SERMON V.

PETER's denial of his Mafter, practically improved.

Matth. xxvi. 74.

Then began he to curfe and to fwear, faying, I know not the man, and immediately the cock crew.

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HESE words relate an event in its kind one of the moft remarkable we meet with in feripture; an eminent chriftian, nay, an apoftle of Chrift, fuddenly caught in a very heinous defection from his duty, even the denial of his Lord with curfing From whence, if we confider it seriously with all its circumftances, many ufeful inftructions to us will arife, which shall be the principal fubject of this discourse. But, in order to proceed the more diftinctly, it will be neceffary, firft, to state the fact. The Apoftle Peter, whofe character by the accounts which the gofpel history gives of

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him,

SERM.him, appears diftinguished among the dif V. ciples by a warm and forward zeal in his religious profeffion, tho' not always duely balanc'd with knowledge and deliberation; he was the first on many occafions, to exprefs his affectionate refpect to his master, and readiness to undertake any fervice which fhould be enjoined him; he had the honour to make that excellent confeffion concerning our Saviour, recorded Matt. xvi. 16. Whereupon he was declared to be the rock, upon which the chriftian church is built; not exclufively, however, of the other Apoftles, for the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; that is, their doctrine: And to him were committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven: Not peculiarly neither, but he was the first, which is the full meaning of that promise, that opened the kingdom of God, or preach'd christianity to the Gentiles; but see how little reason there is to glory in any external priviledges, and what fatal reverfes in their fpiritual ftate and affairs men are liable to, who poffefs the most eminent of them! Peter, foon after being thus honoured by his master, as we read in the fame 16th of Matt. expreffed himself fo ignorantly, and

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inconfiderately, upon the defign of our Sa- SERM. viour's coming, and the nature of his king- V. dom, as to diffuade him from undergoing the fufferings his father had appointed for him; thereby meriting to himself this severe rebuke, get thee behind me, fatan, thou art an offence to me: for thou favoureft not the things that be of God, but thofe that be of men. This eminent Apoftle, I fay, was warn'd by his lord, not only in common with the other disciples, but himself perfonally, of the extraordinary trial he was to meet with on the occafion of his master's entering into that most dismal scene which concluded in his death. A trial fo fevere, that it produced the unhappy effect of our Saviour's disciples for faking him in his greatest extremity; which was a grievous circumstance in his fufferings; foreseen indeed by himself, and foretold long before by one of the ancient prophets, for thus is expounded Matt. xxvi. 31. the prediction of Zech. xiii. 7. fmite. the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But, as Peter was more earneft in his profefs'd refolution of adherence to his mafter in all events, ver. 33. of this chapter, tho' all men fhould be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended; and ver. 35, tho' I Should

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SERM. fhould die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. IV. So he had a special warning of his danger,

nay, he was exprefsly told of the great particular tranfgreffion he would fall into, with all the the most material circumstances of it. Ver. 34. Verily I fay unto thee, that this night before the cock crow, (i.e. in that watch of the night, which was commonly call'd by the Jews the cock crowing; from midnight to three in the morning, or before the finishing it, that is before three) thou shalt deny me thrice. And accordingly he was by providence permitted, to be in this fignal instance a memorable and inftructive example of human weakness. We must at the fame time obferve, that with Chrift's forefight of his frail fervant's defection, there was mix'd a gracious care for his recovery, which was even intimated to him; for to the fame event refer these words of our Lord, Luke xxii. 31, 32. Simon, Simon, fatan bath fought to have you, that he may fift you as wheat; but I have pray'd for thee, that thy faith fail not, (that thou may'ft not altogether apoftatize from my religion, but ob tain mercy to repent, and return to thy duty) and when thou art converted, Strengthen

Strengthen thy brethren. We need only add, SERM, in ftating the fact, that Peter's denial of his V. mafter was attended with high aggravations, not only by the premonitions given him, and his own contrary purpofe declared with great vehemence, which have been already taken notice of; but by its being often repeated, three times, in a very fhort space. The occafion does not feem to have been fo fhocking, but that the fpirit of a man might have fuftain'd it, if he had not been thrown into a pannic, for scarcely could one in a calm ftate of mind believe, that the accufation of being Chrift's disciple, if it had been prov'd and even confefs'd in judgment, could have expos'd him to death; which yet he had undertaken to endure, rather than deny his Lord; and, finally, the temptation, still the farther it proceeded, grew the harder for him; and his fin increas'd from a flight de nial at the first, to a paffionate abjuration of his Master; for he denied with curfing and fwearing.

From the fact thus ftated, as it plainly appears in, there arife very important instructions to us, which we may profitably confider, concerning the fallibility and weaknefs of human nature; concerning the dan

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