were dispersed, and they were scattered over almost all the then known parts of the globe. "There were dwelling (or rather, sojourning 1) at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven 2." The body of worshippers at the high festival seasons was immense, and of these the majority were from different, and many distant, provinces. Through them, Peter became one of the "witnesses unto Christ unto the uttermost part of

1 κατοικοῦντες. Οἰκέω and κατοικέω denote usually, to dwell constantly, and are opposed to Tapouέw, which signifies to sojourn, in a place. But in the hellenistic style oikéw and karoɩkéw describe a stay of a longer, or a shorter, period. See the LXX. of Gen. xxvii. 44. 1 Kings xvii. 20. Jer. xlii. 15. In these places KaTokεiv is, to sojourn. And this is its sense in the present passage. The dwellers in Mesopotamia, οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν, are represented as κατοικοῦντες (sojourning) ἐν 'Iepovoaλhμ. Acts ii. 5. 9. See Parkhurst's and Schleusner's

Lexicons.

2 The wide dispersion of the Jews, even before the fall of their city, is mentioned by different writers. See an enumeration of the various and remote countries, in which they had established themselves, in the letter of Agrippa the Elder to Caligula, when the profligate Emperor had a design of erecting his statue in the Temple of Jerusalem. The letter is preserved by Philo in his History of the Legation to Caligula.

3 Josephus relates, that a computation was made of the number who attended at one of the Passovers (A.D. 66.) at the desire of Cestius, President of Syria. The number of worshippers was estimated from the number of victims sacrificed, which amounted to 256,500. Reckoning a company of ten only to each sacrifice, (though sometimes more, even as many as twenty, ate of one lamb,) the worshippers, at that season, were 2,565,000. De Bell. Jud. lib. vi. c. 9.

the earth 1." It has been supposed that the resort to Jerusalem, at this celebration, was more numerous than usual, on account of the prevailing opinion, that the advent of the Messiah was at hand 2.

Thus Peter commenced, and, with the Divine blessing on his labours, he continued through a long course of years, a FISHER OF MEN. As he had been enabled, by the power of Jesus, to fill his vessel with fishes on the lake of Gennesareth, against every probability of success, so was he aided to prevail, weak and insufficient in himself, under circumstances apparently the most adverse, and against the most formidable human resistance, in making converts to the holy Gospel, and bringing a multitude of souls into "captivity to the obedience of Christ "."

SECTION II.

PREDICTION II.

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven.”—Matt. xvi. 18, 19.

Our Saviour, after the cure of the blind man in the neighbourhood of Bethsaida, was entering into

1 Acts i. 8.

2 Luke xix. 11.

3

4

2 Cor. x. 5.

4 Ἐλθὼν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὰ μέρη Καισαρείας τῆς Φιλίππου. Matt. xvi. 13.

the country about Cæsarea Philippi, when He inquired of His disciples, by the way1: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" They replied, "Some say that Thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the Prophets." He then desired to know what sentiments they entertained concerning Him. "But whom say ye that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "Thou art THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD 2." Jesus assented to the truth of this acknowledgment. "Blessed," said He, "art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." Thy confession is not a human conjecture, not the effect of natural sagacity, but is founded on those testimonies concerning Me, which thou hast been taught of God to understand. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of

2

Ev Tй ód. Mark viii. 27.

5

τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος ; in opposition to the dead idols of the heathens, stocks and stones, the work of men's hands.

3

oàρ kai aiμa-a common Hebrew phrase for man. See

1 Cor. xv. 50. Gal. i. 16. Eph. vi. 12.

4 ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρα-upon this very rock.

Túλa dov-the gates of Hades. This is a periphrasis for death. See Isa. xxxviii. 9, 10. The phrase, employed frequently by the Greek and Latin poets, was originally suggested, it has been supposed, by the form of the Jewish, and other eastern, sepulchres, which were large caves, with narrow entrances, barred by gates. We have in English the expression,

1

hell shall not prevail against it 2.

And I will

"death's door." Ps. cvii. 18. is rendered by the early translators, in the version used in our Church-service, "Their soul abhorred all manner of meat, and they were even hard at death's door." When our Saviour promises, that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against His Church, He may be understood to declare that death shall have no power over it; that the mortality of those, who profess His Gospel, shall not stop its progress; that He will be with believers always, even to the end of the world; and that, finally, His good and faithful servants shall be victorious over death and the grave, by attaining to a joyful resurrection.

Another interpretation has been proposed of the gates of Hades. It has been thought that our Lord meant by this expression, the influence and devices of Satan, who first brought death into the world, and who still carries on his deathful designs against the human race; intending to say, that the machinations of the enemies of Christianity, with Satan as their instigator, should prove abortive. The reason of this interpretation is, that the gates of cities were formerly places of strength, in the towers of which arms were kept, and places where the elders sat, and held courts of judicature, listened to complaints, and redressed grievances. Hence gates signified power and counsel. See allusions to meetings in the gates of cities, in 2 Chron. xviii. 9. Zech. viii. 16. Ps. Ixix. 12. cxxvii. 5. Prov. i. 20, 21. Isa. xxix. 21. Amos v. 10. Shaw, speaking of the Algerines, says, that they lay all affairs of moment before the Dey and the principal officers, who sit constantly in the gate of the palace to give judgment; and he observes, that the Ottoman court seems to have been called The Port, from the distribution of justice, and the despatch of public business, in the gate.-Observations relating to Barbary and the Levant.

1

Our English, or rather Saxon, word hell, in its original signification, exactly answers to the Greek word "Aidns, (from ɛidw, to see, and a priv.) and denotes a concealed, or unseen place; and this sense of the word is still retained in some parts of England, where, to hele over a thing, is to cover it.—Lord King's History of the Creed, c. iv.

2 The pronoun it, avrñs, is considered by some expositors to

give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven."

I. When our Saviour said, "Upon this rock I will build My Church," did He design to confer a personal distinction upon Peter?

Three explanations of this passage have been proposed.

Some think, that Jesus referred the word rock not to Peter, but to HIMSELF; and that He might have made His meaning intelligible by pointing, when He uttered the expression, to His own Person', as He may be presumed to have done, when He said, "Destroy this temple," &c. speaking of the temple of His body. Doddridge looks 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 they were spoken.' With what accompanying tone, or gesture, the words were delivered, it is impossible to know; and it is not to be supposed that we are dependent, for the

دو

be the relative to πέτρᾳ, but the majority refer it to ἐκκλησίαν, its immediate antecedent.

1 Wolfius, after quoting the opinion of Olearius, that our Saviour applied the word rock to Himself, says: Mihi quidem hæc sententia de Christo ipso tanquam Petra mirifice placet, et videtur omnino sanctissimus Servator, exsertis et directis in se digitis, Petro manifestum fecisse de quo loquatur.

2 TÒν vaÒV TOUTOv―this very temple. John ii. 19.