ainst him, and he rose
from his fall a new man.

What place had the denial in the story of the training of Peter? It
had a very important place. Up to that last night, there was still a
grave blemish in Simon's character. His self-confidence was an element
of weakness. Perhaps there was no other way in which this fault could
be cured but by allowing him to fall. We know at least that, in the
bitter experience of denial, with its solemn repenting, Peter lost his
weakness. He came from his penitence a new man. At last he was
disinthralled. He had learned the lesson of humility. It was never
again possible for him to deny his Lord. A little later, after a
heart-searching question thrice repeated, he was restored and
recommissioned--"Feed my lambs; feed my sheep."

So the work was completed; the vision of the new man had been realized.
Simon had become Cephas. It had been a long and costly process, but
neither too long nor too costly. While the marble was wasting, the
image was growing.

You say it was a great price that Simon had to pay to be fashioned into
Peter. You ask whether it was worth while, whether it would not have
been quite as well for him if he had remained the plain, obscure
fisherman he was when Jesus first found him. Then he would have been
only a fisherman, and after living among his neighbors for his allotted
years, he would have had a quiet funeral one day, and would have been
laid to rest beside the sea. As it was, he had a life of poverty and
toil and hard service. It took a great deal of severe discipline to
make out of him the strong, firm man of rock that Jesus set out to
produce in him. But who will say to-day that it was not worth while?
The splendid Christian manhood of Peter has been now for nineteen
centuries before the eyes of the world as a type of character which
Christian men should emulate--a vision of life whose influence has
touched millions with its inspiration. The price which had to be paid
to attain this nobleness of character and this vastness of holy
influence was not too great.

But how about ourselves? It may be quite as hard for some of us to be
made into the image of beauty and strength which the Master has set for
us. It may require that we shall pass through experiences of loss,
trial, temptation, and sorrow. Life's great lessons are very long, and
cannot be learned in a day, nor can they be learned easily. But life,
at whatever cost, is worth while