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462

SECT.

Mat.

Christ applauds Peter's confession that he is the Messiah.

XVI. 17.

And Jesus answered and said unto him,

Blessed art thou, Simon

it unto thee, but my

18 And I say also

ΜΑΤ. And Jesus, replying, said unto him, Thou hast Ixxxviii. confessed a truth, and a truth of the utmost importance; blessed art thou, therefore, O Simon XV1.17. Bar-Jonas, (or the son of Jonas,) in being Bar-Jona; for flesh and brought us firmly to believe it: for flesh and blood hath not revealed blood hath not revealed [it] to thee, thou hast not Father which is in learnt it by human report, or the unassisted sa- heaven. gacity of thine own mind; but my Father in heaven has discovered it to thee, and wrought in thy soul this cordial assent in the midst of those various prejudices against it, which present cir18 cumstances might sugge. And, as thou hast been so ready to make thi acknowledgment, I unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon also in return say to thee, Thou art indeed Peter, this rock I will build (see John 1. 42, p. 125), thou art, as thy name my church, and the signifies, a substantial rock ; and, as thou hast gates of hell shall not prevail against it. shewn it in this good confession, I assure thee, that upon this rock I will build my church; faith in me as the Son of God shall be its great support, and I will use thee as a glorious instrument in raising it: yea, so immoveable and firm shall its foundation be, and so secure the superstructure, that though earth and hell unite their assaults against it, and death, in its most dreadful forms, be armed for its destruction, the gates of hell, or the unseen world, shall not finally prevail against it to its ruin f; but one generation

e Upon this rock I will build my church.] I look upon this as one of those scriptures the sense of which might be most certainly fixed by the particular tone of voice and gesture with which it was spoken; and therefore have paraphrased it with a latitude, which an intelligent reader will easily observe.-If our Lord altered his accent, and laid his hand on his breast, it would shew that he spoke, not of the person, but of the confession of Peter (as most prolestant divines have understood it), and meant to point out himself as the great Foundation. Compare 1 Cor. iii. 10, 11.-But if he turned to the other apostles, and pointed to Peter, that would shew, he meant to intimate the ho. nour he would do him, in making him an eminent support to his church. This is the sense which Grotius, Le Clerc, Dr. Whitby, Dr. Clarke, and L'Enfant defend, and it seems to suit best with the connection; (see Whitby in loc.) But to be a foundation in this sense, was not his honour alone: his brethren shared with him in it, (sce Eph. ii. 20, and Rev. xxi 14.) as they did also in the power of binding and loosing. (See Mat. xviii. 18, and John xx. 23.)—On the whole, how weak the arguments are,

of

which the Papists draw from hence, to support the supremacy of Peter in their wild sense of it, is sufficiently shewn by Bishop Burnet on the Articles, p. 180. Calvin, Institut. lib. iv. cap. 6. Dr. Barrow on the Creed, Serm. xxviii. Dr. Patrick in his Sermon on this text, and a multitude more, whom I need not name.-There seems a reference in this expression to the common custom of building citadels upon a rock.

The gates of hell shall not prevail against it to its ruin.] It is most certain that the phrase here used was ade, does generally in the Greek writers signify, the entrance into the invisible worla; a- Eisner (Vol. I. p 77, 78), and Albert (Observ. p. 111, 112), bave abundantly proved. So the seventy use it, Isaiah xxxviii. 10, and Job xxxviii. 17. (Compare Wisd. of Sol. xvi. 13.) So that it is equivalent to the gates of death, Psal. cvii. 18, and elsewhere. The plainest and fullest sense seems to be what I have given in the paraphrase; for the vindication of which, see Dr. More's Theological Works, p. 110, and Dr. Whitby's note on this place. Grotius also supposes it refers to the final triumph of the saints over the grave at the general resurrection. This does indeed im

ply

The keys of the kingdom of heaven are promised Peter.

the kingdom of hea

in heaven; and what

463

SECT.

lxxxviii.

at.

of Christians shall arise after another, even to the very end of time, to maintain this truth, and to venture their lives and their souls upon it, till at length the whole body of them be redeemed XVI.18. 19 And I will give from the power of the grave. In the mean time, 19 unto thee the keys of I will raise thee, O Peter, and thy brethren, ven: and whatsoever whose faith herein agrees with thine compare thou shalt bind on John xx. 23), to distinguished honcurs in my earth, shall be bound church; and I will give unto thee, in particular, soever thou shalt loose the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and make thee on earth, shall be the instrument of opening it both to the Jews and Gentiles: yea, so fully shalt thou be in structed in my will, and in the constitution of my kingdom, that whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven; that is, thou shalt have authority to declare what precepts of the Mosaic religion are superseded, and what are continued, and what things are allowed or forbidden to my disciples; and I will myself confirm those decisions, whether general or personal, as made by the influ

loosed in heaven.

ply a victory over the power and policy of infernal spirits; but I cannot apprehend a reference to this to be chiefly intended; as it is certain, that the Greek word an; [hades] does very seldom signify the state of the damned, but generally (as N in Hebrew), the invisible world in general. See Mr. Howe's Works, Vol. II. p 61, 62

g

I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, &c.] As stercards of great families, especially of the royal houshold bore a key, probably a golden one (as the lords of the bed-chamber do), in token of their office, the phrase of giving a person the key naturally grew into an expression of raising him to great power: (compare Isa. xxii. 22, and Rev. iii. 7.) And this seems more natural and certain than Bishop Burnet's supposition, that Christ refers to the custom of gring a key to the Jewish rabbies when they were admitted into their office, in token of the power given them to expound the scripture. See Grotius on Luke xi. 52, and Bishop Barnet's four Discourses, (p. 241, 242). Peter's opening the kingdom of heaven, as being the first that preached it, both to the Jews (Acts ii), and to Gentiles (Acts x), may be considered as an illustration of this promise: but I apprehend it more fully explained by the power of binding and loosing

afterwards mentioned.

ences

authority in a family or state; which sense it plainly has, both in Josephus and Plutarch. (See Eisner. Observ. Vol. I. p. 80). When applied to judges in criminal cases, it signifies to absorve or condemn (see Raphel. Annot. ex Herod. page 169); and when used of teachers, especially in the Jewish language, it refers to their explications of the law; and thus to bind is to oblige a person to do or forbear any thing in question, or to declare a thing comman ed or forbidden; and to loose is to declare the thing to be indifferent, or the person at liHeb. in loc.)-The earned Selden has enberty with respect to it. (See Lightf. Hor. deavoured to sew that the clause before us must be interpreted in this sense (see Seld. de Synod. lib. in cap. 7); and many of the greatest chara ters for criticism in our own country and abroad have followed him; and among the rest the present ce brated Bishop of Winchester, in his glorious controversy on the subject of Church Authority. I have included that sense, nd taken the words in a vet greater extent, as the learned Puffendorff also does (De Habitu Relig. Christ, &c. § 22—25). and I shall, with great pleasure, submit to those ecclesiastical rulerswho shall prove, as the apostles did, their power to explain the laws of Christ in a decisive way, and their authority efficaciously to absolve or contemn men, according to the sense they give of them.

Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, &c.] A power to bind and loose may signify, in general, great

464

SECT.

1xxxviii.

Luke

IX. 21.

Reflections on the sure foundation of the church of Christ.

ences of my unerring spirit communicated to
thee and thy brethren, and will determine men's
final state in a manner agreeable to them.

And upon this he strictly charged and com-
manded his disciples that they should tell no man,
at present, this thing concerning him, which he
had so expressly acknowledged to them, that he
was Jesus the Messiah, and that he actually pro-
fessed and owned the title; because he knew it
was like to be interpreted in a very unjust and
unnatural manner, which might have rendered
him and his followers obnoxious to the Romans,
who would unreasonably look on such a profes-
sion as a claim to regal power, and utterly in-
consistent with the rights of Cæsar.

LUKE IX. 21. And he straitly charged [his

disciples,] and commanded them to tell

no

man that thing.

that he was Jesus the [MARK, of him,] Christ.] [MAT. XVI. 20. MARK VIII. 50.]

Mat. XVI.

IMPROVEMENT.

WE here behold the great Foundation of our faith and hope, 16, 18. even Jesus, the Rock of ages, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever (Heb. xiii. 8), who is Christ the Son of the living God. Other foundation can no man lay (1 Cor. iii. 11). On him may our souls rest, and the fiercest tempests shall rage in vain!

18

19

17

Our Lord foretold that the gates of hell should not be able to prevail against his church as thus founded; and behold, even to this day, the accomplishment of the prediction. As Christians of one age have sunk into their graves, a new harvest has sprung up in the next; and, in spite of all the artifices of Satan to pervert young minds, and all the advantages with which he attacks them, instead of the Fathers have been the children, to be accounted to the Lord for a generation. (Psal. xlv. 16, and xxi. 30).

Let us thankfully adore the Divine goodness herein; and be very sensible how much we are indebted to that goodness in those powers communicated to the apostles, on whom, as subordinate foundations we are built (Eph. ii. 20). As they received so ample a commission, and obtained grace from the Lord to be faithful to it, let us pay the humblest regard to their teachings; as well knowing, that what they have bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what they have inculcated, was solemnly confirmed by a Divine authority.

If we have listened with attention to those immortal writings of theirs, by which, being dead, they yet speak; and have found them the effectual means of revealing Christ in our hearts, in all his Divine glories and saving powers; let us remember that we owe it not to flesh and blood, or the most excellent human instruments alone, but to the influences of our Father in heaven.

That

Christ plainly foretells his sufferings and death.

465

ixxxviii.

Mark

That efficacious grace is freely exercised, and operates in SECT. various methods; on some, in a more instantaneous way; on others, like the power of Christ on the blind man of whom we have been reading, by more gradual advances. Let us be thankful for VIII. whatever light we receive, and press on to brighter discoveries; and join with them proportionable degrees of gratitude to Christ, and veneration for his gospel.

SECT. LXXXIX.

Christ prophesies of his approaching sufferings, rebukes Peter for being offended at them; and exhorts his disciples to self-denial, and a readiness for martyrdom in his cause. Mat. XVI. 21, to the end. Mark VIII. 31, to the end, IX. 1. Luke IX. 22-27.

MAT. XVI. 21.

MAT. XVI. 21.

23-25.

Mat.

FROM that time forth began Jesus NOW when Jesus had applauded the confes- SECT. to [teach and] shew sion of Peter, (as recorded above,) and lxxxix. unto his disciples, how thereby expressly declared to all the apostles that that he, [the Son of he was the Messiah, he from that time began more XVI. 21 man,] must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer plainly than ever, to teach, [and] show to his dismany things, [and be ciples, that he, the Son of man, who was indeed rejected] of the elders the Christ of God, must in a few months more and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, go to Jerusalem; and, there, instead of being and [after three days] owned under the royal character he bore, and be raised again the submitted to by princes and people, must suffer third day. [MARK VIII. 31. LUKE IX. many most injurious things, and be disdainfully rejected by the elders, and chief priests, and scribes of their nation, and be killed in a most cruel and outrageous manner: but he went on and added, to encourage them under this gloomy prospect, That after having laid part of three days under the power of death, he should be raised again on the third day.

22.]

MARK VIII. 32.

And he spake that

VIII.32.

And, as he now spake that saying plainly and Mark saying openly. And freely, whereas he had before only given disPeter took him and tant and obscure hints of it, they were exceedbegan to rebuke him, ingly surprised and troubled: and Peter elevat[saying, Be it far from ed with what our Lord had before been saying, and unable to reconcile it with what he now heard, took him [by the hand and began, with a mixture of tenderness and surprise, to chide

thee, Lord: this shall

not be unto thee [MAT. XVI. 22.]

a Plainly and freely.] So wapnoia evidently signifies, and is often rendered 10 onr version (compare John x. 24, and xi. 14.) and in this sense it is opposed to speaking in proverbs; John xvi. 25, 29. Christ had before given obscure hints of

him

this, John ii. 19. iii. 14. vi. 51. Mat. x.
33. xii. 40. and elsewhere.

b Took him by the hand.] So I render
the word daß. Compare Rom.
xv. 7. Gr. which may help to illustrate
the sense of it.

God c

466

He rebukes Peter for the offence he took at hearing him. SECT. him for this melancholy discourse, saying, God lxxxix. in his infinite mercy forbid, that thou, O Lord, shouldst ever be thus treated! This injury and VIII.32. violence, I persuade myself, shall not by any means be done unto thee.

Mark

33

34

But Jesus] when he had turned about, and looked round him on his other disciples, whose sentiments he knew to be much the same, rebuked Peter with an unusual severity; and said to him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou actest the part of a devil, rather than a friend; and art a scandal to me, in thus endeavouring to obstruct the great end of mine appearance in the world; for by this it plainly appears, that thou dost not regard and relish the things of God, but those of men, and losest thy zeal for the Divine glory, and the salvation of souls, in the mean solicitude for the enjoyments of this temporal life, and the grandeurs of an earthly kingdom, of which thou art vainly dreaming.

Then having called the multitude, with his dis

e God in his infinite mercy forbid !] Dr. Fuller supposes that Daws should be rendered, (May God have compassion upon thee! (See Fuller's Miscel. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. 2.) Heinsius, Grotius, and Le Clerc, give the same interpretation; which is also asserted at large by the learned Mr. Wasse. (Biblioth. Liter. Vol. I. p. 30.) And the accurate Dr. Scott renders it, Mercy on thee! which is more literal than any of the rest. I think the phrase, as used by the seventy, generally signifies, God forbid; or, as we render it, Far be it from thee! (See 1 Sam. xiv. 45. 2 Sam. xx. 20. 1 Kings xxi. 3. 1 Chron. xi. 19. and compare 1 Mac. ii. 21.) But as the accurate critics I have mentioned above suppose there is a particular tenderness in their interpretation, I have endeavoured to preserve it in the paraphrase.-Some would render it, Have compassion on thyself, but I cannot recollect any place where it has that sense; though 2 Sam. xxiii. 17. and Gen. xliii. 23. Septuag. have been especially alledged as instances of it. See Eisner. Observ. Vol. I. p. St.

d Get thee behind me, Satan.] Compare Luke iv. 8. p. 120.-The word Satan, which is originally Hebrew, and has from thence been taken into several languages, is often used in the Old Testament to signify an adversary, (see Num. xxii. 32. 2 Sam. xix. 22. 1 Kings v. 4. and xi. 14.) and the expression has appeared so harsh to some, as coming from the mouth of Christ to one of his apostles, that they have rather

ciples

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chosen to translate it, 0 mine adversary. But as the evangelists have both made use of the word Salave, which must be owned to have a sound as odious in the Greek as it has now with us, we may conclude that it was used by Christ, or his rebuke to Peter would have been otherwise expressed by some Greek word that signifies an adversary. Nor can the word appear at all too harsh, when we consider that the tendeney of Peter's saying, though it was spoken out of a singular affection to his Master, was to obstruct the great design for which he came into the world, and none but Satan could desire to prevent what he was ready to submit to for the salvation of lost sinners.-Dr. Young (in his Sermons, Vol. I. p. 137,) rendering hea; on, Favour thyself, supposes that our Lord calls Peter, Satan, because he now fel on that advice which Satan uses the most successfully of all his artifices to undo mien; that of self-indulgence: and so makes this scripture an introduction to his di-course on self-denial.

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