particular that he who had been on other occasions the forwardest of them all and who had been warned by our Saviour of his danger and so was by consequence on his guard and less likely to fall had yet upon a remote apprehension of danger with repeated Oaths denied that he knew him Now he who through fear will deny a truth is much more like upon the same or a greater danger to discover a falshood This being the state of that matter let us now see how we can possibly imagine the Apostles who knew what effects fear had so lately upon themselves and who had also seen to what a degree one of them might he corrupted could so far trust either themselves or one another in such a matter in which they had reason to believe that the Iews who had gone so far with their Master would spare neither arts nor violenee to fetch out the Secret Besides that to venture on an Imposture which goes so much against Human Nature and which naturally strikes Men with fears and jealousies Men must be long practised to boldness and must have made such essays upon themselves and upon one another as to think they are secure of all that are in the Confidence But let us pass over all this and then see how the matter when resolved on could have been managed Either they were to steal away the Body of Christ or to leave it in the Sepulchre If they had left it all must have broke out immediately the bare exposing the Body must have confuted all that they could have said so it must be supposed that they carried it away Now how this could be done when a Watch was set when the Moon shone bright and such numbers of Men were wandring about in every corner is not easie to be imagined Some persons to a considerable number must be imployed if it had been to be carried to any distance and they could not think themselves safe if it had been laid near the place of the Sepulchre Some trace or print must have remained if they had broke ground which they must have expected would have been looked for and being found out would have discovered all not to mention the natural horror that all Men have at the handling dead Bodies even in what is necessary for their burial but most of all Iews who by their Law became defiled to a high degree by it But suppose the dead Body so disposed of that they apprehended to hear no more news of it how is it to be imagined that those frequent Apparitions of our Saviour's particularly that in Galilee to Five hundred at once which is appealed to while many of them were yet alive could have been manageed Here then we have first twelve Witnesses against whom no just exception lies even to feed suspicion who affirm a matter of fact and call in many others as their Vouchers to support their Testimony They stand to it to the last tho' they suffered much for it and could not possibly gain any thing by it and yet are supposed by Infidels to contrive and stick to a Forgery meerly to perswade the World to Vertue and Purity and to Sincerity and Truth which they begin with a train of falshood and deceit without any other visible Bait but their love to their dead Master that they might magnifie him and give him a lasting Name and wipe off the reproach of his infamous Death by this bold Contrivance of theirs A Man that can suppose all this to be possible will suppose any thing and shews that he has no regards so much as to the colours of Truth but will advance any thing rather than be beaten out of his Infidelity But to follow this matter more home a part and a great one of the History of the Gospel is That ten days after our Saviour ascended up into Heaven in the sight of his Apostles which with Infidels will pass for a part of the contrivance they received such extraordinary Illapses and Powers from Heaven in consequence to the Promises that our Saviour had made them that they were enabled to work Miracles and to speak with divers Tongues and the first essay of this appeared at the next Festival of the Iews in which Ierusalem was again filled not only with all the Iews of Iudea but also with those of the dispersion who from all Quarters were come up at Pentecost from the East as far as from Persia and Media from the West as far as from Rome and Libia from the South as far as from Arabia and from the North as far as from Parthia and many Provinces of Asia the Less and from several Islands as well as from the Continent Here was an astonishing thing to see unlettered men all of the sudden break out in speaking of Languages in which they had no sort of Education or Practice Fevers or Enthusiastical Heats may inflame men so far as to make them speak those Languages which they understand tho' they are not otherwise ready at them for the Prints being already in their Brains a strong exaltation of their Spirits may fetch those out much better than they themselves in a cooler and more sedate state could have done but where there are no previous Impressions no heat whatsoever can fetch out that which is not within Now as this was the most necessary of all other things to qualifie men to execute their Commission of going to teach all Nations in which they must have made a very slow progress if they must have learned the Language of every Countrey to which they were to go so it was the most signal of all others and as was formerly hinted at was that which must have been presently discover'd if it had not been notoriously and unquestionably true With these Powers and those Languages the Apostles went every where and promised to confer the like gifts on those that should receive and believe their Gospel And in the Epistles which they writ afterwards to those Churches even when their Authority was called in question they appealed to the gifts of the Holy Ghost conferred by their means so that either these things were notoriously true or they must have been despised as the most assuming and impudent of all Impostors These were their Credentials that procured them a hearing and as men were disposed to eternal Life so they received and entertained their Message Thus we have seen by a great variety of Considerations which this matter presents to us that not only there is no colour of Reason to incline a man to think that the Apostles designed to impose upon the World but that there is all possible Reason to the contrary to persuade us that they were in no respect capable of projecting any such thing nor of effecting it if they had intended it The 2 d. Supposition of Infidelity is That they themselves might have been deceived by two or three designing persons who might have imposed upon them
the two pretending Popes was truly chosen It must also be cleared in what form he is to proceed when Infallibility accompanies his Decisions whether he may proceed upon his own sense or with the advice of others and who these must be and what Solemnities in the Publication are necessary to make him speak ex Cathedra Here a great variety of Difficulties arise which ought to be well cleared to us before we can be bound to acquiesce in so great a Point as his Infallibility And we ought to have these things made out by a Divine Authority for if Christ has made a special grant of Infallibility to the Bishops of Rome no Forms nor Rules invented by men can limit that These may be Rules agreed on as fit to be observed but after all if a Pope is Infallible by a Commission from Jesus Christ he must be believed Infallible tho he should break through all those Forms that men have only invented It remains then that we consider those Proofs that are brought to confirm this since without very good ones it is extream unreasonable to urge such a Point or to expect that it should be submitted to Here all that was said formerly against proving this matter from Scripture is to be remembred But waving that in this place the Passages that seem to be formal for the Church in general are brought to support the Papal Authority For if great Powers are given to the Church and if it does not appear that they are any where else then they must be found in him he being the Church-Representative But this is an absurd Imagination unless they can shew us that God has lodged that Representation in that See As for that of 18. St. Matthew 17. for telling the Church and that such as do not hear it shall be to us as Heathens and Publicans it must be confess'd that these words barely in themselves and as separated from all that went before seem to speak out all that they plead for but when the occasion of them and the manner that governs them is consider'd nothing is plainer that our Saviour is here speaking only of such quarrellings and differences as may happen to fall out among Christians who are by these words oblig'd to try all amicable ways of setling them First by private endeavours then by the interposition of Friends and finally by the Authority of that Body or Church to which they belong'd and such as could not be prevail'd on by those methods were to be esteem'd no true Christians but to be look'd on as Heathens or as very bad men They might upon that be excommunicated and prosecuted afterwards in Civil Courts since they had no right any more to the Tenderness and Charity that ought to be among the Members of the Church This Exposition has a fair appearance and looks like being true to say no more at present for that is enough according to what was formerly laid down since the proofs of such a matter as this is ought to be full and home This seems to look more favourable towards the way of the Congregational Churches in which the whole Assembly of the Brotherhood govern all their Concerns but does not so much as by a hint seem to favour the pretensions either of Popes or Councils That Character of the Church given by St. Paul that it is the Pillar and Ground of Truth is a figurative form of Speech upon which it is never safe to build much less to lay so much weight upon it It is a Description that the Iews gave to their Synagogues and is by St. Paul appli'd to the Church of Ephesus for it is visible that it has no relation to the Catholick Church it being only an enforcing consideration to oblige Timothy to a greater caution in his Behaviour there It has visibly a relation to Inscriptions that were made on Pillars but what ever be the strict Importance of the Phrase it is clear that it is but a Phrase and therefore it cannot bear that which is raised upon it Some Reflections have been already made on those Promises of Christ to his Apostles that the Spirit should lead them into all Truth which plainly related to the infallible Conduct under which they were to be put but from these words themselves there is no reason to infer that the Promises were to descend to any after them they relate to an immediate Inspiration so if they prove any thing they prove too much That the Church must still have in it a successive Inspiration It is urg'd that a parity of Reason leads us to conclude That this Promise was still to continue tho not in the same manner in the Church But all such Arguments are only conjectural Inferences and are at best but probabilities so that there is no arguing from them and therefore this can signify nothing Those words of our Saviour's with which St. Matthew concludes his Gospel Lo I am with you always even to the end of the world infer no Infallibility but import only a promise of Assistance and Protection which was a necessary encouragement to the Apostles who were sent out upon so hard and laborious as well as dangerous Commission In both Testaments by God's being with any by his walking with them his being in the midst of them his never leaving them nor forsaking them no more is meant but that he watches over them that he directs assists and protects them and there being a vast difference between all this and Infallibility it can prove noting of that kind So that in conclusion the whole matter must turn upon the words of Christ to St. Peter for these do not relate to the Church in general but seem to belong particularly to him yet there is not so much as a hint given to lead us to apply them to his Successors nor does he give any himself when he was writing his Second Epistle not long before his death since he mentions a Revelation that he had of its being near him yet he does not in those last Warnings against the Corrupters of this Holy Religion give so much as a remote Intimation of any Authority that he was to leave behind him for the Government of the Church and preserving it pure both from Error and Immorality Nor were these words of Christ's so much as pretended for many Ages to import any Authority or Infallibility lodg'd with St. Peter's Successors I do not now question his being at Rome tho that matter is really so doubtful that even there we are far from any degree so much as of human Certainty But to go on with those words of our Saviour's to St. Peter there is one great presumption that lies against any pecular Authority given to him by them since we see not the least appearance either in the Acts of the Apostles or Epistles of any peculiar Appeals or References made to him On the contrary he seems to be call'd to an account for his
no wonder if he raises the Authority and the Priviledges of the Church to a vast height Yet after all these were not his setled thoughts for he goes off from them whensoever he has an eye on his Disputes against the Pelagians for the System which he had framed in those Points could not bear with any other Notion of the Church but that of the persons predestinated to whom all the Promises belonged And thus whatever he himself asserts in his zeal against the Donatists comes to be thrown down when the Pelagians are in his view so we see from hence how much deference is due to his Authority in this Point The last head relating to this whole matter is to explain in what the Authority of the Church does consist what it is both in matters of Faith and Discipline As to matters of Faith it is certain that every Body of men is bound to study to maintain its own Order and Quiet and must be authoris'd to preserve it otherwise it cannot long continue to be one Body This binds the Body of Christians yet much more who are strictly charged to love one another to worship God with one heart and mouth to be of the same mind and judgment to assemble themselves together and to withdraw from all such as cause divisions or corrupt the great Trust of the Faith committed to their keeping It must be therefore a great part of the duty of those that are bound to feed the flock to observe when any begin to broach new Opinions that they may confirm the weak and stop the mouths of gainsayers which as the Apostles themselves did during their own lives so by the charges that they gave to the Churches in their Epistles and more fully by those given to Timothy and Titus it appears that a main part of their Care and Authority was to be employ'd that way When therefore any new Doctrines are started or when there arise Disputes about any part of Religion the Pastors of the Church ought to consider whether or not it is in a matter of any great consequence in which the Faith or Lives of men may be concerned If the point is not of a great importance it is a piece of wisdom to connive at lesser matters and to leave men to a just freedom in things where that freedom is not like to do hurt only even there care is to be taken to keep men in temper that they become not too keen in the management of their Opinions and that they neither disturb the Peace of the Church nor State upon that account If the matters appear to be great either in themselves or in the consequences that are like to follow upon them then the Pastors of the Church ought to consider them with an equal and impartial mind they ought to here Parties fully and weigh their Arguments carefully they ought to examine the sense of the Scriptures and of the best times of the Church upon those Heads and finally to give Sentence In which two things are to be considered the one is That great regard is due to a Decision made by a Body of men who seem to have acted without prejudice or interest For I confess it will be very hard to maintain such a respect for a Company in which matters are carried with so much Artifice and Intrigue as even Cardinal Palavicini represents in the management of the Council of Trent where Bishops were caressed or threatned well paid or ill used as they gave their Voices Such a proceeding as this will rather inflame than allay the opposition but a fair and equitable a just and calm way of examining matters of dispute will naturally beget a respect even in such as cannot yield a submission to their Decrees After all it must be confessed That no Man can be bound to a blind Submission unless we suppose an Infallibility to be in the Church yet Private Men owe to Publick Decisions when decently made a due respect they ought to distrust their own judgments and examine the matter more accurately But if they are still convinc'd that the Decision is wrong they are bound to persist in their own thoughts only they ought to oppose modestly to consider well the Importance of Order and Peace and whether their Opinion even suppose it true is worth the Noise that may be made about it or the Disorders that may follow upon it After all If they are still convinced that their Opinions are true and that they relate to the indispensible Duties of Religion or the necessary Articles of Christianity they must go on as they will answer it to God upon the sincerity of their Hearts and the fulness of their Convictions So that the Definitions of the Church may have very good Effects even when it is not pretended that they are Infallible Another thing to be consider'd in those Decisions is That though they are not Infallible yet they may have Authority in this respect That they are the established Doctrine of such a Body of Christians who will have no other to be taught among them and will admit none to be of their Body or at least to be a Teacher among them who is not of the same mind In this it is certain great Tenderness and Prudence is to be used and the natural liberty of Mankind is not to be too much limited But yet as any Man may fix and declare his own Opinion so certainly by a much greater parity of reason any Society or Body of Men may declare their Opinions and so far fix them as to exclude all other Doctrines and the Favourers of them from being of their Body or from bearing any Office in it So that though such Decisions do not enter into Mens Consciences nor bind them further than as they are convinced by the Reasons and Authorities upon which they are founded yet they may have a vast influence on the Order and Peace of Churches and States As to Rituals it is certain that there are many little Circumstances and Decencies that belong to the Worship of God the Order of Religious Assemblies and their Administrations and that in these the Pastors of a Church by the Natural Right that all Societies have to keep themselves in order must have a Power to determine all things of this nature This becomes yet clearer in the Christian Societies from the Rules that the Apostles gave to the Churches To do all things in Order and for the ends of Edification and Peace There is not one of the Rules laid down in Scripture concerning the Sacraments or the Officers of the Church to which many Circumstances do not belong now either these must be all left to every Man's liberty which must needs create a jarring disagreement in the several parts of this Body that would both breed confusion and look very ridiculous and absurd or there must be an Authority in the Pastors of the Church to meet together and to settle these by mutual consent
All the greater Bodies of those who divide from our Constitutions have some Rituals of their own so the Dispute in this must only be concerning the degrees and extent of this Power For if any Authority is allowed it will not be easy to fix any other Bounds to it but this that it must not invade the Divine Authority nor do any thing beyond the Rules and Limits set in the Scriptures for if there is the least degree of Authority in the Church the grounds upon which it is founded must carry it to every thing that cannot be proved to be unlawful Bare unfitness though it ought to be a Consideration of great weight when such things are deliberated about yet when they are once concluded can be no reason for disobeying them since the fitness of Order and the decency of Unity and Obedience is certainly of much more value than any special unfitness that can be supposed to be in any particular Instance So that one of these two must be admitted either that the Pastors of the Church have no sort of Authority even in the smallest Circumstances but are limited by the Rules of the Scripture and can only execute them strictly and not go beyond them in a title or this Authority must go to every thing that is lawful On that I will dwell no longer here the fuller discussion of this matter belonging to another Discourse It is a natural Consequence of the Authority given to the Pastors of the Church That they having declared and fixed their Doctrine and having setled Rules for their Rituals may excommunicate such as either do not live according to the Rules of their Religion which are a main part of their Doctrine or do not obey the Constitutions of their Society Excommunication in the Strictness of things is only the Churches refusing to receive a person into her Communion now as every Private man is the Master of his own Actions it is clear that every Body of Men must also be the Masters of theirs And thus though Excommunication in some respects is declaratory it being a solemn denunciation of the Judgments of God according to the tenor of the Gospel against persons who live in an open violation of some one or more of its Laws so it is also an authoritative Act by which a Church refuses to communicate with such a Person In this it is true Churches ought to make the terms of Communion with them as large and extensive as may consist with the Rules of Religion and of Order but after all they having a Power over themselves and their own Actions must be supposed to be likewise cloathed with a Power to communicate with other Persons or not to do it as they shall see cause in which great difference is to be made between this Power in it self and the use and management of it for any Abuses whether true or only pretended though they may well be urged to procure a proper Reformation of them yet cannot be alledged against the Power it self which is both just and necessary It is not so very clear to state the Subordination in which the Church is to be put under the Civil Power and how far all Acts of Church Power are subject to the Laws and Policies of those States to which the several Churches do belong It is certain that the Magistrate's being a Christian or not does not at all alter the Case that has only a relation to his own salvation for his Authority is the same whatever his Belief may be in matters of Religion His design to protect or to destroy Religion alters the Case more sensibly for the regards to that Protection and to the Peace and Order that follow upon it together with the Breaches and Disorders that might follow upon an ill understanding between Church and State are matters of Such Consequence that it is not only meer Prudence which may give perhaps too strong a Bias to carnal Fears and Policies but the Rules of Religion which oblige the Church to study to preserve that Order and Protection which is one of the chief Blessings of the Society and a main Instrument of doing much good Great difference is to be made between an Authority that acts with a visible design to destroy Religion and another that intends to protect it but that errs in its conduct and does often restrain the Rules of Order and impose hard and uneasy things Certainly in the latter much is to be born with that may be otherwise uneasy because the main is stil safe and private slips when endured and submitted to can never be compared to those publick disorders that a rigid maintaining of that which is perhaps in it self good must occasion But when the design is plain and that the Conduct of the Civil Powers goes against the Truth of Religion either in whole or in any main Article of it then the Body of the Christians of that State ought to fortify themselves by maintaining their Order and their other Rules in so far as they are necessary to their preservation Upon the whole matter it does not appear that the Church has any Authority to act in opposition to the State but meerly in those things in which the Religion that she professes is plain and positive so that the Question comes to be really this Whether is it better to obey God than Man There the Rule is clear and the Decision is soon made So when the Church acts meerly in obedience to Rules and Laws laid down in Scripture such as in declaring the Doctrine in administring the Sacraments and maintaining the setled Officers of the Church she is upon a sure Bottom and must cast her self upon the Providence of God whatever may happen and still obey God but in all things that have arisen out of ancient Customs and Canons in every thing where she has not a Law of God to support her I do not see any Power she has to act in opposition to Law and to the Supreme Civil Authority In this the constant practice of the Iews is no small Argument whos 's Sanhedrin that was a Civil Court and the Head of their State did give Rules and Orders which their Priests were bound to obey when not contrary to the Law of God We are sure this was the Rule in our Saviour's time and it was never censured nor reproved by him nor by the Apostles The Argument is also strong that is drawn from the constant practice of the Church from the time that she first had the protection of the Civil Authority till the times of the Papal Domination in which we find the Emperours all along making Laws concerning all the Administrations of the Church we find them receiving Appeals in all Church matters which they appointed such Bishops as hapned to be about their Courts to examine This was like our Court of Delegates for the Bishops who judged those matters did not act according to Canon or by the Ecclesiastical
one another in such cases The one is not to set a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in another man's way that is not to use our liberty in such instances or on such occasions as may draw other men to act in imitation of us against their own Consciences This is the true notion of giving scandal or the laying a trap in the way of another by which he may fall or be catched And this every man is to avoid when it is free for him to act or not as he pleases for in that case only he is under this obligation and caution since otherwise if he is determined by any Law Divine or Humane he must go on and do his duty without considering what consequences may happen upon it for which he is not accountable since he is not at liberty to dispose of himself but is concluded by a higher Authority The other Rule is That we ought as much as may be to avoid doing any thing that may grieve other Christians which is said to be walking uncharitably since we ought to have such regard even to the tenderness and weakness of our Brethren as not to do such things as may wound or trouble them still under the former supposition that we are fully at our own liberty and under no law nor obligation to the contrary These are the Rules laid down by St. Paul which when well considered and rightly understood will give a great light into this whole Controversy By these it will appear that even the Apostles themselves who might have assumed a higher strain of Authority yet had great regards to the frailties of those they governed And although most of these Positions and Rules do suppose men to be in a state of an unrestrained liberty so that they do not belong to our case in which Laws and Constitutions have already determined us yet they ought still to have great weight with those that are not concluded by Laws and all such as may have the making or reviewing of Laws under their care and deliberation But I have opened this matter more fully than was perhaps necessary to my present purpose which only required that I should clear some Passages in St. Paul's Epistles that are applied to the Points now under examination though they do not at all belong to them since all that is in St. Paul relates only to such things as were entirely left to mens own liberty and in which it was free to them to act which way soever they pleased which are not at all applicable to established rules setled by Law and recommended by Ancient practice It is true that no Age of the Church since the Apostles days can make Laws for succeeding Ages since the Pastors of every Age have the same Authority that the Pastors of any precedent Age had after the times of Inspiration Whatever was done in a former Age may be altered in a subsequent one And therefore all those Rules of the subordination of Churches one to another being taken from the disposition of the Roman Empire Europe being now totally moulded into another frame are now at the discretion of Princes to cotinue or change them at their pleasure And all the Rituals of the Church are in the power of every Age to alter or continue them as they shall see cause but till they are altered they bind not by reason of any Authority that former Ages had over the present but because the present Age by not repealing former Rules and Canons does tacitly and interpretatively confirm and renew them For if the Pastors of the present Age in concurrence with and a due subordination to the Civil Powers have an Authority to make Laws or Canons in such matters they have likewise a power to continue such as were made in any former Age and they are presumed and in Law taken to do that till they repeal them I have now gone through the general Plea that is brought against our Constitutions from general Topicks and have I hope shewed that there is no force in any part of it I come next to consider such things as are objected more specially to several particulars in our Constitution They except to the Government of the Church because of the different Ranks of Bishop Priest and Deacon whereas the Scriptures use Bishop and Priest so promiscuously that from thence it seems reasonable to infer that they are one and the same Function and that there ought to be but two Ranks Bishop and Diacon in the Church But those who object this have really among them but one Function and Order since they have no Diacons in the sense of St. Paul's Epistles who are a Degree of Men dedicated to the Service of God out of which as any served well in it they were advanced to a superior Degree and were ever esteemed a Sacred Order of Men. There are none such among those who urge this Matter against us The Promiscuous use of Names does not prove the Offices the same The Apostles are called sometimes Deacons or Ministers and so are their Companions in Labour for the term Diacon signifying any one that Ministred It was not then appropriated to the lowest Order no more than Presbyter was to the second for the Apostles call themselves sometimes Deacons so that from hence an Argument might be drawn as well to prove that Deacons are equal in Rank to the highest Order of Bishops We plainly see That God setled three Orders of Officers in the Iewish Temple We see also in their Synagogues that there were three different Ranks taken probably from the Model of the Temple We see our Saviour chose twelve Apostles and afterwards Seventy Disciples having in that no doubt a regard both to the numbers of their Tribes and of their Sanhedrin We plainly see that during the Apostles lives the governing and ordering of the Church was in them yet they constituted some in their Name to govern a large extent of Churches and by their Epistles to these it is plain That the Power of governing those Churches and of ordaining new Officers in them belonged to them they being the Persons to whom that trust was committed with solemn Charges given them for it by the Apostles We plainly see two distinct Orders of Bishop and Deacon as two Sacred Functions that were to labour in the work of the Gospel and we find by the short Epistles in the beginnings of the Revelation that there was one Man who had the Immediate Charge of those Churches to whom every thing relating to them is addressed as to a Person that was accountable for the rest and that by consequence must be suppos'd to have an Authority over them We see immediately after the days of the Apostles that all the Churches were cast into one Mould of Bishop Priest and Diacon This taking place every where and that at a time when no Meetings of the Clergy could be held to establish any such Form and that no
Faculties since these passages and that which necessarily relates to them will lead a man into the understanding of the hardest parts of the whole New Testament If this method is let go they must prove the Infallibility of the Church by Arguments drawn from some other Visible Characters by which a man is to be convinc'd that God has made her Infallible If there were such eminent ones as the gift of Tongues Miracles or Prophecies that did visibly attest this here were a proof that were solid indeed It were the same with that by which we prove the Truth of the Christian Religion But then these Miracles must be as uncontestedly and evidently proved they must also belong to this point that is they must be Miracles publickly done to prove the truth of this Assertion But to this Appeal they will not stand what use soever they may make of it to amuse the weaker and the more credulous The Character of an uninterrupted Succession from the days of the Apostles is neither an easier nor a surer one since other Churches whom they condemn have it likewise nor can it be search'd into by a private man unless he would go into that Sea of examining the History the Records and Succession of Churches This is an Enquiry that has in it Difficulties vastly greater and more insuperable than all those that they can object to us If they will appeal to the vast Extent of a Church that so many Nations and Societies agree in the same Doctrine and are of one Communion this will prove to be a dangerous point for in the state in which we see Mankind Numbers make a very bad Argument It were to risque the Christian Religion too much to venture on a Poll with the Mahometans In some Ages the Semi-Arrians had the better at numbers and it is a question if at this day those that are within or without the Roman Communion make the greatest body Nor must a man be put to chuse his Religion by such a laborious and uncertain way of Calculation To plead a continuance in the same Doctrine that was at first deliver'd to the Church by the Apostles is to put the matter upon a more desperate issue For as no man can hope to see to the end of this so it lets a man in into all Controversies when he is to compare the present Doctrine with that which was deliver'd by the Apostles Let then any Character be assign'd that shall oblige a man to believe the Church Infallible and it will soon appear very evidently that the searching into that must put the world on more difficult Enquiries than any of those that we are pressed with and that in the issue of the whole the determination must be resolv'd into a private Judgment Another Difficulty follows close upon this which is In what Church this Infallibility is to be found Suppose a man was born in the Greek Church at any time since the IX Century how shall he know that he must seek the Infallibility in the Roman Communion and that he cannot find it in his own He plainly sees that the Christian Religion began in the Eastern parts and by every step that he makes into History he clearly discerns that it flourished for many Ages most eminently there but now that there is a breach between them and the Latins he cannot judge to which Communion he is to adhere without he examines the Doctrine for both have the outward Characters of a Succession of Martyrs and Bishops of Numbers and an appearance of continuing in the same Doctrine only with this difference that the Greeks have the advantage in every one of these they have more Apostolical Churches I mean founded by the Apostles than the Latins and they have stuck more firmly with fewer Additions and Innovations to their Ancient Rituals than the Latins have done How can he then decide this matter without examining the grounds of their difference and making a private Judgment upon a private Examination of the Scriptures or other Authorities If it be said that the present depress'd and ignorant state of those Churches makes it now very sensible that there can be no Infallibility among the Easterns To this it is to be answer'd that I have put the case all-along from the 9th Century downward In many of those Ages the Greeks were under as good Circumstances and had as fair an appearance as the Latins had if not better for the outward appearances of the Roman Communion in the next Centuries the 10th and 11th are not very favourable even by the Representation that their own Writers have made of them and if we must judge of the Infallibility of a Church by outward Characters it may be urg'd with great shews of Reason that a Church which under all its Poverty and Persecutions does still adhere to the Christian Religion has so peculiar a Character of bearing the Cross and of living in a constant state of Sufferings that if Infallibility be in the Church as a favour and priviledge from God and not as the effect of human Learning and other Advantages I should sooner believe the Greek Church Infallible than any other now in the World But when these difficulties are all got over there remain yet new and great ones Suppose one is satisfi'd that it is in the Roman Church he must know where to find it without this it is of no more use to him than if one should tell a hungry man that there is food enough for him without directing him where to seek for it he must starve after all that general Information if he has not a more particular direction And therefore it seems very absurd to affirm that the believing of Infallibility is an Article of Faith but that the proper Subject in whom it rests is not likewise an Article of Faith This is the general Tenet of the whole Roman Communion who that they may maintain their Union notwithstanding their difference in this do all agree in saying that the subject of this Infallibility is not a matter of Faith This destroys the whole pretension for all the Absurdities of no end of Controversies of private Judgment and every man's expounding the Scriptures do return here and the whole design of Infallibility is defeated For how can a man be bound to submit to this in any one Instance or to receive any proposition as coming from an Infailible Authority if he does not know who has it Thus according to that Maxim of Natural Logick that a Conclusion can have no certainty beyond that which was in both the Premises if it is not certain with whom the Infallibility dwells as well as that there is an Infallibility in the Church all the noise about it will be quite defeated and of no use If a man had many Medecines of which one was an Infallible Cure of such or such Diseases can it be suppos'd that he would communicate these to the World and tell that one of them
consent of the Metropolitan yet whatever may be done in subâ—ltern Bodies where things that are done amiss may be rectifi'd by Appeals the Supream and last Resort must be left to the full freedom in which Christ has constituted his Church It must be further consider'd That Infallibility is not like ordinary Jurisdiction or Legislation which may be moulded according to the conveniences of Society it is a Priviledge which if the Church has it at all she has it by an immediate Grant from Heaven and so she must enjoy and apply it according to the Ten or of that Grant and she cannot expect to have it continu'd to her but as she observes the nature of the Grant Indeed if it were given her at large to be modell'd and lodg'd as she pleases there might be a power in her to limit the use of it to such forms as should be least liable to Exception or Abuse But either it is granted to a single person or to the body in general If it is granted to a single person then he and he only has it He may indeed if he pleases in order to his being better inform'd or obey'd call a General Council but their proceedings are only preparatory to his using the Infallibility which is singly in himself Nor can the Divine Grant be limited as to the exercise or use of it all such Rules must still be at the Pope's discretion On the other hand If the Grant is given to the Community of the Pastors then the Infallibility must be in them and cannot be limited or supposed to stay for the Consent of any one Bishop for whatsoever regard may he had to any one man by reason of the Dignity of his See or his other Circumstances yet still this must be but a point or form of human Prudence for the Infallibility must be where Christ has placed it and cannot be transferr'd from thence or be put any where else So unless it is said that Christ has put this Infallibility between Pope and Council in so express a manner as all Constitutions do which are under a mixed Legislation which is not pretended then it must be lodged either in a General Council or in the Pope and cannot be in both This then is to be examin'd in the next place I begin therefore to examine the Plea for the Infallibility of Councils It is at first no small prejudice against this Opinion that the Church was Constituted and had continu'd 300. years before any thing that has the shadow of a General Council was call'd so if an infallible Judge of Controversies be necessary to the Church here we see she subsisted in her hardest times in which she was the most distrest both by Heresies and Persecutions without one We also see that she has been these last 130. years without one tho there are warm Disputes among them both in Speculative and Practical Doctrines both sides reproaching one another with Heresy and as there is little prospect of a Council neither the Court of Rome nor the Courts of other Princes who have among them taken away all the Primitive and Canonical Rights of the Church which an honest Council must desire to regain being concern'd ever to have one So if a Council were necessary it is not very easy to see how it should be brought together During the Greatness of the Roman Empire it was in the Emperor's power to have brought the Bishops together at his pleasure but now this depends upon the Pope who summons them having obtain'd the consent of the Princes of Christendom which is subdivided into many different Soveraignties This Matter depending then so entirely upon the See of Rome there is no reason to look for one from them for they pretending to have the Infallibility in themselves should very much derogate from that if they summon'd a Council for a decision in Doctrinal Matters they being in possession of judging these at Rome And as for Matters of Discipline except we can imagine that they will be content to part with that Authority which they have assum'd over all Sees and Churches and over all the Canons of the Church we cannot see reason to fancy that they will ever call one If they should the consent of all Soveraigns must likewise be obtain'd for it being a part of the Civil Authority to keep Subjects within the Princes Dominions they cannot be oblig'd to send their Bishops and Divines to a Council unless they please This is a power which seems to belong to them it is certain they claim it and very probably would put it in execution if that matter came to be contested So here are very great Contingencies to be conquer'd before a General Council can be brought together Now it is not very likely that Christ should have left so great and so necessary a power to his Church by which all Controversies must be judged which yet must be at the mercy of so many Accidents before it can be brought to work and that the bringuing together of those Councils should depend so entirely upon them against whose Pretensions or Usurpations it seems to be most necessary But to go more closely to this Opinion If the Infallibility lies in a General Council it is first necessary that we know who are the Members that must constitute this Council whether the Laity have a right to be in it and to Judge or not We find the Brethren as well as the Elders join'd with the Apostles in that first Council to which all subsequent Councils pretend they have succeeded and whose Style It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us is one of the Foundations of this Authority Why then are the Brethren or the whole Church that is Lay Christians whom even the Apostles tho Inspir'd took to consult and judge with them Why I say are they now excluded It is also probable that by Elders or Presbyters are to be meant those to whom that name was afterwards appropriated why then are they shut out In a word If by a Divine Grant Infallibility belongs to a General Council we have a just Right to ask for a Definition of the Council by the same Authority otherwise we may ascribe Infallibility to those to whom God never meant to give it Must this Council consist of all the Bishops of the Christian Church For tho this is both unreasonable and scarce possible yet if the Infallibility is given in common to the Pastors and Bishops of the Church then it will be hard to shut out any from it if because of their distance their Age or their Poverty they cannot come to it and if tho a general Summons is pretended to give all men a right to come yet it is certain that only a few of those who have lived at a distance have come even in the best Ages those few will either be men of a greater degree of Wealth of Heat or of Health and will be probably men pickt out
World in which they should be authoris'd to dissolve the Obligation of the Mosaical Laws and to confirm such parts of them as were Moral and perpetually binding which the Apostles should do with such visible Characters of a Divine Authority empowering and conducting them in it that it should be very evident that what they did on Earth was ratified in Heaven These words thus understood carry in them a plain sense which agrees well with the whole design of the Gospel but whatsoever may be their sense it is plain that there was nothing here peculiarly given to St. Peter As for our Saviour's praying for St. Peter that his faith might not fail and his restoring him to his Apostolate by a threefold charge feed my sheep or lambs it has such a visible relation to his fall and threefold denial that it is not worth the while to enlarge on or to shew that it is capable of no other signification and cannot be carried further And thus I have gone through all that is brought from the Scriptures for asserting the Infallibility of the Church and in particular of the Pope's and have I hope fully shew'd that they cannot bear that sense but that they must genuinely bear a plainly different sense which does no way differ from our Doctrine It was necessary to clear all this for tho as was before made out it is no proper way for them to resolve their Faith by passages out of Scripture yet these are very good objections to us who upon other Reasons do submit to their Authority There remains but one thing now to be clear'd which is this If the Church is not Infallible it does not easily appear what certainty we can have concerning the Scriptures since we believe them upon the Testimony of the Church and we have no other knowledge concerning them but what has been handed down to us by Tradition If therefore this is fallible we may be deceiv'd in our persuasion even concerning them But here a great difference is to be made between the carrying down a Book to us and the Oral Delivering of a Doctrine it being almost as hard to suppose how the one could sail as how the other should not fail The Books being in many hands spread over the whole Churches and read in all their Assemblies makes this to be a very different thing from discourses that are in the Air and to which every man that reports them is apt to give his own Cue A great difference is also to be made between the Testimony of a Witness and the Authority of a Judge If in any Age of the Church Councils had examin'd controverted Writings and had upon that past Sentence this had been in deed a judging the matter but no such thing ever was The Codex of the Scriptures was setled some Ages before any Provincial Council gave out a Catalogue of the Books which they held as Canonical For no ancient General Council ever did it and tho the Canonical Epistles of which there not being such a certain Standard they not being addrest to any particular Body that had preserv'd the Originals were not so early nor so universally receiv'd as the others were yet the matter was setled without any Authoritative Judgment only by examining Originals and such other Methods by which all things of that nature can only be made out But this matter having been so fully consider'd and stated in another Discourse I shall dwell no longer on it in this As for the Authorities which are brought from some of the Ancients in favour of the Authority of the Church and of Tradition it is to be considered that though the word Tradition as it is now used in Books of Controversy imports a sense opposite to that which is written in the Scripture yet Tradition is of its own signification a general word that imports every thing which is delivered And in this sense the whole Christian Religion as well as the Books in which it is contained was naturally called the Tradition of the Apostles So that a great many things said by Ancients to magnify the Tradition of the Apostles and by way of Appeal to it have no relation to this matter Besides when men were so near the Apostolical Age that they could name the Persons from whom they had such or such hints who had received them from the Apostles or from Apostolical men Tradition was of another sort of Authority and might have been much more safely appealed to than at the distance of so many Ages Therefore if any thing is brought either from Irenaeus or Tertullian that sounds this way here is a plain difference to be observed between their Age and ours which does totally diversify it But to convince the World how early Tradition might either vary or misrepresent matters let the Tradition not only in but before St. Irenaeus's time concerning the observation of Easter be considered which goes up as high as St. Polycarps's time We find that as the several Churches adhered to the practices of those Apostles that founded them so they had quite forgot the grounds on which it seems these various Observations were founded Since though it is very probable that those who kept Easter on the Iewish day did it that by their condescendence to the Iews in that matter they might gain upon them and soften their Prejudices against Christianity yet it does not appear that their Successors thought of that at all for they vouched their Custome and resolved to adhere to it nor is there any thing mentioned on either side that give us the account of those early but different Observations If then Tradition failed so near its Fountain we may easily judge what account we ought to make of it at so great a distance Many things are brought with great pomp out of St. Austin's Writings magnifying the Authority of the Church in terms which after all the allowances that are to be made for his diffuse and African Eloquence can hardly be justified Yet when it is considered that he writ against the Donatists who had broke the Vnity of the Church upon the pretence of a matter of fact concerning the Ordainers of Cecilian which had been as to the point of fact often judged against them And yet as they had distracted the whole African Churches so they were men of fierce and implacable Tempers that broke out daily into acts of great fury and violence and had set up a principle that must for ever break the Peace and Union of the Church which was that the vertue of all the publick Acts of Worship of Sacraments and Ordinances depended upon the personal worth of him that officiated so that his Errors or Vices did make void all that past through his hands Now when so warm a man as St. Austin had so bad a Principle and so ill a disposition of mind in view it is no wonder if he brought out all that he could think on upon the subject so
Laws of Princes were made to Enact it and no Men of Authority could so early and so universally have brought such a change into the Order of the Church when there was nothing to tempt any to affect Preheminence Labour and Sufferings being all that then follow'd this Superiour Rank and yet within less than one Century after the days of the Apostles we do plainly see that this was the Constitution even of those Churches that had been gathered and setled by the Apostles themselves Among whom so visible a thing as the Order in which they had put the Church could not possibly be soon forgotten and this was not complain'd of by the Sects of those days particularly the Montanists that had so fair an appearance by their praying and fasting so much that not only Tertullian was drawn away by it but even the Church seems to have taken a Tincture from some of their Methods whether in imitation of them or on design to out-do them is not so easy to determine yet nothing of this kind was ever objected as if the Church had by the Authority given to Bishops departed from the Apostolical Customs Now I will acknowledge that a bare practice tho very Ancient such as the giving the Eucharist to Infants without a colour for it in Scripture ought not to conclude us but when there is a great deal in Scripture that looks favourably to a thing tho the proof from the words alone should not seem full and positive and when the first Writings and clearest Practices of the Ages that immediately follow'd confirms such an Exposition then we have all that is possible for us to pretend to for giving a fixed and determinate sense to such passages From all this then it is clear that we are now upon the same Constitution as to the main on which the Apostles setled the Churches and that we have all the reason that a thing of this nature is capable of to conclude That the distinction of Bishop Priest and Deacon was setled by the Apostles themselves and is related to by many places in the New Testament The division of the World into Diocesses larger or narrower as well as of Parishes some being excessively large and others as unreasonably small does not a whit alter the nature of the thing in it self since tho' it were to be desir'd that Parishes were nearer an equality in point of Labour and Cure yet this is an Inconvenience that we must bear and not disturb the Church by seeking undue Remedies for it So such Disorders as a length of time a corruption of Manners a change of Governments and Civil Policies has brought into a Constitution may put it out of our Power to procure the Redress of many things that yet will as little warrant a renting the Body or dividing the Church upon any such account as it would justify the lazy Sloth of such as may bring things to a better State and yet do not set about it nor do heartily endeavour it Another head of Objections is to set-forms of Prayer in general as a stinting of the Spirit of Prayer of which mention is often made in the New Testament and which ought to have scope given to it since it is a mean to rouze up and quicken heavy minds which become flat when accustom'd to a constant form of Words that render both the Clergy lazy and the People Dead But when it is consider'd that every Man's words become a form to which all the rest of the Assembly is limited the question then lies naturally between the sudden conceptions of one Man who is often young rash without Judgment and who always speaks on the sudden and between a form well digested and prepared by a Body of wise and good Men Since then the People must be under a Form it may seem much more reasonable that they should be under such a form than under the other and that the rather since we see Moses David and the Prophets of old gave the Jewish Church so many forms both for Prayers and Praises We know that in our Saviour's time the Iews had a stated Liturgy of their own which our Saviour was so far from blaming that he himself prescribed his Disciples a Form and compos'd it out of theirs laying together so many Petitions drawn out of their Prayers as answer'd his end in appointing his own And Praises seeming to be the sublimest Acts of Worship in which the Soul ought to arise to its highest Elevation it is not easily accountable why so much excitation should be required in Prayer while Men are left to be still flat and formal in their Praises It is not to be deni'd but that among the extraordinary Gifts that follow'd the wonderful Effusion of the Holy Ghost one was That Men were Inspir'd to offer up such Prayers to God as comprehended the necessities of whole Congregations it appearing in those Prayers that the Spirit in him that pray'd searched all their Hearts and so did prompt him with groanings that were unutterable and it thus appearing that the Spirit or Inspiration which moved any to pray in this sort searched all things every Man finding the sense of his own Heart thus open'd together with suitable Intercessions it was from thence evident that this was the Spirit of God making Intercession for the Saints in the mouth and words of the Inspir'd Person This being a plain account of those words of Praying in or by the Spirit and well agreeing with every thing said concerning it in the New Testament it is a great mistake if we in these days should expect any such Assistances from God So that now a readiness of new or tender Expressions in Prayer is an effect of a quickness of Thought a liveliness of Imagination together with a good Memory much conversant in Scripture-Phrases and long practised in that way All things by a long use grow flat to minds that are not seriously awaken'd but extemporary Prayers do rather kill than feed true Devotion since they must be hearkened to as Discourses which is a distraction to him that Prays after them whereas those accustom'd to set-forms have only the things themselves that their Devotion relate to in their view so they are certainly less tempted to distraction than they must be who follow the other way Those sudden starts that are given to the mind by soft Words and melting Images of things may be according to the different Compositions of Men more or less useful to them in their secret Exercises but they ought not to be let in upon publick Assemblies which being made up of a great variety of Tempers must be entertain'd only with such Devotions that suit with all their Conditions and do equally quadrate to all their necessities and thus it is not only natural but necessary for all Men who will maintain Order in their Worship and will frame it in so diffus'd an extent as to take all equally within it that they have
the Holy Ghost fell visibly on Cornelius and his Friends Can any man forbid water that those should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we And with this he settled the minds of those who were a little offended at that action This shews that no pretence to a high dispensation of the Spirit can evacuate that Precept since on the contrary an evidence of the giving the Holy Ghost was pleaded as an Argument for baptizing Nor does any one passage in which Baptism is mentioned in the New Testament limit it to that time and intimate that it belonged only to the beginnings of Christianity or that it was to determine when it was more fully setled so that this with the constant practice of all succeeding Ages without a shadow of any Exception must conclude us as to this Point Our Saviour did also appoint the other Sacrament to be continued in remembrance of him by which St. Paul says we shew forth his death till he come Now these words cannot be understood of any supposed inward and spiritual coming since the most signal coming in that sense was the effusion of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost and yet after that time the Apostles continued to practice it and delivered it to the Churches as a Precept still obligatory till Christ should come If then we ought still to remember him and shew forth his death if it is the Communion of his Body and Blood if it is the new Covenant in his Blood for the remission of sins then as long as these things are Duties incumbent on us so long we must be under the obligation of eating that Bread and drinking that Cup. Further If Christ has left different Gifts to different Orders of men some Apostles some Prophets some Evangeliste and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry and for edifying the Body of Christ till we come unto a perfect man and are no more in danger of being tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of doctrine These words do plainly import That as long as mankind is under the frailties of this present state and in this confused Scene that some of these Orders must still be continued in the Church and that those Rules and Preceps given to Timothy and Titus concerning such as were to be ordained Bishops or Elders that is Priests and Diacons were to be lasting and standing Rules for indeed if the design had not been to establish that Order for the succeeding Ages there was less need of it in that in which there was such a plentiful Measure of the Spirit poured out upon all Christians that such Functions in that time might have been well spared if it had not been for this that they were then to be setled under the Patronage if I may so speak of the Apostles themselves from whom they were to receive an Authority which how little necessary soever it might seem in that wonderful time yet was to be more needed in the succeeding Ages Therefore we may well conclude That whatsoever was ordered concerning those Offices or Officers of the Church in the first Age was by a stronger parity of reason to be continued down through all the Ages of the Church and in particular if in that time in which Women received the Gifts of the Holy Ghost so that some prophesied and others laboured much in the Lord that is in the Gospel yet St. Paul did in two different Epistles particularly restrain them from teaching or speaking in the Church to which he adds That it was a shame for Women to speak in the Church that is it might turn to be a reproach to the Christian Religion and furnish Scoffers with some colours of exposing it to the scorn of the Age. This was to be much more strictly observed when all those extraordinary Characters that might seem to be exemptions from common Rules did no longer continue As for those distinctions into which they have cast themselves of the Hat and the denying Titles and speaking in the singular Thou and Thee it is to be considered That how unfit soever it be and how unbecoming Christians to be conformed to this world yet it rather lessens than heightens the great Idea that the world ought to have of the Christian Religion when it states a diversity among men about meer Trifles Our Saviour and his Apostles complied as much in all innocent Customs as they avoided all sinful ones Honour to whom honour is due is a standing Duty and though the bowing the Body and falling prostrate are postures that seem liker Idolatry and more abject in their nature than the Hat yet the very Prophets of God paid these respects to Kings Outward Actions or Gestures signify only what is entended to be expressed and what is generally understood by them so that what is known to be meant only for a piece of Civil respect can never be stretched to a Religious respect and though that abject homage under which the Iewish Rabbies had brought their Disciples and which they had exprest in Titles that imported their profound submission to them was reproved by our Saviour yet we see that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sir or Lord was then used as commonly as we now do since Mary Magdalen called him whom shee took for a Gardener Sir or Lord. And St. Paul gave Festus the Title which belonged to his Office it being the same that Claudius Lysias gave Felix who certainly was not wanting in that and that being the Title of men of Rank St. Luke adresses both his Books to Thephilus designing him in one ofthem in the same manner Words signify nothing of themselves as they are meer sounds but according to the signification in which men agree to use them so if the speaking to one man in the plural number is understood only as a more respectful way of treating him then the plural is in this case really but a singular Indeed these things scarce deserve to be so narrowly lookt into The Scruple against Swearing is more important both to them and to the Publick They have indeed the appearance of a plain Command of our Saviour's against all manner of Swearing which is repeated by St. Iames but this must be restricted to their communication according to the words that follow since we find Swearing not only commanded in the Old Testament but practised in the New The Apostles swear at every time they say God is witness and more solemnly when God is called for a record upon their Soul The Angel of God lifts up his hand and swears by him that lives for ever and ever God swears by himself and an Oath for confirmation that is for affirming any matter is the end of all Controversy We find our Saviour himself answered upon Oath when adjured by the High Priest to tell If he was the
going to Cornelius and baptizing the Gentiles he only delivers his Opinion as one person in the Council of Ierusalem but St. Iames gives the definitive Sentence St. Paul never makes any Appeal to him in the Contests of which he writes He settles matters and makes Decisions without ever having recourse to his Authority He seems on the contrary to avoid it and when probably some of the Judaisers among the Galatians were appealing to him or at least to some practices of his St. Paul shews how he had fail'd in those matters for tho the Apostles were so govern'd by Divine Inspiration that they could not err nor be mistaken in points of Doctrine yet as to their Actions they were left to the freedom of their own Wills and so humane frailty might in some Instances have prevail'd over them It is evident from that Epistle that St. Paul own'd no dependance upon him nor did he submit in any sort to him as having any degrees in his Commission or Authority superiour to his own These are all such pregnant Intimations as make it more reasonable to give such a sence to those words as will import no special Authority given to St. Peter since it does not appear that either St. Peter or the Apostles themselves understood them so for since they persist afterwards to have their Disputes which of them was the greatest it is plain they did not understand this to be the Importance of our Saviour's Words And it is as plain that no part of the Scripture-History makes for this but very much against it Now as to the words themselves they begin with an Allusion to his Name and Phrases built upon such Allusions are seldom to be strictly and Grammatically understood By Vpon this Rock will I build my Church many of the Fathers have understood the Person of Christ others which amounts to the same thing faith in him or the Confession of that faith for strictly speaking the Church can only be said to be founded upon Christ and his Doctrine In a secondary Sense it may indeed be said to be founded on the Apostles and upon St. Peter as the first in Order as well as the forwardest among them and since the Apostles are all reckon'd Foundations tho this should be allow'd to be the meaning of these words which yet is a sense in which they were not taken for many Ages it will import nothing peculiar to St. Peter What follows of the gates of hell 's not being able to prevail against it may either be understood according to the Greek Phrase Death which is often thus represented as the entrance to the Grave which is the signification of the word rendered Hell and then the meaning is That the Church which Christ was to found was never to come to a period and to die as the Iewish Religion was then to do Or by a Phrase common among the Iews who understand by Gates the Wisdom and Strength of a Place since their Court and Councils were held near their Gates these words may signify That all the powers of Darkness with all their force and spite should not be able to bear down or destroy this Church but this does not bar any Errors or Corruptions from creeping into any part of it for the word rendred prevail properly signifies an entire Victory by which it should be conquered and extirpated As for the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven that Christ promised to give to him it must again be consider'd that these words are figurative so that it is never safe to argue from them since Figures are capable of larger and narrower Significations No man will carry them so far as to think that the power of giving or denying Eternal Life is hereby put in St. Peter for that is singly in the Mediator's hands This shews how difficult it is to know how much is to be drawn from a Figure By Kingdom of Heaven through the whole Gospels with very few or no exceptions we find that the Dispensation of the Messias is to be understood this appears evident from the first words with which both St. Iohn Baptist and our Saviour begun their preaching Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and this is the sense in which it is taken in all those Parables to which our Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven and in those words the Kingdom of Heaven is among you and it cometh not with observation or the like This being laid down as that which will soon appear to every one that shall attentively read the Four Gospels then by the Keys of the Dispensation of the Messias the most natural and least forc'd signification and that which agrees best with those words of the same figure he that hath the Key of the house of David he that openeth and no man shutteth and that shutteth and no man openeth and also with the Phrase of the Key of knowledge by which the Lawyers were described for they had a Key with writing Tables given them as the Badge of their Profession which naturally imported that they were to open the door for others entring into the knowledge of the Law With which our Saviour reproach'd them that they entred not in themselves and hinder'd those that were entring From all these hints I say we may gather that according to the Scripture-phrase by the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven is meant that St. Peter was first to open the Dispensation of the Gospel which he did in the first preaching of it to the Iews after the wonderful Pentecost and this was yet more eminently perform'd by him when he first open'd the door to the Gentiles to which the words of the Kingdom of Heaven seem to have a more particular respect This Dispensation was committed to him and executed by him and seems to be claim'd by him as his peculiar Priviledge in the Council at Ierusalem so we may safely conclude that this is the natural meaning of these words and is all that was to be imported by them and those who carry them further must use several distinctions lest they give St. Peter that which belongs only to our Saviour himself What follows concerning the binding and loosing in Heaven whatsoever he should bind or loose on earth is no special Priviledge of St. Peter's since we find the same words said by our Saviour to all his Apostles so that this was given in common to all the Apostles According to the sense now given of the Kingdom of Heaven these words will be easily understood which are otherwise very dark but they are full of Figures and so are not to be too far stretch'd By binding and loosing we find the Rabbins do commonly understand the affirming or denying the Obligation of any Precept that was in dispute This then being a common form of speech among the Iews a genuine Paraphrase of these words is That Christ committed to the Apostles the dispensation of his Doctrine to the