Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-01-22
ST PHTER.
WAS HE EVER AT ROME
Sermon by Rev DR.. Sunderland.

On Sunday morning last Rev. DR.. suuder-
land delivered the following discourse TO his
congregation, In which he took the ground
that St. Peter was never at Rome, as claimed
BY the Roman Church;
Ana lear also .upto thee, that thou art Psterj
~, ,upsn W. rsek viii buiid nj Church ~
10 dlsousslng the olains Of the Romish
Church, Aa founded upon this passage, a few
weeks since, had occasion to speak OF the
assumption that Peter planted the Church a.
Romei and In reference to this assumption l
ground that Peter nspsr rata Rome, aud that
he never had anythingt TO DO with that Church,
| 10 fact, since the day that ~ was founded.
In putting the proposition In this form am
aware that Il 10 liable 70 representation
which msy Cause dlseulsion IS to ~ resi-
sion may be raised upon the phrase planting
the Ohdrchn or "foundiug the Church, OF
gb"nssan ~ IN mn AZ a ',ss VIZ notbing ~ 40
| with that Church, In fact" an ready to meet
IT, and TO show that In Whatever polnt OF view
port whStsveS TO the RosaiSh elaIm But there
IL one point In the proposition which surely
| stands out clear and unsmbiEuous, and that IL
that Peter was ever ~ Rome ia peTs6nISnd
there being no proof that he ever was there,
while there I, proof that he wss slsswhsre,we
nsyst saS At Rome ASd ssS, u Opposition
TO the Homish reprsscnt Atlou, And 10 eonhtmA-
tioh OF our position mat Peter never was At
Rome, proceed to ofrer the ak following gen.
/. That there IL no evIdsnso In the bible
that Peter ever was AZ Rome, while there ia
evidence that he was elsewhere. Amer no had
preached al Jerusalem, Ooesrea, add Antioch,
ssSsTiS, and 6sliiss, and most Likely 10 he
Bis arSt epiStls, namely, foaiuI, dai.ii., Gap.
he SHailJ ySsni 20 Ola babylon on DE EGs
4 short period bstofS Ma doesSse, and where
| We hear the very last Of him so far As the
aAored record IL concerned. But there 10 not
the whole record that he sSer was at Rome.
There 10 not one single word which Slyea the
slightest indication Inst he ever saw the city
set foot upon tks soil Of Europe aaywhsre.
| Now n he did ever at any time, why should II
not sons where o. so on appear in The In
| epistles OF Paul, James, jude, John, or Of
| Pster himAelfi These books show him at Je-
EusNlen and other cities In wsItSFn Asia, and
Janea vas At 1srnsslsE, and that Paul went
| to Rome, whore he endured his mArtyrdom.
! Europe whatoEsr, the WholS record Il az sIisnt
| a. the grave. The question is, could such an
| event have occurred any time within the hrst
nave Ss sSa made no ~ sSs line .pd tsSS"mtts
to us VITA the scripture canon 10 these
premises u appsars q u simply Impossible,
OF ths New Tss,s@sat UPON he saSIeSt
Amounts 70 dsmonstratioa that Peter never
How then do the Romanisis attempt to
break the force Of this argumenti BY invent.
Ing the hypothesis that the Babylon men
tlooed IN the nrst EplStIe OF Peter IL the |
SSisaTorias to SsIstsia IA. upon n psS %S
which make mention OF Babylon 10 the |
prophecy Of I,.lah, xiyrl, and 10 John.
show Peter At Rome, they are compelled TO
eOufeaa that PApal Rome IL the great HaTlot
30 ioartully dssSLiesd x The book Of Rsvels,
and with the blood Of the martyrs Of JeIuaif
What dllemmA for the adyoeates Of RomND-
ismi To get Peter a Rome A. the foundation
rock Of their Church, they have 10 idsntify
that Church a. "ths mystery OF inlquiIT And
the mother Of AbominAt 10 nsh-"the great city |
whose sina have reached unto heaven and |
herr Or u they do not like this alternative,
SsP ls,y have to 5Ls the sc Pr9o
idsotity OF Babylon and Rome. Ia either
eAsS they are bound to lose the support Of the |
argument In favor Of their claim upon this |
sSIse,sp Of tbs Psp.sv y n ,h,nh s0 o1 ,h
that when Peter. writing to the Jewish con. |
yerts disperaed throughout Asia Mlnor, SAJs |
chosen together with you saiutes you, = he |
does not mean the mystical B4bylon Of the |
Apocalypse, but the literal Babylon Of Chat |
Hon-ths seat Of the Apostles laborI, aud OF |
the closing scenes OF his life This clearly |
settles the question Of loeAlltiOG In the mis- |
a,sop miles to the east OF the city OF Rome.
2. The second eonhidarAtion 10 upon an al |
leged doeumeat or manuscript not now eN. |
some OF the early fathers. II 10 called |
"Peter'B ProolAmA tIon," and lie supposed to |
hAys existed at Rome As early as the year A |
ID. -, IL IL further supposed that II was pre- |
pared BY Peter at Jerusalem, and sent By some |
unknown hand to the ChristiAns at Rome TO |
act As an Antidote TO the gnostlo hsresles |
u Is eOnjsoiured that such was the fact, but |
thets 10 no eertatnfy whAtever In regard 70 a. |
esc.usS , the mannSs1Pi 2 not now 10 exist.
exist, and IfIt did, what u contAined, or when |
and how II disappeared The Greek title OF |
Ksrugaaif'i-that l.. IPsteT'. PToeisu nan U = |
Herheleon, writer who nouFIshed about A,
y. Us, ls ad1used a. sAyips that he had seen |
he does not disclose anythinE OF It's eontsnts.
nor throw any further light whatever upon |
the subject To this sane document It 10 i'm |
the subject Of Easter" which eptstIss are |
ascnbed By a single Romish writer, (IAra. |
uerD A. d. 1850, to Victor, Bishop Of Rome, |
A. D 40, and In which IL said to occur these |
words "This was the doctrine taught At Rome |
BY Peter" meAninE this was the dootrine OF /
the manuscript styled "PotoF'B ProolGmA.
the hand Of another, oaussd 10 Dc made Known
~ Home. LaotAntfus, A, ID. $50, refers 20 thu
same document when be speaks Of esFtSIa
fuSalOm disclosed to Peter aud Paul, which
he says they published At Rome meaning
that they caused them to Be made known 10
writing, so that they might be seen TO be
fulhlled By the subsedusnt events.
This manuscript or book IL Likewise re-
e.sah e u gssS place. b !as S sS5
es specially in = passage which EusebIua, Arch
bishop Of OssiFsa, Ia OAppodoeia, A, ID. 8IO,
~hiln, unfortunately for the Romiah claim
and for Euseblus himself no such passage,
nor anything IKE 4, IL 70 be found Ia All The
extant work. Of Clement, though his writings |
make up large folio volume OF some 800 pages |
or more, and In some editions, with the Latin
version and Annotations, they exceed 1000
thlsi Peter hSvlng Pronulgsted ihe word
having made known the experimenting BY
the body, but, as We say, "in the spirit" and
that BY his written "produstion" ne had
eSused me gospel 70 DC made known At Rome.
the document called "Pster's Proeiamatiop,n
even supposinE II to have been genuine aud
thentlo, the whole proof from this source a.
to whether Peter was or was not at any time
At Rome turns upon the meaning OF the word
ksrusIstA, This 10 the inhnltiVe OF Greek
verb, and with all Its 10 Injections OF the verb,
substantive and partielple, denotes tho act OF
making known publiolJ-eitheT among those
who are near or AmonE those who are remote,
either 10 person or by another, either by the
living voice or by the hand Nfiting-Any In
formation, truth or doctrine which should be
proclaimed and caused to DO made known
among the people. II consequently not only
Indicates the individual who does Tits IN per
son aud the Instrument by which It - done,
but also the Individual BY whom It 10 caused
10 DO done, and thus equally the deputy aud
his principal The word 10 usually translated
in Eaglish to preach or to proclaim or TO make
proclamation, some Of the most familiar ex.
amplsS Of the different aud distinct uses Of
thls word would be, az when we say that "a
certain minister preaeAsI without nOtssn or
another minister breaches with notes. In
either case the sermon or homily, written or
uuwFitteu prosuppOaes the yOoSl utterances,
and, therefore, the personal presence OF the
preacher. But when we say "the President
hAa made PROCLAMATION" or tive read the
PresideHt's proclamation In Europe" or THE
Presidenps proclamation says so and so - ii
is plain that what IL meant 10 simply written
document, and that II not only does not Imply
that the Pfesidentt IL or ever was personally
present In every place where his "pFoelAm0.
ton 10 made known, but, on the contrary, II 10
well understood that he neither ia present nor
10 he expected to be present 10 every place
l. alaV ~.