It was to St.
Peter that our Lord first revealed that great gospel, that the
Gentiles were fellow-heirs with the Jews in all God's promises. The
same thing was afterwards revealed to St. Paul too, and far more
fully: but it was St. Peter who had the great honour of baptizing
the first heathen; and of using, as our Lord had bid him do, the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, to open its doors to all the nations
upon earth.
Now, what sort of a man was this on whom the Lord Jesus Christ put
so great an honour? If we say that St. Peter was nothing in
himself; that all the goodness and worth in him was given him by
Jesus Christ, then we must ask, what sort of goodness, what sort of
worth, did the Lord give St. Peter to make him fit for so great an
office? And how did he use Christ's gifts? For, mind, he might
have used them wrongly, as well as rightly; and the greater gifts he
had, the more harm he would have done if he had used them ill. We
shall see, presently, how he did use them ill, more than once; and
how our Lord had to reprove him, and say very stern and terrible
words to him, to bring him to his senses.
But this we may see, that St. Peter was always a frank, brave,
honest, high-spirited man; who, if he thought that a thing ought to
be done, would do it at once.
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