epistle is characterised by its fervour. The soul of the writer stamped its image on h;s. thoughts and words—a ravraxa is the eulogy of Chrysostom. The epistle bears his living impress in his profound emotions, earnest convic tions, and zealous thoroughness. He was never lan guid or half-hearted in what he said or did, though the old impulsiveness is chastened ; and the tire which often flashed up so suddenly is more equable and tranquil in its glow. Ile is vivid without vehemence, and hurries on without impetuosity or abruptness. The epistle is throughout hortative, doctrine and quotation being introduced as forming the basis or warrant or as showing the necessity and value, of practical counsel or warning. There is in it little that is local or temporary ; it is suited to the church of all lands and ages ; for believers are always in the present time strangers and so journers,' with their gaze fixed on the future, ex posed to trial and borne through by hope. The apostle infuses himself into the epistle, portrays the emotions which swayed and cheered him, as he reveals his own experience, which had been shaped by his past and present fellowship with a suffering and glorified Lord. What he unfolds or describes never stands apart as a theme by itself to be wrought out and argued ; nor is it lifted as if to a lofty eminence that it may be admired from afar ; but all is kept within familiar grasp, and inwrought into the relations, duties, and dangers of everyday Christian existence. The truths brought forward. are treated not in themselves, but in their imme diate bearing on duty, trial, and hope ; are handled quite in the way in which one would describe air and food in their essential connection with life.
The language, though not rugged, is not without embarrassment. Ideas are linked together often by a relative pronoun. There is no formal ment of thought, though the order is lucid and logical. Some word employed in the previous sentence so dwells in his mind that it suggests the sentiment of the following one. The logical for mulas are wanting—am not preceding an inference, but introducing a practical imperative, and Sri and 74 not rendering a reason, hut prefacing a motive conveyed in some fact or quotation from Scripture. Thoughts are re-introduced, and in terms not dissimilar. What he has to say, he must say in words that come the soonest to an unprac tised pen. In short, we may well suppose that the apostle wrote under the pressure of the injunction long ago given to him—' When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren ;' and this divine mandate might be prefixed to the epistle as its motto.
Luther, Auslegung d. 1 Ep. Petri, 1523 ; Amesius, Explicatio, 165o ; Gerhard, Commenta viz's, 1660 ; Semler, Paraphrasis, 1783 ; Morus, Prdect. 1794 ; Hottinger, Ep. 7ac. et Pet., 1815 ; Steiger, der erste Brief Peter ausgelegt, 1832 ; De Wette, Kurze Erkldrung, ed. Bruckner, 1853 ; Huther in continuation of Meyer's Kommentar, 2 ed., 1859; Wiesinger, in continuation of Olshausen's Biblischer Commentar, 1856; Lecoultre, sur its Ep. tie Pierre, 1839 ; Theodor Schott, der i Brief Petri erkldrt, 1861. Practical, Kohlbriigge, Predig ten Besser, die B. St. Petri in Bibelstunden, 1354. In English —Byfield's Sermons, 1637 ; Nisbet, Brief Exposition, 1658 ; Leighton, Practical Commen tary, 1693 ; Brown, Expository Discourses, 2d ed-