ndation on which the church can rest. Isa.
28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11; Ephes. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6. This is, indeed, an
office which plainly requires for its exercise that omnipotence,
and that supreme power in heaven and earth which are expressly
ascribed to him. Matt. 11:27; 28:18; John 5:19-30; 17:2; 1 Cor.
15; 24-28; Ephes. 1:20-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:3.
When, therefore, our Lord says to Peter: "Thou art Peter [that
is, as the word Peter means in the original, _Thou art Rock_],
and upon this rock will I build my church" (Matt. 16:18), to
understand Peter, or any pretended successor of Peter, as a rock
in any other sense than as an eminent instrument in Christ's
hand for the establishment of his church, is absurd and
blasphemous.

Again: Christ gives to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
with power to bind and loose (Matt. 16:19), and elsewhere the
same power is conferred upon all the apostles (Matt. 18:18).
That Peter and his associates in the apostleship had the keys of
the kingdom of heaven in any such sense as that in which Christ
has them (Rev. 3:7); that is, that they had authoritative power
to admit their fellow-sinners to heaven, or exclude them from
heaven, is contrary to the whole tenor of the New Testament,
which everywhere represents Christ as the supreme Judge, upon
whose decision depends the everlasting destiny of every child of
Adam. Matt. 7:21, 22; 16:27; 25:31-46; John 17:2; Acts 17:31; 2
Cor. 5:10. Christ's words concerning the keys may be best
understood of the _special_ authority which he bestowed on the
apostles, as inspired teachers and guides of his primitive
church, to settle all questions respecting her. For eminent
examples of the exercise of this power, see the decisions
concerning Gentile converts, Acts 11:1-18; 15:1-29. In this
sense the gift of the keys ceased with that of inspiration. But
if, as some think, the words may be understood of the _common_
power conferred by Christ on his churches to regulate their own
affairs, to administer discipline, and to admit or exclude from
their communion, the power continues in this sense in the
visible church, and is valid so far as it is exercised in
accordance with God's word.

So also must we interpret the words of Christ recorded by the
apostle John: "And when he had said this, he b