little dreamt, perhaps, that it would-lead to Jesus being evil entreated, condemned, and crucified. When he pocketed the reward of iniquity, he felt satisfied with the bargain and sere that the Master would find some way of escape. Had this been the case; had no ill consequences resulted from his treachery ; had nothing beyond the arrest of Jesus taken place, and no worse results followed ;—Judas, there is reason to believe, would have felt neither sorrow nor shame at what he had done; nay, he would have had a feeling of satisfaction rather than a sense of sin. He would scarcely have shrunk from the society of the apostles; he would have been able to find some pretext or frame some excuse for all that had happened. But the consequences of his treachery— the terrible consequences—made all the difference. Greedy as Judas was, and mean as he was, and treacherous as he was, he was by no means a cruel man or a man of blood. When, however, contrary to his expectation, the most appalling consequences were certain to ensue; when a judicial murder and a cruel death awaited the Master whom he had betrayed ; then Judas for the first time saw his sin in its consequences, and was overwhelmed with the sight. It was quite different with Peter. His sin, heinous as it was, did not produce any such fearful effects as the sin of Judas. His denial of his Master did not lead to his apprehension; it had nothing to do with his condemnation ; it did not cause his death. Peter saw it not in any such consequences, but in its own baseness and sinfulness. Hesaw the iniquity of his sin as committed against his loving Lord, as a sin against truth and righteousness, as a sin against goodness and justice, as a sin by which he wronged conscience and hurt his own soul. ‘he sizht filled his heart with sorrow and shame, while his eyes brimmed over again and again with salt and bitter tears. The next point of difference is that the true penitent seeks mercy, but the subject of remorse sinks in despair. Of this also we have a striking illustration in Judas and Peter respectively. The former confessed his guilt, acknowledged the innocence of his Master and the injury he had done him; not only so, in self-abhorrence and loathing he flung back the price of blood. But all this sorrow and remorse fell short of repentance ; true penitence was as far off as ever. He had no heart to pray; no heart to seek God’s face and favour free; no heart to sue for mercy. His heart was hardened, not softened, by sin; the blackness of despair enveloped him; blank ruin stared him in the face. Not so Peter: he sorrowed, but after a godly sort; instead of giving himself up to despair, he sought mercy. He was humbled, not hardened; the tears he shed washed his eyes, and his spiritual vision became clearer; he saw the blackness cf his sin, but he saw also the benignity of the Saviour. That look of his Master had pierced his heart with a feeling of his guilt, but brought withal a sense of Divine grace; he was fully alive to the misery of sin, as also to the mercy of the Saviour. After the terrible storm which had swept across the horizon of bis soul, the rainbow of hope remained upon the cloud, reflecting the sunshine of heaven on the tears of sorrow shed by the penitent. He saw his iniquity to be very great, yet he sued for pardon. He looked not away from, but to, the Saviour whose heart his sin had pierced, aud mourned in bitterness.
IV. Practical Lessons. 1. A picture. Our Lord and his apostles are often seen grouped together in a picture; the Gospels exhibit a moral picture of the group. Ip this picture there is much dark shading; but this dark shading helps to bring out more clearly the bright and brilliant colours of the picture and to enhance its beauty. If there were no dark shading in it, it would represent angelic life in heaven rather than human life on earth; in that case, the very perfection of the figures would diminish its fitness for our warning or comfort. 2. Good educed from evil, Peter, when restored (émorpévas), was better fitted to help others. His own weakness became by grace a source of strenzth to others. When he had turned again, and been restored (as those referred to in éxeotpdpnre, 1 Pet. ii. 25) to the Shepherd and Bishop of souls, he was better able from his own experience to keep other sheep from straying, or restore them from their wanderings. 3. A lesson never forgotten. ‘he circumstances connected with Peter’s sin were so engraven on the tablet of his memory as never to be forgotten, as is evident from several passages of his Epistles and his speech as recorded io Acts. When he would warn men igainst one of those mistakes which caused his sin, he says
1 Pet. v. 8), “ Be vigilant,” or “ watchful” (Revised Version). When he charged the ews with the fonlest crime, he expresses that charge in words that echo his own dark deed : “ Ye denied the Holy One and the Just;” “Ye denied him im she presence of
ou. xv, 1—47,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK.
803
Pilate,” as we read in Peter’s speech (Acts iii, 18, 14). When he pictured the highest state of spiritual prosperity, he describes it as freedom from falling: “If ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Pet. i. 10). His most solemn warning is, “ Beware lest ye also... fall from your own steadfastness ” (2 Pet. iii. 17). The change that was effected in Peter after the descent of the Holy Spirit is wonderful, for in the early part of Acts we find him possessed of moral courage equal to his natural physical courage, and on all occasions acting a bold, manly, and courageous as well as prominent part. \Vhatever grace we need, we are thus encouraged to seek the Spirit to supply.
VY. THE OMITTED PORTIONS OF THIS CHAPTER.
1. For section vers. 51, 52, peculiar to
St. Mark, see Introduction. 2, For section vers. 55-65, containing the account in part of the Jewish trial, see beginning of next chapter, where that trial is concluded.—J. J. G,
EXPOSITION.
CHAPTER ZV.