et with violent opposition. The disciples agreeably to the
direction of Jesus fled for safety from city to city, till the tumult
and opposition became general. Christianity gathered force and
popularity so rapidly, that the Romans, it appears, gave permission to
the Jews to imprison and take life. The disciples and christians had
now no place of safety to flee to, from the gathering storm of
persecution and death. Amidst these disastrous scenes, Peter called to
mind the _warnings and signs_ his risen Lord had pointed out as a
solemn premonition that the destruction of Jerusalem and of their
persecutors, was nigh at hand, and in view of the approaching calamity
over which Jesus wept, Peter exclaims, "The time is come that judgment
must begin at the house of God, and if it begin first at us, what
shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" Thus we,
see that what is meant by _judgment_ beginning at the _house_ of God,
is _persecution_ beginning at the _christians_, which persecution was
a _sign_ to them that the destruction of that nation was nigh at hand.
The reader will perceive that what the apostle calls "_house of God_,"
he afterwards calls "_us_," in the same sentence, and must refer to
the christians, who are in many scriptures called the _house, temple,
and building_ of God. [See Heb. iii:6. Eph. ii:21, 22.] That the
persecutions were stated by Christ as a _sign_ of the impending
judgment of God upon the Jews, is evident from the words of Paul, 2
Thess. i:5, where he calls them "a manifest _token_ of the righteous
judgment of God" upon the unbelieving Jews, the persecutors of the
christians.

_Second--Who were the righteous, and in what sense they were scarcely
saved_. The righteous, mentioned in the 18th verse, mean the same
persons called "_the house of God_," and "_us_," in verse 17th, and
has reference to those christians _only_, who lived previous to the
destruction of the temple, and not to any christians that lived
subsequent to that event, much less does it refer to all the righteous
that have ever existed or shall hereafter exist, as common opinion
asserts.

Under this head, we were also to show in what sense these righteous
were _scarcely_ saved. It could not mean that their salvation in the
future world was _scarce_ or uncertain; for it is _certain_ in the
counsels of God, and in all things well ordered and _sure_. He has
given to his Son the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost