to have become almost an irrational religion. Against such corruptions they uttered their protest, and argued the whole case in a highly rational manner. They did much towards substituting a sober and reverential reason for blind submission to ecclesiastical authority. Looking at rationalism as the application of reason to the investigation of religion, what has it done? 1. It demanded, and secured, the right of all men to possess and read the Scriptures. 2. It has done much towards the destruction of belief in many degrading superstitions. 3. We owe to it the cessation of all persecution for religious opinions and practices. 4. The spirit of rationalism being largely of a practical and utilitarian character, it has done much toward bringing to the front the ethics of Christianity, to make less of religious dogma, and more of religious conduct. There have been times when conduct has counted for little, but orthodoxy in creed was everything. Rationalism has taught men to be less positive and dogmatic in regard to the unseen, the infinite, the unknowable, and has turned the current of religious thought and feeling and life more into the channel of moral and spiritual utility. 5. It has compelled Christians to consider and to set forth the reason or reasons they have for the hope that is in them. I am far from saying that rationalism has done no harm. It has affected very many minds with much painful, much agonising doubt; it has wrenched from many their Christian faith and hope. If rationalism has brought into prominence the practical, useful, beneficent characteristics of Christianity, it has, on the other hand, acting on less worthy minds, made men proud, and vain, and impious, and, in regard to all beneficent work, indifferent, scaptical, cold, and dead. It has in many instances enlightened the intellect, at the terrible cost of stunting the affections; it has given men broader views, but has in proportion narrowed their sympathies; it has fed their minds, but starved their hearts. Whatever be the successes of rationalism, it has its failures, and very grievous failures. It fails in unity. There are rationalists and rationalists. The name does not indicate just one clearly-defined class or sect. If there be anything in the argument against Christianity, on the ground of diversity of opinion held by its professors, the same objection may be urged against rationalism. It fails, too, in not furnishing clear and definite rules for the conduct of life. It is not provided with any high and powerful motive to influence men for good, to lead them to exercise self-denial, to cause them to devote themselves to the welfare of society or of any portion of it. It cannot deal with the sense and conviction of sin; and it fails us just where we most need help and guidance: it may accompany us to the end of our earthly journey, casting much light over our path, instructing us, interesting us, and proving of great advantage to us in many things of a secular character; but the end of the journey is reached, and rationalism can go with us no farther, and its light goes out. Mr. Lecky says of rationalism, “Utility is perhaps the highest motive to which reason can attain.” And he laments the discouragement given by rationalism to disinterestedness, to generosity, to self-sacrifice, to true moral heroism. These defects, which are inherent in its very nature, and cannot be made up for by any other perfections, however valuable, will probably in time form a check to rationalism, and cause it to be rejected, as so many other systems have been rejected. And rationalism, now in all the height of its greatness and its strength, may turn out to be only a passing wave of thought, over which the ark of God’s covenant of grace will float with safety, thus giving another witness to its unchangeable strength, to the wisdom of Him who guides it, and to the security of those who have fled to it for refuge.—H. Stowell Brown. 1 Peter 3:17-18. The Secret of True Greatness.—There is a marked difference between the standard by which we measure the men of our own day and the men of a past age. When we study a past epoch, we are neither blinded by our interests nor our prejudices, nor are we dazzled by merely outward shows. We now delight to honour only the men who have uttered great thoughts, wrought great deeds, lived great lives; and these are often men who made no great noise in their day. Two classes all men select for reverence, and rank among the great—at least, when their day is past. 1. Those who, possessed of large natural gifts, cultivated them wisely, and devoted them to the public good. In proportion as these men have suffered in and for their endeavours to enlighten or benefit the world, the world has taken them to its very heart, and they have assumed heroic proportions in the eyes of all subsequent generations. 2. Those who have been able to frame for themselves an heroic conception of duty, and to live by it. Any good historian, any competent judge, would affirm that the nation was to be accounted great which was capable of an heroic self-devotion, which had men and women who could dare and endure all things for a noble cause. And in this class, too, those whom the world honours most are still those who have endured most and most bravely, those who have suffered most for the sake of others, who have been animated by the most generous and disinterested spirit. That which touches and moves men, till they grow ashamed of their own useless and self-pleasing lives, is the courage that dares and endures, the love which conquers selfishness, and is ready to fling away life itself if only others can thus be served or saved. This is the true greatness, the true heroism. Why, then, when the man Christ Jesus does a deed of this very kind—the kind which all men admit to be most noble and heroic, a deed which differs from that of other men only in being incomparably more heroic, more noble, more unselfish—why does not the world admire Him, and take Him to its heart? He suffered for us; suffered an agony which we cannot so much as conceive—a passion of which the cross is a pathetic but utterly inadequate symbol—that He might bring us back to life and freedom, health and peace. Are we not, then, bound to love Him, and to devote our life to His service? The text contains and enforces the secret of true greatness when it bids us carry well-doing to the suffering point. Have we not here a most welcome side-light thrown on that great mystery, the function and purpose of evil? How should we suffer in and for well-doing if there were no evil in and around us? In the last resort, all our miseries, all our sufferings, spring from sin. The invincible ignorance, the obstinate prejudices, the persistent selfishness of our fellows, their enmity to the truth, which cuts their prejudices against the grain, and to the righteousness which rebukes their vices, or imposes a check on their passion—all these come of evil. It is from these that men suffer when bent on doing well; it is by these that they are hindered, thwarted, and at times driven back in apparent defeat. So that, after all, it would seem that to creatures such as we are, in such a world as this, what we call “evil” is necessary to our education and discipline in goodness, to our culture in impersonal and unselfish habits and aims; to the development, in fine, of the very elements and qualities in our nature, which are universally confessed to be the noblest and best. This line of thought yields a glimpse into the mystery of the Incarnation. Any man—any theist, at least—will acknowledge it to be of the first importance that we should come to know and love God. But we cannot find Him out to perfection, whether by the searching inquest of reason, or by the more vital and gracious intuitions of the heart. If we are to know Him as we need to know Him, He must reveal Himself to us. He must limit Himself. He must speak to us in our language, since we cannot understand His. But He must use our noblest language, that which most intimately appeals to our conscience and heart, that which can be apprehended by all the kindreds of this divided earth. Our noblest language, that which all can apprehend and admire, which touches and moves all races and all classes with a common emotion, to a common enthusiasm, is, as we have seen, the language of noble deeds, of a noble life—the language of that heroic greatness which is content to suffer for doing well, and able to draw from its sufferings new life and vigour for the spirit. This, then, is the language which God must deign to use, if He would in very deed reveal Himself to us. And this is the language in which the gospel of Christ is written. Christ suffered for us. God has spoken, He has shown Himself to us, if only we believe that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. This line of thought also supplies us with a noble incentive to a noble life. One kind of greatness is beyond our reach. No man can make himself a great statesman, a great poet, or even a great theologian. We must accept our natural capacities and gifts, whatever they may be. But the highest kind of greatness, that which most deeply moves the hearts of men, is open to us all. Well-doing is not a close profession; it is open to us, and to all men. When St. Peter sets before us the example of Christ, and stimulates us to a self-effacing devotion to duty and conviction by reminding us how He once suffered for our sins that He might bring us to God, then surely He supplies us with the keenest, the most pathetic and constraining of all motives, of all incentives, to a great and noble life. For we cannot be followers of Christ and not follow Him; nor can we follow Him save as we take the way of the cross.—S. Cox, D.D. 1 Peter 3:18. The Power of Suffering Innocence.—“Because Christ also suffered for our sins once.” This passage is found in the midst of very practical counsels. It is an instance of the characteristic New-Testament advice urged by the example of Christ, or by directly Christian motives. It should ever be borne in mind that the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is an inspired morality; its key-note is “righteousness.” I. The practical lesson which the apostle is here urging.—Compare 1 Peter 3:13-14, with 1 Peter 3:17. Describe the particular circumstances of difficulty and strain in which the early Church was placed, dwelling especially on the slandering and misrepresentation to which the Christians were subject, and even the actual persecution which they were called to endure. St. Peter says there is a kind of happiness they should have in being called to suffer innocently, for righteousness’ sake, even as their Divine Lord and Master had to suffer. That suffering innocence God makes to be the very highest moral force in His world of humanity. In every sphere of life the truth is true, that he who can suffer—undeservedly, and in the spirit of heavenly Divine charity—can save. Suffering for evil doing says nothing, and does nothing; it has to be borne, and there is nothing more to be said about it. Suffering for well-doing sublimely exhibits faith in God, self-restraint, power of character, and a measure of likeness to the Lord Jesus. II. The example of Christ by which this lesson is urged.— 1. In Him was a fellowship with us in suffering. Both He and we share together the common sufferings which belong to humanity, and the special sufferings which come to men whenever they resist the tendencies of the world around them in the spirit of loyalty to God. 2. His suffering was throughout suffering innocence, the suffering that comes through persistent well-doing. 3. And His suffering was caused by the wrong, the sin of others. It might be the result of prejudice, or misunderstanding, or false notions of loyalty to God, but it was always, in some form, man’s waywardness, wilfulness, self-pleasing, that brought round bitterness, distress, and suffering, to Christ. III. The influence that such suffering innocence has on human hearts.—It “brings men to God.” It may be difficult, with our spiritual apprehension of the Divine Fatherhood, for us to state clearly the way in which God needs to be reconciled to man. We cannot know our hearts without having the deepest conviction that we need reconciling to Him. Now, the spectacle of suffering innocence is the most moving thing on earth. And when that suffering innocence is seen to be directly related to our sin, and borne in the power of a self-sacrificing love to us, it makes us hate the sin, and feel drawn to the sufferer. And we may be sure that our suffering in righteousness will be a moral power on others, even as Christ’s was, and is, upon us. The Man-side of the Redemption.—“That He might bring us to God.” It is generally recognised that there are two sides to the great redemptive work. But its relation to the government and righteousness of God must always be to us a mystery only partly comprehended. We can form doctrinal systems, based on what revelations of the being and nature of God we have been able to receive, but there is always this uncertainty: if we knew God more perfectly, we might have to modify our system. We are on clearer, safer ground when we try to understand how the redemption bears relation to us, removes the hindrances that keep us from God, bears a gracious influence on us, so as to fit us for coming to God, and actually brings us to Him, and keeps us in gracious relations with Him. St. Paul set forth the manward side of redemption in a very forcible way in his famous passage (2 Corinthians 5:19-20), “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.” Dean Plumptre’s Exegesis of 1 Peter 3:18-20.—The train of thought which leads the apostle to refer to the “descent into hell,” is, at first sight, far from clear; but it is clearer by far on the assumption that this is what he has in view, than on the supposition that he is thinking of a work done by Christ as preaching in the days of Noah to the spirits that were afterwards in prison. The assignment of such a work to Him as the Christ is at all events entirely foreign to the cycle of apostolic thought and language. Let us examine the passage on the other assumption, and see how it bears the test. The analogy of 1 Corinthians 7:34, Colossians 2:5, as regards the use of the case of Rom 1:4, 1 Timothy 3:16, as regards the antithesis between the “flesh” and “spirit” of our Lord’s human nature, compels us to alter the rendering of the Authorised Version. The dative is not that of the instrument in either clause, but that of “the sphere to which a general predicate is to be limited.” To take it as having one force in the first clause, and a different one in the second, is to do violence to the natural structure of the sentence. The authority of all the great uncial MSS. and of all recent editions, is against the insertion of the article before “spirit” and without it, as the sentence stands, the reference of the second clause to the agency of the Holy Spirit cannot be supported. We have therefore to take the words as meaning that Christ was “put to death in the flesh, but quickened, endowed with a new power of life, in His spirit.” They connect themselves with the death-cry on the cross, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” That moment of outward death to the body was the entrance of the spirit into a higher life. That thought is what the apostle is anxious to impress on those who were exposed to persecution, suffering, death. Let men do their worst, if they “armed themselves with the mind of Christ,” death would be to them gain, not loss, would bring with it freedom from sin and an increase of spiritual energy. He goes on to speak of the nature of that new energy. “In” [not “by”] “which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” The “flesh” was placed in the tomb, but He, in that other element of His nature, went where go the “spirits” of other men. Almost as if consciously guarding against the distortions of the plain meaning of the words which take their place among the monstrosities of exegesis, St. Peter repeats the word which he uses here [“having gone”] when he comes to speak, in 1 Peter 3:22, of Christ’s ascension [“having gone into heaven “]. In both cases there was, as measured by his thoughts, a local motion. As in Ephesians 4:9-10, the ascent involved a descent. And there he “preached.” That word had been familiar to the apostle’s ear during his Lord’s ministry on earth. It had become familiar to the Church through the oral or written narratives of the gospel history. Taken by itself it would suggest, naturally, not to say inevitably, a continuance of the work that had been done on earth, a “preaching” of like nature with that which had been heard in Galilee: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And to whom did He thus preach? The answer is, “To the spirits in prison,” to human spirits like His own, who were in that Hades which was for them a prison-house, in which they were in ward, awaiting a yet future judgment. So far his words were general. But he has in his mind one representative class of all those spirits of the dead to which his Lord’s teaching had once and again led his thoughts (Matthew 24:37; Luke 17:26). Never in the history of the world, as told in the Hebrew records, had there been so vast and terrible a judgment, sweeping off so many myriads, following upon such slighted “long-suffering.” That, if any, was a crucial instance of the extent of the redeeming work of Christ. The whole history, as he goes on to show, was as a parable in its inner meaning. The Church of God was as the ark; the water of the Flood in which the world was, as it were, born again to a new stage in its life, answered to the baptism which saves men now. Then the disobedient died, and were swept away, but the suffering once for all of Christ for sin, the just for the unjust, availed in its retrospective action to bring to God some at least of those who had thus disobeyed. Much more would His resurrection and ascenssion, after that triumph over “authorities and powers,” avail to rave these who suffered as He suffered, and for whom baptism was not merely the “putting away the filth of the flesh, but the enquiry of a good conscience after God.” The connexion between the words “for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead” (1 Peter 4:6), and that “preaching to the spirits in prison” is very close. We have to follow the thoughts of the apostle, as, with that aspect of the descent into Hades present to his mind, he was led on to speak of Christ as of Him that “is ready to judge the quick and dead.” Not only to those of whom he had before spoken, the “disobedient” in the days of Noah, but to the “dead” generally, had the gospel, in some way or other, been preached. In what way he does not think it necessary to add. But to what end, with what intention, was that gospel so preached to them? He gives the answer in words which remind us of the antithesis between “flesh” and “spirit” in 1 Peter 3:18. As Christ was there said to have been “put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit,” so of those he says, that the gospel was preached to thorn “that they might be judged alter the manner of men, as men in the flesh, but live according to God, as He wills, in the spirit.” κατὰθεόν, as in Romans 8:27; 2 Corinthians 7:9; Ephesians 4:24. Quickened in the Spirit.—But in His spirit He was quickened, or brought again to life. His spirit never died; but, as to it, He was made alive again, that spirit re-entering the body on the morning of the third day, are it saw corruption, and thus giving it the victory over death and the grave. He has a body now, but it is a spiritual, and not a fleshly one; and that body has passed into a state of inconceivable glory, such as, in His Divine nature, He had with the Father before the world began (John 17:5).—Thornley Smith. Sketch of the “Gospel of Nicodemus,” by Dean Plumptre.—The starting point of the narrative is that two sons of Simeon (the Simeon of Luke 2), Karinus, and Leucius, were among those who had risen from their graves at the time of the resurrection, and had appeared to many (Matthew 27:57). They tell the tale of what they had seen and heard in the world of the dead. They were with their fathers in the thick darkness, when suddenly there shone upon them a bright light as of the sun. Adam and the patriarchs and prophets exulted at its coming. Isaiah knew it to be the light that should shine upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death. Simeon saw that it was the light to lighten the Gentiles, over which he had rejoiced in his Nunc dimittis. The Baptist doing there also the work of the forerunner, came to prepare the way and announce the coming of the Son of God. Seth narrated how Michael the archangel had told him, as he prayed at the gates of Paradise, that one day, after five thousand five hundred years, the Son of God would come to lead his father Adam into Paradise, and to the tree of mercy. Meantime Hades (here personified as an actor in the drama) and Satan held counsel with each other, and were full of fear. He who had rescued so many of their victims upon earth, who had raised Lazarus from the grave, was now about to invade their kingdom, and to set free all who were shut up in prison, bound with the chain of their sins. And as they spoke there was a cry like as of thunder: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.” Hades sought in vain to close the gates, and to set fast the bars. David and Isaiah uttered aloud the prophecies in which they had foretold this victory. Death and Hades trembled, and owned themselves conquered. They saw that One had come to set free those who were fast bound with the evil of their nature, to shed light on those who were blinded with the thick darkness of their sins. Hades and Satan wearied themselves in vain murmurs and recriminations. Adam and his children were rescued from the power of Hades; Satan and his hosts were left to take their place. Then the Lord stretched forth His hand and said, “Come unto Me, all My saints who have My image and similitude.” Adam and the saints rose up from Hades with psalms of jubilant thanksgiving; prophets burst out into cries of joy. Michael the archangel led them all within the gates of Paradise. There they were met by Enoch and Elijah, who had not tasted death, and were kept there till they should return to earth before the coming of Antichrist. There, too, was the repentant robber, bearing on his shoulders the cross to which he owed his entrance within the gates. The cross on which the redemption of mankind had been achieved was left, according to another version of the legend, in Hades itself, as a perpetual witness of the victory thus gained, that the ministers of Death and Hades might not have power to retain any one whom the Lord had pardoned. All this, of course, is wildly fantastic; the play of an over-luxuriant imagination, seeking to penetrate into the things behind the veil. But a mythus of this kind pre-supposes the existence of the belief of which it is the development, and is, therefore, so far as its date can be ascertained, an evidence as to its antiquity. 1 Peter 3:18-22. Christ’s Sufferings Influencing the Unseen World.—Point: Better to suffer for well-doing, since Christ suffered thus. In 1 Peter 2:21 Christ’s example, of suffering is prominent. Here note the advantage which accrued from the suffering. I. Christ’s sufferings.— 1. Suffered once. 2. Suffered for sin. 3. Suffered vicariously. 4. Put to death in the flesh, made alive in the spirit. II. The effect of these sufferings on the unseen world.—Who are meant by the “spirits in prison”? Those who, before the Flood, resisted the grace of God in Noah’s time. The judgment came, and they were hurried into the unseen world, not hell; and their doom was not finally fixed. There must be millions more such. The hopeless condition of those who have rejected Christ we know, but there are millions who have never heard of Christ. Two suggestions: 1. Christ preached of old to them by His spirit in Noah. 2. Christ went to the abode of the dead, and preached to them in His disembodied spirit.—Thornley Smith. Webster and Wilkinson’s Notes on 1 Peter 3:19.—This is given as the most careful setting of the explanation which finds reference to a preaching of Christ to the antediluvians through the agency of Noah. τοῖςἐνφυλακῇπνεύμασι. Possibly, “to the spirits in safe keeping” (2 Peter 2:4; 2 Peter 2:9; Jude 1:6). ᾅδης, the invisible mansion of departed spirits, is where the righteous are preserved till the season shall arise for their advancement to future glory; in the other division, Tartarus, or Γεέννα, the souls of the wicked are reserved unto the judgment of the great day (Luke 16:23). The abode of the blessed is a place of custody, though not of penal confinement. “It is a place of seclusion from the external world, a place of unfinished happiness, consisting in rest, security, and hope, rather than enjoyment. It is a place which the souls of men never would have entered had not sin introduced death, from which there is no exit by any natural means for those who have once entered. The deliverance of the saints from it is to be effected by the Lord’s power” (Bishop Horsley). πορευθεὶςἐκήρυξεν. When was this? and in what manner? Some think that the πνεῦμα of Christ between His death and resurrection went to the place where the antediluvian sinners were in confinement, and proclaimed that He had offered the sacrifice for their redemption. This announcement would give fresh animation of joy to those who through faith had embraced the Redeemer, and would set forth the justice of God in condemning those who neglected the way of escape. Others, again, consider that the proclamation refers to the offers of mercy made to them during their earthly existence, by the agency of Noah, the δικαιοσύνηςκήρυξ (2 Peter 2:5). If we consider the purpose for which this fact is mentioned here, we shall see reason to adopt the latter view, and to conclude that those to whom Christ is said to have preached were the antediluvian sinners in the time of Noah. Clearly the object of the apostle is to show that Christ acted for the salvation of men, in the administration of the Spirit, in former and ancient times, even as He now does, since His passion and resurrection. A gospel of grace and righteousness, of faith and obedience, was preached to them as to us, by which the obedient lived as now, but under which the unbelieving and disobedient perished (1 Peter 4:6). There is a striking resemblance between this passage and Hebrews 3:7 to Hebrews 4:11, where the example of the ancient Israel is introduced for the same purpose as that of the antediluvians, lost and saved, is introduced here. The apostle represents Christ as having gone and proclaimed a gospel of grace and faith to the spirits now in prison when they were in their state of earthly existence. The expression πορευθεὶσἐκήρ., as applied to Christ preaching by Noah, may be compared with Ephesians 2:17, ἐλθὼνεὐηγγελ. εἰρ. ὑμῖν, which applies to His preaching by the apostles. Christ preached in Noah’s preaching, and that preaching was without effect, except for the souls of Noah and his household. Other Views.—Other interpretations of the passage divide into two classes: (1) Those which accept the words as referring to a descent into Hades, and (2) those which give them an entirely different interpretation. Under (1) we have—(a) the view that the preaching was one of condemnation, anticipating the final judgment. (b) The view that Christ descended into Hades to deliver the souls of the righteous, (c) A modification of this view has found favour with some writers, such as Estius, Bellarmine, Luther, Bengel. They limit the application of St. Peter’s words to those who had lived at the time of the Deluge, and they make the preaching one of pardon and deliverance, but, under the influence of the dogma that “there is no repentance in the grave,” they assume that the message of the gospel came to those only who turned to God before they sank finally in the mighty waters. Under (2) we find the denial that there is any reference at all to the descent into Hades. Christ went in spirit, not in flesh—i.e., before His incarnation—and preached to the spirits who are now in prison, because they rejected the warnings and teachings of Christ’s spirit through Noah. 1 Peter 3:18-22.—An Exegetical Study—In seeking to ascertain the meaning of an obscure passage in any writing, close attention must be given to three things: 1. The exact language of the passage. 2. The manifest teachings of plain portions of the same writing; and 3. The line of thought, if any such be discoverable, in the preceding and succeeding contexts. In the present paper it is proposed, by means of the strict application of these rules, to seek the meaning of this much-discussed passage in the first epistle of St. Peter. There is a distinct line of thought running through both the preceding and succeeding contexts. It can be easily traced up to the passage before us, and, passing over the passage, it can be easily picked up again at its close. This being the case, the natural inference is that that line of thought somehow or other runs through the passage itself, and that a true interpretation of the passage will reveal it. St. Peter has been urging the Christians of the Dispersion to lead holy and beneficent lives. He presents various motives to induce them to live such lives. 1. By so doing they will place themselves under the protection and gracious providence of Almighty God. “For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,” etc. (1 Peter 3:12). 2. If they live such lives, few will molest them. “And who is he,” etc. (1 Peter 3:13). 3. Should they even suffer for such a life, they will be happy. “But and if,” etc. (1 Peter 3:14). The mention of this possibility leads to a brief digression. Resuming his argument, he maintains that suffering for righteousness ought to bring happiness, because it brings success. “For it is better,” etc. All recognise the fact that it is well to suffer for evil-doing; but it is even better, if wills the will of God (mark the condition), to suffer for well-doing. This position he justifies by the experience of Christ. “For Christ also hath once suffered,” etc. (1 Peter 3:18). Then follows a statement respecting the sufferings of Christ. It is a very suggestive statement, and contains an admirable summary of Christian soteriology. It presents in the briefest form the great features of Christ’s redemptive sufferings. They were penal, “for sins”; vicarious, “for the unjust”; propitiatory, “to bring us to God.” But the richness and suggestiveness of the passage in the domain of soteriology should not be permitted to prevent a clear recognition of its place in the apostle’s argument. It is not the uniqueness of the sufferings of Christ which the apostle has now specially in mind, but the fact that they were sufferings for well-doing, and as such were wondrously beneficent. We must keep this fact clearly and constantly in mind, if we would follow the apostle in his argument. It is true that actually, as viewed in the light of the accomplishment of God’s purpose of redemption, Christ suffered for sins. It is true also that ostensibly, in the light of the judicial sentence under which the extreme measure of these sufferings was inflicted, He suffered for sins; but it is yet true that it was only vicariously that He so suffered. He was personally innocent of all the crimes laid to His charge. His whole life was holy, and His whole work gracious in its purposes and beneficent in its results. And yet He suffered—suffered to the death; but with what result? In its rendering of the apostle’s statement in this regard the Authorised Version is very seriously defective. It translates, “Being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit.” It spells “spirit” with a capital S, and so indicates that the thought is, that He was put to death in the flesh, but was made alive again by the Holy Ghost. Thus translated, the passage asserts the facts of Christ’s death and revivification, and reveals the agent by whom this latter was effected; but this introduces an idea entirely foreign to the apostle’s thought, and states a fact which is wholly irrelevant to his argument. Literally the expression is: “Being put to death in flesh, ἐνσαρκί, but quickened in spirit, ἐνπνεύματι. The contrast is between Christ’s physical nature, on the one hand, and His spiritual nature, on the other. His physical life was terminated, but His spiritual life was intensified. And now this assertion is to be substantiated. Then follows the passage which is to be considered in this study. This being the case, it is manifest that whatever may be its specific meaning, the purpose of the passage is to justify the apostle’s assertion that the physical death of Christ has resulted in the spiritual quickening of Christ. It is manifest that the only way in which it can be shown that the sufferings of Christ intensified the spiritual life of Christ is by comparison of the vigour of that life prior to His sufferings with its virility subsequently. If such comparison reveals increased vigour subsequently to His sufferings, there comes then the further question, Is this increased vigour the result and reward of these sufferings? By the terms of argument just this is the task which Peter sets himself to accomplish in the passage before us. The passage, literally rendered, reads as follows; “Being put to death, indeed, in flesh, but quickened in spirit; in which, going He preached also to the spirits in prison, disobedient sometime when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, in which few—that is, eight—souls were saved through water; which, in a like figure, now saveth us also, even baptism—not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the stipulation toward God of a good conscience; through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject unto Him. Evidently two things, at least, are here asserted: 1. That the unembodied spirit of Christ preached. 2. That those to whom He preached were antediluvian sinners. This much is plain; but when was this preaching done? An increasingly popular answer to this question is substantially this: it was done in the interval between the crucifixion of Christ and His resurrection. A cursory reading of the passage seems to justify this answer, but close attention to his language reveals the fact that the apostle does not specifically. designate the time. All he says is that Christ, in His unembodied spirit, preached to the antediluvians, and that His going to them preceded His preaching to them; but he says nothing directly about the time of His going. It is to be noted, however, that these spirits were disobedient in the days of Noah. He does not say that those to whom Christ, in His unembodied spirit preached, were the spirits of men who were disobedient in the days of Noah. They were spirits who in the days of Noah were disobedient. This would seem to indicate that the preaching was in the days of Noah, and that the disobedience consisted in rejecting it. He further describes those to whom Christ’s spirit preached as being spirits in prison. The word is of frequent occurrence in the New Testament, and in thirty-six instances out of forty-seven denotes a place of primitive safe-keeping. Only here, however, and in Revelation 20:7—where it is applied to Satan—is it used in connection with spiritual beings. The thought seems to be that when the bodies of the antediluvians perished in the Flood, their spirits were put in safe-keeping—“prison”—till the judgment. And now the question is, was this their condition when Christ’s spirit preached to them? The current answer to the question is an affirmative one. Is that answer the true one? In attempting to determine the point, let us remember the third principle of interpretation with which we started. In accordance with it, the right answer must unfold the apostle’s argument and manifest conclusiveness. The point the apostle is seeking to establish is that the sufferings of Christ’s flesh intensified the power of His spirit. It can only be established by comparison. If this preaching by Christ’s spirit to the spirits in prison was to the disembodied spirits of those who perished in the Flood, it must have been preceded by a preaching to these spirits in their embodied condition in the days of Noah. That there was such preaching may be accepted as a historic fact. In Genesis 6:3 we are told that God said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” This implies that God’s spirit had been striving with man and striving ineffectually. This being the historic fact, it is certainly legitimate to claim that this striving included the preaching of Christ’s spirit to the spirits of the antediluvians. This answer, then, meets the first requirement of the apostle’s argument. It supplies a first preaching by Christ’s spirit to the antediluvians, with which a subsequent preaching can be contrasted. Was there a subsequent preaching? If so, when did it occur, and what were its results? The current interpretation answers the first of these questions also affirmatively, and holds that this second preaching was that described in our passage, and that it occurred in the interval between Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection. Does this meet the requirements of the apostle’s argument? It must be remembered that he is seeking to prove that the sufferings of Christ quickened the spirit of Christ. If so, the second preaching must be more effective than the first. In the first instance the mass of the antediluvians were disobedient to the gracious message addressed to them. What evidence does our passage furnish that the preaching to these disembodied and imprisoned spirits by Christ’s disembodied spirit was more effectual? It is not necessary to resort to a critical examination of the passage to secure an answer, for the reason that the advocates of this view themselves frankly admit that it furnishes none. “What was the intent of that preaching, and what its effect, is not here revealed; the fact merely is stated.” (Alford, Greek Testament, in loco.) So also Archdeacon Farrar: “Of the effect of the preaching nothing is said.” (“Early Christianity,” p. 93). This interpretation, then, fails to make clear and conclusive the argument of the apostle, and hence, for that reason alone, if there were no other, is to be rejected. But besides this, the interpretation is liable to another objection. It presents a doctrine not elsewhere found in the writings of St. Peter. More than this. It teaches a doctrine which seems to be excluded by other plain teachings of the apostle. In his second epistle the apostle refers again to the destruction of the antediluvian world. He does so in connection with two other signal illustrations of the power and justice of God. One of these is the punishment of the fallen angels, and the other the destruction of the cities of the plain. In two of these three cases there was signal illustration of God’s grace, as well as of His justice; and hence to both features of His providence attention is called in the general conclusion drawn from a consideration of the whole series of providences. That conclusion is thus expressed: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:9). The Revision renders better: “And to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment.” The words “under punishment” are the translation of the present passive participle of the verb “to punish.” It means literally “being punished.” The thought seems to be that as God’s punishment overtook these objects of His wrath, His power grasped them and holds and will hold them in unchanged condition till the Day of Judgment. This is evidently the idea in the expression “in prison.” The spirits of these antediluvian sinners remain fixed in the condition in which they were when God’s justice overtook them and destroyed their bodies. They are in prison—that is, in the custody, primitive safe-keeping of Divine justice. And there they are to remain until the Day of Judgment. This being the case, there is no room in the theology of St. Peter for a gracious visit to the spirits of the antediluvians on the part of Christ, and an offer to them of salvation An interpretation, then, which thus explains this passage is to be rejected for the two reasons: 1. That it fails to meet the requirements of the apostle’s argument, and 2. That it is at variance with his theology. An interpretation of the passage, meeting all the requirements of the case, is obtainable through identification of this preaching to the spirits with the historical striving of God’s spirit with the antediluvian contemporaries of Noah. And such identification is justifiable. 1. It is a historic fact that God’s spirit strove with the antediluvians St. Peter here affirms that Christ, in His unembodied spirit preached to their spirits. It is not necessary to suppose that this striving consisted solely of this reaching. It is enough to believe that it included it, and that in his assertion about Christ’s preaching St. Peter had reference to it. 2. God’s striving with the antediluvians was ineffectual. So, on this assumption, was the preaching of Christ’s spirit to their spirits. It is upon this that St. Peter dwells. They were disobedient. In consequence of disobedience they are in prison. The mass of the antediluvians perished. Only eight entered the ark graciously provided for them, and so were saved. 3. The historic reason for the failure of this striving was the fact that God’s spirit was unembodied, while the antediluvians were embodied spirits. “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3). Pure spirit cannot successfully strive with incarnated spirit; and hence God will not always attempt it. Man has body as well as spirit, and is to be reached through the senses as well as the perceptions; hence a being must be incarnate in order to successfully influence him. It is worthy of notice that even Satan, the great tempter of mankind, succeeded in seducing our first parents and alienating them from God, only by assuming a physical form, and so enforcing his suggestions to the mind of Eve by appeals to her senses. Now all this is in closest keeping with the apostle’s line of thought. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/phc/ THE CALL TO HOLY AND NOTES1 Peter 4:1. In the flesh.—Or to the flesh; i.e., so far as the flesh is concerned. The same sphere in which Christian disciples were called to suffer. Same mind.—Or thought. The same temper of trust, obedience, and submission. Put yourselves into the same disposition. Ceased from sin.—“Hath been caused to rest.” The moral result of the suffering is deliverance from the motions of sins. But it is suffering borne in the mind of Christ’ that alone has its full moral power on us. See Romans 6:7-11.1 Peter 4:2. This verse explains the previous verse. Suffering, rightly borne, brings a mood of submission to the will of God, and this involves our deliverance from our own self-will. A man ceases to live unto the lusts, desires, of his own heart, when he comes fully to do and bear God’s holy will ἐπιθυμίαις All sensual objects, pleasures, profits, honours, which are repugnant to the will of God.1 Peter 4:3. Will of the Gentiles.—Almost satirical, as addressed to Jews. It was altogether unworthy of them to take up with the self-indulgent customs of the Gentiles; it was impossible for Jews who had become Christians in any way to keep association with old evil practices. It seems that both Gentiles and bigoted Jews were trying to draw the Christian Jews away from their profession by the enticements of sensual indulgence, and public excitements. If we could understand the state of society in those days, we should readily see how attractive, and how subtle and strong in their influence, those enticements and temptations were, and therefore how needful was the apostolic warning. Those pledged to do the will of Christ must in no sense allow themselves to do the “will of the Gentiles.” To us Christ our Master must be all, or nothing at all. Lasciviousness.—A plural form for all kinds of bodily impurity. Lusts.—See above. Excess of wine.—A contemptuous word is used—“wine-swillings.” Involving loss of due self-restraint. Revellings.—Roystering parties. Banquetings.—Or carousings; drinking-bouts. Idolatries.—With reference to the excitements and immoralities usually associated with idol feast-times. It is evident that licentious Jews had sadly fallen into evil ways, but it is difficult to conceive that the Christian Jews had yielded to such enticements. Perhaps St. Peter only warns them of serious possibilities of temptation.1 Peter 4:4. Wherein.—In regard to which fleshly life. Christians always excite surprise in persisting in separation from carnal indulgences. Riot.—Or letting loose of bodily passions. The word used may mean, sink, slough, puddle. Speaking evil of you.—Slanderously affirming that you are as bad as themselves. Such slander was part of the suffering of the Christians; and they must take care that they gave no conceivable occasion for it.1 Peter 4:5. Who.—That is, these revilers and slanderers. They will surely be called to account before God. “They who now demand an account, will one day have to render it.” St. Peter offers the consideration of God’s near judgment, fur the comfort and assurance of Christians unjustly slandered. The early disciples thought of Christ’s vindication as near at hand, “Hence St. Peter includes the slanderers of his day among the living, as just about to be judged” (Bengel).1 Peter 4:6. Them that are dead.—Not the souls of the dead; but to those who once were alive, and are now dead; e.g., the men of the age of Noah, to whom reference is made in the preceding chapter. This sentence should help us to understand the preaching to the “spirits in prison.” In 1 Peter 4:5 the “quick” and the “dead “are distinguished. The familiar apostolic meaning is the “dead” before Christ’s coming, and the “quick “or “alive “at Christ’s coming. This is the idea of “dead” in this verse. Alford thinks those in their graves are meant. According to men.—That is, the discipline of life, the common experience of human suffering, was God’s gospel preached to them, with a view to their quickening to spiritual life. If they failed to respond, there could be for them but “a fearful looking for of judgment.” St. Peter is comforting tempted and tried Christians, by assuring them that their tempters and persecutors are in the hands of God, in the just judgment of God. “Even such as are now dead had the gospel preached to them, with this result, that the common judgment should pass upon them in the flesh, and yet that they should have a higher life before God by the operation of the Spirit” (W. W.). “They were judged after the manner of men, by the laws by which all men are judged according to their works; but the purpose of that judgment, like that of the judgments that come upon men in this life, was to rescue them from a final condemnation” (Plumptre). Many of the slanderers and persecutors of the Christians would be their personal friends and relatives; and St. Peter would feel it necessary to temper and relieve, as far as possible, his denunciations of them. We all want some ground of hope concerning our unbelieving and ungodly friends.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 4:1-6 Suffering in the Flesh as Help to Ceasing from Sin.—It will be seen how directly adapted, pointed, and practical, St. Peter’s teachings are. They apply precisely to the conditions, sufferings, and temptations of the brethren of the “Dispersion,” to whom the epistle is addressed. St. Peter has not the interest in theology which characterises St. Paul, and he should not be studied in order to find settings of doctrinal truth. His supreme interest is in Christian living, and in truths only so far as they may inspire and guide godly living. And in this epistle he is mainly concerned with the hindrances to Christian living which come from the disabilities and distresses which making a Christian profession then involved. He looks at the sufferings of the brethren from different points of view, and from every point of view he finds encouragement by showing that they always “work together for good.” Here his point of view is the peril occasioned by having to live in the very midst of a licentious Gentile society—a peril all the greater because they once indulged in the unrestrained and degrading customs of Gentile life, and there was some affinity for such things left in their fleshly nature. And he reminds them that suffering in the flesh was the very thing to deliver them from the power of these evils, the very thing to work the very last relics of these things out of their natures, and enable them to cease altogether from sin. I. Christ’s example of suffering in the flesh.—What was the point of that example? What was the power that sustained Him? And what were the results of His endurance? It was distinctly and precisely such suffering as we have to undergo, suffering in the fleshly, human sphere; bodily and mental suffering, arising from conditions similar to ours; bodily states, sensibilities, oppositions of evil men, etc. It is only too easy to represent Christ as so unique a Being that we cannot see in His any likeness to our own bodily, fleshly sufferings. He was “in all points” tested, disciplined by suffering, even as we are. St. John vigorously pleads for the truth that Christ is “come in the flesh” St. Peter vigorously pleads for the truth that Christ “suffered in the flesh.” As to the power which sustained Him under the suffering, we have to see that the grace of God rested upon Him as it rests upon us; but beside that, and as the special point of interest now, Jesus was sustained—as we may be, and ought to be sustained—by His full loyalty and devotion to God, and absolute resolve to serve Him in righteousness and well doing, whatever that might involve. And as to the result, it may be said that, in entire consecration to God, to righteousness as God’s will, is always found the deliverance of a man from the “motions of sins in his members.” Sin is essentially self-centredness, self-seeking; and a man ceases from self-willedness and sin when he gives himself wholly over, in devotion and service to another. Christ absolutely ceased from the service of self, because He was entirely absorbed in the service of the Father. II. Deliverance and elevation may come to Christians through their suffering in the flesh (1 Peter 4:2-3).—The acceptance of bodily suffering in doing what we know to be right, and the will of God, is the sign of the highest moral triumph, of deliverance from the self. It lifts a man right up above the plane in which men seek their own pleasures, and indulge their own lusts and passions. To be willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake is proof of self-mastery. No man ever chooses suffering, or submits easily to it, save under the persuasion of some high and holy motive. Illustration may be taken from the case present to the mind of St. Peter. These Christians once had shared in the self-indulgent and demoralising Pagan life around them. On principle they had separated themselves from it all. But the separation was putting them under disability, and causing them suffering. Their loyalty to principle was severely tested, but if they held fast their loyalty, and patiently bore their sufferings, they would surely find that this would perfect the separation, and make it easy to stand quite aloof from every evil feature of the old Pagan life. It is the point which may be set in adaptation to the circumstances of every age. In the earnestness of the Christian life—and earnestness is effectively shown in willingness to endure—lies the true safety from surrounding evils, howsoever they may appeal to the fleshly nature. III. The misunderstanding those must expect who are willing to suffer in the flesh (1 Peter 4:4).—“Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot; speaking evil of you.” The early Christians were, in a remarkable way, exposed to slander and misrepresentation; and these are often harder to bear than actual persecutions affecting body and circumstances. A Christian who is indifferent concerning material things is intensely jealous concerning his good name, because the honour of his Lord is bound up in his keeping his good name. But even this he must be willing to bear; by his persistency in good and gracious living “putting to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” A Christian has always this effective power against the slanderer he can live so that no one can by any possibility credit the slanders. He can live so as to stand in the acceptance of the righteous God, and so as fearlessly to anticipate the time when human lives must be appraised and judged. The apostles, with their anticipation of the immediate return of Christ for judgment, constantly urge that whatever benefits accrue to the faithful will be shared by the Christians who have died before He comes, as well as by those who are alive when He comes. As they contemplated material blessings from the coming, it was necessary to show that those who had died before He came would be placed under no disability. St. Peter in no way refers, in 1 Peter 4:6, to old-world sinners, but entirely to the Christians who had suffered in well-doing right up to death. The gospel—this same gospel of suffering with Christ, and in His spirit—was preached unto them (see Matthew 5:10-12). They were misunderstood, judged, persecuted by men in their fleshly life. But in their loyalty and faithfulness they lived their spiritual life; in their spirits—their inner spiritual life—they kept true to God, and the will of God, as they knew it. And their being dead would prove no hindrance to their sharing the full Divine acceptance with the loyal living, and with Christ, who in the same way “suffered in the flesh.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 4:1. Suffering in the Flesh.—A key to the passage is found in the fact that it is addressed to martyrs and prospective martyrs, and through them to all sufferers of bodily woes. Willingness to suffer is the sign of ceasing from sin, the essence of sin being our living according to our self-will, and unto our self-pleasing. Willingness to suffer was a sign of Christ’s life to the will of God, and death to self-will. He was willing to suffer even to extremity, even unto death. That mind of willingness was Christ’s defence and power, and it may be ours. Christ presents the example of putting the body under restraint by the dominion of the will or spirit. His suffering in the flesh was for us, as an example and power upon us. Take these points: 1. Christ’s experience of suffering in the flesh. 2. In what senses this suffering was borne for us. 3. How the mastery of the flesh—which takes such a diversity of forms—can be regarded as one great battle. 4. What are the two possible laws under the control of which human lives can be conducted—the will of God or the will of the flesh? 5. How altogether inconsistent a fleshly life must be to a Christian, seeing he is a regenerate man and born unto God. Paraphrase. “As Christ suffered in the flesh without shrinking, take for your protection and support the same thought which proved a protection and support to Him—viz., that to be rid of sin for ever was the greatest of all possible blessings, and that this is only attainable through the bodily death. And the result of embracing this thought will be that for the rest of your lives on earth (so soon, perhaps, to be cut violently short) you may no longer live to men’s lusts, but to God’s will.”—Ellicott’s Commentary. Christ’s Sufferings.—The Redeemer of the world is infinitely above us, and in another sense actually beside us. We adore Him as King of angels, and love Him as our Elder Brother. His sympathy is as true as His sovereignty; and because He once suffered being tempted, He is able now to succour them that are tempted. His incarnation was necessary. The suffering humanity of our Lord is the point where we may touch Him. He was a real man, living, sensitive, suffering, sympathetic, and such a Saviour became us. To see His footprints in the path we have to tread inspires us with willingness to endure to the end. I. Try to understand what the sufferings of Jesus Christ were.—There is a mystery about His sufferings which even far-seeing angels cannot discover. Let reverence walk hand in hand with study. 1. There can be no doubt that Jesus was exempted from many of the physical ills from which we suffer. He was healthy, vigorous, with life replete. Many of our physical sufferings we bring on ourselves. Jesus suffered as a man, but not as a sinner. His whole life was a martyrdom. The pure amongst the impure. 2. His utter loneliness. His was the solitude of a holy soul surrounded by sinners; of a heavenly spirit in contact with things earthly and sensual; of a mind whose higher thoughts not a single being on earth could appreciate; whose truest objects in living and dying as He did none could comprehend. 3. The expression “in the flesh” reminds us of His uncongenial surroundings. The environment of our life has much to do with our happiness or misery. He lived and died among a despised people. At any moment He might have left the world to its sins and sorrows, and risen triumphant above them all. Then He could not have been our Brother, our Great High Priest. Jesus is our Example. II. How these sufferings were endured by Him.— 1. It is evident that He accepted them as God’s appointment for Him here. “The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” indicates His attitude to trouble right through. It was a “cup” measured and proffered by the Father’s hand—a Father whose will was wise and good. The secret of patient, brave endurance of the ills of life is that God rules them, and in the long run will bring Divine issues out of them, as He did out of Gethsemane and Calvary. 2. Our Lord never allows Himself to be absorbed in His own sorrows. Suffering tends to make us self-absorbed. No selfishness in Jesus. He was always ready to enter into other people’s joys and griefs, whatever His own sorrows might be. If a follower of Christ, our couch of pain will be the centre of joy and peace to those who circle round us. Effort for others shall mitigate our own distress. “Arm yourselves also with the same mind.” III. How can we do this?— 1. By God’s help in answer to prayer. We must set Christ before us as our Pattern. A living example is more helpful than abstract principles. Keep Jesus steadily before you. 2. Jesus is no historic personage, but a Living Presence. “I am with you alway.” 3. He identifies Himself with us. If we suffer with Him, we shall be also glorified together. Trials of faith and patience and temper are not purposeless. Nothing in all this multitudinous world walks with aimless feet. The end of His pathway was not Calvary but heaven. Those who follow it will find at last, not a plunge into an abyss, but a path of ascension to realms sorrowless and sinless, which He entered and claimed for us when He ascended on high and a cloud received Him out of His servants’ sight.—A. Rowland, LL.B., B.A. 1 Peter 4:1-2. The Mind of Christ the Christian’s Armour.—The ruling thought of the text is this: You may be persecuted, you may even be martyred; you may have much to suffer in your flesh, in your circumstances; but so had Christ. You may escape it all by giving up your allegiance to Christ. Live to yourself and to your own self-will, to the indulgence of your own love of ease and safety, and then you need not thus “suffer in the flesh.” But if you have the same mind as Christ, if you are determined to set the will of God first, and bear whatever doing that “will” may involve, then you will find yourself lifted up in spirit so as to look cheerfully on to suffering, even to martyrdom, and you will feel that self-will—the essence of sin—has ceased; it is crushed within you. Christ’s “suffering in the flesh” specially directs our thought to the physical sufferings of the cross. It was from those physical pains that His human nature shrank, and in Gethsemane He triumphed over that shrinking, and won the victory of a perfect and submissive trust in His Father’s will. He suffered, yielding His body to the great and prolonged agony, but able to bear it all calmly unto the end, because the self—the essence of sin—was quite mastered, and He could say, “Thy will be done.” “Arm yourselves with the same mind.” Christ was defended from yielding to bodily suffering, defended, too, from human shrinking from it, by a certain intent, thought, purpose, resolution, which may be sharply expressed in this way: “I shall do and bear the will of God, whatever it may have in it.” We can have that mind. Prospective suffering will show whether we have it. Actual suffering will test its power and influence on us. “Ceased from sin.” Understand “sin” here to stand for that which is the essence of sin, self will, self-pleasing, and the sentence becomes clearer. Live to do the will of God. Set that first, and you will surely find that you become dead to self; you cease from sinful shrinking back; nay, the actual suffering will but help to kill the self in you. The mind of Christ then will arm us for the battle and suffering of life. I. What is that mind?—Like the early Christians, we find that in the Christian lot there is the “needs be” for what answers to their persecutions and martyrdoms. And we cannot control our circumstances. “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will.” Indeed, no man can master his circumstances until he has mastered himself; but then, even if he never can alter the things, he can alter the set and tone of his mind and feeling towards the things, and mate and master them thus. For, after all, the various things of life are to men according to their mind and feeling towards them. Things hurt us in one mood of mind which we do not at all feel in another; and by differences of disposition men’s troubles vary. The one most impressive of all lessons learned from the human life of the Lord Jesus is this: He could not change His circumstances or surroundings; He would not have done so if He could; and yet He really mastered them all by the inward feeling and purpose of submission and obedience which He so fully cherished. Nothing can master the disabilities of a human life but soul-strength; nothing can give and keep soul-strength save the simple, cheerful determination that everywhere and in everything we will do and bear God’s will. Here is the answer to the question, What shall arm us for the battle and sorrow of life? It is “the mind of Christ,” the set of soul towards God, and so towards holy things, which was characteristic of Christ. Can we yet more fully see what that prevailing mind and purpose of Christ was? Look at His childhood. There we often find the fore shadowings of the life; and in such a child as Jesus we may well expect to see the prophecy of the life. The thought evidently abiding in Him was this: Life for Me is My Father’s business. He began with something in His mind—with an idea and a resolution that lifted Him above the thought of suffering. Upon our Lord, during His ministry, there came awful visions of the woe awaiting Him in the Holy City, and He plainly saw, at the centre of all that woe, the agonising cross; and yet, what was His mind? It is revealed at once in this: “He set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem.” Strong to go forward, even into the mists and the darkness, because He must simply do God’s will. Gethsemane is the place where the mind of Christ is so fully revealed. It was Calvary without the bodily pain. There came upon the frail and worn human nature of our Lord the full vision of the awful scenes of the next day, and that human nature cried out in its shrinking, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” But quickly after it comes the triumph-cry of the soul’s set purpose: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” That is the mind of Christ which armed Him for all bearing work. And He was victorious right to the end. The last words that broke from His dying lips showed how thoroughly He had ceased from sin; He was dead to all self-will, all self-seeking—“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” Get that spirit or mind of Christ. Be like Him, and it will not be hard to live the rest of life in the flesh, not to the lusts of men, not to the self-seekings of our own hearts, but to the will of God. II. How may this mind be gained?—Christ’s suffering in the flesh was intended to bring closely home to us His kinship with us. Suffering is the common lot of humanity. However we separate Christ from us in His Divine nature, we must keep Him quite near in His human nature. We cannot be like Him in degree, we can be in kind. How can the mind of Christ be gained? We must have the same thought of God that Christ had. That only comes out of personal relations. We must have the same thought of self that Christ had. Self second, God first. We must have the same thought of life that Christ had. Life, the sphere of God’s mission. We must have the same thought of suffering that Christ had. The testing of the full obedience and trust. III. How will this “mind” practically help us?—See how it will make us soul-strong (1) in cases of bodily depression; (2) in those changes that involve suffering; (3) in perplexed, anxious times; (4) when called to part with beloved friends. We might cover all human woes, and show how the medicine for all is the “mind of Christ”; we shall only cease from self as we can get it. It is the uplifted face of the Son to the Father, and the trembling cry from the bitter cross—“As Thou wilt.” But neither Christ, nor we, can ever feel it, or ever say it, until our souls get a vision of the Father’s hands. All is well then. We can suffer and be strong. 1 Peter 4:6. Preaching to the Dead.—Having just spoken of Christ as the judge of the living and the dead, he now affirms that the dead—those who are now dead—will be judged according to men in the flesh; that is, as those now living will be judged. But to those now living the gospel has been preached. They have heard of the redemption provided for them in Christ Jesus, and have, therefore, been placed in the most favourable circumstances for preparing for the judgment, and escaping final condemnation. Is this the case also with the dead? with the heathen world, who, indeed, ran to all kinds of excess in sin, but never had the light of revelation? The apostle answers in the affirmative, for the gospel was preached to them also; for when Christ, in His disembodied spirit, went into Hades, He proclaimed to them the good tidings of salvation, and offered to them deliverance from their prison, and a title to eternal life. St. Peter goes back to the former passage (1 Peter 3:18), and re-affirms the fact of Christ’s preaching to the inhabitants of the unseen world; and further, he affirms the object of the preaching, that they, being judged as having merited death, might, notwithstanding, live as regards the spirit. St. Paul affirms, “The body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10), meaning that the body, even of a Christian, dies on account of sin, but that the spirit lives because of the righteousness it has obtained through Christ. Even so have all past generations died, whilst the antediluvians especially, and others who died in a state of alienation from God, were judged to imprisonment in Hades, until Christ came and offered them salvation. If any of them accepted it—and perhaps many of them did—they already live in the spirit, having entored upon a state of blessedness which Christ prepared even for them.—Thornley Smith. The Dead and the Living.—The dead here, contrasted with the living, must naturally mean those who were in the state of the dead when this message came to them. It sounds like an unexpected and mysterious extension of the gospel message, so that not living men alone, but the departed also, came directly within the range of its proclamation. The change was to affect their state, not in the sight of men but of God alone. The men in the days of Noah, the dwellers in the cities of the plain, the Egyptian host, the Canaanite armies, to the eye of men were all swept away in one indiscriminate judgment. Yet in each case there may have been a secret and powerful work of repentance, by which a remnant turned to God in the hour of calamity and desolation. To all such the message of mercy might come, when our Lord, in His separate spirit, preached to the dead, to the spirits in prison; and the destined result was attained, “that they might live according to God in the spirit,” or gain a firm hold of that Saviour and His finished sacrifice, on whom, as the promised seed of the woman, with a dim and starlight faith they had learned to put their trust in the hour of judgment, when all their refuges of lies were swept away.—Birks. Alive and Dead.—The remarkable expression used by St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, “We that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep,” indicates a prevailing sentiment in the early Church which materially helps in the understanding of this difficult verse. When the visible coming of Christ was daily expected, those seemed to be placed at grave disadvantage who were taken away by death before He came. In this way Christians mourned over their dead fellow-Christians, as having missed the great Christian hope and privilege. St. Peter intends to comfort such distressed souls. He is speaking of dead Christians and living Christians. He bids the troubled ones be quite sure that as the gospel was preached to their dead friends, and they found the eternal life through it, they do live, according to God’s thought for them, that very spiritual life into which we all are to be brought at Christ’s coming, though, in the ordering of God’s providence, they had died. The mistakes in apprehending both this and the previous passage arise from our putting our modern ideas into St. Peter’s mind, instead of simply endeavouring to discover what actually was in his mind. TO CHAPTER 41 Peter 4:2. Lawful Pleasure.—Undoubtedly there is a degree of natural pleasure, connected with the exercise of the appetites, which is lawful. But it is very obvious that self is the natural man, which, in always seeking for pleasure, without regarding either its nature or its lawfulness, has polluted everything here. It is in connection with the appetites in their unsanctified state that we find one of the strong ties which bind man to his idols, and which subject his proud spirit. This strong bond must be sundered. No one can be acceptable to God who does not crucify and reject every form of attraction and pleasure from this source which is not in accordance with the intentions of nature, and does not receive the Divine approbation and sanction.—Upham. AND NOTES1 Peter 4:7. End of all things.—Jews naturally thought of the end of organised Judaism as the “end of all things,” The end of one great ζon, or dispensation was nigh at hand, and this fact was properly used as an incentive to watchfulness Man is not capable of attaching a definite meaning to the term, “end of all things.” He can understand the “end of his things.” Sober.—letter, “be of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.” Keep a good check on all bodily desires and passions; sober, or self-restrained, and so able to make everything an occasion of prayer.1 Peter 4:8. Charity.—Or love; but it is love as influencing Christian fellowship. Distinguish from the love of sex. Charity suggests the mutual consideration, and mutual service, which are the essential elements of social love. Fervent.—Or intense. It is important that the love should be more than cherished good feeling. It should find free expression in daily intercourse. The difficult circumstances of the Churches made mutual confidence, mutual interest, and mutual helpfulness, unusually important. Cover the (a) multitude.—See James 5:20. The idea is, that love tries to hide the faults and failings of brethren; or, love others, and you will find it easy to forgive, and pass over, faults. “It is a truth from which we need not shrink, that every sin which love hides from man’s sight, is hidden in God’s sight also” (Alford), One writer thinks the idea of the sentence is, that the exercise of this grace of charity, or love, makes up for a great many other shortcomings in the man.1 Peter 4:9. Hospitality.—Suggested by the word “charity,” and an important form of it in those days, when Christians were often turned out of their homes, and dependent on the shelter and kindness of Christian friends. Grudging.—Murmuring, fretting under the claim put upon you. Circumstances of family life often make offering hospitality a great strain on feeling.1 Peter 4:10. The gift.—Better, a gift, any gift. Each renewed man is thought of as being endowed with some gift, which he is to put to use for the general edification. Activity in the employment of our Christian gifts provides the best security against temptation. Minister.—In the general sense of “use in-service.” Stewards.—Men put in trust. A steward is in no sense a possessor. Manifold.—Various. God’s gifts take various forms, and so the whole circle of the Church’s need is adequately provided for.1 Peter 4:11. Speak.—Referring to the gift of tongues, which took form as preaching. prophecy, ecstatic utterance, counsel, etc. (See Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12-14). Oracles of God.—R.V. “speaking as it were oracles of God.” Two ideas are suggested, but the latter is probably the one in the apostle’s mind. 1. Speaking in harmony with what was already received as oracles of God; or, 2. Speaking only as inspired by oracles of God. The teacher is to keep himself strictly open to Divine leadings; to speak as one possessed of powers not his own. Minister.—Serve in the Church as the first deacons did. “Serve tables.” General helping in meeting the various claims and duties, perhaps with special reference to the poor. There is a gift of practical ministry to which attention should be directed. God giveth.—It makes all the difference whether we are using our strength, or a God-given strength. The gift of working for others comes from God. Glorified.—Compare Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:31. Praise.—Glory. Ever and ever.—Ages and ages.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 4:7-11 Immediate Duty in Relation to Christian Graces and Christian Gifts.—As the apostle is directly addressing persecuted and imperilled Christians—men whose lives were in danger on account of their steadfast loyalty to Christ—we must understand him as adapting his persuasions to their particular thoughts and fears. There is an end to all things. There is an end to suffering in the flesh. That end may be martyrdom—it is in some cases. That end may be death—it is in all cases; and the uncertainty of death is a constant persuasion to energy and persistency. “Be ye always ready.” It may be true that the early Christians anticipated the end of their sufferings in Christ’s coming rather than in death, and that we have learned to see death as Christ’s coming; but the fact remains, whatever may be the forms under which it is presented, that whosoever suffers in well-doing, suffers but for a time, and he never knows any day how near the end of his sufferings may be. He may find cheer in the thought of that uncertainty. He may be inspired to do and suffer well by that uncertainty. He ought to be full of supreme anxiety to make the very best of the “little while” of possibilities that is given to him. St. Peter urges upon these persecuted Christians that they ought to be— I. Nourishing all Christian graces.—The moderation of a careful self-restraint and self-management needs to be cultivated and exercised. “Be ye therefore sober.” The term implies the harmony of affections and desires with reason, and the due control of passions. Perhaps the idea prominent in the apostle’s mind was that the last days—as he imagined them to be—would be full of commotions, surprises, and calamities, occasioning great alarm and distress. It should be characteristic of the Christians that they preserved their calmness at such times, “in their patience possessing their souls.” Watchfulness of themselves should be joined with prayer. Lit. “be sober unto prayers” (προσευχάς) Recalling our Lord’s words in Gethsemane, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” “Men are to be sober with a view to prayer. Desires of all kinds, above all, those of man’s lower nature, are fatal to the energy, and therefore to the efficacy, of prayer.” “There can be no preparation for the duty of prayer when the mind is absorbed either in the pursuit of pleasure or in the pursuit of riches, or even in the pursuit of the arts and sciences. He only can bow the knee in a right spirit, and hold real fellowship with God, who is able to throw off all temporal affairs like a loose garment, and, free from distracting thoughts, at once address himself to his Father who is in heaven.” The grace of which Christians in all ages need to be most anxious, the grace which they should most diligently and experimentally cultivate, is the grace of charity, using that term in the sense of love to another finding daily expression in service one of another. “And above all things—as the chief and all-essential thing—having your love toward one another intense, because love covereth a multitude of sins.” There was special need of cultivating this mutual patience and sympathy and helpfulness of brotherly love in times of peril and persecution. It is an important point of St. Peter’s advice that he sees in this cultivated and freely exercised brotherly love the one thing that can master the misunderstandings, and prejudices, and estrangements that inevitably come up in all associations of frail and imperfect men. Christian love can cover, correct, or remove these evils. Hospitality is a Christian virtue which at a peculiar time, and under particular circumstances, found befitting expression for the brotherly love. Jewish Christians scattered abroad would be very dependent on the kindness of Jewish Christians in the countries they visited, or resided in. Hospitality is still a Christian grace, that should be cultivated and exercised, but it must find expression within the limitations and conditions of modern civilised life. II. Exercising all Christian gifts.—“According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” The apostles thought of the bestowment and sealing of the Holy Ghost as including the imparting to the believer of some special gift, or ability, which he was to use for the edification of his fellow-believers. Every converted man is an endowed man, placed under the responsibility of a trust. His gift is nothing for him to glory in or boast over, it is his possibility of service; whatever it is, it is to be cultured into efficiency, and exercised with all wisdom, prudence, and energy. “All gifts involve reponsibilities, yet it is an honour to possess them, and if we have also grace to employ them aright, they will be doubled to us in a future life.” The gifts are classified by St. Peter under two heads— 1. Speaking gifts. 2. Ministering gifts. Gifts relating to the tongue. Gifts relating to the hand, or visiting the sick and needy, teaching children, helping those in trouble, etc. And in exercising our gifts it is important to be reminded that there is no absolute standard by which the exercise must be judged; each must minister his own gifts, in his own way, “as of the ability that God giveth.” No man of them must judge his brother. This supreme anxiety should possess them all, that they should not serve themselves in the use of their gift, nor even serve others only; they must keep, as the one inspiring idea in the exercise of all gifts, that they should glorify God through Jesus Christ, whose name they bore, and whose servants they were. “We are often actuated in our Church life by personal motives, seeking our own honour, and anxious to obtain the praise of men; and sometimes we are actuated by mixed motives, having God’s glory partly in view, but not losing sight of our own. When our motives are thoroughly purified, and we learn to live and act only for the Divine glory, how lofty will be our piety, and how transparent our character and our lives” (Thornley Smith). NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 4:7. The End Then and the End Now.— 1. In what sense was it true then, that “the end of all things was at hand”? In the widest and most literal sense that the expression will bear, it was not true, for upwards of eighteen centuries have passed away, and the end has not yet come. “Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” The precise period of the final judgment was one of those mysteries which even St. John, in the Apocalypse, did not unfold. Is it surprising, then, if the apostle supposed that the end of all things was nearer than it really was? Some think he referred to the end of that age—to the end of the Jewish dispensation. Some think he meant the end of all these things is at hand—the follies of the wicked, and the persecutions of the righteous. Death would soon put an end to both, and all would soon be called before the Judges 2. In what sense is it true now? We are living in the nineteenth century of the Christian era; is the end of it approaching? or is an end of the present dispensation near? Some interpreters of prophecy believe that the manifestation of Christ from heaven is at hand, when He will raise the bodies of the sainted dead, change those that are alive, and commence His millennial reign on the earth. The conception is a grand one, and possibly it may be realised; but the personal reign of Christ on the earth, as the earth is at present constituted, is difficult to imagine; nor does the language of any of the apostles teach it. When He comes the saints are to be caught up to meet Him in the air, and they are to live and reign with Him a thousand years; but it is nowhere said that this will be on the earth. We cannot, however, affirm positively that these events are nigh.—Thornley Smith. Watching for the Advent.—It must be held as a first principle that, ever since the appearing of Christ, there is nothing left to the faithful but, with wakeful minds, to be always intent on His second advent.—Calvin. 1 Peter 4:7. The End of All Things.—Respecting the transactions of the last day, many entertain the view that a moment will come when the present order of things will abruptly terminate, to be followed by a general destruction of the present material order. The prophetic language used in reference to those transactions, and the poetic garb in which they are couched, have tended to nourish such a conception; but the true end of things is not an abrupt suspension of their functions, but a completion—a perfect finish—of the ideal purposes for which these materials were created. Moral ends are the highest ideals of all things and all beings. To their fulfilment we must look for the terminus of the railway of time, and not exclusively to their physical constitution, although the movement may be conterminous in both. Human life is the highest of all purposes, and fitted to accomplish the highest and most definite ends. Its course has run for thousands of years, but, having regard to the regeneration of the whole race, we do not see the end of the present order very near. Nevertheless, it is certain, and the fact must have its place among the subjects of contemplation. If, however, we think of the duration of human life, and the uncertainty thereof, to us the “end of all things is at hand.” When this life is over, it will be like the final dissolution of the universe: we shall have none of the present interest in it. Our course will soon be at an end. There is but a step between us and the grave. The contemplation of such a serious step demands soberness, with watching and prayer. “Be ye ready,” is the Master’s call; to which we ought to answer, Ready, Lord. I. A grave crisis.—“The end of all things is at hand.” There is a terminus in view towards which all things converge. There are no such things as “eternal rounds” for finite creatures, but one straight course, with a sharply defined beginning and ending. In order to take a general view of the subject, we notice four particulars or departments of God’s works which are daily moving towards a finale. 1. Human life. The contemplation of the end of our present life ought to cause no regret. Time and facilities enough will be granted to every man to work out the ideal manhood on which his whole life is based. Time wasted, and circumstances frittered away, will cause sorrow; but the improvement of time and the right use of opportunities will bear a peaceable fruit. Life is a germ, to be developed day by day, and when Death puts in the sickle, the abundant harvest should amply repay the trouble of sowing. He who builds up character according to the Divine model will lay in heaven the topmost stone, with “grace, grace unto it.” It is necessary to keep the end in view, to avoid the waste of time and the abuse of talent. A life in earnest will bring death in pence. 2. Moral means. Within a definite period, either long or short, the foundations of faith must be laid, obedience to God rendered, service to mankind given, and a general assimilation of purpose to the nature and tendency of the gospel made. It is a great work, and must be accomplished within its own period. It is true that we cannot comprehend eternity, or know all the ultimate purposes of God; but those who have abundant opportunities for repentance and faith now, cannot expect a period of probation hereafter. The offer of mercy through Jesus Christ is made within its own term, and the gospel will utter its last word to every sinner in this world. Are there more effective means beyond death—means that will be more certain to produce reformation? In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus there are these words: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.” Take a more emphatic answer from the parable of the barren fig-tree: “Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.” There is a time set, and means ordained for securing the peace of God, and our obvious duty is to “take the tide at the flood.” 3. The course of nature. The heavens and the earth shall pass away. There are material evidences to show this. We do not build our faith on scientific truths, but we receive them in corroboration of the teaching of the Book. Nature’s course, though long, is terminable. Suns, moons, stars, and the earth will one day declare, We have finished our task. A graphic description of that day is given by St. Peter in the second epistle and the third chapter. After reading these words, the one impression left on our mind is, that the eternal God has created all things for definite purposes in connection with the life and salvation of the human race; and the call is to prayer and to diligence. 4. Moral administration. The course of sin will be arrested, and every discordant note will cease. To-day, sin meets with a series of checks, but then, a complete annihilation. This will necessitate a change in many departments of moral government. The mediation of the Saviour will cease in its intercessory character. The day of forgiveness will end. The unclean will remain so, and the regenerate will rise to a state of perfection. The whole gospel dispensation will advance from its preparatory stages to the final condition of harmony and beauty in God the Father. This will take place after the resurrection and the last judgment. “And when all things have been subjected unto Him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all.” Seeing that things, material and moral, are working towards that grave crisis, we ought to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when we believed. II. An earnest exhortation.—“Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” The end must be in view, that the means appointed fur its attainment may find a legitimate place in the economy of human life. This reminds us of a motto which a gentleman had inscribed over every door in his house: “Whatever you do, consider the end.” 1. Seriousness. To be sober-minded is to look at human life in all its bearings and responsibilities. Men are liable to several kinds of intoxication, and there are many drunken, but not with alcohol. Some are intoxicated with pride, others with pleasure, others with wealth, and many with imaginary greatness. St. Peter exhorts us in the text to avoid frivolity. Trifling with serious matters is a grave offence against morality, as well as an injury to the soul. 2. Watchfulness. Care must be taken to conserve the good we possess, and to entrench ourselves firmly in every position we occupy. There must be no “unguarded hours” in the Christian’s year. There may be enough courage to fight sin in open battle, where there is not enough caution to retain the advantage. Our Saviour exhorts us to “watch and pray.” The roaring lion is about, seeking us for his prey. Watchfulness is the compass by which the vessel is steered. Thousands have made a shipwreck of the faith because they neglected to look at the compass. Let us watch our very thoughts, fearing they should be vain. Let us watch every emotion of the heart, fearing they are sinful. Let us watch every step of the foot, fearing it may be outside the narrow path. Watch all your moments, and at all times. Temptation is your greatest foe; watch against your besetting sin. Keep yourselves spotless from the world. “Love not the world, nor,” etc. 3. Prayerfulness. The aspirations of prayer are heavenward. God has promised to help us. Prayer leads on to the grand end of moral perfection and eternal joy. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14). Then pray on. Many of you may look with fear to the end. You are not confident that yours will be peace and joy. It may be that such a blessed assurance is not given to most of the saints until the time comes. But one thing is certain: we must pray on. Prayer leads the way. We enter on holiness by prayer. We secure every blessing by prayer, because we take the name of Jesus with us to the throne of mercy. Prayer leans on His breast. “Pray without ceasing.” Brethren, let us keep the glorious end of our faith in view, even the salvation of our souls. We need to feel the coming of the end in every service, and in every religious exercise, as the sailor sees the beacons of his native land coming in sight when nearing the shore. Bend to the oar, and pull for the shore. Watching and praying will soon be over. Look to the end of these, for there you will see the crown and the Saviour.—Anon. 1 Peter 4:8. The Pre-eminence of Charity.—The grace of charity is exalted as the highest attainment of the Christian life by St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. John. These three men were very different from each other. Each was the type of a distinct order of character. And it is a proof that the gospel is from God, and that the sacred writings are inspired from a single Divine source, that personal peculiarities are not placed foremost in them, but the foremost place is given by each to a grace which certainly was not the characteristic quality of all the three. Love is over all and above all, above intellect, freedom, courage. I. What charity is.—Charity has become identified with almsgiving. Love is appropriated to one particular form of human affection, and that one with which self and passion mix inevitably. Philanthropy is a word too cold and negative. Charity may be defined as the desire to give, and the desire to bless. 1. The desire to give. Not to get something, but to give something. The mightier, the more irrepressible this yearning to give is, the more truly is the love love. Sacrifice, in some shape or other, is the impulse of love, and its restlessness is only satisfied and only gets relief in giving. For this, in truth, is God’s own love, the will and the power to give. 2. The desire to bless. Even weak and spurious love desires happiness of some kind for the creature that it loves. What we call philanthropy is often calm and cool—too calm and cool to waste upon it the name of charity. But it is a calm and cool desire that human happiness were possible. It is, in its weak way, a desire to bless. Now, the love whereof the Bible speaks, and of which we have but one perfect personification—viz., in the life of Christ—is the desire for the best and true blessedness of the being loved. It wishes the well-being of the whole man—body, soul, and spirit; but chiefly spirit. The highest love is the desire to make men good and Godlike. Concerning this charity, notice (1) It is characterised as fervent. Literally, intense, unremitting, unwearied. Fervent charity—Christ’s spirit—does not tire, and cannot be worn out; it loves its enemies, and does good to them that hate it. (2) It is capable of being cultivated. We assume that, simply because it is enjoined. How shall we cultivate it? (a) Love cannot be produced by a direct action of the soul upon itself. You cannot love by a resolve to love. Effort of heart is followed by collapse. Excitement is followed by exhaustion. It is as impossible for a man to work himself into a state of genuine, fervent love as it is for a man to inspire himself. (b) We may, however, cultivate charity by doing acts which love demands. It is God’s merciful law that feelings are increased by acts done on principle. If a man has not the feeling in its warmth, let him not wait till the feeling comes. Let him act with such feeling as he has; with a cold heart if he has not got a warm one: it will grow warmer while he acts, (c) We cultivate Christian love by contemplating the love of God. Love begets love. Love, believed in, produces a return of love; we cannot love because we must. “Must” kills love; but the law of our nature is that we love in reply to love. II. What charity does.—It covereth a multitude of sins. But whose sins? Is it that the sins of the charitable man are covered by his charity in God’s sight? Or is it the sins of others over which charity throws a mantle, so as not to see them? The latter must be meant. There are three ways, at least, in which love covers sin. 1. In refusing to see small faults. 2. By making large allowances. It understands by sympathy. It is that glorious nature which has affinity with good under all forms, and loves to find it, to believe in it, and to see it. Those with such natures—God’s rare and best ones—learn to make allowances, not from weak sentiment, which calls wrong right, but from that heavenly charity which sees right lying at the root of wrong. 3. By tolerating even intolerance. Let no man think that he can be tolerant or charitable as a matter of self-indulgence. For real charity and real toleration he must pay the price.—F. W. Robertson. 1 Peter 4:11. In All Things Glorifying God. Apply this rule— I. To the labours of the understanding.—We may read all things, and yet read as God’s scholars; drawing even from the writings of those who thought but of evil, or at least were utterly careless of God, a food for holy and spiritual principles to be nourished with. II. To our labours of charity, or our acts of kindness to our neighbours.—If we give but a cup of cold water to one of the humblest of our brethren, let it be done for Christ’s sake. Too often our charity is very unsanctified; we think of our suffering brethren only, without remembering who it is that puts Himself forward in their persons to receive our love, and, if we will but see Him, to take, in their behalf, the office of over-paying all that we can do to them. Apply this rule— III. To all our more general conduct, the things which do not come under the two previous divisions.—There is no real goodness, there is even no safety from condemnation, unless we glorify God through Jesus Christ. With regard to the employment of our time, the exercise of our bodily faculties, the government of our tongues, how soon shall we be satisfied, and into how much of real sin shall we continually be falling, if we do not, in all these matters, remember that we are but stewards of God’s manifold bounties; that our time, our bodies, and the wonderful faculty of speech, were all only lent us to improve them—lent us to glorify Him who gave them.—T. Arnold, D.D. God Seeks His Own Glory.—The glory of God, or the showing forth of His nature and attributes, is necessarily His own chief end in all His works of creation and providence. It is so especially in the wondrous constitution of the Church, and must therefore be her chief end also in all the service that she renders to His name. And as God’s love to her flows ever in the channel of Christ’s mediation, and Christ’s presence with her by His word and spirit is the sole cause of her life and activity, so, likewise, it is “through Jesus Christ” that her answering tribute of praise reaches the eternal throne.—Lillie. 1 Peter 4:12. The Vindication of Suffering.—Suffering fills a large place in our present system. It is not an accident, it enters into every life. A great amount of suffering may be traced to human ignorance and guilt, and this will gradually disappear in proportion to the progress of truth and virtue. Still, under the imperfections which seem inseparable from this first stage of our being, a great amount of suffering will remain. God intends that we shall suffer. It is sometimes said that He has created nothing for the purpose of giving pain, but that every contrivance in the system has good for its object. All this is true, and a beautiful illustration of kind purpose in the Creator. But it is also true that every organ of the body, in consequence of the delicacy of its structure, and its susceptibility to influences from abroad, becomes an inlet of acute pain. And how much pain comes from the spirit, and from the very powers and affections which make the glory of our nature! Suffering comes to us through and from our whole nature. It cannot be winked out of sight. It cannot be thrust into a subordinate place in the picture of human life. It is the chief burden of history. It is the solemn theme of one of the highest departments of literature, the tragic drama. It gives to fictions their deep interest. It wails through much of our poetry. A large part of human vocations are intended to shut up some of its avenues. It has left traces on every human countenance over which years have passed. It is, to not a few, the most vivid recollection of life. We are created with a susceptibility of pain, and severe pain. This is a part of our nature, as truly as our susceptibility of enjoyment. God has implanted it, and has thus opened in the very centre of our being a fountain of suffering. One of the most common indications of Divine benevolence is found in the fact that, much as men suffer, they enjoy more. We are told that there is a great balance of pleasure over pain, and that it is by what prevails in a system that we must judge of its author There is a grand vindication of God’s benevolence, not reaching, indeed, to every case of suffering, not broad enough to cover the whole ground of human experience, but still so comprehensive, so sublime, that what remains obscure would be turned into light, could all its connections be discerned. This is found in the truth that benevolence has a higher aim than to bestow enjoyment; and this requires suffering in order to be gained. As long as we narrow our view of benevolence, and see in it only a disposition to bestow pleasure, so long life will be a mystery; for pleasure is plainly not its great end. Amidst the selfish and animal principles of our nature, there is an awful power, a sense of right, a voice which speaks of duty, an idea grander than the largest personal interest—the idea of excellence, of perfection. Here is the seal of Divinity on us; here the sign of our descent from God. It is in this gift that we see the benevolence of God. It is in writing this inward law on the heart, it is in giving us the conception of moral goodness, and the power to strive after it, the power of self-conflict and self-denial, of surrendering pleasure to duty, and of suffering for the right, the true, and the good—it is in thus enduing us, and not in giving us capacities of pleasure, that God’s goodness shines; and of consequence, whatever gives a field, and excitement, and exercise, and strength, and dignity to these principles of our nature, is the highest manifestation of benevolence. The end of our being is to educate, bring out, and perfect, the Divine principles of our nature. We were made, and are upheld in life for this as our great end, that we may be true to the principle of duty within us, that we may put down all desire and appetite beneath the inward law; that we may enthrone God, the infinitely perfect Father, in our souls; that we may count all things as dross, in comparison with sanctity of heart and life; that we may hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for daily food; that we may resolutely and honestly seek for and communicate truth; that disinterested love and impartial justice may triumph over every motion of selfishness, and every tendency to wrong-doing; in a word, that our whole lives, labours, conversation may express and strengthen reverence for ourselves, for our fellow-creatures, and above all for God. Such is the good for which we were made; and in order to this triumph of virtuous and religious principles, we are exposed to temptation, hardship, pain. Is suffering, then, inconsistent with God’s love? I might show how suffering ministers to human excellence; how it calls forth the magnanimous and sublime virtues, and at the same time nourishes the tenderest, sweetest sympathies of our nature; how it raises us to energy, and to the consciousness of our powers, and at the same time infuses the meekest dependence on God; how it stimulates toil for the goods of this world, and at the same time weans us from it, and lifts us above it. I do not, then, doubt God’s beneficence on account of the sorrows and pains of life.—W. E. Channing, D.D. The Mystery of Pain.—We must accept pain as a fact existing by a deep necessity, having its root in the essential order of the world. If we are to understand it, we must learn to look on it with different eyes. And does not a different thought suggest itself even while we recognise that the others fail? For if the reason and the end of pain lie beyond the results that have been mentioned, then they lie beyond the individual. Pain, if it exist for any purpose, and have any end or use—and of this what sufferer can endure to doubt?—must have some purpose which extends beyond the interests of the person who is called upon to bear it. For the ends which have been mentioned include all that concerns the individual himself. That which surpasses these rises into a larger than the individual sphere. From this ground it becomes evident again that to know the secret of our pains we must look beyond ourselves.—Howard Hinton. TO CHAPTER 41 Peter 4:8. “Fervent.”—Literally intense, unremitting, unwearied. Now, there is a feeble sentiment which wishes well to all so long as it is not tempted to wish them ill, which does well to those who do well to them. But this, being mere sentiment, will not last. Ruffle it, and it becomes vindictive. In contrast with that, St. Peter calls Christ’s spirit which loves those who hate it, “fervent charity,” which does not tire, and cannot be worn out; which loves its enemies, and does good to them that hate it. For Christian love is not the dream of a philosopher sitting in his study, and benevolently wishing the world were better than it is; congratulating himself, perhaps, all the time on the superiority shown by himself over other less amiable natures. Injure one of these beaming sons of good-nature, and he bears malice—deep, unrelenting, refusing to forgive. But give us the man who, instead of retiring to some small, select society, or rather association, where his own opinions shall be reflected, can mix with men where his sympathies are unmet, and his tastes are jarred, and his views traversed at every turn, and still can be just, and gentle, and forbearing.—F. W. Robertson.1 Peter 4:9. Eastern Hospitality.—I was beginning to make my meal upon the food we had with us, when in came nine people, each bearing a dish. A large tray was raised on the rim of a corn-sieve placed on the ground, in the centre of which was placed a tureen of soup, with pieces of bread around it. The stranger, my servant, and a person who seemed to be the head man of the village, sat round the tray, dipping their wooden spoons or fingers into each dish as it was placed in succession before them. Of the nine dishes, I observed three were soups. I asked why this was, and who was to pay for the repast, and was informed it was the custom of the people, strictly enjoined by their religion, that, as soon as a stranger appears, each peasant should bring his dish, he himself remaining to partake of it after the stranger—a sort of picnic, of which the stranger partakes without contributing. The hospitality extends to everything he requires; his horse is fed, and wood is brought for his fire, each inhabitant feeling honoured by offering something. This custom accounts for the frequent recurrence of the same dish, as no one knows what his neighbour will contribute. Towards a Turkish guest this practice is perfectly disinterested, but from an European they may have possibly been led to expect some kind of return, although to offer payment would be an insult. The whole of the contributors afterwards sat down and ate in another part of the room.—Fellows.Grudging.—The word that is here translated “grudging” signifies murmuring, or unwillingness in doing anything, as if it were torn and forced from one, rather than proceeded from a free inclination. And this hateful, churlish way of almsgiving St. Paul likewise expressly forbids, and says our charity must not be shown grudgingly, or of necessity (2 Corinthians 9:7; Romans 12:8). And here we cannot but admire and adore the infinite goodness of God, who has not only obliged us to the substance of this duty, but has so ordered the very circumstantials of it that the necessitous may be relieved with as much decency and to themselves as can be, and the alms of others look rather like their own propriety, as the payment of a debt, or restoring of a pledge, or bestowing of a reward; and that their souls might not be grieved by frowns, and taunts, and unkind language, when they receive supply for the needs of their body. AND NOTES1 Peter 4:12. Strange.—Do not be surprised, as if something unreasonable had happened. No form of suffering can come to Christians as accident. God, with a purpose of grace, is behind all. Fiery trial.—Burning fire. R.V. “among you, which cometh upon you to prove you.” Whether “fiery” is intimation of intensity, or strictly descriptive, does not appear. The word as a symbol is more probable. Martyrdoms by fire may not have begun so early.1 Peter 4:13. Rejoice.—In one point of view of the sufferings, they bring you into the experience which led to the sanctifying and glorifying of Christ. It will lead through to yours also. Inasmuch as.—Better, “in as far as.” We get the true blessing of affliction only so far as we enter into the mind of the suffering Christ.1 Peter 4:14. If ye be.—This form of expression hints that they had been, were, and might be. Slander and reproach are often harder to bear than suffering in body or in circumstance Spirit of glory.—“Of glory and of power and of God.” The spirit which marks you out as an heir of glory. “The argument is, that reproach for the name of Christ is a proof of glory in reserve, or rather, already belonging to the man.” On their part.—This closing part of the verse is omitted in R.V. The words are an undoubted interpolation. They are not found in the best MSS. and Versions (see “Variorum Bible.”).1 Peter 4:15. The word translated “busy-body” is a peculiar one, and seems to have been coined by St. Peter,—ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος—lit. “Bishops of other men’s matters,” claiming rights in matters with which he has no proper concern. Interference is a fruitful source of trouble in all religious, as well as other communities.1 Peter 4:16. Christian.—St. Peter recognises this as the known name of the sect. This fact helps to date the epistle. On this behalf.—In this matter, or in this name; in being “counted worthy to suffer in this name.”1 Peter 4:17. Judgment must begin.—Compare 1 Peter 4:5; 1 Peter 4:7. “Just about to begin.” House of God.—See 1 Timothy 3:15 : 1 Peter 2:5. End be.—Not the final doom, but the end of the judgment dispensations that St. Peter knew were about to begin.1 Peter 4:18 Scarcely.—With difficulty. Keep association with the calamities immediately coming, which would centre round the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Apostles thought of this as God’s judgment on the wicked. Illustrate by the singing of the Christians, headed by Olynthus, when the fires of Vesuvius were destroying Pompeii, as given by Bulwer Lytton:“Woe to the proud ones who defy Him;Woe to the wicked who deny Him;Woe to the wicked, woe!”1 Peter 4:19. According to the will of God.—Recognised as permitting, over-ruling, and even apportioning, our suffering lot. Suffering borne for God is sanctified by God. “Stress is laid upon the attribute, or act of creation, as the ground of confidence. He who made the soul is also He who hateth nothing that He hath made.”MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 4:12-19 Christian Suffering No Surprise.—The burning fire is the symbol of afflictions and persecutions. The mind of the apostle goes back once more to those afflictions which the Christians of the Dispersion were, at that time, called to endure (1 Peter 1:6-7, 1 Peter 2:19-21, 1 Peter 3:15-17). All who profess the faith in Christ must take into full account the fact that only “through much tribulation” can any man enter the kingdom. “The path of sorrow, and that path alone,Leads to the place where sorrow is unknown.”Christian suffering should be no surprise because— I. It is needed for proving us.—“The fiery trial cometh upon you to prove you.” That is not precisely the same thing as to discipline you. The cases of Abraham, Job, and the Lord Jesus, show that proving the good, by suffering experiences, is the condition of advance in spiritual life and power. The poet “learns in suffering what he teaches in song.” And the Christian’s power to serve is a product of his trying experiences. II. It does but bring us into the line of Christ.—We have solved the mystery of our sufferings when we have solved the mystery of His. “Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered.” He was “made perfect through suffering to be a bringer on of sons to glory.” Moral power cannot be gained, save in Christ’s way. III. It is the medium for conveying special grace to us (1 Peter 4:14).—“The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.” These afflictions are the special agencies of the Spirit, and signs of unusual interest in you, concern for you, and purposes for you. IV. It is best seen as part of the Divine judgment on the race.—Which you are bearing vicariously, in order that you may be ministers of the Divine mercy that always blends with judgment. V. It may be difficult to endure these afflictions well.—“The righteous is scarcely saved.” You must put your whole heart and effort into the enduring, since the perils are so extreme. Life well-nigh masters everybody, with its strain and stress. Only the grace of God, sanctifying the most constant and careful watchfulness, gets even the righteous man through. Christian living is no easy thing. VI. Suffering in well-doing can only be borne to right issues when there is full trust in God, and the absolute committal of ourselves to Him in well-doing.—“In the acceptance of sufferings as being according to the will of God, much more is meant than the mere submission to an inevitable destiny. If we really think of pain and persecution as working out God’s will, permitted and controlled by Him, we know that that will is righteous and loving, planning nothing less than our completeness in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3), the will of which we daily pray that it may be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Dean Plumptre). A. J. Mason, in “Ellicott’s Commentary,” paraphrases 1 Peter 4:19 thus: “Consider the mildness of these trials compared with the terrors overhanging the sinful. Even if the worst should come to the worst, and you must die a martyr’s death, it is but the execution of God’s plan for you. View your life as a deposit lay it confidently in His hands, to be returned to you again when the time comes, and you will find Him faithful to what a Creator ought to be.” The “will of God,” in accordance with which they “suffer,” is part of the act of creation. The term “faithful Creator “contains the idea that the act of creation mposes duties and responsibilities on the Creator. In the Greek the words “in well-doing” are made emphatic by being placed last in the sentence. Punishment is the word for suffering which attends on wrong-doing. Discipline is the word for suffering which comes to frail-doing. Sanctifying is the proper word for suffering which is associated with well-doing. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 4:15. Busybodies.—It is but one word in the original (meaning), as bishops in another’s diocese, as pryers into other men’s matters, as pragmatical persons that meddle with other men’s concernments, without cause or call. It is not suffering for evil-doing, but suffering for well-doing, that carries the crown (2 Timothy 2:12). It is not just, but unjust suffering, that hath the recompense of reward annexed to it (1 Peter 3:14; 1 Peter 4:14). It is not sufferers for the evil of sin, nor sufferers of the evil of sin; but sufferers of the evil of punishment, for the avoiding of the evil of sin, whose cause is good.—Brooks. Bishops of Those Without.—“Others, through excess of zeal, declaimed aloud against the Pagans, and cast their vices in their teeth. Their more sensible brethren humorously called them “bishops,” or “overseers of those who are without” (Renan). Such is, indeed, the meaning of the droll word which St. Peter here gives: except that, instead of “bishops of those without,” it means “bishops of other men’s matters.” It denotes those prying and self-important people, who fancy they can. set everything to rights, and that everybody they come across is under their personal jurisdiction. Such persons would tend to make Christianity unpopular among the unbelievers, and in case of persecution would be the first to “suffer” (i.e., to be picked out for martyrdom); and while flattering themselves for the boldness with which they had spoken out, they would incur St. Peter’s censure, and their martyrdom would be reckoned no martyrdom by the Church. “Cruel mishaps,” continues M. Renan, “befell them; and the wise directors of the community, so far from extolling them, told them pretty plainly that it did but serve them right.”—A. J. Mason, M.A. 1 Peter 4:17-19. The Time of Visitation.—A new reason is here introduced why Christians should suffer gladly for their Lord’s sake. He will deliver them from the terrible judgments which are about to burst on the ungodly, and their souls will find rest in God, to whom they commit themselves as to a faithful Creator. I. The visitation of judgment.— 1. Its beginning. When St. Peter wrote, the city and temple of Jerusalem were still standing, but were threatened. The coming visitation affected believers as discipline, before it affected the ungodly as judgment. 2. Its progress. “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God.” If the sons are chastised, what have the rebels to expect? Not with impunity shall any one, on any grounds whatever, disobey the gospel of God. 3. Its results. The righteous are saved with difficulty. In consequence of the severity of the trial, and their own weakness, they barely escape the judgments of the Most High (illustrated by the haste of the escape of the Christians to Pella). The ungodly are those who care not for God; sinners are those who make a trade of sin. What will be their doom? II. The lesson to believers.—Drawn from these facts: 1. An exhortation to those who suffer according to the will of God. They never suffer but when God wills, and He will not always chide, nor lay upon them more than they are able to bear. 2. What are such sufferers to do? Commit the keeping of their souls to God, and put all their strength into well-doing. 3. The encouragement to do this arises from the fact that He is “a faithful Creator.”—Thornley Smith. Suffering a Common Experience.—All Christians are not tried as the Christians to whom Peter wrote—the Christians at the close of the Jewish dispensation; but all Christians meet with afflictions, and meet with afflictions because they are Christians; all suffer, and all suffer as Christians. We must never think ill of a cause merely because it is persecuted, nor indulge dark thoughts respecting the spiritual state and prospects of men merely because they are very severely afflicted. The absence of trial is a worse sign than what we may be disposed to think the excess of trial. It is not exposure to trial, but the endurance of trial, in “a patient continuance in well-doing,” that is a characteristic mark of those who obey the gospel of God.—Dr. J. Brown. TO CHAPTER 41 Peter 4:16. The Name “Christian.”—“There are only three places in the New Testament where the name Christian occurs. It is plain that for a long time there was no commonly recognised term of this kind. Hence they are called variously, “they that believed” (Acts 2:44), “the disciples” (Acts 6:1), “those of the way” (Acts 9:2), etc. Again, the name of Nazarenes was applied to them by the Jews, as a term of reproach, but plainly arose before the extension of the faith to the Gentiles. It was at Antioch that the large accession of Gentiles first made it impossible to look upon them merely as a Jewish sect, and required the use of some more distinctive title. It was natural, therefore, that the use of such a title should first prevail at Antioch. When the book [Acts of the Apostles] was written, towards the close of Paul’s imprisonment at Home, the formation of churches in the chief cities of almost every province would awaken inquiry as to the origin of this new name, that was already in every one’s mouth. How suitable, then, would be this passing remark of the historian (Acts 11:26), to show when and where it began to be current!—Birks.Called Christians.—The word χρηματίσαι, used by St. Luke (“they were called”), implies the thing to have been done by some public and solemn act and declaration of the whole Church; such being the use of the word in the imperial edicts and proclamations of those times, the emperors being said χρηματἱζειν “to style themselves,” when they publicly proclaimed by what titles they would be called.… Such being the general acceptation of the word, St. Luke (who was himself a native of this city) makes use of it to express that solemn declaration whereby the disciples of the religion entitled themselves to the name of Christians.—Cave.1 Peter 4:17. The Danger of Unbelief.—In one of the popular books of the present day there is a story told of “The Sunken Rock.” A vessel, named the Thetis, was cruising in the Mediterranean, in search of a shoal or bank, or something of that kind, said to exist beneath the treacherous waters. The captain, after he had adopted all the means he thought necessary, having failed, abandoned the enterprise, declaring “that the reported danger was all a dream.” An officer on board formed a different judgment, went out by himself on an expedition afterwards into the very same latitude and longitude, and there discovered a reef of rocks, which he reported to the Admiralty, and it was inserted in the charts, the discoverer being rewarded with a high appointment. The intelligence came to the captain’s ears; he would not believe in the discovery. He was a shrewd, clever, practical man, but unscientific, incredulous, and obstinate. “The whole thing is a falsehood,” he exclaimed; adding, “If ever I have the keel of the Thetis under me in those waters again, if I don’t carry her clean over where the chart marks a rock, call me a liar and no seaman.” Two years after, he was conveying in the same vessel the British Ambassador to Naples. One windy night he and the master were examining the chart on deck by the light of the lantern, when the latter pointed out the sunken rock on the map. “What!” exclaimed the old seaman, “is this invention to meet me in the teeth again? No; I swore I would sail over that spot the first chance I had, and I’ll do it.” He went down into the cabin, merrily related the story to the company, and said, “Within five minutes we shall have passed the spot.” There was a pause. Then, taking out his watch, he said, “Oh, the time is past. We have gone over the wonderful reef.” But presently a grating touch was felt on the ship’s keel, then a sudden shock, a tremendous crash—the ship had foundered. Through great exertions most of the crew were saved, but the captain would not survive his own mad temerity, and the last seen of him was his white figure, bareheaded, and in his shirt, from the dark hull of the Thetis, as the foam burst round her bows and stem, He perished, a victim of unbelief. So perish multitudes.1 Peter 4:18. Scarcely Saved.—There is such a fate as being saved, yet so as by fire, going into the brightness with the smell of fire on your garments.—A. Maclaren, D.D.CHAPTER 5 THE OF AND exhortations are still designed to meet the crisis in which the Churches were placed. In keeping together, preserving the Christian spirit, and serving one another in their various relations, they would be kept safely, brought through, and even sanctified by their experiences.1 Peter 5:1. Elders.—Names of office carried over from the Jewish synagogues. Exhort.—παρακαλῶ, a very full word, including encouragement and entreaty, and even consolation and exhortation. An elder.—Fellow-elder. St. Peter puts this prominently. The sympathy of the fellow-elder, rather than the authority of the apostle. Partaker.—The word is chosen in the same spirit, and suggests “joint partaker with you.”1 Peter 5:2. Feed.—“Tend,” implying the various duties of the shepherd. Willingly.—“According to God; “in cheerful recognition of His call and His will.1 Peter 5:3. As being lords.—“Nor yet as lording it.” “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” God’s heritage.—There is no word in the original answering to God’s. R.V. reads, “the charge allotted to you.”1 Peter 5:4. Chief shepherd.—“This beautiful term seems to have been invented by St. Peter. (See Hebrews 13:20). A crown.—Better, “the crown.” Of glory.—Or “crown amarantine, of the flower that fadeth not.”MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 5:1-4 Official Models.—This direct message to the “elders” of the Church may be taken as indicating that the Churches of Christ were organised, and the term “elders” suggests that the first forms of organisation were modelled after the pattern of the Jewish synagogue. It is significant that St. Peter does not address these elders with any authority as an apostle, with any assumption of superiority as a higher official, but puts himself on their level, and makes his experience, not his authority, the ground of his persuasion. The advice of a fellow-elder, one with a longer and fuller experience, would be altogether more acceptable and effective than any commands based on claim of Divine authority. St. Paul is in full sympathy with St. Peter in this attitude towards the elders of the Churches when he says, “Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24). St. Peter’s right to advise (“exhort,” a term which in the Greek includes encouragement, and entreaty, and even consolation, as well as exhortation) rests upon (1) his official position; he also was an elder; (2) upon his personal experience and knowledge of the fact that the Lord Jesus had to endure the severest sufferings because of His persistency in well-doing—St. Peter was a direct personal “witness of the sufferings of Christ;” and (3) upon his actual fellowship with these elders in the hopes which cheered them under the present burdens of anxiety and suffering. St. Peter was “a partaker”—with them—“of the glory that is to be revealed. The advice concerns— I. Good shepherding.—The Lord Jesus had given the shepherd figure to His Church, and had sanctioned it, by using it for His own relations, as in John 10. The figure had, however, been previously used by the prophets, and is a natural and suggestive one for a people who were largely concerned in the tending of flocks, and whose first fathers were heads of wandering tribes. (See, for illustration of prophetic use, Jeremiah 23:1-4; Ezekiel 34:2-31). It will at once be seen that shepherding suggests much more than preaching, or even teaching. It suggests ruling, providing, and even tending and correcting. The older idea of shepherding we put into the term pastoral: the modern pastor is the shepherd-elder of the Early Church. St. Peter fixes one point: good shepherding has in it no taint of self-seeking. And self-seeking usually takes two forms in persons who are placed in official positions. It shows itself in using the office to enrich the self, or to attain the pleasure which comes from being able to lord it over others. But under this head the thought had better be confined to the one mark of good shepherding—wise, skilful, efficient feeding and tending of the flock of God; which may be amply illustrated by references to the various calls on an Eastern shepherd’s care, in the ever-varying daily needs of his flock. II. Wise authority.—“Exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to God.” Sometimes a person is put into office who feels unfit for it. Sometimes a person is put into office because there is no one else who is fit for it. In either case there may be lacking that willingness which would make it a service of love. And the true Christly service never can be rendered, save as a willing service of love. Wise authority in a Church is that which he alone can wield who loves the members, seeks their highest well-being, and is ever ready to put his own advantage, and even his own preferences, aside in order to secure it. Unwilling authority is sure to be unwise and unworthy. III. Pure motive.—“Nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you.” Impure motive is seen in using an official position for securing any personal ends. The position in Christ’s Church is essentially one of service to others. It may, indeed, bring both gain and authority to the official, but these, as belonging to the self-sphere, he must in no way seek. IV. Attractive example.—“But making yourselves ensamples to the flock.” The official position gives personal example a special importance. The elders of a Church ought to be specimen Christians; models, not only in the administering of their office, but also in their personal character. And the chief shepherd may be relied on to recognise, approve, and reward, all under-shepherds who prove faithful, and present good models. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 5:2. The Pastor’s Duty.—The pastoral duty is three-fold:— 1. To feed the flock, by preaching to them the sincere Word of God, and ruling them according to such directions and discipline as the Word of God prescribes, both which are implied in this expression, Feed the flock. 2. The pastors of the Church must “take the oversight thereof.” The elders are exhorted to do the office of bishops (as the word signifies), by personal care and vigilance over all the flock committed to their charge. 3. They must be “examples to the flock,” and practise the holiness, self-denial, mortification, and all other Christian duties, which they preach and recommend to their people. These duties must be performed “not by constraint,” not because you must do them, not from compulsion of the civil power, or the constraint of fear or shame, but from a willing mind that takes pleasure in the work: “not for filthy lucre,” or any emoluments and profits attending the place where you reside, or any perquisites belonging to the office, “but of a ready mind,” regarding the flock more than the fleece, sincerely and cheerfully endeavouring to serve the Church of God. “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage,” tyrannising over them by compulsion and coercive force, or imposing unscriptural and human inventions upon them instead of necessary duty (Matthew 20:25-26; 2 Corinthians 1:24). Learn 1. The eminent dignity of the Church of God, and all the true members of it. 2. The pastors of the Church ought to consider their people as the flock of God, as God’s heritage, and treat them accordingly. 3. Those ministers who are either driven to their work by necessity, or drawn to it by filthy lucre, can never perform their duty as they ought, because they do not do it willingly, and with a ready mind. 4. The best way a minister can take to engage the respect of a people is to discharge his own duty among them in the best manner he can, and to be a constant example to them of all that is good.—Matthew Henry. Lucre and Filthy Lucre.—The word “lucre” appears five times in the Bible; and in every case it bears a bad signification. It is remarkable that the warning against the love of lucre—of filthy lucre—is in all these cases intended for ministers of religion They are addressed, not to merchants, but to bishops, deacons, elders as such, whatever secular occupations they might be engaged in. How comes it to pass that ministers of religion should be marked out for this word of caution? Perhaps even in the time of the apostles there were symptoms of this evil in the ministry of the Church, and certainly in after times the evil became so great, so monstrous, that there was urgent need for condemnation stronger far than that expressed in the words of St. Peter and St. Paul. The word “lucre” is not in itself a word of evil signification. It simply means “gain.” No one objects to it when it appears in another form, and a business is spoken of as lucrative. Practically the distinction between “lucre” and “filthy lucre” has been lost; a curious instance of the manner in which the world unintentionally accuses and condemns itself. The world evidently feels in its conscience that generally there is something bad in connection with gain. I venture to draw a very marked distinction between “lucre” and “filthy lucre.” Lucre is gain, and gain of all sorts, mental as well as material; and the love of lucre may be a virtue and not a vice. No man is more greedy of lucre than a very studious man. But let us take the word in its commonest signification, as money, material gain—gain in the form of money, or money’s worth. The loss of the distinction between lucre and filthy lucre has, in some instances, proved disadvantageous to the world’s interest. Lucre and filthy lucre being confounded very much in the religious mind of the Middle Ages, there rose up an immense mass of mendicancy. There is lucre that is not filthy, but perfectly clean. The lucre that is made by honest labour and honest trading is nowhere condemned in the Word of God. The Word of God, indeed, rather approves of it, and encourages men in the pursuit of it. A man’s moral and religious character does not necessarily suffer through the acquisition of lucre. Job, we are told, was the greatest man of the East—he certainly was one of the best men, East or West. A conscientious but timid man of old, named Agur, prayed that God would give him neither poverty nor riches; he was afraid of the demoralising influence of either extreme. But a far wiser and better man than Agur—the apostle Paul—felt that his religion was such as enabled him to set riches and poverty equally at defiance in regard to any demoralising tendency. Religion is in a considerable measure sustained by lucre. The riches of lucre enable a man to be rich in good works; and so the quest of lucre becomes a religious duty, because its result leads to a man’s greater power of usefulness. But “filthy lucre” is quite another thing. It is gain gotten in dishonest and dishonourable ways; by violence, by fraud, by falsehood, by misrepresentation, by taking unfair and cruel advantage of the ignorance or the necessity of our neighbour. And it is to the great discredit of many professedly religious people that they are in these matters no more to be trusted than the most worldly of worldlings. Moreover, the lucre that is filthy, through being gained in evil ways, cannot be clean through spending it liberally and piously. God will graciously accept lucre, but will refuse with indignation filthy lucre. Lucre is filthy when gained wrongly, and becomes filthy, however honestly made, when wrongly used; when self and selfish indulgence is a man’s great aim and object; when it is applied to purposes of corruption, oppression, injustice, profligacy; when it is withheld from those good works which it ought to encourage and to help; when a man makes it his idol, and worships it as his god; in such cases it is defiled and defiling. Of our lucre, be it little or much, we shall have to give account to God.—H. Stowell Brown. AND NOTES1 Peter 5:5. Be clothed.—Lit. “gird yourselves.” Perhaps the word refers to the frock, or apron, distinctive of slaves. Strictly, the Greek word means, “tie yourselves up in humility.” ἐγκομβώσασθε, from κόμβος, a top-knot, as a cock’s comb, or bow-knot, or ornamental fastening by which vestments are drawn about the wearer. Make humility your outermost, conspicuous dress, that which covers all the rest, or binds all into one. (There was a peculiar kind of cape, well known by a name taken from this verb—we might call it a “tie-up”—and this kind of cape was worn by slaves, and by no others. It was, in fact, a badge of servitude.)1 Peter 5:6. Humble yourselves.—Especially with a view to the quiet bearing of the afflictions and distresses you may be called to endure.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 5:5-7 Humility in Church Relations.—It is but natural that the apostle, in giving his advice to the Church, in view of its circumstances of disability, temptation, and peril, should first address the “elders” or officials, and then address the members of the Church, dividing them into the “younger ones” and the “rest.” I. Humility in the younger takes form as submission.—“Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder.” The very energy of activity and enterprise, that should be characteristic of young people, may make them unduly confident, and over-masterful. Young people will seldom take any advice from the older ones. But the Christian spirit should have its influence on this characteristic weakness, and make the young members humbly submit themselves to superior wisdom and experience. Humility in Church life, possessing both the younger and the elder, would enable the energetic younger to inspire the slow and sluggish elder; and the careful and experienced elder to tone and temper the impulsive younger. II. Humility in the elder takes form as service.—“Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another.” When St. Paul would plead for Christian humility, he presents the example of Christ, saying, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”; and when we follow his illustration we see that it was a mind of humility which showed itself in service—sacrificing service. If, without asserting himself, or getting for himself, each member is supremely anxious to find opportunities for serving the others, there need be no fear whatever of the Church relations being pleasantly sustained. And St. Peter, perhaps, had especially in mind the way in which such humble and self-forgetting mutual service would help the Churches in the time of difficulty and strain, which might involve serious loss and persecution for particular members. The times provided plentiful occasions for fulfilling the injunction, “By love serve one another.” III. Humility in all the members of the Church towards God.—This is the humility—basal humility—on which must rest all humility in the various relations of the Church. A man will never be humble-minded in his relations with his fellow-man unless he is, and keeps, humble-minded towards God. And this is the right attitude to take before God. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” But is this to be taken as vague and general, or as precise and particular? If the latter, then St. Peter means, by the “mighty hand of God,” just those circumstances of distress and peril in which the Christians were then placed, which, from one point of view, were the schemes of enemies, but from a higher point of view were the permissions, and overrulings, and discipline, of God—the “mighty hand of God”—to which they should respond in the humbling of a cheerfully gracious submission and endurance. Taken in this light, we see at once how the sentence, “casting all your care (anxiety) upon Him,” is a very tender and pathetic re-statement of the earlier sentence: “humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.” It is the best sign of a true humility before God that we do not try to keep our own care, as if we felt that we could, but are fully willing, in a child-spirit, to let our Father care, being quite sure that He does care. The humility of the child before God will be sure to nourish the humility of the brother, which will find fitting expression in all the relations with the brothers. “It would be a sad calamity for Christians under persecution, suddenly to find God Himself in array on the enemy’s side; and this they would find if they went against discipline.” “The humility here recommended is not merely a submissive bearing of the strokes which it pleased God to let fall upon them, but it was to be shown in their bearing towards one another.” NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 5:5-7. Service Free from Care.—Single sentences taken out of Bible passages may oftentimes suggest very beautiful and very helpful meditations and sentiments; but he would be a very limp and weak Christian, having no strengthening principles, and no strong grip of steadying truths, who should persist in living entirely on single texts. The familiar words, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you,” have made solacing music for our souls in many of the anxious times of life. We love them, as we love the friends who have put their hands gently into ours when we entered, and went through, the dark valleys of our life’s sorrows. And yet the passage into which those words are fitted lights up the familiar sentence with new meaning, and gives it a fresh, and more practical bearing on that Christian life which we are pledged to live. We may be quite sure that St. Peter dwelt much in thought upon the brief time of his fellowship with the “Man, Christ Jesus,” in whom he discerned the “Son of God.” And two scenes especially must have come up before him with great frequency. He would often see the high priest’s palace; recall again his shameful denials of his Lord; and feel afresh the “look” that melted him into penitence. But he must have tried to shut out that scene: to dwell on it too much was to bring undue depressions upon his spirit. He would turn to another scene; he would free his thoughts from weak and sinful self, and try to fix them upon Jesus. St. Peter would love to go over again and again the scene in the upper chamber before the Lord’s last Passover—though it also had its smaller humiliations for him. He would see again the surpassing dignity of his Divine Lord, as He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself, as if He were but the servant of the house; poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Could St. Peter ever forget the look that was on the face of his Lord when He had taken His garments, and was seated again. Could He ever lose out of his soul the words that were then spoken by Him “who spake as never man spake”? They thrill us now as we read them. How they must have thrilled him who heard them fresh from the sacred Lips! “Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, he Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.” The scene was evidently in St. Peter’s mind, and the words were evidently in his memory, when he wrote the passage which is before us as a text. He has been, in the previous verses, giving particular counsels, precisely adapted to the “elder” and to the “younger” members of the Church. And then he thinks of something that needs to be pressed upon the attention of every one. It is the example of their Divine Lord, and his, on that solemn supper night. “Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another; for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He careth for you.” Remembering that St. Peter wrote his letter to Jewish Christians scattered abroad, who were called to endure much and varied persecution on account of their faith in Christ, the point of His counsel at once appears. Such persecution was but Divine discipline. They would lose all the blessing of it if they resisted, repined, and let it make them feel hard and unloving. Better, far better, humble themselves under God’s mighty hand; submit to His providential dealings; see how the afflictions and persecutions affected them all alike, rich and poor, and were designed to draw them into a nearer and more helpful brotherhood. One thing they could do, and it would bring them the best cheer in their time of trouble; forgetting their own dignities, they could “gird themselves with humility,” and by love “serve one another.” They could fill up their lives with the joy of Christlike service; and as for the care’s, and anxieties, which persecutions might bring, or even this loving service of others might bring, they could cast all such cares on God, in the absolute confidence that He was caring for them. We may get St. Peter’s counsel duly impressed upon our hearts, and with fitting applications to our own precise circumstances, if we consider (1) that the service of one another demands humility; (2) that the service of one another at once relieves from cares, and brings cares; (3) and that the cares which service brings, God bears with us. I. The service of one another demands humility.—Our Lord’s symbolic teachings in the upper room were called forth by the failure of His disciples to serve one another. Not one of them was willing to do the lowly, kindly service of washing the feet of the others. And their failure was due to their lack of humility. They were all self-interested; each had an exaggerated estimate of his own importance. In their self-consciousness and pride they had even been disputing as to which had the claim to the most honourable offices in the kingdom which they expected to see so soon established. Each one thought he was a proper person to be served, and as long as each one thought so, he was not likely to demean himself to serve—certainly not in such lowly ways as washing feet. We can never serve one another while we keep up undue estimates of our own importance. The man who has to take care of his own dignity will never take care of anybody else’s well-being. He is over-occupied. For those first disciples the object-lesson given them was a severe and searching one. The Master Himself, whose dignity was unquestionable, took a towel, and girded Himself, as if He were a servant, and cheerfully did a servant’s work. He showed them that the humility which can serve is a distinguishing mark of true greatness, and is perfectly in harmony with the highest offices. Had He thought of what was due to Him, He never would have served humanity at the cost of self-sacrifice. Because He could humble Himself to serve humanity, therefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name. The idea—essential idea—of Christian discipleship is “service,” because another essential idea of it is “humility.” St. Augustine was right when he answered the question, “What is the chief grace of Christianity?” by saying at once “Humility.” Humility is the most striking thing in a man’s conversion. He is self-humbled in the conviction of sin; and he is self-humbled in being obliged to accept salvation as a gift of grace. And that humility is the rootage of the new regenerate character. As the new life unfolds, it will soon be evident how it brings a man into tender, sympathetic relations with his fellow-men, and inspires him to watch for and meet all opportunities of service. But let the new regenerate life fail to grow; let the old “self” come back, nourishing the old pride, and inevitably the interest in others declines, and a life of service begins to look mean and humiliating. “Gird yourselves with humility,” and keep yourselves girded, and you will want to “serve one another.” Undo that girdle, put it away from you, and then other people may wash disciples’ feet—you won’t. So far from helping disciples to serve one another, you will expect the disciples to serve you. It is a thing to set ever freshly before us, that we must be striving to gain this mind of Christ—the humility that loves to serve. St. Peter speaks of humility, in a figurative way, as a garment to be put on. The word here rendered “be clothed” is a very expressive one, being derived from κόμβος, a string, or band, with which a garment is fastened to the person; so that humility is to be put on as an outer dress, to ornament the wearer; and to be kept on (because tied in knots), and not merely to be worn on certain occasions.” There is a secret in Christian humility. It is the attitude of a man among men who has humbled himself before God—humbled himself “under the mighty hand of God.” II. The service of one another at once relieves us from cares and brings to us cares.—It relieves us from the cares which come to us out of difficult and distressing circumstances. Many a Christian man has felt overwhelmed; every door has seemed shut up, every sphere over-weighted; every attempt results in failure, every prospect looks dark. Moved by the comforting Spirit, he just leaves it all, and goes out to serve somebody, to find some soul more sorely stricken than he is, and to cheer such a soul with the consolations of God. That man, in the service of another, finds his own cares relieved. What he has been saying, in his efforts to serve, has come right home to his own heart, and he returns upon his own cares, and they do not seem quite so heavy and so dark. He can almost be sure that there is a little break in the sky that is ushering in the dawn of a brighter day for him. What a cheer for his own sorrows St. Paul must have gained when he tried to serve the sorrowing Corinthians! He speaks of the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” Many a Christian has been overwhelmed with doubts; has found himself questioning this and that, until the very foundations of truth seem to have given way, and he has not even a corner-stone left on which to rest a hope. He is a wise friend to the doubter who takes him away from study, and books, and thoughts; refuses to argue anything with him, but leads him out to the widowed, the fatherless, the sick, the lost, whom he may serve. The cares of doubt will soon be relieved, and charity will bring back faith. And there is a sense in which the cares of the spiritual life may be relieved by the humble serving of others. If we make attention to spiritual life too exclusive, we are sure to become morbid, full of moods, dependent on feelings, and insincere in reading our own experiences. It is the best relief to go and undertake some Christian work. Give up brooding over varying feelings, and go out and undertake some service of righteousness and charity. Never mind about spiritual emotions; they will take care of themselves. Become intensely anxious about good works; this good work, “by love serving one another.” Many a young Christian has begun to keep a diary of his feelings, and kept on with it until he discovered that it was making him morbid and miserable; and then he flung the diary away for ever, let God take care of his feelings, and spent himself in active service—girded himself, and set himself to do the Christly work of “serving others.” But it is also true that the service of others brings cares. It brings their cares upon us whom we serve, for all true service rests upon sympathy, upon fellow-feeling; and it means that we take the cares of others upon our own hearts and hands. But this is the holiest and most Christlike form that human care can take; and with absolute assurance of help, for us and for them, we may cast these cares of others upon God. But if we devote ourselves, in a generous spirit of self denial, to the helping of others, we shall also find the service brings cares concerning ourselves. Oftentimes they will be cares taking form as temptations. It may be suggested to us that our lowly deads may affect our reputations; our readiness to serve others may seem to prevent our getting on in life, and may even make earthly prosperity impossible. We may hear men saying of us, He is always looking after other people, but he never seems to look after himself. It is true that no man ever yet made himself poor by what he gave away for Christ’s sake, and no man ever yet ruined his life-prospects by unselfish devotion to the service of others. A man may miss what he imagined for himself, or what others have hoped for him. That is very possible. But God stands by every Christly man; takes his care upon Himself, and sees that the man gains the “best of both worlds,” just the best of both worlds for him. Does such care come pressing on any of you? Have you almost become convinced that a life of service cannot be a life of worldly success? Cast that care on God. I know how He will comfort you. He will say in your soul, “A life of service is a life of success.” To serve is heaven. To serve is angelic. To serve is Christly. To serve is Divine. And to be heavenly, Christly, angelic, and close kin with God, is success. III. The cares which service brings, God bears with us.—“For He careth for you.” We dwell frequently on the delightful thought that God is concerned about us, and that His loving interest wraps us round, keeps us safe, and holds us up. But we do not so often see the limitation of the assurance. God careth for you, precisely you who are girding yourselves to serve one another, and find that various cares come to you as you render the service. God careth for you, who have characters which find revealing expression in service. God is interested in you, and in yours, in your circumstances, but only in them for the sake of you. God cares for character. Do not in the least fear. God will take care of that. God will nourish that. God will reward that. Faithfully live out the Christian life, as a life of humility that loves to serve. Faithfully live it out, whatever it may seem to cost you, whatever loss it may seem to involve. Man may misread your life. He is very likely to do so. You may misread it yourselves. You are even more likely to so. But God makes no mistakes, and never misunderstands. He sees some doing service—washing disciples’ feet—in a spirit of ostentation, and He turns away from the unlovely sight. He knows whether His servants are girded with humility for their service. He estimates the cares that come upon them, He cares for them. And His care has in it a purpose of infinite love. The care shines in the smile that cheers the workers. The care reaches down “everlasting arms” to uphold the workers. The care bids the angels keep ready the “many mansions,” the resting places, until the day when those who have served others shall themselves be served. He shall bid them sit down to meat, and come forth Himself and serve them. Ministers, serving one another; casting all self cares on God, while we do His work, quite sure that He careth for us;—this many of us may have to win; this many of us may have to keep. “Gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another.” And of this be quite sure, “He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:5. Humility.—This was not a new word when the New Testament was written. It, or its Greek equivalent, was very common, but used only contemptuously and rebukingly. It always meant meanness of spirit. To be humble was to be a coward. It described a cringing soul. It was a word for slaves. Where could we find a more striking instance of the change that the Christian religion brought into the world than in the way in which it took this disgraceful word, and made it honourable? To be humble is to have a low estimation of one’s self. That was considered shameful in the olden time. You insulted a man if you called him humble. It seemed to be inconsistent with that self-respect which is necessary to any good activity. Christ came, and made the despised quality the crowning grace of the culture that He inaugurated. The disgraceful word became the key-note of His fullest gospel. He redeemed the quality and straightway the name became honourable. What was the change that Christianity accomplished, and how did it come about? Humility means a low estimate or value of one’s self. But all values are relative. The estimate we set on anything depends on the standard with which we compare it. And so values are always varying as the standard or the object with which you compare the thing that you are valuing changes. Christianity’s great primary revelation was God. Much about Him it showed men, but first of all it showed them Him. He stood beside man’s work. And God in the world must be the standard of the world. Greatness meant something different when men had seen how great He was; and the manhood which had compared itself with lesser men, and grown proud, now had a chance to match itself with God, and to see how small it was, and to grow humble about itself. It is wonderful how the smallest man can keep his self-complacency in the presence of the largest But let that small man become a Christian; that means, let the narrow walls of his life be broken down, and let him see God, present here by Christ. At once, then, all is changed. It would be a fearful thing if the only thing that Christ showed us of God were His greatness. The pure humiliation would be too crushing. But the revelation is not only this. It includes not only the greatness, but the love, of God. The majesty is that of a father, which takes our littleness into His greatness, makes it a part of itself, honours it, trains it, does not mock it; then there comes the true graciousness of humility. It is not less humble; but it is not crushed. The energy which the man used to get out of his estimate of his own greatness, he gets now out of the sight of his Father’s, which yet is so near to him that, in some finer and higher sense, it still is his; and so he is more hopeful, and happy, and eager, in his humility than he ever used to be in his pride. The true way to be humble is not to stoop till you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that shall show you what the real smallness of your greatest greatness is. The first is the unreal humility that goes about deprecating human nature; the second is the genuine humility that always stands in love and adoration, glorifying God. Christ also rescued and exalted humility by magnifying the essential glory of humanity. There never was any life that so superbly asserted the essential worth of humanity—showed what a surpassing thing it is to be a man—like that sin-convicting life of Jesus. He showed us that the human might be joined to the Divine. He glorified human nature, and by this glorification He taught man that it was his true place to be humble. There is nothing more strange, and at the same time more truthful, about Christianity than its combination of humility and exaltation for the soul of man. Christianity puts men face to face with the humbling facts, the great realities, and then humility comes upon the soul as darkness comes upon the face of the earth, not because the earth has made up its mind to be dark, but because it has rolled into the great shadow.—Phillips Brooks. 1 Peter 5:6-7. Perfect for Service.—The “captain of our salvation” was “made perfect through sufferings.” “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” If we would be like Him in His glory, we must first be like Him in His sufferings. Good things come after trouble. It is well to try and look upon life aright before we are forced to do so by the pressure of outward misery. We are to imitate Christ, so far as it is possible, in the particular sort of employment which He chose—namely, in the mixing with other men; neither for business only—that is, in the way of our calling; nor yet for pleasure only—that is, in common society; but for charity in its largest sense—that is, from a desire to do good to the bodies or souls of others. This Christ-like employment is most suited to our state on earth, and especially helps us to make that state happy, by enabling us to rid it of its carefulness. Half, and more than half, of the practical faults in the world arise from looking upon life in a false view, and expecting from it what God does not mean us to find in it. He to whom all things future are as present, suited both His life and His words to what He knew would be ever the chief error of mankind. He knew that social and civil activity were sufficiently natural to man to need no encouragement. He knew that knowledge would be pursued, and arts and sciences cultivated. But He knew that the kingdom of God and His righteousness would not be sought after; He knew that men would look carefully enough on the things of this life, but would care for little beyond it. He therefore made that so valuable which could help us forward to our real and eternal life, and that so trifling, when received in faith, which can but give joy and sorrow for a moment. Life is before us as a trial-time of uncertain length, in which we may fit ourselves, if we will, for an eternal life beyond it. We may be thankful to God when He makes our training for eternity consist in the doing great and useful actions, in bringing forth much fruit; but we, each of us, are doing our business as thoroughly, are answering as completely the purposes for which we were sent into the world, if we are laid for years on a bed of sickness, and made incapable of action. It is not true that our great business or object in this world is to do all the good we can in it; our great business and object is to do God’s will, and so to be changed through His Spirit into His image that we may be fit to live with Him for ever. His will is declared to us by the course of His providence, putting us into different situations of life where different duties are required of us. But these duties are duties because they are His will; and if performed without reference to Him, however good our motives may be, the great business of life is left undone. To keep this end in view is a wonderful means of ridding life of its carefulness. If simply to be useful in our generation be our main object, our happiness cannot but greatly depend upon outward circumstances. Weakened health, and early death, spoil usefulness. When we recollect what is indeed our real business here, we cast at once all our care on God, and resign ourselves contentedly to His disposal. It is with reference to this view of life especially that Christ’s particular employment, the mixing with others, not for business, or for pleasure, but to do them good, is so exceedingly useful. It is surprising how much pleasure may be given every day, how much suffering relieved, and how much good done. But how can we secure such a life? We may not be able to imitate Christ exactly in this point, but we must find opportunity to do sometimes what He did always. In every station or employment, we must find opportunity, or make it, if we would not deprive ourselves of what may well be called the path of daily living. And God will enable us to make a great deal even of our common intercourse with others; and here we all have our opportunities, unless we choose to neglect them. Such, then, is Christ’s daily lesson to us; not to be idle or slothful in our work; and to sanctify it all by doing it as to Him, and not to man.—Thomas Arnold, D.D. 1 Peter 5:7. Casting Care.—This familiar verse is more suggestive studied in its connection. The apostle is commending the great grace of Christian humility; first on the younger members of the Church in all their relations with the elder, and then on all the members in their various Church relations. Then follows this striking expression: “Be clothed with humility,” or “Gird yourselves with humility.” The picture presented to us is that of the Eastern gentleman, whose long, loose, and flowing garments are not held in place, or properly set off, until the handsome folded girdle is skilfully adjusted about the loins. St. Peter would remind us that there is a dress of Christian graces with which we should be clothed; but the various graces will not take orderly forms and relations, nor will they be complete, unless we are girded about with the sweet grace of Christian humility. Then the apostle reminds us that there is a foundation humility upon which our humble relations one with another must depend. It is the humbling of the self before God. Our text, taken with the immediately previous sentence, reminds us that the same truth may need setting in different forms, in order to meet the needs of various classes of persons. There are strong, energetic persons, who need to have truth stated strongly, and in tones of command. To them St. Peter says, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” But there are also gentle souls, to whom the truth comes most effectively when it sounds like a “still small voice,” and falls like the night dews. To meet their case St. Peter repeats his command; and now it is, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” Humble souls find it easy to “cast their care.” They who can “cast their care” must be humble. I. Think of man’s care.—“All your care.” By “care” is meant “anxiety” rather than “affliction.” Anxiety suggests the daily worry, the care about a thousand things. Care arises from: 1. Our frequent misunderstandings with our fellow-men. It comes because we persist in estimating things from our own points of view. 2. Our business and family claims. For these we need the word “harassed.” 3. Our religious claims. There should be grave anxiety as to the spirit of our life, and the tone of our example. And there should be constant watchfulness to find out, and willingness to respond to, all the reasonable demands made on our time or on our money. II. Think of God’s care.—“He careth for you.” One is surprised to find the same word used for God as for ourselves. His care cannot be quite like ours. There can be no fretfulness, no worry, in it. 1. See His care of all the creatures He has made. 2. His precise knowledge of our anxieties. 3. His care of us in the midst of our anxieties. III. God’s care of us is a persuasion to cast our care on Him.—“For.” He cares; then why should we? He is able; He is wise; He knows all; He loves with an everlasting love; He is our Father. Why should we not be as calm as the sailor boy in the wild storm, who knew that his father held the helm? If we would see precisely what is meant by “casting our care on God,” let us think of the prophet lifting up holy hands, and saying that most full, most touching, of all Bible prayers, “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake Thou for me.” Is this “casting care” difficult? It is life’s great lesson. Yokes cease to rub and press when God bears them with us. Crosses are lightened when God bears them with us. And He always takes the heavier end. Some, however, do not know God well enough to trust Him thus simply, thus perfectly. Of all the burdens He would have cast upon Him, the first is that of the unpardoned soul. That! Yes; that greatest of all our cares we may “roll off” on Him “who careth for us.” The Care of One Who Loves.—The care which God has is the care of one who loves, and therefore takes on his own heart the troubles of his beloved one. And what does He do with our care when thus we cast it upon Him? He does not take it and put it right away, hiding it for ever from our view. We wish He would do that. He does something altogether better. He takes the burden of care and puts it gently back on our shoulders, saying, “Remember, it is My care now; it is yours no longer. And now I want you to carry it for Me.” Then the yoke feels easy, and the burden is light. Human Cares and the Divine Care.—The value of the injunction in the former half of the text depends entirely upon its latter half. For until we can get men to believe in the care of God for them, we shall never persuade them to cast all their care upon Him. It must be confessed, however, that it is not easy for any of us adequately to realise what these words, “He careth for you,” mean. I. There are those who declare that the words have no meaning.—They see no “He” in the universe. True, they speak of nature with reverence, and in terms so warmly personal that we are sometimes tempted to think that their science has found what their faith had lost; but, if we may trust their own assertions, it is not so, for they find no evidence in nature of a living God. No man can cast his care upon an IT. The materialists’ creed fosters an inhuman quite as much as an ungodly type of character. If ever the presence of care becomes too heavy for him to bear it alone, one of two results will follow: either the creed will break down, or the man will. Hence suicide is so often the consequence of atheism. II. We may find it difficult to realise that God really cares for us.— 1. Easier to believe that He cares for the universe at large, than that He takes any interest in us as individuals. Too prone to think of Him as exercising some kind of care over us, as a general does over his troops. He is not a general, but a Father. To rightly understand this text we must read, “He cares for me”; or, 2. Some one may say, “I cannot think God cares very much for me, or He would not allow me to suffer as I do, and give me this weary burden of care to bear day by day.” Like a child complaining of having hard lessons to learn. Very often trials and anxieties are the pledge and token of God’s love. If we had no care we might begin to doubt whether God cared for us. III. If we lift the burden of our care at all we are to lift it for the last time, that we may cast it upon God.—Once there, it becomes God’s care, not ours. Because God cares for us, He will care for it. IV. The little word “all” includes even the trivial and passing anxieties of each day.—To suppose that some cares are too insignificant to take to God in prayer is not to honour Him, but unnecessarily to burden ourselves. It has been said that “white ants pick a carcase quicker and cleaner than a lion does”; and so these little cares may even more effectually destroy our peace than a single great trouble if, in our mistaken reverence for God’s greatness, we refuse to cast them upon Him. G. S. Barrett, B.A. TO CHAPTER 51 Peter 5:7. God’s Love Inexhaustible.—Suppose a meadow in which a million of daisies open their bosoms, all at one time, to the sun. On one of them, while it was yet a bud, a little stone has fallen. At once crushed and overshadowed, it still struggles bravely against all odds to expand its petals like the rest. For many days this effort is continued without success. The tiny stone, a mighty rock to the tiny flower, squats on its breast, and will not admit a single sunbeam. At length the flower-stalk, having gathered strength by its constant exertion, acquired force enough to overbalance the weight, and tossed the intruder off. Up sprang the daisy with a bound; and in an instant another floweret was added to the vast multitude which in that meadow drank their fill of sunlight. The sun in heaven was not incommoded by the additional demand. The new-comer received into its open cup as many sunbeams as it would have received although no other flower had grown in all the meadow—in all the earth. Thus the sun, finite though it be, helps us to understand the absolute infinitude of its Maker. When an immortal being, long crushed and turned away by a load of sin, at length, through the power of a new spiritual life, throws off the burden, and opens with a bound to receive a heavenly Father’s long-offered but rejected love, the Giver is not impoverished by the new demand upon His kindness. Although a thousand millions should arise and go to the Father, each would receive as much of that Father’s love as if he alone of all fallen creatures had come back reconciled to God.—Rev. William Arnot.Providential Care.—When a child (says Mrs. Mary Winslow, in her diary, then Mary Forbes) I accompanied my parents, during the French war, on a visit to England. Our vessel was a light barque, carrying a few guns, and but ill furnished for severe conflict with the enemy. On entering the Channel, midway between the English and French coast, a ship of war bore in sight. It was toward night, and as she appeared to bear down upon us, our captain prepared for action. My mother and I were hurried from the cabin to what was thought a place of greater safety below. My father remained on deck. All was confusion above us, while I was astonished at being thus suddenly removed from my comfortable berth to the dismal quarters beneath the decks. We had not been long there when I observed a boy come occasionally to the place of our imprisonment, and, with a large horn in his hand, take something from out of a barrel, having first fixed a lighted candle upon its edge, and leaving it there. Observing, as I sat upon my mother’s lap—who was too much absorbed in anxiety to notice the circumstance—that the piece of candle was nearly burnt to the edge, I got down, put out my hand, and took it away, saying, “Mamma, this will burn the barrel.” It was a cask of gunpowder. Had I not removed it that moment, or in removing it had a spark fallen from the lengthened wick, the vessel and all on board must have been blown to atoms.God’s Care of His servants.—Paul Gerhard was, many years ago, a great preacher in Brandenburg, Germany, and he loved to preach from his heart what he saw and believed in the Word of God. But the “Great Elector” of Brandenburg did not like his preaching, and sent to say to him, “Paul Gerhard, if you cannot preach differently from that, you must leave this country.” Gerhard sent back a message that it would be very hard to leave his home, his people, his country, and his livelihood; but he could only preach what he found in God’s Word, and as long as he lived he would preach that. So he had to go into banishment with his wife and little children. At the end of the first day’s journey they came into a wood, and rested at night at a little inn they found there. The little children were crying and clinging to their mother, and she too, who had kept up all day, now began to weep. This made Gerhard have a very heavy heart. So he went alone into the dark wood to think and pray. While he was in the wood this text came to his mind and comforted him: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass.” “Yes,” he thought, “though I am banished from house and home, and don’t know where to take my wife and children for shelter to-morrow, yet God, my God, sees me in this dark wood. Now is the time to trust Him. He will show me the way through. He will bring it to pass.’ ” He was so happy that he remembered that text, and so thankful to God, that he tried to make the text into a hymn as he paced up and down between the trees. Every verse begins with a word or two from the text, so that if you read the first words of each verse you just read the text. When he went into the house he told his wife about the text, and began to repeat to her his hymn. She soon dried her tears (the children bad already gone to sleep), and become as hopeful and trustful as Gerhard himself. They had scarcely retired to rest when they heard a great noise at the door. It seemed as though some important person were knocking there. When the landlord opened the door, a man on horseback said aloud, “I am a messenger. I come from Duke Christian of Merscberg, and I am in search of Paul Gerhard. Do you know whether he has passed this way?” “Paul Gerhard,” said the landlord. “Yes, he is in this house.” “Then let me see him instantly,” said the Duke’s messenger. And the messenger handed to the good man a large sealed letter. It came from the Duke Christian, and it said, “Come into my country, Paul Gerhard, and you shall have church, and people, and home, and livelihood, and liberty to preach the gospel to your heart’s content. Gerhard’s hymn commenced thus:—“ ‘Commit thy way,’ O weeper,The cares that fret thy soul,To thine Almighty Keeper,Who makes the world to roll;“ ‘Unto the Lord,’ who guidethThe wind and cloud and sea;Oh, doubt not, He providethA pathway, too, for thee.” AND NOTES1 Peter 5:8. The devil.—Thought of under the figure of a wild beast that, at any moment, may put the flock in peril. Those who fall into sin are often surprised at the sudden and overwhelming character of their temptation. Adversary.—See Matthew 5:25. διάβολος term in LXX. for the Hebrew “Satan,” with special idea of “making charges against.” Devour.—“Gulp down.”1 Peter 5:9. The faith.—Better, “your faith.” Are accomplished.—Are being accomplished.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 5:8-9 The Common Enemy.—The figures in this passage are evidently suggested to St. Peter’s mind by his reference to shepherds and shepherding, and by his conception of the Church as the “flock of God.” “These are the sudden cries (‘be sober, be vigilant’), of warning from a shepherd to the other shepherds, who spies the lion prowling round the flock in the darkness, while the guardians of the flock lie drowsy and asleep.” Whether St. Peter is to be understood as affirming the existence of a personal devil, or as speaking here in a figurative manner, personifying the calamities and evils which were proving such serious temptations to the Christians of the Dispersion, need not be decided. Evil, taking form as disability, reproach, and persecution, is a distinctly active and mischievous force; it was seriously imperilling the Christian faith and life of the disciples, and precisely what they had to watch against was the subtle and constant and varied influences of these calamities and anxieties. They resisted the devil by resisting the things which were his agencies. I. Temptations of evil are always on the watch for opportunities.—To impress this fact the figure of the prowling wild beast is taken. II. Temptations of evil are always active.—This is said to impress the necessity of wakefulness. The Christian while on earth is always on the battle-field, in face of the enemy. All are subject to some kind of suffering. III. Temptations of evil always work with a bad design.—What they want to devour is the faith which is the very foundation of Christian life. When there is so much to bear, it is hard to keep trust in God. IV. Temptations of evil must be met by a watchfulness and activity greater than that which they exhibit.—“Whom withstand, stedfast in your faith.” Steady; ever ready, clothed in the whole armour of God. V. Temptations of evil made the same trouble and conflict for our fathers.—It is but a common lot. Our fathers conquered, so may we; our Divine Lord and Master conquered, so may we, in His strength. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 5:8-9. Malign Spiritual Influences.—Man’s soul carries in it the elements of all good, and of all evil—for every faculty has its good and its evil side, its temperate and its excessive use; and there is no outward evil in the world which is not made so by something which represents it in man. There is no evil under the general designation of sin, which has not its origin within. There is that in man which answers to whatever is good and whatever is evil. This is itself a sufficient reason for forethought and for vigilance. But the sacred Scripture declares that there is a power of temptation in evil spirits; that man, in this mortal state, is surrounded by a sphere filled with spirits that are perpetually tempting him to evil. Many, indeed, disbelieve in spirit agency. It is inconsistent with their conception of a benevolent God, that He should permit a devil to exist. Inquire into the nature of this influence called temptation. Temptation holds a parallel and analogic course with inspiration. It is simply a stimulus, coming from wherever it may, applied to a faculty, or to classes of faculties, in the human mind—faculties of which men have, or should have, might have, full control. Temptation never works out anything. It merely gives impulse, suggestion, stimulus. If any evil is wrought out through you, you work it out wholly and absolutely. If, being impelled, men do evil, as when, being impelled, they do right, the right or the wrong is their own act, for which they are responsible. For, although they were pushed to it, tempted to it, they had plenary power to do it or not to do it. No man, therefore, is carried away under termptation or by temptation. Many men carry themselves away. No man is overborne by temptation in any literal sense, although figuratively the language is employed properly enough. Temptation does not destroy self-control. It may intensify its difficulty, but it does not invalidate plenary power. The strength of the temptation lies wholly in the faculty which it tempts. Temptation goes with the strongest faculties. See some of the conditions of mind which make temptations by evil natures fatal and dangerous. Every right and good tendency of the soul draws to itself food for goodness. A good man attracts goodness, and is sensitive to goodness. The better you are, the more qualities there are in life helping you to be good. It is easy to be good, after you have received impulsion towards goodness. A bad man finds that which is bad. He carries it with him. An irritable man finds not only irritable men, but occasions for irritability. Selfishness finds everywhere occasions for selfishness. The moral condition which you carry into life constitutes the first great ground of susceptibility to inspiration on the side of good, and to temptation on the side of evil. To this must be added the want of fixed and ruling purposes by which you meet and resist evil tendencies. There is much in life that is easily overcome, if there be a positive and steadfast resistance to it. But if we are languid, if we are pulseless, we become a prey to it. Physicians tell us that there is such a thing as predisposition to epidemic. Also the habit of doing wrong makes it more sure that temptations will be victorious over men. And the social element enhances the power of temptation. Consider, then, how many adversaries are moving upon every single point of your nature. Consider what special temptations, over and above the general tenor of society, are marching out upon you from your business. Consider, too, all the temptations which spring upon you from individual men. Consider the evil fellowship which you have in the company in which you go at large. Consider that you have secret and open sins, which are themselves like cancers draining the body of its strength and stamina, and eating at the very vitals. Upon all these temptations there descends that malign influence which sweeps in from the great spirit-world, against which God bids us take heed.—H. Ward Beecher. AND NOTES1 Peter 5:12. Silvanus.—See Notes on Verses.1 Peter 5:13. Babylon.—Precisely, the sentence reads: “the co-elect one” [fem. sing.] “in Babylon.” This makes it the greeting of an individual, not of a Church. It might be the message of St. Peter’s wife. Whether the term “Babylon” is descriptive or symbolic is disputable. A new city had arisen near the old one, and a considerable population dwelt in it. There is no good reason for resisting the conclusion that the letter was sent from this town. There was a military fortress in Egypt named Babylon, but it is not probable that St. Peter was there.1 Peter 5:14. Kiss of charity.—Or love (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12). “This was an accompaniment of that social worship which marked Christianity, and arose from the tendency of the Christian religion to encourage honour towards all men, as men, and to cherish the softer affections of the heart.” The early custom almost only survives in the use of the Osculatorium, or kissing token, known as the Pax (sometimes a relic, sometimes an ivory or metal tablet, with sacred symbols cut on it), which was passed through the congregation, and kissed by each in turn.MAIN OF THE .—1 Peter 5:10-14 Soul-Strength out of Life-Strain.—“The God of all grace … shall Himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you.” I.God can.—For He is the God of all grace. II.God meant to.—For He called you with that very purpose in view. III.God does.—For the present stablishing is with a view to future perfecting. IV.God is keeping on doing.—Though He may be pleased to put the completion, the perfecting of His work into the future, and make you wait awhile, and make the waiting time a time of sore trial, of this you may be absolutely assured, there is some needs be for the delay; but the work is in steady progress, all through the time of delay, and the issue will be in every way higher and better because of the delay. We have to suffer awhile, and God knows best how long the “while” should be. The Promise.—“He Himself” is the emphatic language of the apostle here; for from the same fountain of grace as the call to eternal glory came, will come all the gifts essential to its attainment. I. He will perfect you.—The believer is at first, and for a while, very deficient in many respects—in wisdom, prudence, charity, patience, and all other virtues of the Christian character. Must those defects remain in him? and must he carry them to the grave? No; ere he enters the “eternal glory” he must be blameless, harmless, and without rebuke, and therefore made perfect in every good word and work. He cannot, however, make himself perfect. God must do it; and He will do it, never leaving His servant until He has done for him all that He has promised. II. He will stablish you, or make you fast.—“He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings,” said David; and Jesus said to Peter, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” There are Christians who, when the storm sets in, are like trees which wave to and fro in the wind, and which, having but a slender hold of the soil, are in danger of being blown down; but God can give them such support that they shall be like majestic oaks that defy the fiercest blast, or like a lighthouse on a rock that stands unmoved amid the billows of the raging sea. III. He will strengthen you.—For ordinary warfare, bodily strength is necessary; for the warfare in which the Christian is engaged, spiritual strength is essential. A feeble, timid Christian will fly before the enemy, but one who is strong in the Lord and in the power of His might will go and meet him with all confidence. And God gives strength to His people. They are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, and when temptation comes they are able to resist it, and in every conflict they come off victorious. IV. He will settle you.—The word θεμελιώσαι means He will ground, or fix you, as on a sure foundation, so that, like a mighty fortress, you shall stand unmoved, even though assailed by hosts of foes. A precious promise this; for our enemies sometimes come upon us like an army set in array, threatening to storm a citadel, and to take possession of it by force. But our citadel will prove too strong for them, and they shall be driven back, like the armies of Sennacherib when they threatened to invade the Holy City. In these several words there is a striking rise and development. The believer’s character is first perfected, then he becomes firm in the faith; he is then strengthened to endure the assaults of the foe, and then he becomes settled or made fast, and is as a tower of strength which none of his enemies can shake.—Thornley Smith. NOTES AND SERMON 1 Peter 5:10. Stablished, Strengthened, Settled.—The word “settled” is sometimes used in describing a building which comes to rest securely on its foundations. In common phraseology we speak of the “settling” of a house when the structure consolidates and comes to abide surely and immovably in its place. It takes years, in some instances, for that process to complete itself; and, as it goes on, flaws are discovered, and rents are sometimes made, showing clearly where the strength of the house lies—not in the mere walls, but in that firm foundation on which they rest, and on which the several parts settle themselves broadly and wholly. We cannot but remember in this connection the one ultimate foundation of a sinner’s trust, other than which no man can lay—Jesus Christ, and the truth as it is in Him; and that the whole great process of Christian life and education is with a view to solidify the trust, and fix the faith immovably on Him. God’s first work in a man is largely potential. He builds the framework of a new life. He gives enough, when used, to supply all the need. Yet, when the need arises, it is many a time very great. Through hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and storm, and battle, the soul makes way—often apparently with extremest difficulty—“troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down”—bearing about in the body the death-pains of the Son of God. But lo! by means of all this searching and conflict and endeavour, there comes by degrees the growing fulness of the better life. Temptation brings increase of strength; assaults of the enemy, repulsed, give new courage; change carries away many a treasure, but, to fill the void, brings ever more and more of the “unsearchable riches.” Castles in the air, built on vain confidence, melt from the sight, and the heart, convinced of its folly, comes to rest, with a child’s simplicity of trust, and yet with a man’s certainty of conviction, on Him who is able to keep that which is committed to Him, and is “stablished, strengthened, settled,” at last. It is literally at last with many a one. The final settlement is often just before the dying. It sometimes takes God a lifetime to teach us to flee from false refuges—to teach us to be humble, and to trust entirely in His Son, and in His own love, as brought near in Him. From many a pale, bloodless face there looks out at length the calmness, almost celestial, of a perfect trust. On many a dying bed you see the features which have been seamed and scarred and almost worn away by earthly care, and by spiritual sorrow and fear, which seemed, never-ending, smoothed at last into a serenity and a beauty caught directly from heaven. And from many a low voice, sinking into the last, murmurs, you might, if you were near, catch the whisper of the departing one: “I am at peace now; ‘settled’ at last!” We may all have “settlement” in Christ; it is intended and promised that we should have it, if we will, before the end of life comes. God grant that, if we have not this good thing earlier, we may all have it then.—A. Raleigh, D.D. 1 Peter 5:12. The True Grace of God.—St. Peter affirms that, no matter what disabilities may attach to their Christian profession, it was the true grace of God in which they stood, and in it they must still stand steadfast. “The position they now occupied was one which the favour of God had brought them into.” The expression, the “true grace of God,” may be opened and illustrated in three relations. 1. True grace regarded as Revelation—in the Song of Solomon 2. True grace regarded as Redemption—in the self-sacrifice of the Song of Solomon 3. True grace regarded as Sanctification—in the power of the suffering innocence of the Son. The Gospel of the Grace of God.— 1. That the economy of the gospel is, throughout its constitution and influences, a grand display of Divine grace. (1) The announcements of the gospel, as to the methods by which blessings are meritoriously secured. (2) The influence by which blessings are actually imparted. (3) The nature of those blessings themselves. (4) The extent to which these blessings are to be diffused. 2. That the economy of the gospel, as such, impresses important demands on all to whom it is proclaimed. (1) It should be cordially believed. (2) It must be steadfastly adhered to. (3) It must be zealously diffused.—James Parsons. TO CHAPTER 51 Peter 5:13. The Church at Babylon.—The rendering of this verse in our Authorised Version probably results from the old ecclesiastical figment that Peter was founder and Bishop of the Roman Church, and that he here says Babylon mystically for Rome. But for the influence of this idea it is improbable that our translators would have supplemented the verse by introducing the word “Church.” Neander renders it, “Syneclecte, who is at Babylon, greets you, and so does my son Marcus.” By Syneclecte he understands Peter’s wife, whom here he mentions by name. That he was married we learn from Matthew 8:14. That his wife accompanied him on his journeys is implied in Paul’s language, 1 Corinthians 9:5, “Have not I a right to take a believing wife (ἀδελφὴνγυναῖκα) with me on my journeys, like … Cephas?” Neander quotes Clem. Alex. Strom., to the effect that Peter, seeing his wife led by to martyrdom, called to her by name, and said, “Oh, remember the Lord.” I can hardly think, however, that Neander is right in his idea that Syneclecte is a proper name. Probably the word should be translated. Its equivalent would be some such phrase as “your sister in the faith.” The verse would then read, “Your sister in the faith, who is at Babylon, salutes you, and so does my son Marcus.” This, of course, would leave Neander’s view of the passage untouched, that it is his wife and son, then with him at Babylon, who send greetings, and not the Church.—Baptist Magazine.Babylon.—Three places have claimed to be understood under this name: 1. A little place called Babylon in Egypt, which has nothing to plead for itself except the unlikelihood of St. Peter ever being at the Oriental Babylon, coupled with the difficulty of supposing that the name is used quite figuratively. Perhaps, also, we should mention the traditional connection of St. Mark with Egypt. No one now, however, maintains this view. 2. The literal Babylon in the East. This has for itself the simple way in which St. Peter uses the word, without any circumlocution. But it has nothing else for it to set against all the overwhelming arguments in favour of the third claimant; besides which we learn from Josephus of a great expulsion of Jews from the Oriental Babylon a few years before this date. These Jews might, of course, however, have gathered there again, as they did at Rome, in spite of frequent expulsions. 3. It may be called the established interpretation that the place meant Rome. We never hear of St. Peter’s being in the East, and the thing in itself is improbable, whereas nothing but Protestant prejudice can stand against the historical evidence that St. Peter sojourned and died at Rome. Whatever theological consequences may flow from it, it is as certain that St. Peter was at Rome as that St. John was in Ephesus. Everything in the letter also points to such a state of things as was to be found at Rome about the date when we believe the letter to have been written. It is objected that St. Peter would not gravely speak of Rome under a fanciful name when dating a letter; but the symbolism in the name is quite in keeping with the context. St. Peter has just personified the Church of the place from which he writes, which seems quite as unprosaic a use of language as to call Rome “Babylon.” And it seems pretty clear that the name was quite intelligible to Jewish readers, for whom it was intended. The Apocalypse (Revelation 17:18) is not the only place where Rome is found spoken of under this title. One of the first of living Hebraists told the present writer that no Hebrew of St. Peter’s day would have had need to think twice what city was meant, when “Babylon” was mentioned. And on the mention of the name all the prophecies of the vengeance to be taken on the city which had desolated the Holy Land would rush with consolation into the minds of the readers, and they would feel that St. Peter, though supporting St. Paul, was still in full sympathy with themselves. Finally, as M. Renan suggests, there were reasons of prudence for not speaking too plainly about the presence of a large Christian society in Rome. The police were still more vigilant now than when St. Paul wrote in guarded language about the Roman Empire to the Thessalonians. It might provoke hostilities if the epistle fell into the hands of a delator, with names and places too clearly given.—A. J. Mason, M.A.