Peter's denial of his Master, prac

tically improved.

Matth. xxvi, 747

Then began be to curse and to fwear, saying,

I know not the man, and immediately the cock crew.

T

HESE words relate an event in its

kind one of the most remarkable

we meet with in seripture; an emi*nent christian, nay, an apostle of Christ, suddenly 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 circumstances, many ufeful instructions to us will arife, which shall be the principal fubject of this discourse. But, in order to proceed the more distinctly, it will be neceffary, firft, to state the fact. The Apostle Peter, whose character by the accounts which the gospel history gives of

H 3

him,

SERM.him, appears distinguished among the dif: V. ciples by a warm and forward zeal in his

religious profession, tho' not always duely balanc'd with knowledge and deliberation; he was the first on many occasions, to express his affectionate respect to his master; and readiness to undertake any service which should be enjoined him; he had the honour to make that excellent confession concerning our Saviour, recorded Matt. xvi. 16. Whereupon he was declared to be the rock, upon which the christian church is built; not exclusively, however, of the other Apostles, 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 reverses in their fpiritual state and affairs men are liable to, who possess the most eminent of them! Peter, soon after being thus honoured by his master, as we read in the fame 16th of Matt, expressed himself so ignorantly, and

incong

inconsiderately, upon the design of our Sa-SERM. viour's coming, and the nature of his king

V. dom, as to dissuade him from undergoing the fufferings his father had appointed for him; thereby meriting to himself this severe rebuke, get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence to me : for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. This eminent Apostle, I say, was warn’d by his lord, not only in common with the other disciples, but himself personally, of the extraordinary trial he was to meet with on the occasion of his master's entering into that most dismal scene which concluded in his death. A trial so severe, that it produced the unhappy effect of our Saviour's disciples forsaking him in his greatest extremity; which was a grievous circumstance in his sufferings; foreseen indeed hy himself, and foretold long before by one of the ancia ent prophets, for thus is expounded Matt. xxvi.

31. the prediction of Zech. xiii. 7. Šmite, the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But, as Peter was more earnest in his profess'd resolution of adherence to his master in all events, ver. 33. of this chapter, tho' all men mould be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended; and ver. 35, tho' I

should

H4

SERM. should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. IV.

So he had a special warning of his danger, nay, he was expressly told of the great particular transgression he would fall into, with all the the most material circumstances of it. Ver. 34. Verily I say 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 signal instance a memorable and instructive exam, ple of human weakness. We must at the fame time observe, that with Christ's forem fight of his frail servant's defection, there was mix'd a gracious care for his recovery, which was even intimated to him; for to the same 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 alto. gether apostatize from my religion, but ob tàin mercy to repent, and return to thy duty :) and when thou art converted,

strengthen

Arengthen thy brethren. We need only add, SERM,
in stating the fact, that Peter's denial of his V.
master was attended with high aggravations,
not only by the premonitions given him, and
his own contrary purpose declared with
great vehemence, which have been alrcady
taken notice of ; but by its being often re-
peated, three times in a very short space.
The occasion does not seem to have been fo
Thocking, but that the spirit of a man might
have fustain'd it, if he had not been thrown
intoa pannic, for scarcely could one in a calm

tate of mind believe, that the accufation of
þeing Christ'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, fill 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 cursing and
{wearing

From the fact thus stated, as it plainly appears in, there arise very important instructions to us, which we may profitably consider, concerning the fallibility and weakness of human nature ; concerning the dan

ger