Part 11 (1/2)

And besides, inasmuch as G.o.d will not permit that we should regard as a matter of sport what we do with the christian church, we must stand in such an a.s.surance as this, that G.o.d speaks and works through us, and that our faith may also say, ”That which I have spoken and done, G.o.d also has spoken and done; on this I will even die.”

And yet if I am not certain of the matter, then my faith will rest upon the sand when the devil a.s.saults me. Thus here it is emphatically forbidden us to receive the command of any bishop, unless it is also the case, that he is certain that he does what G.o.d does, and can say, ”I have G.o.d's word and command for it.” Where that is wanting, we must hold him for a liar.

For G.o.d has prescribed that our conscience must rest on the bare rock. This is said also of government in general, that no one might follow his own darkness, and that nothing might be done of which he was not sure that G.o.d would sanction it. Whence you perceive how St.

Peter so long ago thrust down to the ground the government of Popes and bishops, as we have it at the present day. Now follows:

V. 11. _That G.o.d in all things may be glorified through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever; Amen._ For this reason it is, you are to be so confident, (he means), that G.o.d speaks and does all that you speak and do. For if you perform a work of which you are not sure that G.o.d has done it, you cannot praise and give thanks. But where a man is certain of it, in that case he may praise and thank Him for His word and works' sake, though he should be belied and held up for derision. Therefore it is a shameful and ruinous thing that in Christendom any one should govern in opposition to the word and works of G.o.d. Therefore, from necessity, has St. Peter subjoined that in which he instructs how government should be ordered among christian people. Then follows, further:

V. 12. _Beloved, be not surprised at the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you._ That is a mode of speech not common in our language. But St. Peter uses this very phraseology, in order to remind us of that concerning which the Holy Scripture speaks. For the Scripture is accustomed to speak of suffering as though it were a furnace full of fire and heat. St.

Peter has spoken in the same manner, above, in the first chapter: ”That the trial of your faith be found far more precious than the peris.h.i.+ng gold that is tried by fire.” We may also read in the prophet Isaiah, chap. xlviii., G.o.d says: ”I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction;” and Ps. xvi., ”With fire hast thou tried me;”

and Ps. xxv., ”Lord, thou wilt consume and destroy my nerves and my heart;” also, Ps. lxv., ”We have pa.s.sed through fire and water.” Thus the Scriptures are accustomed to ill.u.s.trate what we call suffering, by burning or trial by fire. This is St. Peter's conclusion, that we should not suffer ourselves to be surprised, or to think it strange and wonderful that the heat or fire should meet us, whereby we are tried, just as gold is when it is melted in the fire.

When faith begins, G.o.d does not neglect it; He lays the cross upon our back in order to strengthen us and make our faith mighty. The Gospel is a powerful word, but it cannot enter upon its work without opposition, and no one can be sure that it possesses such power, but he who has experienced it. Where there is suffering and the cross, there its power may be shown and exercised. It is a _living_ word, and therefore it must exercise all its energy upon the dead. But if there is no such thing as death and corruption, there is nothing for it to do, and none can be certain that it possesses such virtue, and is stronger than sin and death. Therefore, he says, _are you tried_; that is, G.o.d appoints for you no flame or heat (in other words, cross and suffering, which make you glow as in a furnace), except to try you, whether you rely upon His word. Thus it is written, Wisdom x., of Jacob, ”G.o.d appointed for him a severe conflict, that he might learn by experience that divine wisdom is the strongest of all things.” That is the reason why G.o.d imposes the cross on all believers, that they may taste and prove the power of G.o.d which through faith they have possessed.

V. 13. _But be ye partakers of the sufferings of Christ._ St. Peter does not say that we should feel the sufferings of Christ, that thereby we should be partakers with Him through faith, but would say this: just as Christ has suffered, so are you to expect to suffer and be tried. If you do thus suffer, then do you therein have fellows.h.i.+p with the Lord Christ. If we would live with Him, we must also die with Him. If I wish to sit with Him in His kingdom, I must also suffer with Him, as Paul also says, repeatedly.

V. 13. _Rejoice, that in the time of the revelation of His glory, ye may be glad with exceeding joy._ Though you should be brought to torture and the flames, you would still be happy. For though there be pain as to the body, there shall yet be a spiritual joy, inasmuch as you are to be happy forever. For this joy springs here from suffering, and is everlasting. Yet whoever cannot bear his sufferings cheerfully, and is dissatisfied, and chooses to contend with G.o.d, he shall endure, both here and hereafter, eternal torment and suffering.

Thus we read of holy martyrs, that they have submitted cheerfully to torture, thus opening the way to eternal enjoyment; as for instance, of St. Agatha, that she went as joyfully to prison as though it had been to a dance. And the Apostles went also with joy, and thanked G.o.d ”that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake.”

_In the time of the revelation of His glory._ Christ does not permit Himself as yet to be seen as a Lord, but is still a sharer with us in our labors. So far as He is Himself concerned, He is truly such, but we who are His members, are not Lords as yet. Still we shall yet be Lords, when His glory at the last day shall be revealed before all men, brighter than the sun.

V. 14. _If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you._ Christ is a hateful name with the world; whoever preaches of Him must endure to have the most esteemed on earth slander and revile his name. But this in our times is more strange and unseemly, that they who persecute us bear also the name of Christ; they say they are Christians and baptized, yet in fact renounce and persecute Christ.

This is indeed a sad strife. They hold the same name as tenaciously as we do, against us. For this reason we greatly need consolation,--although the most discreet and pious follow after us,--that we may abide firmly and remain cheerful. But how?

V. 14. _For the Spirit of glory and of G.o.d resteth upon you. On their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified._ Ye (he says) have within you a Spirit, that is, the Spirit of G.o.d and of glory, such as makes you glorious. But this does not take place on earth, but it shall take place when the glory of Christ shall be revealed at the last day. Besides, He is not only a Spirit that makes us glorious, but one which we also regard as glorious in Himself. For it belongs peculiarly to the Holy Spirit to purify and glorify, even as He has made Christ pure and glorious. Now the same Spirit (he says) rests upon you; and forasmuch as ye bear the name of Christ, it is slandered by them. For He must endure to be reviled and slandered, to the highest degree. Therefore it is not you who receive the reviling; it belongs to the Spirit, which is a Spirit of glory: be not anxious; He will regard it and raise you to honor. This is the consolation which we as Christians have, that we may say, That word is not mine, this faith is not mine, they are all the work of G.o.d: whoever reviles me reviles G.o.d, as Christ says in Matthew x., ”Whoever receiveth you receiveth me;” and on the other hand, ”Whoever reviles you reviles me.” St. Peter, therefore, would say, Know that the Spirit which you have is strong enough easily to punish His enemies; as G.o.d says also in Ex. xxiii., If thou wilt hearken to my commandments, I will be the enemy of thine enemies. And the Scripture often repeats it, that the enemies of the saints are the enemies of G.o.d. If we only have experience that we are Christians, and believe, we shall not be ashamed, but the reviling is directed more especially against G.o.d Himself. Therefore, he says, be ye cheerful and happy, for that opposition is to the Spirit, which is not yours, but G.o.d's.

Now he adds an admonition:

V. 15, 16. _But let no one suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or a busy-body in other men's matters; but if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify G.o.d on this behalf._ He would say, now, You have heard how you are to suffer, and conduct yourselves under it, but beware that it do not come upon you because you have deserved it on account of your evil deeds, but for Christ's sake. Yet this is not now the case with us, for we must suffer, notwithstanding the fact that those who persecute us bear also the name of Christ, so that no one can die because he is a Christian, but only as an enemy of Christ, and even they who persecute him say they are real Christians, and say, too, that he is blessed who dies for Christ's sake. Here the Spirit alone must determine, since you must know that you are a Christian in the sight of G.o.d. G.o.d's tribunal is a secret one, and when He has uncovered the matter, He will judge no more according to the name, since at that time the name of the most exalted must vanish away.

Now, St. Peter says, If ye suffer in this manner, _be ye not ashamed, but glorify G.o.d._ Here he makes the suffering and anguish the more welcome, because it is great, insomuch that we praise G.o.d through it, and because we are not worthy of it. Yet now all will shrink therefrom. Of what advantage is it to embrace the cross in monasteries? The cross of Christ does not save me. I must, indeed, believe in His cross, but I must myself bear my own cross. His suffering must I experience inwardly, if I would possess the true treasure. Let St. Peter's bones be holy, yet how does it help you?

You and your bones should be holy, too, which can take place only when you suffer for Christ's sake.

V. 17. _For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of G.o.d; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of G.o.d?_ He here brings two pa.s.sages from the prophets together in one. As to the first, Jeremiah says, xxv.: ”Behold, I send my judgments upon the city which is called by my name; and if first of all I afflict my dearly beloved children who believe on me, who first of all must suffer and past through the fire, do ye who are my enemies, ye who do not believe, suppose that ye shall escape punishment?” So in chap. xlix. he says: ”They whose judgment was not to drink the cup, have a.s.suredly drunken, and thinkest thou that thou art he that shall not drink?” That is, I strike my beloved, that you may see how I shall treat my enemies.

Observe here the force of the words: if G.o.d holds his saints in such esteem, yet has been willing to have them judged and exposed with such severity, what will then be done with the others?

So also Ezekiel, chap. ix., saw armed men with their swords, who were to slay all, to whom G.o.d said, begin at my sanctuary. That is what St. Peter means in this place. Therefore he says, the time is come, as the prophets have foretold, when judgment must begin with us. When the Gospel is preached, G.o.d arrests and punishes sin, since it is He that kills and makes alive. The pious he gently strokes, and first of all is the rod of kind correction: but what then will be done with those that do not believe? As though he had said, if He proceeds with such severity toward His own children, you may infer what must be the punishment of those who do not believe.

V. 18. _And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the unG.o.dly and the sinner appear?_ This pa.s.sage is also taken from the book of Proverbs, chap. ii. 31.: ”If the righteous be recompensed in the earth, where shall the G.o.dless abide?” The same thing also is said here by St. Peter. The righteous can hardly be saved and only just escapes. The righteous is he who believes, yet in his faith, even, _he_ has trouble and labor in order to persevere and be saved, for he must pa.s.s through the fire. Where then will _he_ be found who has not faith? If G.o.d gives thus to faith a shock that makes it tremble, how can _he_ abide steadfast who is without faith? whence he concludes: