ὅπως ἰαθῆτε πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη. 17 ο Ηλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν, καὶ προσευχῇ προσηύξατο τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι· καὶ οὐκ ἔβρεξεν Qd Kings 18.41, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτοὺς τρεῖς καὶ μῆνας ἕξ· 18 4 καὶ πάλιν προσηύξατο, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑετὸν ἔδωκε, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐβλάστησε τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς.

19 τ' Αδελφοὶ, ἐάν τις ἐν ὑμῖν πλανηθῇ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐπιστρέψῃ τὶς αὐτὸν, 20 * γινωσκέτω ὅτι ὁ ἐπιστρέψας ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ, σώσει ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου, καὶ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν.

use of those means which God has instituted in the Church for his salvation in Christ, may be justly said to cover a multitude of sins by means of the Saviour's righteousness; and he who has thus done the work of Christ, according to the command of Christ, will hear the joyful speech at the great Day, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. xxv. 21.)

This covering of a multitude of sins by Christ, and the ministerial application of the means instituted by Him for the casting of this covering of Christ's righteousness over a multitude of sins, is a different work from that of saving the sinner, specified in the former clause.

For, if we suppose the sinner to be saved, and yet the remembrance and record of his sins to be not covered, but to be ever visible to his own eyes, and to the eyes of men and Angels, and of God, in Eternity, this consideration would much abate his happiness in another world.

reclaiming an erring brother from the ways of sin, and by bringing him to Christ, we may not only save an immortal soul from eternal death, but may be instrumental in casting over his sins -however great their multitude-the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness, so that they may be covered for ever by the mantle of His merits.

Here is one of the strongest motives to the work of Christian love, in endeavouring to convert the sinner from the error of his

way.

With this precept St. James ends his Epistle; and in the practice of it he ended his life, when, according to the example, and in the words of His Saviour, dying on the cross for the salvation of the souls of all men, and for the covering of their sins from the wrath of God, St. James prayed for his murderers, "I pray Thee, Lord, God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Euseb. ii. 23. See above on v. 6.)

There are no salutations nor benedictions at the close of this

But the comfort here specified by the Apostle is, that by Epistle for the reason stated above on i. 1.

INTRODUCTION

ΤΟ

THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF ST. PETER.

WHEN the Holy Ghost came down from heaven, on the Day of Pentecost, St. Peter stood up with the Eleven, and preached to the Jews and Proselytes, who had come from all parts of the civilized world to Jerusalem for that Festival.

They whom he addressed are enumerated by the Historian of the Acts of the Apostles in the following order :

1. Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa.

2. Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia.

3. Egypt, the parts of Libya towards Cyrene; and strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians.

These Three Classes of persons, as has been shown in another place', represent the principal Dispersions, as they were called, of the Jews, scattered abroad in the countries to the East, North, West, and South of Jerusalem.

St. Peter was their Apostle, the Apostle of the Circumcision, as St. Paul was of the Gentiles. And as St. Paul performed the office of Apostle to the Gentiles, by preaching in person, and also by writing Epistles to the Gentile Churches, so St. Peter did to those of the Circumcision.

He did that work in regular order.

The Commission which had been given by Christ to His Apostles had specified certain stages of missionary progress; "ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem," this was the first stage; "and in all Judæa," this was the second; "and in Samaria," this was the third; and, lastly, "unto the uttermost part of the Earth 3."

The Apostle St. Peter had received from Christ a solemnly repeated charge, "Feed My sheep'." He discharged the duties of the pastoral office entrusted to him, and he performed them according to the order prescribed by Him who gave the charge.

He bore witness to Christ, first, in Jerusalem, and in Judæa; next, "in Samaria";" and lastly, he bore witness to Christ unto the uttermost parts of the Earth.

This final and extended witness, to the uttermost parts of the Earth, is that which is presented to us in his Epistles, and in his Martyrdom.

He preached the Gospel and wrote his first Epistle in the eastern territory of the Roman world; and his Martyrdom took place in the West. This Epistle was written from the Eastern Babylon; and afterwards he bore witness to Christ by dying for Him in the Western Babylon,— Rome".

1 See on Acts ii. 9-11, and below, 1 Pet. i. 1, and v. 13. 2 Gal. ii. 7-9.

3 Acts i. 8.

4 John xxi. 16, 17.

5 Acts viii. 14-25. Cp. ix. 32.

6 See below, p. 39. Whether St. Peter was ever at Rome before the time of his martyrdom in that City is doubtful.

Justin Martyr (Apol. ii. c. 26) asserts that Simon Magus came to Rome in the time of Claudius; and after Justin Martyr it is said in the Chronicon of Eusebius, ad A.D. 42, that he was encountered there by St. Peter; and so Euseb. ii. 14. Cp. Euseb. ii. 15-17.

But the silence of Holy Scripture, and especially the absence

of any reference to St. Peter in St. Paul's Epistles written to Rome and from Rome, and the scantiness and ambiguity of other testimony on that subject, render it at least very doubtful, whether St. Peter was at Rome before his last visit in the reign of Nero, which ended in his martyrdom there. Cp. Basnage, Annales ad A.D. 42, vol. i. p. 525.

It is probable, that he encountered Simon Magus at that time; Nicephorus (Chronog. in Scaliger. Thesaurus Temp. p. 308) assigns two years to St. Peter's Episcopate at Rome, and those two years are, in all likelihood, coincident with St. Peter's visit to Rome at the close of Nero's reign, when St. Paul was also at Rome; and this opinion is confirmed by the testimony of some authors, S. Cyril. Cateches. 6. Sulpic. Sever. ii. p. 369, who

Thus he completed his testimony to Christ, "in Jerusalem, Judæa, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the Earth."

The place from which this Epistle is dated is Babylon1.

Reasons will be assigned hereafter for adherence to the opinion, that the literal interpretation of that word is the true one; and that this Epistle was written from the site of the Assyrian city, on the river Euphrates; the city celebrated of old in the history of the Jewish people.

Reserving the further details of the evidence on this point for another place, we may here content ourselves with observing that the Historian of the Acts places the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia as the first in order among those strangers scattered abroad, who had come up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, and who were then addressed by St. Peter. No less a number than three thousand of them received his word and were baptized'; being the firstfruits of many similar spiritual Harvests which would be gathered in by St. Peter and others on many like occasions at Jerusalem, at the Jewish Festivals in succeeding years.

It might reasonably be anticipated, that St. Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision, would go in person and visit those to whom he had preached, and whom he had converted by his preaching, and see how they fared 3.

Among all the cities in the region of the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, none had been so renowned as Babylon.

The announcement that the Cross of Christ had been planted in Babylon, and that there was an Elect Church,-a Christian Sion,-in that place, which had been the cause of so many woes to Jerusalem, would indeed be joyous tidings to the faithful Israelites throughout the world. "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Galilee of the Gentiles," which had been the first to endure the calamities inflicted by the Assyrian invasion, were the first to enjoy the blessings of the Gospel, and the gracious presence of the Messiah; and the people which sat in darkness saw a great light in the glorious Advent of Him Who is the Light of the World'. And if now it could be said, that by the preaching of a Galilæan fisherman, Babylon, the land of the captivity of Judah, had heard the sound of an Evangelical Jubilee, this intelligence would be hailed with gladness by all faithful Israelites, and would impart consolation to them for the distresses which their forefathers had endured at Babylon; and would be like the opening of a door of hope, that all their brethren, wheresoever scattered abroad over the face of the earth, would find a home in the Gospel, and a Jerusalem in the Church of God; and it would be an earnest and pledge of future victories to be achieved by the Cross of Christ over all the Babylons of this world.

These and other considerations, which will be stated in the proper place, lead us to adopt the literal interpretation of St. Peter's words, and to believe that he was at Babylon, when he wrote this Epistle.

This interpretation, it will be found, imparts clearness and beauty to its contents.

To specify some particulars;

The Epistle itself is sometimes cited by ancient Authors, as "Epistola ad Ponticos"," an Epistle to those of Pontus. The reason is, that among the regions specified by the Apostle at the beginning of this Epistle, the first place is assigned to Pontus.

Pontus was the most eastern region of Asia Minor. This circumstance confirms the opinion above stated, that the place in which the Epistle was written, did not lie to the west of Asia Minor, —and therefore was not Rome, as some have supposed,—but lay to the east of Asia Minor.

Still further, on examining the order in which the Asiatic regions are arranged in the com

represent that Simon Magus was encountered at Rome by St. Paul as well as St. Peter. See Ittig, Hæres. p. 28, and the testimony in the recently discovered work of S. Hippolytus, which is of more importance from the author's connexion with Rome, p. 178. "This Simon," says he, "bewitched many in

Samaria with his sorceries, and afterwards came as far as Rome, and entered into conflict with the Apostles; and Peter greatly resisted him when he was seducing many by his magical arts." Cp. Basnage, Ann. A.D. 64, vol. i. p. 731, and the authorities in Winer, R. W. B. ii. p. 238. Davidson, Intr. iii. pp. 352–362.

The obscurity in which the history of St. Peter is involved after his delivery from his imprisonment in A.D. 44 (Acts xii. 17) is very remarkable. It seems providential. It may be ascribable to the same causes as the silence of Holy Scripture with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is like a prophetic protest against the errors which grew up afterwards in the Church, and fastened themselves with a semblance of reverence on his venerable name; like ivy, which injures the tree which it dresses up with its foliage. If St. Peter had been the Supreme Head of the Church of Christ,

are.

and had possessed sovereign authority over all the Apostles, it is not at all probable that his personal movements for a period of twenty years would have been involved in obscurity as they How much would the advocate of Papal Supremacy have made of the Acts of the Apostles, if the person who is there brought most prominently forward had been St. Peter, instead of St. Paul! If we knew as much of St. Peter's history as we do of St. Paul's, how many arguments would thence have been derived in favour of that Supremacy! There is therefore, it is probable, an eloquent significance in this silence.

1 See below on v. 13.

2 Acts ii. 41.

3 This was the Apostolic rule. Acts xv. 36-41. Cp. Acts xviii. 23.

See on 1 Pet. v. 13.

5 Isa. ix. 1-3. Matt. iv. 13–16.
6 On 1 Pet. v. 13.

7 See below on i. 1.

mencement of this Epistle, we find that they are placed in such a geographical series as that in which they would present themselves naturally to the mind of a person writing from the east of Asia Minor; and thus also we are confirmed in the opinion that the word Babylon at the close of the Epistle is to be received in its natural sense, and means the celebrated Assyrian city bearing that name.

If, now, we refer again to the recital in the Acts of the Apostles concerning the preaching of St. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, to the Jewish strangers who had flocked to Jerusalem for that Festival, we find that after the mention of those who had come from Parthia and its neighbourhood, namely, Babylonia and the regions about it, those who are next specified are the dwellers in Judæa1, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia.

He went forth from Jerusalem and preached in Judæa. Suppose him next to be at Babylon, which was then under the sway of the Parthians, and to have confirmed in the faith of Christ those believing Jews who were scattered in Media, Elam, that is Persia, and Mesopotamia. It was very reasonable that he should next turn his eyes and his thoughts toward those who formed the second great group of the dispersed Israelites; namely, to those of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Asia, who were an offset of the Babylonish dispersion, and are placed next to it by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.

What more natural, therefore, than that, being at Babylon, he should write an Epistle to those of Pontus and Asia?

He had received a charge to show his love to the Good Shepherd, Who had laid down His life for His sheep; and the manner in which that love was to be proved was by feeding His sheep. The lost sheep of the house of Israel were committed to his special charge. They were scattered abroad throughout the world. But they were gathered together from time to time as in a sheepfold at Jerusalem at the great annual Festivals. St. Peter had fed them there.

But he must also go forth to feed them.

It was ordered, providentially, that though the sheep of the house of Israel were scattered upon the mountains of the world, yet, if we may venture so to speak, there were certain great spiritual sheep-walks in which they ranged, like the patriarchal flocks of Arabia, stretching themselves in their pastoral encampments far and wide over the hills, and along the valleys. And when Christian folds had been formed in these great spiritual sheep-walks, ready means were afforded of spiritual communication among them; and they might in fine be gathered as one flock under one Shepherd * in the Church of Christ.

The first of these great spiritual sheep-walks was in Babylonia and the adjacent countries, to which the Ten Tribes had been carried captive. There St. Peter was, when he wrote this Epistle. The second of these spiritual sheep-walks was in Asia Minor.

The third was in Egypt.

Therefore, being at Babylon, and tending the sheep of the Good Shepherd there, St. Peter next directed his attention to those sheep of the house of Israel who were scattered abroad in Asia Minor; of whom not a few had heard his voice in Jerusalem, and had perhaps been already visited by him in the interval between the day of Pentecost and the date of this Epistle ".

Thus he performed the double work enjoined him by Christ, that of tending and feeding His sheep. He tended them by his presence; and he fed them by his Epistles, which afford a constant supply of spiritual nourishment to the sheep of Christ 7.

The mention of " Marcus his son," in the salutation from Babylon, supplies another illustration here.

"Marcus his son," is doubtless the Evangelist St. Mark, whose Gospel was written under the eye of St. Peter, his father in the faith".

This salutation itself proves, that St. Mark was known to the Asiatic Jewish Christians, whom St. Peter is addressing in the Epistle. This inference is confirmed by the mention of St. Mark by St. Paul, when writing from Rome in his Epistle to the Asiatic Church of Colossa And it may

10

form when absent, as well as when present. St. Peter emoluaiver at Babylon; and when there he Bookey those of Asia. He molMaiver by his presence, and BоσKEV by his writings. He tended Christ's sheep when he was alive; but he is always feeding them in his Epistles.

81 Pet. v. 13.

9 See the authorities cited above in the Introduction to St. Mark's Gospel, pp. 112-114.

10 Col. iv. 10. Philem. 24.