plenitude, and, not having to be divided with any other, it has no bounds save those which its terms convey." Such was the power originally promised to Peter; and such, no less, that which was ultimately conveyed. He stands apart and alone no less in the fulfilment than in the promise. And under another image, but one equally expressive with the first, the Lord conveys an authority as absolute and as exclusive. The "bounds which its terms convey" are the whole fold of Christ: "the sheep" no less than "the lambs:" "to govern" no less than "to feed."[27] As the great Architect of the heavenly city said to Peter, "Thou art the Rock;" as "the King of kings," who "hath the key of David," and "on whose shoulder is the government," said to Peter, "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven;" as He "who upholdeth all things by the word of His power," and "in whom all things consist," said to Peter, "Confirm thy brethren:" so to the same Peter, the same "Great Shepherd of the sheep," said, "Feed My lambs, be shepherd over My sheep," thus committing to him the chief Apostles themselves who heard this charge, and causing there to be for ever "one fold and one shepherd," on earth as in heaven. It remains briefly to consider these three palmary texts in their reciprocal relations to each other, by which the fullest light is thrown upon the scriptural prerogatives of S. Peter. 1. First, then, all these texts are in the most marked manner circumscribed to Peter _alone_. In all he is addressed by name; in all he is distinguished by other circumstances from his brethren at the time present with him; in all a special condition is attached belonging to him; in the first, superior faith--in the second, faith, which, by a particular gift, the fruit of Christ's own prayer, should never fail--in the third, superior love. So that, without an utter disregard of the meaning of words, and the force of the context, and every law of grammar and philology, no one of these texts can be extended from its application to Peter alone, and made common to the other Apostles.