ious, of noble birth, or has power or
riches, feels bound to despise others as silly geese or witless
ducks.

SYMPATHY A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE.

10. The other virtues enjoined by Peter are easily
recognized--"Compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, and
humbleminded" [Luther translates "friendly"--courteous]. These
particularly teach that Christians should esteem one another. God has
subjected them all to love and has united them, with the design that
they shall be of one heart and soul, and each care for the other as
for himself. Peter's exhortation was especially called for at that
time, when Christians were terribly persecuted. Here a pastor, there
a citizen, was thrown into prison, driven from wife, child, house and
home, and finally executed. Such things happen even now, and may
become yet more frequent considering that unfortunate people are
harassed by tyrants, or led away by the Turks, and Christians are
thus dispersed in exile here and there. Wherever by his Word and
faith God has gathered a church, and that spiritual unity, the bond
of Christianity, exists in any measure, there the devil has no peace.
If he cannot effect the destruction of that church by factiousness,
he furiously persecutes it. Then it is that body, life and everything
we have must be jeopardized--put to the stake--for the sake of the
Church.

11. Christians, according to Peter, should, in the bond of a common
heart and mind, sympathetically share the troubles and sufferings of
their brethren in the faith, whoever and wherever the brethren may
be. They are to enter into such distresses as if themselves
suffering, and are to reason: "Behold, these suffer for the sake of
my precious faith, and standing at the front, are exposed to the
devil, while I have peace. It does not become me to rejoice in my
security and to manifest my pleasure. For what befalls my dear
brethren affects me, and my blessings are the cause of their
misfortune. I must participate in their suffering as my own."
According to the admonition of Hebrews 13, 3: "Remember them that are
in bonds, as bound with them; that is, as if in the same bonds and
distress. Remember them that are illtreated, as being yourselves also
in the body;" as members of the same body.

12. We are all bound to one another, just as in the body one member
is bound to another. As you know by your own physical experience,
"Whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it; or one
mem