The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-07
REV. FATHER YORKE DISCUSSES REVELATION,

on the mount Christ used this metaphor in a
manner which left no doubt OF his meaning.
He spoke OF a man who built his house upon
the sand and of man who built his house
upon rock The winter storms beat on the
house built upon the sand and 1t fell, because
1t was built upon the sand. The same storms
beat upon the house founded upon rock and
it fell not because it founded on rock
The meaning, therefore, OF giving a rock foun-
dation 10 a buildingis to signify thatthe build
ing IS lasting. When Christ builds his church
npon rock that church is to last, and The very
gates OF hell shall not prevail against it,
Why? Because il is founded on a rock
8. Now, who is the rock? The words of Christ
admit of no ambiguity. He spoke in Syriac
and he said, ''Thou art Kepha, and upon this
hepha viii | build my church" The whole adj
dress Is directed toward Peter. He it is who
has made the great confession and he it is
who receives the reward exceeding great
thou art rock
9. The dominant characteristic of the rock
/, is that it offers a secure foundation. Peter is
the rock because of his steadfast character.
The church is built upon him because Christ
wishes II TO last. That church is the society
which Christ organized to teach his revelation.
Error shall ever rage against 1t, but shall
never prevail. Why? Because of the staying
powers OF the rock. Peter is error-proof.
10. But Christ did not end here. He contin-
ued in another metaphor, 81 viii give unto
thee the keys OF the kingdom OF heaven"
What does this meanr Not the childish inter
probation that Peter is the doorkeeper of
heaven. Christ is speaking about his kingdom
on earth. This kingdom IS the society he has
Z
They are the symbols OF supreme power When
a king entered city, the keys were presented
him as sign OF his authority over the city.
Our LORD himself bears the key of David to sig
nifty that he possesses royal power. He open
eth and no man shutteth; He shutteth, and
no man openeth. Hence, when Christ prom
! ises TO give Better the keys of the kingdom
OF heaven, he says exactly the same
/ thing as if he had expressed himself in the
words, L viii give unto thee the crown OF the
kingdom of heaven.
'Still Christ continues his wonderful prom
/ Uses, And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in
heaven" This is still another metaphor and
one common among the Jews. 1t signifies the
power OF making and repeating laws, the power
of sentencing and acquitting prisoners, in a
word the supreme power of the realm. for the
King was the source of all law and it was in his
court that justice was sought.
II. Hence, We have the promise OF Christ 10
St Peter (d) to make him the unconquered
champion OF the church, the rock against
which the gates of he'll should dash themselves
in vain; % 10 invest him with the keys, that
even as he himself bore the key OF David be-
cause unto him was given the throne oil David,
so Peter should rule the kingdom OF God upon
earth. and (c) his word should bind and should
loose with the same power and authority as
the word of Christ himself.
IS. These words were addressed by our Lord
TO ST. Peter long before the passion. When
the end drew near and Satan had already en-
tered Judas and Christ speaking after
the last supper TO the apostles, he turned to
Peter and said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan
hath obtained you (Uhe apostles) by asking
that he might sift you (the apostles) as wheat
is sifted in the wiEnOWing, but have prayed
for thee PETER, and do thou when thou hast
been converted confirm thy brethren" Here
again is Peter made the bulWark against the
gates OF hell To him personally is given the
office OF gathering once more the scattered
flock, OF facing the enemy and OF putting new
strength and new hope into the hearts OF the
little society which Satan sought to destroy.
Do thou confirm thy brethren.
Ii. The power which promised at CaeS-
area Phlllippi was given at the lakeside when
Peter cast himself into the sea to go to the
LORD Thrice on the night OF the passion had
Peter denied him, thrice was he to make rep
aration while the primary conferred upon
him. "When, therefore, they had dined Jesus
saith to simon Peter. Simon, son OF Jonas
lowest thou me more than these? He saith
unto MIN, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that /
love thee lie saith TO him, Feed my lambs
lie saith TO him 81 second time, Simon, son of
Jonas, lowest though me2 He saith unto him
Yea, Lord. thou knOweSt that l love thee. He
saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith
unto him the third time, Simon, son OF Jonas
lowest thou me? Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, lowest thou me?
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all
things; thou knowest that 1 love thee. Jesus
saith unto him, Feed my sheep"
10. There is no smile so frequent ms Grip
ture as that OF the shepherd and his sheep. In
a pastoral country the man VINO was the shep-
herd OF many sheep was like king. Hence,
even Homer speaks OF AgamemnOn the
shepherd OF the people AS Arnold says, This
term OF feeding as a shepherd feeds his flock is
one OF the Oldest and most universal meta
phors to express supreme and at the same
time benehcent government" Christ him
self is the good shepherd. Now that he leaves
the earth he installs another shepherd in his
place, VINO snail have charge OF little and
great, OF lambs and sheep, who shall be the
shepherd of the one great sheepfold, whose
voice the sheep viii hear and know and obey
The society which Christ has founded TO pre-
serve his revelation is now complete and at its
head stands 1.-THE first, Peter, - an impregnable
rock, defense from all enemies and q shelter
from the heat.
10. l cannot resist the temptation OF copving
out here series OF propositions from that
wellknown book, "My Clerical Friends. ,"
These propositions put the claims of St. Peter
in such fashion that L imagine no unpreju-
diced mind can fail to realize their strength.
(G) If Simon received, Ike Abraham, a myster-
1ous CALL 1t was full of significance, in case of
the patriarch, but wholly without meaning in that
Of the apostle.
tb) Ii the Most High, who probably acts with de-
sign, gave to each of them a new name. in the one
it signfed the introduction of a new dispensatfon
but in the other nothing at all.
(c) II Abraham called father Of the faith
ful' II was because be was really destined TO be
so; If Simon was called ''Ihe rock" he might as
well have been called anything else.
(d) Ii his Master added. sUpon this rock [ will
build my church. (St. Matt xvi:lS}, there was no
allusion TO the singular name which he had lust
given him, but only to his profession OF faith;
that every believer is lust as much a rock as he
was without the perfectly needless process Of
changing his name
(e) If a whole series of magnificent prerogatives
were conferred upon him, as soon as his Creator
had named him 1.-The rock eternal supremacy
against (which the gates of hell shall prevail''
a benedictton which the seraphim might envy; the
power TO open and shut heaven; power almost
without limit, like TO the power of God (Ib)-all
this was only q cumbrous way OF saving that his
faith was much to be commended.
% II he is always named before the other apos-
ues-"the first, Simon, who is called Peter"
Obj x:2)-in book which purports TO be inspired
this Is only the result OF an accident.
Cd If to him alone it said, $40 thee I VIII
give the keys of the kingdom of heaven CIb
what all Christians supposed it TO mean for more
than thousand years
(h) If he was told 10 work miracle, in order to
satisfy the demand OF a taxgatherer, and when he
had obtained money by such unusual means to
give 1t for and thee lib. XVII 26) no peCul lar
connection with his Master much less any supre-
macy in the church, can be seasonably inferred
from so slight an incident.
"a If st. Paul is careful TO record thai he went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter (Gal. 1879, while he
adds, other OF the apostles none,r it is idle
to suppose that he had any special motive in do
ing so, or that Peter had any special claim TO be
visited.
% If the same apostle relates of the risen Savior
that she was seen by Cephas and after that by the
eleven q Cor. NY:6), perhaps this was because
Peter CHANGED to be in the neighborhood, or ii may
be only another of the innumerable passages Of
~ If even the angel, contributing to the general
delusion said TO those who found him sitting in
the sepucher, go tell his disciples and Peter /:
this also was no recognition of his personal dignity
but, like all the corresponding texts, purely ac-
cidental form OF words.