The play (if so common an expression might be used in so sacred a theme) is not on the word _Peter_, but on the word [Hebrew: KPYS] (_Caphis_), which signifies a rafter, a cross beam, a _binder_; or, as the margin (on Habak. ii. 11.) has it, "a fastener," from the verb [Hebrew: KPS] (_Caphas_), to _bind_, to connect, to join.
That our Lord never used the Greek word [Greek: su ei Petros] all must admit; that [Greek: Kêphas] is not the Syriac word for stone is well known to every Oriental scholar. The proper Syriac word for stone is [Syriac: K'P']. However, there is a resemblance between the respective words, which may have been the origin of Simon's second surname--I mean to that of Cephas--Peter.
The import of Matt. xvi. 16-19. seems to me to be this: Christ acknowledges Simon to be part and parcel of the house, the Church; nay, more, He tells Simon that He intends him to be a "master-builder," to join, or bind, many members to that Church, all of which would be owned of Him. But the Church itself must be built upon the _Ebhen_, the _Stone_; by which Jesus evidently alluded to Ps. cxviii. 22.:
[Hebrew: 'BN M'SW HBWNYM] [Hebrew: HYTH LR'SH PNH:] "The _Ebhen_ which the builders refused Is become the head stone of the corner."
May I ask whether the words [Greek: ho ermêneutai Petros] are to be considered as the words of St. John, or of his transcribers? The question may appear startling to some, but my copy of the Syriac New Testament is _minus_ that sentence.
[Footnote 1: See also the marginal readings.]
_Epitaphs._--There is, or was, one at Pisa which thus concludes:
"Doctor doctorum jacet hac Burgundius urna, Schema Magistrorum, laudabilis et diuturna; Dogma poetarum cui littera Græca, Latina, Ars Medicinarum patuit sapientia trina. { 369} Et nunc Pisa, dole, tristeris Thuscia tota, Nullus sub sole est cui sic sunt omnia nota. Rursus ab Angelico coetu super aera vectum Nuper et Angelico, coelo gaude te receptum. Ann. Dom. MCLXXXXIIII. III Calend. Novembr."
"Sacred to the memory of Sarah Micci, who departed this life April 7th, 1819, aged 50 years.
Memento judicii mei, sic enim _erit_ mihi _heri_, tibi hodie."
Not far from this is the following laconic one:
"Dr. John Gardner's last and best bed-room, who departed this life the 8th of April, 1835, in his 84th year."