SERMONS

ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER, CHAP. I.

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SERMON I.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."-1 Peter i. 1, 2.

THE apostle Peter in his day, wrote a letter from Babylon to the believers who dwelt in various provinces and different towns in Asia Minor, and who were exposed to every sort of affliction. These believers consisted partly of a remnant of the ten tribes of Israel, who had been long before scattered abroad, and partly of those who from among the heathen had been converted to God, and together with this remnant constituted one people of God-one Israel. Compared with the rest of mankind, these believers were small in number and in power; here, might be but a single individual, there, two or three; here, . might be found ten persons, and there some seventy or a hundred. In their manner of life and of thought, as well as in their worship, they were too different

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from other men to admit of their uniting with them, or walking after their ways. And because they could not walk as others walked, they were constantly misunderstood, and were exposed to all manner of suffering. The number of these believers, who through the preaching of Paul had been brought to the knowledge of the truth, had increased; but through false brethren, and their own evil inclinations, some had turned again into the way of error. Those who had hitherto remained faithful, needed to have their hearts strengthened and comforted; they needed also to be more fully instructed in the right way, lest through the wiles of the Devil, or their own fleshly lusts, or through scandals and false doctrine, they might be led to quit the stronghold of faith. A certain brother, Silvanus, was about to visit these believers, and Peter gave him this letter to take with him.

This letter will, until the time when the Lord and King shall bring the last of His people home, continue to be a blessed letter of consolation to each individual believer, as well as to every congregation of the Lord's people, scattered here and there among the unbelievers, be their number two, or three, or more, who assemble together in the name of the Lord. This letter, therefore, is for us, because the apostle Peter's word, which we have on the page before us, cannot sound in vain, since it is the word of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which Peter, as His apostle, brings to us; on which account, he calls himself simply the apostle or messenger of Jesus Christ.

We shall, therefore, as the first Christians did, read this letter aloud in our assembly; let us all

listen, and consider it well with application to ourselves. Let each of us hear this letter with the conviction that it is addressed especially to him; let him say in his heart, All this is for me.

As God gives us His Holy Spirit to teach us what to pray for, when we are ignorant and in darkness, so when we open any one of the apostolic epistles, we find at the very outset what our necessity requires,— we find it replenished with that everlasting consolation which is so needful under the constant trials of

our faith. Such is eminently the case with this epistle. In this matter the names are nothing; instead of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, &c., let cach believer substitute the name of the country, province, or town where he lives; and when he beholds what is practised therein, he will be comforted at being called a "stranger," because he will also be told. where his fatherland is; it will be told him that he has a city of God, towards which he is journeying. And when he reads that they were scattered, dispersed, then he feels, that however lonely and forsaken he may be, he is not forsaken by God; and he thinks upon the whole brotherhood that are upon earth, and remembers that their lot is the same; and thinks, also, on the Good Shepherd who shall gather the scattered flock into his fold. When he reads the name, Peter, he remembers how this apostle once "went out and wept bitterly ;" and how the angel said: "Tell it to Peter;" he remembers how the Lord revealed Himself to Peter, and how He afterwards said to him, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." And he thinks, at the

same time, on his own sins, on Psalm li., and on the power of divine grace. Then Peter's denial of the Lord-O how clearly is this understood by one dwelling in a world whose power and arts of seduction are inexhaustible! And how brightly the word apostle shines at the commencement of the letter of a man who had to learn that he had not first loved the Lord, but the Lord had first loved him; and when he became the devoted follower of the Lord, the word he received from his mouth was, "Feed my lambs." And then, the name, "Jesus Christ;" what remembrances this awakens in the believer's heart! He thinks on the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, on Golgotha, on our Lord's present power and glory at the right hand of the Father, and on His gracious words: "Fear not, little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Then he thinks on the sayings of an apostle: "Unto you it is given to suffer for His sake;" "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him ;" and also remembers these words: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." But when the believer is overwhelmed with great suffering, so that he cries out with David,

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My soul is full of troubles;" in the fierce combat against sin, against the devil, the world, and all that is therein, what can be a more comforting appellation than this: "Thou chosen one!" Can there be a stronger consolation than this: "I am chosen !" In the strength of this a man can lift up his head; through this he is at once raised above the world and above all suffering; through this he gains courage to fight the good fight. He is also reminded by this

of his high calling, which is nothing less than that he should be separated from the world; he is destined to be chosen in the furnace of affliction,* that through the cross he may receive the crown. That any one is thus actually elected, is known to him by the testimony of the Spirit, which beareth witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. And what privileges, what hopes, does this appellation, "elect," or "chosen," contain within itself! "We know," says the apostle Paul," that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." And therefore we designate those who have received from God power to become the sons of God; "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Now, therefore, when the devil threatens, when sin and the world seek, by persecution, to make the children of God afraid, then have they as a defence against them this comfortable assurance: That they have a gracious God in heaven; that this God is their reconciled Father in Christ Jesus; that this God, as a God and Father, knew them from the beginning, and therefore loved them; and that according to this foreknowledge and purpose He has elected them: thus the foundation of our blessedness is laid in an eternity without beginning, in the everlasting counsel of God; and this counsel standeth sure: 66 the Lord knoweth them that are his." Yes, though strangers, still His own; He knoweth them when no one else knows them; and He knew them before they were strangers, and He brought them into the condition of being strangers,

* Isaiah xlviii. 10.