Apostles having had any knowledge thereof, the shock would have been greater to them. As it was, during his sufferings they all fled from him. Our Lord in mercy did many things to fortify them against the stress of that dreadful day; and to this same purpose he spoke to them the present prophecy. The excitement and fear which the Apostles endured on the day of the Crucifixion did not allow that reflection upon these truths which would have dispelled doubt and fear. But in that calmer after-light that came with the descent of the Holy Ghost, they saw the deep meaning of Jesus' words, and of his deeds, and they no more feared or doubted.

Some men impugn the veracity of the present account relative to the Resurrection, from the fact that the Apostles were slow to believe the events of the Resurrection. They argue that if any such clear prediction had existed in their minds, they would more readily have given assent to the announcement that Jesus had arisen. This is a shortsighted objection. Its solution is found in Mark, IX. 31-32: "For he taught his disciples and said unto them: The Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again. But they understood not the saying, and they were afraid to ask him." The Apostles were poor, simple-minded men. They could not understand the life of their great Master. We have many instances in the Gospel where they grossly misunderstood him. Every man who has had experience in teaching men religious truths, knows how difficult it is to impress these on the minds of ordinary men. It was not necessary that the Apostles should know the words of Jesus. more clearly then. The time appointed in the divine counsels for the full manifestation of the message was the time of Christ's glorious Resurrection from the dead. Hence, in the wonderful ways of God a clear message was delivered to the Apostles, and yet it was held back from its perfect manifestation until the time which divine wisdom had appointed arrived.

Christ was to offer the great propitiatory sacrifice that redeemed the world, in the great religious center of the world, in Jerusalem, the city of God. This was fitting also. Jerusalem had been appointed by God as the center of his worship;

and it was meet that the great act of atonement should be consummated there.

It is true, the actual Crucifixion took place outside the walls of Jerusalem; but the trial took place in Jerusalem, the sentence was passed in Jerusalem, and the men of Jerusalem were the actors in the awful deed. The men who brought about the death of Jesus were the chief representative men of the Jewish nation, so that it could not be called the act of individuals, but the act of the nation through its representative men. All these things are specifically mentioned in the prophecy of Jesus.

The statement of Mark that Jesus should arise after three days does not mean that three full days should intervene between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. It is merely a loose way of saying that Jesus should arise on the third day after the Crucifixion, counting the day of the Crucifixion as the first day. This is more accurately stated by Matthew and Luke. who declare that Jesus should arise on the third day.

The declaration of Jesus must have produced a profound impression on the disciples. The magnanimous soul of Peter was especially moved; and taking Jesus aside, he began to rebuke him, that he the Lord of power should think of allowing himself to suffer at the hands of those of Jerusalem, and to be killed. The words of Jesus had moved the ardent soul of Peter to a high degree of indignation, and his address to Jesus was impressed by this indignation. It may have seemed to Peter that the Lord was lacking in courage, or that he trusted not the fidelity of his chosen band, or their ability to protect him.

It seems that Peter was indignant at the Lord, as one friend would be indignant at his friend whom he dearly loved, because the latter contemplated yielding to his enemies. Peter loved Jesus; and the thought that Jesus was to be made to suffer and to die aroused him to wish to oppose the enemies of Jesus. He was impatient that Jesus seemed to contemplate a passive acquiescence in the terrible events that were about to

It was hard for Peter to see the grandeur of the Gospel of non-resistance. We see that on the night of Jesus' capture, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the

high priest. Peter was a man of large, impulsive heart, but yet somewhat lacking in that calm, reflecting courage that flinches not in the face of danger, for the reason that the judgment of the mind has placed some principle or achievement above personal safety or life.

During Peter's address to Jesus, Jesus and Peter were standing a little apart from the other disciples. As soon as Peter makes known his mind concerning the death that Jesus had predicted of himself, Jesus turns away from him as a sign of disapproval, and looking towards his disciples, he spoke so that all could hear: "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumblingblock unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.'

This rebuke seems very severe, but we must examine the event closely to catch the deep meaning of Jesus.

In the first place, we can not agree with those who hold that Jesus used the word Satan here in the sense of adversary. The context renders this impossible. Peter would not have understood the Lord, if he had given such a meaning to the common term.

Again, Jesus does not by his rebuke imply that Peter had committed an act of wickedness in what he had said to Jesus. Peter was actuated therein by an honest motive, and certainly acquired merit by such love of Jesus. To understand the event, we must seek deeper than the surface.

In reality Jesus' rebuke is not aimed at the person of Peter, but at the thing which Peter counselled. Peter, without committing any wrong, had given utterance to words which were of a character to promote the designs of Satan. Hence Peter was called Satan, in the sense that he was an unconscious advocate of Satan. The spirit that moved Peter was the spirit of this world; hence Jesus says: "-for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men." It was not a wicked spirit, but simply the moving of crude nature to avoid what is hard and painful, and to choose what pleases the natural

man.

Since the nature of man fell from the high estate which God gave it in the beginning, God and fallen nature are in combat in man; and when man follows fallen nature, he goes

away from God. Of course, not all the promptings of fallen nature are equally sinful. Our love of this life, our unwillingness to suffer pain, our hold on what we possess,—all spring from crude nature.

Now to show the hatred that God bears to the spirit of this world, Jesus bestows upon Peter, the unwitting exponent of a certain phase of this spirit, the severe name of Satan.

Peter loved Jesus; the error was not there; but his love was influenced by the worldly spirit, and moved him to advise Jesus to a course that was opposed to the high designs of the Redemption.

The severe rebuke of Peter is an everlasting lesson to teach us how inimical to spiritual interests is the spirit of this world, howsoever it may manifest itself.

Peter loved his life, and his love for Jesus moved him to wish to preserve his friend's life.

Jesus Christ was a man, and felt the natural emotions of human nature. The absolute conformity between his human I will and the will of his Father did not eliminate the natural tendencies of human nature. There was no moral disorder in the human nature of Jesus, but those feelings that are seated in the very essence of human nature were in him. Thus in his incarnate form Jesus feared pain and death. He overcame this fear, and followed the path of duty by a moral combat. Now the advice of Peter, though given through love of the Master, was directed to move Jesus to follow the feelings of his human nature instead of the path of duty. It was decreed that Jesus should redeem the world by the cross; and Peter counseled him to avoid this painful duty. Hence, considered in itself, the advice of Peter was a stumbling block to Jesus; because, had it been followed, it would have wrecked the plan of the Redemption. In this event, therefore, Peter was a tempter of Jesus. Peter "minded not the things of God, but the things of men," for the reason that he prized too highly the things of this present order of things. The great supernatural order of things had not yet been fully unfolded to him. Moved by the natural dread of pain and fear of death, he directed his thoughts

to the possibility of avoiding these, not heeding the high results that were to be achieved by the endurance of these.

The event is recorded for the world's instruction. The action of Peter is a specimen of humanity's great struggle to get away from what is arduous and painful. This short imperfect phase of our life is held in too high value. The grand promises of God move us but little, because their fulfilment is deferred till after death. We move readily, instinctively, away from poverty, humiliation, suffering and death; and we move with equal readiness towards worldly possessions, honors, worldly happiness, and the full enjoyment of this life. This propensity of our nature produces a spiritual enervation. Our spiritual taste should be cultivated and developed; but instead we feed our souls on the husks of this world, and thus weaken their powers. Our best thought, our keenest calculation, our most strenuous endeavor are given to this world.

Jesus Christ stands forth as the perfect exemplar of the spiritual man. He shows us by his example that if we would be followers of him, that we must prize duty above life itself. How sternly he repulses everything that aimed to draw him aside from the fulfilment of God's will? Peter was his friend, and loved him, and was loved by him; but still he was sternly rebuked, because he strove to save Jesus from the painful price of the Redemption. There is no way to walk in the arduous way of duty, save by a similar stern steadfastness, which will yield to nothing. Sometimes the things that hold us back from that which is best also come from friends who are actuated towards us by true friendship. But the true follower of Jesus must resolutely set his face towards the true goal of human life, and refuse to be led aside out of his way either by friend or by foe. The spiritual life of man is beset by many difficulties. In fact, full oft the cause of failure in the spiritual life is a lack of the realization of its difficulty. Many members of the Church conduct their lives as though their spiritual life was a thing that could take care of itself. Hence they full oft fall into the fatal error of supposing that they are Christians when they are not. They are moved in all things by natural motives. The dull cold commonplace round of this worldly life fastens itself tightly upon them. They may do no great wrong, but