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A60148
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St. Peter's sin and true repentance amplified and improved in a discourse occasion'd by the publick profession of repentance made by T.W., who after eleven years slavery in Turkey renounc'd his baptism and Christianity there ... / by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S3684; ESTC R10197
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15,206
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39
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Thou knowest that I love thee And being asked a third time he answers Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Professing his Love three several times as he had been guilty of a Triple Denial Whereupon our Lord minds him of what he had formerly said That when he was converted he should strengthen his Brethren and therefore puts him upon this Evidence of his sincere Repentance and Love to Christ Feed my Lambs Feed my Sheep Though thou hast denied and disowned the Shepherd of thy Soul yet feed my Sheep Let this be the first Testimony of thy Love which afterwards thou must confirm with the loss of thy Life and seal with thy Bloud And by the History of the Acts of the Apostles we find his extraordinary Diligence to spread the Gospel For the Travels of this Apostle in his Ministerial work are computed to be above Nine Hundred and Fifty Miles 'T is an Instance of the Wisdom of Divine Providence that this Apostle should be sent principally to Preach the Gospel to the Jews and be the Minister of the Circumcision who had thus joined with the Jews in disowning Christ that he should endeavour to perswade them to join with him in Repentance as he had joined with them in Sin Dr. Jackson And the Parallel may be carried further As the Nation of the Jews had known the Lord above all other People had seen his Wonders and been favoured by peculiar Instances of his Kindness stood in special Relation to Him and made the highest Profession of Love and Obedience and expected the coming of the Son of God Yet when he came amongst them they disowned his Authority and protested against him We have no King but Caesar c. So the Apostle Peter though he had seen our Saviour and lived in his Family and been Witness to his Miracles was nearly related to him and professed more than ordinary Affection and Obedience Yet he basely disowned him when it came to the Trial. His Sin was in some respect like Theirs and therefore he is the fittest Person to Preach the Gospel to them His Diligence therein is another Argument of the Sincerity of his Repentance The Application follows For Instruction and Practice 1. From the very Relation of this Passage of the Scandalous Fall of one of the Apostles and the particular Description of it by the Apostles themselves We may learn one Argument to confirm the Truth of the Gospel History Had it been a Forgery or Humane Contrivance these things would have been concealed But the Spirit of God has left this upon Record to warn us against the like Sins and to encourage the Repentance of those that have fallen in an Hour of Temptation We may observe farther From the Sin and Fall of this Apostle What little Reason the Church of Rome has to boast of the pretended Succession of their Popes to the Apostle Peter They are his Successors in denying Christ the Glory due to him as Mediator but in vain do they pretend to be the universal Bishops of the universal Church as his Successors We read of no such Superiority that Peter had over the rest of the Apostles Not till Christs Ascension to be sure for then there would have been two heads of the Church Nor afterward For he was only the Apostle of the Circumcision And St. Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles withstood him to the Face and ordained Pastors without him Gal. 2. and 2 Cor. 11.5 and tells us he was not inferiour to the chiefest Apostles And Peter was sent as a Messenger from the rest of the Apostles Acts 8.14 And when he was accused he pleads his own Cause before the other Disciples and submits to the Judgment of the Council Acts 11. Moreover when there were Divisions in the Church of Corinth that some were for Paul and some for Apollos and some for Cephas or Peter We do not find the Apostle Paul directs them to Center all in Peter He owns no such Authority and Supremacy in him above others as the Church of Rome have invested him and his Successors in The Bishops of Rome have imitated Peter too much in the Denial of Christ but in little else that we know of Again From the Sin and Fall of Peter We may observe the Subtlety of the Devil to suit his Temptations to the particular Tempers of Men and so to season and time his Temptations as to have the greatest probability of Success He takes confident Peter in a fit of Fear at the Apprehension and Arraignment of his Master who at another time would have replied to the Devil as Christ did to him when he acted the Devils Part Get thee behind me Satan Our great Adversary the Devil knows how to assault us with suitable Temptations and in what Circumstances we are most likely to yeild we had therefore need to watch and stand upon our guard We may also observe the Justice of God in permitting the strongest Confidence to be shamed and baffled Let us therefore remember that none are so likely to enter into Temptation and be overcome as those who are least afraid of it None are more likely to fall than those who are most confident of their own standing None more ready to yeild to Temptation than such as presume they shall never yeild Moreover In that after Peter's first Denyal he heard the Cock crow and did not take warning we may learn That whoever sins against the Light of his own Mind and Conscience may be so far hardened and stupified by it as that the plainest warnings for a time at least shall be disregarged and have no influence One would wonder after what Christ had told him concerning his Denial before the Crowing of the Cock that he did not recollect it when he first heard the Cock to Crow We may further learn That there is a Mixture of Flesh and Spirit of Corruption and Grace in the best Saints I doubt not but Peter's Resolution to dye with Christ rather than deny him proceeded from a Principle of Grace and true Affection to his Lord. I question not but he verily thought he should do as he said but his Confidence of himself whereby he presumed on his own strength had a sinful mixture with it which occasioned his Fall It therefore concerns all even the best men that they watch and pray lest they enter into Temptation But considering That though the Sin of Peter was great yet his Repentance was not long delayed We may compare it with some other Instances in Scripture and observe That Sins by the surprizal of a sudden Temptation are much sooner repented of than where the Sin is presumptuous deliberate and contrived Let us take the Instance of David in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah and compare it with this Example of Peter Peter knew so well that he should not deny his Lord that he was confident he never should He honoured his Master in his Heart and came to
St. Peter's SIN And True Repentance Amplified and Improved IN A DISCOURSE Occasion'd by the Publick Profession of Repentance made by T. W. who after Eleven Years Slavery in Turkey Renounc'd his Baptism and Christianity there and within a Year made his Escape and returning first into Holland desired Solemnly to Acknowledge his Sin and Profess his Repentance which he did in the English Church at Rotterdam December the 3d 1687. where the following Sermon was then Preach'd By JOHN SHOWER London Printed for Samuel Wade at the Bible under the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1692. St. PETER's SIN And True REPENTANCE Luke 22.60 61 62. And Peter said Man I know not what thou sayest And immediately while he yet spake the Cock crew And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter remembred the word of the Lord how he had said unto him Before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice And Peter went out and wept bitterly THere is some little Difference among the Evangelists in the Historical Account of this Passage of the Sin and Repentance of Saint Peter But because they give the same Account in Substance though with a little variation one from the other the one not knowing what the other had writ 't is an Argument that their Writings were not contrived by any Agreement with one another and that there was no Design among them to cheat the World with a false Story their Testimony is thereby Distinct and of the more Authority Now though two of the Evangelists make mention of the Apostle Peters weeping bitterly yet Saint Mark who was the Companion and Scholar and Amanuensis of Peter and in whose Gospel the primitive Church agree that he had a hand when he speaks of his Repentance he only says He wept But when he speaks of his Sin he aggravates the Circumstances of his Denial more than all the other Evangelists He began to curse and to swear I know not this Man of whom ye speak Mark 14.71 but gives the most modest Account of his Repentance says not that he wept bitterly but that when He thought thereon He wept I would now upon this Occasion speak a little both to the Sin and Repentance of this Apostle First Let us consider his Sin with its Aggravations Secondly The Truth and Evidence of his Repentance That from both we may learn for our Instruction and Practice what such a Discourse is proper to teach us First Concerning this Sin of the Apostle Peter We may consider both the History of it according to the Evangelists And the special Aggravations wherewith his Sin was cloathed 1. We find an Account of this by the Apostle Peter himself Mark 14.54 as dictating to the Evangelist Mark the substance of his Gospel He tells us that when our Lord was apprehended and bound and led away to Judgment Peter followed him afar off or at some Distance to learn the Consequence and see the Issue of his Trial and that he followed him to the High Priests Palace or the High Priests Hall that is of Caiaphas not his Father in Law Annas who was the Sagan or Vicegerent under him to supply his Place if there were Occasion The High Priests Hall not the Room where the Sanhedrim met but some outer Room through which they passed scituated somewhat higher so that the Company above might look down upon the Servants and Officers below The First Denial of Christ that the Apostle Peter is guilty of was upon the Question of a Damsel that kept the Door saying Art not thou one of his Disciples Wert not Thou with Jesus of Galilee To whom he replyes I know him not so one Evangelist hath it I know not neither understand I what thou sayest says another Evangelist And then he went out in the Court and heard the Cock Crow but takes no notice of that Warning As to the Second Denial of Peter After a little while another saith unto him Thou also art One of them and he denied With an Oath I do not know the Man At first he only disowned his Discipleship but now he adds an Oath to confirm his lye About an hour after he is challenged again Verily Thou wast with Jesus of Galilee Thou art a Galilean and thy speech be wrayeth thee The Dialect of the Galileans comes nearer to that of the Samaritan or Syrian Idiom than that of the Jews dwelling at Jerusalem There is some Difference in all Nations in pronouncing the same Language by those who dwell in the chief Cities and those who inhabit in the remoter Provinces They call him Jesus of Galilee as a Term of reproach thereby denying him to be the true Messiah who was to be born in Judea and not in Galilee For out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet John 7.52 That is There is no Record of any Prophet that ever did arise from thence The Christians were usually reviled by Julian the Apostate under the Name of Galileans But Peter denys that he appertains to Jesus of Galilee or of Nazareth And then the whole Company joyn with Him who first suspected him For we read That they that stood by said surely thou art One of them And among the rest there happened to be One there who was related to Malchus whose ear Peter had smote off and Christ had healed as the Evangelist John relates it And says Did I not see thee in the Garden with him But he denys it and adds Cursing and Imprecation to gain credit to his perjury He began to Curse and to Swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some think that he cursed Christ but it is more likely he Anathematized himself that is wished himself excluded from the Synagogue and the Church if it were not true Or as others that he wished himself an Eternal Sepaartion from the Presence of God or in the Jewish Phrase Let God do so to me and more if I am not a perfect stranger to the Man you talk of He wished in effect that the Devil might take him that God would destroy and damn him if he were a Disciple of Jesus or any way acquainted with Him But our Lord looked back upon Peter and the Cock crew a second time and then he remembred the words of Jesus saying Before the Cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice And he went out and wept bitterly 2. But before I speak of his Repentance Let us consider a little of the Aggravation of his Sin First from the Person who is thus guilty of denying Christ In what Rank he stood What Character he bore and under what Obligations he was to have acted otherwise It was Peters Not an ordinary Disciple but an Apostle One of the twelve yea One of the chiefest of the Apostles unto whom our Lord does often address his Discourse as to the First and Principal of them Peter who had preached and Prophesied in the Name of Christ who had wrought Miracles by his Power cast out Devils by vertue of his Commission yet He denys him