[Doubtless, this is great and arduous : nor must you, for a moment, wish to lower it. You must see that nothing under heaven should stand in competition with Christ1. The state of every man's mind should accord with that of the holy Apostle, when he said, " I am willing, not only to be bound, but to die for the Lord's sake :" and if we are brought to the trial, no sufferings should move us ; nor should we account our lives dear unto us, if only we may finish our course with joy, and finish the work which our blessed Lord has assigned usk.j
2. Where alone our strength lies for the perform- ance of it —
[" I know, O Lord," says the prophet, " that the way of man is not in himself; and that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps1." And we are told by the wisest of men, that " he who trusts in his own heart is a foolm." Be con- vinced of this ; and know, that the more ye resemble a little child in your spirit, the more secure ye are. " When ye are weak, then is it that ye are really strong ; for then shall God's strength be perfected in your weakness11."]
1 Phil. iii. 8. k Acts xx. 24. and xxi. 13.
1 Jer. x. 23. m Prov. xxviii. 26. n 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.
peter's denial of his lord.
Mark xiv. 71. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.
THE inspired writers commend themselves and their writings to us, by their faithfulness in recording
their own faults If St. Mark wrote his Gospel,
as many suppose, under the direction of Peter, we are constrained to admire the humility of Peter more especially : since his fall is narrated more strongly, and his repentance touched upon more slightly, by this, than by any other of the sacred historians. The aggravated circumstances of his conduct, which are mentioned in the text, serve in a very striking manner to shew us,
I. The folly of indulging self-confidence —
[Peter had been warned generally, (in common with the other Disciples) that he would forsake, and particularly, (in relation to himself,) that he would deny, his Lord. Conceiving
1459.] peter's denial of his lord. 189
it impossible that he should ever be guilty of such treachery, he protested that he would rather die with his Lord, than save his life by such base means. But, when he came to the trial, he fulfilled our Lord's predictions. He did not even profit by experience; for, when he had betrayed his cowardice in the first instance, he exposed himself to needless temptations by associating himself with the most inveterate enemies of his Lord. Had he gone to the high-priest's palace, to bear testi- mony to the character of Jesus, we must have commended his courage : but when he had no better object in view than the gratifying of his curiosity, we cannot but condemn his rashness and presumption. The consequence was such as might be expected : his courage failed him in the hour of trial ; and he committed the very sins against which he had been warned.
It is almost uniformly thus with ourselves, when we presume to rush into temptation, under the idea that we are strong enousrh to withstand its influence. Who amongst us has not found, that a needless intimacy with the ungodly has led him into an undue conformity to their habits and principles, and proved, in the issue, injurious to his soul? We have thought perhaps that we could maintain our integrity amongst them with ease and constancy, notwithstanding we have been ex- pressly warned that " a believer can have no fellowship with an unbeliever," and that " the friendship of the world is en- mity with God." But the result of all our experiments has uniformly established that divine aphorism, " He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool."]