Christian. He has been stigmatized as timid or cowardly. In that soul-trying exigence, he was so; but justice requires you to remember, that he showed more courage than his companions. True, he exclaimed with vehement emphasis, Even should I die with thee, I will never deny thee;' but the historian adds, ‘and thus said they all;' and when his master was apprehended, he made the only resistance of which you have any record. They had but two swords; but of those two he wielded the only one that seems to have been drawn, and not without some execution; and when the disciples all forsook Jesus and fled, Peter and John alone hovered near their Lord: they alone followed him to the palace of the High Priest. They were both moved to this procedure by affection; and if one of them uttered an untruth, it was with no malicious design, but solely to preserve himself from suspicion and arrest as an accomplice.

Still, though fear of seizure prompted the falsehood, it was altogether unjustifiable; and you cannot wonder, that he went out and wept bitterly; you cannot wonder that when the Lord turned, and LOOKED UPON HIM, he was overwhelmed with astonishment,-a deep sense of his weakness and unworthiness;-that he rushed from the palace, and in the solitude and silence of night burst into tears, tears of memory, tears of self-condemnation, tears of the bitterest remorse. You see him the oldest disciple, now in the full meridian of manhood, weeping alone, and you see a most affecting sight. You are disposed to weep with him. But pause and reflect; the warning he affords

you, is something more profitable than tears. You perceive that a more intimate knowledge of himself, a consciousness of his imperfect virtue, would have preserved him,—preserved him from rash self-confidence,―saved him from his deplorable disloyalty and fall. Yes, this true friend of Jesus, thus betrayed by 'circumstances and the infirmity of his nature into a momentary defection, is an impressive warning to all Christians. He seems to proclaim to you, 'Remember me,―me who promised to defend, but shamefully denied my master. Be more moderate and composed in your promises, but resolute and unmoved in performing them. Be sensible of this truth, that your Maker has granted your soul the powerful nerve of resolve; but still rely upon the support of an arm that is almighty. For the energies imparted, fail not to be grate

ful; fail not continually to exert them. Remember for your encouragement, that while with fear and trembling you strive to accomplish your salvation, God is working in you both to will and to do,-aiding you to resolve and aiding you to perform. At the same time, be not presumptuous: remember the vehement wrath, the unmanly fear and falsehood, the bitter agony of Peter, and cease not day or night to be watchful.

2. By considerations of this nature, you come to the second doctrine of the text; you perceive the necessity of christian watchfulness.

Every human being that lives to maturity of reason ; every human being that has to him, is exposed to evil.

a probationary life committed This is the inevitable lot of

N

ness.

man, since without trial you could give no proof of goodGod commands you that seem to stand, to take heed lest you fall. God commands: he is therefore faithful, and will not suffer you to be tried above your ability; but with the trial, he will provide a way for your escape. He promises to proportion your burden to your strength. This is no more than you would naturally anticipate, from a Being of infinite perfection. But the strength he has imparted, he requires you to exert; for unless you do exert it, you have it imparted in vain. Peter was not tried above his ability to bear. Had he fortified his heart by confidence in his Master, instead of confidence in himself; had he believed in God, and believed in Christ; that is, had he reposed confidence in the Supreme Being and his Master; had he felt the conviction, that the miraculous works of his Master must have been wrought by divine power; he must have been assured, that the Father who commissioned, would not abandon his Son; and had he been watchful over himself, he could never have committed the folly of uttering three falsehoods so improbable and so useless. His Master had given commandment, 'Swear not at all;' but so imperfectly had his heart become moulded to spiritual views, that he attempted to confirm even falsehood by swearing. Unhappy Peter, how miserably fallen! how humble even in his own estimation! Can this be the man, who expressed his attachment with such enthusiasm of sentiment and manner? My friends, he knew not himself: he was not watchful over his weaker nature. He had expected a temporal Messiah; but now, when he saw him whom he had acknowledged to be the Christ, the

Son of the living God;—when he saw him brought to judgment, and about to be condemned to death,-his hope and assurance almost sunk in despair. Blessed be God, he gave the world a lesson of caution and humility. Blessed be God, he afforded encouragement to repenting sinners. He rose elastic from his degradation. The Saviour pitied his irresolution; but he knew, at the same time, that his heart was composed of the best materials of heaven. Immediately after his resurrection he gave a most touching testimonial of his tenderness to Peter. Go, said he by his Angel, gotell his disciples, and Peter, that he goes before you into Galilee.

I cannot avoid observing, that the change of character discovered by the disciples, and particularly by Peter, fifty days afterwards, when the supernatural illumination was communicated, affords a powerful corroboration of the truth of the Gospel history. You have witnessed Peter's melancholy state of mind, when he denied the master he loved so tenderly listen to his fearless developments now. 'Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man from God, manifested among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered up to you by the determinate counsel and preordination of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; whom God hath raised up, having loosed the bonds of death.' Hear again: Then Peter, filled with the holy spirit, said, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we be examined this day concerning the good deed done to the

infirm man, by what means he hath been restored; be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you well.' .

Such was the power of divine illumination. To the powerful evidence arising from this bestowal, you, my hearers, are born heirs. Favored with such advantages, it becomes you to be watchful, lest you sin against peculiar light; and if you have sinned like Peter, be thankful to your Maker for the power he communicates of emancipating yourselves from evil. Be watchful over the thoughts of your hearts, the words of your mouths, and the actions of your lives. Be so watchful as never to come under the dominion of a known sin. Distrusting your own wisdom and strength, relying upon those which come from above, and exercising unremitting vigilance over your Christian walk, these virtues you are to esteem auxiliary to this blessed attainment.

3. But, in the third place, the Saviour adduces another virtue of indispensible importance; it forms the third and last doctrine of the passage under consideration. This is prayer: pray that ye enter not into temptation or trial.

There is a beautiful exemplification of this devotional spirit, recorded in the first chapter of the Acts. Of the Christian converts and eleven disciples, of certain women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, with his brethren, it is said: These all with one mind continued in prayer and supplication. It was now a most interesting period,-the