Evening journal., 1905-10-30

knowledge Of the truth under the per-
sonal ministry Of the Lord Jesus. If
this fact be borne carefully in mind. II
lwill greatly assist us i'm the understand
ling of that which follows:
"'And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou. Simon Bar
Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee. but My Father
Who is in heaven. ". ID In the
sixth chapter OF Johns Gospel. our Lord
Jesus said to His enemies. 'Ye have
seen Me. and yet believe not. All that
which the Father giveth Me shall come
unto Me; and him that cometh to Me I
will in no wise cast out. When the
Jews murmured concerning Him be-
cause He said. 4 am the Bread Which
came down out of heaven, His reply
was, Murmur not among yourselves.
No man can come to Me. except the
Father Which sent Me draw him. This
teaching stumbled many even Of His
disciples: that is. of those persons who
were following Him about and hearing
His teachings. They were called dis
ciples, for they were followers and
learners in this sence. They had no
heart for God though they delighted in
the spectacular display OF divine power
in such miracles as the feeding of null
titudes with a handful of bread and
fishes. They sought Him because they
ate of the loaves and We're filled. When.
therefore, He turned upon Him as in
the sixth of John. they said. This is
"a hard saying who can hear it, But
Jesus. knowing their thoughts said.
Doth this cause you TO stumble2 What
then if ye should behold the Son of
Man ascending where He was before
1t is the spirit that giveth life; the
flesh profiteth nothing. the words that
/ have spoken to you are spirit. and
are life. But there are some of you
THAT believe not. For this
cause have / said unto you, that no
man can come unto Me, except it be
given unto him of the Father Upon
this many of His disciples went back,
land walked no more with Him. Jesus
said therefore unto the twelve Would
lye also go away? and it was Simon
Peter who said. Lord, to whom shall
I'VE go? Thou hast the words of eter-
NAL life. And we have believed and
know that Thou art the Holy One Of
God
1t is written i'm l. John 3: 1 that
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
lChrist is born of God. This belief
when it is real heart belief. real trust
is the only and all-sufficient means Of
salvation: by this. man lays hold on
eternal life The Lord Jesus has beer
waiting upon His Father; and here al
length there is a man born again by
1.-The Word of the Living God For there
lean be no doubt that precisely at this
point i'm the sixteenth chapter of Mat
thew we have the regeneration Of ST.
lmon Peter-his passing from death in
Ito life. II is the believing heart OF
1.-THE new born soul that speaks i'm tho
great confession-"Tho art the Christ
THE Son of the Living God Jesus re.
lcognizes the confession as real, for IL,
lat once ascribes the work of grace evi.
ldenoed by It. to His Father in heaven
IT is truly deplorable that the sim.
lple words Of the Lord Jesus in tn,
verses that follow should have beer
so Obscured and confused by the fog o.
controversy. May God Himself assis
us as we to seek to study these words
that we may approach them in simpli.
lcity and with the desire only to know
what our Lord meant to express
through theml
And ] also say unto thee. that thou
lart Peter and upon this rock l vii
build MY church; and the gates o
Hades shall not prevail against it,
will give unto thee the keys of thl
Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoeve
thou shalt bind on earth shall b
bound in heaven; and whatsoever thol
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed il
heaven Tvs. is. 19)
= THE storm of conflict raging abou
3 this passage largely turns upon tn
question as to what our Lord Jesu
meant to signify by the word rock
Peter is the English equivalent for tn
Greek word petros' meaning a stone
while rock is petra i'm the Greek
meaning rock. In the Greek Testa
ment this distinction is made-'Thoi
art Petros, and upon this petra I vii
build NY Church. The whole fabri
OF the papacy rests upon the Romal
Catholic Interpretation of this passage
: by which it is claimed
"First-That the rock was Peter him
self The Roman Catholic commenta
tors point out that our Lord spoke no
& Greek but Syriac or Aramaic. and tha
J lin the language employed by Him ther
is but one word for a stone and
rock; namely. 'cepha.' Thus the decla
ration would read, Thou art Cepha, an
upon this cepha / will build NJ
} church.' They also claim
"Second-That the fact that Peter /
= the rock upon which the church
! built. together with the further fac
that to Peter were delivered the key
b of the Kingdom Of Heaven-that thes
facts establish the primacy Of Pete
/ lamong the apostles. And the still fur
! ther claim is made
N"Third-That the primacy of Pete
= has descended to his successors i'm of
flee as Bishop Of Rome. In short. tina
Peter was the first pope and that all tn
= lpopes are fully authorized as his sue
, cessors by the declaration of the Lor
! Jesus i'm Matthew 16
Among the Protestant commentator
p there is no inteiligible consensus @
e opinion. BY some it is claimed th=
by the expression this rock is meS
. lChrist Himself. II is suggested tina
lperhaps the Lord esus. while speak
ing. laid His hand on His breast. a
I when He said Destroy this temple
p meaning the temple of His body. doh
j. .; 19)
: "Others. by this rock understan
1 Peters confession OF faith. BY these
is pointed out that Peters confession
: Thou art the Christ. the Son OF tn
4 Living Gods the great truth upo
which the church rests; and that Chris
had this i'm mind when he spoke I
, Peter as il He had said, This is tina