tyrs
have gone to the stake 'fearing not them that kill the body, and after
that have no more that they can do,' because they were so afraid to sin
against God that they were not afraid to die rather than to do it. And
that is the temper that you and I should have. Let that one fear, like
Moses' rod, swallow up all the other serpents and make our hearts
impervious to any other dread.

'Pass the time of your _sojourning_.' You do not live in your own
country, you are in an alien land. You are passing through it. Troops on
the march in an enemy's country, unless they are led by an idiot, will
send out clouds of scouts in front and on the wings to give timeous
warning of any attempted assault. If we cheerily and carelessly go
through this world as if we were marching in a land where there were no
foes, there is nothing before us but defeat at the last. Only let us
remember that sleepless watchfulness is needed only in this time of
sojourning, and that when we get to our own country there is no need
for such patrols and advance guards and rearguards and men on the flank
as were essential when we were on the march. People that grow exotic
plants here in England keep them in glass houses. But when they are
taken to their native soil the glass would be an impertinence. As long
as we are here we have to wear our armour, but when we get yonder the
armour can safely be put off and the white robes that had to be tucked
up under it lest they should be soiled by the muddy ways can be let
down, for they will gather no pollution from the golden streets. The
gates of that city do not need to be shut, day nor night. For when sin
has ceased and our liability to yield to temptation has been exchanged
for fixed adhesion to the Lord Himself, then, and not till then, is it
safe to put aside the armour of godly fear and to walk, unguarded and
unarmed, in the land of perpetual peace.

PURIFYING THE SOUL

'... ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.'--1 Peter i. 22.

Note these three subsidiary clauses introduced respectively by 'in,'
'through,' 'unto.' They give the means, the Bestower, and the issue of
the purity of soul. The Revised Version, following good authorities,
omits the clause, 'through the Spirit.' It may possibly be originally a
marginal gloss of some scribe who was nervous about Peter's orthodoxy,
which finally found its way into the text. But