Popery condemned by scripture and the fathers - End Time Deception

SCRIPTURE AND THE FATHERS. 33
sed his prediction. If the faith of all the disciples
was shaken on this mournful occasion,
Peter's was shattered in proportion to his former
presumption. Our Lord, therefore, shows the
sovereignty and riches of his grace even to backsliders,
by assuring Peter, that though the exercise
of his faith might terminate, still as a
principle it would remain in his heart, The R.
by his language, would seem to insinuate that
the faith of the other disciples had been entirely
destroyed. But the words of Christ afford no
just ground for such a conclusion. Though
Peter's apostacy rendered conversion necessary
for himself, he was not ordered to convert, but
merely to strengthen, his brethren. A candid
examination of the words of Christ, discovers
how much this apastle needed the assistance of
grace,
and how appropriate the divine goodness
is ; but they do not afford the most distant hint
of his supremacy in the church.
But says the R., " To which of the apostles did
*'
Christ say. Feed my lambs, rule my sheep, feed
" my sheep r" As the dispute is not so much
about being chief feeder, as chief ruler in the
church, he takes care to show, in his translation of
the words of Christ, that his address to Peter may
include the idea of government as well as pasture.
That the Greek word which signifies to
feed, denotes also to govern, will not be denied.
But whether docs the R, think, to feed sheep
or