ony concerning those for whom He has lavished His life!
The question will wring His heart anew into great drops of blood."

"Moreover, thou hast sinned against the strongest light and the highest
privilege; it was given to thee to be with Him at the most solemn and
sacred times: thou wast with Him at the transfiguration in the Holy
Mount; and if ever heaven could strengthen earth, thou shouldst have
been a strong man. Thou wast with Him at times of special Power, when
only two or three were privileged to see the grace and glory flow down
upon the suffering and the dying. Will not the greatness of thy
privilege be the greatness of thy condemnation? He always chose thee
to be with Him in special times when He went apart for prayer: to whom
much is given, of them will much be required. Oh! how hast thou
fallen!" and the spirits away in the darkness would say, "Thou art
become even as one of us."

Then he would remember how in his own family, almost in his own flesh,
he had received special mercy; and that work of healing would rise up
to condemn him. Sin against mercy is sin without mercy; a thousand
times thou art condemned, having sinned against such light and
privilege and grace.

Then some spirits would whisper, "Dost thou remember how when many were
leaving the Lord, because His doctrines were hard to receive and His
steps hard to follow, He asked the question, 'Will ye also go away?'
Who was it that answered so readily, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?'
Would it not have been better to have denied Him at the first than to
have waited till the light had grown as clear as it has been, and to
have deserted Him when He needed thee most? Better to have denied Him
then, when evidence was feeble, than to disown Him, known as thou hast
been privileged to know Him!"

We are not told one word about what Peter did or where he went, except
that he went out weeping. When the morning came and they were leading
Jesus away to crucifixion, John was there, but no mention is made of
Peter. And yet I think I know where he went, and can see him taking
his way across the brook, which so lately he had crossed with Jesus, to
the garden of olive-trees. He would say to himself, "Here is the place
where the Lord came and found me sleeping"; and "Here He said to me,
'Pray, pray, that ye enter not into temptation.'" Going a little
farther, he would come to the place where the Master Himself had
prayed. He would kneel and pray there too