SERMON XXXI

ST. PETER'S CHARACTER

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?- ACTS iii. 12.

HESE words, as the text tells us, were

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spoken by St. Peter, on the occasion of his miraculous cure of the lame man, who was laid at the gate of the temple, and, in the beginning of this chapter, had asked an alms of St. Peter and St. John, as they went up together at the hour of prayer; — on whom St. Peter fastening his eyes, as in the 4th verse, and declaring he had no such relief to give him as he expected, having neither silver nor gold,

but that such as he had, the benefit of that divine power which he had received from his Master, he would impart to him, he commands him forthwith, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to rise up and walk. And he took him by the hand and lifted him

up, and immediately his feet and ankle-bones received strength; and he leaped up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, leaping and praising GOD.

It seems he had been born lame, had passed a whole life of despair, without hopes of ever being restored; so that the immediate sense of strength and activity communicated to him at once, in so surprising and unsought-for a manner, cast him into the transport of mind natural to a man so benefited beyond his expectation. So that the amazing instance of a supernatural power;- the notoriety of the fact, wrought at the hour of prayer ;the unexceptionableness of the object, that it was no imposture, for they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple; the unfeigned expressions of an enraptured heart almost beside itself, confirming the whole ; — the man that was healed, in the 10th verse, holding his benefactors, Peter and John, entering into the temple with them, walking and leaping, and praising GOD; - the great concourse of people, drawn together by this event, in the 11th verse, for they all ran unto them, into the porch that was called Solomon's, greatly wondering. Sure never was

such a fair opportunity for an ambitious mind to have established a character of superior goodness and power. To a man set upon this world, who sought his own praise and honour, what an invitation would it have been to have turned these circumstances to such a purpose; to have fallen in with the passions of an astonished and grateful city, prepossessed, from what had happened, so strongly in his favour already, that little art of management was requisite to have improved their wonder and good opinion into the highest reverence of his sanctity, awe of his person, or whatever other belief should be necessary to feed his pride, or serve secret ends of glory and interest.— A mind not sufficiently mortified to the world, might have been tempted here to have taken the honour due to GOD — and transferred it to himself. He might not so a disciple of Christ: for when Peter saw when he saw the propensity in them to be misled on this occasion, he answered and said unto the people, in the words of the text, — Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk? The GoD of Abraham, and

it,

of Isaac, and of Jacob, the GOD of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus.

O holy, and blessed apostle!

How would thy meek and mortified spirit satisfy itself in uttering so humble and so just a declaration ? What an honest triumph wouldst thou taste the sweets of,- in thus conquering thy passion of vain-glory, keeping down thy pride, disclaiming the praises which should have fed it, by telling the wondering spectators, It was not thy own power,

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it was not thy own holiness, which had wrought this -thou being of like passions and infirmities; but that it was the power of the GOD of Abraham, — the holiness of thy dear Lord, whom they crucified, operating by faith through thee, who wast but an instrument in his hands. If thus honestly declining honour, which the occasion so amply invited thee to take; if this would give more satisfaction to a mind like thine, than the loudest praises of a mistaken people, what true rapture would be added to it from the reflection, that in this instance of self-denial thou hadst not only

done well, but, what was a still more endearing thought, that thou hadst been able to copy the example of thy divine Master, who, in no

action of his life, sought ever his own praise, but, on the contrary, declined all possible occasions of it ; — and in the only public instance of honour which he suffered to be given him in his entrance into Jerusalem,—thou didst remember,- it was accepted with such a mixture of humility, that the prediction of the prophet was not more exactly fulfilled in the hosannahs of the multitude, than in the meekness wherewith he received them, lowly and sitting upon an ass. How could a disciple fail of profiting by the example of so humble a master, whose whole course of life was a particular lecture to this virtue, and, in every instance of it, showed plainly he came not to share the pride and glories of life, or gratify the carnal expectation of ambitious followers; which, had he affected external pomp, he might have accomplished, by engrossing, as he could have done by a word, all the riches of the world; and by the splendour of his court, and dignity of his person, had been greater than Solomon in all his glory, and have attracted the applause and admiration of the world:- this every disciple knew was in his power;-so that the meanness of his birth, — the toils and poverty of his life, the low offices in which he was engaged, by preach