)ntoxicated_ m~n hRS no clear _Perception of anything; he sees nothing 11s it is. There ~s nn. mtox1ca_tion of_ soul which operates thus on spiritual perceptions. W c may be m tox1catcd w~t~ busmes!'., worldly pleasure, pride of intellect, etc. 'l'o understand God's grace, a rcst.r:umng hand must be put on this. 3. 'l'here must be confident anticipation <!fit. "Hope perfectly [Revised Version] for," etc. Hope is beyond faith. Fnith rc\'eals somewhat, then hope anticipates it. Hope expects ponders vearns for. "Pe1frctlr;" <'q~1ivalent ~o "without any admixture of doubt." ''l'o make' tho blessings promised m Chnst a subject of hope would make them grow before our vision and inknsify the consciousness that they are ours. It does not impress us to know' that a vast multitude of stars fill the sky, but to go into the observntory and single out one star for observation, and fix our mind on that-, ensures one new beauty after another gleam ms: out of the darkness, and where we thought was but a star, a galaxy is discerned. Ill. 'l'IIE APPREHENSION OF '.l'RE FULNESS OF DlVINE GRACE WILL LEAD TO HOLINl!"SS. Man says, " Be holy, then you will have hope; do your duty, then yon will find rest." God says, "Salvation free through Christ first; thou holiness as the result." Vers. 14-16 are the sequel to ver. 13. A fable tells of a stream which made those that drank of it new beings; so to drink of the blessings which flow from Calvary is to find ourselves new ,:;reatnres. None can know what redemption is, and that it is bis, and fashion himself 11ccordi1•g to his former lusts in bis ignorance; it rather creates a desire to be "holy in all roamer of living." 1. It is so because of the filial love redemption evokes. Without redemption we have no sufficient motive to holiness; that comes with love to God in Christ. 2. And it is so because of the high purpose of God redemption reveals. As we apprehend what redemption is, we see it includes God's purpose of likeness to him. Then this likeness can be reached, for what God wills can be.-C. N.
Vers. 17-21.-.1?,e holiness in which salvation consists a reason for Ohristianfear. The order of thought in the first twenty-one verses may be summed up in salvation {vers. 3-12), holiness (vers. 12-16), fear (vers. 17-21). This last paragraph contains one long reason why those who have salvation through Chiist should live in fear. It is remarkable that the demand for fear should follow what has been already said. The apostle ha.s spoken strongly of the certainty of their redemption to whom he writes; he ea.Us them "elect according to," etc.; he blesses God that they have an inheritance reserved for them, and that they are kept for it ; he says that loving Christ they have now the salvation of their souli;; he adds that the revelation of this salvation, being given through the Holy Ghost, is infallibly true; but after all that, he bids them pass the time of their sojourning here in fear-an emphatic contradiction of the idea that the doctrines of grace foster a spirit of carelessness. Fear is the natural result of God's free salvation. L THE FACT OF BEDEHPTION NECESSITATES HOLINESS. The seventeenth verse is based on the eighteenth and following verses. 1. Redemption is from the vain manner oj l-ife received from our fathers. " Conversation; " equivalent to" manner of life." Christ died to deliver us from the sinful manner of life received from our fathers. From hell; yes, that is clear. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all;" "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree;" "There is therefore now no condemnation," etc. But that ill not the end for which he died, only a means to an end. Holiness in us was the purpose of the atonement., so much so that if we can imagine one getting no further than the cancelling of his sins, we should have to sa_y that Christ died for him in vain ( see 2 Cor. v. 15; Gal. i. 4; Eph. i. 4; v. 25-27; Titus ii. 14). Redemption by CLriet is from the life of the natural man: "If any man be in. Christ Jesus, it is a new creation." 2. Redemption is only effected at unspealoable cost. "Not with corruptible," ete. An emphatic testimony that redemption is through our Lord's death-not through his life, or example, or holiness, or mediation, but, as Scripture invariably says with unwavering consistency, by "his blood." God himself bore the penalty of human guilt that he might righteously extend his mercy to the guilty. Nor can we imagine any method which so glorifies his grace and reveals himself. Think of the worth of our Lord's offering. 'fhe universe were as nothing compared with the Son of God. What unfathom- able meaning is in the words, "the precious blood of Christ" I Now, this stupendous price was paid for nothing less than that we might be holy. In that we see how imperative, how inrlispensaLle, holiness is. a. Redemption is to faith and hope in God. OH, 1. 1-2G.] TllE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL m• PETER. 51