ld, rides forth with no great
splendor and large equipage. But He is a king over all kings,--one
who has authority over all things, and at whose feet all must lie. As
He is a lord, so also am I a lord; for what He possesses that have I
also.

But perhaps some one may object. St. Peter says here, also, that
Christians are kings, while we have it before our eyes that they are
not all kings, so that this passage is not to be understood as though
He spoke of all in the Church. For whoever may be a Christian, he
certainly is not a king in France or a priest at Rome. But when I ask
whether the King of France is also a king in the sight of God, this
he passes over, for God will not judge by the crown. On earth,
indeed, and before the world, he is indeed a king, but when death
comes then his kingdom is gone, for then he must lie at the feet of
those that believe. We are speaking of an eternal kingdom and
priesthood, inasmuch as every one who believes is in truth a king
before God; but who does not know that we are not all shorn and
anointed priests? But because those men have been anointed, they are
not therefore priests in the sight of God, just as they are not kings
before God because they have been crowned. Crowned kings and anointed
priests are of the world, and are made by men; the Pope may make as
many such priests as he chooses, but far be it that he should make
one a priest before God, for these God himself will make.

Therefore, when St. Peter says here, "ye are the royal priesthood,"
it is as much as though he had said, "ye are Christians." Would you
now know what sort of a title, and authority, and glory, Christians
have: you learn it here, that they are kings and priests, and a
chosen people.--But what this priest's office is, follows after:

_That ye should show forth the praises[2] of Him that hath called you
out of darkness into His wonderful light._ This belongs to the office
of a priest, that he be a messenger of God, and receive from God
himself the command to preach His word. The praises, (says St.
Peter,) that is, the wonderful work that God has performed in you, in
that he brought you out of darkness into light, you are to
proclaim,--which is the office of the High Priest. And this is the
way in which your preaching is to be discharged, that one brother
proclaim to another the powerful work of God: how ye have been
ransomed from sin, death, hell, and all evil, by Him, and have been
called to eternal l