When in the judgment-hall the words of denial had been spoken; when Peter’s love and loyalty, awakened under the Saviour’s glance of pity and love and sorrow, had sent him forth to the garden where Christ had wept and prayed; when his tears of remorse dropped upon the sod that had been moistened with the blood-drops of His agony,—then the Saviour’s words, “I have prayed for thee; ... when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren,” were a stay to his soul. Christ, though foreseeing his sin, had not abandoned him to despair. If the look that Jesus cast upon him had spoken condemnation instead of pity; if in foretelling the sin He had failed of speaking hope, how dense would have been the darkness that encompassed Peter! how reckless the despair of that tortured soul! In that hour of anguish and self-abhorrence, what could have held him back from the path trodden by Judas? [Sidenote: _Not Alone_] He who could not spare His disciple the anguish, left him not alone to its bitterness. His is a love that fails not nor forsakes. Human beings, themselves given to evil, are prone to deal untenderly with the tempted and the erring. They can not read the heart, they know not its struggle and pain. Of the rebuke that is love, of the blow that wounds to heal, of the warning that speaks hope, they have need to learn. [Sidenote: “_Tell Peter_”] It was not John, the one who watched with Him in the judgment-hall, who stood beside His cross, and who of the twelve was first at the tomb,—it was not John, but Peter, that was mentioned by name in the first message sent to the disciples by Christ after His resurrection. “Tell His disciples and Peter,” the angel said, “that He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him.”[109] At the last meeting of Christ with the disciples by the sea, Peter, tested by the thrice-given question, “Lovest thou Me?” was restored to his place among the twelve. His work was appointed him; he was to feed the Lord’s flock. Then, as His last personal direction, Jesus bade him, “Follow thou Me.”[110] [Sidenote: _The Lesson Learned_] Now he could appreciate the words. The lesson Christ had given when He set a little child in the midst of the disciples and bade them become like him, Peter could now better understand. Knowing more fully both his own weakness and Christ’s power, he was ready to trust and to obey. In His strength he could follow his Master. And at the close of his experience of labor and sacrifice, the disciple once so unready to discern the cross, counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel, feeling only that, for him who had denied the Lord, to die in the same manner as his Master died was too great an honor. [Sidenote: _A Miracle of Miracles_] A miracle of divine tenderness was Peter’s transformation. It is a life-lesson to all who seek to follow in the steps of the Master Teacher. * * * * *