of his own heart. That is St. Peter before his fall. But look at him afterwards; look at him when godly sorrow had done its work upon him—and you see him no more a boaster, no more filled with conceit of his own strength and merits, but a man, meek and lowly, doubtful of any excellence in himself, referring all to God, and doing all to His glory.

Contrast but his words as we see them before his fall, in the Gospel, with his language afterwards.-Although all should be offended, yet will not I. This be far from Thee, Lord, Thou shalt never wash my feet!-contrast, I say, this language of confidence and self-assertion, with the same Apostle's words at a later day-Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong. Contrast again his self-esteem in his question, Lord, we have left all, and followed Thee, what shall we have therefore? with that which forms the key-note of his Second Epistle, Be clothed with humility, and watch unto prayer.

Such was the effect of repentance on St. Peter, and it is written in the Bible for our comfort and instruction -for the comfort, as I have said, of all truly penitent hearts; to shew us that though we have fallen-fallen very low-yet, by the grace of God, we may recover ourselves completely, may be better men, and more devoted to God, and more full of good works, than ever we were before we were brought down and humbled.

Lay we then to heart the story of St. Peter's recovery. Lay we it to heart for our comfort-to save us from despair, to quicken us in the work of true repentance.

M

And from what we have seen of repentance in him, let us gather this-viz., that in all true repentance there must be these three things—

1. Self-accusation.

2. Deep and lasting sorrow.

3. Strong personal love of the Saviour.

Where these are present there is good reason to think that repentance is genuine-unto life: where these are wanting, it is to be feared that, however for the moment we may express ourselves repentant, we shall not bring forth any real fruit meet for repentance.

Remember, then, brethren, that the first step is selfcondemnation, an acknowledgment in our own heart within, and with our lips outwardly, that we have done wrong-offended God. Against Thee have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight! This acknowledgment stands at the very door of genuine repentance; and it is a much harder thing than you may be inclined to think it. The heart is quick to shape excuses; we catch at every flimsy covering that may serve to cloak our sin from sight. To say we have sinned-yea, though we know our guilt, is not easy. When we hear God's voice crying, What hast thou done? we run to hide ourselves, or we try to put Him off with an evasion, or we lay the blame on another-upon the circumstances, upon the power of the temptation, upon the nature which He has implanted in us. But such reasons, such excuses, such palliations, only make the matter worse. It is a law of spiritual life, that there can be no restoration to peace and God's love till we have got rid of the burden of our sin, and we cannot get rid of it till we have made a clean breast-till we

have confessed our wickedness-Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. That as David teaches us, is ever the right order-first, the full unreserved acknowledgment, and then the pardon consequent on it-God's perfect cleansing.

A second element, and closely connected with the former, is sorrow-lasting sorrow. We must not soon forget our sin, nor soon forgive it in ourselves.-We need the remembrance of it to keep us from a second fall. We need, too, the humiliation of it; we need it as a defence against pride, we need it as a constant spur to watchfulness, we need it to remind us of our unworthiness. For these, and for many other reasons, it is not well, it is not desirable, that we should cease to remember and lament our sin. God only knows with what provocations we have committed it; God only knows how near the iniquity has been our ruin! True-now that we are penitent He has cast it all behind His back, but what has been-has-we have departed from grace given— we have gone astray from the path of God's commandments as sheep that were lost-we have sinned against light and knowledge, against mercies and warnings-to us belongeth confusion of face: to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses; but to ourselves belongs -and for a very long time must belong to think thereon and weep!

The third requisite for a true and lasting repentance is,—that we have a strong personal love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was this which in St. Peter was so conspicuous. He loved his Master even

when he denied Him. A look from that Master's face melted him to tears. Ever afterwards in all he did, in all he suffered, we see the working of this same principlethe love of Christ constraining him. It was the secret spring of his perseverance, as it had been of his conversion. And so must it be with ourselves: we must have, as a motive to repent, as a barrier against falling back after we have repented, as a quickener in all goodness, the constraining love of Christ. Do not be at ease, brethren, while you are without that love: do not rest till you know Christ-for to know Him is to love Him-know Him as He is revealed to you in the Gospel-for your Saviour, your Guide, your Friend. Do not be at ease, till to that question put singly by Him to each one of you only with a change of name, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?-you can each reply, out of the depths of his own consciousness, from what your heart witnesses within, and also from what is visible to others in your life, in your dealings with Christ and His appointments,— Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee!

SUNDAY BEFORE EASTER.

THE PENITENT THIEF.

ST LUXE XXIII. 42, 43.

And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee. Το day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.

THE story of the Penitent Thief is in every way, a most precious portion of the Gospel-fruitful in lessons for our learning. It will be my aim to bring out some of these, and to press them home, in my remarks to you this morning.

And, first, let us go back in thought to the actual scene that scene of shame and humiliation-of heroic martyrdom and generous self-sacrifice-that scene of innocence suffering wrongfully, which is set before us day by day in the services of this solemn week.

The malice of our Lord's enemies has prevailed. Pilate has given sentence, against the evidence, against his own conscience-and Jesus is delivered to their will. That cruel will was that He should die by the most igno