Part 3 (1/2)

[59] Is. xxviii. 16; Eph. ii. 21.

[60] Pa.s.saglia, p. 58.

[61] Ps. lx.x.xii. 6, with John x. 34.

[62] 1 Cor. iii. 11.

[63] Matt. xxiii. 9.

[64] John xiv. 16.

[65] Rom. viii. 15.

[66] Rom. viii. 17.

[67] 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

[68] John xx. 23.

[69] John xiv. 12.

[70] John xv. 9, 15.

[71] Pa.s.saglia, p. 442. n. 38.

[72] O tou Theou Logos enenthrhopesen hina hemeis theopoiethomen. St. Athan. de Incarn. Factus est Deus h.o.m.o, ut h.o.m.o fieret deus. St. Aug. Serm. 13, de Temp.

[73] S. Chrys. Tom. vii. 786. Hom. 82, in Matt.

[74] Tom. viii. 525. Hom. 88, in Joan.

[75] Hom. 3, de Poenitentia. Tom. ii. 300.

[76] Pa.s.saglia, p. 48, 9.

CHAPTER II.

EDUCATION AND FINAL DESIGNATION OF PETER TO BE THE RULER WHO SHOULD CONFIRM HIS BRETHREN.

Having promised[1] and bestowed on Simon a new name, prophetic of the peculiar position which he was to occupy in the Church, and having set forth the meaning contained in that name in terms so large and magnificent, that, as we have seen, the greatest saints and fathers have felt it impossible to exhaust their force, our Lord proceeded to _educate_ Peter, so to say, for his especial charge of supreme ruler. He bestowed upon him, in the course of His ministry, tokens of preference which agree with the t.i.tle thus solemnly conferred; and He instructed him with all the care which we should expect to be given to one who was to become the chief doctor of Christians. Such instruction may be said to consist in two things, a more complete knowledge of the Christian revelation, and a singular apprehension of its divine proofs.

Now, innumerable as are the particulars in which the Christian revelation consists, they may yet be gathered up mainly into two points, which meet in the Person of our Lord, and are termed by the ancient fathers who have followed this division, the _Theology_, and the _Economy_. There is the Divine Nature, that ”_form of G.o.d_,”

which our Lord had from the beginning in the bosom of the Father; and there is the human nature, that ”_form of a servant_,” which ”in the economy or dispensation of the fulness of times” He a.s.sumed, in order that He might purchase the Church with His blood, and[2]

”re-establish all things in heaven and on earth.” All, therefore, in the Christian faith which concerns ”the form of G.o.d” is termed the Theology; all which contemplates ”_the form of a servant_,” the Economy.

But the heavenly origin and certain truth of both these parts of Christian faith are proved partly by the fulfilment of prophecy, and partly by the working of miracles. To both our Lord perpetually appealed, and His apostles after Him, and those who have followed them. One, then, who was to be the chief ruler and doctor of Christians, needed especial instruction in the Theology, and Economy, especial a.s.surance of the fulfilment of prophecy, and the working of miraculous power. Now Peter was specially selected for this instruction and that a.s.surance.

The whole teaching of our Lord, indeed, and the innumerable acts of power and words of grace with which it was fraught, were calculated to convey these to all the Apostles. But while they were witnesses in common of that teaching in general, some parts of it were disclosed only to Peter and the two sons of Zebedy. Perhaps there is no incident in the Gospel history, which set forth in so lively a manner, and so convincingly proved, the mysteries concerning the union of ”the form of G.o.d” and ”the form of a servant,” as the Transfiguration. The retreat to the ”high mountain apart,” and in the midst of that solitary prayer, ”the face s.h.i.+ning as the sun,”

and ”the robes white as light,” the presence of Moses and Elias, conversing with Him on the great sacrifice for sin, ”the bright cloud which encompa.s.sed them,” and the voice from out of it, proclaiming ”This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear Him;” so impressed themselves on the great Apostle, that after long years he appealed to them in proof that he and his brethren had not taught ”cunningly devised fables, when they made known the power and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, but had been eyewitnesses of His majesty, when He received from G.o.d the Father honour and glory, this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I have pleased myself: hear ye Him.' And this voice we heard brought from heaven, when we were with Him in the holy mount.” Among all the Apostle's experience of the three years'

ministry, by the sh.o.r.e and on the waves of the lake of Galilee, in the cornfields, or on the mountain side, in the noon-day heat, or midnight storm, even in the throng which cried 'Hosannah!' and 'Crucify Him!' this stood out, until ”the laying aside of his fleshly tabernacle,” as ”the Lord had signified to Him.”[3] For[4]

what indeed was not there? the plurality of persons in the G.o.dhead, the Father and the Son, the true, and not adopted, Sons.h.i.+p of the latter, His divine mission unto men; the new order of things resulting from it, and the summing up under one head of all things in heaven and in earth; the sealing up and accomplis.h.i.+ng of the law and the prophets, by the presence of their representatives, Moses and Elias, a most wonderful and transporting miracle; and the command implicitly to obey Him in whom the Father was well pleased.