e good St. Peter was to do
in the world. But we will not speak of this now. Let our last thought
be of Him who, in the crisis and extremity of His own suffering, when
He heard His name not only denied but mingled with oaths and curses,
yielded not one moment to the resentment which such an act of treachery
might have occasioned, but, forgetting His own sorrows and overmastered
with the instincts of the Saviour, threw into a look such a world of
kindness and of love that, in an instant, it lifted the falling
disciple from the gulf and set him on the rock where he ever afterwards
stood, himself a rock in the constancy of his faith and the vigor of
his testimony.

[1] _makrothen _.

[2] It is to St. Luke we owe the account here given of Peter's
awakening; but he also refers to the crowing of the cock, the only
cause mentioned by the other Evangelists. There is no difficulty in
understanding that such a psychological crisis may have been due to two
lines of suggestion.

[3] Mrs. Browning's sonnets on this subject must be quoted in full:

"Two sayings of the Holy Scriptures beat
Like pulses in the Church's brow and breast;
And by them we find rest in our unrest,
And, heart-deep in salt tears, do yet entreat
God's fellowship, as if on heavenly seat.
The first is JESUS WEPT; whereon is prest
Full many a sobbing face, that drops its best
And sweetest waters on the record sweet.
And one is where the Christ, denied and scorned,
LOOKED UPON PETER. Oh to render plain,
By help of having loved a little and mourned,
That look of sovran love and sovran pain,
Which He, who could not sin yet suffered, turned
On him who could reject but not sustain.

"The Saviour looked on Peter. Ay, no word,
No gesture of reproach; the heavens serene,
Though heavy with armed justice, did not lean
Their thunders that way; the forsaken Lord
_Looked_ only on the traitor. None record
What that look was; none guess; for those who have seen
Wronged lovers loving through a death-pang keen,
Or pale-cheeked martyrs smiling to a sword,
Have missed Jehovah at the judgment call.
And Peter from the height of blasphemy--
'I never knew this man'--did quail and fall,
As knowing straight THAT GOD; and turned free,
And went out speechless from the face of all,
And filled the silence, weeping bitterly.

I think: that look of Christ might seem to say:
'Thou, Peter! art thou a common stone