But so it is, my friends.  If we forget that all which is good and strong in us comes from God, and not from ourselves; if we are conceited, and confident in ourselves; then we cut ourselves off from God’s grace, and give place to Satan the Devil, that he may sift us like wheat, as he did St. Peter; and then in some shameful hour, we may find ourselves saying and doing things which we would never have believed we could have done.  God grant, that if ever we fall into such unexpected sin, it may happen to us as it did to St. Peter.  For Satan gained little by sifting St. Peter.  He sifted out the chaff:  but the wheat was left behind safe for God’s garner.  The chaff was St. Peter’s rashness and self-conceit, which came from his own sinful nature; and that went, and St. Peter was rid of it for ever.  The wheat was St. Peter’s courage, and faith, and honour, which came from God; and that remained, and St. Peter kept them for ever.  That, we read, was St. Peter’s conversion; that worked the thorough and complete change in his character, and made him a new man from that day forth.  And then, after that terrible and fiery trial, St. Peter was ready to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which gave him courage with fervent zeal to preach the gospel of his Crucified Lord, and at last to be crucified himself for that Lord’s sake; and so fulfil the Lord’s words to him.  ’When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest:  but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.’  By that our Lord seems to have meant, ’You were strong and proud and self-willed enough in your youth.  The day will come when you will be tamed down, ready and willing to suffer patiently, even agony from which your flesh and blood may shrink;’ and the Lord’s words came true.  For, say the old stories, when St. Peter was led to be crucified, he refused to be crucified upright, as the Lord Jesus had been, saying, ’That it was too great an honour for him, who had once denied his Lord, to die the same death as his Lord died.’  So he was crucified, they say, with his head downward; and ended a glorious life in a humble martyrdom.

And what may we learn from St. Peter’s character?  I think we may learn this.  Frankness, boldness, a high spirit, a stout will, and an affectionate heart; these are all God’s gifts, and they are pleasant in his eyes, and ought to be a blessing to the man who has them.  Ought to be a blessing to him, because they are the stuff out of which a good, and noble, and useful Christian man may be made.  But they need not be a blessing to a man; they are excellent gifts:  but they will not of themselves make a man an excellent man, who excels; that is, surpasses others in goodness.  We may see that ourselves, from experience.  We see too many brave men, free-spoken men, affectionate men, who come to shame and ruin.