art of the same country and thy speech betrayeth thee. Then Peter denied it again: but he was not content with only denying it, he began to curse and to swear, as if he was quite enraged that he could be suspected of having any thing to do with Christ, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.

Unhappy Peter! is it come to this! where are now thy promises? where is thy courage? where thy faith, thy love, thy gratitude to Christ? all in one moment gone all swallowed up in fear! He who, but a few minutes before, boldly and confidently assured his Blessed Master that he was ready to lay down his life for His sake, is contented now, through fear of death, meanly to deny that he even knew Him.

When Peter had thus denied Jesus for the third time, the words of Jesus were fulfilled to him, for immediately the cock crew surely, no sound, no voice was ever heard which could strike more forcibly upon the heart of man, than the crowing of that cock did upon St. Peter's. It must have told him what a guilty sinner he had become: must have reminded him of his

broken promises, his lost honour, his Master's goodness, and his own weakness and disgrace. But what must have been the anguish and misery of his soul, when that merciful Saviour whom he had so basely and so weakly denied, gently turned round and looked at him! that look must have pierced him to the heart. Jesus did not say any thing, but His look was more than words. He might have said, Art thou not ashamed for the falsehood which thou hast told? art thou not ashamed to have said thou didst not know me-me, whose companion thou hast been, whose mercy thou hast shared, whose wonderful works thou hast daily seen? He might have said, Depart from me, thou unworthy disciple, thou unthankful sinner, depart from me and receive the punishment which thou hast deserved. But Jesus, who never did and never will drive any sinner to despair, and had much rather lead us gently back to our duty than cast us from Him, made use of no angry words to His fallen disciple. He did but look at him, with a mild look of sorrow, mercy, pity, and forgiveness. In a

moment it appears to have worked a blessed change upon the heart of Peter: for when the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, Peter remembered the words of the Lord, how He had said to him, before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Happy St. Peter! we may now say those tears will wash away thy guilt: they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. That merciful Saviour whom thou hast three times denied, has forgiveness for thee, and for the sake of thy bitter sorrow He will forget thy guilt!

Now, my brethren, this account of St. Peter's fall furnishes, as I said before, much useful instruction to ourselves. It shows us, in the first place, what weak and helpless beings the best of men are without the help of God. St. Peter was a man of courage, boldness, and faith: but he trusted too much to himself. Though I should die with Thee, yet will I never deny Thee, was what he said, and what he felt at the moment: but, when danger came, he cursed and swore, with a most dreadful lie, that he did not even know his Master. If, instead of trusting to his own strength, he

had prayed Christ to give him more, his conduct afterwards would have been different but he relied upon himself, and he fell headlong into sin. Let us take warning and according to the apostle's advice, Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall: that is, instead of placing confidence in our own righteousness, let us ever watch and pray that we enter not into temptation, because, however willing our spirit may be, our flesh is always weak.

But the most important instruction which the conduct of St. Peter gives us, is the example which he has set us, how we are to behave, when upon the strength of some sudden temptation, and through our own natural weakness, we have the unhappiness to fall into sin. What did he do? As soon as the mild and merciful look of our Blessed Saviour had called him to his senses, he lost not a moment before he repented of his crime: he went out, and shed a flood of tears in the grief and bitterness of soul. My brethren, let us follow his example. It is true, we never can be placed exactly in the same situation in which St. Peter was, we never can sin

exactly in the same way as he did: yet every time that we willingly commit a sin, we are denying Christ. Whenever we do a thing which we know Jesus has forbidden, are we not in truth denying that we either know Him, or wish to know Him? Are we not denying His power and authority over us? Are we not denying Him for our Lord, for our Master, for our God?

When Peter sinned, Jesus called Him to his senses by a gentle look: and when we commit a sin does not the same merciful Lord (unless we have grown hardened in crime) as it were turn round and look on us through our consciences? do we not always feel within us something that tells us we are guilty whenever we do wrong? Happy are they who listen to the voice of their conscience, and suffer it to lead them to an earnest and timely repentance for their sins, as the look of Jesus led Peter to repent of his! He went out, and wept bitterly for what he had done: but his repentance was not shown only by his tears; no, this holy disciple of the Blessed Jesus, though he fell deeply into guilt,