Peter said, I am not. So Peter went back again to the fire, and began talking with the servants. But some of them remembered having seen Peter in the garden, and they came to Peter and said, We are certain that you are one of the disciples. I saw you in the garden, said one. Then Peter began to swear, and to say that he was not. While Peter was speaking so wickedly he heard a cock crow. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said, and he looked at Jesus, and Jesus turned round his face and looked at Peter. It was such a look! Jesus did not speak, but his look seemed to say, Is this Peter, my friend, who said he would die with me? Is this his love for me? Does he say he does not know me? Peter felt very sorry; he felt as if his heart would break, and he went out of the house, and began to cry very much indeed. For Peter did really love Jesus; only Satan had tempted him to be so wicked as to say he did not know him. If Peter had prayed in the garden instead of going to sleep, he would have behaved better. But Christ had often prayed for Peter, that Satan might not get his soul at last. When Peter sat within the hall, To see what should his Lord befall, He said he never knew the man, And e’en to curse and swear began. His sorrowing Master turn’d his head, And by his look he sweetly said, “Does Peter say he knows me not? Has Peter then my love forgot?” Soon Peter wept most bitterly That he had dared his Lord deny. His Lord is mine: I love him too, Oh! may I prove to him more true! But if I sin, oh! grant that I May weep like Peter, bitterly; And may it pierce me like a sword, To think I’ve griev’d my dearest Lord. LESSON XXXVII. PONTIUS PILATE. JOHN, xviii. 22 to end. MATTHEW, xxvi. 67, 68. JOHN, xix. 1-16. ALL night long, Jesus stood in the great room; he heard all Peter said, and that must have grieved him. The wicked people were like lions and tigers, and Jesus like a lamb. They looked at him as if they hated him. Once when he spoke, a servant slapped his face; but he bore this meekly. The judge was not up yet, for it was night; so the wicked people were forced to wait till the morning. That night the servants came round Jesus and beat him, and pushed him, and laughed at him, and even spat in his face. When the morning came, the wicked people said, Now we will bring him to the judge. So they went out of their fine house and took Jesus with them. The judge sat upon a high seat in the hall. His name was Pontius Pilate. The judge did not know Jesus. The judge said, What has he done? The wicked people said, He calls himself a king. Then Pilate said to Jesus, Are you a king? And Jesus said, Yes, I am. But Pilate thought that he looked very good, and he did not want to punish him. Then the wicked men made a great noise, and said, You must crucify him.