the guill of Titer, viz. that the cock would crow twice,
and ili.it afur -nch warning he repeated his protesta- tion with greater vehemence. Chrysostom, who judges the apo-tle with faiinc-s and candor, al Irihutes this ve- hemence to his gn at love, and more particularly to the delight which he fell when assured that he was nol the traitor, yet not without a certain admixture of forward- ness and ambition such as had previously been shown in the dispute for pre-eminence. The fiery trial soon came. Mter the agony ofGethsemane,when the three, mi -. and John, w,re. as on former occasions, se- lected lo he with our Lord, the only witnesses of his passion, when also all three had alike failed to prepare themselves by prayer and watching, the arrest of Jesus
Pi i,i did not shrink from the danger. In
PETER
the same spirit which had dictated his promise he drew his sword, alone against the armed throng, and wounded the servant (jbv SovXov, not a servant) of the high- priest, probably the leader of the band. When this bold but unauthorized attempt at rescue was reproved, he did not yet forsake his Master, but followed him with John into the focus of danger, the house of the high- priest. There he sat in the outer hall. He must have been in a state of utter confusion : his faith, which from first to last was bound up with hope, his special charac- teristic, was for the time powerless against temptation. The danger found him unarmed. Thrice, each time with greater vehemence, the last time with blasphemous asseveration, he denied his Master. The triumph of Satan seemed complete. Yet it is evident that it was an obscuration of faith, not an extinction. It needed but a glance of his Lord's eye to bring him to himself. His repentance was instantaneous and effectual. The light in which he himself regarded his conduct is clear- ly shown by the terms in which it is related by Mark, who in some sense may be regarded as his reporter. The inferences are weighty as regards his personal character, which represents more completely perhaps than any in the New Testament the weakness of the natural and the strength of the spiritual man — still more weighty as bearing upon his relations to the apos- tolic body, and the claims resting upon the assumption that he stood to them in the place of Christ.
On the morning of the resurrection we have proof that Peter, though humbled, was not crushed by his fall. He and John were the first to visit the sepulchre ; he was the first who entered it. We are told by Luke (in words still used by the Eastern Church as the first salutation on Easter Sunday) and by Paul that Christ appeared to him first among the apostles — he who most needed the comfort was the first who received it, and with it, as may be assumed, an assurance of forgiveness. It is observable, however, that on that occasion he is called by his original name, Simon, not Peter; the high- er designation was not restored until he had been pub- licly reinstituted, so to speak, by his Master. That re- institution took place at the Sea of Galilee (John xxi), an event of the very highest import. We have there indications of his best natural qualities, practical good- sense, promptness, and energy ; slower than John to recognise their Lord, Peter was the first to reach him : he brought the net to land. The thrice-repeated ques- tion of Christ, referring doubtless to the three protesta- tions and denials, was thrice met by answers full of love and faith, and utterly devoid of his hitherto charac- teristic failing, presumption, of which not a trace is to be discerned in his later history. He then received the formal commission to feed Christ's sheep ; not certainly as one endued with exclusive or paramount authority, or as distinguished from his fellow-disciples, whose fall had been marked by far less aggravating circumstances; rather as one who had forfeited his place, and could not resume it without such an authorization. Then followed the prediction of his martyrdom, in which he was to find the fulfilment of his request to be permitted to follow the Lord.
With this event closes the first part of Peter's history. It was a period of transition, during which the fish- erman of Galilee had been trained, first by the Baptist, then by our Lord, for the great work of his life. He had learned to know the person and appreciate the offices of Christ; while his own character had been chastened and elevated by special privileges and hu- miliations, both reaching their climax in the last re- corded transactions. Henceforth he with his colleagues were to establish and govern the Church founded by their Lord, without the support of his presence.
3. Apostolical Career. — The first part of the Acts of the Apostles is occupied by the record of transactions in nearly all of which Peter stands forth as the recog- nised leader of the apostles; it being, however, equally clear that he neither exercises nor claims anv authoritv
PETER
apart from them, much less over them. In the first chapter it is Peter who points out to the disciples (as in all his discourses and writings drawing his arguments from prophecy) the necessity of supplying the place of Judas. He states the qualifications of an apostle, but takes no special part in the election. The candidates are selected by the disciples, while the decision is left to the searcher of hearts. The extent and limits of Peter's primacy might be inferred with tolerable ac- curacy from this transaction alone. To have one spokesman, or foreman, seems to accord with the spirit of order and humility which ruled the Church, while the assumption of power or supremacy would be incom- patible with the express command of Christ (see Matt, xxiii, 10). In the second chapter again, Peter is the most prominent person in the greatest event after the resurrection, when on the day of Pentecost the Church was first invested with the plentitude of gifts and pow- ers. Then Peter, not speaking in his own name, but with the eleven (see ver. 14), explained the meaning of the miraculous gifts, and showed the fulfilment of prophecies (accepted at that time by all Hebrews as Messianic) both in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and in the resurrection and death of our Lord. This discourse, which bears all the marks of Peter's individu- ality, both of character and doctrinal views, ends with an appeal of remarkable boldness. It is the model upon which the apologetic discourses of the primitive Chris- tians were generally constructed. The conversion and baptism of three thousand persons, who continued stead- fast in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, attested the power of the Spirit which spake by Peter on that occasion.