The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Peter — Section 36

teaching may abide when the teacher has gone. For the Word is "incorruptible; " the seed we sow has life in itself; ~n~, so '.ar f~om being_ dismayed when it springs not up e.t once, we should remember 1t 1s said, ' That which thou sowest fa not quickened except it die;" that "the harvest is the end of the world;" and that, thoucrh when we pass hence there is still no life in the hard soil, there is time for us to witness, from another shore, first the blade, then the car, and then the full corn in the ear. Life's work continues after life, to many generations; we never know for whom or for what we work. Temptations are resisted to-day, and erises passed, and sorrows borne, through the power of principles enforced long years before by those who are now employed in higher spheres. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- forth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Many of us can say, "Amen." May those who come when we are gone, as they hear these words, think of us, and say, "Amen." And that they may let us say with Peter-We will endeavour that they may be able after our decease t~ have these things always in remembrance. "We will endeavour;" yes, we can only endeavour. Paul plants, and Apollos waters, but God must give the increase. Ill. THIS RESPONSIBILITY INTENSIFIED BY THE SHORTNESS OF ITS OPPORTU~""ITY. "I will not be negligent . . . knowing that shortly I m:i.~t put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me." 1. We cannot Zook calmly at death unless we have a sense of fidelity with regard to this. Calmness in the prospect of death can only be enjoyed by those who (like Peter, faithful to the end) are conscious that to their utmost they have been faithful to the opportnnities of life. The evening of our days will be distressing (Christians though we be) unless we can look up and say (though the work seems poor indeed, and perhaps a failure)," 0 Father, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." But we may not even reckon on an evening to our days; our sun may go down while it is yet noon, 2. Immediate fidelity is demanded, in that death-bed exhortations may be impossible. "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle," should rather read, "knowing that swiftly-by a sharp, quick stroke." 'l.'hen what he does he will do quickly. If some of us knew what Christ might tell us, we should find that we also are to die thus swiftly. Have we done our work? Have we pleaded with those we love? Have we taught the children the great things of God's Word? Have we lived remembering that "there is no work, nor device, in the grave whither" we are going? -C.N. Vers. 16-18,-0ertainty concerning Ohrist the secret of spiritual earnestness. The apostle gives the reason for his earnestness in the passage before us, and certainty is the key-note of his utterance. He declares he knows what he enforces, that error has not been palmed on him for truth, that his eyes have seen and his ears have heard what he tells. Then our subject is-Certainty concerning Ohrist the secret of spirituai earnestness. Doubt and deadness go together, certainty and vigour; and in an age when doubt is so freely suggested, that it is almost in the air we breathe, and is sometimes thought to be a sign of wisdom, it ought to be usefnl to us to consider the need and possibility of certainty. It does not follow that certainty can be attained at once, nor that all doubt is to be condemned. Much doubt is tempera- mental, like that of 'l'homas (and Thomas was a disciple second to none in fidelity to Jesus), and much, again, means spiritual progress, leading to higher faith and deeper repose; but we need not remain in doubt. There is a reasonable baRis for belief, some eternal rock at least, on which we can weather the storm, though mystery lies around us on every side. In this present state of limited vision we may expect this mystery. I. CHRIST IB THE SUM OF APOSTOLIC TROTTI, About what was the apostle certain? About Christ. He is here enforcing the need of spiritual truth; he is determined to live and die urging this truth, and in our text he sums up what this truth is. It is Christ. And that is equally the testimony of the Old Testament as of the New : what have they to say to us, but Christ? How that simplifies this book! how it shows what we are to come here to learn I One of the stumbling-blocks to tho understanding of Scripture is that men come to it to learn what it is not intended to tc~ch. 1, .4~ Cl,rist is the embodiment ef Divine t,,uth, the Bible is the rei•elation ~' so 'l'HE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PIWEil. [oH. 1. t-21. 1