II. Tum BAINTB' JOY GROWING OUT OF THIS HEAVINESS. Sorrow and joy at thP. ea.me time I The believer ought to be" always rejoicing," and that is a puzzle to many. But there is great difference between always rejoicing and only rejoicin". The idea thar, the believer ought only to rejoice is as foolish as it is false, Bnt it is p~ssible always to rejoice-'' n.s sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Here we have some of the grounrls of thi~ joy. They concern faith, hope, love. 1. Heaviness is said to be the proving of our faith. "Trial," equivalent to "trying, testing, proving." Is it not? Is it not just in darkness that our faith is tested? '£hat gives a new aspect to heaviness. Heaviness is the time when we show what we a.re. Then we are being watched. Heaven and earth arc gathered around us then, God and Satan looking on, and the Divine honour and joy are.at stake. What 11, solemn, sublime moment that I 2. It is also said to be the enlnrgement of ottr hope. "'l.'ha.t the trial of your faith might be found," etc. That carries our thought forward. Our present life is often unbearable because we live as though it were all. In almost every other department we a.re cheered on through difficulty by hope. So in this. See what the angel of hope did for Paul on the wrecking ship, when a.II hope that they should be saved had been taken away : "Be of good cheer, fear not, thou must be brought before Ci:esar." Hope ever points to the blessed end, and whispers, "Be of good cheer." Moreover, the heavii:.ess is going to minister to our enrichment then. 'Ne shall not only escape the storm, but be stronger because of it, 3. Heaviness is said to be the quickener of our love. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though," etc. A kind of tender pity in the words, as though Peter sai<l, "Oh that you had but seen him, and how you would have loved him!" The sentence is equivalent to "love to Christ imparts to heaviness an unspeakable joy." Does it not? This for the Lord's sake. Ily this, too, I get nearer to the Lord l III. THE SAINTS' SALVATION IN THIS JOY. "Ye rejoice with joy . . . receiving the," etc. 1. Salvation is a mystery to be revealed in heaven. Ile bas said that. "Salvation ready to be revealed at the last time." However much is revealed of it here, "eye hath not seeo, nor ear," etc. 2. But the unfolding of this mystery begins in Divine joys on earth. It is possible to anticipate heaven, to receive now the salvation of our souls, and heaviness may be the means to this. Then blessed henviness ! the storm may bring us to tbe very shore of eternal bliss, and though as yet we cannot land, its sacred chimes may be our music even now.-C. N.
Vera. 10-12.-The certainty and greatness of Divine salvation. The tone of tho whole letter shows that its readers were entering on a seasor.. of severe trial (vers. 6, 7; eh. ii. Ul--23; iii. 13-18; iv. 12-14; v.10), and one object of the writer was to sustain nnd encourage them. Now, what is his method? what is the Divine way of consolation? How well should we be able to minister to the tried if we knew how God wonld minister to them I His method is to bring before them the wonderful blessings of that salvation of which, in Christ, they partake. That is what we have here, As we read from the third verse, we seem to hear the apostle saying the blessings of snlvation are the true solace for the distressed believer. He begins with an outburst of praise for their great hope; but he goes on to say their joy is not in the future only; then comes this paragraph on the sub,tance of their salvation in Christ. l. SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST TIIE SUBJECT OF OLD TESTAMENT PREPARATION. The work of the prophets was not so much for their own day and dispensation as for this; they knew there was a deeper meaning in what they were impelled to say than they were conscious of intending; it was clear to them that they, centuries beforehand, were really working for New Tcstnment times. 'l.'hat is, Christianity is no modern inven- tion; it is not a step in the upward movement of the race dating back to Jesus of Nazareth, and now to be left behind as the race advances beyond it; to say nothing of appearances being against such a theory, for thero are no traces that Christianity is not still infinitely above what any of the race has reached, its fundamental idea is false; Christianity dates from the beginning, its basis is a Divine work of preparation carried on through all the ages that were before it, and " when tho fulm.ss of tho time was come, God sent forth his Son." Our text, however, does not tako us further than this-that falvation was the subject of Old Testament preparation. It is no heresy of the modem Church; it did not originate with Paul; it is not an idea of Jesus; it dates back through all the Old Testament that the world's redemption should spring from a Saviour suffering 48 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [oH. 1. 1-211.