ong the disciples,--as is,--I will give to thee the
keys of the kingdom of Heaven;--and if there be any such like."[36] Again:
"For Peter himself, to whom He entrusted His sheep as to another self, He
willed to make one with Himself, that so He might entrust His sheep to him;
that he might be the Head, the other bear the figure of the Body, that is,
the Church; and that, as man and wife, they might be two in one flesh."[37]
Again: "The Lord Jesus chose out His disciples before His Passion, as ye
know, whom He named Apostles. Amongst these, Peter alone almost everywhere
was thought worthy (_meruit_) to represent the whole Church. On account of
that very representing of the whole Church, which he alone bore, he was
thought worthy to hear, I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of
Heaven. _For these keys not one man but the unity of the Church received._
Here, therefore, the eminence of Peter is set forth, because he represented
the very universality and unity of the Church, when it was said to him, I
give to thee what was given to all. For that you may know that the Church
has received the keys of the kingdom of God, hear what in another place the
Lord says to all his Apostles: Receive the Holy Ghost. And presently:
Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted to him; whosesoever ye retain,
they are retained. This belongs to the keys concerning which it was said,
What ye loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven; and what ye bind on
earth, shall be bound in Heaven. But this He said to Peter. That you may
know that Peter then represented the whole Church, hear what is said to
him,"[38] &c. "For deservedly, after His resurrection, the Lord delivered
His sheep to Peter himself to feed; _for he was not the only one among the
disciples who was thought worthy to feed the Lord's sheep_. But when Christ
speaks to one, unity is commended; and to Peter above all, because Peter is
the first among the Apostles."[39] Again: "As in the Apostles, the number
itself being twelve, that is, four divisions into three,"--(he seems to
mean, that there was a mystical universality betokened in the number four,
as a mystical unity in the number three,)--"and all being asked, Peter
alone answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And it is
said to him, I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, _as if
he alone had received the power of binding and loosing; the case really
being, that he singly said that in the name of a