THE KING'S MIRROR 285 



bitterly in his repenjance^a^d, hoping for mercy, im- 

 plored forgivenesg^Furthermore^Judas had the greater 

 guilt, for he sold his Lord; and though he repented, he 

 craved no pardon; and he did not abide the judgment 

 of God, but condemned himself forthwith. But Peter 

 denied his Lord through sudden fear and repented im- 

 mediately in great sorrow; he submitted to the judg- 

 ment of God and abided it, and did not condemn him- 

 self as Judas did. There was a similar outcome in the 

 case of the crucified thieves. Though both acknowledged 

 the sins that they had committed, one prayed for mercy 

 and pardon, while the other asked no mercy but spoke 

 in contempt and derision rather than in prayer or seri- 

 ous thought. Therefore these whom we have now named 

 were saved through the merciful judgments of Mercy 

 and Peace, though Truth and Justice agreed to the 

 verdicts. 



LIII 



INSTANCES IN WHICH GOD HAS MODIFIED HIS SENTENCES 

 AND THE REASONS FOR SUCH MODIFICATIONS 



Son. I am beginning to see these things more clearly 

 now and to understand why it is that the larger share 

 in a verdict is sometimes assigned to Justice and Truth 

 and at other times to Peace and Mercy. And now I want 

 to ask you to discuss those cases which you mentioned 

 earlier in which God modified the sentence agreed upon, 

 and to state the causes that led to this. 



Father. To this class belong certain events which 

 occurred a long time ago in the days when Moses was 

 upon the mountain called Sinai. In those days the great 



