The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-04-07

gushing fountain, source of the Jor-
dan, Ithey could lift their eyes to
snowclad Hermon and Lebanon. 1t
was a schoolroom worthy at once of
teacher and taught
1t was this glorious sanctuary of
nature which first rang with the sim
plest, sublimest credo of all the ages,
as the mouth of the apostles" cried,
Thou art the Christ. the Son of the
living God In that word. Peter
burst the shell of an hereditary and
universal misconception of the nature
OF the Messiah. He first spread the
wings Of true Messianic faith. and
scared above the temporal ideas of
throne, army, and conquest.
At the sound of this confession,
Jesus was in transport of Joy. 1t
repaid Him for all the toll. humilia-
ton, and sacrifice of His ministry.
But while joyously setting the seal of
approval on Peters creed. He also
vows its supernatural source. 1t
came not from flesh and blood. 1t
origi mated not in Himself, nor in
some human teacher. 1t was a rev.
cation of the Father in heaven.
But what is the meaning Of this
crucial affirmationy We can not ioin
with those who say tina; Jesus ad-
dressed Peter only as the spokesman
OF the apostles, and that what He
said to Peter applied equally to all;
nor with those who say that Peters
confession, not Peters self, was the
rock on which Jesus built His Church.
These are current interpretations it
is true
But would it not be better Just to
take the language as it stands. and
admit that Jesus built His Church
upon the man Peter? But he is such
man as Jesus describes,-a man
with revelation; a revelation that
did not originate in himself or in a
fellow, but one that came from God:
a revelation received with faith and
acknowledged with joy. 1t is the
man as a confessor that forms the
basis of the Church. The confession
apart, be it never so orthodox. is a
dead thing; but the confession on the
lips and in the character is the Iivest
thing in the world.
Well says the apostle, NO man can
say that Jesus is the Christ except
God be with him" Of course, any
one could say the words by rote and
parrot-like; but no one can say them
as they should be said, in a manner
pleasing to God, with right emotions,
with faith and love and loyalty, until
he has become a new creature. In
point of time, Peter was the first to
make confession in this manner. He
was laid, therefore, to use an oft-re-
peated figure of the New Testament,
as the first living stone upon the chief
cornerstone. SO every one who says
that Jesus is the Christ-not by reve-
lation of flesh and blood, but of the
Spirit which has made Him a new
creature-becomes at once living
stone in that spiritual temple whose
walls are salvation and whose gates
are praise.
The gates of Hades, the Unsuitable
jaws, soon or late, close upon all this
world contains, The powerful, the
beautiful, the wise, all alike, sink
down in death. Institutions, arts,
sciences litera5ures, governments. the
remorseless doors of oblivion close up
on them, But one thing survives the
universal wreck. Jesus says: MY
Church the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it, One thing,
and that the best the earth contains.
escapes the gaping mouth of death.
y y y y
The positive enactments (whatso-
eyer thou shalt bind), the abrogations
Whatsoever thou shalt loose) the leg
islation incidental to the growth of
the Church, shall be approved and
confirmed in heaven
Scarcely had Peters superbconfess-
ion fallen from his lips before there
came the injunction against blazing
it abroad. Why would Jesus have
his disciples taciturn and mute con-
corning doctrine so transcendently
important? 1t was evidently matter
OF discretion. The apostles were
not sufficiently schooled to preach it
as yet; nor the people to receive it.
y X
The key to that subtle profit-and-
loss text that fell from Jesus lips on
this occasion is the double sense in
which the term "life" is used. Who
ever makes it his supreme concern to