As to the first question there can be no controversy, it being determined by the words, "confirm _thy brethren_:" and it is plain from what is said above, that, by brethren, are meant the Apostles. He had, therefore, the Apostles committed to his charge _immediately_: but likewise, the rest of all the faithful, _mediately_. When a person has been named by Christ to confirm the Apostles expressly, the nature of the case does not allow that the whole congregation of believers be not in their persons committed to him. The care of the flock is manifestly involved in the care of the shepherds: and no one in his senses can doubt that the man who is charged to support the pillars, is charged to keep in their place the inferior stones. And as to the _nature_ of the confirmation, it is for protection against the fraud of the great enemy. And the danger lay in losing the faith. Peter, then, is charged to confirm, in such sense that neither the pillars of the Church, nor its inferior parts, may, by the loss of faith, be moved from their place, and so severed from the Church's structure. No charge can be higher than such an office of confirmation; nor for any thing need we to be more thankful to our Saviour; but, particularly, nothing can more distinctly shew the divinely-appointed relation between Peter on the one hand, and on the other, the rest of the Apostles, and the whole company of the faithful; nothing define more clearly the special authority of Peter; that is, to protect and strengthen the unity of the faith, and to possess all powers needed for such protection. This charge was given after that by the prayer of Christ the privilege had been gained for Peter's faith, _that it should never fail_. Hence, that faith is become, in virtue of such prayer, the infallible standard of evangelical truth: as S. Cyprian expressed it of old, "that faith of the Romans, which perfidy _cannot_ approach."[40] It follows that all the faithful owe to it obedience. And Peter's authority rests on a double title, _external_ of mission, _internal_ of spiritual gift: the former contained in the words of Christ the legislator, "And thou,[41] in thy turn, one day confirm thy brethren:" the latter, in the words of Christ, the bestower of all gifts, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."