passage before us. We see the Son of God, " in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge " arraigned as a malefactor before " the chief priests, and elders, and scribes." We see the heads of the Jewish nation combining together to kill their own Messiah, and judging Him who will one day come in glory to judge them and all mankind. These things sound marvellous, but they are true.
Let us observe in these verses, how foolishly Christians sometimes thrust themselves into temptation. We are told that when our Lord was led away prisoner, " Peter fol- lowed Him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest : and he sat with the servants, and warmed him- self at the fire."* There was no wisdom in this act. Hav- ing once forsaken his Master and fled, he ought to have remembered his own weakness, and not to have ventured into danger again. It was an act of rashness and pre- sumption. It brought on him fresh trials of faith, fur which he was utterly unprepared. It threw him into bad company, where he was not likely to get good, but harm. It paved the way for his last and greatest transgression — his thrice-repeated denial of his Master.
But it is an experimental truth that ought never to be overlooked, that when a believer has once begun to back-
* In the expression "warmed himself at the fire," it is worthy of remark, that the Greek word which we translate " fire," is not the same as that translated " fire of coals," in John xviii. 18. It would rather bear the meaning of " light," or a fire so blazing as to give light.
The remark is not without interest, as it explains how easily Peter was recognized and discovered by those who sat around him as one of Christ's disciples. The bright light of the fire shining upon him made concealment impossible.