The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 224

of our claims lhan either of our obligations or of onr weaknesses. If we would obey this injunction, and be rooted in humility, we must seek to know ourselves as we are, 11nd to that end must study our own faces in the glass of God's \Vord and Christ's example. 'Jhese mirrors will show us what will put us out of conceit of onrselvcs. We must further reverse the favourite mode of comparison with others, and search into their good e.nd our own eviL We must further remember that all on which pride or self-conceit can build their flimsy castles is God's gift, and that therefore thank- fulness and not self-exaltation should be our temper. 'l'o wear this servile dress goes clean against the grain of human nature. It is the victory of unselfishness when we truly put it on. lt is not pleasant to flesh and blood to go about in the garb which proclaims that we are slaves. But what true Christianity can there be in a man who has not learned that he is poor and blind and naked, and that all his wealth and sight and vesture he must owe to undeserved, unpurchased grace? And how can a man who has had to kneel before Jesus a suppliant penitent, and confess himself leprous and beggared and lost, get up from his knees and go out among his fellows, carrying his head very high and bearing himself as if he were somebody? If we are Christ's, we must wear the dress that proclaims us slaves, and gird ourselves with humility, the livery of his household. II. THE PATTERN WHICH WE-HAVE TO FOLLOW. Our thoughts are carried back, as we have already suggested, to the memorable incident of the foot-washing. In that incident was condensed, and as it were presented in an acted parable, the spirit of Christ's whole mission. The evangelist emphatically marks that supreme instance of condescension as being the outcome of our Lord's clear consciousness of 1is Divine Sonship and of his universal authority. Just because he knew that he had come from God and went to God, and held all things in his sway, he bowed to serve us. And it was also the outcome of his ever-flowing love to his followers. So his whole work on earth, in every stage of its humiliation, is based on that unique consciousness of Divinity and imperial sway, and is animated by love. As he then laid aside his garments, so he has put off the glories which he wore or ever the world was; and as he then girdd himself with the towel, so he has voluntarily assumed the coarse and lowly body of our humiliation, stooping to be a man. As he then assumed a menial garb in order that he might wash his disciples' feet, so he has taken the form of a servant and become obedient to death that he might cleanse us all from our sins, by his own application to conscience and character of his own cleansing blood. In all these points we have to follow his example. Our humility must not only be a lowly estimate of ourselves, but it must be a practical stripping off of distinctions and prerogatives and an identifying of ourselves with the· lowliest. It must lead to service. '!'hat service must have for its end our brother's cleansing. Jesus is not only our Pattern, but also our Motive; and not only our Motive,'but by his indwelling Spirit he is the Power which moulds our selfishness into the likeness of his perfect self-surrender. In the deepest sense of the words, the "mind which was in Christ Jesus" must be in us, if we are truly Christians. If we have not his Spirit, we are not his servants. If we have that Spirit, we too, like hirn, shall be girt with humility, and do for others what he has done for us. III. THE PURPOSE FOR WHICil IT IS WORN. According to one view of the word, the piece of dress here referred to was, as we have said, a kind of loose "overnll " put on in preparation for work, and, according to another, a scarf which served the purpose of a girdle. So this grace of humility may be regarded as keeping all the other virtues which robe the Christian character in their places. It adds lustre to them all, as rich attire and flashing jewels are harmonized and beautified by some sober-tinted cloak thrown over them. Nay, more, it is their very life, for nothing more surely destroys the charm of all other excellences and withers them when they grow than self-~ratula- tion and self-conceit. Moses was all unaware that his face shone. But the great purpose for which humility is enjoined on Christians is that they mny be ready for service. The man who flaunts about in gay clothing of self-conceit is usually slow to put his hand to work in anything which will not advance his reputation, or will soil his bravery. Fine clothes and hard work do not go well together. He is generally more ready to insist upon his claims than to respond to his brother's claims on him. We must put off that gaudy robe, and be content to hide our excellences with the wrapper of humility, as a servant puts on some coarse apron fc -r coarse tasks, if we aro  220 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PE'l'ER. [os:. v. 1-14. - - - - - - ·------- , . __________________ to be rightly attired fo~ the work we have to do. The humble mind thinks not of its claims on others, but of its duties to them. It is reacly for the lowest service and is kept by no false dignity from placing itself by the side of the feeblest and the'foulest, Like the Master, it will take beggars by the hand, nor shrink from the touch of publicans and sinners. It will regard the meanest task done for Jesus as au honour ancl a mark of the Master's f~vour .. Diffident of its owll: poiyer, _it will depend, an,l not in vain, upon huu for all its efficiency; and, so dependlllg, 1t will be enriched with all necessary helps, while self-conceit, trusting in its own powur, will do little, and that little mostly barren, for, as the next words tell us," God resisteth the proud, but giveth <>race to the humble." The rains and_ dew~ run o~ the mo_untain crests, which are al:ays sterile and often struck by the hghtmng. It 1s down m the valleys that the broad rivers 0<>lide and spread fruitfulness and smiling plenty.-A. M. V_er. 10 (first portion):- Why !°e may make sure of God's help in conflict. These closmg words of the Epistle, winch have only some personal greetings after them, are best taken, not as a prayer, but as a full-toned assurance, like some grand swell of music at the end of an oratorio. The apostle has been speaking much about sutTerino- and trial, especially in the latter part of his letter. He has just warned his readers of the adversary who seeks their destruction. And here against that grim figure he holds up the shield of the Name and purpose of God, and bids us be brave and jubilant amid all sufferings and in the presence of the enemy, because he is for us. We shall consider the rich significance of the various forms of the Divine help as expressed in the latter part of this verse, in another homily. For the present we confine ourselves to the former half of the verse, each clause of which sets forth a fresh ground on which a poor feeble soul may build its confidence, in spite of sorrow and Satan, that no harm will come to it. J. THE GREAT FOUNDATION FOR THE TRIUMPHANT ASSURANCE WHICH FORESEES VICTORY IN THE MIDST OF THE SOREST CONFLICT IS THE INFIISITE FULNESS AND LOVING HEART OF Gon. ,vhen 61.llTounded by difficulties, crushed by sorrows, assaulted and battered by all the artillery of temptations, when faint of heart and conscious of one's own weakness, when dull torpor seems to have taken all warmth of feeling out of us, and many defeats to have robbed us of hope,-there is one strong tower into which we may run and be safe. The Name of the Lord, the thought of his revealed character as the Go<l. of all grace, is enough to scatter all the black-winged brood of cares and fears, and to bring the dove of peace into our hearts, though they be lonely as the ark, and all be one waste of waters around. For that great Name proclaims that his love is inexhaustible. . Grace is love exercised to inferiors and undeserving persons; and, if he is the God of all grace, boundless love for the lowliest and foulest is in his heart. Anything short of such Divine fulness of love would be tired out by our slowness and repeated sin. Impatience steals into the most long-suffering heart, and the most liberal hand will shut fast at last when the ragged good-for-nothing comes for the hundredth time with the old story of shiftless improvidence and misery, and the old whining petition for help already so often given and squandered. But there is no wearying out his patient love, and no past misuse of his gifts can ever prompt him to deny us more. The God of all grace has grace for all. The Kame, too, proclaims the infinite fulness of his resources. 'l'hat great storehouse is inexhaustible, after all giving full. He works and is not weary. He bestows and is none the poorer. The stream has been pouring for ages with a rush like Niagara, and the flood to-day is as mighty as at the beginning. It is fed from the eternal fountains in the "mountains of God," and cannot cease. Shall we fear drought whilst we are bome on its broad bosom? The coins in circulation, though enough lo enrich the world, are as nothiug to the masses of.bullion stored in the depths, '!'he sun itself will die by self-communication, and that great hearth-fire will grow cold, and all the family of worlds that move around it cease to be united and warmed by its beams; but the God who is our Sun burns and is not consumed. Shall we fear freezing or darkness while we walk in the light of his face? And that great Name implies an infinite variety of resources. All diversities of grace are his, that they may be ours. Grace is not only love in exercise to inferiors, but is also the gifts of that love, which are so inseparable from it that they are called by the same name. These take the shape of every man's 11.eed, and of a.ll the 11.eed, of every mall, The bread-fruit tree to the South Sea Islanders OH, v. 1-14.] THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. 221