Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-07-30


slowed upon this disciple as typical o!
the sure and everlasting foundation anG
of the endless duration of the kingdom
which he was about to found and finally
he notifies the apostles through Peter
that he shall give TO them the keys of this
kingdom and the power of binding and
loosing. That this promise Of the keys
of his kingdom, and the power OF binding
and loosing was made to all the apostles
IS apparent from the manner in which ii
was afterwards fulfilled, and generally
from the words of our Lord &c
the eleven during the forty days pre-.
ceding his ascension,
Indeed, in this same gospel little fur
Their on CHAP. Is, V. 2S) our Lord, in the
; course of a most important and very
thorough lecture to his disciples, on the
nature and duties of citizenship in his
kingdom, said to them collectively:
"Whatsoever We shall bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven, and whatsoever We
shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
: heaven"
This declaration Immediately follows
the instruction and injunction which our
Lord had just given to the disciples re-
speeding the treatment and discipline
which they were to apply to their tres
passing brethren or fellow citizens In his
kingdom. The power and authority here
promised, in terms to all the apostles, are
precisely the same as are promised in the
passage first above quoted, (chap. 16, v.
| 49,
These two passages, therefore, must be
construed together IN such manner as
will, if possible, give effect to BOTH This
can only be done by understanding our
Lord, as in both instances promising to
confer this extraordinary power and au-
thority upon the apostles collectively.
Accordingly, we find our Lord after his
resurrection formally conferrlng the
power and authority here promised upon
all the apostles collectively.
In the gospel, according to St. John
(chap. 20, verses 2l-23), we read:
fThen SAID Jesus to them again, Peace
| be with you as my father hath sent me,
even so send you And when he had
said this he breathed on them and saith
unto them, Receive We the Holy Ghost
'Whosesoever sins ye remit they are
RENTED unto them, and whatsoever
SINS We retain they are retained"
| We shall see that in every instance
when the Lord during the forty days pre-
ceding his ascension, confers any power
or authority upon the apostles he grants
it to them collectively and in their corpo-
rate capacity. n
was plenary, and hence necessarily ex-
elusive This view excludes the conclu-
sion that the keys of heaven and the
power to bind or loose could have been
given to St. Peter individually.
We are doing no violence to the mean
ing Of verse 10 of chapter 16 of St.
Matthew's gospel, but, on the contrary,
we are rightly seeking its true meaning
by applying "a cardinal rule of interpreta-
| ton and construction, when we inter
pref this verse in harmony with the I'M
doubted words and acts of our Lord in
pdri mdter50, while engaged in
| his final work of formally
organizing and establishing his kingdom
on earth and of commissioning the apos''
tolic body Immediately before his depar-
ture hence.
The other passages from the New Tes-
lament cited by the learned bishop in
support of his thesis, it is not necessary
to examine in detail, because:
| First-It is impossible to find anything
in the language of these passages however
| interpreted, that confers, or attempts to
confer upon st. Peter individually any
power, or authority over his fellow apos-
| ties or the supreme power and authority
in the church.
Second-We have already shown that
the fact that the supreme power and au-
thority in the church had been plenarily
granted to thesapostOlic college, excludes
the possibility of their having been con-
ferred upon st. Peter individually. We
might, perhaps, properly leave here our
review of Bishop Ireland's argument on
Petrine supremacy; but before passing
from this part of the argument, let US
| consider briefly the celebrated text quo
ted above which has been made the theme
of heated theological contentious for CEN
| turtles, viz:
''Thou art Peter, and upon this rock
l will build my church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against il"
| The material question to be answered
is: What does this language mean? This
is not theological, but a pathological
question. Evidently then the first thing
| that it behooves us to do if we honestly
desire to arrive at the true meaning of
this text is to diveSt ourselves altogether
OF our theological prepossesslOns and
prediudices in the matter-tO effectually
clear our minds of those s'after- thoughts"
of theology to which in the course OF
ages have gradually gathered around this
text and largely -overlaid its meaning;
and to bring to its consideration,
the same spirit and the same canons OF
Interpretation and construction as
govern judges and lawyers in
! examining written laws and documents
the meaning of which they are required
to determine and declare.
This text was originally written in the
Greek language. The word translated
''Peter" is petr0S;, the word translated
crock" is petra. ''ThoG art pet,0s and
upon this petra will build my church."
Here, Bishop Ireland-as many other
theologians, both Roman and Protestant
have done before him-anxiously calls
our attention to what he assumes to be
the fact that our Lord was
speaking on this occasion the
Syro- Chaldaic language, in which
tongue there was bnt one word for
Crock" viz, ''cephas.''
Now in the first place it was not GER
tainly known that our Lord always spoke
the Syro- Chaldaic language; and in the
second place it is wholly iInmaterial in
what language the words were originally
spoken. The only authentic report we
have of the language used by our Lord on
this occasion, as of all our Lords savings
and dO;ngS, is in Greek: a report which