ing sin. In vain he replied, "I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death." And so he was; still, Christ did not abate the woful statement, when He answered, “Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me."

To the apostle all was gloom; out of this, however, one truth emerged, that Christ loved him, come what might. He could not suppose that, even if he forgot his Lord, his Lord could ever forget him. Blessed Christ! Thou didst tell him that he would deny Thee with oaths and curses; deny Thee shamefully, in the hour of Thine agony; deny Thee, even while tortured for his salvation; and telling him this—this, which might have dried up Thy love for ever-Thou didst tell him, too, of a love strong as death, which many waters could not drown, and mightiest floods could not quench! The coming temptation only elicited the saving prayer, and fixed the limit of Peter's declension: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift thee as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Paul knew that his ship would be stranded, while no life would be lost; Christ knew that His friend would err, but that his faith would never break, and that his soul would be safe in the repentance that was to follow. To Christ's prayer for Peter before he fell, we must add Christ's look at Peter after he had fallen, that look which recalled him to himself, and sent him wildly out into the darkness. If the prayer limited the aberration, the look restored his soul.

In view of all this, how fitting is Grant's hymn :— "When gathering clouds around I view,

And days are dark and friends are few,

On Him I lean who not in vain
Experienced every human pain;
He knows my wants, allays my fears,
And counts and treasures up my tears.
If aught should tempt my soul to stray
From heavenly wisdom's narrow way,
To fly the good I would pursue,
Or do the thing I would not do;
Still, He who felt temptation's power
Shall guard me in that dangerous hour."

CHAPTER XI.

CHRIST'S SYMPATHY WITH THE FALLEN.

TAND by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou," is the language of the

Pharisee; and the Pharisee reappears in each generation, in every grade, and in every church. This offender was common when Isaiah warned and Christ taught. The abhorrence with which Christ viewed these people, and the sternness with which He denounced them, are notorious. He came expressly to do what such would not do-to invite, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He put His intentions thus, and concisely,-" They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." In such statements as these we know, in brief, what Jesus did, and why He did it. If there were already in existence truly good men and women, these had no need of Him; if there were in existence truly bad men and women, these greatly needed Him, and He would help them.

We wish to exhibit the profound interest our Lord took in the recovery of the fallen. Such as were the most degraded and despised amongst ordinary people excited the peculiar pity of the Redeemer.

Early in His ministry, when its characteristics were

being gradually developed, and every action was scrutinised by many watchful eyes, He openly called Matthew to be His disciple. This publican appears to have had his booth on the quay of Capernaum, in which he sat and gathered dues from persons coming in with boat-loads of merchandise or produce.

His class was greatly abhorred, both by Jews and Gentiles. Tax-gatherers are never very popular anywhere, but these men were hated. To the Jews they were obnoxious, because by their aid the conqueror raised revenue. To all other men they were obnoxious, because of their rapacity. They appear to have been divided into two grades; the head men, who farmed a town or district, and their underlings, who had a percentage of the gains. Of the former, kindly mention has been made by contemporaries; of the latter the testimony is, that " among the beasts of the wilderness, bears and lions are the most cruel; among the beasts of the city, the publican and the parasite." We are told they were not allowed, if Jews, to enter the synagogue or the temple, to fill any judicial office, or even to give testimony in a court of justice. Such were viewed as traitors to their country, enemies alike of God and His people, who, for gain, aided the uncircumcised to oppress the elect. No office a son of Abraham could accept could more surely make him an object of hatred and contempt among his brethren. If Greek or Roman disliked the unprincipled tax-gatherer, the Israelite, in addition to the common loathing, regarded him with the fiercest religious animosity. Generally, much as the Jew loved his money, he loved his law and his nation more. What Shylock said to Bassanio not inaptly expresses the Jew-feeling eighteen hundred odd years

ago, towards these men,-"I will buy with you, sell with you .. but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you." Just in as far as the Jew was thus patriotic, and, after his fashion, religious, he was an enemy to these his more subservient countrymen.

It is supposed that Matthew belonged to the second and more hated grade of the publicans. All, therefore, which, in popular esteem, was vilest about his office attached to him. And yet, aware of all this, Jesus does not hesitate to invite him to become His follower, pupil, and friend. He called him to resign his office with its gains, and Matthew left the booth, with whatever of sin belonged to it, and followed his Lord till he died. We learn further, that this convert by-and-by made his new Master a great feast, at which many of his own kind were present. At this feast, and among this doubtful company, reclined, without ostentation, indeed, but also without hesitancy, our great Exemplar. Than this circumstance, nothing occurs in the life of Christ more demonstrative of His profound sympathy for the degraded, for the pariahs of society; and no act of His life tested more powerfully His purpose; for, as He was aware then, and thenceforward, it exposed Him to the hatred of the leaders, and the natural suspicion of the better sort in Judea. Judged by worldly-wise standards, the call of Matthew was an error, grave and farreaching; judged by the highest standard of all, it was a representative act, declaring the grace of Jesus and His kingdom. It was an unmistakable proclamation of mercy to all who would believe Him.

When passing through Jericho, Christ called Zacchæus also, in that quarter the chief among the