St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy ScriptureAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Peter, the Apostle, Saint
But if there was one other occasion on which above all "the form of
the servant" was to be set forth in the most awful, and the most
endearing light, it was on that evening, "the hour" of evil men and
"the power of darkness," when "the righteous servant who should
justify many" was about to perform the great, central, crowning act
of His mediation. Then we read that "He said to His disciples, Sit
you here, till I go yonder and pray."[7] And then immediately
"taking with Him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedy, He began to grow
sorrowful and to be sad." Yet here again, even in the association
with the sons of Zebedy, Simon is distinguished, for he is named
first; and by the illustrious name of Peter, the Rock; and as the
leader of the others, for, says Matthew, Christ after His first
prayer, "comes to His disciples, and finds them sleeping, and _says
to Peter_, What, could _ye_ not watch with me one hour?" Why the
change of number, Peter in the singular, _ye_ in the plural? Why the
blame of Peter, involving the blame of the rest? Because the members
are censured in the head.
In these two signal instances our Lord, while preferring Peter and
the two sons of Zebedy to the rest of the Twelve, yet marks a
gradation likewise between them and Peter. And these two set forth
the Theology and Economy, in the most emphatic manner.
And as the supreme preceptor must not only be acquainted with the
truth which he has to deliver, but with the evidence on which it
rests, so is Peter specially made a witness of his Lord's "power and
presence" and "the works which no other man did." In that remarkable
miracle of raising to life the ruler of the synagogue's daughter we
read, "He admitted not any man to follow Him, but Peter and James,
and John the brother of James;"[8] where, as before, and always,
Peter is mentioned first, and by the prophetic name of his Primacy.
From[9] all which we gather four points; 1. Several things are
mentioned in the Gospels which Christ gave to Peter, and not to the
rest of the Apostles: 2. But nothing which He gave to them together,
and not to Peter with them. 3. What He seemed to give to them in
common, yet accrue to Peter in a special manner, who appears among
the Apostles not as one out of the number, but their destined head,
by the name, that is, of Peter, so markedly promised, bestowed, and
wonderfully explained by our Lord, of which, as we have seen, S.
Chrysostome, an eastern Patriarch, as well as a great Saint and
Father, observed, "When I say Peter, I mean the impregnable Rock,
the immovable foundation, the great Apostle, the first of the
disciples." 4. Either we are not to take Christ's dealing as the
standard of Peter's dignity, and destination, or we must admit that
he was preferred to the rest, and made the supreme teacher of the
faithful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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