make us perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle us; for his is the mi"ht, and that for all the nges of eternity. Hie hand is mighty; all might is his. The Christian thankfully and joyfully acknowledges it. Hie hand framed the heavens; they declare his glory. Bis he.nd is over his elect; they set forth his praises. The same power that sustains the pie.nets in their orbits e.s they circle round the sun orders the course of the humblest believer as he draws nearer and nearer to the Sun of Righteousness. His heart is filled with thankful adoration when he reflects on the power of God, and remembers that that power is exerted for his defence, and makes all things work together for his eternal good. Praise becoJDeth saints; they must as~ribe unto the Lord worship and power. In heaven they rest not day and night, saying," Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." The saints on earth are learning the new song, practising the anthems of heaven. They delight in thanksgiving; they delight to contemplate with adoring love the majesty of God, and to add their "Amen " to the high chant of praise. II. ;E'ERSONAL NOTICES. 1. Commendation of Silvanus. He was faithful; he had proved his faithfulness in his constant attendance on St. Paul. He had laboured much in the good cause; be bad been patient ai:.d even joyful, able to give thanks in snffe:ing: "At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and Bang praises unto God" (Acts xvi. 25). St. Peter gives bis testimony to his faithfulness, and sends his letter by him. Good men will gladly recognize goodness in otbe~s. 2. Reas()nfor writing. (1) To exhort them. They needed exhortation and encouragement, for troubles were gathering fast around them. St. Peter points them to the example of Christ; he teaches them the blessed meaning of suffering; his letter breathes hope and consolation from beginning to end. If Barnabas was a son of prophesying or exhortation, Peter was a son of consolation. (2) To testify. 'l'o give the weight of his apostolic authority and his great spiritual experience to the truth of their religion. Like St. John, he declared unto others that which be himself had heard and seen. He knew from the certain knowledge of actual experience the reality of the power of the grace of God. Men who can speak like this, with weight and authority, are very valuable in the Church. It is an authority which only real experience can give; it springs from the inner life of prayer and fellowship with God. 3. Salutations. (1) From "the co-elect at Babylon (11 iv Bc,,Bu1'.wv, 1nw- <1C1'.<1CT,/)." If there was a Church at Babylon, that Church sends her greetings to the Churches of Asia Minor. But the words seem to indicate an individual. There was one Christian woman in great Babylon, in what had been once the mightiest city of the world, the centre of a mighty empire, the very type of the world-power arrayeLl against the people of God. '!'here, where Nebuchadnezzar had seen in vision the great image, whose brightness was excellent, and the form thereof was terrible-in that very city the Stone that "was cut out without hands" was now beginning its conquering course; and the first agent in the great work was the apostle "called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone." With him 11;\houred his wife, his partner now in holy work for Christ, as (we are told) she was afterwards in the blessed death of martyrdom. Then he bade her remember the Lord: Meµ.v11<10, iL a~T7h -rou Kuplou. Here he calls her the co-elect; be bad addressed his Epistle to the elect strangers of the dispersion; his wife also was elect, and she was now at Babylon. "The Lord knoweth them that are his;" wherever they are, his fatherly hand is over them; they are his chosen ; he careth for them; at Babylon or at Jerusalem he is near them; strangers on earth, they are citizens of the heavenly country; there is their heart an<l their treasure. (2) From Marcus. St. Peter calls him his son, as St. Paul cnlls 'l.'imothy his son in the faith (1 Tim. i. 2). St. Peter knew the mother of John whose surname was Mark (Acts xii. 12); he may have been the mean:i of converting her son. Mark, like Silvanus, was one uf the links between the two great apostles; he bad been with St. Paul in his first imprisonment at Rome (Col. iv. 10). Then he wns about to travel into Asia Minor; now, it seems, he bad joined St. Peter at Babylon. lie had once shrunk from hardships and dangers (Acts xv. 38); now be bad learned. steadfastness and Christian courage-ho worked now with St. Peter among fierce heathen and fanatical Jews. St. Paul, who once" thought it not good to take him," <le~ired his help and sympathy (2 Tim. iv. 11); he would be profitable for the ministry at Rome, e.s doubtless he was at Babylon. Rome and Babylon were tho extreme puints then reached by Christian missionaries. Christ's Church is dispersed throughout the world; its centre of uuity is Christ the Lord; it1 members ~hould be united in faith aud love. 218 THE FIRST EPIS'rLE GENERAL OF PE1'Elt. [ctr. V. 1-14.
4. Tlte 1.-iss qf cliarr:ty. It was a touching custom dating from our Lord's own time, R?d l~n_g practised i_n th_e Church. Ceremonies "may be changed nccording to the d1vers1t1es of countries, hmes, and men's manners." Dut that charity, of which the hol): k,iss ~a_s an exp\·ession, may not be changed; it is the very mark and badge of Clmst s d1~c1ples. Still they greet one another with looks nnd words and deeds of holy love. 5. St. Peter's greeting. "Grace unto yon, and pence, be multiplied," he had said at the opening of his Epistle; he closes it with the like holy farewell: "Peace be with you all that nre in Christ Jesus." We can express no better wish for our friends. The peace of God passeth all understanding; but they only can have that blessed peace who are in Christ. For it is his peace; he giveth it; it cometh to his chosen through intimate spiritual communion with the Lord. May we share that deep blessedness! LEssoNs. 1. God giveth mol'e grace; let us come boldly to the throne of grace, He bath called us to his eternal glory ; let us persevere in faith and hope. 2. He can make his people perfect; he can stablish, strengthen, settle them. Let us trust in him, lidng in constant thankfulness. 3. St. Peter's friends were like-minded with himself. Let us seek our friends among faithful Christians. 4. St. Peter's wife was co-elect. The marriage tie is most blessed when husbaud and wife are united "in the Lord."