CV.

"But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all."-St. Mark xiv. 29-31.

Exposition.-St. Chrysostom comments as follows: "What sayest thou, O Peter? the prophet said, The sheep shall be scattered: Christ hath confirmed the saying, and sayest thou, No? Is not what passed before enough, when thou saidst: Far be it from Thee, and thy mouth was stopped? For this then He suffers him to fall, teaching him thereby to believe Christ in all things, and to account His declaration more trustworthy than one's own conscience. And the rest, too, reaped no small benefit from his denial, having come to know man's weakness, and God's truth. For when He

foretells anything we must no longer be subtle, nor lift up ourselves above the common sort. For thy rejoicing, it is said, thou shalt have in thyself, and not in another. For when he should have prayed, and have said, Help us, that we be not cut off, he is confident in himself, and saith, Though all men should be offended in Thee, yet will I never; though all should undergo this, I shall not undergo it, which led him on by little and little to self-confidence. Christ then, out of a desire to put down this, permitted his denial. For since he neither submitted to Him nor the prophet (and yet for this intent He brought in the prophet besides, that they might not gainsay), but nevertheless since he submitted not to His words, he is instructed by deeds. . . For indeed fear had driven out all else, for it was beyond measure, since God had to an exceeding degree deprived him of His help, and He did exceedingly deprive him thereof, because there was in him to an exceeding degree the passion of self-will and contradiction. In order then that He might pluck it up by the roots, therefore He suffered the terror to overtake him. For in proof that this passion was grievous in him, he was not content with his former words, gainsaying both prophet and Christ, but also after these things, when Christ had said unto him, Verily I say

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unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice, he replieth Though I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise. And Luke signifies moreover, that the more Christ warned him, so much the more did Peter exceedingly oppose Him. Whence then did this come to him? From much love, from much pleasure. I mean, that after he was delivered from that distressing fear about the betrayal, and knew the traitor, he then spoke confidently, and lifted up himself over the rest, saying, Though all men shall be offended, yet will not I be offended. And in some degree, too, his conduct sprung from jealousy; for at supper they reasoned which of them. is the greater; to such a degree did this passion trouble them. Therefore He checked him, not compelling him to the denial, God forbid! but leaving him destitute of His help, and convicting human nature."

Swete says: "Peter is stung to the quick by the suggestion of disloyalty, and repudiates it for himself. . . His boast is turned into the prophecy of a greater downfall: Thou, answering to Peter's I, to-day, in this night, before the morning watch, shalt deny me not once but thrice. According to the Jewish reckoning the day of the passion had already begun; it commenced with the night of the paschal supper."

And Stier: "Mark on this occasion gives us from Peter's lips the exact words which were spoken by Christ; he alone has the two cockcrowings, and he alone the swift succession of predictions as they reach their climax, Thou— to-day-this night before the cock crows twice. Thou who sayest, I will not, and for that very reason. There is something mysterious which envelopes the mention of the cock in this place. It is a strange and significant creature—the meaning of the name in the Greek is one who goes not to bed, the wakeful— its cry as a nocturnal watcher is a significant token among men. Cicero records it as a saying of Callisthenes, that the gods had given to cocks the sign of their crowing. He is the watcher and crier in nature. As such the ancient Christians often referred to it, in relation to Peter's history. St. Ambrose magnifies the cock even as the comforter who proclaims mercy to those who return from their sin. In one of the old hymns for Lauds, Aeterne rerum conditor, the cock is said to cry to us not to deny our Lord. In that of Prudentius, Ad galli cantum, the cry of the cock is represented as driving away the evil spirits of the night. Though all of this arose after the fact, yet it points back to a typical significance of the cock in nature, of which antiquity had a universal feeling, and

which the Lord in His word to Peter recognized. It is as if He had said, The watcher in the night will finally awaken thee, yet, as in the case of most who sleep and hear not, not till the second crowing in this night; although thou bodily watchest, and sinnest, the first cry will be in vain, and the second shall find thee already a triple sinner."

First Thought.-How unlovely does blessed Peter appear in his confident declaration of His own indefectibility! His Master's omniscience goes for nought with him, he is quite sure that the Lord does not know him so well as he knows himself. And when he alludes to his fellowApostles there is something like a touch of contempt towards them-very likely they are weak enough to lose faith when they shall see their Lord in the hands of His foes, but Peter could not fail Him so. He has such assurance within himself of his stedfastness under whatsoever conditions, that he declares he will face death rather than deny his Lord. It is added by the Evangelist, "Likewise also said they all." If all the Apostles were filled with self-confidence, albeit less boastfully than St. Peter, we shall be wise to look whether the same thing be not also in ourselves.

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