So long as we are in the body we are in danger. The flesh is weak, and the devil is active. We must never think, ^' I cannot fall." It points out to us the duty of charity towards erring saints. We must not set down men as graceless reprobates, because they occasionally stumble and err. We must remember Peter, and " re- store them in the spirit of meekness." (Gal. vi. 1.)
The second thing that demands our notice, is the series of steps hy which Peter luas led to deny his Lord.
These steps are mercifully recorded for our learning. The Spirit of God has taken care to have them written down for the perpetual benefit of the Church of Christ. Let us trace them out one by one.
The first step to Peter's fall, was self-confidence. He said, " though all men should be offended, yet will I never be offended." — The second step was indolence. His Master told him to watch and pray. Instead of doing so, he slept. — The third step was cowardly com- promising. Instead of keeping close to his Master, he first forsook him, and then " followed him afar ofi"." — The last step was needless venturing into evil company. He went into the priest's palace, and ^' sat with the ser- vants," like one of themselves.^ — And then came the final fall, — the cursing, the swearing, and the three-fold de- nial. Startling as it appears, his heart had been pre- paring for it. It was the fruit of seeds which he himself had sown. ^' He ate the fruit of his own ways."
Let us remember this part of Peter's history. It is deeply instructive to all who j)rofess and call themselves Christians. Great illnesses seldom attack the body, with- out a j)revious train of premonitory symptoms. Great
377
falls seldom "happen to a saint, without a previous course of secret backsliding. The church and the world are some- times shocked by the sudden misconduct of some great professor of religion. Believers are discouraged and stumbled by it. The enemies of God rejoice and blas- l^heme. But if the truth could be known, the explanation of such cases would generally be found to have been pri- vate departure from God. Men fall in private, long before they fall in public. The tree falls with a great crash, but the secret decay which accounts for it, is often not discovered till it is down on the ground.
The last thing that demands our notice, is the sori^ow which Pete/s sin brought upon him. We read at the end of the chapter, " He went out and wept bitterly."
These words deserve more attention than they gene- rally receive. Thousands have read the history of Peter's sin, who have thought little of Peter's tears, and Peter's repentance. May we have an eye to see, and a heart to understand.
AVe see in Peter's tears, the close connection between unhappiness and departure from God. It is a merciful arrangement of God, that in one sense holiness shall always be its own reward. A heavy heart, and an un- easy conscience, a clouded hope, and an abundant crop of doubts, will always be the consequence of backsliding and inconsistency. The words of Solomon describe the experience of many an inconsistent child of God, " The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." (Prov. xiv. 14.) Let it be a settled principle in our reli- gion, that if we love inward peace, we must walk closely with God.