Looking unto Jesus a view of the everlasting gospel, or, the souls eying of…

The Cock was the Preacher, and the look of Jesus was the Grace that made the Sermon effectual: O the Mercy of Christ! he looked back on him that had forgot himself; he revives his servant's memory, to think on his Master's words; he sends him out to weep bitterly, that so he might restore him mercifully to his favour again.

The Cock was the Preacher, and the look of Jesus was the Grace that made the Sermon effectual: O the Mercy of Christ! he looked back on him that had forgot himself; he revives his servant's memory, to think on his Master's words; he sends him out to weep bitterly, that so he might restore him mercifuly to his favour again.

Let us learn hence, to think modestly and soberly of our selves; yea,¹ let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall! If Peter could first dissemble, and then lie, and then forswear, and then blaspheme and curse, O let not us be high-minded, but fear; —And in case we fall indeed, as Peter did, yet let us not despair, as Judas did; but still upon our repentance let us trust in God. When Christ looked on Peter, he wept bitterly: notwithstanding our sins are great, yet one look of Christ is full of virtue, and enough to melt us into tears: O let us not sink in despair, but look up to him, that he may look down on us. Pliny tells us of some Rocks in Phrygia, ²that when the Sun doth but shine upon them, they send out drops of water, as if they wept tears; Peter signifies a Rock, and whilst Peter persisted in his sin of denying Christ, his heart was hard as the Rock; but when Christ the Sun of Righteousness looked upon him, his heart was softened, and he dropped tears continually. Such is the virtue of Christ's look, it turns the Rock into a standing Water, and the Flint into a Fountain of Waters. ³—Lastly let us not decry repentance, but rather be in the use, and practise, and exercise of it: Is not here a Gospel precedent?