"What language in that look! Swifter than thought

The apostle's eye it caught,

And sank into his very soul!

Through every vein a thrilling tremor crept:

Away he stole,

And wept;

Bitterly he wept!"

From this time till after the

Jesus, we hear no more of Peter.

crucifixion of

He probably

remorse and

passed this distressing interval in tears; and there is no doubt that his repentance was entire and sincere, and that his character was much improved and purified by the late fiery trial through which it had been led; for we find that Jesus, on the morning of his resurrection, after he had shown himself to Mary Magdalene, appeared also to Peter, according to an especial message which he had sent to him by an angel, in testimony of his continued confidence in him.*

*The message was delivered by the angel to the Marys, who reported it to Peter. The angel, or young man clothed in white, says to the women, "Tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he said unto you." What a touching pledge of forgiveness and reconciliation! The moral to be derived from the history of Peter's fall, is thus well and concisely brought home to us in the following verse by Cowper.

Beware of Peter's word,

Nor confidently say

"I never will deny thee, Lord,"

But, "Grant I never may

That Peter had returned to his allegiance, is manifest from the fact that he was the first of the male disciples who descended into the tomb wherein the Saviour had been laid.

No

Some days afterwards, as several of the disciples were fishing together in a vessel, on the sea of Tiberias, Jesus appeared to them on the shore. On this occasion we may again observe a symptom of Peter's characteristic ardor. sooner had he understood from John that it was the Lord who stood on the shore, and had been speaking with them, than he girt his fisher's coat about him, cast himself into the sea, and in this manner gained the land, while the rest came after him in the vessel. When they had all dined on the fish which had been taken, Jesus required of Peter that thrice repeated assurance of his love, in which a fanciful interpreter would discover a direct allusion to the late thrice repeated denial. On receiving each assurance, his Lord gives him an especial charge to feed his sheep. He then signified to him, though darkly, by what death he should glorify God; but refused to gratify his curiosity respecting the fate of his fellow disciple, John.

In the Gospels, we have no further information respecting this apostle. On turning to the book

F

of Acts, however, he is immediately presented to us in his former rank and station, as chief of the apostles, speaking in their name, and presiding at their meetings. It is he who proposes that the vacated place of Judas Iscariot should be supplied by lot. When some of those who were present at the effusion of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of tongues, mocked at the disciples, and said that they were full of new wine, it was Peter who in a most spirited manner refuted the slander, and spoke so powerfully of his Master's claims, that on the same day there were added to the number of Christian believers, about three thousand souls. It was Peter who healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; who addressed the people on that occasion; who, when arraigned before the chief priests, declared so boldly to them that salvation was alone by Jesus Christ; and who, when he and his companion John were commanded not to speak at all nor teach in that name, returned, jointly with the beloved disciple, that heroic answer, "Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge. ye." It was Peter who exposed the deception of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, and at whose feet they both fell down dead. And it was Peter, who, by his

shadow alone, healed many who were laid in his way.*

After Samaria had, through the instrumentality of Philip, received the word of God, Peter and John were sent there by the apostles, in order that they might lay their hands on the converts, and cause them to receive the Holy Spirit. + And then it was that Peter so indignantly rebuked Simon the sorcerer, who thought that the gift of God might be purchased with money.

"Thy money perish with thee," said

*It is not expressly asserted in Acts, v. 15, that those persons were healed by Peter's shadow, and therefore some commentators have taken it for granted that they were not, and have even gone so far as to assert that the apostle's neglect of them was a punishment for their superstition. So says Rosenmuller. But in the next verse we are told that great numbers of sick persons were also brought to him from the cities round about, and "were healed every one." Now there seems to be no good reason why these should be healed, and those who belonged to the city should be neglected. Their being placed in Peter's way, so that even his shadow might pass over them, shows more the affectionate and confident faith of them and their friends, than it does their superstition. If Peter was empowered from on high to heal diseases, he could do so by his shadow, as well as by a touch or a few words. His will was the agent: the signs of its exertion were of no importance in themselves. As we are not informed that Peter rebuked those who laid the sick under his shadow, the most reasonable and compassionate inference is, that these, as well as the others, were healed.

The fact that the apostles sent Peter on this mission, is proof sufficient that his precedence among them was far from being of the papal character.

he; "thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God."

We now find him very actively engaged in the duties of his apostleship, "passing throughout all quarters," performing miracles, preaching the word, and feeding the sheep of the great shepherd. At Lydda, he healed a certain man, named Æneas, who had been sick with the palsy eight years; and at the neighbouring town of Joppa he raised to life a pious female disciple by the name of Tabitha, or Dorcas.*

At Joppa he abode many days with one Simon, a tanner. It was while he was living here, that he was called to instruct and baptize Cornelius, the centurion, who dwelt in Cæsarea; to prepare him for which duty, he was taught, in a remarkable vision, not to call any creature of God common or unclean, and that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. With these convictions on his mind, he obeys the call of Cornelius to come to him, and while he is addressing him, witnesses the descent of the spirit on him and his family, and orders them to

* Tabitha being the Syriac name, and Dorcas its translation into Greek. The words mean a doe or kid.