The internal evidence afforded by the Epistle is in harmony with St. Peter's experience. (1) The writer claims to have been "a witness of the sufferings of Christ" (v. 1), and contrasts himself and his readers in saying (i. 8), "Whom not having seen ye love." (2) He lays stress upon the pastoral aspect of our Lord's work (ii. 25; v. 2-4), as though writing under a sense of the special pastoral charge given to him by our Lord. (3) His injunction, "all of you gird yourselves with humility"--literally, "put on humility like a slave's apron"--seems to be a reminiscence of the action of our Lord that astonished St. Peter when "He took a towel and girded Himself" at the Last Supper. (4) There are points of resemblance between the Epistle and the speeches delivered by St. Peter in Acts. (5) The appeal to Old Testament predictions of Christ's sufferings (1 Pet. i. 11; Acts iii. 18), the reference to the stone that was rejected by the builders (1 Pet. ii. 7, 8; Acts iv. 11), the description of the cross as the "tree" (1 Pet. ii. 24; Acts v. 30), are coincidences which suggest a common authorship while they seem too small to be designed. (6) The graphic and {238} pictorial style of the Epistle bears resemblance to the style of Mark, which is based on St. Peter's preaching. We may mention the word "put to silence" (ii. 15)--literally, "muzzle"--which St. Mark (i. 25; iv. 39) applies to the subduing of an unclean spirit and the stilling of a rough sea. Against the authenticity of the Epistle it is sometimes said that it is improbable that St. Peter, whose mission was to the Jews, would address Churches in which St. Paul had laboured, and which were largely composed of Gentiles. But in no case could such action on the part of St. Peter be thought incredible. And if St. Peter survived St. Paul, as he very probably did, it would be particularly fitting for him to write to them after St. Paul's martyrdom. Many critics have been inclined to pronounce the Epistle spurious on the ground that it seems to be so strongly influenced by St. Paul's teaching as to represent St. Paul's own school of thought. We find, as in St. Paul's writings, the phrase "in Christ" (iii. 16; v. 10, 14), and the second advent of Christ called by the name "revelation" (i. 7, 13; iv. 13). Moreover, there are numerous verses which can be compared with verses in St. Paul's Epistles, particularly in Romans and Ephesians.[1] We must not fail to notice in passing, that if this Epistle, which manifestly belongs to the 1st century, does actually quote Ephesians, as some affirm, the authenticity of Ephesians is thereby very strongly corroborated. But in any case the similarity between the Epistle and St. Paul's writings cannot be reasonably urged against its genuineness. The once popular theory that St. Paul held a fundamentally different conception of Christianity from that held by St. Peter has completely broken down. There is not a shred of evidence for believing that the