1. By the Kingdom of Heaven] is meant, both the Kingdom of Grace & Glory; and that the Kingdom of Glory is also meant, the following words show, when he saith, What you bind on Earth, is bound in Heaven, &c. 2. By the Keys (which are a sign of Power, and are put, by a Metonymy, for the Subject, the Power it self) is meant, Church-power; which is either Supreme, and Sovereign, in Christ only, as Lord and Head of his Church, who alone hath the Key of David, which openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth; in Rev. 3.7. or subordinate and delegate, such as is in Christ's Stewards. This is noted, by Keys, in the Plural number, in this place, which signify all power delegated from Christ, to dispense and administer all the holy things of his House, according to Christ's will, and in the order prescribed by him to that end. For all power, wherewith the Lord Jesus betrusteth his Church, aims at this which is here expressed, to open, and shut, to bind, and loose. 3. To thee I will give] The Application of this Grant is to Peter, in the name of the Church, which Christ promised to build upon himself, believed ⟨p. 75⟩on, and publicly professed, as Peter did before him, and his fellow-Disciples in Christs School, at this time. And the promise is more fitly given to Peter, in the name of the Church, than to the Church by name, because it was not the Church that made this confession, but Peter in the name of the Church. But here we must make a little stand, to examine the sundry claims which have been made to this Right, upon several pretences from this Text. 1. Some, looking at Peter, as representing the Catholic visible-Church, conceive that a general Council (which, they say, is the Catholic Church, representatively) is the Church here meant, to which Christ gives the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. But that cannot be. For particular visible Churches, in the Apostles days, had, and exercised, the Keys completely within themselves; yet was there no general Council, till the time of Constantine, which was three hundred years after Christ. 2. Others look at this Grant, as peculiar to Peter, considered, as the Prince and chief of the Apostles, and to the Popes of Rome, as his successors. But this Papal usurpation, the Councils of Constance and Basil strongly and justly opposed, showing, that the Keys, which ⟨p. 76⟩are here given to Peter, are, in Joh.
1. By the Kingdom of Heaven] is meant, both the Kingdom of Grace & Glory; and that the Kingdom of Glory is also meant, the following words shew, when he saith, What you bind on Earth, is bound in Heaven, &c. 2. By the Keys (which are a sign of Power, and are put, by a Metonimy, for the Subject, the Power it self) is meant, Church-power; which is either Supreme, and Soveraign, in Christ only, as Lord and Head of his Church, who alone hath the Key of David, which openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth; in Rev. 3.7. or subordinate and delegate, such as is in Christ's Stewards. This is noted, by Keys, in the Plural number, in this place, which signifie all power delegated from Christ, to dispense and administer all the holy things of his House, according to Christ's will, and in the order prescribed by him to that end. For all power, wherewith the Lord Jesus betrusteth his Church, aims at this which is here expressed, to open, and shut, to bind, and loose. 3. To thee I will give] The Application of this Grant is to Peter, in the name of the Church, which Christ promised to build upon himself, believed ⟨p. 75⟩on, and publickly professed, as Peter did before him, and his fellow-Disciples in Christs School, at this time. And the promise is more fitly given to Peter, in the name of the Church, than to the Church by name, because it was not the Church that made this confession, but Peter in the name of the Church. But here we must make a little stand, to examine the sundry claims which have been made to this Right, upon several pretences from this Text. 1. Some, looking at Peter, as representing the Catholick visible-Church, conceive that a general Council (which, they say, is the Catholick Church, representatively) is the Church here meant, to which Christ gives the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. But that cannot be. For particular visible Churches, in the Apostles dayes, had, and exercised, the Keyes compleatly within themselves; yet was there no general Council, till the time of Constantine, which was three hundred years after Christ. 2. Others look at this Grant, as peculiar to Peter, considered, as the Prince and chief of the Apostles, and to the Popes of Rome, as his successors. But this Papal usurpation, the Councils of Constance and Basil strongly and justly opposed, shewing, that the Keys, which ⟨p. 76⟩are here given to Peter, are, in Joh.
