The obstinate Pharisees and Sadducees, as though his foresaid miracles were not sufficient to
proue him to be Christ, require to see some one from Heauen. 5. wherevpon forsaking them, he
warneth his Disciples to beware of the leauen of their doctrine: 13. and Peter (the time now
approaching for him to goe into Iurie to his Passion) for confessing him to be Christ, he maketh
the Rock of his Church; giuing fulnes of Ecclesiastical power accordingly. 21. And after he so
rebuke him for dissuading his Crosse and passion, that he also affirmeth the like suffering in euerie
one, to be necessarie to saluation.
1.
*
Mark 8,12.
Luke 12,54.
AND there came to him the Pharisees and Sadducees tempting: and they demanded him to
shew them a signe from Heauen.
2. But he answered & said to them: When it is euening, you say: It wil be
faire-weather, for the element is red.
3. And in the morning: This day there wil be a tempest, for the element doth glow
and lowre. The face therfore of the element you haue skil to dscerne: & the signes of times can
you not?
4. The
*
Mat. 12,39.
naughtie and aduouterous Generation seeketh for a signe: and there shal not
a signe be giuen it, but the signe of Ionas the Prophet. And he left them and went away.
5. And
*
Mark 8,14.
Luke 12,1.
when his Disciples were come ouer the water, they forgot to take bread.
6. Who said to them: Looke wel and beware of the leauen of the Pharisees & Sadducees.
7. But they thought within them selues sauing: Because we tooke not bread.
8. And Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ knowing it, said why do you thinke within your selues, O ye of
litle faith, for that your haue not bread?
9. Do you not yet vnderstand, neither do you remember
*
Mat. 14,17. 15,34.
the fiue loaues among fiue
thousand men, and how many baskets you tooke vp?
10. neither the seauen loaues, among foure thousand men, and how many maundes you
tooke vp?
11. Why do you not vnderstand that I said not of bread to you: Beware of the leauen
of the Pharisees, & Sadducees?
12. Then they vnderstood that he said no they should beware of the leauen of bread,
but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13.
⋮
The Ghospel vpon S. Simon Peter and Paules day Iun 29. And in Cathedra Petri Roma,
Ian. 18 & Antiochia Febr. 22. And Petri ad vincula Aug. 1. And on the day of the
creation & coronation of the Pope, & on the Anniuersarie thereof. And vpon S. Leo
his day April 11.
And
*
Mark 8,27.
Luke 9,18.
Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ came into the quarters of Cæfarea Philippi: and he asked his Disciples,
saying:
Whom say men.
OF PETERS PRIMACIE.
Christ intending here to take order for the founding, regiment, & stabilitie of his
Church after his decease, & to name the Person to whom he meant to giue the general
charge thereof, would before by interrogatories draw out (& namely out of that one
whom he thought to make the cheefe) the profession of that high and principal Article:
that he was the Sonne of the liuing God. Which being the ground of the Churches faith,
was a necessarie qualitie and condition in him that was to be made Head of the same Church,
and the perpetual keeper of the said faith, and al other points thereon depending.
whom say men that the Sonne of man is?
14.
But they said.
When Christ asked the Peoples opinion of him, the Apostles al indifferently made answer:
but when he demanded what themselues thought of him, then loe Peter the mouth and head
of the whole felowship answered for al. Chrysostom. homil. 55. in Mat.
But they said: Some Iohn the Baptist, & othersome Elias, and others Hieremie, or
one of the Prophets.
15. Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?
16. Simon Peter answered & said: Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God.
17. And Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ answering, said to him:
Blessed art thou.
Though some other (as Nathanael Iohn 1,49.) seemed to have before beleeued and
professed the same thing, for which Peter is here counted blessed, yet it may be plainly
gathered by this place, & so *S. Hilarie and others thinke, that none before this did
further vtter of him, then that he was the Sonne of God by adoption as other Saints be,
though more excellent then other be. For it was of congruitie and Christes special
appointment, that he vpon whom he intended to found his new Church, & whose faith he would
make infallible, should have the preeminence of this first profession of Christes natural
diuinitie, or, that he was by nature the very Sonne of God; a thing so farre aboue the
capacitie of nature, reason, flesh, and bloud, and so repugnant to Peters sense and sight
of Christes humanitie, flesh, and infirmities, that for the beleefe and publike profession
thereof he is counted blessed, as Abraham was for his faith; and hath great promises for
himself and his posteritie, as the said Patriarch had for him and his seed. According as
S. Basil saith: **Because he excelled in faith, he receaued the building of the Church
committed to him.
*Hilar. can. 6 in Mat. & li. 6 de Trinit. Chrys. ho. 55. in Mat.
**Basil. li. 2. adu. Eunom.
Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Iona: because flesh &
bloud hath not reuealed it to thee, but my Father which is in Heauen.
18.
And I say to thee.
Our Lord recompenseth Peter for his confession, giuing him a great reward, in that vpon
him be builded his Church. Theophilactus. vpon this place.
And I say to thee:
Thou art Peter.
PETER.
Christ (in the first of Iohn v. 42) foretold and appointed that this man then named Simon,
should afterward be called Cephas, or Petrus, that is to say, a Rock;
not then vttering the cause, but now expressing the same, videlicet (as S. Cyril
writeth) *For that vpon him is vpon a firme rocke his Church should be builded.
Wherevnto S. Hilarie agreeing saith: **O happie foundation of the Church in the
imposing of thy new name. &c. And yet Christ here doth not so much call him by the
name Peter or Rocke, as he doth affirme him to be a rock; signifying by that Metaphore,
both that he was designed for the foundation and groundwork of his house, which is the
Church, & also that he should be of inuincible force, firmitie, durablenes, and stabilitie,
to sustaine al the windes, waues, and stormes that might fall or beate against the same.
And the Aduersaries objecting against this, that Christ only is the Rock or fundation,
wrangle against the very expresse Scriptures, & Christes owne wordes, giving both the name
& the thing to this Apostle. And the simple may learne by S. Basils wordes, how the case
standeth. Though (***saith he) Peter be a rock, yet he is not a rock as Christ is. For
Christ is the true vnmoueable rock of himself. Peter is vnmoueable by Christ the rock.
For Iesus doth communicate and impart his dignities, not voyding himself of them, but
holding them to himself, bestoweth them also vpon others. He is the light, and yet, (2)
You are the light: he is the Priest, and yet he (3) maketh Priests; he is the rock, and
he made a rock.
*Cyr. l. 8 c. 12 Com. in Io.
**Hilar. in huc locum.
***Basil li. de panit.
(2) Mat. 5,14.
(3) Luke 22,19.
That thou art
*
Iohn. 1,42.
Iohn. 21,15.
✟
That is, a Rock.
Peter;
And vpon this Rock.
Thou art Cephas, and vpon this Cephas.
Vpon that which he said Peter was, wil he build his Church; and therfore by most euident
sequele he foundeth his Church vpon Peter. And the Aduersaries wrangling against this, doe
against their owne conscience & knowledge; specially seeing they know and confesse that
in Christes wordes speaking in the Syriake tongue, there was no difference at al between
Petrus and Petra; yea and that the Greeke wordes also though differing in
termination, yet signifie one thing, *to wit, a rock, or stone, as
themselues also translate it. Iohn 1,42. So that they which professe to folow the
Hebrew, or Syriake, & the Greeke, & to translate immediatly out of them into Latin or
English, should if they had dealt sincerely, have thus turned Christes wordes:
Thou art a rock, & upon this rock: or, Thou art Peter, and vpon this Peter wil I
build my Church. For so Christ spake by their owne confession without any
difference. Which doth expresly stoppe them of al their vaine eiasions, that
Petrus, the former word is referred to the Apostles: and Petra the later
word, either to Christ only, or to Peters faith only; neither the said original tongues
bearing it, nor the sequele of the wordes vpon this, suffering any relation in the
world but to that which was spoken of in the same sentence next before; neither the wordes
folowing which are directly addressed to Peters Person, nor Christes intention by any
meanes admitting it, which was not to make himself or to promisse himself to be the head
or foundation of the Church. For his Father gaue him that dignitie, & he took not that
honour to himself, nor sent himself, nor took the keyes of Heauen of himself, but al of
his Father. He had his commission the very houre of his incarnation. And though
S. Aug. sometimes referre the word *(Petra) to Christ in this sentence (which no
doubt he did because the terminations in Latin are diuers, and because he examined not
the nature of the original wordes which Christ spake, nor of the Greek, and therfore the
Aduersaries which otherwise flee to the tongues, should not in this case alleage him)
yet he neuer denieth but Peter also is the Rock & head of the Church, saying that himself
expounded it of Peter **in many places, and alleageth also S. Amb. for the same in his
Hymne which the Church singeth. And so do we alleage the holy Councel of Chalcedon,
Act. 3 pag. 118. Tertul. de præscrip. Origen, Ho. 5 in Exo.
S. Cyprian, De unit. Ec. S. Hilarie, Can. 16 in Mat. S. Ambrose,
Ser. 47. 68. li. 6 in c. 9 Luca. S. Hierom, Li. 1 in Iouin, & in c. 2 Esa. &
in c. 16 Hier. S. Epiphanius, In Anchor. S. Chrysostom, Ho. 55 in Mat.
S. Cyril, Li. 2 c. 12 com in Io. S. Leo, Ep. 89. S. Gregorie, Li. 4 ep.
42 ind. 13. ***and others; every one of them saying expresly, that the Church was
founded and builded vpon Peter. For though sometimes they say the Church to be builded
on Peters faith, yet they meane not (as our Aduersaries do vnlearnedly take them) that it
should be builded vpon faith either separated from the man, or in any other man: but vpon
faith as in him who here confessed that faith.
{πέτρος} & {πέτρα}, rock.
*Aug. li. 2 retr. c. 21.
**In Psal. 66 De verb. Do. sec. Io. ser. 49. ser. 15. 16. 26. 29. de Sanctis. Annot.
in Iobe. 30
***Theod. li. 5 hær Fabul. c. de pænit.
and vpon this
Rock.
The Aduersaries hearing also the Fathers sometimes say, that Peter had these promises
and prerogatiues, as bearing the Person of al the Apostles or of the whole Church, deny
absurdly that himself in Person had these prerogatiues. As though Peter had been the
Proctour only of the Church or of the Apostles, confessing the faith and receauing these
things in other mens names. Where the holy Doctours meane only, that these prerogatiues
were not giuen to him for his owne vse, but for the good of the whole Church, and to be
imparted to euery vocation according to the measure of their callings; and that these
great priuileges giuen to Peter should not decay or die with his Person, but be perpetual
in the Church in his successours. Therfore S. Hierom to Damasus taketh this Rock not to
be Peters person only, but his successours and his Chaire. *I (saith he) folowing
no cheefe or principal but Christ, ioyne my self to the communion of Peters chaire,
vpon that rocke I know the Church was built. And of that same Apostolike Chaire S.
August. saith, **That same is the Rock which the proud gates of Hel do not ouercome.
And S. Leo, Our Lord would the Sacrament or mysterie of this gift so to pertaine unto
the office of al the Apostles, that he placed it principally in blessed S. Peter the cheefe
of al the Apostles, that from him as from a certaine head he might poure out his guiftes,
as it were through the whole body; that he might vnderstand himself to be an aliene from
the diuine mysterie that should presume to reuolt from the soliditie or steadfastnes of
Peter.
*Hier. ep. 7 to. 2.
**Psa. cont. part. Donat to 7 Leo ep. 89.
Rock wil I
Build my Church.
The Church or house of Christ was only promised here to be builded vpon him (which was
fulfilled, Io. 21,15.) the foundation, stone & other pillers or matter being yet in
preparing; and Christ himself being not only the supereminent foundation but also the
founder of the same; which is an other more excellent qualitie then was in Peter, for which
he calleth it my Church: meaning specially the Church of the new Testament. Which
was not perfectly formed and finished, and distincted from the Synagogue til Whitsunday,
though Christ gaue Peter and the rest their commissions actually before his Ascension.
build my Church, and the
Gates of Hel.
Because the Church is resembled to a house or a citie, the aduersarie powers also be
likened to a contrarie house or towne, the gates wherof, that is to say, the fortitude,
or impugnations shal neuer preuaile against the citie of Christ. And so by this promise
we are assured that no heresies nor other wicked attempts can preuail against the Church
builded vpon Peter, which the Fathers call Peters See and the Romane Church. *Count
(saith S. Augustine) the Priests from the very See of Peter, and in that order of
Fathers consider who to whom hath succeeded: that same is the rock which the proud gates
of Hel do not ouercome. And in an other place, **that is it which hath obtained
the top of authoritie, Heretikes in vaine barking round about it.
*Psal cont. part. Donat.
**De vtil. cred. c. 17.
gates of Hel shal not prevaile against it.
19. And I wil giue
To thee.
In saying, to thee wil I giue, it is plaine that as he gaue the keyes to him, so
he builded the Church vpon him. So saith S. Cyprian, To Peter first of al, vpon whom
our Lord built the Church, and from whom he instituted and shewed the beginning of vnitie,
did he giue this power, that that should be loosed in the Heauens, which he had loosed in
earth. **Wherby appeareth the vaine cauil of our Aduersaries, which say the Church was
built vpon Peters Confession only, common to him and the rest, and not vpon his Person,
more then vpon the rest.
*Cyp. Epist. 73.
**Greg. l. 4 ep. 33 ind. 13.
to thee
The keyes.
The dignities of the keyes.
That is, the authoritie or Chaire, of doctrine, knowledge, iudgement and discretion
between true, and false doctrine: the height of governement, the power of making lawes,
of calling Councels, of the principal voice in them, of confirming them, of making
Canons & holesom decrees, of abrogating the contrarie, of ordaining Bishops and
Pastours, or deposing and suspending them: finally the power to dispense the goods of
the Church both spiritual and temporal. Which signification of preeminent power and
authoritie by the word, keyes, the Scripture expresseth in many places: namely
speaking of Christ, *I have the keyes of death and Hel, that is, the rule.
And againe: **I wil giue the key of the house of Dauid vpon his shoulder.
Moreover it signifieth that men cannot come into Heauen but by him, the keyes
signifying also authoritie to open and shut, as it is said Apoc. 3. of Christ:
who hath the key of Dauid, he shutteth and no man openeth. By which words we gather
that Peters authoritie is maruelous, to whom the keyes, that is, the power to open and
shut Heauen, is giuen. And therfore by the name of keyes is giuen that supereminent
power which is called, in comparison of the power granted to other Apostles, Bishops
and Pastours, plenitudo potestatis, fulnes of power. Bernard, lib. 2 de
considerat. c. 8.
*Apoc. 1.
**Isai. 22,22.
the keyes of the Kingdom of Heauen. And
Whatsoeuer.
Al kind of discipline and punishment of offenders, either spiritual (which directly
is here meant) or corporal so farre as it tendeth to the execution of the spiritual
charge, is comprised vnder the word, bind. Of which sort be Excommunications,
Anathematismes, Suspensions, degradations, and other censures, & penalties or penances
enioyned either in the Sacrament of Confession, or in the exteriour Courts of the Church,
for punishment both of other crimes, and specially of heresie & rebellion against the
Church, and the cheefe pastours therof.
whatsoeuer
thou shalt bind vpon earth, it shal be bound also in the Heauens: and whatsoeuer thou
shalt
Loose.
To loose, is as the cause and the offenders case requireth; to loose them of any the former
bandes, and to restore them to the Churches Sacraments and Communion of the faithful and
execution of their function; to pardon also either al, or part of the pennance enioyned, or
what debtes so euer man oweth to God, or the Church. for the satisfaction of his sinnes
forgiuen. Which kind of releasing or loosing is called Indulgence: finally this
whatsoever, excepteth nothing that is punishable or pardonable by Christ in earth,
for he hath committed his power to Peter. And so the validitie of Peters sentence in
binding or loosing whatsoever, shal by Christs promise be ratified in Heauen. Leo Ser. de
Transfig. & Ser. 2 in anniuers. assump. ad Pontif. Hilar. can. 16 in Matt. Epiph. in Anchorato
prope initium. If now any temporal power can shew their warrant out of Scripture for such
soueraigne power, as is here giuen to Peter, & consequently to his successours, by these
words, whatsoeuer thou shalt bind, and by the very keyes, wherby greatest soueraigntie
is signified in Gods Church as in his familie and houshold, and therfore principally
attributed and giuen to Christ *who in the Scripture is said to haue the key of Dauid,
but here communicated also vnto Peter, as the name of Rock: if I say any temporal potestate
can shew authoritie for the like soueraigntie, let them chalenge hardly to behead not only
of one particular, but of the whole vniuersal Church.
*Esa. 22. Apoc. 3.
loose in earth, it shal be loosed also in the Heauens.
20. Then he commanded his Disciples, that they should tel no body that he was Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ
CHRIST.
21. From that time Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ began to shew his Disciples, that he must goe to Hierusalem,
& suffer many things of the Ancients & Scribes and Cheefe-Priests, and be killed, and the third
day rise againe.
22. And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him, saying: Lord, be it farre from thee,
this shal not be vnto thee.
23. Who turning said to Peter: Goe after me
✟
This word in Hebrew signifieth an aduersarie, as 3 King. 5,4 and so it is taken here.
Sathan, thou art a scandal vnto me: because
thou fauourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.
24.
⋮
The Ghospel for a Martyr that is a Bishop. And vpon S. Laurence Eue.
Then Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ said to his Disciples: If any man wil come after me, let him denie
himself, and take vp his crosse, and follow me.
25. For he that wil saue his life, shal lose it, and he that shal lose his life for
me, shal find it.
26. For what doth is profit a man, if he gaine the whole world, and sustaine the damage
of his soule? Or what permutation shal a man giue for his soule?
27. For the Sonne of man shal come in the glorie of his Father with his Angels: and
then wil he render to euery man according to his
Workes.
Good workes.
He saith not, to giue euery man according to his mercie (or their faith) but according
to their workes. August. de verb. Apost. Ser. 35.
Freewil.
And againe; How should our Sauiour reward euery one according to their works, if there
were no free wil? August. lib. 2 cap. 4. 5. 8. de Act. cum Fælic. Manich.
workes.
28. Amen I say to you,
*
Mark 9,1.
Luke 9,27.
there be some of them that stand here, that shal not taste
death, til they see the Sonne of man comming in his Kingdom.