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wicked were before him. At last, the High Priest used a solemn form of questioning him, and put it to Jesus, whether he were the Son of God.

refuse no longer to speak.

He could now

They had now

And he not only declared that he was the Son of God -the person sent by God to save the Jews and all people from the punishment of their sins: but he said moreover, that they should hereafter see him as the judge of the whole world and placed in the highest authority over all men. This was enough for these wicked men. gained their ends: and for this cause, they condemned him to suffer death. Yes! my friends, for no crime, for no sin your Saviour was condemned by these sinners. He was condemned, because he had declared himself the Saviour of the world and its future judge-because he promised to save them from sin, not from slavery-to make them free from vile and wicked habits, and not from their masters,

the Romans. They would have been glad of a kingdom upon earth-they had no relish for a kingdom in heaven-they wanted a king to lead them to riches and power on earth-they felt no wish to become the subjects of a king to lead them to happiness in heaven.

We stop for the present. We leave the blessed Jesus like a criminal condemned to death. But let us not quit the scene without having right thoughts concerning it all. Let us retire with the words of the Holy Bible full in our minds and our hearts." Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions: he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his

own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,"

And now to God, &c.

LECTURE LXXIX.

ST. MATTHEW xxvi. 75.

And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

I SHALL speak to you this evening of the behaviour of St. Peter to our blessed Lord. I hope that the account which we have of it will be, through God's mercy and grace, of use to you.

You may remember that, when our blessed Lord talked with his disciples of his sufferings and death, and told them that they would forsake him, when he

was in the power of his enemies, they all declared themselves ready to go with him into prison, and to death. Peter, in particular, was very warm and bold, and said that he would rather die than deny that he knew Jesus. Our Lord knew him better than he knew himself, and assured him that the cock would not crow that night, before he would deny him three times. Accordingly so it happened. For, hear what follows. While our Lord was on his trial in the palace of the High Priest, Peter who had followed him at a distance, and as he thought, without the risk of being known, seated himself outside of the door. While he was there, a young woman observed him, and said to him, that he had been one of the disciples of Jesus. Peter denied it, and declared, that he did not know what she meant. This was his first denial.-It seems that upon this he left the door, and went into the porch. It was then that another young woman took notice of him, and said to the people about her, this

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