palities and powers of earth and hell, is that which, he will
exercise towards every believing soulm" Look then
to God and " believe in him :" yea look at Christ Jesus, and " hope," that, for his sake, all that has been done in and for him, shall be clone in and for you. Think of nothing less : expect nothing less : be satisfied with nothing less : and, if at any time a doubting thought arise, chide your drooping spirit, as David did, and say, " Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God11."]
m Eph. i. 19—21. « Ps. xlii. 11.
1 Pet. i. 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
AS our Christian profession lays us under peculiar obligations to holiness, so our Christian experience should influence us to exert ourselves as much as possible in the service of our God. The more we have attained, the more we should aspire after still higher attainments. To this effect is St. Peter's exhortation in the passage before us. In his words we may observe,
I. What he takes for granted respecting all true Christians —
The Apostle, writing to those who professed to be followers of Christ, gives them credit that they were his disciples indeed; and takes for granted,
1. That they had " obeyed the truth"—
[To "obey the truth" is, in scripture-language, the same as to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The substance of the divine record is, that in Christ Jesus there is life, and that we either have life or are destitute of it, according as we possess, or are destitute of, the knowledge of Christ3. This is the true record of God, which we are enjoined to receive with all
a 1 John v. 11, 12.