pur,rhased at no less a price than what comes to mind, when we speak of our Lord as "the Man of sorrows, end acquainted with grief;" and for which he did not regard that price ns too great to pay I And if we find, when we try to secure and maintain this great blessing, that it can only be done at much cost to ourselves, how impossible it is for us to shrink from it, when we remember the greater cost of this f) him! It were a. solemn thing to refuse through cowarclice to "fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ." 3. The claims of Ghrist should lead us to resolve to su.fjer ,jneed he for him. Where Christ's sacrifice is pn,~~nt to the mind, there is no room for self left; the "I" in us is destroyed; the blood of Christ, when rightly apprehend~d, not only blots out our sin, but also our self. \Ve corn~ now to the difficult par" of this passage, but I think it brings before us this truth- II. 'l'HE SUFFERING OF CHnIS'l''S PEOPLE NECESSARILY AP.ISF.S FROM THREE CA17SES. 1. Suffering through mortification of the flesh. It seems natural to suppose that when, having said," Christ bath suffered in the flesh," the apostle goes on to say," For he that bath suffered in the flesh bath ceased from sin,'' he is still referring to Christ. But it cannot be so, for of him" who did no sin" it cannot be said that he bath "cc:ased from sin ; "it must refer to us. Yet how can it be said of them whom he has called to arm themselves with the same suffering mind as Christ, that they have "ceased from sin"'? I think we have here a parallel to what we read in Rom. vi. 6-11, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him," etc. That contains a priceless trnth, which we do not half realize. It speaks of a death in us, correspondini to our Lord's death; that this is to be the sublime result of his death-the death of sin in his people; and it is this which Peter here holds up to us, "He that bath suffered in the flesh [hath puL to death the flesh], bath ceased from sin," etc. But that destroying the flesh is suffering, to take our natural desires and passions and nail them to the cross is cruci- fixion-a. slow, lingering death, which involves unutterable pain till it is complete. 2. Su_ffe1·ing through difference from the world. "For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles," etc. We have here a true picture of the pagan character, and it is hardly possible for us to imagine the contrast which was manilest when such a. one became converted to Christ. Glaring evils had to be renounced at once, lifelong associations bad to be severed at a blow. That was the case here; and what was the result? They were evil spoken of, and that is where the suffering always comes in when we break with wrong associations. We shall be thought strange by others, and shall seem to be condemning them, assuming that we are better than they. And to be misjudged, misrepresented, reviled, is suffering; but, as Christians, there is no help for it, we must sever ourselves from what is worldly. 3. Suffering thr~1gh spiritual discipline. "For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the deM," etc. The word" dead" here must be taken to mean those who are dead whilst they live. But even with that a.Iteration, it is difficult to see clearly what the verse mean,. Now it is said that the construction of the Greek allows of the insertion of the wonl "although;" just as in a passage in Rom. vi.17, which we never read without mentally inserting the word "although." If that be so, the meaning is evident: "For to this end was the gospel preached even to thern who were dead in sins, that [although) they might be judged, condemned, persecuted, put to death according to men in the flesh, they might live according to God in the spirit." Spiritual life is God's end with ns, let men do with us what they may. And the spiritual life is often developed by means of what men do to us. Every act of persecution is to be followed by a deeper peace, a holier purity, a higher power. III. TnE COMING END ASSISTS CmnsT's PEOPLE TO nEAR SUFFERING IN A RIGUT BPinlT. Looking at this superficially, some might think this a hard gospel; the follo·.rcr of Christ is to arm himself with the expectation of suffering. But look wbut coIULij before, and what follows after this. What comes before? "1''orasmuch as Christ ha, Ii suffered for us in the flesh." What follows it? "'l'he end of all things is at han,l." 'fhis hard demand stands between the cross nnd the crown ; that makes all the difference. 1. The coming end calls 1ts to estimate reasonably the extent of the suffering. Read it as it is in the Revised Version. "Be yo therefore of sound rniud." '!'be apostle is hero calling the persecuted to regard their sufferings reasonably, in connection with the fact that "the rnd of all things is a~ hand." The earth-trials of God's people are, after all, \n.t the moment.ary cloud in the day of heavenly sunshine, which shall have uo eveuin~. of 192 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [cH. rv. 1-19.
which now in Christ we have the dawn. 2. The coming end calls us to vigilance lest 1'.,e lose the ?o,~i'.ng b(essing. That "coming end" will be the beginning of the glorified life-that hfe m which what we have sown here we shall reap; that life in which we may ha1"'e "an entrance ministered to us abundantly," or in which we may be "saved yet ~o as by fire." Beware lest under the pressure of temptation you conform to the wor)cl.~ you be ashamed of Jesus, yon refuse y~u~ cross, and thereby lose your crown. Suftermg there must be; look to the end, anticipate the glory which it begins and against all that would rob you of the fuluess of that glory, watch unto prayer.-C. N.