According to these words Peter, though he stood at a distance, must have been an eyewitness of the Saviour’s death. He is careful to speak of the glory in the same breath as the sufferings, because if we endure the one, we shall share the other. Positions of-influence in the Church in those days involved grave risks, but the Apostle believed that love to Christ would induce men to take the place of undershepherds to the flock of God, and that they would use their power with gentleness, humility and holy consistency.

The younger men may include the deacons, but the all, v. 5, refers to the entire membership. They were to gird on humility, as a slave his towel, that they might serve one another, John 13:4. Those who humble themselves in the profoundest loyalty toward God stand as rocks before their fellows. Remember Luther’s —‘‘Here I stand, I can do no other.’’ You cannot say, ‘‘Nobody cares what becomes of me.’? God cares, and with an infinite tenderness. He cared before you cast your care on him! God is linked to your little life by his tender regard and care for you.