53 65<\/strong>. The Jewish Trial<\/p>\n 53<\/strong>. And they led Jesus away<\/em> ] They bound Him first (Joh 18:12<\/span>), and then conducted Him across the Kidron and up the road leading into the city.<\/p>\n to the high priest<\/em> ] This we know from St John was Caiaphas. But our Lord was first brought to the palace of Annas his father-in-law (Joh 18:13<\/span>). This was either at the suggestion of some of the ruling powers, or in accordance with previous arrangement, that his “snake-like” astuteness as president of the Sanhedrim might help his less crafty son-in-law. The palace seems to have been jointly occupied by both as a common official residence, and thither, though it was deep midnight, the chief priests, elders, and scribes repaired.<\/p>\n See this fully explained in the notes at Mat. 26:57-75<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n Mar 14:53<\/span><\/p>\n And they led Jesus away to the High Priest.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Christ before the priests<\/strong><\/p>\n I. <\/strong>Give attention to the two high priests with whom the trial of Jesus began.<\/p>\n II. <\/strong>The midnight council of triers. For blind men to be fair critics of Turner, for bats to be fair critics of sunshine, for worms to be fair critics of the open air, would be more conceivable than the possibility of men like these being fair judges of Jesus! How could such sinners understand the Holy One of God? Besides their unfairness from natural unfitness, there was unfairness from the fact that they were desperate conspirators, plotting against His life.<\/p>\n III. <\/strong>How He was tried. (Charles Stanford, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n This history of our Saviours examination before the high priest we had in Mat 26:57-68<\/span>; <\/P> See Poole on “Mat 26:57<\/span>“, and following verses to Mat 26:68<\/span>. It should seem the high priests and council were very eager upon this thing. This council seems to have sat up all night, for early in the morning they carried him (condemned by them) to Pilate, and before twelve they brought him out of the city to be crucified. These wretched hypocrites had but the evening before been taking the passover. It was now the feast of unleavened bread. This was now the first fruit of their thanksgiving to God, for bringing them out of the land of Egypt; besides that their keeping a court of judgment in a capital case on a holy day, or in the night, were things against all rules of order. But the rage of persecutors can be neither bounded by the laws of God or men. If the servants of God still be thus treated, they are in this more like Christ, who hath told them, that the<\/I> disciple is not above his master.<\/I> But see further in the notes on Matthew twenty-six. <\/P> <\/p>\n 53. And they led Jesus away to thehigh priest: and with him were assembled<\/B>or rather, “theregathered together unto him.” <\/P> all the chief priests and theelders and the scribes<\/B>it was then a full and formal meeting ofthe Sanhedrim. Now, as the first three Evangelists place all Peter’sdenials of his Lord after this, we should naturally conclude thatthey took place while our Lord stood before the Sanhedrim.<\/I> Butbesides that the natural impression is that the scene around the firetook place overnight,<\/I> the second crowing of the cock,<\/I>if we are to credit ancient writers, would occur about the beginningof the fourth watch, or between three and four in the morning. Bythat time, however, the Council had probably convened, being warned,perhaps, that they were to prepare for being called at any hour ofthe morning, should the Prisoner be successfully secured. If this becorrect, it is fairly certain that only the last<\/I> of Peter’sthree denials would take place while our Lord was under trial beforethe Sanhedrim. One thing more may require explanation. If our Lordhad to be transferred from the residence of Annas to that ofCaiaphas, one is apt to wonder that there is no mention of His beingmarched from the one to the other. But the building, in alllikelihood, was one and the same; in which case He would merely haveto be taken perhaps across the court, from one chamber to another.<\/P><\/p>\n And they led Jesus away to the high priest<\/strong>,…. Caiaphas, as is added in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions. This was done, after they had took Jesus and bound, him, and after they had had him to Annas, who sent him bound to Caiaphas; see<\/p>\n Joh 18:12<\/span>;<\/p>\n and with him<\/strong>, the high priest Caiaphas,<\/p>\n were assembled all the chief priests, and the elders, and the Scribes<\/strong>; even the whole sanhedrim, who met at Caiaphas’s house, and were waiting there for Jesus; whom Judas with his band of soldiers and others, were gone to secure, and brng before them;<\/p>\n [See comments on Mt 26:57]<\/span>.<\/p>\n Christ Brought before the High Priest.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> 53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. 54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. 55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none. 56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. 57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, 58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. 59 But neither so did their witness agree together. 60 And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which<\/I> these witness against thee? 61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? 64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. 65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.<\/P> We have here Christ’s arraignment, trial, conviction, and condemnation, in the ecclesiastical<\/I> court, before the great sanhedrim, of which the high priest<\/I> was president, or judge of the court; the same Caiaphas that had lately adjudged it expedient he should be put to death, guilty or not guilty (John xi. 50<\/span>), and who therefore might justly be excepted against as partial.<\/P> I. Christ is hurried away to his house,<\/I> his palace<\/I> it is called, such state did he live in. And there, though, in the dead of the night, all the chief priests, and elders, and scribes,<\/I> that were in the secret, were assembled,<\/I> ready to receive the prey; so sure were they of it.<\/P> II. Peter followed<\/I> at a distance, such a degree of cowardice was his late courage dwindled into, v.<\/I><\/span> 54<\/span>. But when he came to the high priest’s palace, he sneakingly<\/I> went, and sat with the servants,<\/I> that he might not be suspected to belong to Christ. The high priest’s fire side was no proper place, nor his servants proper company, for Peter, but it was his entrance into a temptation.<\/I><\/P> III. Great diligence was used to procure, for love or money, false witnesses against Christ. They had seized him as a malefactor, and now they had him they had no indictment to prefer against him, no crime to lay to his charge, but they sought for witnesses against him;<\/I> pumped some with ensnaring questions, offered bribes to others, if they would accuse him,<\/I> and endeavored to frighten others, if they would not,<\/I>Mar 14:55<\/span>; Mar 14:56<\/span>. The chief priests and elders were by the law entrusted with the prosecuting and punishing of false witnesses<\/I> (Deu 19:16<\/span>; Deu 19:17<\/span>); yet those were now ringleaders in a crime that tends to overthrow of all justice. It is time to cry, Help, Lord,<\/I> when the physicians of a land are its troublers, and those that should be the conservators of peace and equity, are the corrupters of both.<\/P> IV. He was at length charged with words spoken some years ago, which, as they were represented, seemed to threaten the temple,<\/I> which they had made no better than an idol of (Mar 14:57<\/span>; Mar 14:58<\/span>); but the witnesses to this matter did not agree (v.<\/I><\/span> 59<\/span>), for one swore that he said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days<\/I> (so it is in Matthew); the other swore that he said, I will destroy this temple, that is made with hands,<\/I> and within three days, I will build<\/I> not it, but another made without hands;<\/I> now these two differ much from each other; oude ise en he martyria<\/B><\/I>—their testimony was not sufficient,<\/I> nor equal to the charge of a capital crime; so Dr. Hammond: they did not accuse him of that upon which a sentence of death<\/I> might be founded, no not by the utmost stretch of their law.<\/P> V. He was urged to be his own accuser (v.<\/I><\/span> 60<\/span>); The high priest stood up<\/I> in a heat, and said, Answerest thou nothing?<\/I> This he said under pretence of justice and fair dealing, but really with a design to ensnare him, that they might accuse him,<\/I>Luk 11:53<\/span>; Luk 11:54<\/span>; Luk 20:20<\/span>. We may well imagine with what an air of haughtiness and disdain this proud high priest brought our Lord Jesus to this question; “Come you, the prisoner at the bar, you hear what is sworn against you; what have you now to say for yourself?” Pleased to think that he<\/I> seemed silent, who had so often silenced those that picked quarrels with him. Still Christ answered nothing,<\/I> that he might set us an example, 1. Of patience<\/I> under calumnies and false accusations; when we are reviled,<\/I> let us not revile again,<\/I> 1 Pet. ii. 23<\/I><\/span>. And, 2. Of prudence,<\/I> when a man shall be made an offender for a word<\/I> (Isa. xxix. 21<\/span>), and our de<\/I>fence made our of<\/I>fence; it is an evil time indeed when the prudent shall keep silence<\/I> (lest they make bad worse), and commit their cause to him that judgeth righteously.<\/I> But,<\/P> VI. When he was asked whether he was the Christ,<\/I> he confessed, and denied not, that he was,<\/I>Mar 14:61<\/span>; Mar 14:62<\/span>. He asked, Art thou the Son of the Blessed?<\/I> that is the Son of God?<\/I> for, as Dr. Hammond observes, the Jews, when they named God,<\/I> generally added, blessed for ever;<\/I> and thence the Blessed<\/I> is the title of God,<\/I> a peculiar title, and applied to Christ, Rom. ix. 5<\/span>. And for the proof of his being the Son of God,<\/I> he binds them over to his second coming; “Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power;<\/I> that Son of man<\/I> that now appears so mean and despicable, whom ye see<\/I> and trample upon (Isa 53:2<\/span>; Isa 53:3<\/span>), you shall shortly see and tremble before.<\/I>” Now, one would think that such a word as this which our Lord Jesus seems to have spoken with a grandeur and majesty not agreeable to his present appearance (for through the thickest cloud of his humiliation some rays of glory were still darted forth), should have startled the court, and at least, in the opinion of some of them, should have amounted to a demurrer,<\/I> or arrest of judgment,<\/I> and that they should have stayed process till they had considered further of it; when Paul at the bar reasoned of the judgment to come,<\/I> the judge trembled,<\/I> and adjourned the trial, Acts xxiv. 25<\/span>. But these chief priests were so miserably blinded with malice and rage, that, like the horse rushing into the battle, they mocked at fear, and were not affrighted,<\/I> neither believed they that it was the sound of the trumpet,<\/I>Job 39:22<\/span>; Job 39:24<\/span>. And see Job 15:25<\/span>; Job 15:26<\/span>.<\/P> VII. The high priest, upon this confession of his, convicted him as a blasphemer<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 63<\/span>); He rent his clothes<\/I>—chitonas autou<\/B><\/I>. Some think the word signifies his pontifical vestments, which, for the greater state, he had put on, though in the night, upon this occasion. As before, in his enmity to Christ, he said he knew not what (Joh 11:51<\/span>; Joh 11:52<\/span>), so now he did he knew not what. If Saul’s rending Samuel’s mantle was made to signify the rending of the kingdom from him (1Sa 15:27<\/span>; 1Sa 15:28<\/span>), much more did Caiaphas’s rending his own clothes signify the rending of the priesthood from him, as the rending of the veil, at Christ’s death, signified the throwing of all open. Christ’s clothes, even when he was crucified, were kept entire, and not rent: for when the Levitical priesthood was rent in pieces and done away, This Man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.<\/I><\/P> VIII. They agreed that he was a blasphemer, and, as such, was guilty of a capital crime, v.<\/I><\/span> 64<\/span>. The question seemed<\/I> to be put fairly, What think ye?<\/I> But it was really prejudged,<\/I> for the high priest had said, Ye have heard the blasphemy;<\/I> he gave judgment first, who, as president of the court, ought to have voted last. So they all condemned him<\/I> to be guilty of death;<\/I> what friends he had in the great sanhedrim, did not appear, it is probable that they had not notice.<\/P> IX. They set themselves to abuse him, and, as the Philistines with Samson, to make sport with him, v.<\/I><\/span> 65<\/span>. It should seem that some of the priests themselves that had condemned him, so far forgot the dignity, as well as duty, of their place, and the gravity which became them, that they helped their servants in playing the fool with a condemned prisoner. This they made their diversion, while they waited for the morning,<\/I> to complete their villany. That night of observations<\/I> (as the passover-night was called) they made a merry night of.<\/I> If they did not think it below them to abuse Christ, shall we think any thing below us, by which we may do him honour?<\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n JESUS HAILED BEFORE THE HIGH PRIEST AND SANHEDRIN<\/strong><\/p>\n V. 53-65<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “And they led Jesus away to the high priest,”<\/strong> (kai apegagon ton lesoun pros ton archierea) “And they(then) led Jesus away to the high priest,” First to Annas then to Caiphas, Joh 18:12-15<\/span>, to confront the High Priest, Luk 3:2<\/span>; Act 4:6<\/span>, in late evening hours, perhaps midnight hours, Mat 26:57<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) “And with him were assembled,”<\/strong> (kai sunerchontai) “And in colleague or collusion with him were come together,” the three classes of major religious employees of Judaism.<\/p>\n a) “All the<\/strong> chief priests,” <\/strong>(pantes hoi archiereis) “All the chief or administrative priests.”<\/p>\n b) “And the elders,”<\/strong> (kai hoi presbuteroi) “And the elders of Israel,” those who constituted the Sanhedrin.<\/p>\n c) “And the scribes.”<\/strong> (kai hoi grammateis) ”And the scribes,” legal writers, keepers, and distributors of the law and legal documents of Israel. They served as clerks, file clerks, librarians, and archives guardians of all religious and legal records relating to the law of Moses.<\/p>\n Order of events on the crucifixion day were as follows:<\/p>\n 1) Before day, early in the morning Jesus was brought before Caiphas, there in his palace. There He was condemned and mocked, Mat 26:57-68<\/span>; Luk 22:63-71<\/span>; Joh 18:19-24<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) From Caiphas’ palace the Sanhedrin led Jesus to<\/p>\n Pilate, Mat 27:1-2<\/span>; Mat 27:11-14<\/span>; Mat 15:1-5<\/span>; Luk 23:1-5<\/span>; Joh 18:25-28<\/span>.<\/p>\n 3) Pilate then sent Jesus to Herod, Luk 23:6-12<\/span>; Joh 19:4<\/span>.<\/p>\n 4) Pilate then released Barabbas and condemned Jesus to crucifixion, Mat 27:15-26<\/span>; Mar 15:6-15<\/span>; Luk 23:13-25<\/span>; Joh 18:39-40<\/span>; Joh 19:4-16<\/span>.<\/p>\n 5) Jesus was then crowned with thorns and mocked,<\/p>\n Mat 27:26-30<\/span>; Mar 15:15-20<\/span>; Joh 19:1-3<\/span>.<\/p>\n 6) Judas went to suicide, Mat 27:3-10<\/span>; Act 1:16-20<\/span>.<\/p>\n 7) Led from Pilate’s hall to crucifixion, <\/strong>Simon bears His cross along the way, and Jesus talked with, or to, the women along the way, Mat 27:31-32<\/span>; Mar 15:20-23<\/span>; Luk 23:26-33<\/span>; Joh 19:16-17<\/span>.<\/p>\n CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES<\/em><\/p>\n Mar. 14:53<\/span>. With him were assembled<\/strong>.There come with him<\/em>, or There come together unto him<\/em>.<\/p>\n Mar. 14:54<\/span>. The palace<\/strong>.The court<\/em> of the palace. At the fire<\/strong>.Beside the light<\/em> of the fire.<\/p>\n Mar. 14:58<\/span>. Within three days<\/strong>.After three days<\/em>: . For similar construction see Mar. 2:1<\/span>; Act. 24:17<\/span>; Gal. 2:1<\/span>.<\/p>\n Mar. 14:72<\/span>. When he thought thereon<\/strong>.A good rendering, if means having cast his mind over the matter<\/em>. But, as this verb is used not many verses back (Mar. 14:46<\/span>) of a physical action, it may be best to adopt Theophylacts explanationhaving cast his mantle over his head<\/em>. So (of recent English scholars) Dean Blakesley, Prof. Evans, and Dr. F. Fielda remarkable consensus of independent judgment on a knotty point.<\/p>\n MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.<\/em>Mar. 14:53-72<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n (PARALLELS: Mat. 26:57-75<\/span>; Luk. 22:54-71<\/span>; Joh. 18:12-27<\/span>.)<\/p>\n Jesus before the Sanhedrin<\/em>.The Reformer, who had detected and exposed the prevailing abuses of Jehovahs law; the Prophet, who had sternly rebuked the inconsistencies, hypocrisies, and vices of the degenerate men who sat in Moses seat; the Son of David, who appeared as a mean carpenters son of despised Nazareth; the King of the Jews, who came only as a Prince of Peace, whose servants would not fight against Roman dominion; the Messiah, who had not been anointed with oil of their choosing,this Jesus was now in their power.<\/p>\n I. The pretended trial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. As the supreme court of judicature in Israel, the Sanhedrin sat in judgment upon Jesus. But the men who were here assembled as His judges had already conspired against Him as His foes, and had resolved to arraign Him before the Roman governor as His prosecutors. This was enough to stamp their proceedings with injustice. But in order to the complete justification of truth, and for the warning of future ages, their guilt must become more heinous and more evident. 3. It was hurried on with indecent haste, conducted in the dead of night, with the omission of many legal forms: false evidence had been prepared by the judges themselves. But as truth is always consistent, falsehood seldom or never, it pleased God to confute these perjured witnesses by their own words. At length the high priest, disconcerted by the palpable failure of his plot, and impatient to arrive at his foregone conclusion, resorts to the unusual and unjust expedient of convicting the Accused out of His own mouth (Mar. 14:61-64<\/span>).<\/p>\n II. The evil principle which moved the Sanhedrin: party-spirit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. The Sanhedrin had lost the power of life and death; its ancient privileges, curtailed under the Asmonean and Edomite dynasties, had been further diminished by the Roman emperors; and with power and privilege the dignity and influence of its members was all but gone. For the recovery of this influence, that is to say, for their own selfish aggrandisement, and not for the honour of God and the good of their country, these counsellors caballed, combined, conspiredformed a party, and acted together as a party. III. Distinguish between two kinds of party-spirit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. There is an unrighteous party-spirit, which, as Christians, we are bound to eschew. Peters fall and recovery<\/em>.In the whole history of our Saviours last sufferings, perhaps there is not a more affecting incident than the denial of Christ by Peter. The natural simplicity with which the story is told, and the striking circumstances with which it abounds, make the deepest impression upon the heart, and raise a tide of the most mixed emotions. <\/p>\n 1. The sincere professions of fidelity which Peter made to Jesus, the zeal which he discovered in His defence, and the attachment which he manifested in following Him to the palace of the high priest, are circumstances which present this apostle in an amiable light, and recommend him to our love. I. The fall of St. Peter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. It affords a melancholy instance of human infirmity. Never did man enjoy greater advantages or make fairer appearances than this disciple. Was it not most natural to think that his faith and zeal, his courage and resolution, would have supported his mind, and carried him through the most fiery trial? But, alas! in the hour of temptation all his principles and resolutions forsook him; this great apostle fell; and in his fall has left an awful lesson to mankind, even to the most eminent Christians, that it is not in man who walketh to direct his stepsthat we are not sufficient of ourselves, but that our sufficiency is of God. II. The recovery of St. Peter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. The necessity of Divine grace, in order to the restoration of fallen saints, as well as to the conversion of habitual sinners. OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES<\/em><\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/P>
<\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
2. They could not justify to their own people the arraignment of a Jew before a Roman tribunal, unless that Jew should first have been condemned and excommunicated by themselves as a breaker of the Mosaic law. Hence the necessity for this pretended trial. <\/p>\n
2. At one time they had looked with hope to Jesus. They would have been glad to use Him as an instrument against the hated Romans, and when He had served their turn to fling away the lowly Nazarene as a broken tool. But Jesus would not join them. Nay, more, He unveiled their abuses, unmasked their hypocrisies, confuted their pretexts, baffled their devices, rebuked their sins. Therefore they regarded Him as an enemy, and agreed together to destroy Him.
3. Then was waged the warfare of an unscrupulous and infuriated party against one obnoxious individual. Spies were employed to entangle Him in His talk; snares were set; calumnies were circulated. But from His armour of proof all their shafts fell harmless. At length the traitor Judas presents himself; the bribe is offered and accepted; hasty preparations are made; witnesses suborned; the arrest effected; the trial-scene performed under cover of night, with the cruel issue which had been predetermined and concerted.<\/p>\n
(1) All party-spirit is by the nature of the case unrighteous which espouses the cause of evil and falsehood: all which is enlisted against the honour of Godagainst His eternal attributes, truth, justice, holinessagainst the gospel or the Church.
(2) Party-spirit in a doubtful or even in a good cause is unrighteous when it proceeds from wrong motives, is exhibited a wrong spirit, or served by wrong means.
2. If we would be most effectually secured by the grace of God against the influence of unchristian party-spirit, it must be by the possession of that party-spirit which is according to righteousness and true holiness. We are born into a world of warfare, and have no choice but to take a part. He that is not with Christ is against Him: he that gathereth not with Him scattereth. Let His name be our war-cry, His Cross inscribed upon our banner. Let His holy ark be erected in our heart, and the Dagon of worldly party-spirit will bow down before it and be broken.Prof. B. H. Kennedy<\/em>.<\/p>\n
2. The cowardice with which he deserted his Master in the garden when the natural means of defence were taken away, the baseness with which he afterwards denied Him, and the obstinacy with which he persisted in that denial, shew the man in a very different point of view, and fill our minds with the strongest indignation.
3. The conduct of our Saviour in forewarning him of his danger, in restoring him to a sense of his guilt, and in admitting him freely to mercy, gives us the most exalted conceptions of our Saviours goodness, and fills our souls with just admiration.
4. The speediness of Peters repentance, the deepness of his contrition, and the tears of sorrow which he sheds melt our souls into compassion, and lead us to forgive this unfortunate man.<\/p>\n
2. Confidence and presumption, even in the most confirmed Christians, are very unpromising signs of steadfastness in religion. This was the rock upon which Peter first split, when he made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience. Trust in God is one thing, and trust in ourselves is another, and there will always be as much difference in the success which attends them as in the powers on which they are founded. If we proceed on a sense of our own weakness, and a reliance on the Divine aid, we shall continue unto the end. But if, like Peter, we set out in our own strength, like him we shall soon be offended, and turn back.
3. Natural courage and precipitate zeal will not supply the place of Christian fortitude, and carry a man through the trials of religion. When St. Peter was surrounded with swords and staves, he was nothing dismayed; his heart and his hand went together in the cause of God. But he who could fight for his Saviour had not fortitude to suffer with him when matters came to extremity. It is vain to promise yourselves a superiority under any temptations, unless you lay the right foundation, by imploring the aid of Gods Holy Spirit, whose province only it is to confirm the faithful unto the end.
4. The danger of exposing ourselves to temptations, when we are not called by the providence of God. It was no doubt a concern for his Master which induced Peter to follow Jesus to His trial, and to venture into that dangerous place. But from whatever motive he acted, it could not be matter of duty in the apostle to thrust himself into the company of wretches where his presence could be of no use to his Master, and where his virtue could scarcely come off unhurt. Nay, the prediction of our Blessed Saviour, that He should be denied by Peter that very night, ought to have been sufficient warning to him to have kept at the greatest distance from a place where he was in the most imminent danger of being drawn into that very sin which he had been warned against.
5. How naturally sin hardens the heart, stupefies the conscience, and involves men still deeper in guilt! First, by confidence and presumption, Peter indecently and expressly contradicted his Master, when Jesus foretold the flight of His disciples, and the denial of Him by Peter himself; next, when his Master was about to be apprehended, driven by an intemperate zeal, he was guilty of a most rash and imprudent action in cutting off the ear of the high-priests servant, which might have caused not only himself but all the rest of the disciples to have been put to death on the spot. Immediately after, when he saw Jesus seized and bound, like the rest of the timid disciples, by an act of cowardice and ingratitude, he forsook his Master and fled. As soon as he had recovered himself, he inconsiderately thrust himself into evil company, in which he was exposed to that very temptation which Christ had warned him against. This was the unhappy occasion of all his subsequent sin and sorrow. Here, disarmed by his fatal security, he was quite unprepared to meet any trial, and of course yielded to the first attack. Scarcely had Peter ended this act of baseness when, going out into the porch, he accidentally heard the cock crow, the very signal of his fall. Might he not now have recollected himself, and gathered resolution to retract his falsehood, and to give an honest testimony to the truth? But, alas! when a man has made one false step, it is not so easy a matter to recover himself. One sin naturally, nay, almost unavoidably, leads to another; one lie frequently requires another to support the falsehood. And in this case the principle of shame, which was before the guardian of innocence, now bars the way to repentance; for men blush to retract the falsehood they have asserted, or to own the baseness they have committed. A second time Peter is charged with being a follower of Jesus; a second time he denies his Master. But he does not even, as before, rest with simple assertions of falsehood. In order to remove every ground of suspicion, he confirms his denial with an oath, calling upon the God of truth to witness his falsehood. To complete the disgrace of this unfortunate man, a third and a more pointed attack is made upon him. Two strong presumptions are adduced against himthat his speech proved him to be a Galilean, and that he had been seen in the garden with Christ. Peter was now tempted to the last degree; and in order to testify his innocence by resentment of their suspicion, he not only by assertions and oaths, but by dreadful imprecations on himself, abjured his Blessed Lord. He began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. To aggravate his guilt still more, these denials of Christ were all made in the presence of the other disciples, who had also followed the Master to the palace of the high priest, and who could not be strangers to Peters falsehood and baseness. Nay, the last and most shameful denial was made in the presence of Christ Himself, who must have been more painfully wounded by this perfidiousness of Peter than by all the indignities and insults of His enemies. Lord, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him! What is our boasted strength but weakness! And when left to ourselves, how do our firmest principles and our best resolutions melt like snow before the sun!<\/p>\n
2. Though good men may accidentally fall, yet, upon a speedy and effectual repentance, they will be restored to the favour of God.
3. Although the restoration of Peter furnishes matter of consolation to good men who have been seduced into a fault, it affords no ground of hope to presumptuous offenders who live in the deliberate practice of sin. If Peters crime was great in its nature, it was neither premeditated nor of long continuance. It was not so much the act of the man as the effect of sudden and violent temptation which unhinged his mind and threw him into utter confusion. The moment his Saviour gave him the signal he was obedient to the heavenly call. As soon as he recovered the powers of reflexion, he bathed his soul in the tears of repentance, and from that time became the same faithful and affectionate apostle he had been before. But what is all this to deliberate transgressors who make bold with sin and presume upon the mercy of God?
4. Though good men may accidentally fall, they are more easily reclaimed than habitual sinners. Their minds, not being hardened by sin, are awakened by the gentlest calls of the Spirit; and the sense of virtue revives upon the first motions and suggestions of conscience.
5. The sins of the best men, into which they fall accidentally, are expiated with the strongest sense of sorrow and affliction. When men are truly concerned, they do not consider what they are to get by their tears, or what profit their sorrow will yield. The soul must vent its grief; and godly sorrow is as truly the natural expression of inward pain as worldly sorrow is, however much they differ in their causes and effects. When therefore we find ourselves truly affected with a sense of our sins, and in earnest lament our ingratitude and disobedience to God, we have the best indication that the spirit of religion is still alive within us, and that we are not given up to a reprobate mind.A. Donnan<\/em>.<\/p>\n