The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 53

experience recorded here is the possible experience of the believer. Comp. ver. 5, "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the lost timo," .~v(th Yer. 9i "~eceiving [now] the end of your faith, eve_n the salvation of your souls; • i.e. salvation 1s not a future matter only. \Ve can receive the end of our faith now; heaven is only fully revealed hereafter, but it is already possessed. And hero the arogt]e te~ls them how. H_eavines~ m~y minister to it; ?ut of heaviness _may grow such Joy~ as SJ\all be the salvation which 1s _the goal of their hopes. Heavmess-joy -snh·at1on; thnt's the order here. Sometimes when the sun is setting behind tho hills, making the pcnks glow like burnished gold, the beauty is repented on the peaks 0ppo,ite, eastern and w,,stern both aglo,v; but the valleys between are already in twilight or darkened with mist. That is an emblem of many a Christian lifo; the beginning and the end are radiant, but the years between are filled with shadows. Now, that need not be. The Light of the world is a sun which no more goes down, and when he bas risen ou our hearts henceforth east and west horizons, the summits of our history but n? l~ss the broad plain, and every little glen and lowly place that comes between: may he m the soft full glow of perpetual noon. The hindrance to this, we say, is the "heaviness through manifold trials," which will come; but, says Peter, there is a secret by which out of these may grow "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Not only not- withstanding these, but because of these, the believer's life may be a continuous chastened joy; and to have that is to anticipate heaven. I. THR SAINTS' REA VlNESS THROUGH MANIFOLD TRIALS. The trio.ls must be; they are part of the necessary discipline of sonship. If "mau is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward," more still is the new man. But for our help, then, consider: 1. The necessity for the heaviness. "If need be." Only "if need be;" that is assured by the paternal love of God. It is a witness to his love that, when trial cannot be avoided consistent with our good, he is willing to bear the pain of inflicting it. It does not follow that we can see the "need be;" it may be the needs be of preparation for some exceptional blessedness rather than that of chastisement. Perhaps the "need be" is implied in the text: "Ye are kept . . . through faith unto salvation;" but" ye are in heaviness . . . that tho trial of your faith might be found," etc., equivalent to "we are kept in the state of salvation only through faith, and affiiction is one of the means by which alone faith is maintained." The love of God, however, assures us that there is a needs be for the affliction which would satisfy even us could we see it. 2. The manner of the heaviness. "Manifold trials," and these like the "fire" of the refiner. God's trials are not all of one pattern, but are "afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes." Loneliness, weakness, a nervous temperament, discordance in the home, responsibility, or duty, may be as real a trial to us, though no one detects it, as the more manifest sorrows of others. Docs it burn ?-that's the question; is it to the soul what fire is tu the body-deep, searching, consuming pain ? If so, it is the " heaviness" of the text, and may issue in joy unspeakable. And if it be fire, we know who presides at the crucible, who regulates the heat, and blows aside the blue flame to see if the dross be gone, and waits to see his face mirrored in the clear liquid metal. "He shall sit as a refiner," etc. 3. The duration of the heaviness. "Now for a season." Only "for a season." If a continuous line from hero to the sun, and beyond the sun as far ago.in, and beyond that as far again, represent only a part of our immortal history, the season of suffering would be represented by the smallest point you can make on that line. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is not worthy," etc. Presently w• shall say- "Now the crucible is breaking, Faitli its perfect c-cal is taking, Like the gold in furnace tried. Through the test of sharp distresses, Those whom Heaven most riclily blesse1 For its joys are purified. • Sighs and tears at last are over. Breaking through its fleshly cover, Soars the soul to light away. Who while here below can measure That deep sea of heavenly pleasure, Spreading there so bright for aye?" ou, 1, 1-25.] THE FIRS'r EPISTLE GENEitAL OF PETER. 47