The Third Part from John Baptists Nativity, Part 4
The Gospell.
MAT. 16. 13.
When Iesus came into the coasts of the city, which is called Caesarea Philippi, &c.
THis Scripture being a dialogue betweene Christ and his Apostles, of it owne accord falleth into two questions, and two answeres vntounto those questions.
1. Quest. Whom do men say that I the sonne of man am? answere, some say thou art Iohn Baptist, &c.
2. Quest. Whom say ye that I am? answere, thou art the Christ the sonne of the liuing God: the which answere is
commended, blessed art thou Simon, &c.
rewarded, vponupon this rocke I wil, &c.
Caesarea Philippi] there were two Caesareaes, one called eIoseph. antiq. lib. 15. cap▪ 13. & de bello iudaico▪ lib. 1. cap. 16.Stratonis vponupon the mediterrane sea, which Herod sumptuously built in the honour of Augustus Caesar, another called Caesarea Philippi, fIoseph. antiq. lib. 18. cap. 3.founded by Philip (gHierome Anselm. brother of Herod the tetrarch who beheaded Iohn the Baptist) in honour of Tiberius Caesar at the foote of Libanon. Philip built, hAretius. Marlorat. Iansenius.or rather repaired and enlarged this towne out of his seruiceable louelove to Caesar, but yet for his owne glory he did adde a Philippi to Caesarea. The Papists in mingling the blood of their Saints with the pretious blood of our Sauiour, and in making themselues also (by relying too much vponupon their owne merits) halfe mediatours, and ioint purchasers of saluation with Christ, hauehave set vp in the Synagogue of Antichrist as it were a Caesarea Philippi. The Iesuited Papists especially swearing to the Kings Supremacie, with a Romish equiuocation, or Spanish reseruation, adde a Philippi to Caesarea. This as iArdens.some thinke was the City where the Kings in old time receiued their tribute, and therefore the King of heauen aptly required of his disciples in the very same place tributum confessionis: kDiez con. 1. in fest. Pet. & Pauli.or it may be that Christ exacted this cōfession of faith in the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, to signifie, that his Apostles should not only preach the Gospell among the Iewes, but also that lRom. 10. 18.their sound should goe through all the earth, and their words vntounto the ends of the world; or he made this demaund farre from Hierusalem out of the Scribes and Pharisees hearing, mTheophylact Iansen.that they might the more fully and freely confesse what they thought of him.
Whom doe men say] He did not aske this question as being nEuthym. Rabanus.ignorant hereof himselfe, but to teach other, especially his Apostles, and such as hold the like place, not to be oCaietan Ardens Iansen ex origine.negligent in examining what opinion the world conceiueth of them, that if they heare ill, they may labour to cut off all iust occasions of so bad a report: if well, indeuour to deserue and preserue the same to Gods and the Gospels honour: pAretius.or he began with this quaere, whom doe men say? that he might hereby come the better vntounto that other, whom doe yee say? hee did not enquire what the qTheophylact Euthym.Pharisees or Priests say, for they reputed him a rMatth. 27. 63.deceiuer, a sIohn 8. 48.Samaritan, a tMatth. 11. 19.glutton, & drinker of wine; but he doth aske what the people say, for so uLuke 9▪ 18.S. Luke doth expoūd S. Matthew, whom say the people that I am?
The son of man] He did ordinarily vse this stile speaking of himself for xArdens.three causes especially, 1. To put vsus in minde how much he did abase himselfe for our sake, yPhilip. …. 6.who being in the forme of God, made himselfe of no reputation, and tooke on him the forme of a seruant, and was found in shape as a man. 2. To confute the zAugust. haeres. 46.Manichees and other Hereticks denying his humanitie. 3. By his example, teaching vsus, how we should thinke and speake of our selues with humilitie.
Some say that thou art Iohn Baptist, some Elias, some Ieremias.] aTheophylact.They who conceiued he was Iohn Baptist, agreed with bMatth. 14. 1.Herod the Tetrarch, for when he heard of the fame of Iesus, he said vntounto his seruants, This is Iohn Baptist, he is risen againe from the dead, and therefore great works are wrought by him: other thought him Elias, for that he did so sharply rebuke all degrees of men in his cMatth. 3. Luke 3.preaching: other said that he was Ieremy, for that he was indued with excellent knowledge, which he learned of no man, and that as dIeremy 1. 5.Ieremy from his childhood.
eArdens.Hence we may learne, that the rumors of the vulgar sort are most vsually false, Bugs (as one fSocrates.said) to feare children & fooles. Again we note here gSteph. Gard. Ser. before King Edw. 6. ann. 1550. …dem Iansen con. cap. 66.that there were sundrie discrepant opinions of Christ among those who were not of his schoole, some sayd he was Iohn Baptist, other Elias, other Ieremy as,
Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus;
But his owne disciples agreed altogether in one truth, one speaking it, and all according in it.
Now the reason why men erre so much, and hauehave so many Creedes almost as heads, is, because they be men; for hPsal. 116. 10.all men are lyars, and being left vntounto themselues are i2. Cor. 3. 5.not able to thinke any thing which is good. The Philosophers ingenie was great, and industrie greater, yet because they were not guided by Gods spirit their kRom. 1. 21.imaginations were so vaine, that (as lLib. 8. de Ciuit. Dei. cap. 3.Augustine notes) alij atque alij, aliud atque aliud opinati, Schollers of the same Schoole differed among themselues, mIdem lib. 18. De Ciuit. Dei. cap. 41.dissenserunt à magistris discipuli, & inter se condiscipuli, neuer agreeing in any thing but in the vnitie of vanitie. The taletell Astrologers and Chronologers are so constant in their vnconstancie, that it is truly sayd of them, nTheodor. Bibliander de rat. temp. pag. 1.inter horologia magis conuenit quàm inter exactos temporum calculatores. oAnnot. in Matth. 21.Erasmus hath obserued the like of the Rabbins, and all Hereticks are in the same predicament, for being once run out of Christs Schoole, they be diuided among themselues, hauing confused language like to the builders of pGen. 11. 19.Bab…l, and contrary tales like to the wicked accusers of Susanna. qLucret.… mari magno, &c. quoth a Poet, It is a view of delight to stand on the shore and to see Ships tossed with a tempest on the Sea: or in a fortified Tower to behold two battels ioyne vponupon a plaine: but it is a greater pleasure for the minde of man to be firmely setled in the certaintie of truth, and from thence to descry the manifold perturbations, errours, wauerings and wanderings vp and downe of other in the world. Blessed is Peter, and blessed are all such, as rEphes. 4. 3.endeuour to keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace, confessing one Lord, one Faith, one Baptisme.
Whom say ye that I am] As who would say, men hauehave diuers, yea peruerse iudgements of me because they be meere men: but what say ye which are more then men, as being directed by the spirit of God. For S. Hierome, Ardens, Anselme, Druthmarus vponupon the place hauehave noted an antithesis here, sHierom. in loc.prudens lector attende, quod ex consequentibus textuque sermonis, apostoli nequaquam homines sed dij appellantur. The sonnes of men as being tPsalm. 62. 9.lighter then vanity it selfe hauehave many fond imaginations of me, but I would know of you which are the sonnes of God, of you which hauehave seene my wonders, and heard my words, of you which hauehave long conuersed with me, whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter as the uMaldonat. ex Augustin. & Chrysost. in loc. Idem Iansen. con. cap. 66.mouth of the rest, and xSteph. Gardiner vbi sup.head man of the quest, answered for yAnselm.all the company, saying, thou art that Christ the sonne of the liuing God, a short, but a sweet confession, comprehending in one sentence the zMelanct. Marlorat. … Beza.whole Gospell of Christ as well concerning his natures, as his offices: he confesseth his natures, in affirming thou which art the sonne of man, art also the sonne of the liuing God: his offices, in auowing, thou art thaet Christ.
It is a witty saying of aSerm. 1. in epiphan.Bernard, Fides linceos habet oculos, and therefore Simon Bar-Iona, though he beheld Christ with his corporall eyes in the forme of a seruant as the sonne of man, yet with his spirituall eyes of faith he perceiued that he was also the son of the liuing God. The Lord is tearmed a liuing God, to distinguish him from Idols, which are dead Gods, bPsal. 135. 16.hauing mouthes and speake not, eyes and see not, eares and heare not, neither is there any breath in their mouthes. And for as much as Angels and Kings are stiled Gods in holy scripture, to distinguish him also from these liuing Gods, he is called the liuing God, cActs 17. 28.in whom all other Gods liue, and moue, and hauehave their being. And because Saints are called often sonnes of God, he is tearmed, foreign the son, dTheophylact. Caietan.insinuating, that Christ is not a son of God by grace, but the son of God by nature, that eIohn 3. 16.only begotten son of God, foreign. As for his offices, it is said fAret…us. Erasmus.Emphatically, that Iesus is foreign, not a Christ onelyonly, but also the Christ, or, that Christ, euen the promised Messias of the world, for so that word is expounded Iohn 1. 41. Wee hauehave found the Messias, which is by interpretation the Christ. Iesus then is that anoynted of God, anoynted with oyle of gladnes gHeb. 1. 9.aboue his fellowes, our anoynted King to gouerne vsus, our anoynted Prophet to teach vsus, our anoynted Priest, who did suffer and offer vp himselfe for our sinnes, and for the sinnes of the whole world. hLenit. 8. 12.Aaron the Priest was anoynted, i1. King. 19. 16.Elisa the Prophet anoynted, k1. Sam. 10. 1.Saul the king anoynted. In the Sauiour which is Christ, all these meet, that he might be a perfect Sauiour of all, he was all. A Priest after the order of Melchisedeck Psal. 110. 4. A Prophet, to be heard when Moses should hold his peace, Deut. 18. 18. A King to saue his people, whose name should be the Lord our righteousnes, Ieremy 23. 6. Dauids Priest, Moses Prophet, Ieremyes King, & these formerly had met double, two of them in some other; Melchisedeck, King and Priest; Samuel, Priest and Prophet; Dauid, Prophet and King, neuer all three, but in him alone, and so no perfect Christ but he: but he all, and so perfect. Thus in S. Peters confession eueryevery particle and article hath his force, thou which art the son of man, as being borne of Mary the Virgin, art the Christ the son of the liuing God. S. Luke lLuke 9. 10.reports that Peter answered the Christ of God, and mMark. 8. 29.S. Marke sayth only, thou art Christ, whereas our Euāgelist here, thou art the Christ, the son of the liuing God, nSteph. Gardiner vbi s…p.but all in effect is one, seeing Christ alone is the whole: for he that confesseth thoroughly Christ, is thoroughly a Christian, and doth hereby confesse him to be the son of God, and sauiour of men, euen that anoynted o1. Pet. 2. 25.Bishop of our soules, who pRom. 4. 25.dyed for our sinnes, and is risen againe for our Iustification, and qHeb. 9. 24.appeareth in the sight of God for vsus as our agent and rIohn …. 1.aduocate.
Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Iona] vponupon Peters answere, thou art the Christ the son of the liuing God. Iesus replyed after this sort, sChrysost. Theophylact. Iansen.as if he should hauehave sayd, I am the naturall son of God, as thou art the son of Iona. Mystically Simon signifieth obedience, and Ionas a doue: to tSte. Gardiner.signifie that eueryevery Scholler in Christs Schoole must hauehave these two properties, obedience, and simplicitie. Curious pride is a great let in Christianitie, uIames 4. 6.God resisteth the proud, and giueth grace to the humble. The Philosophers in xRom. 1. 22.professing themselues to be wise, became fooles, and were so far from acknowledging Iesus for the son of God, as that the preaching of Christ crucified seemed foolishnes vntounto them, 1. Cor. 1. 23. yErasmus.or Simon is called the son of a doue, because flesh and blood reuealed not this mystery, but the holy spirit which appeared in the likenes of a doue, Matth. 3. 16. or as zCom. in loc.Hierome, Bar-Iona is put for Bar-Iohanna the sonne of Iohn, as Christin the 21. Chap. of S. Iohns Gospel at the 15. vers. Now Iohanna signifies the grace of God, insinuating (as the same Father and aAnselm. Ianse….other Doctours obserue) that Peter in vnderstanding this hidden mystery was the son of grace, so Christ in the words immediatly following, flesh and bloud hath not opened that vntounto thee, bHilarius.not my flesh and blood, for if thou looke vponupon me with a corporall eye, thou seest a man and nothing else: not thy flesh and blood, non consanguinei cAnselm.thy father and thy mother taught it not, dArdens.this knowledge comes not from other men, or from thy selfe, no flesh and blood, eEuthym.that is the will and wit of man (as Paul Galat. 1. 16. I communicated not with flesh and blood) I say the wisdome of man hath not opened this vntounto thee, but my father which is in heauen, as fSer. 2. in nat. Pet. & Paul.Le… the great glosseth it, non opinio te terrena fefellit, sed inspiratio caelestis instruxit. Faith is the gIohn 6. 29.worke of God, and hMatth. 11. 27.no man knowes the sonne but the father, and no man commeth vntounto me except my father draw him Iohn 6. 44. Blessed art thou therefore Simon Bar-Iona, because my father which is in heauen h…th inspired this confession into thee: blessed art thou here, yet more blessed hereafter, as hauing hereby the i1. Tim. 4. 8.promises of the life present, and of that which is to come. So truth it selfe telleth vsus expresly, kIohn 17. 3.this is eternall life to know God, and whom he hath sent Iesus Christ. He that is a true beleeuer is lDe…t. 28.blessed in the City, blessed in the field, blessed in his going forth, and blessed in his comming home, blessed in the mPsalm. 128.labours of his hands, in the fruit of his ground, in the flocks of his sheep, blessed in his wealth, and blessed in his nPsal. 119. 71.woe, blessed in his health, and blessed in his sicknes also, for the Lord will comfort him when he lyeth sick vponupon his bed, and make his bed in his sicknes, Psalm. 41. 3. blessed in all his life, blessed in his houre of oApoc. 14. 13.death, and most blessed in the day of Iudgement, when he shall hauehave perfect consummation of blisse both in body and soule, Come yee blessed inherit yee the kingdome, &c.
VponUpon this rock will I build my Church.] Stephen Gardiner preaching vpō this text before King Edward the 6 sayd, It is a marueilous thing that vponupon these words the Bishop of Rome should found his Supremacy, for whether it be super Petram, or Petrum, all is one matter, it makes nothing at all for that his purpose: This place (quoth he) serues only for Christ, and nothing for the Pope; but afterward in the dayes of Queene pFox Martyr. example of Iohn Rogers Martyr.Mary, reading this Scripture with the Popes owne spectacles, he maintained that the bishop of Rome was the supreme head of the Catholick Church, and he bloodily persecuted all those which held the contrary doctrine. And after him in our age qDe Rom. pon. lib. 1. cap. 10.Bellarmine, rTom. 1. ad an. 34. fol. 207.Baronius, and other Papists of most eminent note for learning, cite this text as a pregnant testimonie, to proue S. Peters Lordship ouer the rest of the Apostles, and so (though inconsequently) the Popes vnlimited Iurisdiction ouer all the Bishops in the world, wherein (as our Diuines hauehave shewed) they contradict 1. the Scriptures, 2. the Fathers, 3. their owne writers, 4. their owne selues.
The Scriptures affirme plainely, that the Church is sEphes. 2. 20.built vponupon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone, to wit, a tEsay 28. 16.tryed stone, a pretious stone, a sure foundation, and u1. Cor. 3. 11.other foundation can no man lay then that which is laied, which is Iesus Christ.
The Fathers auow likewise that Christ is the rock vponupon which his Church is built, so xTract. 124. in Ioan. & ser. 13. de verbis dom. secundum Mat.S. Augustine in many places of his works, Petrus à Petra, non Petra à Petro, quomodo non à Christiano Christus, sed à Christo Christianus vocatur: vponupon this rock then I will build my Church, is nothing else but vponupon my selfe the sonne of the liuing God I will build my Church, aedificabo te super me, non me super te, and whereas he did once construe this of Peter, he yRetract. lib. 1. cap. 21.retracted his opinion, and expounds it of Christ, zCom. in Amos 6.Hierome, aMoral. lib. 31. cap. 34.Gregory the great, bIn Ephes. 2.Primasius, cIn loc.Anselm accord in the same iudgement.
Other of the most ancient fathers interpret it thus, vponupon this rocke, that is, vponupon this faith as being a firme rocke, vponupon this confession (thou art the sonne of the liuing God) I will build my Church, and hell gates shall not preuaile against it. So S. dLib. 6. in Luc. cap. de inter. Iesu.Ambrose, fundamentum ecclesiae fides est: so eHom. 55. in Mat.Chrysostome, vponupon this faith and confession I will build my Church, fIdem operis imperfect hom. 7.fortitudo fidei petra est, propter quam Simon dictus est Petrus: so gIn loc.Theophylact, this confession is the foundation of all such as beleeue: so hInter opera Nyssen. latin. Basiliae fol. 255.Gregory Nyssen, delect. testimon. ex vet. testament. de sanct. trinit. contra Iudeos, vponupon this rocke, that is vponupon this confession of me to be the sonne of the liuing God: so S. iExposit. in epist. Ioan. tract. 10.Augustin, vponupon that which thou hast acknowledged and said, I will build my Church: so Cyril and Hilarius and other Doctors apud Maldonat. in loc. In one word Ionas sometime Bishop of Orleance writes peremptorily kHabetur in monument. patrum fol. 1578. See B. Tonstal se…. before K. H. …. on Palm. Sun. & letter to Car. Poole apud Fox Martyr.lib. 3 de cultu imaginum, that many, yea most expound (vponupon this rocke) to be nothing else but vponupon this confession of faith in saying thou art the Christ, the sonne of the liuing God: so that I am occasioned here iustly lRat. 5.to returne Campians flourish vponupon the papist, patres admiserit, captus est: excluserit, nullus est.
Their owne writers in their commentaries vponupon this text accord with vsus and the fathers about this exposition, as namely Hugo Cardinal, ord. gloss. Dio. Carthusia; Soarez Epis, Conimbricensis; Iohan. Arboreus; Iohan. Ferus; Alphons. Tostatus and many moe. I conclude this obseruation with mLib. 6. in Luc. cap. de interrog. Iesu.Ambrose Christ denyed not to his disciple, the grace of this name that he should be called Peter, because he had solidity of constancy, and stedfastnes of faith of the rocke, endeuour therefore that thou mayest also be a rocke, seeke the rocke not without thee, but within thee, thine act is thy rocke, thy minde is thy rocke, let thine house be built vponupon this rocke, that it may not be beaten with any stormes of spirituall wickednes: faith is thy rocke, faith is the foundation of the Church, if thou be a rocke thou shalt be in the Church, because the Church is vponupon a rocke, &c.
nDe Rom. pont. lib. 1. cap. 10. §. respond. fidem.Bellarmine being compassed about with such a cloud of witnesses answereth by distinction, affirming that faith as it is considered in it selfe is not the foundation of Gods house, but as it hath a relation vntounto the person of Peter: in which assertion he contradicteth himselfe oLib. & cap. vbi sup. praefat. Tom. 1. & cat. cap. 1.elsewhere both alleadging often and approuing also the saying of Augustine, Domus dei credendo fundatur, sperando erigitur, diligendo perficitur. As to make an house (saith he cap. 1. cathechis.) it is needfull first to place the foundation, then to raise the walles, and last of all to couer it with the roofe, and to doe these things there be some instruments necessary: so to make in our selues the building of saluation, we need the foundation of faith, the walles of hope, the roofe of charity, and the instruments are the most holy Sacraments. It is Bellarmines opinion then in that place, that faith in abstracto considered without any mention of any relation vntounto Peter is the foundation of our iustification and eternall saluation. Now the vniuersall Church, and eueryevery particular temple of the holy Ghost (as pCom. in Mat. 16.Theophylact obserues) hauehave one and the same foundation, and that is faith, and that faith is not the personall and particular faith of Peter alone, for hell gates (as qIn loc.Abulensis noteth) hauehave preuailed against it, and rIn loc.Lira telleth vsus that many Popes hauehave bin Apostataes, and Io. sIn loc.Arboreus confesseth honestly that Romanus pontifex potest esse schismaticus & haereticus. It is a seely shift of tDialog. 1.Alanus Copus to say that Peter denyed not the faith of Christ, but, his faith saued, he denied no more then Christ: for as reuerend uDefence of Apolog part. 6. cap. 5. diuision. 2.Iewell acutely replies, by this pretty tricke a man may hauehave both Christ without faith, and also faith without Christ. The fathers then in making faith the foundation of Gods house, meane the common faith (of which a confessiō is made here by Peter as the mouth of his fellowes, and type of the whole Church) it is the xD. Mortons Apolog. part 2. cap. 21. obiec. 5.Creed of the Apostles, and not the singular beleife of Peter only. Saint Paul told his Ephesians that they were built vponupon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone; yLombard, Anselm, Caietan, in Ephes. 2.that is, vponupon Christ as being the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, vponupon that zSalmeron in 2. ad Ephes. disp. 6.faith and doctrine which the Prophets and Apostles taught in the aAmbros. in 2. ad Ephes.old and new testament, the summe whereof is briefly this, that Iesus is that Christ the sonne of the liuing God. The same Paul in the same letter affirmes that there is but one Lord, and but one faith: Vna (quoth b22 …. Quaest. 4. art. 6.Aquine) ratione obiecti, sed diuersa ratione subiecti, faith in regard of her especiall obiect is but one, because there is but one Lord the sonne of the liuing God; but it is diuers in respect of diuers beleeuers, all which are Peters and liuing stones in the building of Gods house, 1. Pet. 2. 5. If Bellarmine then vnderstand by the faith of Peter that generall faith that was in all the Apostles, who did all by Peters mouth confesse the same: cD. Fulke in loc.then are they all by Christs answere made foundation-stones of the Church as well as Peter. It is certaine that Christ had his Church from the beginning of the world built vponupon the foundation of the Prophets, himselfe being the corner stone set vp in the most conspicuous place thereof, and a head stone in the very top and highest part of all, and therefore he speakes in this text of the continuance and enlarging of his Church among the Gentiles by the ministration of his Apostles.
Among other contradictions of the Papists, it is an axiome receiued in their owne dThom. 1. part. quaest. 1. art. 10. & Caietan, ibid.schoole, symbolica theologia non est argumentatiua, that is, we may not fetch an argument in diuinity from allegories and metaphores, vnlesse we can elsewhere shew that the same thing is taught in a literal sense, but the Papists are not able to produce so much as one Scripture where Peter is expresly called the foundation of the Church, ergo to raise his absolute Monarchie vponupon the bare metaphor of a rocke, is not to build on a firme rocke, but vponupon the fickle sand: how they further oppose the fathers, and Esay 19. 2.Aegiptian-like fight one against another in their expositions of this place, see Doctor Fulke in loc. D. Sutlif. de Rom. pon. lib. 2. cap. 2. 3. 4. D. Morton Apolog cat. part. 2. lib. 5. cap. 21. 22. M. Mason tract. of consecration lib. 4. cap. 2. but especially Causabon exercit. 15. ad annal. eccles. Baron. where you shall find eueryevery word of this our text examined most exactly.