savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men '." On another occasion, Peter said: "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore 2?" With what stations shall we be rewarded when the people acknowledge Thee as the conquering King of Israel? When Judas and his sinful party approached to lay violent hands on Jesus, Peter supposed that His pretensions were to be vindicated by force. He joined with the disciples in asking, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?" and, without 66 adversaries in different places of Scripture. See 1 Kings xi. 14. 23. 25. 2 Sam. xix. 22. Some expositors think that the name Satan was applied to Peter in the sense in which it belongs to the great adversary of mankind. The Apostle's observation, though proceeding from affection to his Lord, was an attempt to discourage Him from the work which He came into the world to perform, according to the command of the Father. John x. 18. This was to cast an impediment in our Saviour's way, which might have been adverted to, as a suggestion of Satan. Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ, are the words in which our Saviour addressed Satan himself in the wilderness. Luke iv. 8. 1 Peter, who had before listened to God's teaching, and received the happy and honourable testimony to his recent confession, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven," now subjected himself to the reproach: "Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." 2 Matt. xix. 27. 3 Luke xxii. 49. It has been suggested that this precipi waiting for an answer, wounded a servant of the high priest. After the enemies of Jesus had condemned and crucified Him, Peter feared that their triumph was complete. When he went with John to the sepulchre, upon the report of Mary Magdalene that the body was removed, he was unprepared for the event of the resurrection. It does not appear to have occurred to him that this event was accomplished, even after he had entered the empty tomb, for St. John writes, "Then went in also that other disciple (John himself) which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed," Is not this an intimation that, though John's faith revived, truth forbad him to speak in the plural number, and to record that the same light broke in upon Peter1? The whole tancy of Peter may be in some measure attributed to his misapprehension of the counsel of Jesus: "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one," ver. 36. Our Lord intimated by a figurative (and perhaps proverbial) expression, that dangers and difficulties were coming upon His followers, against which it became them to fortify themselves. This advice, however, the Apostles understood literally, observing that they were not unprovided with instruments of defence. They said, "Lord, behold here are two swords," thinking to oppose the adversaries of Jesus by force of arms. These wea pons might originally have been provided as a protection against robbers and wild animals, frequent disturbers of travellers in Judæa. 1 Yet Peter had been one of the witnesses of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus. He had, probably, been present passage stands thus: "The first day of the week, cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet at the resurrection of Lazarus also, and the miracle of the raising of the widow's son at Nain was well known to him. Our Saviour predicted His own resurrection several times, and why should this have been thought" a thing incredible," after the recall to life of three persons at His command? Instances of the recovery of life are recorded in the Old Testament, (1 Kings xvii. 22. 2 Kings iv. 35. xiii. 21.) and it was not contrary to the notion of the Jews, in the age of the Apostles, that persons might be raised from the dead, for Herod the tetrarch, when he heard of the fame of Christ, said: "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him." Matt. xiv. 2. There was a circumstance which seemed calculated to impress Peter in particular with the truth of the report of his Lord's resurrection. In a conference with the Apostles, the night before His passion, in which our Saviour predicted His victory over the grave, He foretold also Peter's threefold denial. "Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of Me, this night for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am Peter answered, risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. and said unto Him, Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice." Matt: xxvi. 31-34. Mark xiv. 27 -30. On the day of the resurrection, the angel instructed the two Marys and Salome: "Tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee." Mark xvi. 7. This message must have been heard by Peter with a feeling of his unworthiness to receive any token of his Lord's regard. It had an aptitude (as Townson observes) to remind him of the prophecy concerning Himself, and to lead him to reflect whether Jesus who had so surely predicted the fall of His Apostle, might not have foretold His own resurrection with the same certainty. Works, vol. ii. p. 117. Ꭰ Our dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together; and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth1 the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about His head, not Our Church says, in the collect for St. Thomas's day, that God suffered His holy Apostle Thomas to be "doubtful in His Son's resurrection for the more confirmation of the faith." Certain it is that the incredulity of the Apostles (and of Thomas in particular) was a mean of confirming the truth of this capital article of belief to future ages. "The more suspicious and incredulous the Apostles themselves at first were, the greater evidence is it how far they were from any design of abusing the world in what they after preached unto it, and what strong conviction there was in the thing itself, which was able to satisfy such scrupulous and suspicious persons."-Stilling fleet, Origines Sacræ, chap. ix. Profecto valde dubitatum est ab illis, né dubitaretur a nobis. Augustin. 2 τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα. In St. Luke it is, τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα póva, the linen clothes lying alone, without the body, and probably undisturbed, in the state in which they were, when the body was enclosed in them. xxiv. 12. lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed'." It is added, " For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." This last declaration is not inconsistent with the opinion that John began to believe in the resurrection of His Lord. He might have inferred it from the state of the sepulchre. The order, in which the grave-clothes were found, shewed that the body had not been hastily, and by stealth, taken away. The napkin, which had been about our Lord's head, was wrapped together "," and deposited "in a place by itself." The appearance of things at the tomb might have brought to St. John's remembrance the saying of Jesus, "After three days I will rise again 3," though he did not yet apprehend the Scripture prophecies of the resurrection sufficiently to collect from them that this miracle was to be exhibited 1. 1 John xx. 1-8. 2 66 2 Évtetvλiyμévov, folded up in wreaths, as it had been, when surrounding our Lord's head. 3 Matt. xxvii. 63. 4 Some writers understand that John 66 saw and believed" only that the body was taken away, as Mary Magdalene had said, ver. 2. But if this was all that he believed, why does St. John speak of himself singly? Peter also must have believed as much as this. It is not to be supposed, that St. John's faith in the resurrection was at this time very strong. It might have |