brings saints into great sorroiv. The conclusion of the passage is very affecting. "Peter called to mind the words that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice." Who can pretend to describe the feelings that must have flashed across the apostle's mind ? Who can conceive the shame, and con- fusion, and self-reproach, and bitter remorse which must have overwhelmed his soul ? To have fallen so foully ! To have fallen so repeatedly ! To have fallen in the face of such plain warnings ! All these must have been cutting thoughts. The iron must indeed have entered into his soul. There is deep and solemn meaning in the one single expression used about him — " when he thought thereon he wept."
The experience of Peter is only the experience of all G-od's servants who have yielded to temptation. Lot, and Samson, and David, and Jehoshaphat in Bible history — Cranmer and Jewell in the records of our own English Church — have all left evidence, like Peter, that " the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." (Prov. xiv. 14.) Like Peter, they erred grievously. Like Peter, they repented truly. But, like Peter, they found that they reaped a bitter harvest in this world. Like Peter, they were freely pardoned and forgiven. But, like Peter, they shed many tears.
Let us leave the passage with the settled conviction that sin is sure to lead to sorrow, and that the way of most holiness is always the way of most happiness. The Lord Jesus has mercifully provided that it shall never profit His servants to walk carelessly and to give way to temptation. If we will turn our backs on Him we