fy 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 God:
whoever reviles me reviles God, 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 God 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
God. If we only have experience that we are Christians, and believe,
we shall not be ashamed, but the reviling is directed more especially
against God Himself. Therefore, he says, be ye cheerful and happy,
for that opposition is to the Spirit, which is not yours, but God'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
God 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 God. God'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 as