The first Epistle of St. Peter, though brief, contains much doctrine
concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity, with divers instructions to all
persons of what state or condition soever. The Apostle commands
submission to rulers and superiors and exhorts all to the practice of a
virtuous life in imitation, of Christ. This Epistle is written with such
apostolical dignity as to manifest the supreme authority with which its
writer, the Prince of the Apostles, had been vested by his Lord and
Master, Jesus Christ. He wrote it at Rome, which figuratively he calls
Babylon, about fifteen years after our Lord's Ascension.