and Peter recollected the words of Jesus, how He had said, »Before the cock crows you will three times disown me.« And he went out and wept aloud, bitterly.
»But the tax-gatherer, standing far back, would not so much as lift his eyes to Heaven, but kept beating his breast and saying,« `O God, be reconciled to me, sinner that I am.'
This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, »So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life.«
and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.
Now I rejoice, not in your grief, but because the grief led to repentance; for you sorrowed with a godly sorrow, which prevented you from receiving injury from us in any respect.
For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to secure the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no opportunity for undoing what he had done, though he sought the blessing earnestly with tears.