presence of so much that is both manly and
good.

His two epistles are a precious legacy to the Church. The first is
addressed to the "scattered strangers:" but whether this expression refer
to Jews, or converted Gentiles, or both, or to the "dispersed" of the ten
tribes, there is no satisfactory evidence. We are in similar doubt as to
the place from which it was written. The _Church at Babylon_ is named in
the last chapter; but there was a Babylon in Egypt, and another in
Assyria, and Rome itself is thus figuratively designated.

The style of the apostle's writing is just what you would expect from the
man himself. Vehemence, majesty, and, at the same time, ease and
freedom, are manifest in every page.

The chief design of this epistle is to administer comfort to those
already suffering; and to prepare others for the affliction they were
about to endure. The first chapter adduces several considerations to
uphold their constancy. One is that they are _the chosen of God_; "Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." Then, as the elect of
God, they had a _good hope of heaven_. "Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time."
A third consideration is, that though in the midst of trial, their
Saviour was with them, and the end of their faith was sure. "Whom having
not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye
rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory: receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls." And, finally, they were
to remember that this subject of their salvation had been matter of
earnest enquiry among the prophets, whose labours are now made to
contribute to their comfort. "Of which salvation the prophets have
enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should
come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ, and the glory that