And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Ver. 75. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus] Here began his repentance. If we remember not what is preached unto us, all is lost, saith the apostle, 1 Corinthians 15:2. If we leak and let slip, saith another, how shall we escape? Μηποτε παραρρυωμεν, Hebrews 2:1; Hebrews 2:3. The Spirit shall be the saints' remembrancer; and as the sea casts up her dead, so shall that come seasonably to mind, that was long before delivered, when God's good time is come to work upon the dead heart. God will be found of his that seek him not. Surely, mercy and truth shall follow them all the days of their lives, as the sunbeams follow the traveller that turns his back on them. He will bring back his banished, he will reduce his rengades, he will not suffer any of his to be utterly drowned, though haply they have been drenched in the waves of sin, lain some while in them, yea, and have also sunk twice or thrice, as Peter, to the very bottom. Now then how can any either presume of not sinning, or despair for sin, when they read of Peter thus fallen, and now thus remembering, thus rising again by repentance, and received to mercy? The like instances we have not a few, of Origen and other primitive Christians, who, recanting for a season through fear of death, were therefore utterly excluded by Novatus from all hope of mercy; but not so by Christ. "Be not thou a terror unto me, O Lord," saith Jeremiah, and then I care not, though all the world condemn and cast me out. Bilney, Bainham, Benbridge, Abbes, Whittle, Sharp, and many other martyrs, having denied their Lord God, as they called it, for fear of the faggot, could have no rest till they had repented, and publicly revoked their much bewailed recantations. Stephen Gardiner, indeed, like another Ecebolius, cried out that he had denied with Peter, but never repented with Peter, and so both stinkingly and unrepentantly died, saith Mr Fox. It was a saying of the same Mr Fox, that his graces did him most hurt, and his sins most good. A paradox; but by our temptations, we know his meaning. As pain easeth a Christian, death revives him, dissolution unites him, so corruption clarifies him. I dare be bold to say (saith Augustine) that it is good for proud persons to fall into some foul sin, unde sibi displiceant, qui iam sibi placendo ceciderunt. Salubrius enim Petrus sibi displicuit quando flevit, quam sibi placuit quando praesumpsit, that they may be humbled, as Peter was, and so saved. (Aug. Civ. Dei. 14, 13.)
He wept bitterly] That one sweet look from Christ melted him; as God's kindness did the hard hearted Israelites at the meet of Mizpeh. In this troubled pool Peter washed himself, in this Red Sea the army of his iniquities was drowned. As once his faith was so great that he leapt into a sea of waters to come to Christ, so now his repentance was so great, that he leapt, as it were, into a sea of tears for that he had gone from Christ. There are those who say (and it may very well be) that henceforth he was ever and anon weeping; and that his face was even furrowed with continual tears. a He began soon after his sin, Mark 14:72, cum se proripuisset, when he had thrown himself out, as Beza renders επιβαλων. He had no sooner took in poison, but he vomited it up again ere it got to the vitals. He had no sooner handled his serpent, but he turned it into a rod to scourge his soul with remorse. Peccatum tristitiam peperit, et tristitia peccatum contrivit, ut vermis is ligno natus, sed ipsum comminuit.
a Semper lachrymis suffusos habuisse oculos adeo ut etiam lachrymae cutem genarum exederint. Chrysost.