As for the few old writers who admitted this play upon words, it must be remembered that none of them interpreted the text in a manner favorable to the Papal sovereignty, nor drew from it the exaggerated consequences of this system. These consequences are diametrically opposed to the whole of their doctrine.
It is true that Christ addressed himself directly to Peter; but it is only necessary to read, the context to see that he did not thereby give him a title to the exclusion of the other apostles. In fact, after having pronounced the words we have quoted, Jesus Christ, still addressing himself to Peter, added:
"I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." In the two parts of this text, Christ simply made two promises to Peter; the first, that the Church should be so firmly established in the faith in his personal divinity, that error should never prevail against that truth; the second, that he would give to Peter an important ministry in the Church.
It is not possible to sustain the doctrine that the power of the keys was granted exclusively to St. Peter, for Jesus Christ gave it to all of them at the same time, employing the same terms that he had used in promising it to St. Peter, (Matt. 18:18;) moreover, he promised to
Matthew, and 1st chapter Epistle to the Galatians; St. Augustine, Tracts 7 and 123 upon St. John, 13th sermon upon the words of the Lord, taken from St. Matthew, 1st Book of the Retractations; Acacius, homily pronounced at the Council of Ephesus; St. Cyril of Alexandria, 4th book upon Isaiah, 4th book of the Trinity; St. Leo I., Sermons 2d and 3d, upon his elevation to the episcopate, sermon upon the Transfiguration of our Lord, sermon 2d upon the nativity of the apostles Peter and Paul; St. Gregory the Great, 3d book, 33d epistle; St. John Damascene upon the Transfiguration. This interpretation of the Fathers was preserved in the West until the era when Ultramontanism was erected into a system by the Jesuits in the 16th century. It will suffice to prove this to cite Jonas of Orleans, 3d book on the worship of images; Hincmar of Rheims, 33d essay; Pope Nicholas I., 6th letter to Photius; Odo of Cluny, sermon upon the see of St. Peter; Rupert, 3d book upon St. Matthew and 12th book upon the Apocalypse; Thomas Aquinas, supplement Q. 25, art. 1; Anselm, upon the 16th chapter of St. Matthew; Eckius,2d book of the primacy of St. Peter; Cardinal de Cusa, Catholic Concordance, 2d book, chapters 13 and 18.
