in that very night he would " deny Him thrice." And we all know how the matter ended. The Master was right, and Peter was wrong.
Let it be a settled principle in our religion, that there is an amount of weakness in all our hearts, of which we have no adequate conception, and that we never know how far we might fall if we were tempted. We fancy sometimes, like Peter, that there are some things we could not possibly do. We look pitifully upon others who fall, and please ourselves in the thought tliat at any rate we should not have done so. We know nothing at all. The seeds of every sin are latent in our hearts, even when renewed, and they only need occa- sion, or carelessness and the withdrawal of God's grace for a season, to put forth an abundant crop. Like Pe- ter, we may think we can do wonders for Christ, and like Peter, we may learn by bitter experience that we have no power and might at all.
The servant of Christ will do wisely to remember these things. " Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he falL" (1 Cor. x. 12.) A humble sense of our own innate weakness, a constant dependence on the Strong for strength, a daily prayer to be held up, be- cause we cannot hold up ourselves, — these are the true secrets of safety. The great Apostle of the Gentiles said, "When I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. xii. 10.)
Notes. John xiii. 31 — 38.
81. — [Therefore, when. ..gone out, Jesus said.'] The withdrawal of Judas from the company of the disciples, at that point, forms a distinct break in the narrative. At once, from this time, our Lord seems to speak as one relieved by the absence of an un- congenial mind. There is a manifest alteration in the tone of all He says. It seems pitched in a higher key.
Bengel, at this point, interposes an entire interval of a night, and thinks that a new discourse begins here. It seems a need- less view, and is very unnatural.