St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture. Allies Thomas William

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СКАЧАТЬ meaning of thy name, and declare the gifts which accompany it. "And24 I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." That is, "The root and the offspring of David," "the holy one and the true one, He that hath the key of David; He that openeth and no man shutteth; shutteth and no man openeth;" as He gave to thee to share His name of the Rock, so He shall give to thee to bear in His name His own symbol of supreme dominion, the key which opens or shuts the true city of David; all ages shall own thee, all nations acknowledge thee, as The Bearer of the Keys; as long as my Church shall last, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, thy office shall last too; as long as there are souls to be saved, they shall pass by thy ministry into the gate of the Church. And further, as long as there need in my spiritual kingdom laws to be promulgated, precepts issued, sins forgiven, "whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

      Who, indeed, can adequately express the gifts which the world's Creator and Redeemer here promises to His favoured servant? Thus in the fourth century S. Chrysostome labours to set them forth. "See how He raises Peter to a higher opinion of Himself; and reveals and shews Himself to be the Son of God by these two promises. For what belongs to God alone, to loose sins, and to render the Church immovable in such an assault of waves, and to make a fisherman more solid than any rock, when the whole world was at war with him, these are what He promises to give him; as the Father addressing Jeremias, said: 'I have made thee an iron pillar and a wall,' but him to one nation, whereas the other to the whole world. Willingly would I ask those who wish to diminish the dignity of the Son, which are the greatest gifts, those which the Father gave to Peter, or those which the Son. For the Father bestowed on Peter the revelation of the Son; but the Son disseminated that of the Father and of Himself through the whole world; and put into the hands of a mortal man power over all things in heaven, when He gave the keys to him who extended the Church through the whole world, and showed it to be firmer than the heaven."25 And not many years later S. Leo says, "That which the Truth ordered remains; and blessed Peter persisting in that strength of the rock which he received, has not deserted the guidance, once undertaken, of the Church. For thus was he set before the rest, that while he is called the Rock, while he is declared to be the foundation, while he is appointed the door-keeper of the kingdom of heaven, while he is advanced to be the judge of what shall be bound and what loosed, with the condition that his sentence shall be ratified even in heaven, we might learn through the very mysteries of the names given to him, how he was associated with Christ."26 This association passed, indeed, into the very mind of the Church, for among all the titles given by fathers and councils and liturgies to Peter, and expressing his prerogatives, the one contained in this name is the most frequent. Thus he is termed,27"the rock of the Church,"28 "the rock of the Church that was to be built,"29"underlying the building of the Church,"30"receiving on himself the building of the Church,"31"the immovable rock,"32"the rock which the proud gates of hell prevail not against," 33"the most solid rock,"34"he to whom the Lord granted the participation of His own title, the rock," 35"the foundation second from Christ,"36"the great foundation of the Church,"37"the foundation and basis," 38"founding the Church by his firmness,"39"the support of the Church,"40"the Apostle in whom is the Church's support,"41"the support of the faith,"42"the pillar of the Church," and by an authority sufficient alone to terminate all controversy, the great Council of Chalcedon,43 "the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the basis of the orthodox faith."44

      Thus, then, we have the name of Peter first promised, next conferred, then explained. And further light will be shed on this by the consideration of the purpose for which names in Holy Writ were bestowed by divine command on individuals, or their former names changed.

      Now45 of names imposed in Scripture there would seem to be three classes. The first and most common are commemorative, and are for the purpose of recording and handing down to posterity remarkable facts. Such are Peleg, "because in his days the earth was divided;" Isaac, from the laughter of his father and mother; Issachar, a reward; Manasseh, "God hath made me to forget my labours;" Ephraim, "God hath made me to grow;"46 and a multitude of others.

      The second class may be termed significative, being imposed to distinguish their bearers from others by some quality. Such are Jacob, the supplanter; Esau; Edom, the red; Moses, the taken or saved; Maccabæus; Boanerges.47

      The third and highest class are prophetic, and as such evidently can be imposed by God alone, who foresees the future. They are two-fold: i. Those which foresignify events concerning not so much their bearers as others; such are Shear-jashub, "the remnant shall return;" Jezrael "I will visit;" Lo-ruhamah, "not pitied;" Lo-ammi, "not my people." ii. Those which point out the office and destiny of their bearers; such as Noah, rest; Israel, a prince before God; Joshua, Saviour; Sarah, princess; John, in whom there is grace; and, after the divine name of Jesus, "who saves His people from their sins,"48 Abraham, and Cephas, or Peter, which two neither commemorate a past event, nor signify a quality or ornament already possessed, but are wholly prophetic, inasmuch as they shadow out the dignity to which the leaders of the two covenants are divinely marked out by the very imposition of their name.

      For it will perhaps bring out the pre-eminence and superior authority of Peter, if we consider the very close resemblance and almost identity of the dispensation into which God entered with Abraham, and that which Christ gave to Peter. But first we must observe how the more remarkable things occurring in the New Testament were foretold by types, images, parallelisms, and distinct prophecies in the Old. How49 both our Lord, the Evangelists, and the Apostles, take pains to point out the close agreement between the two covenants; how the ancient ecclesiastical writers do the like in their contests with early heretics, or in recommending the truth of the Christian faith either to Jew or Gentile. They considered scarcely any proof of the Gospel superior to that which might be drawn by grave and solid inference from the anticipation of Christian truths in the old covenant. Now, among such truths, what concerns Peter is surely of signal importance, as it affects the whole judgment on the form of government which our Lord instituted for His Church.

      Again, it may be taken as an axiom that, as a similitude of causes is inferred from a similitude of effects, so a resemblance of the divine counsels may be inferred from a resemblance of exterior manifestations. As effects are so many steps by which we rise to the knowledge and discernment of causes, so divine manifestations are tokens which unfold God's eternal decrees. Thus if the series of dealings which constitute God's dispensation to Abraham be very much like that other series in which the Scriptures of the New Testament set forth the dispensation given to Peter, we may conclude, first, that the two dispensations may be compared, and, secondly, that from their resemblance, a resemblance in the divine purpose may be deduced.

      First,50 then, "God at sundry times, and in divers manners, speaking СКАЧАТЬ