Part 11 (1/2)

But there is another proof of his superiority here, in that G.o.d caused Simon Peter to engage Simon Magus. Thus, by His providence, ”reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things sweetly,” the first-born of Christ is brought to conflict with the ”first-born of the devil,” the chief of teachers with the earliest of heretics, and prime of that long brood of the evil one, who are to persecute ”the seed of the woman.” Thus ancient writers record that Peter afterwards went to Rome on purpose to expose the acts of this same Simon. Thus they mention his engaging with the famous Alexandrine Apion, the enemy of the Jewish and the Christian faith alike. And hence, too, probably the very ancient writer (whoever he was) of the Epistle of Clement to S. James, begins it by recording how ”Simon, for his true faith and his firm grounding in doctrine, was appointed to be the foundation of the Church, and for this very reason by Jesus Himself with most true augury had his name changed to Peter, the first-fruits of our Lord, the first of the Apostles, to whom first the Father revealed the Son, whom Christ with reason blessed, the called and the elect, His guest and comrade, the good and the proved disciple, _he who, as the most able of all, was commanded to illuminate the West, the darker quarter of the world_, and who was enabled to succeed.”

But as to what is said that ”the Apostles who were in Jerusalem _sent_ to the Samaritans Peter and John,” it must be remembered, that at the head of those thus _sending_ was Peter himself, and that next to him John was the most distinguished of the Apostolic college. And since it is evident from all that we have hitherto seen, that in whatever concerned the Apostles equally, Peter took the leading part, and in their common deliberations exercised the initiative, it must be concluded that he was likewise the first author of this resolution, to send himself and John to the Samaritans. And this is confirmed by our seeing that in the fulfilment of this mission he discharges the offices, and acts with the authority, of head. To none else could the execution of a fresh advance in the propagation of the Church be committed; and so great, besides, were the jealousies between the Jews and Samaritans, that it needed no less than Peter's authority to induce the Jewish converts to receive them into the bond of the same society.

IV. But now we[46] draw nigh to the revelation of that great ”mystery which in other generations was not known to the sons of men--that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and co-partners of His promise in Christ Jesus by the Gospel,”

whereby was brought to pa.s.s the prophecy, ”from the rising of the sun even to the going down My Name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My Name a clean oblation.”[47] The hour was come ”when the true adorers were to adore the Father in spirit and in truth” throughout every region of the world purchased with the blood of the Son of G.o.d, and of this event, expected during four thousand years, G.o.d, by an unexampled honour, disclosed to Peter, and through Peter, the time and the manner. This greatest of purposes, after His own ascension, Christ left to be revealed through him to whom He had committed the feeding of His sheep.

While Peter[48] was ”pa.s.sing through all,” that is, exercising his general supervision as primate of the Church, G.o.d sent His angel ”in a vision manifestly” to ”a certain man in Cesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of that which is called the Italian band, a religious man, and fearing G.o.d with all his house, giving much alms to the people, and always praying to G.o.d.” And the angel says to him: ”Thy prayers and thine alms are ascended for a memorial in the sight of G.o.d, and now send men to Joppa, and call hither one Simon, who is surnamed Peter; he will tell thee what thou must do.” Though G.o.d, then, sends an angel, it is left to _Simon, who is surnamed Peter_, to declare His counsel, in what affected the salvation of innumerable souls.

Other Apostles there were to whom had been said equally, ”Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” and ”Ye shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth;” and ”as the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.” Yet putting aside all these, as on so many other occasions, Peter is preferred, and that because to him alone was said, ”on this rock I will build My Church,” and again, ”Feed My lambs, be shepherd over My sheep.” Fitting it was that, when the wall between the Jews and Gentiles should be taken away, by him specially, all should be collected into one, on whom, as the divinely-laid foundation, all were to rest. Fitting, again, that the Lord's prophecy, ”Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; those also I must bring; and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd,” should be fulfilled chiefly by his ministry to whom the Lord had committed His own office of universal visible pastor. For the Church, in her very birth, and in the whole process of her growth, bore this upon her forehead, that _universality_ as well as _unity_ belonged substantially to Peter, and that it was no less his function to gather up all nations into the mould of unity by his ministration as the one chief shepherd, than to embrace them all in the wide circuit of his love. Therefore it is a marvellous agreement in which the _inst.i.tution_ of the Primacy has a corresponding _execution_; and as the latter confirms the former, so from the former you might antic.i.p.ate the latter before it was recorded in the sacred history.

But in the meantime, while the messengers of Cornelius were approaching the house in which Peter was a guest, ”there came upon him an ecstasy of mind, and he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping things of the earth, and fowls of the air;” and while Peter is fixed in contemplation, ”there came a voice to him, Arise Peter, kill and eat,” that he might understand how ”by[49] his preaching he was to make a sacrifice to the Lord of those who were represented by these animals, bringing them into the divine service through the mysteries of the Lord's pa.s.sion,” which he not yet understanding, replies, ”Far be it from me, for I never did eat anything that is common or unclean.” Then the heavenly ”voice spoke to him again the second time, That which G.o.d hath cleansed, do not thou call common. And this having been done thrice, presently the vessel was taken up into heaven.”

Here three things are set forth; first, that as the ark of Noah contained all sorts of animals, clean and unclean, so the fold of Christ was to gather from Jews and Greeks and barbarians ”a[50]

great mult.i.tude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes, and peoples, and tongues;” secondly, that the blessings of Christ concerned all who did not reject the proferred grace; thirdly, that the elaborate system of Mosaic ordinances concerning meats, rites, and ceremonies, had fallen to the ground. But to whom is disclosed, first and immediately, this whole dispensation of the first principles on which the Church was to be propagated? To none other but Peter, ”to me hath G.o.d shown to call no man common or unclean.” Now the undoubted knowledge of this dispensation must appear of the greatest moment, whether in itself, or as concerns the Jews, of whom the earliest church consisted, or the Apostles, by whose ministry it was to be extended. And yet, by that providence which is ever over His Church, the wisdom of G.o.d so ruled it, that through Peter alone the Apostles should be taught when they were first to approach the Gentiles, and discharge their office of witnesses before all nations without distinction. And that because He had made Peter ”the greater one” and ”the leader” of all, and put him in His own place, and const.i.tuted him supreme teacher in these words, ”Confirm thy brethren.” Thus[51] Epiphanius, in the fourth century, says that the charge of bringing the Gentiles into the Church was laid upon all the Apostles, ”but most of all on holy Peter.” Why this _most of all_? Because, while He had heard with the rest, ”make disciples of all nations,” he had singly and peculiarly received the charge of the whole fold, and of the Apostles, as part of it.

But Peter, still pondering on the vision, hears a fresh voice from the Spirit, ”Behold three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.” He accompanies the messengers and finds Cornelius, ”his kinsman and his special friends;” he asks why they have sent for him, whereupon Cornelius informs him of what had past, and concludes, ”now therefore all we are present in thy sight, to hear all things whatsoever are commanded thee by the Lord.” Peter in reply sets forth to them the heads of Christian doctrine, and as he comes to the words ”to Him all the prophets give testimony, that by His name all receive remission of sins, who believe in Him,” ”the Holy Ghost fell upon all them that heard the word” of life and truth from his lips. And the Jewish Christians who were with him, being astonished at this reception of Gentiles into the Church by the Holy Spirit's visible descent, Peter cries, ”Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” ”Words,” says [52]S. Chrysostome, ”of one almost a.s.saulting any that would forbid, and say that should not be,” and so ”he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus;” for Peter also, like his Lord,[53] preached in person, but baptized by the hands of others.

Are not then the prerogatives of Peter written legibly on this whole narration? First, among all the Apostles he alone is chosen to consecrate to G.o.d the first fruits of the Gentiles. Again, through him, as the teacher of all, G.o.d makes known to the Apostles themselves when the door was to be opened to the Gentiles. Thirdly, without advising with the rest, he enlarges the fold of Christ, which in Christ's place he ruled, with the accession of the Gentiles. Fourthly, the building of the Church is thus referred to him alone. Further, he gathers up to himself the Church which is made out of Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles; as the foundation he sustains the whole; and when constructed, he binds it together.

Lastly, Luke, without having recorded a single speech of any other Apostle, has given five of Peter, thus showing that Peter's words, as well as his actions, had a higher importance than theirs in the history of the Church's birth and growth; for, indeed, in the history of the head that of the body is included.

On Peter's[54] return to Jerusalem, ”the Apostles and brethren who were in Judea, having heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of G.o.d,”[55] ”they that were of the circ.u.mcision contended with him,” because he had ”gone in to men uncirc.u.mcised, and ate with them.” Hereupon Peter set forth to them the whole series of events, upon which ”they held their peace and glorified G.o.d, saying, G.o.d then has also to the Gentiles given repentance unto life.” Now some in late times have attempted to derogate from Peter's authority on the strength of this incident. On the other hand S. Chrysostome, not satisfied with setting forth Peter's rank, and a.s.signing his whole apology to a most gracious condescension, continues, ”See how he defends himself, and _will not use his dignity as the Teacher_, for he knew that the more gently he spoke with them, the surer he was to win them.”[56] And what expression can signify Peter's rank more markedly than _the_ Teacher? And Gregory the Great sets forth Peter's distinctions, how he alone had received the keys, walked on the waters, healed with his shadow, killed with his word, and raised the dead by his prayer; then he goes on, ”and because, warned by the Spirit, he had gone in to Cornelius, a Gentile, a question was raised against him by the faithful, as to wherefore he had gone in to the Gentiles, and eaten with them, and received them in baptism.

And yet the same first of the Apostles, filled with so great a grace of gifts, supported by so great a power of miracles, answers the complaint of the faithful by an appeal not to authority but to reason.... For if, when blamed by the faithful, he had considered the authority which he held in holy Church, he might have answered, that the sheep entrusted to the shepherd should not venture to censure him. But if, in the complaint of the faithful, he had said anything of his own power, he would not have been the teacher of meekness. Therefore he quieted them with humble reason, and in the matter where he was blamed even cited witnesses. If, therefore, _the Pastor of the Church, the Prince of the Apostles_, having a _singular_ power to do signs and miracles, did not disdain, when he was censured, humbly to render account, how much more ought we sinners, when blamed for anything, to disarm our censurers by a humble defence.”[57]

Here it occurs to observe with what different eyes Holy Scripture may be read, for just where persons determined to deny Peter's authority find an excuse for their foregone conclusion, the Fathers draw arguments to praise the moderation with which he exercised that same superior authority.

V. But [58]founded as we have seen the Church to have hitherto been, and at each step of its course advanced, mainly by the authority of Peter, it could not hope to remain in a vigorous and united state without the continual exercise of _judicial_ and _legislative_ power, and diligent _inspection_. Nor is there, in fact, one of these which Peter did not exercise, and that in a manner to indicate the ruler set over all. For as to the judicial power, do we not hear him saying, ”Tell[59] me whether you sold the land for so much;”

and, ”Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, and by fraud keep part of the price of the land? Whilst it remained did it not remain to thee? And after it was sold, was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied to men but to G.o.d.” And presently the sentence comes forth from him who binds in heaven as well as on earth. ”Behold the feet of them who have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.” Here then we have Peter, in the midst of the Apostles, yet acting singly as the supreme judge, and defender of ecclesiastical discipline, on which S.

Chrysostome says, ”For Peter was terrible, punis.h.i.+ng, and convicting the thoughts, to whom they adhered the more both for the sign, and his first speech, and his second, and his third. For he it was who did the first sign, and the second, and the present, which seems to me double, one to convict the thoughts, and another to kill with his command.” Then, asking why n.o.body had announced her husband's death to Sapphira, ”This was fear of the Teacher; this respect of the disciples; this obedience:”[60] where he is mentioned not as _a_ teacher, but the supreme and chief one.

Yet though the other Apostles were judges, with power to bind and to loose, though they were present, and concerned, for ”Ananias bringing a certain part, laid it at the feet of the Apostles,” not of Peter only, it was not they, but Peter, who entered on the cause of Ananias and Sapphira, pa.s.sed sentence, and inflicted punishment.

Why did he judge singly a cause which was brought before the common tribunal of the Apostles? Because Peter was to have the Primacy in all things; because from him the model of ecclesiastical judgments was to be taken; because the charge of maintaining ecclesiastical discipline belonged in chief to him as the head.

VI. But no less [61]markedly does Luke represent Peter as everywhere visiting the Churches, providing for them as universal pastor, and exercising herein the administrative Primacy. ”The Churches,” he says, ”throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, and were multiplied by the consolation of the Holy Ghost. And it came to pa.s.s _that Peter, as he pa.s.sed through, visiting all_, came to the saints who dwelt at Lydda.”[62] In ill.u.s.tration of this we may remember Paul's charge to t.i.tus:[63] ”for this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldst ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee.”

And again, what Luke writes of Paul himself: ”After some days Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit our brethren in all the cities wherein we have preached the word of the Lord, to see how they do.”[64] And what[65] Eusebius, from S. Clement, relates of S.

John, that he visited with authority the Churches of Asia, which he had either founded, or specially attended to. By these pa.s.sages we see the nature of Peter's visitation, that it was pastoral, and likewise the difference between his and these others, for they were _local_, but his _universal_. t.i.tus acted in Crete, the special sphere of his labour, to which S. Paul the founder of that Church had appointed him. Paul and Barnabas propose to visit ”our brethren _in every city in which we have preached the word of the Lord_;” S.

John exerts visitatorial power over the churches of that province wherein he dwelt, and that too, apparently, when he was the sole survivor of the Apostolic college, yet did not go into other parts.

But Peter's charge is oec.u.menical, and therefore his visitation universal. He inspects the labours of others, as well as his own.

For he was not the only Apostle at Jerusalem, nor had he singly built up all the churches of Judea, Galileo, and Samaria, yet he alone makes a progress from Jerusalem to all these churches. Though not the Bishop of Jerusalem, over which the Apostle James presides, he goes everywhere, as ”the Bishop of Bishops.”[66] No other reason coherent with Scripture can we find for this universal inspection of Peter; for all the Apostles were indeed pastors, but he alone set over the whole fold; he alone not limited, like Paul, ”to the brethren in every city wherein he had preached.” He differs from all others as the universal from the particular, and so S.

Chrysostome says of him in this very pa.s.sage, ”like a general he went round surveying the ranks, seeing what portion was well ma.s.sed together, what in order, what needed his presence. Behold him making his rounds in every direction.”[67]

VII. Further, [68]we may see the deference paid to this supreme authority of Peter by the Apostles and ancients at Jerusalem, on occasion of that severest dissension which threatened the unity of the Church, and kindled the greatest agitation, the question whether Gentile converts should be bound to obey the Mosaic ritual law. For ”the [69]Apostles and Ancients having a.s.sembled to consider of this matter,” after ”there had been much disputing, Peter, rising up, said to them.” But why does Peter first rise and decide the cause?

Because he was first of the Apostles, and as such supreme arbiter in controversy. But consider what he says. ”Men and brethren, you know that in former days G.o.d made choice among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe.” _By my mouth_, he appeals to their knowledge of his election by G.o.d to the singular privilege of receiving the Gentiles: in virtue of that election he claims and exercises authority. ”And G.o.d, who knoweth the hearts, gave testimony, giving unto them the Holy Ghost, as well as unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” G.o.d, therefore, has already decided this controversy, by my ministry, whom He specially called thereunto, and by the effects which He caused to accompany it. Then, using words full of force, being, indeed, very like those in which he had answered Ananias and Sapphira, he continues, ”now, therefore, why tempt you G.o.d, to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers, nor we, have been able to bear? But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe that we shall be saved, in like manner as they also.” ”How full of power are these words,” is the comment of S. Chrysostome,[70] ”he says here what Paul has said at great length in the Epistle to the Romans.” And then, speaking of the heads of Paul's doctrine, he adds, ”the seeds of all this lie in Peter's discourse.” This, then, is a _decision_, and given in no hesitating manner, but with severe censure of those who maintained the opposite, as ”tempting G.o.d,” words suitable for him only to use who had authority over all. But how did the council receive them?

Though ”there had been much disputing before,” though the keenest feelings had been excited, and the point involved the strongest prepossessions of the Jewish converts, ”all the mult.i.tude held their peace.” They acquiesced in Peter's judgment, and now readily ”heard Barnabas and Paul telling what great signs and wonders G.o.d had wrought among the Gentiles by them.” It follows, then, that on a capital point, and in the first council of the Church, Peter occupied a position which befits only the supreme judge of controversies, so that had we no other evidence but this place whereby to decide upon his rank and office, his pre-eminence would be evident. ”See,” says S. Chrysostome, ”he first permits a discussion to arise in the Church, and then he speaks.”[71]

But is this affected by other persons likewise speaking and voting, as Paul and Barnabas? or by S. James likewise giving his sentence, as an Apostle? or by the whole matter being settled by common consent? As little as to be _head_ involves being _all_; as to preside over the rest takes from them the power of deliberation, and resolution. Rather it is the office of the Head and the President to take the initiative, and point out the course which others are to follow.

For those here present were teachers, and had the prerogative of hearing and judging, as well as Peter; they were bound to weigh the matter in controversy to the best of their power, and to decide on it according to the proportion of faith. They stood to Peter in a relation, not of simple obedience, as the ordinary members of the flock, but of judges, who, though responsible to his superintendence, yet are really judges, pa.s.s sentence, and decree by inherent authority. It is no part of the idea of a judge, that he should be supreme and irresponsible: this is the _special_ privilege of the one supreme judge. Objections such as these, therefore, do not take from Peter his Primacy, and quality of Head, but claim for Paul, Barnabas, James, and the other Apostles, the judicial authority and office, which they undoubtedly possessed.