Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-12-02

Immediately after the arrest of Jesus
He was taken by the mob to the house
of Caiaphas. All of the IL who were
with Him, became frightened and fed,
forsaking Him in the hour Of His need.
Just a few hours before, while they
were yet in the upper room, Jesus had
told them that they should forsake Him
that night, as 1t had been prophesied Of
old; all declared their allegiance to Him,
and while Peter was most emphatic in
his expressions of loyalty, all the 9TH
ers Joined him in declaring that they
would not. leave Him. Now every one
Of them has proven false to Him.
Peter and John, however, recovered
their courage to some extent after a
little and followed in the wake Of the
mob to the house of the high priest.
Johns courage was sufficient to carry
him up to. Jesus, but Peters was not
UP to that point he followed afar of.
John was acquainted with the high priest
in some wayne may have sold him fish
regularly-and after being admitted and
finding that Peter had not come in, used
HIS influence with the maid who kept
the gate to get Peter in. This maid
must have objected slightly. and said
to Peter, Thou art one of His disciples.
Now Peter was not expecting this; he
had been perfectly honest when he de-
clared to Jesus that he would die with
Him.. 1 think Peter would have been
willing to die rather than deny Jesus,
II he had been arrested and the alter
native given him. But he was not ex-
pecting this: he was already frightened
at seeing the mob and Jesus arrested;
he had leaned on Him, and had con-
fidently expected that Jesus would put
down the Roman government by exer-
cising some of the marvellous power
He had shown on other occasions. and
established the Messianic kingdom. On
ly that night, realizing that crisis
was near. he and the others had had
dreams of high places in the new king
dom. So when he saw Jesus taken by
the soldiers, just as any other man
might have been taken, and knew the
extent to which the Jews hated Him and
would go if they could, he just lost his
nerve completely. He had not recovered
II when he got inside the gate OF the
house, and this unexpected attack found
him unprepared. He therefore denied.
SAYING he did not understand what she
said.
IN BAD COMPANY.
There is no record of Johns doings dur
ing that trial He did not appear as
defender of Jesus; but as he gives the
most detailed account of the events of
the next few hours, IL Is probable that
he stood to one side in some OF the
shadowy recesses of the court, listening
TO all that went on. and deeply sympa-
thizing with his Master, yet realizing
that he was powerless to help Him.
Peter, on the other hand. in his ex-
citement. thought that the best way to
avoid detection, since ne had no business
there and was only in through John
influence, was to join the mob or SOL
diers who had built fire in the open
court to take away the chilliness of that
early April morning. He warmed MINI
self at the fire with them. sat. down
with them TO see the end. Theirs was
mere curiosity: he allied himself with
them. He Joined in the conversation
with them-what he could have said Is
a rnvstery-until his dialect betrayed
him. Then another maid seeing him. and
eveinr him very closely, said. Thou vast
also with Him" Peter had gone SO far
now that he could not do other than
deny this statement. Think or MN; ne
had tried to give the impression that ne
was one of the mob that accompanied
the soldiers to the garden, and now 10
have some one look him over from mead
70 foot and finally say, you are not
one of us, you are one of those VINO
were with Him" He was in pred1ca-
noent. self imposed by his hrst denial
He had to deny the second. time
About an hour later, having Withdrawn
from the crowd for a time, and tnen
having. Joined them again, the third de-
NAL occurs 1t was now about A o CLOCK
in the morning. One cock had alreaay
crowed, heralding the dawn; the ina
before Annas and that before Caiaphas
we're over; they were Just about getting
ready to bring Jesus formally before
the Sanhedrim. Peter was again at Inc
fire when several there became con-
WINGED that he was one of the followers
of the despised Teacher. and they ac-
.cused him of it. He vehemently denied
IT: there must have been some little as
cussion about 1t between these men ana
Peter, in which Peter lost ms tempee
and began to defend his position with
curses IA mans always in bad way
when he has to resort to that, for one