KEYS, POWER OF THE (ante), according to the general Protestant doctrine, is' simply declarative. When Christ said to Peter, to all the apostles, and to his disciples generally, " Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," he assumed that they would act in his name, and accordina to the conditions which he prescribed. He had made known to them the terms on which, sin's were to be remitted, and when he sent them forth it was to preach " repentance and; remission of sins iu his name." Therefore their power to remit sins was a power to declare that they who repented and believed had their sins forgiven as tI4 act of God, through Christ. This is what Peter did declare on the day of Pentecost, when, in answer to the anxious multitude, he said, 'Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." This was the way in which he "opened the kingdom of heaven" to Jews.
When sent to Cornelius he said, " To Jesus bear all the prophets witness that, through• his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." This was the way: in which he " opened the kingdom of heaven" to Gentiles. Even to Simon Magus het said, " Repent of thy wickedness, and pray God if, perhaps, the thought of thy heart. may be forgiven thee." All that is recorded of Peter's preaching and action shows: that he professed to exercise only declarative power in the name of Christ. Paul anti the rest of the apostles pursued a similar course. This being the way in which theyr exercised the power of the keys, all different or higher claims, up to the pope's asser tion of power over all the church and over two worlds, are, in the judgment of Prot estants, assumptions, contrary to Scripture, disproved by history, and reached by sue- oessive stages through many centuries.