~ut for patience extended over years, Paul would never have lived to be a preaoher of nghteous,ness, and. J?hn. Bunyan would never have lived to write the • Pilgrim's Progress. And so 1t 1s with the race as a whole. The offer of salvation has yet to be made to all. And even when the offer h<is been made, means have to be used to secure the acceptance of salvation. Therefore it is that the coming is delayed. Let us not., then, misinterpret the delay; let us not mistake what is long-suffering for slack- ne~s in promising, or indifference to sin. VII. REFERENCE TO THE WRITIKGS OF PAUL. "Even as our beloved brother Paul also, a_ccor:ding to the wisdom ~iven to him_, wrote unto yo~; as also in all his Epistles, spe'.'kmg m_ them of these thmgs ; wherem are some thmgs hard to be understood, wh~ch the 1gnoran_t a~,d unsteadrast wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own dest.ruct10n. Peter refers to Paul by whom, on one occasion he had been withstood, as his beloved brother, i.e. not ministerial associate, but brother 'to the readers an_d to him~elf alike, an~ alike dear to them. _He also recognizes him as possessing a wisdom which was not his own. Paul had written to the same circle on the subject of the coming. If we think of the Asiatic circle, we turn to the Epistle to the Ephesians. In it the nearest approach to what Peter has been saying is to be found in eh. v. 27, "That he might present the Church to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." When Peter passes to other Epistles, we at once think of the Epistles to the Thessa- lonians. In these Paul expressly treats of delay in the second coming, and points out the attitude to be taken up. And this naturally suggests "some things hard to be understood." What he had in his mind was probably the revelation of the man of sin. Of other things haTd to be understood in Paul's Epistles we may particularize the gathering up of all things in Christ, the doctrine of election especially as set forth in the ninth chapter of Romans, and the filling up of that which is lacking in tbe sufferings of Christ in Colossians. Peter notes the bad use made of these things hard to be understood, in common with other Scriptures, by the ignorant and unstead• fast, i.e. those who had not the essentials of Christian instruction, and did not hold to the Christian position once taken up by them. 'l'hey "wrested them" as by a hand- screw, i.e. from their natural meaning to their own destruction. 'l'here is no support here to the Roman Catholic idea of withholding the Bible from the people. Because Scriptures, especially difficult Scriptures, are abused by the ignorant and unsteadfast, that is no argument against the good use of them by those who are exhorted in this same chapter to "remember the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the com- mandment of the Lord and Saviour through the apostles." Let us, even when we (in company with Peter) do not thoroughly understand, humbly seek to get profit. VIIL CAUTION. "Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own steadfast- ness." Vlhat they knew beforehand was what Paul and Peter said about the second coming. The conclusion of the verse points especially to the foretold appearance of errorisls before the corning. 'l'he8e were condemned by their lawless conduct. Let them not, then, as they valued his love in the gospel, be carried away with their error. 'l'Ley had firm footing; let them not be carried off their feet. Let them not be like Barnaba~, the crnnpanion of Paul, who, when at the coming of some from James to Antioch, the Jc11·s dissembled with Peter, he also was carried off his feet with their dissimulation (Gal. ii. 13). IX. PAnTI~G couK,EL. "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." A tree is not a complete reality at once; but from a beginning there is progress toward an end. So we are not complete beings at once; but from a beginning there is a prngress intended for us toward the end of our being. 'l'here may be growth in a wrong direction: what we are here exhorted to grow in is what of Divine a~sistance as sinners we need in order to come to the goal of our being. "Grow in grace," which is to be taken as an independent conception. If we are not growing uuder gracious influence, then we have only a name to live. Our faith grows as it becomes more ample and conquering. Our love grows as it becomes more fervent and diffusive. Our hope grows as it becomes more calm and bright. We are to grow in self-abasement, in power of work, in power of concentrating the mind on the trulh, in power to bear hardHhips and injuries. We are to grow especially in that in which we oH. m.1-18.] 'l'HE SECOND EPIS'fLE GENERAL OF PETER. 91
find ourselves to be deficient. We are further exhorted to grow in "the knowledge of our Lo~d and Saviour Jesus Ch~ist.". T~ is in ke~ping with the great importance which 1s attac~ed _to know led~~ In. this Epistle. It is_ that by ~hich we grow. The knowledge which ~s _thus nutnt1ve 1s knowl_eJge_ of ~hnst as_openmg up and dispensing the treasures of D1vme grace, and e.s showmg m his own life what grace would bring out in ours. Let us, then, have a worthy conception of Christ in our minds; it is upon this that our growth in grace depends. X. DoxoLOGY. "To him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen." It is to Christ that the adoration is offered. 'l'o him be glory now; for it is to the knowled"'e of him that we owe all of grace that we have. 'fo him be glory for ever, literally, "to the day of the age"-the day on w~ich eternity, as contrasted ~ith time, _begins, and which is never to be broken up, but 1s to be one long day. To him we are mdebted, as for all that we have now, so for all that we hope to have hereafter. Th1,1s does the Epistle end without the customary salutations, simply with the carrying forward of Christ into our eternal life. It becomes every one who has followed out the thought of the Epistle to add his devout " Amell."-R. F. HOMILETICAL INDEX TO THE