perplexities in story it is reasonable to understand those of the Ancients who call Peter Bishop of Rome and Rome the place the Chair the See of Peter as meaning that he was Bishop or Superintendent of that Church in a large sense because he did found the Church by converting men to the Christian Faith because he did erect the Chair by ordaining the first Bishops because he did in virtue both of his Apostolical Office and his special parental relation to that Church maintain a particular inspection over it when he was there which notion is not new for of old Ruffinus affirmeth that he had it not from his own invention but from Tradition of others Some saith he inquire how seeing Linus and Cletus were Bishops in the City of Rome before Clement Clement himself writing to James could say that the See was delivered to him by Peter whereof this reason has been given us viz. that Linus and Cletus were indeed Bishops of Rome before Clement but Peter being yet living viz. that they might take the Episcopal charge but he fulfill'd the Office of the Apostleship 6. This notion may be confirmed by divers observations It is observable that the most ancient Writers living nearest the fountains of Tradition do not expresly style Saint Peter Bishop of Rome but onely say that he did found that Church instituting and ordaining Bishops there as the other Apostles did in the Churches which they setled so that the Bishops there in a large sense did succeed him and deriving their power from his ordination and supplying his room in the instruction and governance of that great Church Yea their words if we well mark them do exclude the Apostles from the Episcopacy Which words the later Writers who did not foresee the consequence nor what an exorbitant superstructure would be raised on that slender bottom and who were willing to comply with the Roman Bishops affecting by all means to reckon Saint Peter for their predecessour did easily catch and not well distinguishing did call him Bishop and St. Paul also so making two Heads of one Church 7. It is also observable that in the recensions of the Roman Bishops sometimes the Apostles are reckoned in sometimes excluded So Eusebius calleth Clemens the third Bishop of Rome yet before him he reckoneth Linus and Anacletus And of Alexander he saith that he deduced his Succession in the fifth place from Peter and Paul that is excluding the Apostles And Hyginus is thus accounted sometime the eighth sometime the ninth Bishop of Rome The same difference in reckoning may be observed in other Churches for instance although Saint Peter is called no less Bishop of Antioch than of Rome by the Ancients yet Eusebius saith that Evodius was first Bishop of Antioch and another bids the Antiocheans remember Evodius who was first entrusted with the Presidency over them by the Apostles Other instances may be seen in the Notes of Cotellerius upon the Apostolical Constitutions where he maketh this general Observation 'T is an usual custome with the Apostles according to their Power ordinary or extraordinary Episcopal or Apostolical to prefix c. but it was needless to suppose these two Powers when one was sufficient it virtually containing the other This is an Argument that the Ancients were not assured in opinion that the Apostles were Bishops or that they did not esteem them Bishops in the same notion with others 8. It is observable that divers Churches did take denomination from the Apostles and were called Apostolical Thrones or Chairs not because the Apostles themselves did sit Bishops there but because they did exercise their Apostleship in teaching and in constituting Bishops there who as Tertullian saith did propagate the Apostolical seed So was Ephesus esteemed because Saint Paul did found it and ordain Timothy there and because Saint John did govern and appoint Bishops there So was Smyrna accounted because Polycarpus was setled there by the Apostles or by Saint John So Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem had a controversie about metropolitical rights with Acacius Bishop of Caesarea as presiding in an Apostolical See So Alexandria was deemed because Saint Mark was supposed by the appointment of Saint Peter to sit there So were Corinth Thessalonica Philippi called by Tertullian because Saint Paul did found them and furnish them with Pastours in which respect peculiarly the Bishops of those places were called Successours of the Apostles So Constantinople did assume the title of an Apostolical Church probably because according to tradition St. Andrew did found that Church although Pope Leo I. would not allow it that appellation Upon the same account might Rome at first be called an Apostolical See although afterward the Roman Bishops did rather pretend to that denomination upon account of Saint Peter being Bishop there and the like may be said of Antioch 9. It is observable that the Authour of the Apostolical Constitutions reciting the first Bishops constituted in several Churches doth not reckon any of the Apostles particularly not Peter or Paul or John 10. Again any Apostle wherever he did reside by virtue of his Apostolical Office without any other designation or assumption of a more special Power was qualifyed to preside there exercising a Superintendency comprehensive of all Episcopal functions so that it was needless that he should take upon himself the character or style of a Bishop This beside the tenour of ancient Doctrine doth appear from the demeanour of Saint John who never was reckoned Bishop of Ephesus nor could be without displacing Timothy who by Saint Paul was constituted Bishop there or succeeding in his room yet he abiding at Ephesus did there discharge the Office of a Metropolitan governing the Churches and in the adjacent Churches here constituting Bishops there forming whole Churches otherwhere allotting to the Clergy Persons designed by the Spirit Such Functions might Saint Peter execute in the parts of Rome or Antioch without being a Bishop and as the Bishops of Asia did saith Tertullian refer their original to Saint John so might the Bishops of Italy upon the like ground refer their original to Saint Peter It is observable that whereas Saint Peter is affirmed to have been Bishop of Antioch seven years before his access to Rome that is within the compass of Saint Luke's story yet he passeth over a matter of so great moment as St. Hierome observeth I cannot grant that if Saint Luke had thought Peter Sovereign of the Church and his Episcopacy of a place a matter of such consequence he would have slipped it over being so obvious a thing and coming in the way of his story He therefore I conceive was no Bishop of Antioch although a Bishop at Antioch 11. If in objection to some of these discourses it be alledged that Saint James our Lord 's near Kinsman although he was an Apostle was made Bishop of Jerusalem and that
presume of a fair and favourable hearing so did Athanasius Flavianus St. Chrysostome Theodoret apply themselves to the same Bishops flourishing in so great reputation and wealth So did the Monks of Egypt Ammonius and Isidorus from the persecutions of Theophilus fly to the protection and succour of St. Chrysostome which gave occasion to the troubles of that incomparable Personage the which is so illustrious an instance that the words of the Historian relating it deserve setting down They jointly did endeavour that the trains against them might be examined by the Emperour as Judge and by the Bishop John for they conceived that he having conscience of using a just freedom would be able to succour them according to right but he did receive the men applying to him courteously and treated them respectfully and did not hinder them from praying in the Church He also writ to Theophilus to render communion to them as being Orthodox and if there were need of judging their case by law that he would send whom they thought good to prosecute the cause If this had been to the Pope it would have been alledged for an Appeal and it would have had as much colour as any Instance which they can produce 4. And when men either good or bad do resort in this manner to great friends it is no wonder if they accost them in highest terms of respect and with exaggerations of their eminent advantages so inducing them to regard and favour their cause 5. Neither is it strange that great persons favourably should entertain those who make such addresses to them they always coming crouching in a suppliant posture and with fair pretences it being also natural to men to delight in seeing their power acknowledged and it being a glorious thing to relieve the afflicted for Eminence is wont to incline toward infirmity and with a ready good will to take part with those who are under So when Basilides when Marcellus when Eustathius Sebastenus when Maximus the Cynick when Apiarius were condemned the Pope was hasty to engage for them more liking their application to him than weighing their cause 6. And when any person doth continue long in a flourishing estate so that such addresses are frequently made to him no wonder that an opinion of lawfull power to receive them doth arise both in him and in others so that of a voluntary Friend he become an authorized Protectour a Patron a Judge of such persons in such cases X. The Sovereign is fountain of all Jurisdiction and all inferiour Magistrates derive their Authority from his warrant and Commission acting as his Deputies or Ministers according to that intimation in St. Peter whether to the King as Supreme or to Governours as sent by him Accordingly the Pope doth challenge this advantage to himself that he is the fountain of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction pretending all Episcopal power to be derived from him The rule of the Church saith Bellarmine is Monarchical therefore all authority is in one and from him is derived to others the which Aphorism he well proveth from the form of creating Bishops as they call it We do provide such a Church with such a person and we do prefer him to be Father and Pastour and Bishop of the said Church committing to him the administration in temporals and spirituals in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Pope Pius II. in his Bull of Retractation thus expresseth the sense of his See In the militant Church which resembleth the triumphant there is one moderatour and Judge of all the Vicar of Jesus Christ from whom as from the Head all power and authority is derived to the subject members the which doth immediately flow into it from the Lord Christ. A Congregation of Cardinals appointed by Pope Paulus III. speaking after the style and sentiments of that See did say to him Your Holiness doth so bear the care of Christ's Church that you have very many Ministers by which you manage that care these are all the Clergy on whom the service of God is charged especially Priests and more especially Curates and above all Bishops Durandus Bishop of Mande according to the sense of his Age saith The Pope is head of all Bishops from whom they as members from an head descend and of whose fulness all receive whom he calls to a participation of his care but admits not into the fulness of his power This pretence is seen in the ordinary Titles of Bishops who style themselves Bishops of such a place By the grace of God and of the Apostolick See O shame The men of the Tridentine Convention those great betrayers of the Church to perpetual slavery and Christian truth to the prevalency of falshood till God pleaseth do upon divers occasions pretend to qualifie and empower Bishops to perform important matters originally belonging to the Episcopal Function as the Pope's Delegates But contrariwise according to the Doctrine of Holy Scripture and the sense of the Primitive Church the Bishops and Pastours of the Church do immediately receive their Authority and Commission from God being onely his Ministers The Scripture calleth them the Ministers of God and of Christ so Epaphras so Timothy in regard to their Ecclesiastical function are named the Stewards of God the Servants of God Fellow-servants of the Apostles The Scripture saith that the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops to feed the Church of God that God had given them and constituted them in the Church for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ that is to all effects and purposes concerning their Office for the work of the Ministery comprizeth all the duty charged on them whether in way of Order or of Governance as they now do precariously and groundlesly in reference to this case distinguish And edifying the body doth import all the designed effects of their Office particularly those which are consequent on the use of Jurisdiction the which Saint Paul doth affirm was appointed for edification according saith he to the authority which God hath given me for edification and not for destruction They do preside in the Lord. They allow no other Head but our Lord from whom all the body c. The Fathers clearly do express their Sentiments to be the same St. Ignatius saith that the Bishop doth preside in the place of God and that we must look upon him as our Lord himself or as our Lord 's Representative that therefore we must be subject to him as unto Jesus Christ. St. Cyprian affirmeth each Bishop to be constituted by the judgment of God and of Christ and that in his Church he is for the present a Judge in the place of Christ and that our Lord Jesus Christ one and alone hath a power both to prefer us to the government of his Church and to judge of our acting St. Basil A
A TREATISE OF THE POPE'S SUPREMACY To which is added A DISCOURSE Concerning the Unity of the Church By ISAAC BARROW D. D. Late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge and one of His MAJESTY'S Chaplains in Ordinary The Second Edition Corrected With a TABLE to the Whole LONDON Printed by M. Flesher and J. Heptinstall for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1683. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENEAGE Earl of Nottingham Lord High CHANCELLOUR OF ENGLAND And one of His MAJESTY'S most Honourable PRIVY COUNCIL THOMAS BARROW the Authour's Father Humbly Dedicateth this TREATISE The Publisher TO THE READER THIS excellent and elaborate Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy which I here present thee withall the learned Authour of it upon his Death-bed gave me particular permission to publish with this modest Character of it that he hoped it was indifferent perfect though not altogether as he intended it if God had granted him longer life He designed indeed to have transcribed it again and to have fill'd up those many spaces which were purposely left in it for the farther confirmation and illustration of several things by more Testimonies and Instances which probably he had in his thoughts And it would certainly have added much to the beauty and perfection of this Work had it pleased God that he had lived to finish it to his mind and to have given it his last hand However as it is it is not onely a just but an admirable Discourse upon this Subject which many others have handled before but he hath exhausted it insomuch that no Argument of moment nay hardly any Consideration properly belonging to it hath escaped his large and comprehensive Mind He hath said enough to silence the Controversie for ever and to deâ—er all wise men of both Sides from medling any farther with it And I dare say that whoever shall carefully peruse this Treatise will find that this Point of the Pope's Supremacy upon which Bellarmine hath the confidence to say the whole of Christianity depends is not onely an indeâ—ensible but an impudent Cause as ever was undertaken by learned Pens And nothing could have kept it so long from becoming ridiculous in the judgment of mankind but its being so strongly supported by a worldly interest For there is not one tolerable Argument for it and there are a thousand invincible Reasons against it There is neither from Scripture nor Reason nor Antiquity any evidence of it The past and the present state of Christendom the Histories and Records of all Ages are a perpetual Demonstration against it And there is no other ground in the whole world for it but that now of a long time it hath been by the Pope's Janizaries boldly asserted and stiffly contended for without reason So that any one might with as much colour and evidence of truth maintain that the Grand Seignior is of right and for many Ages hath been acknowledg'd Sovereign of the whole World as that the Bishop of Rome is of right and in all Ages from the beginning of Christianity hath been own'd to be the Universal Monarch and Head of the Christian Church To this Treatise of The Pope's Supremacy I have for the affinity of the Argument added by way of Appendix another Discourse of the same Authour 's concerning The Unity of the Church which he so explains as quite to take away the necessity of a Visible Head over the whole Church for the preservation of its Unity which is the onely specious but yet a very remote pretence for the Pope's Supremacy For if a Visible Monarch of the Church were granted necessary many things more must be supposed which neither yet are nor ever can be proved to make the Bishop of Rome the Man The Testimonies relating to both Parts were very few of them translated by the Authour which he certainly intended having left spaces for it and is since done with great care by two of his Worthy and Learned Friends of his own College This is all the Advertisement I thought necessary J. Tillotson THE CONTENTS THE Introduction Page 1. The Suppositions upon which the Pope's Supremacy is grounded p. 29. I. That Saint Peter had a Primacy over the Apostles p. 30. II. That Saint Peter's Primacy with its Rights and Prerogatives was not personal but derivable to his Successours p. 76. III. That Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome p. 82. IV. That Saint Peter did continue Bishop of Rome after his translation and was so at his decease p. 88. V. That the Bishops of Rome according to God's institution and by original right derived thence should have an Vniversal Supremacy and Jurisdiction over the Christian Church p. 94. VI. That in fact the Roman Bishops continually from Saint Peter's time have enjoyed and exercised this Sovereign Power p. 185. VII That this Power is indefectible and unalterable p. 271. IMPRIMATUR Ex Aedibus Lamb. Febr. 27. 1678 9. Geo. Thorp Rmo in Christo Patri D no D no Gulielmo Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis A TREATISE OF THE Pope's Supremacy INTRODUCTION § I. THE Roman Party doth much glory in Unity and Certainty of Doctrine as things peculiar to them and which no other men have any means to attain Yet about divers matters of notable consideration in what they agree or of what they are certain it is hard to descry They pretend it very needfull that Controversies should be decided and that they have a special knack of doing it Yet do many Controversies of great weight and consequence stick on their hands unresolved many Points rest in great doubt and debate among them The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Roman Sect concerning Doctrine Practice Laws and Customs of Discipline Rites and Ceremonies are of divers sorts or built on divers grounds 1. Some established by pretended general Synods 2. Some founded on Decrees of Popes 3. Some entertained as upon Tradition Custom common Agreement 4. Some which their eminent Divines or Schoolmen do commonly embrace 5. Some prevailing by the favour of the Roman Court and its zealous Dependents Hence it is very difficult to know wherein their Religion consisteth for those Grounds divers times seem to clash and accordingly their Divines some building on these some on others disagree This being so in many Points of importance is so particularly in this For instance The Head of their Church as they call it is one would think a Subject about which they should thoroughly consent and which they by this time should have cleared from all disputes so that so far as their decisive faculty goeth we might be assured wherein his Authority consisteth and how far it doth extend seeing the resolution of that Point so nearly toucheth the heart of Religion the Faith and Practice of all Christians the good of the Church and peace of the world seeing that no one Question perhaps not all Questions together hath created so many tragical Disturbances in Christendom as that concerning the
from a stupid Easiness in admitting such a Lieutenancy to our Lord if we do not see exhibited to us manifest and certain Patents assuring its Commission to us We should love the Church better than to yield up its Liberty to the will of a Pretender upon slight or no ground Their boldly claiming such a Power their having sometime usurped such a Power will not excuse them or us Nor will precarious Assumptions or subtile Distinctions or blind Traditions or loose Conjectures serve for probations in such a case § XIX Such demands they cannot wholly balk wherefore for satisfaction to them not finding any better plea they hook in Saint Peter affirming that on him by our Lord there was instated a Primacy over his brethren all the Apostles and the Disciples of our Lord importing all the Authority which they claim and that from him this Primacy was devolved by succession to the Bishops of Rome by right indefectible for all future Ages Which Plea of theirs doth involve these main Suppositions I. That Saint Peter had a Primacy over the Apostles II. That Saint Peter 's Primacy with its Rights and Prerogatives was not personal but derivable to his Successours III. That Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome IV. That Saint Peter did continue Bishop of Rome after his translation and was so at his decease V. That the Bishops of Rome according to God's institution and by original right derived thence should have an Vniversal Supremacy and Jurisdiction over the Christian Church VI. That in fact the Roman Bishops continually from Saint Peter's time have enjoyed and exercised this Sovereign Power VII That this Power is indefectible and unalterable The truth and certainty of these Propositions we shall in order discuss so that it may competently appear whether those who disclaim these Pretences are as they are charged guilty of Heresie and Schism or they rather are liable to the imputations of Arrogancy and Iniquity who do obtrude and urge them A TREATISE OF THE Pope's Supremacy MATTH 10.2 Now the names of the twelve Apostles were these the first Simon who is called Peter AMONG the Modern Controversies there is scarce any of greater consequence than that about Universal Supremacy which the Bishop of Rome claimeth over the Christian Church the assertion whereof on his side dependeth upon divers Suppositions namely these I. That Saint Peter by our Lord's appointment had a Primacy implying a Sovereignty of Authority and Jurisdiction over the Apostles II. That the Rights and Prerogatives of this Sovereignty were not personal but derivable and transmitted to Successours III. That Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome IV. That Saint Peter did continue Bishop of Rome after his translation and was so at his decease V. That hence of Right to the Bishops of Rome as Saint Peter 's Successours an Vniversal Jurisdiction over the whole Church of Christ doth appertain VI. That in Fact the said Bishops continually from Saint Peter 's time have enjoyed and exercised this Power VII That this Power is indefectible such as by no means can be forfeited or fail In order to the discussion and resolution of the first Point I shall treat upon the Primacy of Saint Peter endeavouring to shew what Primacy he was capable of or might enjoy what he could not pretend to nor did possess SUPPOSITION I. The first Supposition of those who claim Universal Jurisdiction to the Pope over the Church is That Saint Peter had a primacy over the Apostles IN order to the resolution of this Point we may consider that there are several kinds of Primacy which may belong to a person in respect of others for there are 1. A Primacy of Worth or Personal Excellency 2. A Primacy of Reputation and Esteem 3. A Primacy of Order or bare Dignity and Precedence 4. A Primacy of Power or Jurisdiction To each of these what title Saint Peter might have let us in order examine I. As for the first of these a Primacy of Worth or Merit as some of the Ancients call it we may well grant it to Saint Peter admitting that probably he did exceed the rest of his Brethren in personal endowments and capacities both natural and moral qualifying him for the discharge of the Apostolical Office in an eminent manner particularly that in quickness of apprehension in boldness of spirit in readiness of speech in charity to our Lord and zeal for his Service in resolution activity and industry he was transcendent may seem to appear by the tenour of the Evangelical and Apostolical Histories in the which we may observe him upon all occasions ready to speak first and to make himself the mouth as the Fathers speak of the Apostles in all deliberations nimble at propounding his advice in all undertakings forward to make the onset being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always hot and eager always prompt and vigorous as S. Chrysostome often affirmeth concerning him these things are apparent in his demeanour and it may not be amiss to set down some instances When our Lord observing the different apprehensions men had concerning him asked the Apostles but whom say ye that I am up starteth he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he skippeth forth and preventeth the rest crying Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God The other Apostles were not ignorant of the Point for they at their Conversion did take Jesus for the Messias which even according to the common Notion of the Iews did imply his being the Son of God Nathanael that is Saint Bartholomew as is supposed had in terms confessed it the whole company upon seeing our Lord walk on the Sea had avowed it Saint Peter before that in the name of them all had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have believed and have known that thou art the Christ the Son of the living God They therefore had the same Faith but he from a special alacrity of spirit and expedition in utterance was more forward to declare it He was more hot saith St. Greg. Naz. than the rest at acknowledging Christ. When our Saviour walked on the Sea who but He had the Faith and the Courage to venture on the Waters towards him When our Lord was apprehended by the Souldiers presently up was his spirit and out went his Sword in defence of him When our Lord predicted that upon his coming into trouble all the Disciples would be offended and desert him he was ready to say Though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended and Though I should dye with thee yet will I not deny thee such was his natural courage and confidence When our Lord was discoursing about his Passion he suddenly must be advising in the case and urging him to spare himself upon which St. Chrysostome biddeth us to consider not that his answer was unadvised but that it came from a genuine and fervent affection And at the Transfiguration he
already stated would they have troubled our Lord to inquire of him who should be the greatest in his Kingdom when they knew that our Lord had declared his will to make Saint Peter Viceroy would the Sons of Zebedee have been so foolish and presumptuous as to beg the place which they knew by our Lord's word and promise fixed on Saint Peter would Saint Peter among the rest have fretted at that idle overture whenas he knew the place by our Lord 's immutable purpose and infallible declaration assured to him And if none of the Apostles did understand the words to imply this Roman sense who can be obliged so to understand them yea who can wisely who can safely so understand them for surely they had common sense as well as any man living now they had as much advantage as we can have to know our Lord's meaning their ignorance therefore of this sense being so apparent is not onely a just excuse for not admitting this interpretation but a strong bar against it 4. This interpretation also doth not well consist with our Lord's answers to the contests inquiries and petitions of his Disciples concerning the point of Superiority for doth he not if the Roman expositions be good seem upon those occasions not onely to dissemble his own word and promise but to disavow them or thwart them can we conceive that he would in such a case of doubt forbear to resolve them clearly to instruct them and admonish them of their duty 5. Taking the Rock as they would have it to be the Person of Saint Peter and that on him the Church should be built yet do not the words being a Rock probably denote government for what resemblance is there between being a Rock and a Governour at least what assurance can there be that this metaphor precisely doth import that sense seeing in other respects upon as fair similitudes he might be called so St. Austin saith the Apostles were Foundations because their Authority doth support our weakness St. Hierome saith that they were Foundations because the Faith of the Church was first laid in them St. Basil saith that Saint Peter's Soul was called the Rock because it was firmly rooted in the Faith and did hold stiff without giving way against the blows of temptation Chrysologus saith that Peter had his name from a Rock because he first merited to found the Church by firmness of Faith These are fair explications of the metaphor without any reference to Saint Peter's Government But however also admitting this that being such a Rock doth imply Government and Pastoral Charge yet do they notwithstanding these grants and suppositions effect nothing for they cannot prove the words spoken exclusively in regard to other Apostles or to import any thing singular to him above or beside them He might be a governing Rock so might others be the Church might be built on him so it might be on other Apostles he might be designed a Governour a great Governour a principal Governour so might they also be this might be without any violence done to those words And this indeed was for all the other Apostles in Holy Scripture are called Foundations and the Church is said to be built on them If saith Origen the Father of Interpreters you think the whole Church to be onely built on Peter alone what will you say of John the Son of thunder and of each of the Apostles c. largely to this purpose Christ as St. Hierome saith was the Rock and he bestowed on the Apostles that they should be called Rocks And You say saith he again that the Church is founded on Peter but the same in another place is done upon all the Apostles The twelve Apostles saith another ancient Authour were the immutable Pillars of orthodoxie the Rock of the Church The Church saith St. Basil is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Peter also was one of the Mountains upon which Rock the Lord did promise to build his Church St. Cyprian in his disputes with Pope Stephen did more than once alledge this place yet could he not take them in their sense to signify exclusively for he did not acknowledge any imparity of Power among the Apostles or their Successours He indeed plainly took these words to respect all the Apostles and their Successours our Lord taking occasion to promise that to one which he intended to impart to all for themselves and their Successours Our Lord saith he ordering the honour of a Bishop and the order of his Church saith to Peter I say to thee c. hence through the turns of times and successions the ordination of Bishops and the manner of the Church doth run on that the Church should be setled upon the Bishops and every Act of the Church should be governed by the same Prelates as therefore he did conceive the Church to be built not on the Pope singularly but on all the Bishops so he thought our Lord did intend to build his Church not upon Saint Peter onely but on all his Apostles 6. It is not said that the Apostles or the Apostolical Office should be built on him for that could not be seeing the Apostles were constituted and the Apostolical Office was founded before that promise the words onely therefore can import that according to some meaning he was a Rock upon which the Church afterward to be collected should be built he was A Rock of the Church to be built as Tertullian speaketh the words therefore cannot signify any thing available to their purpose in relation to the Apostles 7. If we take Saint Peter himself for the Rock then as I take it the best meaning of the words doth import that our Lord designed Saint Peter for a prime Instrument the first mover the most diligent and active at the beginning the most constant stiff and firm in the support of his Truth and propagation of his Doctrine or conversion of men to the belief of the Gospel the which is called building of the Church according to that of St. Ambrose or some ancient Homilist under his name He is called the Rock because he first did lay in the Nations the Foundations of Faith In which regard as the other Apostles are called Foundations of the Church the Church being founded on their labours so might Saint Peter signally be so called who as Saint Basil saith allusively interpreting our Saviour's words for the excellency of his Faith did take on him the edifying of the Church Both he and they also might be so termed for that upon their testimonies concerning the Life Death and Resurrection of Christ the Faith of Christians was grounded as also it stands upon their convincing discourses their holy practice their miraculous performances in all which Saint Peter was most eminent and in the beginning of Christianity displayed them to the edification of the Church This interpretation plainly doth agree with matter
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal in honour to Saint Peter as we before shewed The like we declared of St. Hierome St. Cyril c. And as for St. Cyprian who did allow a Primacy to Saint Peter nothing can be more evident than that he took the other Apostles to be equal to him in power and honour The like we may conceive of St. Austin who having carefully perused those Writings of St. Cyprian and frequently alledging them doth never contradict that his sentiment Even Pope Gregory himself acknowledgeth Saint Peter not to have been properly the Head but onely the first member of the universal Church all being members of the Church under one head 6. If Pope Leo I. or any other ancient Pope do seem to mean farther we may reasonably except against their Opinion as being singular and proceeding from partial affection to their See such affection having influence on the mind of the wisest men according to that certain maxime of Aristotle every man is a bad Judge in his own case 7. The Ancients when their subject doth allure them do adorn other Apostles with the like titles equalling those of Saint Peter and not well consistent with them according to that rigour of sense which our adversaries affix to the commendations of Saint Peter The Epistle of Clemens Rom. to Saint James an Apocryphal but ancient Writing calleth St. James our Lord's Brother The Bishop of Bishops the Clementine Recognitions call him the Prince of Bishops Ruffinus in his translation of Eusebius The Bishop of the Apostles St. Chrysost. saith of him that he did preside over all the Jewish believers Hesychius Presbyter of Jerusalem calleth him the chief Captain of the New Jerusalem the Captain of Priests the Prince of the Apostles the top among the Heads c. The same Hesychius calleth Saint Andrew the first-born of the Apostolical Choire the first setled pillar of the Church the Peter before Peter the foundation of the foundation the first-fruits of the beginning c. St. Chrysostome saith of Saint John that he was a pillar of the Churches through the world he that had the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. But as occasion of speaking about Saint Paul was more frequent so the elogies of him are more copious and indeed so high as not to yield to those of Saint Peter He was saith St. Chrysostome the ringleader and guardian of the Choire of all the Saints He was the tongue the teacher the Apostle of the world He had the whole world put into his hands and took care thereof and had committed to him all men dwelling upon Earth He was the light of the Churches the foundation of Faith the pillar and ground of Truth He had the patronage of the World committed into his hands He was better than all men greater than the Apostles and surpassing them all Nothing was more bright nothing more illustrious than he None was greater than he yea none equal to him Pope Gregory I. saith of Saint Paul that he was made head of the Nations because he obtained the principate of the whole Church These Characters of Saint Paul I leave them to interpret and reconcile with those of Saint Peter 8. That the Fathers by calling Saint Peter Prince Chieftain c. of the Apostles do not mean Authority over them may be argued from their joining Saint Paul with him in the same appellations who yet surely could have no Jurisdiction over them and his having any would destroy the pretended Ecclesiastical Monarchy St. Cyril calleth them together Patrons or Presidents of the Church St. Austin or St. Ambr. or Max. calleth them Princes of the Churches The Popes Agatho and Adrian in their General Synods call them the ring-leading Apostles The Popes Nicholas I. and Gregory VII c. call them Princes of the Apostles St. Ambrose or St. Austin or St. Maximus Taur chuse you which doth thus speak of them Blessed Peter and Paul are most eminent among all the Apostles excelling the rest by a kind of peculiar prerogative but whether of these two be preferred before the other is uncertain for I count them to be equal in merit because they are equal in suffering c. To all this discourse I shall onely adde that if any of the Apostles or Apostolical men might claim a presidency or authoritative headship over the rest Saint James seemeth to have the best title thereto for Jerusalem was the mother of all Churches the fountain of the Christian Law and Doctrine the See of our Lord himself the chief Pastour He therefore who as the Fathers tell us was by our Lord himself constituted Bishop of that City and the first of all Bishops might best pretend to be in special manner our Lord's Vicar or Successour He saith Epiphanius did first receive the Episcopal Chair and to him our Lord first did entrust his own Throne upon Earth He accordingly did first exercise the Authority of presiding and moderating in the first Ecclesiastical Synod as St. Chrysostome in his Notes thereon doth remark He therefore probably by Saint Paul is first named in his report concerning the passages at Hierusalem and to his orders it seemeth that Saint Peter himself did conform for 't is said there that before certain came from Saint James he did eat with the Gentiles but when they were come he withdrew Hence in the Apostolical Constitutions in the Prayer prescribed for the Church and for all the Governours of it the Bishops of the principal Churches being specified by name Saint James is put in the first place before the Bishops of Rome and of Antioch Let us pray for the whole Episcopacy under Heaven of those who rightly dispense the word of thy Truth and let us pray for our Bishop James with all his Parishes let us pray for our Bishop Clemens and all his Parishes let us pray for Evodius and all his Parishes Hereto consenteth the Tradition of those ancient Writers afore cited who call Saint James the Bishop of Bishops the Bishop of the Apostles c. SUPPOSITION II. I proceed to examine the next Supposition of the Church Monarchists which is That Saint Peter's Primacy with its Rights and Prerogatives was not personal but derivable to his Successours AGainst which Supposition I do assert that admitting a Primacy of Saint Peter of what kind or to what purpose soever we yet have reason to deem it merely personal and not according to its grounds and its design communicable to any Successours nor indeed in effect conveyed to any such It is a rule in the Canon Law that a personal Privilege doth follow the Person and is extinguished with the Person and such we affirm that of St. Peter for 1. His Primacy was grounded upon personal acts such as his chearfull following of Christ his faithfull confessing of Christ his resolute adherence to Christ his embracing
the Apostles in any sense 6. If some privileges of Saint Peter were derived to Popes why were not all why was not Pope Alexander VI. as holy as Saint Peter why was not Pope Honorius as found in his private judgment why is not every Pope inspired why is not every Papal Epistle to be reputed Canonical why are not all Popes endowed with power of doing miracles why doth not the Pope by a Sermon convert thousands why indeed do Popes never preach why doth not he cure men by his shadow he is say they himself his shadow what ground is there of distinguishing the privileges so that he shall have some not others where is the ground to be found 7. If it be objected that the Fathers commonly do call Bishops Successours of the Apostles to assoil that objection we may consider that whereas the Apostolical Office virtually did contain the functions of Teaching and ruling God's people the which for preservation of Christian doctrine and edification of the Church were requisite to be continued perpetually in ordinary standing Offices these indeed were derived from the Apostles but not properly in way of succession as by univocal propagation but by Ordination imparting all the power needfull for such Offices which therefore were exercised by persons during the Apostles lives concurrently or in subordination to them even as a Dictatour at Rome might create inferiour Magistrates who derived from him but not as his Successours for as Bellarmine himself telleth us there can be no proper succession but in respect of one preceding but Apostles and Bishops were together in the Church The Fathers therefore so in a large sense call all Bishops Successours of the Apostles not meaning that any one of them did succeed into the whole Apostolical Office but that each did receive his power from some one immediately or mediately whom some Apostle did constitute Bishop vesting him with Authority to feed the particular Flock committed to him in way of ordinary charge according to the sayings of that Apostolical person Clemens Rom. The Apostles preaching in Regions and Cities did constitute their first Converts having approved them by the Spirit for Bishops and Deacons of those who should afterward believe and having constituted the foresaid Bishops and Deacons they withall gave them farther charge that if they should dye other approved men successively should receive their Office thus did the Bishops supply the room of the Apostles each in guiding his particular charge all of them together by mutual aid conspiring to govern the whole Body of the Church 8. In which regard it may be said that not one single Bishop but all Bishops together through the whole Church do succeed Saint Peter or any other Apostle for that all of them in union together have an universal Sovereign Authority commensurate to an Apostle 9. This is the notion which St. Cyprian doth so much insist upon affirming that the Bishops do succeed Saint Peter and the other Apostles by vicarious ordination that the Bishops are Apostles that there is but one chair by the Lord's word built upon one Peter One undivided Bishoprick diffused in the peacefull numerosity of many Bishops whereof each Bishop doth hold his share One Flock whom the Apostles by unanimous agreement did feed and which afterward the Bishops do feed having a portion thereof allotted to each which he should govern So the Synod of Carthage with St. Cyprian So also St. Chrysostome saith that the Sheep of Christ were committed by him to Peter and to those after him that is in his meaning to all Bishops 10. Such and no other power Saint Peter might devolve on any Bishop ordained by him in any Church which he did constitute or inspect as in that of Antioch of Alexandria of Babylon of Rome The like did the other Apostles communicate who had the same power with Saint Peter in founding and settling Churches whose Successours of this kind were equal to those of the same kind whom St. Peter did constitute enjoying in their several precincts an equal part of the Apostolical power as St. Cyprian often doth assert 11. It is in consequence observable that in those Churches whereof the Apostles themselves were never accounted Bishops yet the Bishops are called Successours of the Apostles which cannot otherwise be understood than according to the sense which we have proposed that is because they succeeded those who were constituted by the Apostles according to those sayings of Irenaeus and Tertullian we can number those who were instituted bishops by the Apostles and their Successours and All the Churches do shew those whom being by the Apostles constituted in the Episcopal Office they have as continuers of the Apostolical seed So although Saint Peter was never reckoned Bishop of Alexandria yet because 't is reported that he placed Saint Mark there the Bishop of Alexandria is said to succeed the Apostles And because Saint John did abide at Ephesus inspecting that Church and appointing Bishops there the Bishops of that See did refer their Origine to him So many Bishops did claim from Saint Paul So St. Cyprian and Firmilian do assert themselves Successours of the Apostles who yet perhaps never were at Carthage or Caesarea So the Church of Constantinople is often in the Acts of the Sixth General Council called this great Apostolick Church being such Churches as those of whom Tertullian saith that although they do not produce any of the Apostles or Apostolical men for their authour yet conspiring in the same faith are no less for the consanguinity of doctrine reputed Apostolical Yea hence St. Hierome doth assert a parity of merit and dignity Sacerdotal to all Bishops because saith he all of them are Successours to the Apostles having all a like power by their ordination conferred on them 12. Whereas our Adversaries do pretend that indeed the other Apostles had an extraordinary charge as Legates of Christ which had no succession but was extinct in their persons but that Saint Peter had a peculiar charge as ordinary Pastour of the whole Church which surviveth To this it is enough to rejoyn that it is a mere figment devised for a shift and affirmed precariously having no ground either in Holy Scripture or in ancient Tradition there being no such distinction in the Sacred or Ecclesiastical Writings no mention occurring there of any Office which he did assume or which was attributed to him distinct from that extraordinary one of an Apostle and all the Pastoral charge imaginable being ascribed by the Ancients to all the Apostles in regard to the whole Church as hath been sufficiently declared 13. In fine If any such conveyance of power of power so great so momentous so mightily concerning the perpetual state of the Church and of each person therein had been made it had been for general direction and satisfaction for voiding all doubt and debate about it for stifling these pretended Heresies
was at Rome may well be collected from St. Paul's Writings for he writing at different times one Epistle to Rome and divers Epistles from Rome that to the Galatians that to the Ephesians that to the Philippians that to the Colossians and the Second to Timothy doth never mention him sending any salutation to him or from him Particularly Saint Peter was not there when Saint Paul mentioning Tychicus Onesimus Aristarchus Marcus and Justus addeth these alone my fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God who have been a comfort unto me He was not there when Saint Paul said at my first defence no man stood with me but all men forsook me He was not there immediately before Saint Paul's death when the time of his departure was at hand when he telleth Timothy that all the brethren did salute him and naming divers of them he omitteth Peter Which things being considered it is not probable that Saint Peter would assume the Episcopal Chair of Rome he being little capable to reside there and for that other needfull affairs would have forced him to leave so great a Church destitute of their Pastour 7. It was needless that he should be Bishop for that by virtue of his Apostleship involving all the power of inferiour degrees he might whenever he should be at Rome exercise Episcopal Functions and Authority What need a Sovereign Prince to be made a Justice of Peace 8. Had he done so he must have given a bad example of Non-residence a practice that would have been very ill relished in the Primitive Church as we may see by several Canons interdicting offences of kin to it it being I think then not so known as nominally to be censured and culpable upon the same ground and by the sayings of Fathers condemning practices approaching to it Even latter Synods in more corrupt times and in the declension of good Order yet did prohibit this practice Epiphanius therefore did well infer that it was needfull the Apostles should constitute Bishops resident at Rome It was saith he possible that the Apostles Peter and Paul yet surviving other Bishops should be constituted because the Apostles often did take journeys into other Countries for preaching Christ but the City of Rome could not be without a Bishop 9. If Saint Peter were Bishop of Rome he thereby did offend against divers other good Ecclesiastical Rules which either were in practice from the beginning or at least the reason of them was always good upon which the Church did afterward enact them so that either he did ill in thwarting them or the Church had done it in establishing them so as to condemn his practice 10. It was against Rule that any Bishop should desert one Church and transfer himself to another and indeed against Reason such a relation and endearment being contracted between a Bishop and his Church which cannot well be dissolved But Saint Peter is by Ecclesiastical Historians reported and by Romanists admitted to have been Bishop of Antioch for seven years together He therefore did ill to relinquish that Church that most ancient and truly Apostolick Church of Antioch as the Constantinopolitan Fathers call'd it and to place his See at Rome This practice was esteemed bad and of very mischievous consequence earnestly reproved as heinously criminal by great Fathers severely condemned by divers Synods Particularly a transmigration from a lesser and poorer to a greater and more wealthy Bishoprick which is the present case was checked by them as rankly savouring of selfish ambition or avarice The Synod of Alexandria in Athanasius in its Epistle to all Catholick Bishops doth say that Eusebius by passing from Berytus to Nicomedia had annulled his Episcopacy making it an adultery worse than that which is committed by marriage upon divorce Eusebius say they did not consider the Apostle's admonition Art thou bound to a wife do not seek to be loosed for if it be said of a woman how much more of a Church of the same Bishoprick to which one being tyed ought not to seek another that he may not be found also an adulterer according to the Holy Scripture Surely when they said this they did forget what Saint Peter was said to have done in that kind as did also the Sardican Fathers in their Synodical Letter extant in the same Apology of Athanasius condemning translations from lesser Cities unto greater Dioceses The same practice is forbidden by the Synods of Nice I. of Chalcedon of Antioch of Sardica of Arles I. c. In the Synod under Mennas it was laid to the charge of Anthimus that having been Bishop of Trabisond he had adulterously snatched the See of Constantinople against all Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons Yea great Popes of Rome little considering how peccant therein their Predecessour Pope Peter was Pope Julius and Pope Damasus did greatly tax this practice whereof the latter in his Synod at Rome did excommunicate all those who should commit it In like manner Pope Leo I. These Laws were so indispensable that in respect to them Constantine M. who much loved and honoured Eusebius acknowledging him in the common judgment of the world deserving to be Bishop of the whole Church did not like that he should accept the Bishoprick of Antioch to which he was invited and commended his waving it as an act not onely consonant to the Ecclesiastical Canons but acceptable to God and agreeable to Apostolical Tradition so little aware was the good Emperour of Saint Peter being translated from Antioch to Rome In regard to the same Law Gregory Nazianzene a person of so great worth and who had deserved so highly of the Church at Constantinople could not be permitted to retain his Bishoprick of that Church to which he had been call'd from that small one of Sasima The Synod saith Sozomen observing the ancient laws and the Ecclesiastical rule did receive his Bishoprick from him being willingly offered no-wise regarding the great merits of the person the which Synod surely would have excluded Saint Peter from the Bishoprick of Rome and it is observable that Pope Damasus did approve and exhort those Fathers to that proceeding We may indeed observe that Pope Pelagius II. did excuse the translation of Bishops by the example of Saint Peter for who ever dareth to say argueth he that Saint Peter the Prince of the Apostles did not act well when he changed his See from Antioch to Rome But I think it more adviseable to excuse Saint Peter from being Authour of a practice judged so irregular by denying the matter of Fact laid to his charge 11. It was anciently deemed a very irregular thing contrary saith St. Cyprian to the Ecclesiastical disposition contrary to the Evangelical Law contrary to the unity of Catholick Institution a Symbol saith another Ancient Writer of dissention and disagreeable to Ecclesiastical Law which therefore was condemned by the Synod of Nice
by Pope Cornelius by Pope Innocent the First and others that two Bishops should preside together in one City This was condemned with good reason for this on the Churches part would be a kind of spiritual Polygamy this would render a Church a monster with two heads this would destroy the end of Episcopacy which is unity and prevention of Schisms But if Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome this irregularity was committed for the same Authority upon which Saint Peter's Episcopacy of Rome is built doth also reckon Saint Paul Bishop of the same the same Writers do make both Founders and Planters of the Roman Church and the same call both Bishops of it wherefore if Episcopacy be taken in a strict and proper sense agreeable to this Controversie that rule must needs be infringed thereby Irenaeus saith that the Roman Church was founded and constituted by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul Dionysius of Corinth calleth it the plantation of Peter and Paul Epiphanius saith that Peter and Paul were first at Rome both Apostles and Bishops so Eusebius implyeth saying that P. Alexander derived a succession in the fifth place from Peter and Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Donys Corinth apud Euseb. 2.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus. 4.1 Wherefore both of them were Roman Bishops or neither of them In reason and rule neither of them may be called so in a strict and proper sense but in a larger and improper sense both might be so styled Indeed that Saint Paul was in some acception Bishop of Rome that is had a Supreme superintendence or inspection of it is reasonable to affirm because he did for a good time reside there and during that residence could not but have the chief place could be subject to no other He saith Saint Luke did abide two whole years in his own hired house and received all that entred in unto him preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence no man forbidding him It may be enquired if Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome how he did become such did our Lord appoint him such did the Apostles all or any constitute him did the people elect him did he put himself into it of none of these things there is any appearance nor any probability Non constat SUPPOSITION IV. They affirm That Saint Peter did continue Bishop of Rome after his translation and was so at his decease AGainst which Assertions we may consider 1. Ecclesiastical Writers do affirm that Saint Peter either alone or together with Saint Paul did constitute other Bishops wherefore Saint Peter was never Bishop or did not continue Bishop there Irenaeus saith that the Apostles founding and rearing that Church delivered the Episcopal Office into the hands of Linus if so how did they retain it in their own hands or persons could they give and have Tertullian saith that Saint Peter did ordain Clement In the Apostolical Constitutions a very ancient Book and setting forth the most ancient Traditions of the Church the Apostles ordering Prayers to be made for all Bishops and naming the principal do reckon not St. Peter but Clement Let us pray for our Bishop James for our Bishop Clemens for our Bishop Evodius c. These reports are consistent and reconciled by that which the Apostolical Constitutions affirm that Linus was first ordained Bishop of the Roman Church by Paul but Clemens after the death of Linus by Peter in the second place Others between Linus and Clemens do interpose Cletus or Anacletus some taking these for one others for two persons which doth not alter the case Now hence we may infer both that Saint Peter never was Bishop and upon supposition that he was that he did not continue so For 2. If he had ever been Bishop he could not well lay down his Office or subrogate another either to preside with him or to succeed him according to the ancient Rules of Discipline and that which passed for right in the Primitive Church This practice Pope Innocent I. condemned as irregular and never known before his time We saith he in his Epistle to the Clergy and People of Constantinople never have known these things to have been adventured by our Fathers but rather to have been hindred for that none hath power given him to ordain another into the place of one living He did not it seems consider that Saint Peter had used such a power Accordingly the Synod of Antioch to secure the tradition and practice of the Church which began by some to be infringed did make this Sanction that it should not be lawfull for any Bishop to constitute another in his room to succeed him although it were at the point of death 3. But supposing Saint Peter were Bishop once yet by constituting Linus or Clemens in his place he ceased to be so and devested himself of that place for it had been a great irregularity for him to continue Bishop together with another That being in St. Cyprian's judgment the Ordination of Linus had been void and null for seeing saith that H. Martyr there cannot after the first be any second whoever is after one who ought to be sole Bishop he is not now second but none Upon this ground when the Emperour Constantius would have procured Felix to sit Bishop of Rome together with Pope Liberius at his return from Banishment after his complyance with the Arians the people of Rome would not admit it exclaiming One God one Christ one Bishop and whereas Felix soon after that dyed the Historian remarketh it as a special providence of God that Peter's Throne might not suffer infamy being governed under two Prelates he never considered that Saint Peter and Saint Paul Saint Peter and Linus had thus governed that same Church Upon this account St. Austin being assumed by Valerius with him to be Bishop of Hippo did afterward discern and acknowledge his errour In fine to obviate this practice so many Canons of Councils both general and particular were made which we before did mention 4. In sum when Saint Peter did ordain others as story doth accord in affirming either he did retain the Episcopacy and then beside need reason and rule there were concurrently divers Bishops of Rome at one time or he did quite relinquish and finally divorce himself from the Office so that he did not dye Bishop of Rome the which overturneth the main ground of the Romish pretence Or will they say that Saint Peter having laid aside the Office for a time did afterward before his death resume it then what became of Linus of Cletus of Clemens were they dispossessed of their place or deposed from their function would Saint Peter succeed them in it this in Bellarmine's own judgment had been plainly intolerable 5. To avoid all which difficulties in the case and
for the like reason Saint Peter might assume the Bishoprick of Rome I answer 1. It is not certain that Saint James the Bishop of Jerusalem was an Apostle meaning an Apostle of the primary rank for Eusebius the greatest Antiquary of old times doth reckon him one of the 70 disciples So doth the Authour of the Apostolical Constitutions in divers places suppose Hegesippus that most ancient Historian was of the same mind who saith that there were many of this name and that this James did undertake the Church with the Apostles Of the same opinion was Epiphanius who saith that Saint James was the Son of Joseph by another Wife The whole Greek Church doth suppose the same keeping three distinct solemnities for him and the two Apostles of the same name Gregory Nyssene St. Hierome and divers other ancient Writers do concur herein whom we may see alledged by Grotius Dr. Hammond who themselves did embrace the same opinion Valesius Blondel c. Salmasius after his confident manner saith it is certain that he was not one of the twelve I may at least say it is not certain that he was and consequently the objection is grounded on an uncertainty 2. Granting that Saint James was one of the Apostles as some of the Ancients seem to think calling him an Apostle and as divers modern Divines conceive grounding chiefly upon these words of Saint Paul But other of the Apostles saw I none save James the Lord's Brother and taking Apostles there in the strictest sense I answer That the case was peculiar and there doth appear a special reason why one of the Apostles should be designed to make a constant residence at Jerusalem and consequently to preside there like a Bishop For Jerusalem was the Metropolis the Fountain the Centre of the Christian Religion where it had birth where was greatest matter and occasion of propagating the Gospel most people disposed to embrace it resorting thither where the Church was very numerous consisting as St. Luke or Saint James in him doth intimate of divers myriads of believing Jews whence it might seem expedient that a person of greatest Authority should be fixed there for the confirming and improving that Church together with the propagation of Religion among the people which resorted thither the which might induce the Apostles to settle Saint James there both for discharging the Office of an Apostle and the supplying the room of a Bishop there According to him saith Eusebius The Episcopal Throne was committed by the Apostles or our Lord saith Epiphanius did entrust him with his own Throne But there was no need of fixing an Apostle at other places nor doth it appear that any was so fixed especially Saint Peter was uncapable of such an employment requiring settlement and constant attendance who beside his general Apostleship had a peculiar Apostleship of the dispersed Jews committed to him who therefore was much engaged in travel for propagation of the Faith and edifying his Converts every where 3. The greater consent of the most ancient Writers making St. Iames not to have been one of the twelve Apostles it is thence accountable why as we before noted Saint James was called by some ancient Writers the Bishop of Bishops the Prince of Bishops c. because he was the first Bishop of the first See and Mother Church the Apostles being excluded from the comparison Upon these considerations we have great reason to refuse the assertion or scandal cast on Saint Peter that he took on him to be Bishop of Rome in a strict sense as it is understood in this controversie SUPPOSITION V. A father Assertion is this superstructed by consequence on the former That the Bishops of Rome according to God's institution and by original right derived thence should have an Vniversal Supremacy and jurisdiction containing the privileges and prerogatives formerly described over the Christian Church THIS Assertion to be very uncertain yea to be most false I shall by divers considerations evince 1. If any of the former Suppositions be uncertain or false this Assertion standing on those legs must partake of those defects and answerably be dubious or false If either Peter was not Monarch of the Apostles or if his privileges were not successive or if he were not properly Bishop of Rome at his decease then farewell the Romish claim if any of those things be dubious it doth totter if any of them prove false then down it falleth But that each of them is false hath I conceive been sufficiently declared that all of them are uncertain hath at least been made evident The Structure therefore cannot be firm which relieth on such props 2. Even admitting all those Suppositions the inference from them is not assuredly valid For Saint Peter might have an Universal Jurisdiction he might derive it by Succession he might be Bishop of Rome yet no such Authority might hence accrue to the Roman Bishop his Successour in that See For that Universal Jurisdiction might be derived into another Chanel and the Bishop of Rome might in other respects be Successour to him without being so in this As for instance in the Roman Empire before any Rule of Succession was established therein the Emperour was Sovereign Governour and he might dye Consul of Rome having assumed that place to himself yet when he dyed the Supreme Authority did not lapse into the hands of the Consul who succeeded him but into the hands of the Senate and People his Consular Authority onely going to his Successour in that Office So might Saint Peter's Universal Power be transferred unto the Ecclesiastical College of Bishops and of the Church his Episcopal inferiour Authority over the singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Province of Rome being transmitted to his Followers in that Chair 3. That in truth it was thus and that all the Authority of Saint Peter and of all other Apostles was devolved to the Church and to the representative Body thereof the Fathers did suppose affirming the Church to have received from our Lord a Sovereign Power This saith St. Cyprian is that One Church which holdeth and possesseth all the power of its Spouse and Lord in this we preside for the honour and unity of this we fight saith he in his Epistle to Jubaianus wherein he doth impugn the proceedings of Pope Stephanus the which Sentence St. Austin appropriateth to himself speaking it absolutely without citing St. Cyprian To this Authority of the Church St. Basil would have all that confess the faith of Christ to submit To which end we exceedingly need your assistence that they who confess the Apostolick faith would renounce the schisms which they have devised and submit themselves henceforth to the Authority of the Church They after the Holy Scripture which saith that each Bishop hath a care of God's Church and is obliged to feed the Church of God and is appointed to edify the body of Christ do suppose the administration
of Ecclesiastical Affairs concerning the publick state of the Church the defence of the common Faith the maintenance of order peace and unity jointly to belong unto the whole body of Pastours according to that of St. Cyprian to Pope Stephanus himself Therefore most dear brother the body of Priests is copious being joined together by the glue of mutual concord and the bond of unity that if any of our College shall attempt to make heresie and to tear or waste the flock of Christ the rest may come to succour and like usefull and mercifull shepherds may recollect the sheep into the flock And again Which thing it concerns us to look after and redress most dear brother who bearing in mind the divine clemency and holding the scales of the Church-government c. So even the Roman Clergy did acknowledge For we ought all of us to watch for the body of the whole Church whose members are digested through several Provinces Like the Trinity whose power is one and undivided there is one Priesthood among divers Bishops So in the Apostolical Constitutions the Apostles tell the Bishops that an universal Episcopacy is entrusted to them So the Council of Carthage with St. Cyprian Clear and manifest is the mind and meaning of our Lord Jesus Christ sending his Apostles and affording to them alone the power given him of the Father in whose room we succeeded governing the Church of God with the same power Christ our Lord and our God going to the Father commended his Spouse to us A very ancient Instance of which administration is the proceeding against Paulus Samosatenus when the Pastours of the Churches some from one place some from another did assemble together against him as a pest of Christ's flock all of them hastning to Antioch where they deposed exterminated and deprived him of communion warning the whole Church to reject and disavow him Seeing the Pastoral charge is common to us all who bear the Episcopal Office although thou fittest in a higher and more eminent place Therefore for this cause the Holy Church is committed to you and to us that we may labour for all and not be slack in yielding help and assistence to all Hence Saint Chrysostome said of Eustathius his Bishop For he was well instructed and taught by the grace of the Holy Spirit that a President or Bishop of a Church ought not to take care of that Church alone wherewith he is entrusted by the Holy Ghost but also of the whole Church dispersed throughout the world They consequently did repute Schism or Ecclesiastical Rebellion to consist in a departure from the consent of the body of the Priesthood as St. Cyprian in divers places doth express it in his Epistles to Pope Stephen and others They deem all Bishops to partake of the Apostolical Authority according to that of St. Basil to St. Ambrose The Lord himself hath translated thee from the Judges of the Earth unto the Prelacy of the Apostles They took themselves all to be Vicars of Christ and Judges in his stead according to that of St. Cyprian For Heresies are sprung up and Schisms grown from no other ground nor root but this because God's Priest was not obeyed nor was there one Priest or Bishop for a time in the Church nor a Judge thought on for a time to supply the room of Christ. Where that by Church is meant any particular Church and by Priest a Bishop of such Church any one not bewitched with prejudice by the tenour of Saint Cyprian's discourse will easily discern They conceive that our Saviour did promise to Saint Peter the Keys in behalf of the Church and as representing it They suppose the combination of Bishops in peaceable consent and mutual aid to be the Rock on which the Church is built They alledge the Authority granted to Saint Peter as a ground of claim to the same in all Bishops jointly and in each Bishop singly according to his rata pars or allotted proportion Which may easily be understood by the words of our Lord when he says to blessed Peter whose place the Bishops supply Whatsoever c. I have the sword of Constantine in my hands you of Peter said our great King Edgar They do therefore in this regard take themselves all to be Successours of Saint Peter that his power is derived to them all and that the whole Episcopal Order is the Chair by the Lord's voice founded on Saint Peter thus St. Cyprian in divers places before touched discourseth and thus Firmilian from the Keys granted to Saint Peter inferreth disputing against the Roman Bishop Therefore saith he the power of remitting sins is given to the Apostles and to the Churches which they being sent from Christ did constitute and to the Bishops which do succeed them by vicarious ordination 4. The Bishops of any other Churches founded by the Apostles in the Fathers style are Successours of the Apostles in the same sense and to the same intent as the Bishop of Rome is by them accounted Successour of Saint Peter the Apostolical power which in extent was universal being in some sense in reference to them not quite extinct but transmitted by succession yet the Bishops of Apostolical Churches did never claim nor allowedly exercise Apostolical Jurisdiction beyond their own precincts according to those words of St. Hierome Tell me what doth Palestine belong to the Bishop of Alexandria This sheweth the inconsequence of their discourse for in like manner the Pope might be Successour to Saint Peter and Saint Peter's universal power might be successive yet the Pope have no singular claim thereto beyond the bounds of his particular Church 5. So again for instance Saint James whom the Roman Church in her Liturgies doth avow for an Apostle was Bishop of Jerusalem more unquestionably than Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome Jerusalem also was the root and the mother of all Churches as the Fathers of the Second General Synod in their Letter to Pope Damasus himself and the Occidental Bishops did call it forgetting the singular pretence of Rome to that Title Yet the Bishops of Jerusalem Successours of Saint James did not thence claim I know not what kind of extensive Jurisdiction yea notwithstanding their succession they did not so much as obtain a metropolitical Authority in Palestine which did belong to Caesarea having been assigned thereto in conformity to the Civil Government and was by special provision reserved thereto in the Synod of Nice whence St. Jerome did not stick to affirm that the Bishop of Jerusalem was subject to the Bishop of Caesarea for speaking to John Bishop of Jerusalem who for compurgation of himself from errours imputed to him had appealed to Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria he saith Thou hadst rather cause molestation to ears possessed than render honour to thy Metropolitan that is to the Bishop of Caesarea By which
instance we may discern what little consideration sometimes was had of personal or topical succession to the Apostles in determining the extent of Jurisdiction and why should the Roman Bishop upon that score pretend more validly than others 6. Saint Peter probably e'er that he came at Rome did found divers other Churches whereof he was paramount Bishop or did retain a special superintendency over them particularly Antioch was anciently called his See and he is acknowledged to have sate there seven years before he was Bishop of Rome Why therefore may not the Bishop of Antioch pretend to succeed Saint Peter in his universal Pastourship as well as his younger brother of Rome why should Evodius ordained by Saint Peter at Antioch yield to Clemens afterward by him ordained at Rome Antioch was the first-born of Gentile Churches where the name of Christians was first heard Antioch was as the Constantinopolitan Fathers called it the most ancient and truly Apostolical Church Antioch by virtue of Saint Peter's sitting there or peculiar relation to it was according to their own conceits the principal See Why therefore should Saint Peter be so unkind to it as not onely to relinquish it but to debase it not onely transferring his See from it but devesting it of the privilege which it had got Why should he prefer before it the City of Rome the mystical Babylon the mother of abominations of the earth the Throne of Satan's Empire the place which did then most persecute the Christian Faith and was drunk with the bloud of the Saints 7. The ground of this preference was say they Saint Peter's Will and they have reason to say so for otherwise if Saint Peter had died intestate the Elder Son of Antioch would have had best right to all his goods and dignities But how doth that Will appear in what Tables was it written in what Registers is it extant in whose presence did he nuncupate it it is no-where to be seen or heard of Neither do they otherwise know of it than by reasoning it out and in effect they say onely that it was fit he should will it but they may be mistaken in their divinations and perhaps notwithstanding them Saint Peter might will as well to his former See of Antioch as to his latter of Rome 8. Indeed Bellarmine sometimes positively and briskly enough doth affirm that God did command Saint Peter to fix his See at Rome but his proofs of it are so ridiculously fond and weak that I grudge the trouble of reciting them and he himself sufficiently confuteth them by saying other-where It is not unprobable that our Lord gave an express command that Peter should so fix his See at Rome that the Bishop of Rome should absolutely succeed him He saith it is not improbable if it be no more than so it is uncertain it may be a mere conjecture or a dream It is much more not-unprobable that if God had commanded it there would have been some assurance of a command so very important 9. Antioch hath at least a fair plea for a share in Saint Peter's Prerogatives for it did ever hold the repute of an Apostolical Church and upon that score some deference was paid to it why so if Saint Peter did carry his See with all its Prerogatives to another place But if he carried with him onely part of his Prerogative leaving some part behind at Antioch how much then I pray did he leave there why did he divide unequally or leave less than half if perchance he did leave half the Bishop of Antioch is equal to him of Rome 10. Other persons also may be found who according to equal judgment might have a better title to the succession of Peter in his Universal Authority than the Pope having a nearer relation to him than he although his Successour in one charge or upon other equitable grounds For instance Saint John or any other Apostle who did survive Saint Peter for if Saint Peter was the Father of Christians which Title yet our Saviour forbiddeth any one to assume Saint John might well claim to be his eldest Son and it had been a very hard case for him to have been postponed in the succession it had been a derogation to our Lord 's own choice a neglect of his special affection a disparagement of the Apostolical Office for him to be subjected to any other neither could any other pretend to the like gifts for management of that great charge 11. The Bishop of Jerusalem might with much reason have put in his claim thereto as being Successour of our Lord himself who unquestionably was the High-priest of our Profession and Archbishop of all our Souls whose See was the Mother of all Churches wherein St. Peter himself did at first reside exercising his Vicarship If our Lord upon special accounts out of course had put the Sovereignty into Saint Peter's hands yet after his decease it might be fit that it should return into its proper chanel This may seem to have been the judgment of the times when the Authour of the Apostolical Constitutions did write who reporteth the Apostles to have ordered Prayers to be made first for James then for Clement then for Evodius 12. Equity would rather have required that one should by common consent and election of the whole Church be placed in Saint Peter's room than that the Bishop of Rome by election of a few Persons there should succeed into it As the whole body of Pastours was highly concerned in that Succession so it was reasonable that all of them should concur in designation of a Person thereto it is not reasonable to suppose that either God would institute or Saint Peter by will should devise a course of proceeding in such a case so unequal and unsatisfactory If therefore the Church considering this equity of the case together with the expediency of affairs in relation to its good should undertake to chuse for its self another Monarch the Bishop of another See who should seem fitter for the place to succeed into the Prerogatives of Saint Peter that Person would have a fairer title to that Office than the Pope for such a Person would have a real title grounded on some reason of the case whenas the Pope's pretence doth onely stand upon a positive Institution whereof he cannot exhibit any Certificate This was the mind of a great man among themselves who saith that if possibly the Bishop of Triers should be chosen for Head of the Church For the Church has free power to provide its self a Head Bellarmine himself confesseth that if Saint Peter as he might have done if he had pleased should have chosen no particular See as he did not for the first five years then after Peter's death neither the Bishop of Rome nor of Antioch had succeeded but he whom the Church should have chosen for it self Now if the Church upon that supposition would have
had been then as commonly known and avowed 23. Whereas divers of the Fathers purposely do treat on methods of confuting Hereticks it is strange they should be so blind or dull as not to hit on this most proper and obvious way of referring debates to the decision of him to whose Office of Universal Pastour and Judge it did belong Particularly one would wonder at Vincentius Lirinensis that he on set purpose with great care discoursing about the means of setling points of Faith and of overthrowing Heresies should not light upon this notable way by having recourse to the Pope's Magisterial sentence yea that indeed he should exclude it for he after most intent study and diligent inquiry consulting the best and wisest men could find but two ways of doing it I saith he did always and from almost every one receive this answer that if either I or any other would find out the frauds and avoid the snares of up-start Hereticks and continue sound and upright in the true Faith he should guard and strengthen his Faith God helping him by these two means viz. First by the Authority of the Divine Law and then by the Tradition of the Catholick Church And again We before have said that this hath always been and is at present the custome of Catholicks that they prove their Faith by these two ways First by Authority of the Divine Canon then by the Tradition of the Vniversal Church Is it not strange that he especially being a Western man living in those parts where the Pope had got much sway and who doth express great reverence to the Apostolick See should omit that way of determining points which of all according to the modern conceits about the Pope is most ready and most sure 24. In like manner Tertullian professeth the Catholicks in his time to use such compendious methods of confuting Hereticks We saith he when we would dispatch against Hereticks for the Faith of the Gospel do commonly use these short ways which do maintain both the order of times prescribing against the lateness of impostours and the Authority of the Churches patronizing Apostolical tradition but why did he skip over a more compendious way than any of those namely standing to the judgment of the Roman Bishop 25. It is true that both he and St. Irenaeus before him disputing against the Hereticks of their times who had introduced pernicious novelties of their own devising when they alledge the general consent of Churches planted by the Apostles and propagated by continual successions of Bishops from those whom the Apostles did ordain in doctrines and practices opposite to those devices as a good argument and so indeed it then was next to a demonstration against them do produce the Roman Church as a principal one among them upon several obvious accounts And this indeed argueth the Roman Church to have been then one competent witness or credible retainer of tradition as also were the other Apostolical Churches to whose Testimony they likewise appeal but what is this to the Roman Bishop's judicial Power in such cases why do they not urge that in plain terms they would certainly have done so if they had known it and thought it of any validity Do but mark their words involving the force of their argumentation When saith Irenaeus we do again after allegation of Scripture appeal to that tradition which is from the Apostles which by successions of Presbyters is preserved in the Churches and That saith Tertullian will appear to have been delivered by the Apostles which hath been kept as holy in the Apostolical Churches let us see what milk the Corinthians did draw from Paul what the Philippians the Thessalonians the Ephesians do reade what also the Romans our nearer neighbours do say to whom both Peter and Paul did leave the Gospel sealed with their Bloud we have also the Churches nursed by John c. Again It is therefore manifest saith he in his Prescriptions against Hereticks that every doctrine which doth conspire with those Apostolical Churches in which the Faith originally was planted is to be accounted true as undoubtedly holding that which the Churches did receive from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ and Christ from God but all other doctrine is to be prejudged false which doth think against the truth of the Churches and of the Apostles and of Christ and of God their argumentation then in short is plainly this that the conspiring of the Churches in doctrines contrary to those which the Hereticks vented did irrefragably signifie those doctrines to be Apostolical which discourse doth no-wise favour the Roman pretences but indeed if we do weigh it is very prejudicial thereto it thereby appearing that Christian Doctrines then in the canvasing of points and assuring tradition had no peculiar regard to the Roman Churche's testimonies no deference at all to the Roman Bishop's Authority not otherwise at least than to the Authority of one single Bishop yielding attestation to tradition 26. It is odd that even old Popes themselves in elaborate tracts disputing against Hereticks as Pope Celestine against Nestorius and Pelagius Pope Leo against Eutyches do content themselves to urge testimonies of Scripture and arguments grounded thereon not alledging their own definitive Authority or using this parlous argumentation I the Supreme Doctour of the Church and Judge of controversies do assert thus and therefore you are obliged to submit your assent 27. It is matter of amazement if the Pope were such as they would have him to be that in so many bulky Volumes of ancient Fathers living through many ages after Christ in those vast treasuries of learning and knowledge wherein all sorts of truth are displayed all sorts of duty are pressed this momentous point of doctrine and practice should nowhere be expressed in clear and peremptory terms I speak so for that by wresting words by impertinent application by streining consequences the most ridiculous positions imaginable may be deduced from their Writings It is strange that somewhere or other at least incidentally in their Commentaries upon the Scripture wherein many places concerning the Church and its Hierarchy do invite to speak of the Pope in their Treatises about the Priesthood about the Unity and Peace of the Church about Heresie and Schism in their Epistles concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs in their Historical narrations about occurrences in the Church in their concertations with heterodox adversaries they should not frequently touch it they should not sometimes largely dwell upon it Is it not marvellous that Origen St. Hilary St. Cyril St. Chrysostome St. Hierome St. Austin in their Commentaries and Tractates upon those places of Scripture Tu es Petrus Pasce oves whereon they now build the Papal Authority should be so dull and drowsie as not to say a word concerning the Pope That St. Austin in his so many elaborate Tractates against the Donatists wherein he discourseth so prolixly about the Church its Unity Communion
bulk whereas so long ago when it was but in its budd and stripling age it was observed of it by a very honest Historian that the Roman Episcopacy had long since advanced into a high degree of power beyond the Priesthood 3. This pretence doth thwart the Scripture by destroying that brotherly co-ordination and equality which our Lord did appoint among the Bishops and chief Pastours of his Church He did as we before shewed prohibit all his Apostles to assume any domination or authoritative Superiority over one another the which command together with others concerning the Pastoral function we may well suppose to reach their Successours so did St. Hierome suppose collecting thence that all Bishops by original Institution are equals or that no one by our Lord's order may challenge Superiority over another Whereever saith he a Bishop is whether at Rome or at Eugubium at Constantinople or at Rhegium at Alexandria or at Thanis he is of the same worth and of the same Priesthood the power of wealth or lowness of poverty do not make a Bishop higher or lower but all are Successours of the Apostles where doth not he plainly deny the Bishop of Eugubium to be inferiour to him of Rome as being no less a Successour of the Apostles than he doth he not say these words in way of proof that the authority of the Roman Bishop or Church was of no validity against the practice of other Bishops and Churches upon occasion of Deacons there taking upon them more than in other places as Cardinal Deacons do now which excludeth such distinctions as Scholastical fancies have devised to shift off his Testimony the which he uttered simply never dreaming of such distinctions This consequence St. Gregory did suppose when he therefore did condemn the Title of Vniversal Bishop because it did imply an affectation of Superiority and dignity in one Bishop above others of abasing the name of other Bishops in comparison of his own of extolling himself above the rest of Priests c. This the ancient Popes did remember when usually in their compellation of any Bishop they did style them Brethren Collegues fellow-Ministers fellow-Bishops not intending thereby complement or mockery but to declare their sense of the original equality among Bishops notwithstanding some differences in Order and Privileges which their See had obtained And that this was the general sense of the Fathers we shall afterward shew Hence when it was objected to them that they did affect Superiority they did sometimes disclaim it so did Pope Gelasius I. a zealous man for the honour of his See 4. This pretence doth thwart the Holy Scripture not onely by trampling down the dignity of Bishops which according to St. Gregory doth imply great pride and presumption but as really infringing the Rights granted by our Lord to his Church and the Governours of it For to each Church our Lord hath imposed a Duty and imparted a Power of maintaining divine Truth and so approving it self a pillar and support of truth of deciding Controversies possible and proper to be decided with due temper ultimately without farther resort for that he who will not obey or acquiesce in its Decision is to be as a heathen or publican Of censuring and rejecting Offenders in Doctrine or Demeanour Those within saith Saint Paul to the Church of Corinth do not ye judge But them that are without God judgeth wherefore put away from among your selves that wicked person Of preserving Order and Decency according to that Rule prescribed to the Church of Corinth let all things be done decently and in order Of promoting edification Of deciding Causes All which Rights and Privileges the Roman Bishop doth bereave the Churches of snatching them to himself pretending that he is the Sovereign Doctour Judge Regulatour of all Churches over-ruling and voiding all that is done by them according to his pleasure The Scripture hath enjoyned and empowered all Bishops to feed guide and rule their respective Churches as the Ministers Stewards Ambassadours Angels of God for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edification of the Body of Christ To them God hath committed the care of their People so that they are responsible for their Souls All which Rights and Privileges of the Episcopal Office the Pope hath invaded doth obstruct cramp frustrate destroy pretending without any warrant that their Authority is derived from him forcing them to exercise it no otherwise than as his Subjects and according to his pleasure But of this Point more afterward 5. This pretence doth thwart the Scripture by robbing all Christian People of the Liberties and Rights with which by that Divine Charter they are endowed and which they are obliged to preserve inviolate Saint Paul enjoyneth the Galatians to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage there is therefore a liberty which we must maintain and a power to which we must not submit and against whom can we have more ground to doe this than against him who pretendeth to dogmatize to define Points of Faith to impose Doctrines new and strange enough on our Consciences under a peremptory obligation of yielding assent to them to prescribe Laws as Divine and necessary to be observed without warrant as those Dogmatists did against whom Saint Paul biddeth us to maintain our Liberty so that if he should declare vertue to be vice and white to be black we must believe him some of his Adherents have said consistently enough with his pretences for Against such tyrannical Invaders we are bound to maintain our Liberty according to that Precept of Saint Paul the which if a Pope might well alledge against the proceedings of a General Synod with much more reason may we thereby justify our non-submission to one man's exorbitant domination This is a Power which the Apostles themselves did not challenge to themselves for We saith Saint Paul have not dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy They did not pretend that any Christian should absolutely believe them in cases wherein they had not Revelation general or special from God in such cases referring their Opinion to the judgment and discretion of Christians They say Though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed If any man c. which Precept with many others of the like purport injoyning us to examine the truth to adhere unto the received Doctrine to decline heterodoxies and novelties doth signify nothing if every Christian hath not allowed to him a judgment of discretion but is tyed blindly to follow the dictates of another St. Austin I am sure did think this liberty such that without betraying it no man could be obliged to believe any thing not grounded upon Canonical Authority for
to a Donatist his Adversary citing the Authority of St. Cyprian against him he thus replieth But now seeing it is not Canonical which thou recitest with that liberty to which the Lord hath called us I do not receive the opinion differing from Scripture of that man whose praise I cannot reach to whose great learning I do not compare my writings whose wit I love in whose speech I delight whose charity I admire whose martyrdom I reverence This Liberty not onely the Ancients but even divers Popes have acknowledged to belong to every Christian as we shall hereafter shew when we shall prove that we may lawfully reject the Pope as a Patron of Errour and Iniquity 6. It particularly doth thwart Scripture by wronging Princes in exempting a numerous sort of People from subjection to their Laws and Judicatures whereas by God's Ordination and express Command every soul is subject to them not excepting the Popes themselves in the opinion of St. Chrysostome except they be greater than any Apostle By pretending to govern the Subjects of Princes without their leave to make Laws without his permission or confirmation to cite his Subjects out of their Territories c. which are encroachments upon the Rights of God's unquestionable Ministers III. Farther because our Adversaries do little regard any allegation of Scripture against them pretending themselves to be the onely Masters of its sense or of common sense Judges and Interpreters of them we do alledge against them that this pretence doth also cross Tradition and the common Doctrine of the Fathers For 1. Common usage and practice is a good interpreter of Right and that sheweth no such Right was known in the Primitive Church 2. Indeed the state of the Primitive Church did not admit it 3. The Fathers did suppose no Order in the Church by original Right or divine Institution superiour to that of a Bishop whence they commonly did style a Bishop the Highest Priest and Episcopacy the top of Ecclesiastical Orders The chief Priest saith Tertullian that is the Bishop hath the right of giving baptism Although saith St. Ambrose the Presbyters also do it yet the beginning of the Ministery is from the highest Priest Optatus calleth Bishops the tops and Princes of all The Divine Order of Bishops saith Dionysius is the first of Divine Orders the same being also the extreme and last of them for into it all the frame of our Hierarchy is resolved and accomplished This language is common even among Popes themselves complying with the speech then current for Presbyters saith Pope Innocent I. although they are Priests yet have they not the top of High priesthood No man saith P. Zosimus I. against the precepts of the Fathers should presume to aspire to the highest Priesthood of the Church It is decreed saith Pope Leo I. that the Chorepiscopi or Presbyters who figure the sons of Aaron shall not presume to snatch that which the Princes of the Priests whom Moses and Aaron did typifie are commanded to doe Note by the way that seeing according to this Pope's mind after St. Hierome Moses and Aaron did in the Jewish Policy represent Bishops there was none there to prefigure the Pope In those days the Bishop of Nazianzum a petty Town in Cappadocia was an High-priest so Gregory calleth his Father And the Bishop of a poor City in Africk is styled Sovereign Pontif of Christ most blessed Father most blessed Pope and the very Roman Clergy doth call St. Cyprian most blessed and glorious Pope which Titles the Pope doth now so charily reserve and appropriate to himself But innumerable Instances of this kind might be produced I shall onely therefore add two other passages which seem very observable to the enforcement of this discourse St. Hierome reprehending the discipline of the Montanists hath these words With us the Bishops do hold the places of the Apostles with them a Bishop is in the third place for they have for the first rank the Patriarchs of Pepusa in Phrygia for the second those whom they call Cenones so are Bishops thrust down into the third that is almost the last place as if thence Religion became more stately if that which is first with us be the last with them Now doth not St. Hierome here affirm that every Bishop hath the place of an Apostle and the first rank in the Church doth not he tax the advancement of any Order above this may not the Popish Hierarchy most patly be compared to that of the Montanists and is it not equally liable to the censure of St. Hierome doth it not place the Roman Pope in the first place and the Cardinals in the second detruding the Bishops into a third place Could the Pepusian Patriarch or his Cenones either more over-top in dignity or sway by power over Bishops than doth the Roman Patriarch and his Cardinals Again St. Cyprian telleth Pope Cornelius that in Episcopacy doth reside the sublime and divine power of governing the Church it being the sublime top of the Priesthood He saith the Blessed man concerning Pope Cornelius did not suddenly arrive to Episcopacy but being through all Ecclesiastical Offices promoted and having in divine administrations often merited of God did by all the steps of Religion mount to the sublimest pitch of Priesthood where it is visible that St. Cyprian doth not reckon the Papacy but the Episcopacy of Cornelius to be that top of Priesthood above which there was nothing eminent in the Church unto which he passing through the inferiour degrees of the Clergy had attained In fine it cannot well be conceived that the Ancients constantly would have spoken in this manner if they had allowed the Papal Office to be such as now it doth bear it self the which indeed is an Order no less distant from Episcopacy than the rank of a King differeth from that of the meanest Baron in his Kingdom Neither is it prejudicial to this Discourse or to any preceding that in the Primitive Church there were some distinctions and subordinations of Bishops as of Patriarchs Primates Metropolitans common Bishops for These were according to prudence constituted by the Church it self for the more orderly and peaceable administration of things These did not import such a difference among the Bishops that one should domineer over others to the infringing of primitive fraternity or common liberty but a precedence in the same rank with some moderate advantages for the common good These did stand under Authority of the Church and might be changed or corrected as was found expedient by common agreement By virtue of these the Superiours of this kind could doe nothing over their subordinates in an arbitrary manner but according to the regulation of Canons established by consent in Synods by which their influence was amplified or curb'd When any of these did begin to domineer or exceed his limits he was liable to account and correction he was
for his actions to any other Judge but God That this notion of liberty did continue a good time after in the Church we may see by that Canon of the Antiochene Synod ordaining that every Bishop have power of his own Bishoprick govern it according to the best of his care and discretion and provide for all the Country belonging to his City so as to ordain Priests and Deacons and dispose things aright The Monks of Constantinople in the Synod of Chalcedon said thus We are sons of the Church and have one Father after God our Archbishop they forgot their Sovereign Father the Pope The like notion may seem to have been then in England when the Church of Canterbury was called the common mother of all under the disposition of its Spouse Jesus Christ. VI. The Ancients did hold all Bishops as to their Office originally according to Divine Institution or abstracting from humane Sanctions framed to preserve Order and Peace to be equal for that all are Successours of the Apostles all derive their Commission and Power in the same tenour from God all of them are Ambassadours Stewards Vicars of Christ entrusted with the same Divine Ministeries of instructing dispensing the Sacraments ruling and exercising Discipline to which Functions and Privileges the least Bishop hath right and to greater the biggest cannot pretend One Bishop might exceed another in Splendour in Wealth in Reputation in extent of Jurisdiction as one King may surpass another in amplitude of Territory but as all Kings so all Bishops are equal in Office and essentials of Power derived from God Hence they applied to them that in the Psalm Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy Children whom thou mayst make Princes in all the earth This was St. Hierome's Doctrine in those famous words Whereever a Bishop be whether at Rome or at Eugubium at Constantinople or at Rhegium at Alexandria or at Thenis he is of the same worth and of the same Priesthood the force of wealth and lowness of poverty doth not render a Bishop more high or more low for that all of them are Successours of the Apostles to evade which plain assertion they have forged distinctions whereof St. Hierome surely did never think he speaking simply concerning Bishops as they stood by Divine Institution not according to humane Models which gave some advantages over other That this notion did continue long in the Church we may see by the Elogies of Bishops in later Synods for instance that in the Synod of Compeigne It is convenient all Christians should know what kind of Office the Bishops is who 't is plain are the Vicars of Christ and keep the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven And that of the Synod of Melun And though all of us unworthy yet are the Vicars of Christ and Successours of his Apostles In contemplation of which verity St. Gregory Nazianzene observing the declension from it introduced in his times by the ambition of some Prelates did vent that famous exclamation O that there were not at all any presidency or any preference in place and tyrannical enjoyment of prerogatives which earnest wish he surely did not mean to level against the Ordinance of God but against that which lately began to be intruded by men And what would the good man have wished if he had been aware of those pretences about which we discourse which then did onely begin to bud and peep up in the World 1. Common practice is a good Interpreter of common sentiments in any case and it therefore sheweth that in the primitive Church the Pope was not deemed to have a right of Universal Sovereignty for if such a thing had been instituted by God or established by the Apostles the Pope certainly with evident clearness would have appeared to have possessed it and would have sometimes I might say frequently yea continually have exercised it in the first Ages which that he did not at all we shall make I hope very manifest by reflecting on the chief passages occurring then whereof indeed there is scarce any one which duly weighed doth not serve to overthrow the Roman pretence but that matter I reserve to another place and shall propound other considerations declaring the sense of the Fathers onely I shall add that indeed 2. The state of the most primitive Church did not well admit such an universal Sovereignty For that did consist of small bodies incoherently situated and scattered about in very distant places and consequently unfit to be modelled into one political Society or to be governed by one Head Especially considering their condition under Persecution and Poverty What convenient resort for Direction or Justice could a few distressed Christians in Egypt Ethiopia Parthia India Mesopotamia Syria Armenia Cappadocia and other Parts have to Rome what trouble what burthen had it been to seek Instruction Succour Decision of Cases thence Had they been obliged or required to doe so what offences what clamours would it have raised seeing that afterward when Christendom was connected and compacted together when the state of Christians was flourishing and prosperous when passages were open and the best of opportunities of correspondence were afforded yet the setting out of these pretences did cause great oppositions and stirs seeing the exercise of this Authority when it had obtained most vigour did produce so many grievances so many complaints so many courses to check and curb it in Countries feeling the inconveniences and mischiefs springing from it The want of the like in the first Ages is a good Argument that the cause of them had not yet sprung up Christendom could not have been so still if there had been then so meddlesome a body in it as the Pope now is The Roman Clergy in their Epistle to St. Cyprian told him that because of the difficulty of things and times they could not constitute a Bishop who might moderate things immediately belonging to them in their own precincts how much more in that state of things would a Bishop there be sit to moderate things over all the World when as Rigaltius truly noteth the Church being then oppressed with various vexations the communication of Provinces between themselves was difficult and unfrequent Wherefore Bellarmine himself doth confess that in those times before the Nicene Synod the authority of the Pope was not a little hindred so that because of continual persecutions he could not freely exercise it The Church therefore could so long subsist without the use of such Authority by the vigilance of Governours over their Flocks and the friendly correspondence of neighbour Churches And if he would let it alone it might do so still That could be no Divine Institution which had no vigour in the first and best times but an Innovation raised by Ambition VII The Ancients when occasion did require did maintain their equality of Office and Authority particularly in respect to the Roman Bishops not onely interpretatively by practice but directly and
the authority of a Church especially then when no Church did appear to have either Principality or Puissance And that sense may clearly be evinced by the context wherein it doth appear that St. Irenaeus doth not alledge the judicial Authority of the Roman Church but its credible Testimony which thereby became more considerable because Christians commonly had occasions of recourse to it Such a reason of precedence St. Cyprian giveth in another case Because saith he Rome for its magnitude ought to precede Carthage For this reason a Pagan Historian did observe the Roman Bishop had a greater authority that is a greater interest and reputation than other Bishops This reason Theodoret doth assign in his Epistle to Pope Leo wherein he doth highly complement and cajole him for this city saith he is the greatest and the most splendid and presiding over the world and flowing with multitude of people and which moreover hath produced the Empire now governing This is the sole ground upon which the greatest of all ancient Synods that of Chalcedon did affirm the Papal eminency to be founded for to the throne say they of ancient Rome because that was the royal city the Fathers reasonably conferred the privileges the fountain of Papal eminence was in their judgment not any divine Institution not the Authority of Saint Peter deriving it self to his Successours but the concession of the Fathers who were moved to grant it upon account that Rome was the Imperial City To the same purpose the Empress Placidia in her Epistle to Theodosius in behalf of Pope Leo saith It becometh us to preserve to this city the which is mistress of all lands a reverence in all things This reason had indeed in it much of equity of decency of conveniency it was equal that he should have the preference and more than common respect who was thence enabled and engaged to do most service to Religion It was decent that out of conformity to the State and in respect to the Imperial Court and Senate the Pastour of that place should be graced with repute it was convenient that he who resided in the centre of all business and had the greatest influence upon affairs who was the Emperour's chief Counsellour for direction and Instrument for execution of Ecclesiastical affairs should not be put behind others Hence did the Fathers of the Second General Synod advance the Bishop of Constantinople to the next privileges of honour after the Bishop of Rome because it was new Rome and a Seat of the Empire And the Fathers of Chalcedon assigned equal privileges to the most Holy See of Rome with good reason say they judging that the city which was honoured with the Royalty and Senate and which otherwise did enjoy equal privileges with the ancient Royal Rome should likewise in Ecclesiastical affairs be magnified as it being second after it Indeed upon this score the Church of Constantinople is said to have aspired to the supreme Principality when it had the advantage over old Rome the Empire being extinguished there and sometimes was styled the Head of all Churches It is also natural and can hardly be otherwise but that the Bishop of a chief City finding himself to exceed in wealth in power in advantages of friendships dependencies c. should not affect to raise himself above the level it is an ambition that easily will seise on the most moderate and otherwise religious minds Pope Leo objected it to Anatolius and Pope Gregory to John from his austere life called the Faster Upon the like account it was that the Bishops of other Cities did mount to a preeminency Metropolitane Primatical Patriarchal Thence it was that the Bishop of Alexandria before Constantine's time did acquire the honour of second place to Rome because that City being head of a most rich and populous Nation did in magnitude and opulency as Gregory Nazianzene saith approach next to Rome so as hardly to yield the next place to it Upon that account also did Antioch get the next place as being the most large flourishing commanding City of the East the which as Josephus saith for bigness and for other advantages had without controversie the third place in all the world subject to the Romans and the which St. Chrysostome calleth the head of all cities seated in the East Saint Basil seemeth to call the Church thereof the principal in the world for what saith he can be more opportune to the Churches over the world than the Church of Antioch the which if it should happen to be reduced to concord nothing would hinder but that as a sound head it would supply health to the whole body Upon the same account the Bishop of Carthage did obtain the privilege to be standing Primate of his Province although other Primacies there were not fixed to places but followed Seniority and a kind of Patriarch over all the African Provinces Hence did Caesarea as exceeding in temporal advantages and being the Political Metropolis of Palestine o'ertop Jerusalem that most ancient noble and venerable City the source of our Religion It was indeed the general Rule and practice to conform the privileges of Ecclesiastical dignity in a proportion convenient to those of the secular Government as the Synod of Antioch in express terms did ordain the ninth Canon whereof runneth thus The Bishops in every Province ought to know that the Bishop presiding in the Metropolis doth undertake the care of all the Province because all that have business do meet together in the Metropolis whence it hath been ordained that he should precede in honour and that the Bishops should doe nothing extraordinary without him according to a more ancient Canon holding from our Fathers that is according to the 34th Canon of the Apostles It is true that the Fathers do sometimes mention the Church of Rome being founded by the two great Apostles or the succession of the Roman Bishop to them in Pastoral charge as a special ornament of that Church and a congruous ground of respect to that Bishop whereby they did honour the memory of Saint Peter but even some of those who did acknowledge this did not avow it as a sufficient ground of preeminence none did admit it for an argument of authoritative Superiority St. Cyprian did call the Roman See the chair of Saint Peter and the principal Church yet he disclaimed any authority of the Roman Bishops above his brethren Firmilian did take notice that Pope Stephanus did glory in the place of his Bishoprick and contend that he held the succession of Peter yet did not he think himself thereby obliged to submit to his authority or follow his judgment but sharply did reprehend him as a favourer of Hereticks an authour of Schisms and one who had cut himself off from the communion of his brethren The Fathers of the Antiochene Synod did confess that in writings all did willingly honour the Roman
Authority whenas the actions of such Fathers and their discourses upon other occasions do manifest their serious judgment to have been directly contrary to his pretences wherefore the Emperour of Constantinople in the Florentine Synod had good reason to decline such sayings for arguments for if saith he any of the Saints doth in an Epistle honour the Pope shall he take that as importing privileges 9. Good men commonly out of charitable simplicity meekness modesty and humility love of peace and aversness from contention are apt to yield to the encroachments of those who any-wise do excell them and when such men do yield others are ready to follow their example Bad men have little interest to resist and no heart to stand for publick good but rather strike in presently taking advantage by their compliance to drive a good market for themselves Hence so many of all sorts in all times did comply with Popes or did not obstruct them suffering them without great obstacle to raise their power 10. If in such cases a few wise men do apprehend the consequences of things yet they can doe little to prevent them They seldom have the courage with sufficient zeal to bustle against encroachments fearing to be overborn by its stream to lose their labour and vainly to suffer by it If they offer at resistence it is usually faint and moderate whereas power doth act vigorously and push it self forward with mighty violence so that it is not onely difficult to check it but dangerous to oppose it Ambiguity of words as it causeth many debates so yieldeth much advantage to the foundation and amplification of power for whatever is said of it will be interpreted in favour of it and will afford colour to its pretences Words innocently or carelesly used are by interpretation extended to signifie great matters or what you please For instance The word Bishop may import any kind of superintendency or inspection hence Saint Peter came to be reckoned Bishop of Rome because in virtue of his Apostolical Office he had inspection over that Church founded by him and might exercise some Episcopal acts The word Head doth signifie any kind of eminency the word Prince any priority the word to preside any kind of superiority or preeminence hence some Fathers attributing those names to Saint Peter they are interpreted to have thought him Sovereign in power over the Apostles And because some did give like terms to the Pope they infer his Superiority in power over all Bishops notwithstanding such Fathers did express a contrary judgment The word Successour may import any derivation of power hence because Saint Peter is said to have founded the Church of Rome and to have ordained the first Bishop there the Pope is called his Successour The word Authority doth often import any kind of influence upon the opinions or actions of men grounded upon eminence of place worth reputation or any such advantage Hence because the Pope of old sometimes was desired to interpose his authority they will understand him to have had right to command or judge in such cases although authority is sometimes opposed to command as where Livy saith that Evander did hold those places by authority rather than by command and Tacitus of the German Princes saith They are heard rather according to their authority of persuading than power of commanding The word Judge saith Canus is frequently used to signifie no more than I do think or conceive whereby he doth excuse divers Popes from having decreed a notable errour for Alexander III. says of them that they judged that after a matrimony contracted not consummated another may be valid that being dissolved Yet if the Pope is said to have judged so or so in any case it is alledged for a certain argument of proper Jurisdiction 11. There is a strange inchantment in words which being although with no great colour of reason assumed do work on the fancies of men especially of the weaker sort Of these power doth ever arrogate to it self such as are most operative by their force sustaining and extending it self So divers prevalent Factions did assume to themselves the name of Catholick and the Roman Church particularly hath appropriated that word to it self even so as to commit a Bull implying Rome and the Universe to be the same place and the perpetual canting of this Term hath been one of its most effectual charms to weak people I am a Catholick that is an Vniversal therefore all I hold is true this is their great Argument The words Successour of Peter Apostolick See Prima Sedes have been strongly urged for Arguments of Papal Authority the which have beyond their true force for indeed they signifie nothing had a strange efficacy upon men of understanding and wisedom 12. The Pope's power was much amplified by the importunity of persons condemned or extruded from their places whether upon just accounts or wrongfully and by faction for they finding no other more hopefull place of refuge and redress did often apply to him for what will not men doe whither will not they go in straits Thus did Marcion go to Rome and sue for admission to communion there So Fortunatus and Felicissimus in St. Cyprian being condemned in Africk did fly to Rome for shelter of which absurdity St. Cyprian doth so complain So likewise Martianus and Basilides in St. Cyprian being outed of their Sees for having lapsed from the Christian profession did fly to Stephen for succour to be restored So Maximus the Cynick went to Rome to get a confirmation of his election at Constantinople So Marcellus being rejected for Heterodoxy went thither to get attestation to his Orthodoxy of which St. Basil complaineth So Apiarius being condemned in Africk for his crimes did appeal to Rome And on the other side Athanasius being with great partiality condemned by the Synod of Tyre Paulus and other Bishops being extruded from their Sees for Orthodoxy St. Chrysostome being condemned and expelled by Theophilus and his complices Flavianus being deposed by Dioscorus and the Ephesine Synod Theodoret being condemned by the same did cry out for help from Rome Chelidonius Bishop of Resanon being deposed by Hilarius of Arles for crimes did fly to Pope Leo. Ignatius Patriarch of Constantinople being extruded from his See by Photius did complain to the Pope 13. All Princes are forward to heap honour on the Bishop of their Imperial City it seeming a disgrace to themselves that so near a relation be an inferiour to any other who is as it were their Spiritual Pastour who is usually by their special favour advanced The City it self and the Court will be restless in assisting him to climb Thus did the Bishop of Constantinople arise to that high pitch of honour and to be Second Patriarch who at first was a mean Suffragan to the Bishop of Heraclea this by the Synods of Constantinople and Chalcedon is assigned for the reason of his advancement And
of Judas wherein upon Saint Peter's motion all the disciples present did by consent present two out of whom God himself did elect one by determining the lot to fall upon Matthias so that this designation being partly humane partly divine so far as it was humane it went by free election of the whole fraternity and Saint Peter beside generally suggesting the matter to be done did assume nothing peculiar to himself The next constitution we meet with is that of Deacons to assist the Apostles and Elders in discharge of inferiour Offices wherein the Apostles did commit the designation of the persons to the multitude of the disciples who elected them and presented them to the Apostles who by prayer and laying on of hands did ordain them Nor had Saint Peter in this action any particular stroke As to the Constitution of Bishops in the first Apostolical times the course was this The Apostles and Apostolical persons who were authorized by the Apostles to act with their power and in their stead did in Churches founded by them constitute Bishops such as divine inspiration or their grace of discretion did guide them to So did Saint John in Asia setting those apart for the Clergy whom the Spirit had markt out This was not done without the consent of the Christian people as Clemens Romanus telleth us in his excellent Epistle to the Corinthians But he doth not acquaint us although he were himself Bishop of Rome that the Pope had any thing to doe in such Constitutions or in confirmations of them the whole Church saith he consenting Why doth he not add for his own sake and the Pope confirming In the next times when those extraordinary persons and faculties had expired when usually the Churches planted were in situation somewhat incoherent and remote from each other upon a vacancy the Clergy and people of each Church did elect its Bishop in which action commonly the Clergy did propound and recommend a person or persons and the people by their consent approve or by their suffrages elect one a strict examination of his Life and Doctrine intervening the which Order Tertullian briefly doth intimate in those words The Presidents of the Church are certain Elders well approved who have obtained that honour not by price but by proof It may be enquired how a Bishop then was Ordained in case his City was very remote from any other Churches Did they send for Bishops from distant places to Ordain him Or did the Presbyters of the place lay their hands on him Or did he receive no other Ordination than that he had before of Presbyter Or did he abide no Bishop till opportunity did yield Bishops to Ordain him Or did providence order that there should be no such solitary Churches The ancient Commentatour contemporary to St. Ambrose and bearing his name did conceive that upon decease of a Bishop the elder of the Presbyters did succeed into his place Whence had he this out of his invention and conjecture or from some Tradition and History Afterward when the Faith was diffused through many Provinces that Churches grew thick and close the general practice was this The neighbour Bishops being advertised of a vacancy or want of a Bishop did convene at the place then in the Congregation the Clergy of the place did propound a person yielding their attestation to his fitness for the charge which the people hearing did give their suffrages accepting him if no weighty cause was objected against him or refusing him if such cause did appear Then upon such recommendation and acceptance the Bishops present did adjoin their approbation and consent then by their devotions and solemn laying on of their hands they did Ordain or Consecrate him to the Function Of this course most commonly practised in his time we have divers plain Testimonies in St. Cyprian the best Authour extant concerning these matters of ancient Discipline For which reason saith he that from divine tradition and Apostolical observation is to be observed and held which also is with us and almost through all Provinces kept that for duely celebrating ordinations unto that people for whom a Bishop is ordained all the neighbour Bishops of the same Province or people should resort and a Bishop should be chosen the people being present which most fully knoweth the life of each one and hath from his conversation a thorough insight into his practice the which we see done with you in the ordination of our Collegue Sabinus that by the suffrage of all the fraternity and by the judgment of all the Bishops which had assembled in the presence and had sent letters to you about him the Bishoprick should be deferr'd to him Again A people obedient to the Lord's commands and fearing God ought to separate it self from a wicked Bishop such a notoriously wicked Bishop as those were of whom he treateth who had renounced the Faith and not to mingle it self with the sacrifices of a sacrilegious Priest seeing especially that it hath a power either to chuse worthy Priests or to refuse those who are unworthy the which also we see to descend from divine authority that a Bishop should be chosen the people being present before the eyes of all and that he who is worth and fit should be approved by publick judgment and testimony Again when saith he concerning himself a Bishop is substituted in the place of one deceased when he is peaceably chosen by the suffrage of all the people and whom if according to the divine instructions the whole fraternity would obey no man would move any thing against the College of Priests none after the divine judgment after the suffrage of the people after the consent of the fellow-Bishop would make himself judge not indeed of the Bishop but of God Again Cornelius was made Bishop by the judgment of God and his Christ by the testimony of almost all the Clergy by the suffrage of the people being then present and by the College of Priests ancient and good men and Cornelius being in the Catholick Church ordained by the judgment of God and by the suffrage of the Clergy and people Again When a Bishop is once made and is approved by the testimony and the judgment of his Collegues and of the people The Authour of the Apostolical Constitutions thus in the person of Saint Peter very fully and clearly describeth the manner of Ordination of Bishops in his times After one of the chief Bishops present has thus prayed the rest of the Priests with all the people shall say Amen and after the prayer one of the Bishops shall deliver the Eucharist into the hands of the person ordained and that morning he shall be plac'd by the rest of the Bishops in his Throne all of them saluting him with a kiss in the Lord. After the reading of the Law and Prophets of our Epistles the Acts and Gospel he who is ordained shall salute the
According to which notions St. Cyprian saith that there is a Church where there is a People united to a Priest and a Flock adhering to their Shepherd and so Ignatius saith that without the Orders of the Clergy a Church is not called 3. A larger Collection of divers particular Societies combined together in order under direction and influence of a common Government or of Persons acting in the Publick behalf is termed a Church as the Church of Antioch of Corinth of Jerusalem c. each of which at first probably might consist of divers Congregations having dependencies of less Towns annexed to them all being united under the care of the Bishop and Presbytery of those places but however soon after the Apostles times it is certain that such Collections were and were named Churches 4. The Society of those who at present or in course of time profess the Faith and Gospel of Christ and undertake the Evangelical Covenant in distinction to all other Religions particularly to that of the Jews which is called the Synagogue 5. The whole body of God's people that is ever hath been or ever shall be from the beginning of the world to the consummation thereof who having formally or virtually believed in Christ and sincerely obeyed God's Laws shall finally by the meritorious Performances and Sufferings of Christ be saved is called the Church Of these Acceptions the two latter do onely come under present consideration it being plain that Saint Paul doth not speak of any one particular or present Society but of all at all times who have relation to the same Lord Faith Hope Sacraments c. Wherefore to determine the case between these two we must observe that to the latter of these that is to the Catholick Society of true Believers and faithfull Servants of Christ diffused through all ages dispersed through all Countries where part doth sojourn on Earth part doth reside in Heaven part is not yet extant but all whereof is described in the register of Divine Pre-ordination and shall be recollected at the Resurrection of the Just that I say to this Church especially all the glorious Titles and excellent Privileges attributed to the Church in Holy Scripture do agree This is the body of Christ whereof he is the Head and Saviour This is the Spouse and Wife of Christ whereof he is the Bridegroom and Husband This is the House of God whereof our Lord is the Master which is built upon a rock so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it This is the City of God the new the holy the heavenly Jerusalem the Mother of us all This is the Sion which the Lord hath chosen which he hath desired for his habitation where he hath resolved to place his rest and residence for ever This is the mountain of the Lord seated above all mountains unto which all Nations shall flow This is the elect generation royal Priesthood holy nation peculiar people This is the general Assembly and Church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven This is the Church which God hath purchased with his own bloud and for which Christ hath delivered himself that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle nor any such thing but that it might be holy and unblemished To this Church as those high Elogies most properly do appertain so that Unity which is often attributed to the Church doth peculiarly belong thereto This is that One body into which we are all baptized by one Spirit which is knit together and compacted of parts affording mutual aid and supply to its nourishment and encrease the members whereof do hold a mutual sympathy and complacence which is joined to one Head deriving sense and motion from it which is enlivened and moved by one Spirit This is that one spiritual House reared upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. This is that One family of God whereof Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence good Christians are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is that one City or Corporation endued with an ample Charter and noble Privileges in regard to which Saint Paul saith we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow Citizens of the Saints and that our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our civil state and capacity is in Heaven or that we are Citizens thereof That one Holy nation and peculiar People the spiritual Israel subject to the same Government and Law that which is called the Kingdom of Heaven enioying the same Franchises and Privileges following the same Customs and Fashions using the same Conversation and Language whereof Jesus Christ is the Lord and King This is the one Flock under one Shepherd This is the Society of those for whom Christ did pray that they might be all one It is true that divers of these Characters are expressed to relate to the Church after Christ but they may be allowed to extend to all the faithfull Servants of God before who in effect were Christians being saved upon the same account and therefore did belong to the same Body To this Church in a more special and eminent manner all those Titles and particularly that of Vnity are ascribed but the same also in some order and measure do belong and are attributed to the Universal Church sojourning upon Earth For because this visible Church doth enfold the other as one Mass doth contain the good Ore and base Alloy as one Floor the Corn and the Chaff as one Field the Wheat and the Tares as one Net the choice Fish and the refuse as one Fold the Sheep and the Goats as one Tree the living and the dry Branches Because this Society is designed to be in reality what the other is in appearance the same with the other Because therefore presumptively every member of this doth pass for a member of the other the time of distinction and separation not being yet come Because this in its Profession of Truth in its Sacrifices of Devotion in its Practice of Service and Duty to God doth communicate with that Therefore commonly the Titles and Attributes of the one are imparted to the other All saith Saint Paul are not Israel who are of Israel nor is he a Jew that is one outwardly yet in regard to the conjunction of the rest with the faithfull Israelites because of external Consent in the same Profession and conspiring in the same Services all the Congregation of Israel is styled a holy Nation and peculiar People So likewise do the Apostles speak to all Members of the Church as to elect and holy Persons unto whom all the Privileges of Christianity
most primitive ages when evidently there was no such a political Conjunction of Christians Arg. III. The Apostles delivered one Rule of Faith to all Churches the embracing and profession whereof celebrated in Baptism was a necessary condition to the admission into the Church and to continuance therein therefore Christians are combined together in one political Body Answ. 1. The Consequence is very weak for from the Antecedent it can onely be inferred that according to the Sentiment of the Ancients all Christians should consent in one Faith which Unity we avow and who denieth Answ. 2. By like reason all Mankind must be united in one political Body because all men are bound to agree in what the Light of nature discovereth to be true and good or because the Principles of natural Religion Justice and Humanity are common to all Arg. IV. God hath granted to the Church certain Powers and Rights as Jura Majestatis namely the Power of the Keys to admit into to exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven a Power to enact Laws for maintenance of its Order and Peace for its Edification and Welfare a Power to correct and excommunicate Offenders a Power to hold Assemblies for God's Service a Power to ordain Governours and Pastours Answ. 1. These Powers are granted to the Church because granted to each particular Church or distinct Society of Christians not to the whole as such or distinct from the Parts Answ. 2. It is evident that by virtue of such Grants particular Churches do exercise those Powers and it is impossible to infer more from them than a Justification of their Practice Answ. 3. St. Cyprian often from that common Grant doth infer the Right of exercising Discipline in each particular Church which Inference would not be good but upon our Supposition nor indeed otherwise would any particular Church have ground for its Authority Answ. 4. God hath granted the like Rights to all Princes and States but doth it thence follow that all Kingdoms and States must be united in one single Regiment the Consequence is just the same as in our Case Arg. V. All Churches were tied to observe the same Laws or Rules of Practice the same Orders of Discipline and Customes therefore all do make one Corporation Answ. 1. That All Churches are bound to observe the same Divine Institutions doth argue onely an Unity of relation to the same Heavenly King or a specifical Unity and Similitude of Policy the which we do avow Answ. 2. We do also acknowledge it convenient and decent that all Churches in principal Observances introduced by humane prudence should agree so near as may be an Uniformity in such things representing and preserving Unity of Faith of Charity of Peace Whence the Governours of the primitive Church did endeavour such an Uniformity as the Fathers of Nice profess in the Canon forbidding of Genu-flexion on Lord's days and in the days of Pentecost Answ. 3. Yet doth not such an agreement or attempt at it infer a political Unity no more than when all men by virtue of a primitive general Tradition were tied to offer Sacrifices and Oblations to God that Consideration might argue all men to have been under the same Government or no more than the usual Agreement of neighbour Nations in divers fashions doth conclude such an Unity Answ. 4. In divers Customes and Observances several Churches did vary with allowance which doth rather infer a difference of Polity than agreement in other Observances doth argue an Unity thereof Answ. 5. St. Cyprian doth affirm that in such matters every Bishop had a Power to use his own discretion without being obliged to comply with others Arg. VI. The Jewish Church was one Corporation and in correspondence thereto the Christian Church should be such Answ. 1. As the Christian Church doth in some things correspond to that of the Jews so it differeth in others being designed to excell it wherefore this argumentation cannot be valid and may as well be employed for our Opinion as against it Answ. 2. In like manner it may be argued that all Christians should annually meet in one place that all Christians should have one Arch-priest on Earth that we should all be subject to one temporal Jurisdiction that we should all speak one Language c. Answ. 3. There is a great difference in the case for the Israelites were one small Nation which conveniently might be embodied but the Christian Church should consist of all Nations which rendreth Correspondence in this particular unpracticable at least without great inconvenience Answ. 4. Before the Law Christian Religion and consequently a Christian Church did in substance subsist but what Unity of Government was there then Answ. 5. The Temporal Union of the Jews might onely figure the spiritual Unity of Christians in Faith Charity and Peace Arg. VII All Ecclesiastical Power was derived from the same Fountains by succession from the Apostles therefore the Church was one political Body Answ. 1. Thence we may rather infer that Churches are not so united because the Founders of them were several Persons endowed with co-ordinate and equal Power Answ. 2. The Apostles did in several Churches constitute Bishops independent from each other and the like may be now either by succession from those or by the constitutions of humane prudence according to emergences of occasion and circumstances of things Answ. 3. Divers Churches were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all were so according to Saint Cyprian Answ. 4. All temporal power is derived from Adam and the Patriarchs ancient Fathers of families Doth it thence follow that all the World must be under one secular Government Arg. VIII All Churches did exercise a Power of Excommunication or of excluding Hereticks Schismaticks disorderly and scandalous people Answ. 1. Each Church was vested with this Power this doth therefore onely infer a resemblance of several Churches in Discipline which we avow Answ. 2. This argueth that all Churches took themselves to be obliged to preserve the same Faith to exercise Charity and Peace to maintain the like Holiness of conversation What then Do we deny this Answ. 3. All Kingdoms and States do punish Offenders against Reason and Justice do banish seditious and disorderly persons do uphold the Principles and Practice of common Honesty and Morality Doth it thence follow that all Nations must come under one civil Government Arg. IX All Churches did maintain entercourse and commerce with each other by formed communicatory pacificatory commendatory synodical Epistles Answ. 1. This doth signifie that the Churches did by Admonition Advice c. help one another in maintenance of the common Faith did endeavour to preserve Charity Friendship and Peace this is all which thence may be concluded Answ. 2. Secular Princes are wont to send Ambassadours and Envoys with Letters and Instructions for settlement of Correspondence and preserving Peace they sometimes do recommend their Subjects to other Princes they expect
offices of humanity toward their subjects travelling or trading any where in the World common Reason doth require such things But may common Unity of Polity from hence be inferr'd Arg. X. The effectuâ—â— Preservation of Unity in the primitive Church is alledged as a strong Argument of its being united in one Government Answ. 1. That Unity of Faith and Charity and Discipline which we admit was indeed preserved not by influence of any one Sovereign Authority whereof there is no mention but by the concurrent vigilance of Bishops declaring and disputing against any Novelty in Doctrine or Practice which did start up by their adherence to the Doctrine asserted in Scripture and confirmed by Tradition by their aiding and abetting one another as Confederates against Errours and Disorders creeping in Answ. 2. The many Differences which arose concerning the Observation of Easter the Re-baptization of Hereticks the Reconciliation of Revolters and scandalous Criminals concerning the decision of Causes and Controversies c. do more clearly shew that there was no standing common Jurisdiction in the Church for had there been such an one recourse would have been had thereto and such Differences by its Authority would easily have been quashed Arg. XI Another Argument is grounded on the Relief which one Church did yield to another which supposeth all Churches under one Government imposing such Tribute Answ. 1. This is a strange Fetch as if all who were under obligation to relieve one another in need were to be under one Government Then all Mankind must be so Answ. 2. It appeareth by St. Paul that these Succours were of free Charity Favour and Liberality and not by Constraint Arg. XII The use of Councils is also alledged as an Argument of this Unity Answ. 1. General Councils in case Truth is disowned that Peace is disturbed that Discipline is loosed or perverted are wholsome Expedients to clear Truth and heal Breaches but the holding them is no more an Argument of political Unity in the Church than the Treaty of Munster was a sign of all Europe being under one civil Government Answ. 2. They are extraordinary arbitrary prudential means of restoring Truth Peace Order Discipline but from them nothing can be gathered concerning the continual ordinary State of the Church Answ. 3. For during a long time the Church wanted them and afterwards had them but rarely For the first three hundred years saith Bell. there was no general assembly afterwards scarce one in a hundred years And since the breach between the Oriental and Western Churches for many Centenaries there hath been none Yet was the Church from the beginning One till Constantine and long afterwards Answ. 4. The first General Councils indeed all that have been with any probable shew capable of that denomination were congregated by Emperours to cure the Dissentions of Bishops what therefore can be argued from them but that the Emperours did find it good to settle Peace and Truth and took this for a good mean thereto Alb. Pighius said that General Councils were an invention of Constantine and who can confute him Answ. 5. They do shew rather the Unity of the Empire than of the Church or of the Church as National under one Empire than as Catholick for it was the State which did call and moderate them to its Purposes Answ. 6. It is manifest that the congregation of them dependeth on the permission and pleasure of secular Powers and in all equity should do so as otherwhere is shewed Answ. 7. It is not expedient that there should be any of them now that Christendom slandeth divided under divers temporal Sovereignties for their Resolutions may intrench on the Interests of some Princes and hardly can they be accommodated to the Civil Laws and Customs of every State Whence we see that France will not admit the Decrees of their Tridentine Synod Answ. 8. There was no such inconvenience in them while Christendom was in a manner confined within one Empire for then nothing could be decreed or executed without the Emperour's leave or to his prejudice Answ. 9. Yea as things now stand it is impossible there should be a free Council most of the Bishops being sworn Vassals and Clients to the Pope and by their own Interests concerned to maintain his exorbitant Grandeur and Domination Answ. 10. In the opinion of St. Athanasius there was no reasonable cause of Synods except in case of new Heresies springing up which may be confuted by the joint consent of Bishops Answ. 11. As for particular Synods they do onely signifie that it was usefull for neighbour Bishops to conspire in promoting Truth Order and Peace as we have otherwhere shewed Councils have often been convened for bad Designs and been made Engines to oppress Truth and enslave Christendom That of Antioch against Athanasius of Ariminum for Arianism The second Ephesine to restore Eutyches and reject Flavianus The second of Nice to impose the Worship of Babies The Synod of Ariminum to countenance Arians So the fourth Synod of Laterane sub Inn. III. to settle the prodigious Doctrine of Transubstantiation and the wicked Doctrine of Papal Authority over Princes The first Synod of Lions to practise that hellish Doctrine of Deposing Kings The Synod of Constance to establish the maime of the Eucharist against the Calistines of Bohemia The Laterane under Leo X. was called as the Arch-bishop of Patras affirmed for the Exaltation of the Apostolical See The Synod of Trent to settle a raff of Errours and Superstitions Obj. II. It may farther be objected that this Doctrine doth favour the Conceits of the Independents concerning Ecclesiastical Discipline I answer No. For 1. We do assert that every Church is bound to observe the Institutions of Christ and that sort of Government which the Apostles did ordain consisting of Bishops Priests and People 2. We avow it expedient in conformity to the primitive Churches and in order to the maintenance of Truth Order Peace for several particular Churches or Parishes to be combined in political Corporations as shall be found convenient by those who have just Authority to frame such Corporations for that otherwise Christianity being shattered into numberless shreds could hardly subsist and that great Confusions must arise 3. We affirm that such Bodies having been established and being maintained by just Authority every man is bound to endeavour the upholding of them by Obedience by peaceable and compliant Demeanour 4. We acknowledge it a great Crime by factious behaviour in them or by needless separation from them to disturb them to divide them to dissolve or subvert them 5. We conceive it fit that every People under one Prince or at least of one Nation using the same Language Civil Law and Fashions should be united in the bands of Ecclesiastical Polity for that such a Unity apparently is conducible to the peace and welfare both of Church and State to the furtherance of God's worship and
Church we are not merely upon that score to condemn or reject from communion of Charity or Peace for in that they do but use their Liberty 10. But if such Churches do maintain impious Errours if they do prescribe naughty Practices if they do reject Communion and Peace upon reasonable terms if they vent unjust and uncharitable Censures if they are turbulent and violent striving by all means to subdue and enslave other Churches to their will or their dictates if they damn and persecute all who refuse to be their Subjects in such cases we may reject such Churches as heretical or schismatical or wickedly uncharitable and unjust in their Proceedings A TABLE of the AUTHOURS quoted in the Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy and Vnity of the Church A. S. AMbrosius 155. in Luc. 277. de Poen 274. de Sac. 128. Anastasius in vit Joh. 204.210 Anton. de Concil Pis. 24. Anselmus in Joh. 60. Apost Can. 324. Aquinas Tho. 278. Arist. Pol. 131.142.314 S. Athanas. Disp. contra Arium 3. Athanas. 73.115.148.155.202 Athanas. de Syn. 321. August Triumph 3. S. Augustinus contra Crescon 48.53.127.133 Idem de Unit. Eccles. 26.123.250.251.277.296.301.307 Ep. 128.155.249.155.305.314 in S. Joh. 31. contra Don. 54. de Bapt. 150.300 in Psal. 296. contra Jul. 223. B. BAlusius 170. Not. ad Agorbard 26. Baronius 5.10.82.142.151.161.122.180.187.203.216.232.234.239.241.151.256.215.264.318 S. Basil. 68.115.246.264 Epist. 61.160.244 in Is. 61. de Judicio Dei 33. Bellarminus 2.3.15.51.59.69.71.137.148.153.193.256.269.257.261.287.321 S. Bernardus 141.145.281 de Consid. 40.265 Binius 6.8.52.65.152.192.265.277.325 Bochell 2. Bodin de Rep. 147. Bullae Variorum P. 5. c. C. CAmd Hist. 5. Canon Apost 164.178.241 Cajet in 1 Cor. 284. Canus 6. Celest. ad Cyril 203.213 Chrysol 62. S. Chrysostomus 30.31.32.63.67.74.75.82.264.269.281.313 Idem in Ephes. 40. in Act. Apost 44.45 in S. Joh. 49. in Galat. ibid. 55. Ep. 135.159 in Colos. 283. in 1 Cor. 301. Claudianus 132. Clemens ad Corinth 48.58.113 S. Clemens Alex. 118.297.299.308 Clemens Alex. apud Euseb. 57. Cod. Afr. 164.241.248 Cod. Lib. 1.179 Concilium Ant. Bas. 25.264.132.135.141.267.268 Chalced. 165.166.163.225.135.136.248.270.303.202.203.204.205.206.121 Sard. 84.233 Trid. 2.7.135.136.280.283.285.286.230 Lat. 41.136.185.281.325 Ludg. 146. Tolet. 227. Nic. 241.121 Trull 84. Eph. 234.278.155 Florent 21. Cons. 25.330.121.248 Miler 248. Carth. ibid. Conc. sub Men. 85.231 Const. Apost 230. Card. Cusanus de Conc. Carth. 43. S. Cyprianus 149.150.150.252.263.269 de Unit. Eccles. 58.62 in Conc. Carth. 211.216 Ep. 54.71.67.79.113.115.124.125.129.153.157.158.162.229.232.235.243.248.249.276.277.269.301.302.304.305.312.315.318.323 S. Cyril 68.78.282 D. DAmasi P. Ep. Distinct. 228 c. Durandus 263. Dionysius de Eccl. Hier. 58. E. EAdmeri Hist. 182.270 S. Epiphan 83.252 Haer. 34.51.324.298.308 Erasmi Praefat. ad Hieron 288. Evag. 239.240 Euseb. 158.173.273.202 Hist. 32.73.298.318 de Vit. Const. 86.186.304.305.306 F. FAC. Hermian 276. Florus 131. G. POpe Gelas. distinc 58. Ep. Georg. Alex. vita Chrys. 12. Gervas Dorob apud Twisd 151. Grat. Dist. 10.41 Greg. Decret 15. Greg Past. 53. Greg. M. Ep. 122.124.125.265.225.169 S. Greg. Naz. 130.152.159.257 Guicc 136.143 Gunth Lig. 180. H. HEgesippus apud Euseb. 57. Hesychius apud Photium 46. Hieron adv Evagr. 152.125 Hieron Ep. 129. S. Hier. in Matt. 33. in Jovin 42. Hilar. de Trin. 35. Hilar. 153.155.213 Hist. Trident. 321. Horat. 177. I. IGnat ad Trall 294. S. Iren. 87.88.119.158.299.311.316.318 Joseph de Bello Jud. 160. Isid. Dist. 169. Isid. Hispal 128.58 Isid. Pelusiot 130. Justini Cod. 204. Justini Novell 235. L. LActantius 35. Lateran Concil 46. Launoius 12.116.185 P. Leo Ep. 126.273.204.205.208.209.225.230.225.254 Livius 178. M. MAchivel 144. De Marc. 170. Marsil Patav. 17. Matt. Paris 6.7.182.183.192.251.262.265 Memor Hist. de 5 Propos. 267. N. POpe Nic. Ep. 174.175.200.210 O. OCcam 17. Optat. lib. 2.303 Orient Relat. ad Imper. Act. 208. Orig. in Matt. 62. Otho Frising Chron. 13. P. POpe Pash Ep. apud Eadmer 261.262 Pelag. Ep. 123.201.86 Petr. ad Jacob. 83. Photius 33.42 Pighius de Hier. 265. Platina de Vit. Pont. 8.28.41.145.150.215.228 Plut. in Pyrr 174. Prudent in Apotheos 290. R. RIgalt in Cypr. Ep. 60. 157.237 Ruffinus 170. S. SEnec de Benef. Sigeberti Chron. 9. Sleid. 139.141 Socrates Sozom. 12.87.120.173.186.167.208.216.234.242.226.232.252.253.256 Spalatens 5. Suetonius 83. P. Symac Ep. 325. Synes Ep. 325. Synod Ant. 157.216.312.231 Ansel. 85. Bas. 133.314 Chalc. 158 159.167.168.184.231·233.245.254.257.264 Const. 165.159 Eph. 168. Trull 201. Nic. 164.166.231 Flor. 177. Laod. 166. Sard. 324. T. TAcitus 131.142 Ann. 174. de Morib Germ. 178. Tertullianus 26.50.58.63.67.77.80.118.119.164.298.216.269.280.282.294.297.309.318 Theod. 156.161.166.187.208.227.229.237.238.255.256.323 Theoph. in Matth. 33.253 Tho. Aq. 3.6 Tho. Cajet Orat. 267. Thorn 318. Thuan. 146. Tort. Tort. 147. Trid. Concil 41. Twisd 184. V. VAles in Euseb. 310. P. Vrb. Ep. 7. Vsserius 242.315 Z. ZAbarellus 4. Zozomen 117.131.161.213.225.227.232.239.250 A TABLE OF Things or the Chief Matters contained in the Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy and of the Vnity of the Church A. ABsolution Particular Absolution why allowed in the Church of Rome 139. Anacletus and Cletus by some thought to be the same 88. Anathema's of the Romanists 289. Angels Popish Doctrine of worshipping them contrary to Scripture 280. Apostles Which the Elder 34. That Office of the greatest Authority in the Primitive Church 37. This Authority of their Office they frequently assert never Superiority over one another 50. Their manner of Life ibid. Their Equality attested by the Fathers and plain from Scripture 57 59. Their extraordinary Privileges and miraculous Powers not successive nor communicable 78. Appeals to the Pope disclaimed 248 249. B. S. BAsil His Authority against the Pope's Supremacy 123. Bishops How to discharge their Office 40. In what sense said to be Successours of the Apostles 79. All Bishops styled Clavigeri by the Council of Compeigne 65. Their Residence and Translation 84 85. The Highest Order in the Church 128. Their Equality notwithstanding some Differences in Order and Privileges 125 129 151. An Answer to such who object They had a Power as well as Emperours to call General Councils 193. Metropolitan Bishops in their Provinces had far more Power and more truly grounded than the Pope had in the whole Church 212. What kind of Authority they had heretofore in Synods ibid. Their Ordination in whose Power Their Authority and Rights 215 216. Constitution of them not in the Power of the Pope but Emperour 225. Nor Censuring them in the power of the Pope 231 232. No power in the Pope to depose them 233 The contrary Assertions examined and confuted in seq v. 241. Confirmation of them belongs not to the Pope 269. Bishops and Pastours Their Authority in Church Government in the Primitive Church 312 313. Their Character ibid. C. CAnon Law The vain pretence for the Obligation thereof 210. Canons Ancient Canons their silence concerning the Pope's Authority 120 121. Canons Universal Canons Popes no Power to alter them nor Exemption from them 213 their policy herein ibid. contrary Opinion from whence arising ibid. Canons of Popes why set above General Councils 268.
to him so many Dependents what might not he say or doe Pope Gregory VII being a man of untameable Spirit and taking advantage from the distractions and corruptions of his Times did venture to pull a feather with the Emperour and with success having mated him did set up a peremptory claim to Sovereignty over all Persons in all Causes In his footsteps his Successours have trodden being ever ready upon occasion to plead such a title and to practise according to it No Pope would foregoe any Power which had been claimed by his Predecessours And Popes would ever be sure to have dancers after their pipe numberless abetters of their pretences No wonder then that persons deferring much regard to the Authority of Popes and accommodating their conceits to the Dictates of them or of persons depending on them should in their opinions vary about the nature and extent of Papal Authority it having never been fixed within certain bounds or having in several Ages continued the same thing § XI Wherefore intending by God's help to discuss the pretended Authority of the Pope and to shew that He by no Divine institution and by no immutable right hath any such Power as he doth claim by reason of this perplexed variety of Opinions I do find it difficult to state the Question or to know at what distinct mark I should level my Discourse § XII But seeing his pretence to any Authority in Temporals or to the Civil Sword is so palpably vain that it hardly will bear a serious dispute having nothing but impudence and sophistry to countenance it seeing so many in the Roman Communion do reject it and have substantially confuted it seeing now most are ashamed of it and very few even among those Sects which have been its chief Patrons will own it seeing Bellarmine himself doth acknowledge it a Novelty devised about 500 years ago in St. Bernard's time seeing the Popes themselves what-ever they think dare now scarce speak out and forbear upon sufficient provocation to practise according to it I shall spare the trouble of meddling with it confining my Discourse to the Pope's Authority in Ecclesiastical affairs the pretence whereto I am persuaded to be no less groundless and no less noxious than the other to Christendom the which being overthrown the other as superstructed on it must also necessarily fall § XIII And here the Doctrine which I shall contest against is that in which the Cordial partizans of that See do seem to consent which is most common and current most applauded and countenanced in their Theological Schools which the Popes themselves have solemnly defined and declared for standing law or rule of jurisdiction which their most authentick Synods whereby their Religion is declared and distinguished from others have asserted or supposed which the tenour of their Discipline and Practice doth hold forth which their Clergy by most solemn professions and engagements is tied to avow which all the Clients and Confidents of Rome do zealously stand for more than for any other point of Doctrine and which no man can disclaim without being deemed an enemy or a prevaricator toward the Apostolick See § XIV Which Doctrine is this That in the words of the Florentine Synod's Definition the Apostolical Chair and the Roman High-Priest doth hold a Primacy over the Vniversal Church and that the Roman High-Priest is the Successour of Saint Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the true Lieutenant of Christ and the Head of the Church and that he is the Father and Doctour of all Christians and that unto him in Saint Peter full Power is committed to feed and direct and govern the Catholick Church under Christ according as is contained in the Acts of General Councils and in the Holy Canons That in the words of Pope Leo X. approved by the Laterane Synod Christ before his departure from the world did in solidity of the Rock institute Peter and his Successours to be his Lieutenants to whom it is so necessary to obey that who doth not obey must die the death That to the Pope as Sovereign Monarch by Divine Sanction of the whole Church do appertain Royal Prerogatives Regalia Petri the Royalties of Peter they are called in the Oath prescribed to Bishops Such as these which follow To be Superiour to the whole Church and to its Representative a General Synod of Bishops To convocate General Synods at his pleasure all Bishops being obliged to attend upon summons from him To preside in Synods so as to suggest matter promote obstruct over-rule the debates in them To confirm or invalidate their Determinations giving life to them by his assent or subtracting it by his dissent To define Points of Doctrine or to decide Controversies authoritatively so that none may presume to contest or dissent from his Dictates To enact establish abrogate suspend dispense with Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons To relax or evacuate Ecclesiastical Censures by indulgence pardon c. To void Promises Vows Oaths Obligations to Laws by his Dispensation To be the Fountain of all Pastoral Jurisdiction and Dignity To constitute confirm judge censure suspend depose remove restore reconcile Bishops To confer Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices by paramount Authority in way of Provision Reservation c. To exempt Colleges Monasteries c. from Jurisdiction of their Bishops and ordinary Superiours To judge all persons in all Spiritual Causes by calling them to his cognizance or delegating Judges for them with a final and peremptory Sentence To receive Appeals from all Ecclesiastical Judicatories and to reverse their Judgments if he findeth cause To be himself unaccountable for any of his doings exempt from judgment and liable to no reproof To erect transfer abolish Episcopal Sees To exact Oaths of Fealty and Obedience from the Clergy To found Religious Orders or to raise a Spiritual Militia for propagation and defence of the Church To summon and commissionate Souldiers by Croisade c. to fight against Infidels or persecute Infidels Some of these are expressed others in general terms couched in those words of P. Eugenius telling the Greeks what they must consent unto The Pope said he will have the Prerogatives of his Church and he will have Appeals to him and to feed all the Church of Christ as Shepherd of the Sheep Beside these things that he may have authority and power to convoke General Synods when need shall be and that all the Patriarchs do yield to his will That the Pope doth claim assume and exercise a Sovereignty over the Church endowed with such Prerogatives is sufficiently visible in experience of fact is apparent by the authorized dictates in their Canon-law and shall be distinctly proved by competent allegations when we shall examine the branches of this pretended Authority In the mean time it sufficeth to observe that in effect all Clergy-men do avow so much who bonâ fide and without prevarication do submit to take the Oaths and Engagements prescribed to them
of course by Papal appointment For this surely according to the Pope's meaning by which their obligation is to be measured is designed in the profession ordained by Pope Pius IV. wherein every beneficed Clergy-man is injoined to say And I do promise and swear true Obedience to the Roman Pontife the Successour of Saint Peter and the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Which profession was appointed in pursuance of a Sanction made by the Trent Council that all such persons should vow and swear to abide in Obedience to the Roman Church and consequently how hard soever its Yoke should be they would not shake it off which inferreth most absolute Sovereignty of that Church or of the Pope who ruleth the roast in it But what that true Obedience doth import or how far the Papal Authority in the Pope's own sense and according to the publick spirit of that Church doth stretch is more explicitly signified in the Oath which all Bishops at their Consecration and all Metropolitans at their Instalment are required to take the which as it is extant in the Roman Pontifical set out by order of Pope Clement VIII doth run in these terms I N. Elect of the Church of N. from henceforward will be faithfull and obedient to Saint Peter the Apostle and to the Holy Roman Church and to our Lord the Lord N. Pope N. and to his Successours canonically coming in I will neither advise consent or doe any thing that they may lose life or member or that their Persons may be seised or hands any-wise laid upon them or any injuries offer'd to them under any pretence whatsoever The counsel which they shall entrust me withall by themselves their messengers or Letters I will not knowingly reveal to any to their prejudice I will help them to defend and keep the Roman Papacy and the Royalties of Saint Peter saving my Order against all men The Legate of the Apostolick See going and coming I will honourably treat and help in his necessities The rights honours privileges and authority of the Holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and his foresaid Successours I will endeavour to preserve defend increase and advance I will not be in any counsel action or treaty in which shall be plotted against our said Lord and the said Roman Church any thing to the hurt or prejudice of their Persons right honour state or power and if I shall know any such thing to be treated or agitated by any whatsoever I will hinder it to my power and as soon as I can will signify it to our said Lord or to some other by whom it may come to his knowledge The Rules of the Holy Fathers the Apostolick decrees ordinances or disposals reservations provisions and mandates I will observe with all my might and cause to be observed by others Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels to our said Lord or his foresaid Successours I will to my power persecute and oppose I will come to a Council when I am call'd unless I be hinder'd by a Canonical impediment I will by my self in person visit the threshold of the Apostles every three years and give an account to our Lord and his foresaid Successours of all my Pastoral Ossi and of all things any-wise belonging to the state of my Church to the discipline of my Clergy and People and lastly to the salvation of Souls committed to my trust and will in like manner humbly receive and diligently execute the Apostolick commands And if I be detain'd by a lawfull impediment I will perform all the things aforesaid by a certain Messenger hereto specially impower'd a member of my Chapter or some other in Ecclesiastical Dignity or else having a Parsonage or in default of these by a Priest of the Diocese or in default of one of the Clergy of the Diocese by some other Secular or Regular Priest of approved integrity and Religion fully instructed in all things above-mentioned And such impediment I will make out by lawfull proofs to be transmitted by the foresaid Messenger to the Cardinal Proponent of the Holy Roman Church in the Congregation of the Sacred Council The Possessions belonging to my Table I will neither sell nor give away nor mortgage nor grant anew in fee nor any-wise alienate no not even with the consent of the Chapter of my Church without consulting the Roman Pontife And if I shall make any alienation I will thereby incur the Penalties contain'd in a certain Constitution put forth about this matter So help me God and these Holy Gospels of God Such is the Oath prescribed to Bishops the which is worth the most serious attention of all men who would understand how miserably slavish the condition of the Clergy is in that Church and how inconsistent their obligation to the Pope is with their duty to their Prince And in perusing it we may note that the clauses in a different character are in the more ancient Oath extant in the Gregorian Decretals by which it appeareth how the Pope doth more and more enlarge his Power and straiten the bands of Subjection to him And it is very remarkable that the new Oath hath chang'd those words REGVLAS SANCTORVM PATRVM into REGALIA SANCTI PETRI i. e. THE RVLES OF THE HOLY FATHERS into THE ROYALTIES OF SAINT PETER § XV. I know there are within the Roman Communion great store of Divines who do contract the Papal Sovereignty within a much narrower compass refusing to him many of those Prerogatives yea scarce allowing to him any of them There are those who affirm the Pope in Doctrine and Discipline subject to the Church or to a General Synod representing it Which opinion thwarteth a proposition in Bellarmine's opinion e'en almost an Article of faith but to be even with him they do hold his proposition to be quite heretical The Pope is simply and absolutely above the Vniversal Church this proposition is almost an Article of faith saith Bellarmine The Cardinal of Lorrain on the contrary But I saith he cannot deny but that I am a French-man and bred up in the Church of Paris which teaches that the Roman Pontife is subject to a Council and they who teach the contrary are there branded as Hereticks There are those who affirm the Pope if he undertake Points of Faith without assistence of a General Synod may teach Heresie which opinion as Bellarmine thought doth closely border on heresie And those who conceive that Popes may be and have been Hereticks whence Christians sometimes are not obliged to admit their Doctrine or observe their pleasure There are those who maintain the Pope no less than other Bishops subject to the Canons or bound to observe the Constitutions of the Church that he may not infringe them or over-rule against them or dispense with them and that to him attempting to doe so obedience is not due There are those who maintain that the Pope cannot subvert or violate the Rights and Liberties of particular
fell to proposing about making an abode there not knowing what he said so brisk was he in imagination and speech Upon the good Womans report that our Lord was risen from the dead he first ran to the Sepulchre and so as Saint Paul implieth did obtain the first sight of our Lord after the Resurrection such was his zeal and activity upon all occasions At the Consultation about supplying the place of Judas he rose up proposed and pressed the matter At the Convention of the Apostles and Elders about resolving the debate concerning observance of Mosaical Institutions he first rose up and declared his sense In the Promulgation of the Gospel and Defence thereof before the Jewish Rulers he did assume the conduct and constantly took upon him to be the Speaker the rest standing by him implying assent and ready to avow his word Peter saith Saint Luke standing with the rest lift up his voice and said unto them so did they utter a common voice saith St. Chrys. and he was the mouth of all That in affection to our Lord and zeal for his service Saint Peter had some advantage over the rest that Question Simon Peter dost thou love me more than these may seem to imply although the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may bear other interpretations whereby the seeming invidiousness of the Question according to that sense will be removed However that he had a singular zeal for promoting our Lord's service and propagation of the Gospel therein outshining the rest seemeth manifest in the History and may be inferred from the peculiar regard our Lord apparently did shew to him Upon these Premises we may well admit that Saint Peter had a Primacy of Worth or that in personal accomplishments he was most eminent among the twelve Apostles although afterward there did spring up one who hardly in any of these respects would yield to him who could confidently say that he did not come behind the very chief Apostles and of whom St. Ambrose saith Neither was Paul inferiour to Peter being well to be compar'd even to the first and second to none and St. Chrysostome For what was greater than Peter and what equal to Paul This is the Primacy which Eusebius attributeth to him when he calleth him the excellent and great Apostle who for his virtue was the proloquutor of all the rest II. As to a Primacy of Repute which Saint Paul meaneth when he speaketh of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which had a special reputation of those who seemed to be Pillars of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the supereminent Apostles this advantage cannot be refused him being a necessary consequent of those eminent qualities resplendent in him and of the illustrious performances atchieved by him beyond the rest This may be inferred from that advantageous renown which he hath had propagated from the beginning to all posterity This at least those elogies of the Fathers styling him the Chief Prince Head of the Apostles do signifie This also may be collected from his being so constantly ranked in the first place before the rest of his Brethren III. As to a Primacy of Order or bare Dignity importing that commonly in all meetings and proceedings the other Apostles did yield him the precedence the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or privilege of speaking first whether in propounding matters for debate or in delivering his advice the conduct and moderation of affairs that this was stated on him may be questioned for that this were a kind of womanish privilege and that it doth not seem to befit the gravity of such persons or their condition and circumstances to stand upon ceremonies of respect for that also our Lord's Rules do seem to exclude all semblance of ambition all kinds of inequality and distance between his Apostles for that this practice doth not seem constantly and thoroughly to agree to his being endowed with this advantage especially seeing all that practice which favoureth it may fairly be assigned to other causes for that also the Fathers Authority if that be objected as a main argument of such a Primacy in points of this nature not bordering on essentials of Faith is of no great strength they in such cases speaking out of their own ingeny and conjecture and commonly indulging their imaginations no less freely than other men But yet this Primacy may be granted as probable upon divers accounts of use and convenience it might be usefull to preserve order and to promote expedition or to prevent confusion distraction and dilatory obstruction in the management of things yea to maintain concord and to exclude that ambition or affectation to be formost which is natural to men For seeing all could not goe speak or act first all could not guide affairs it was expedient that one should be ready to undertake it knowing his cue See saith St. Chrysostome noting on Act. 2.14 where Saint Peter speaketh for the rest the concord of the Apostles they yield unto him the speech for they could not all speak and One saith St. Hierome is chosen among the twelve that a head being appointed an occasion of Schism might be removed St. Cyprian hath a reason for it somewhat more subtile and mystical supposing our Lord did confer on him a preference of this kind to his Brethren who otherwise in power and authority were equal to him that he might intimate and recommend unity to us and the other African Doctours Optatus and St. Austin do commonly harp on the same notion I can discern little solidity in this conceit and as little harm However supposing this Primacy at least in respect to the Fathers who generally seem to countenance it divers probable reasons may be assigned why it should especially be conferred on Saint Peter 1. It is probable that Saint Peter was first in standing among the Apostles I mean not that he was the first Disciple or first converted to Faith in Christ but first called to the Apostolical Office or first nominated by our Lord when out of all his Disciples he chose twelve and called them Apostles Simon whom he called Peter and Andrew his Brother He was one of the first Believers at large he was perhaps the first that distinctly believed our Lord's Divinity he was probably the very first Apostle as the fittest Person in our Lord's eye for that employment He saith St. Hilary did first believe and is the Prince or first man of the Apostleship He saith St. Cyprian was the first whom the Lord chose He saith St. Basil was by judgment preferred before all the Disciples He by other Ancients is called the first-fruits of the Apostles And according to this sense St. Hierome I suppose doth call him and his Brother Andrew Principes Apostolorum that is according to frequent usage of the word Princeps in Latin the first of the Apostles So that as in divers Churches perhaps when
Authority can hardly be assigned For was it when he was constituted by our Lord an Apostle Then indeed probably he began to obtain all the primacy and preeminence he ever had but no such power doth appear then conferred on him or at any time in our Saviour's life at least if it was it was so covertly and indiscernibly that both he himself and all the Apostles must be ignorant thereof who a little before our Lord's Passion did more than once earnestly contest about Superiority And it is observable that whereas our Lord before his Passion did carefully teach and press on the Apostles the chief duties which they were to observe in their behaviour toward each other The maintenance of peace of charity of unity of humility toward one another yet of paying due respect and obedience to this Superiour he said nothing to them The collation of that Power could not well be at any time before the celebration of our Lord's Supper because before that time Saint Peter was scarce an Ecclesiastical Person at least he was no Priest as the Convention of Trent under a curse doth require us to believe for it were strange that an unconsecrated Person or one who was not so much as a Priest should be endowed with so much spiritual Power After his Resurrection our Lord did give divers common Instructions Orders and Commissions to his Apostles but it doth not appear that he did make any peculiar grant to St. Peter for as to the pretence of such an one drawn out of the Appendix to Saint John's Gospel or grounded on the words Pasce oves we shall afterward declare that to be invalid 4. If Saint Peter had been instituted Sovereign of the Apostolical Senate his Office and state had been in nature and kind very distinct from the common Office of the other Apostles as the Office of a King from the Office of any Subject as an ordinary standing perpetual successive Office from one that is onely extraordinary transitory temporary personal and incommunicable to speak according to distinctions now in use and applied to this case whence probably as it was expedient to be it would have been signified by some distinct name or title characterizing it and distinguishing it from others as that of Arch-apostle Arch-pastour High-priest Sovereign Pontife Pope his Holiness the Vicar of Christ or the like whereby it might have appeared that there was such an Officer what the nature of his Office was what specialty of respect and obedience was due to him But no such name or title upon any occasion was assumed by him or was by the rest attributed to him or in History is recorded concerning him the name of an Apostle being all that he took on him or by others was given to him 5. There was indeed no Office above that of an Apostle known to the Apostles or to the primitive Church this saith St. Chrysostome was the greatest authority and the top of authorities there was saith he none before an Apostle none superiour none equal to him this he asserteth of all the Apostles this he particularly applieth to Saint Paul this he demonstrateth from Saint Paul himself who purposely enumerating the chief Officers instituted by God in his Church doth place Apostles in the highest rank Our Lord saith Saint Paul gave some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastours and Teachers and God hath set some in his Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why not first a Pope an Universal Pastour an Oecumenical Judge a Vicar of Christ a Head of the Catholick Church Could Saint Paul be so ignorant could he be so negligent or so envious as to pass by without any distinction the Supreme Officer if such an one then had been As put case that one should undertake to recite the Officers in any State or Republick would he not do strangely if he should pretermit the King the Duke the Consul the Major thereof would not any one confiding in the skill diligence and integrity of such a relatour be induced from such an omission to believe there was no such Officer there St. Chrysostome therefore did hence very rationally infer that the Apostolical Office was the Supreme in the Christian state having no other Superiour to it Saint Peter therefore was no more than an Apostle and as such he could have no command over those who were in the same highest rank co-ordinate to him and who as Apostles could not be subject to any 6. Our Lord himself at several times declared against this kind of Primacy instituting equality among his Apostles prohibiting them to affect to seek to assume or admit a superiority of Power one above another There was saith Saint Luke among the twelve at the participation of the Holy Supper a strife among them who of them should be accounted the greatest or who had the best pretence to Superiority this strife our Lord presently did check and quash but how not by telling them that he already had decided the case in appointing them a Superiour but rather by assuring them that he did intend none such to be that he would have no Monarchy no exercise of any Dominion or Authority by one among them over the rest but that notwithstanding any advantages one might have before the other as greater in gifts or as preceding in any respect they should be one as another all humbly condescending to one another each being ready to yield help and service to one another The Kings said he of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise authority over them are called benefactours but ye shall not be so but he that is greater among you let him be as the younger and he that is leader as he that doth minister that is whatever privilege any of you obtaineth let it not be employed in way of command but rather of compliance and subserviency as occasion shall require let him not pretend to be a Superiour but rather behave himself as an Inferiour thus our Lord did smother the debate by removing from among them whatever greatness any of them did affect or pretend to forbidding that any of them should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exercise any Dominion or Authority over the rest as worldly Princes did over their Subjects Again upon another occasion as the circumstances of the place do imply when two of the Apostles of special worth and consideration with our Lord Saint James and Saint John the Sons of Zebedee did affect a preeminence over the rest requesting of our Lord Grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory or in thy Kingdom as Saint Matthew hath it that is in that new state which they conceived our Lord was ready to introduce which request doth not seem to import any great matter of Authority
absolute Monarch upon earth for the Power of St. Peter in their opinion was the same which now the Roman Bishop doth challenge to himself over the Pastours and People of God's Church by virtue of succession to him Saint Peter's Power being the base of the Papal and therefore not narrower than its superstructure but what domination comparable to that hath ever been used in the world What Emperour did ever pretend to a rule so wide in extent in regard either to persons or matters or so absolute in effect Who ever beside his Holiness did usurp a command not onely over the external actions but the most inward cogitations of all mankind subjecting the very Minds and Consciences of Men to his dictates his laws his censures Who ever thundred Curses and Damnations on all those who should presume to dissent from his Opinion or to contest his pleasure Who ever claimed more absolute Power in making abolishing suspending Laws or imposing upon men what he pleased under obligation of Conscience and upon extremest penalties What Prince ever used a style more imperious than is that which is usual in the Papal Bulls Let it be lawfull for no man whatever to infringe this expression of our will and command or to goe against it with bold rashness What Domitian more commonly did admit the appellation of Lord than doth the Pope Our most Holy Lord is the ordinary style attributed to him by the Fathers of Trent as if they were his slaves and intended to enslave all Christendom to him Who ever did exempt his Clients and Dependents in all Nations from subjection to Civil Laws from undergoing common burthens and taxes from being judged or punished for their misdemeanours and crimes Who ever claimed a power to dispose of all things one way or other either directly or indirectly to dispose even of Kingdoms to judge Sovereign Princes and to condemn them to depose them from their authority absolving their Subjects from all allegiance to them and exposing their Kingdoms to rapine To whom but a Pope were ever ascribed prerogatives like those of judging all men and himself being liable to no judgment no account no reproof or blame so that as a Papal Canon assureth us let a Pope be so bad as by his negligence and male-administration to carry with him innumerable people to Hell yet no mortal man whatever must presume here to reprove his faults because he being to judge all men is himself to be judged of no man except he be catcht swerving from the Faith which is a case they will hardly suffer a man to suppose possible To whom but to a Pope was such Power attributed by his followers and admitted by himself that he could hear those words applying to him All Power is given to thee in Heaven and in Earth Such Power the Popes are wont to challenge and when occasion serveth do not fail to execute as Successours of St. Peter to whom therefore consequently they ascribe it and sometimes in express terms as in that brave apostrophe of P. Gregory VII the Spirit of which Pope hath possessed his Successours generally Goe to therefore said he directing his Speech to Saint Peter and Saint Paul most Holy Princes of the Apostles and what I have said confirm by your Authority that now at length all men may understand whether ye can bind and loose that also ye can take away and give on Earth Empires Kingdoms and whatever mortal men can have Now if the assuming and exercising such Powers be not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that exalting ones self that being called Rabbi Father Master which our Lord prohibiteth what is so what then can those words signify what could our Lord mean The Authority therefore which they assign to Saint Peter and assume to themselves from him is voided by those Declarations and Precepts of our Lord the which it can hardly be well conceived that our Lord would have proposed if he had designed to constitute Saint Peter in such a Supremacy over his Disciples and Church 7. Surveying particulars we shall not find any peculiar administration committed to Saint Peter nor any privilege conferred on him which was not also granted to the other Apostles Was Saint Peter an Ambassadour a Steward a Minister a Vicar if you please or Surrogate of Christ so were they by no less immediate and express warrant than he for As the Father sent me so also I send you said our Lord presently before his departure by those words as St. Cyprian remarketh granting an equal Power to all the Apostles and We saith Saint Paul are Ambassadours for Christ we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God and So let a man esteem us as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Was Saint Peter a Rock on which the Church was to be founded Be it so but no less were they all for the Wall of Jerusalem which came down from Heaven had twelve foundations on which were inscribed the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb and We saith Saint Paul are all built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ himself being the chief Corner stone whence Equally saith St. Hierome the strength of the Church is setled upon them Was Saint Peter an Architect of the Spiritual house as himself calleth the Church so were also they for I saith Saint Paul as a wise Master-builder have laid the Foundation Were the Keys of the Church or of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to him So also were they unto them They had a Power to open and shut it by effectual instruction and persuasion by dispensation of the Sacraments by exercise of Discipline by exclusion of scandalous and heretical Persons Whatever faculty the Keys did import the Apostles did use it in the foundation guidance and government of the Church and did as the Fathers teach impart it to those whom they did in their stead constitute to feed and govern the Church Had Saint Peter a Power given him of binding and loosing effectually So had they immediately granted by our Saviour in as full manner and couched in the same terms If thou shalt bind on Earth it shall be bound in Heaven said our Lord to him and Whatsoever things ye shall bind on Earth they shall be bound in Heaven said the same Divine mouth to them Had he a privilege to remit and retain sins it was then by virtue of that common grant or promise Whos 's soever sins ye remit they shall be remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Had he power and obligation to feed the Sheep of Christ all or some so had they indefinitely and immediately so had others by Authority derived from them who were nominated Pastours who had this charge laid on them Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Bloud whom he doth himself exhort Feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof Let feeding signify what it can instruction or guidance or governance or all of them together Regio more impera if you please as Bellarmine will have it it did appertain to their charge to teach was a common duty to lead and to rule were common functions Saint Peter could not nor would not appropriate it to himself it is his own exhortation when he taketh most upon him Be mindfull of the commandment or precept of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Was his commission universal or unlimited so was theirs by the same immediate Authority for All Power said he to them when he gave his last charge is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Goe therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you and Goe ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature They as St. Chrysostome speaketh were all in common intrusted with the whole world and had the care of all Nations Was he furnished with extraordinary gifts with special graces with continual directions and assistences for the discharge of the Apostolical Office so were they for the promise was common of sending the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth and cloathing them with the power from on high and of endowing them with Power to perform all sorts of miraculous works Our Lord before his departure breathed into them and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost All of them saith Saint Luke were filled with the Holy Ghost all of them with confidence and truth could say It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us all of them did abundantly partake of that character which Saint Paul respected when he did say The Signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in signs and wonders and mighty deeds Did Saint Peter represent the Church as receiving privileges in its behalf as the Fathers affirm so did they according to the same Fathers If therefore saith St. Austin citing the famous place sicut me misit Pater they did bear the Person of the Church and this was said to them as if it were said to the Church it self then the peace of the Church remitteth Sins What singular prerogative then can be imagined appertaining to Saint Peter what substantial advantage could he pretend to beyond the other Apostles Nothing surely doth appear whatever the Patrons of his Supremacy do claim for him is precariously assumed without any fair colour of proof he for it is beholding not to any testimony of Holy Scripture but to the invention of Roman fancy We may well infer with Cardinal Cusanus We know that Peter did not receive more Power from Christ than the other Apostles for nothing was said to Peter which was not also said to the others Therefore addeth he we rightly say that all the Apostles were equal to Peter in Power 8. Whereas Saint Peter himself did write two Catholick Epistles there doth not in them appear any intimation any air or savour of pretence to this Arch-apostolical Power It is natural for Persons endowed with unquestionable Authority howsoever otherwise prudent and modest to discover a spice thereof in the matter or in the style of their writing their Mind conscious of such advantage will suggest an authoritative way of expression especially when they earnestly exhort or seriously reprove in which cases their very Authority is a considerable motive to assent or compliance and strongly doth impress any other arguments But no Critick perusing those Epistles would smell a Pope in them The Speech of Saint Peter although pressing his Doctrine with considerations of this nature hath no tang of such Authority The Elders saith he which are among you I exhort who also am an Elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the Glory that shall be revealed by such excellent but common advantages of his Person and Office he presseth on the Clergy his advices Had he been what they make him he might have said I the peculiar Vicar of Christ and Sovereign of the Apostles do not onely exhort but require this of you this language had been very proper and no less forcible but nothing like this nothing of the Spirit and Majesty of a Pope is seen in his discourse there is no pagina nostrae voluntatis mandati which now is the Papal style when He speaketh highest it is in the common name of the Apostles Be mindfull saith he of the command that is of the Doctrine and Precepts of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour 9. In the Apostolical History the proper place of exercising this power wherein as St. Chrysostome saith we may see the predictions of Christ which he uttered in the Gospels reduced to act and the truth of them shining in the things themselves no footstep thereof doth appear We cannot there discern that Saint Peter did assume any extraordinary authority or that any deference by his Brethren was rendred to him as to their Governour or Judge No instance there doth occur of his laying commands on any one Apostle or exercising any act of jurisdiction upon any one but rather to the contrary divers passages are observable which argue that he pretended to no such thing and that others did not understand any such thing belonging to him His temper indeed and zeal commonly did prompt him to be most forward in speaking and acting upon any emergency for the propagation or maintenance of the Gospel and the memory of the particular charge which our Lord departing had lately put on him strongly might instigate him thereto regard to his special gifts and sufficiency did incline the rest willingly to yield that advantage to him and perhaps because upon the considerations before touched they did allow some preference in order to him but in other respects as to the main administration of things he is but one among the rest not taking upon him in his speech or behaviour beyond others All things are transacted by common agreement and in the name of all concurring no appeal in cases of difference is made singly to him no peremptory decision or decree is made by him no orders are issued out by him alone or in a special way in Ecclesiastical Assemblies he acteth but as one member in deliberations he doth onely propound his opinion and passeth a single vote his judgment and practice are sometime questioned and he is put to render an account of them he doth not stand upon his Authority but assigneth reasons to persuade his opinion and justify his actions yea sometimes he is moved by the rest receiving orders and employment from them these things we may discern by considering the
instances which follow In the designation of a new Apostle to supply the place of Judas he did indeed suggest the matter and lay the case before them he first declared his sense but the whole company did chuse two and referred the determination of one to lot or to God's arbitration At the institution of Deacons the twelve did call the multitude of disciples and directed them to elect the persons and the proposal being acceptable to them it was done accordingly they chose Stephen c. whom they set before the Apostles and when they had prayed they layd their hands on them In that important transaction about the observance of Mosaical Institutions a great stir and debate being started which Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas by disputation could not appease what course was then taken did they appeal to Saint Peter as to the Supreme Dictatour and Judge of Controversies not so but they sent to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem to enquire about the question when those great messengers were arrived there they were received by the Church and the Apostles and Elders and having made their report the Apostles and Elders did assemble to consider about that matter In this assembly after much debate passed and that many had freely uttered their sense Saint Peter rose up with Apostolical gravity declaring what his reason and experience did suggest conducing to a resolution of the point whereto his words might indeed be much available grounded not onely upon common reason but upon special revelation concerning the case whereupon Saint James alledging that revelation and backing it with reason drawn from Scripture with much authority pronounceth his judgment Therefore saith he I judge that is saith St. Chrysostome I authoritatively say that we trouble not them who from among the Gentiles are turned to God but that we write unto them c. And the result was that according to the proposal of Saint James it was by general consent determined to send a decretal Letter unto the Gentile Christians containing a Canon or advice directive of their practice in the case It then seemed good to or was decreed by the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send and the Letter ran thus The Apostles and Elders and Brethren to the Brethren of the Gentiles Now in all this action in this leading precedent for the management of things in Ecclesiastical Synods and consistories where can the sharpest sight descry any mark of distinction or preeminence which Saint Peter had in respect to the other Apostles did Saint Peter there any-wise behave himself like his pretended Successours upon such occasions what authority did he claim or use before that Assembly or in it or after it did he summon or convocate it no they met upon common agreement did he preside therein no but rather Saint James to whom saith Saint Chrysostome as Bishop of Jerusalem the government was committed did he offer to curb or check any man or to restrain him from his liberty of discourse there no there was much disputation every man frankly speaking his sense did he more than use his freedom of speech becoming an Apostle in arguing the case and passing his vote no for in so exact a relation nothing more doth appear did he form the definitions or pronounce the Decree resulting no Saint James rather did that for as an ancient Authour saith Peter did make an Oration but Saint James did enact the Law was beside his suffrage in the debate any singular approbation required from him or did he by any Bull confirm the Decrees no such matter these were devices of ambition creeping on and growing up to the pitch where they now are In short doth any thing correspondent to Papal pretences appear assumed by Saint Peter or deferred to him If Saint Peter was such a man as they make him how wanting then was he to himself how did he neglect the right and dignity of his Office in not taking more upon him upon so illustrious an occasion the greatest he did ever meet with How defective also were the Apostolical College and the whole Church of Jerusalem in point of duty and decency yielding no more deference to their Sovereign the Vicar of their Lord Whatever account may be framed of these defailances the truth is that Saint Peter then did know his own place and duty better than men do know them now and the rest as well understood how it became them to demean themselves St. Chrysostome's reflexions on those passages are very good that indeed then there was no fastuousness in the Church and the souls of those primitive Christians were clear of Vanity the which dispositions did afterward spring up and grow rankly to the great prejudice of Religion begetting those exorbitant pretences which we now disprove Again when Saint Peter being warned from Heaven thereto did receive Cornelius a Gentile Souldier unto Communion divers good Christians who were ignorant of the warrantableness of that proceeding as others commonly were and Saint Peter himself was before he was informed by that special revelation did not fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to contest with him about it not having any notion as it seemeth of his Supreme unaccountable Authority not to say of that infallibility with which the Canonists and Jesuits have invested him unto whom Saint Peter rendreth a fair account and maketh a satisfactory Apology for his proceedings not brow-beating those audacious contenders with his Authority but gently satisfying them with reason But if he had known his Power to be such as now they pretend it to be he should have done well to have asserted it even out of good-will and Charity to those good Brethren correcting their errour and checking their misdemeanour shewing them what an enormous presumption it was so to contend with their Sovereign Pastour and Judge Farther so far was Saint Peter from assuming Command over his Brethren that he was upon occasion ready to obey their Orders as we may see by that passage where upon the conversion of divers persons in Samaria it is said that the Apostles hearing it did send to them Peter and John who going down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost The Apostles sent him that had he been their Sovereign would have been somewhat unseemly and presumptuous for Subjects are not wont to send their Prince or Souldiers their Captain to be sent being a mark of inferiority as our Lord himself did teach A servant said he is not greater than his Lord nor he that is sent greater than he that sent him Saint Luke therefore should at least have so expressed this passage that the Apostles might have seemed to keep their distance and observed good manners if he had said they beseeched him to go that had sounded well but they sent him is harsh if he were Dominus noster Papa as the modern Apostles of Rome
do style their Peter The truth is then among Christians there was little standing upon punctilio's private considerations and pretences to power then took small place each one was ready to comply with that which the most did approve the community did take upon it to prescribe unto the greatest persons as we see again in another instance where the Brethren at Antioch did appoint Paul and Barnabas the most considerable persons among them to go up unto Jerusalem They were then so generous so mercifull so full of charity as rather than to cause or foment any disturbance to recede or go whither the multitude pleased and doe what was commanded by it 10. In all relations which occur in Scripture about Controversies incident of Doctrine or Practice there is no appeal made to Saint Peter's Judgment or allegation of it as Decisive no Argument is built on his Authority dissent from his Opinion or disconformity to his Practice or disobedience to his Orders are not mentioned as ground of reproof as aggravation of any errour any misdemeanour any disorder which were very strange if then he was admitted or known to be the Universal Prince and Pastour of Christians or the Supreme Judge and Arbitratour of Controversies among them for then surely the most clear compendious and effectual way to confute any errour or check any disorder had been to alledge the Authority of Saint Peter against it who then could have withstood so mighty a prejudice against his cause If now a question doth arise about any Point of Doctrine instantly the Parties at least one of them which hopeth to find most favour hath recourse to the Pope to define it and his Judgment with those who admit his pretences proveth sufficiently decisive or at least greatly swayeth in prejudice to the opposite Party If any Heresie or any Opinion disagreeing from the current sentiments is broached the Pope presently doth roar that his voice is heard through Christendom and thundreth it down if any Schism or disorder springeth up you may be sure that Rome will instantly meddle to quash it or to settle matters as best standeth with its Principles and Interests such influence hath the shadow of Saint Peter's Authority now but no such regard was then had to poor Pope Peter himself he was not so busie and stirring in such cases the Apostles did not send Hereticks to be knocked down by his Sentence nor Schismaticks to be scourged by his Censure but were fain to use the long way of Disputation striving to convince them by Testimonies of Scripture and rational discourse If they did use authority it was their own which they challenge as given to them by Christ for edification or upon account of the more than ordinary gifts and graces of the Divine Spirit conferred on them by God Saint Peter no-where doth appear intermedling as a Judge or Governour paramount in such cases yea where he doth himself deal with Hereticks and disorderly persons confuting and reproving them as he dealeth with divers notoriously such he proceedeth not as a Pope decreeing but as an Apostle warning arguing and persuading against them It is particularly remarkable how Saint Paul reproving the factions which were among Christians at Corinth doth represent the several parties saying I am of Paul I am of Apollos I am of Cephas I am of Christ Now supposing the case then had been clear and certain and if it were not so then how can it be so now that Saint Peter was Sovereign of the Apostles is it not wonderfull that any Christian should prefer any Apostle or any Preacher before him as if it were now clear and generally acknowledged that the Pope is truly what he pretendeth to be would any body stand in competition with him would any glory in a relation to any other Minister before him It is observable how Saint Clemens reflecteth on this contention Ye were saith he less culpable for that partiality for ye did then incline to renowned Apostles and to a man approved by them but now c. If it be replyed that Christ himself did come into the comparison I answer that probably no man was so vain as to compare him with the rest nor indeed could any there pretend to have been baptized by him which was the ground of the emulation in respect of the others but those who said they were of Christ were the wise and peaceable sort who by saying so declined and disavowed faction whose behaviour Saint Paul himself in his discourse commendeth and confirmeth shewing that all indeed were of Christ the Apostles being onely his Ministers to work faith and vertue in them None saith Saint Austin of those contentious persons were good except those who said but I am of Christ. We may also here observe that Saint Paul in reflecting upon these contentions had a fair occasion of intimating somewhat concerning Saint Peter's Supremacy and aggravating their blameable fondness who compared others with him 12. The consideration of the Apostles proceeding in the conversion of people in the foundation of Churches and in administration of their spiritual affairs will exclude any probability of Saint Peter's Jurisdiction over them They went about their business not by Order or Licence from St. Peter but according to special instinct and direction of God's Spirit being sent forth by the Holy Ghost going by revelation or according to their ordinary prudence and the habitual wisedom given unto them by those aids without troubling St. Peter or themselves more they founded Societies they ordained Pastours they framed Rules and Orders requisite for the edification and good Government of Churches reserving to themselves a kind of paramount inspection and jurisdiction over them which in effect was onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a paternal care over them which they particularly claimed to themselves upon account of spiritual parentage for that they had begotten them to Christ If saith St. Paul to the Corinthians I am not an Apostle to others I am however so to you why so because he had converted them and could say As my beloved sons I warn you for though ye have ten thousand instructours in Christ yet ye have not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel This paternal charge they did exercise without any dependence or regard to Saint Peter none such appearing it not being mentioned that they did ever consult his pleasure or render him an account of their proceedings but it rather being implyed in the reports of their actions that they proceeded absolutely by virtue of their universal Office and Commission of our Lord. If it he alledged that Saint Paul went to Jerusalem to Saint Peter I answer that it was to visit him out of respect and love or to confer with him for mutual edification and comfort or at most to obtain approbation from him and the other Apostles which might satisfy some doubters but not
you for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. And By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was on me became not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all In the discharge of his Office he immediately after that he had received his call and charge from our Saviour without consulting or taking licence from any man did vigorously apply himself to the work Immediately saith he I conferred not with flesh and bloud neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that before me were Apostles so little did he take himself to be accountable to any man In settling order and correcting irregularities in the Church he professed to act merely by his own Authority conferred on him by our Lord Therefore saith he being absent I write these things that being present I may not use severity according to the authority which the Lord hath given me for edification not for destruction Such being the privileges which he did assert to himself with all confidence he did not receive for it any check from other Apostles but the chief of them knowing the grace that was given unto him gave unto him the right hand of fellowship in token of their acknowledgment and allowance of his proceedings Upon these considerations plainly signifying his absolute independence in the reception and execution of his Office he doth more than once affirm and in a manner boast himself to be inferiour in nothing to the very chief Apostles in nothing that is in nothing pertinent to the Authority or substantial Dignity of his place for as to his personal merit he professeth himself much less than the least of the Apostles but as to the authentickness and authority of his Office he deemed himself equal to the greatest being by the grace of God what he was a Minister of the Gospel according to the gift of the grace of God which was given him according to the effectual working of his power When he said he was behind none he could not forget Saint Peter when he said none of the chief he could not but especially mean him he did indeed as St. Chrysostome saith intend to compare himself with St. Peter when he said in nothing he could not but design that which was most considerable the Authority of his place which in the context he did expresly mention For when he objected to himself the semblance of fondness or arrogance in speaking after that manner he declared that he did not speak rashly or vainly but upon serious consideration and with full assurance finding it very needfull or usefull to maintain his Authority or to magnify his Office as he otherwhere speaketh If things had been as now we are taught from the Roman School it is strange that Saint Paul should compare himself so generally not excepting Saint Peter that he should express nor by the least touch intimate no special consideration for his as they tell us ordinary Pastour that he should not consider how lyable such words were to be interpreted in derogation to Saint Peter's due prerogatives But it is no wonder that Saint Paul in Saint Peter's absence should thus stand on his own legs not seeming to mind him whenas in immediate transactions with him he demeaned himself as his fellow yielding to him no respect or deference as to his Superiour For When Saint Paul went to Jerusalem to have conference with Saint Peter and other Apostles who were chief in repute he professeth that they did not confer any thing to him so as to change his opinion or divert him from his ordinary course of practice which was different from theirs this was it seemeth hardly proper or seemly for him to say if Saint Peter had been his Sovereign but he seemeth to say it on very purpose to exclude any prejudice that might arise to his Doctrine from their authority or repute their authority being none over him their repute being impertinent to the case for whatsoever addeth he they were it maketh no matter to me God respecteth no man's person the which might well be said of Persons greater in common esteem but not so well of one who was his Superiour in Office to whose opinion and conduct as of his Judge and Pastour by God's appointment he did owe a special regard Again St. Paul at Antioch observing St. Peter out of fear and policy to act otherwise than became the simplicity and sincerity of Christians to the prejudice of Evangelical Truth Charity and Liberty against his own judgment and former practice drawing others by his pattern into the same unwarrantable course of behaviour did withstand him to the face did openly reprove him before all because he was blameable did as P. Gelasius I. affirmeth to excuse another Pope misbehaving himself worthily confute him did as St. Augustine often doth affirm and urge in proof that greatest Persons may sometimes err and â—ail correct him rebuke him chide him Which behaviour of Saint Paul doth not well consist with the Supposition That Saint Peter was his superiour in Office if that had been Porphyrius with good colour of reason might have objected procacity to Saint Paul in taxing his betters for he then indeed had shewed us no commendable pattern of demeanour toward our Governours in so boldly opposing Saint Peter in so openly censuring him in so smartly confuting him More unseemly also it had been to report the business as he doth in writing to the Galatians for to divulge the miscarriages of Superiours to revive the memory of them to register them and transmit them down to all posterity to set forth our clashing and contests with them is hardly allowable if it may consist with justice and honesty it doth yet little favour of gravity and modesty It would have been more seemly for Saint Paul to have privately and humbly remonstrated to Saint Peter than openly and downrightly to have reprehended him at least it would have become him in cold bloud to have represented his carriage more respectfully consulting the honour of the Universal Pastour whose reputation was like to suffer by such a representation of his proceedings Pope Pelagius II. would have taught Saint Paul better manners who saith that they are not to be approved but reprobated who do reprove or accuse their Prelates and Pope Gregory would have taught him another lesson namely that the evils of their Superiours do so displease good Subjects that however they do conceal them from others and Subjects are to be admonished that they do not rashly judge the life of their Superiours if perhaps they see them doe blameably c. It is plain that Saint Paul was more bold with Saint Peter than any man now must be with the Pope for let the Pope commit never so great crimes yet no mortal saith the Canon Law presume to reprove his faults But if Saint Peter were not in Office
superiour to Saint Paul but his Collegue and equal in Authority although precedeing him in standing repute and other advantages then Saint Paul's free proceeding toward him was not onely warrantable but wholesome and deserving for edification to be recited and recorded as implying an example how Collegues upon occasion should with freedom and sincerity admonish their Brethren of their errours and faults Saint Peter's carriage in patiently bearing that correption also affording another good pattern of equanimity in such cases to which purpose S. Cypr. alledged and approved by S. Austin doth apply this passage for saith he neither Peter whom the Lord first chose and upon whom he built his Church when Paul afterward contested with him about circumcision did insolently challenge or arrogantly assume any thing to himself so as to say that he did hold the primacy and that rather those who were newer and later Apostles ought to obey him neither despised he Saint Paul because he was before a persecutour of the Church but he admitted the counsel of truth and easily consented to the lawfull course which Saint Paul did maintain yielding indeed to us a document both of concord and patience that we should not pertinaciously love our own things but should rather take those things for ours which sometimes are profitably and wholesomely suggested by our Brethren and Collegues if they are true and lawfull this St. Cyprian speaketh upon supposition that Saint Peter and Saint Paul were equals or as he calleth them Collegues and Brethren in rank co-ordinate otherwise St. Cyprian would not have approved the action for he often severely doth inveigh against Inferiours taking upon them to censure their Superiours What tumour saith he of pride what arrogance of mind what inflation of heart is it to call our Superiours and Bishops to our cognisance St. Cyprian therefore could not conceive Saint Peter to be Saint Paul's Governour or Superiour in Power he doth indeed plainly enough in the forecited words signifie that in his judgment Saint Peter had done insolently and arrogantly if he had assumed any obedience from Saint Paul St. Austin also doth in several places of his Writings make the like application of this passage The ancient Writer contemporary to St. Ambrose and passing under his name doth argue in this manner Who dared resist Peter the first Apostle to whom the Lord did give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven but another such an one who in assurance of his election knowing himself to be not unequal to him might constantly disprove what he had unadvisedly done It is indeed well known that Origen and after him St. Chrysostome and St. Hierome and divers of the Ancients beside did conceive that Saint Paul did not seriously oppose or tax Saint Peter but did onely doe it seemingly upon confederacy with him for promoting a good design This interpretation however strained and earnestly impugned by Saint Austin I will not discuss but onely shall observe that it being admitted doth rather strengthen than weaken our discourse for if Saint Peter were Saint Paul's Governour it maketh Saint Peter to have consented to an act in all appearance indecent irregular and scandalous and how can we imagine that Saint Peter would have complotted to the imparing his own just Authority in the eye of a great Church doth not such a condescension imply in him a disavowing of Superiority over Saint Paul or a conspiracy with him to overthrow good Order To which purpose we may observe that St. Chrysostome in a large and very elaborate discourse wherein he professeth to endeavour an aggravation of the irregularity of Saint Paul's dâ—meanour if it were serious doth not lay the stress of that aggravation upon Saint Paul's opposing his lawfull Governour but his onely so treating a Co-apostle of such eminency neither when to that end he designeth to reckon all the advantages of Saint Peter beyond Saint Paul or any other Apostle doth he mention this which was chiefly material to his purpose that he was Saint Paul's Governour which observations if we do carefully weigh we can hardly imagine that St. Chrysostome had any notion of Saint Peter's Supremacy in relation to the Apostles In fine the drift of Saint Paul in reporting those passages concerning himself was not to disparage the other Apostles nor merely to commend himself but to fence the truth of his Doctrine and maintain the liberty of his Disciples against any prejudice that might arise from any authority that might be pretended in any considerable respects superiour to his and alledged against them to which purpose he declareth by arguments and matters of fact that his Authority was perfectly Apostolical and equal to the greatest even to that of Saint Peter the prime Apostle of Saint John the beloved Disciple of Saint James the Bishop of Jerusalem the judgment or practice of whom was no law to him nor should be to them farther than it did consist with that Doctrine which he by an independent Authority and by special revelation from Christ did preach unto them He might as St. Chrysostome noteth have pretended to some advantage over them in regard that he had laboured more abundantly than them all but he forbeareth to do so being contented to obtain equal advantages Well therefore considering the disadvantage which this passage bringeth to the Roman pretence might this History be called by Baronius a History hard to be understood a stone of offence a rock of scandal a rugged place which Saint Austin himself under favour could not pass over without stumbling It may also be considered that Saint Paul particularly doth assert to himself an independent authority over the Gentiles co-ordinate to that which Saint Peter had over the Jews the which might engage him so earnestly to contest with Saint Peter as by his practice seducing those who belonged to his charge the which also probably moved him thus to assert his authority to the Galatians as being Gentiles under his care and thence obliged especially to regard his authority They saith Saint Paul knowing that I was entrusted with the Gospel of uncircumcision as Peter was entrusted with that of circumcision gave unto me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship the which words do clearly enough signifie that he took himself and that the other Apostles took him to have under Christ an absolute charge subordinate to no man over the Gentiles whence he claimeth to himself as his burthen the care of all the Churches he therefore might well contest for their liberty he might well insist upon his authority among them Thus did St. Chrysostome understand the case for Christ saith he committed the Jews to Peter but set Paul over the Gentiles and He saith that great Father farther doth shew himself to be equal to them in dignity and compareth himself not onely to the others but even to the ring-leader shewing that each did enjoy equal dignity
It may also by any prudent considerer easily be discerned that if Saint Peter had really been as they assert him so in Authority superiour to the other Apostles it is hardly possible that Saint Paul should upon these occasions express nothing of it 16. If Saint Peter had been appointed Sovereign of the Church it seemeth that it should have been requisite that he should have outlived all the Apostles for then either the Church must have wanted a Head or there must have been an inextricable Controversie about who that Head was Saint Peter dyed long before Saint John as all agree and perhaps before divers others of the Apostles Now after his departure did the Church want a Head then it might before and after have none and our Adversaries lose the main ground of their pretence did one of the Apostles become Head which of them was it upon what ground did he assume the Headship or who conferred it on him who ever did acknowledge any such thing or where is there any report about it was any other person made Head suppose the Bishop of Rome who onely pretendeth thereto then did Saint John and other Apostles become subject to one in degree inferiour to them then what becometh of Saint Paul's first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers what do all the Apostolical privileges come to when St. John must be at the command of Linus and Cletus and Clemens and of I know not who beside was it not a great absurdity for the Apostles to truckle under the Pastours and Teachers of Rome The like may be said for Saint James if he as the Roman Church doth in its Liturgicks suppose were an Apostle who in many respects might claim the preeminence Who therefore in the Apostolical Constitutions is preferred before Clement Bishop of Rome 17. Upon the same grounds on which a Supremacy of power is claimed to Saint Peter other Apostles might also challenge a Superiority therein over their Brethren but to suppose such a difference of power among the rest is absonous and therefore the grounds are not valid upon which Saint Peter's Supremacy is built I instance in Saint James and Saint John who upon the same probabilities had after Saint Peter a preference to the other Apostles For to them our Saviour declared a special regard to them the Apostles afterwards may seem to have yielded a particular deference they in merit and performances seem to have surpassed they after St. Peter and his Brother were first called to the Apostolical Office they as Saint Peter were by our Lord new Christned as it were and nominated Boanerges by a name signifying the efficacy of their endeavour in their Master's service they together with Saint Peter were assumed to behold the transfiguration they were culled out to wait on our Lord in his agony they also with Saint Peter others being excluded were taken to attest our Lord's performance of that great Miracle of restoring the Ruler's Daughter to life they presuming on their special favour with our Lord did pretend to the chief places in his Kingdom To one of them it is expressed that our Saviour did bear a peculiar affection he being the disciple whoâ— Jesus loved and who leaned on his bosome to the other he particularly discovered himself after his Resurrection and first honoured him with the Crown of Martyrdom They in bloud and cognation did nearest touch our Lord being his Cousin Germans which was esteemed by the Ancients a ground of preferment as Hegesippus reporteth Their industry and activity in propagation of the Gospel was most eminently conspicuous To them it was peculiar that Saint James did first Suffer for it and Saint John did longest persist in the faithfull Confession of it whose Writings in several kinds do remain as the richest magazines of Christian Doctrine furnishing us with the fullest Testimonies concerning the Divinity of our Lord with special Histories of his Life and with his divinest Discourses with most lively incitements to Piety and Charity with propheâ—ical Revelations concerning the state of the Church He therefore was one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Pillars and props of the Christian Profession one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Superlative Apostles Accordingly in the Rolls of the Apostles and in reports concerning them their names usually are placed after Saint Peter Hence also some of the Fathers do take them as Saint Peter was to have been preferred by our Lord Peter saith Saint Gregory Nazianzene and James and John who both were indeed and were reckoned before the others so indeed did Christ himself prefer them and Peter James and John saith Clemens Alex. did not as being preferred by the Lord himself contest for honour but did chuse James the Just Bishop of Jerusalem or as Ruffinus read Bishop of the Apostles Hence if by designation of Christ by the Concession of the Apostolical College by the prefulgency of his excellent worth and merit or upon any other ground Saint Peter had the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first place the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or next place in the same kind by like means upon the same grounds seem to have belonged unto them and if their advantage did imply difference not in Power but in Order onely not authoritative Superiority but honorary Precedence then can no more be allowed or concluded due to him 18. The Fathers both in express terms and implicitly or by consequence do assert the Apostles to have been equal or co-ordinate in Power and Authority What can be more express than that of St. Cyprian The other Apostles were indeed that which Peter was endowed with equal consortship of honour and power and again Although our Lord giveth to all the Apostles after his resurrection an equal power and saith As the Father sent me so I send you What can be more plain than that of St. Chrysostome Saint Paul sheweth that each Apostle did enjoy equal dignity How again could St. Chrysostome more clearly signifie his Opinion than when comparing Saint Paul to Saint Peter he calleth Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal in honour to him adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for I will not as yet say any thing more as if he thought Saint Paul indeed the more honourable How also could St. Cyril more plainly declare his sense to be the same than when he called Saint Peter and Saint John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equâ—â— to one another in honour Did not St. Hierome also sufficiently declare his mind in the case when he saith of the Apostles that the strength of the Church is equally settled upon them Doth not Dionysius the supposed Areopagite call the decad of the Apostles co-ordinate with their foreman Saint Peter in conformity I suppose to the current judgment of his Age. What can be more full than that of Isidore whose words shew how long this sense continued in the
Church The other Apostles did receive an equal share of honour and power who also being dispersed in the whole world did preach the Gospel and to whom departing the Bishops did succeed who are constituted through the whole world in the Sees of the Apostles By consequence the Fathers do assert this equality when they affirm as we before did shew the Apostolical Office to be absolutely Supreme when also they affirm as afterwards we shall shew all the Apostles Successours to be equal as such and particularly that the Roman Bishop upon account of his succeeding Saint Peter hath no prâ—-eminence above his Brethren for wherever a Bishop be whether at Rome or at Eugubium at Constantinople or at Rhegium at Alexandria or at Thanis he is of the same worth and of the same Priesthood the force of wealth and lowness of poverty doth not render a Bishop more high or more low for that all of them are Successours of the Apostles 19. Neither is it to prudential esteem a despicable consideration that the most ancient of the Fathers having occasion sometimes largely to discourse of Saint Peter do not mention any such Prerogatives belonging to him 20. The last Argument which I shall use against this Primacy shall be the insufficiency of those Arguments and Testimonies which they alledge to warrant and prove it If this Point be of so great consequence as they make it if as they would persuade us the subsistence order unity and peace of the Church together with the Salvation of Christians do depend on it if as they suppose many great points of truth do hang on this pin if it be as they declare a main Article of Faith and not onely a simple errour but a pernicious heresie to deny this primacy then it is requisite that a clear revelation from God should be producible in favour of it for upon that ground onely such points can firmly stand then it is most probable that God to prevent controversies occasions of doubt and excuses for errour about so grand a matter would not have failed to have declared it so plainly as might serve to satisfie any reasonable man and to convince any froward gainsayer but no such revelation doth appear for the places of Scripture which they alledge do not plainly express it nor pregnantly imply it nor can it by fair consequence be inferred from them No man unprepossessed with affection to their side would descry it in them without thwarting Saint Peter's Order and wresting the Scriptures they cannot deduce it from them This by examining their allegations will appear I. They alledge those words of our Saviour uttered by him upon occasion of Saint Peter's confessing him to be the Son of God Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church here say they Saint Peter is declared the Foundation that is the sole Supreme Governour of the Church To this I answer 1. Those words do not clearly signifie any thing to their purpose for they are metaphorical and thence ambiguous or capable of divers interpretations whence they cannot suffice to ground so main a point of Doctrine or to warrant so huge a Pretence these ought to stand upon down-right evident and indubitable Testimony It is pretty to observe how Bellarmine proposeth this Testimony Of which words saith he the sense is plain and obvious that it be understood that under two metaphors the principate of the whole Church was promised as if that sense could be so plain and obvious which is couched under two metaphors and those not very pat or clear in application to their sense 2. This is manifestly confirmed from that the Fathers and Divines both ancient and modern have much differed in exposition of these words Some saith Abulensis say that this rock is Peter others say and better that it is Christ others say and yet better that it is the confession which Peter maketh For some interpret this rock to be Christ himself of whom Saint Paul saith Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. St. Austin telleth us in his Retractations that he often had expounded the words to this purpose although he did not absolutely reject that interpretation which made Saint Peter the rock leaving it to the Readers choice which is the most probable Others and those most eminent Fathers do take the rock to be Saint Peter's faith or profession Vpon the Rock saith the Prince of Interpreters that is upon the faith of his profession and again Christ said that he would build his Church on Peter's confession and again he or another ancient Writer under his name upon this rock he said not upon Peter for he did not build his Church upon the man but upon his faith Our Lord saith Theodoret did permit the first of the Apostles whose confession he did fix as a prop or foundation of the Church to be shaken Whence Origen saith that every disciple of Christ is the rock in virtue of his agreement with Peter in that holy confession This sense even Popes have embraced Others say that as Saint Peter did not speak for himself but in the name of all the Apostles and of all faithfull people representing the Pastours and people of the Church so correspondently our Lord did declare that he would build his Church upon such faithfull Pastours and Confessours Others do indeed by the rock understand Saint Peter's person but do not thereby expound to be meant his being Supreme Governour of the Apostles or of the whole Church The Divines Schoolmen and Canonists of the Roman Communion do not also agree in exposition of the words and divers of the most learned among them do approve the interpretation of St. Chrysostome Now then how can so great a Point of Doctrine be firmly grounded on a place of so doubtfull interpretation how can any one be obliged to understand the words according to their interpretation which Persons of so good sense and so great Authority do understand otherwise with what modesty can they pretend that meaning to be clear which so perspicacious eyes could not discern therein why may not I excusably agree with St. Chrysostome or St. Austin in understanding the place may I not reasonably oppose their judgment to the Opinion of any Modern Doctours deeming Bellarmine as fallible in his conceptions as one of them why consequently may I not without blame refuse their Doctrine as built upon this place or disavow the goodness of this proof 3. It is very evident that the Apostles themselves did not understand those words of our Lord to signify any grant or promise to Saint Peter of Supremacy over them for would they have contended for the chief place if they had understood whose it of right was by our Lord 's own positive determination would they have disputed about a question which to their knowledge by their Master was
of fact and history which is the best interpreter of right or privilege in such cases for we may reasonably understand our Saviour to have promised that which in effect we see performed so the event sheweth the Church was built on him that is by him saith Tertullian But this sense doth not imply any Superiority of Power or Dignity granted to Saint Peter above his Brethren however it may signify an advantage belonging to him and deserving especial respect as St. Chrysostome notably doth set out in these words Although John although James although Paul although any other whoever may appear performing great matters he yet doth surpass them all who did precede them in liberty of speech and opened the entrance and gave to them as to a river carryed with a huge stream to enter with great ease Doing this as I say it might signify his being a Rock of the Church so it denoteth an excellency of merit but not a Superiority in Power 8. It may also be observed that Saint Peter before the speaking of those words by our Lord may seem to have had a Primacy intimated by the Evangelists when they report his call to the Apostolical Office and by his behaviour when in this confession and before in the like he undertook to be their mouth and Spokesman when not being unmindfull of his place saith St. Ambrose he did act a Primacy a Primacy addeth that Father of Confession not of honour of Faith not of order his Primacy therefore such as he had cannot well be founded on this place he being afore possessed of it and as St. Ambrose conceived exercising it at that time II. They alledge the next words of our Lord spoken in sequele upon the same occasion To thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven that is say they the Supreme power over all the Church for he say they that hath the Keys is Master of the House To this testimony we may apply divers of the same answers which were given to the former for 1. These words are figurate and therefore not clear enough to prove their assertion 2. They do admit and have received various interpretations 3. It is evident that the Apostles themselves did not understand these words as importing a Supremacy over them that Saint Peter himself did not apprehend this sense that our Lord upon occasion inviting to it did not take notice of his promise according thereto 4. The words I will give thee cannot any-wise be assured to have been exclusive of others or appropriated to him He said as a very learned man of the Roman Communion noteth to Peter I will give thee the Keys but he said not I gill give them to thee alone nothing therefore can be concluded from them to their purpose 5. The Fathers do affirm that all the Apostles did receive the same Keys Are saith Origen the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given by the Lord to Peter alone and shall none other of the Blessed ones receive them but if this I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven be common how also are not all the things common which were spoken before or are added as spoken to Peter St. Hierome says in express words that all the Apostles did receive the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven He saith Optatus did alone receive the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven which were to be communicated to the rest that is as Rigaltius well expoundeth those words which Christ himself would also communicate to the rest Theophilact Although it be spoken to Peter alone I will give thee yet it is given to all the Apostles It is part of Saint John's character in St. Chrysostome He that hath the Keys of the Heavens 6. Indeed whatever according to any tolerable exposition or according to the current expositions of the Fathers those Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven do import whether it be a faculty of opening it by Doctrine of admitting into it by dispensation of Baptism and absolution of excluding from it by Ecclesiastical censure or any such faculty signified by that metaphorical expression it plainly did belong to all the Apostles and was effectually conferred on them yea after them upon all the Pastours of the Church in their several precincts and degrees who in all Ages have claimed to themselves the power of the Keys to be as the Council of Compeign calleth all Bishops clavigeri the Key-bearers of the Kingdom of Heaven So that in these words nothing singular was promised or granted to Saint Peter although it well may be deemed a singular mark of favour that what our Lord did intend to bestow on all Pastours that he did anticipately promise to him or as the Fathers say to the Church and its Pastours in him In which respect we may admit those words of Pope Leo I. 7. Indeed divers of the Fathers do conceive the words spoken to St. Peter not as a single person but as a representative of the Church or as standing in the room of each Pastour therein unto whom our Lord designed to impart the power of the Keys All we Bishops saith St. Ambrose have in Saint Peter received the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven 8. These answers are confirmed by the words immediately adjoyned equivalent to these and interpretative of them And whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven the which do import a power or privilege soon after expressly and in the very same words promised or granted to all the Apostles as also the same power in other words was by our Lord conferred on them all after the Resurrection If therefore the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven do import Supreme Power then each Apostle had Supreme Power 9. If we should grant that which no-wise can be proved that something peculiarly belonging to Saint Peter is implyed in those words it can onely be this that he should be a prime man in the work of preaching and propagating the Gospel and conveying the heavenly benefits of it to believers which is an opening of the Kingdom of Heaven according to what Tertullian excellently saith of him So saith he the event teacheth the Church was built in him that is by him he did initiate the Key see which Ye men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you c. He in fine in the baptism of Christ did unlock the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven c. 10. It seemeth absurd that Saint Peter should exercise the power of the Keys in respect to the Apostles for did he open the Kingdom of Heaven to them who were by our Lord long before admitted into it 11. In fine our Lord as Saint Luke relateth it did say to Saint Peter and probably to him first Fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men might it hence be inferred that Saint Peter
had a peculiar or sole faculty of catching men why might it not by as good a consequence as this whereby they would appropriate to him this opening faculty Many such instances might in like manner be used III. They produce those words of our Saviour to Saint Peter Feed my sheep that is in the Roman interpretation Be thou Vniversal Governour of my Church To this allegation I answer 1. From words which truly and properly might have been said to any other Apostle yea to any Christian Pastour whatever nothing can be concluded to their purpose importing a peculiar duty or singular privilege of Saint Peter 2. From indefinite words a definite conclusion especially in matters of this Kind may not be inferred it is said do thou feed my Sheep it is not said do thou alone feed all my Sheep this is their arbitrary gloss or presumptuous improvement of the Text without succour whereof the words signify nothing to their purpose so far are they from sufficiently assuring so vast a pretence for instance when Saint Paul doth exhort the Bishops at Ephesus to feed the Church of God may it thence be collected that each of them was an Universal Governour of the whole Church which Christ had purchased with his own bloud 3. By these words no new power is assuredly at least granted or instituted by our Lord for the Apostles before this had their Warrant and Authority consigned to them when our Lord did inspire them and solemnly commissionate them saying As the Father did send me so I send you to which Commission these words spoken occasionally before a few of the Disciples did not add or derogate At most the words do onely as St. Cyril saith renew the former Grant of Apostleship after his great offence of denying our Lord. 4. These words do not seem institutive or collative of Power but rather onely admonitive or exhortative to duty implying no more but the pressing a common duty before incumbent on Saint Peter upon a special occasion in an advantagious season that he should effectually discharge the Office which our Lord had committed to him Our Lord I say presently before his departure when his words were like to have a strong impression on Saint Peter doth earnestly direct and warn him to express that special ardency of affection which he observed in him in an answerable care to perform his duty of feeding that is of instructing guiding edifying in faith and obedience those Sheep of his that is those Believers who should be converted to embrace his Religion as ever he should find opportunity 5. The same Office certainly did belong to all the Apostles who as Saint Hierome speaketh were the Princes of our Discipline and Chieftains of the Christian Doctrine they at their first vocation had a commission and command to go unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel that were scattered abroad like sheep not having a shepherd they before our Lord's Ascension were enjoyned to teach all Nations the Doctrines and Precepts of Christ to receive them into the fold to feed them with good instruction to guide and govern their Converts with good Discipline Hence All of them as Saint Cyprian saith were shepherds but the flock did appear one which was fed by the Apostles with unanimous agreement 6. Neither could Saint Peter's charge be more extensive than was that of the other Apostles for they had a general and unlimited care of the whole Church that is according to their capacity and opportunity none being exempted from it who needed or came into the way of their discharging Pastoral Offices for them They were Oecumenical Rulers as St. Chrysostome saith appointed by God who did not receive several Nations or Cities but all of them in common were entrusted with the world Hence particularly St. Chrysostome calleth Saint John a pillar of the Churches over the world and Saint Paul an Apostle of the world who had the care not of one House but of Cities and Nations and of the whole Earth who undertook the World and governed the Churches on whom the whole world did look and on whose soul the care of all the Churches every-where did hang into whose hands were delivered the Earth and the Sea the inhabited and uninhabited parts of the World And could Saint Peter have a larger Flock committed to him could this charge feed my sheep more agree to him than to those who no less than he were obliged to feed all Christian people every-where 7. The words indeed are applicable to all Christian Bishops and Governours of the Church according to that of St. Cyprian to Pope Stephen himself we being many Shepherds do feed one flock and all the sheep of Christ for they are styled Pastours they in terms as indefinite as those in this text are exhorted to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own bloud to them as the Fathers commonly suppose this Injunction doth reach our Lord when he spake thus to Saint Peter intending to lay a charge on them all to express their love and piety toward them in this way by feeding his Sheep and People Which Sheep saith Saint Ambrose and which Flock not onely then Saint Peter did receive but also with him all we Priests did receive it Our Lord saith Saint Chrysostome did commit his Sheep to Peter and to those which came after him that is to all Christian Pastours as the scope of his discourse sheweth When it is said to Peter saith Saint Austin it is said to all Feed my Sheep And we saith Saint Basil are taught this obedience to Superiours by Christ himself constituting Saint Peter Pastour after himself of the Church for Peter saith he dost thou love me more than these feed my Sheep and conferring to all Pastours and Teachers continually afterward an equal power of doing so whereof it is a sign that all do in like manner bind and do loose as he Saint Austin comprizeth all these considerations in those words How could these great Masters more clearly express their mind that our Lord in those words to Saint Peter did inculcate a duty no-wise peculiar to him but equally together with him belonging to all Guides of the Church in such manner as when a Master doth press a duty on one Servant he doth thereby admonish all his Servants of the like duty whence St. Austin saith that Saint Peter in that case did sustain the person of the Church that which was spoken to him belonging to all its members especially to his Brethren the Clergy It was saith Cyril a lesson to Teachers that they cannot otherwise please the Arch-pastour of all than by taking care of the welfare of the rational Sheep 8. Hence it followeth that the Sheep which our Saviour biddeth St. Peter to feed were not the Apostles who were his Fellow-shepherds designed to feed others and needing not to be
special Revelations from God or upon personal graces his great Faith his special love to our Lord his singular zeal for Christ's Service or upon personal gifts and endowments his courage resolution activity forwardness in apprehension and in speech the which advantages are not transient and consequently a preeminency built on them is not in its nature such 2. All the pretence of Primacy granted to Saint Peter is grounded upon words directed to Saint Peter's Person characterized by most personal adjuncts as name parentage and which exactly were accomplished in Saint Peter's personal actings which therefore it is unreasonable to extend farther Our Lord promised to Simon Son of Jona to build his Church on him accordingly in eminent manner the Church was founded upon his Ministery or by his first preaching testimony performances Our Lord promised to give him the Keys of the Heavenly Kingdom this Power Saint Peter signally did execute in converting Christians and receiving them by Baptism into the Church by conferring the Holy Ghost and the like administrations Our Lord charged Simon Son of Jonas to feed his Sheep this he performed by preaching writing guiding and governing Christians as he found opportunity wherefore if any thing was couched under those promises or orders singularly pertinent to Saint Peter for the same reason that they were singular they were personal for These things being in a conspicuous manner accomplished in St. Peter's Person the sense of those words is exhausted there may not with any probability there cannot with any assurance be any more grounded on them whatever more is inferred must be by precarious assumption and justly we may cast at those who shall infer it that exposâ—ulation of Tertullian What art thou who dost overturn and change the manifest intention of our Lord personally conferring this on Peter 3. Particularly the grand promise to Saint Peter of founding the Church on him cannot reach beyond his person because there can be no other foundations of a Society than such as are first laid the successours of those who first did erect a Society and establish it are themselves but superstructures 4. The Apostolical Office as such was personal and temporary and therefore according to its nature and design not successive or communicable to others in perpetual descendence from them It was as such in all respects extraordinary conferred in a special manner designed for special purposes discharged by special aids endowed with special privileges as was needfull for the propagation of Christianity and founding of Churches To that Office it was requisite that the Person should have an immediate designation and commission from God such as Saint Paul so often doth insist upon for asserting his title to the Office Paul an Apostle not from men or by man not by men saith St. Chrysostome this is a property of the Apostles It was requisite that an Apostle should be able to attest concerning our Lord's Resurrection or Ascension either immediately as the twelve or by evident consequence as Saint Paul thus Saint Peter implyed at the choice of Matthias wherefore of those men which have companyed with us must one be ordained to be a witness with us of the Resurrection and Am I not saith Saint Paul an Apostle have I not seen the Lord according to that of Ananias The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth for thou shalt bear witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard It was needfull also that an Apostle should be endowed with miraculous gifts and graces enabling him both to assure his Authority and to execute his Office wherefore Saint Paul calleth these the marks of an Apostle the which were wrought by him among the Corinthians in all patience or perseveringly in signs and wonders and mighty deeds It was also in St. Chrysostome's opinion proper to an Apostle that he should be able according to his discretion in a certain and conspicuous manner to impart Spiritual Gifts as Saint Peter and Saint John did at Samaria which to doe according to that Father was the peculiar gift and privilege of the Apostles It was also a privilege of an Apostle by virtue of his commission from Christ to instruct all Nations in the Doctrine and Law of Christ He had right and warrant to exercise his function every where His charge was universal and indefinite the whole world was his Province he was not affixed to one place nor could be excluded from any he was as St. Cyril calleth him an Oecumenical Judge and an Instructour of all the Subcelestial World Apostles also did govern in an absolute manner according to discretion as being guided by infallible assistence to the which they might upon occasion appeal and affirm It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us Whence their Writings have passed for inspired and therefore Canonical or certain Rules of Faith and Practice It did belong to them to found Churches to constitute Pastours to settle orders to correct offences to perform all such Acts of Sovereign Spiritual Power in virtue of the same Divine assistence according to the Authority which the Lord had given them for edification as we see practised by Saint Paul In fine the Apostleship was as St. Chrysostome telleth us a business fraught with ten thousand good things both greater than all privileges of grace and comprehensive of them Now such an Office consisting of so many extraordinary privileges and miraculous powers which were requisite for the foundation of the Church and the diffusion of Christianity against the manifold difficulties and disadvantages which it then needs must encounter was not designed to continue by derivation for it containeth in it divers things which apparently were not communicated and which no man without gross imposture and hypocrisie could challenge to himself Neither did the Apostles pretend to communicate it they did indeed appoint standing Pastours and Teachers in each Church they did assume Fellow-labourers or Assistents in the work of Preaching and Governance but they did not constitute Apostles equal to themselves in Authority Privileges or Gifts For who knoweth not saith St. Austin that principate of Apostleship to be preferred before any Episcopacy and the Bishops saith Bellarmine have no part of the true Apostolical Authority Wherefore Saint Peter who had no other Office mentioned in Scripture or known to Antiquity beside that of an Apostle could not have properly and adequately any Successour to his Office but it naturally did expire with his Person as did that of the other Apostles 5. Accordingly whereas the other Apostles as such had no Successours the Apostolical Office not being propagated the Primacy of Saint Peter whatever it were whether of Order or Jurisdiction in regard to his Brethren did cease with him for when there were no Apostles extant there could be no Head or Prince of
add If an Angel from Heaven should tell you beside what you have received in the Legal and Evangelical Scriptures let him be anathema in which words we have St. Austin's warrant not onely to refuse but to detest this Doctrine which being nowhere extant in Law or Gospel is yet obtruded on us as nearly relating both to Christ and his Church as greatly concerning both our Faith and Practice 2. To enforce this Argument we may consider that the Evangelists do speak about the propagation settlement and continuance of our Lord's Kingdom that the Apostles do often treat about the state of the Church and its edification order peace unity about the distinction of its Officers and Members about the qualifications duties graces privileges of Spiritual Governours and Guides about prevention and remedy of Heresies Schisms Disorders upon any of which occasions how is it possible that the mention of such a Spiritual Monarch who was to have a main influence on each of those particulars should wholly escape them if they had known such an one instituted by God In the Levitical Law all things concerning the High-Priest not onely his Designation Succession Consecration Duty Power Maintenance Privileges but even his Garments Marriage Mourning c. are punctually determined and described and is it not wonderfull that in the many descriptions of the New-Law no mention should be made concerning any Duty or Privilege of its High-Priest whereby he might be directed in the administration of his Office and know what observance to require 3. Whereas also the Scripture doth inculcate duties of all sorts and doth not forget frequently to press duties of respect and obedience toward particular Governours of the Church is it not strange that it never should bestow one precept whereby we might be instructed and admonished to pay our duty to the Universal Pastour especially considering that God who directed the Pens of the Apostles and who intended that their Writings should continue for the perpetual instruction of Christians did foresee how requisite such a precept would be to secure that duty for if but one such precept did appear it would doe the business and void all contestation about it 4. They who so carefully do exhort to honour and obey the temporal Sovereignty how come they so wholly to wave urging the no less needfull obligations to obey the Spiritual Monarch while they are so mindfull of the Emperour why are they so neglectfull of the Pope insomuch that divers Popes afterward to ground and urge obedience to them are fain to borrow those precepts which command obedience to Princes accommodating them by analogy and inference to themselves 5. Particularly Saint Peter one would think who doth so earnestly injoin to obey the King as Supreme and to honour him should not have been unmindfull of his Successours or quite have forborn to warn Christians of the respect due to them surely the Popes afterward do not follow him in this reservedness for in their Decretal Epistles they urge nothing so much as obedience to the Apostolical See 6. One might have expected something of that nature from St. Paul himself who did write so largely to the Romans and so often from Rome that at least some word or some intimation should have dropped from him concerning these huge Rights and Privileges of this See and of the regard due to it Particularly then when he professedly doth enumerate the Offices instituted by God for standing use and perpetual duration for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come in the Vnity of Faith c. He commendeth them for their Faith which was spoken of through the whole world yet giveth them no advantage above others as St. Chrysostome observeth on those words for obedience to the Faith among all Nations among whom also are ye this saith St. Chrysostome he saith to depress their conceit to void their haughtiness of mind and to teach them to deem others equal in Dignity with them When He writeth to that Church which was some time after Saint Peter had setled the Popedom he doth onely style them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called Saints and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beloved of God which are common adjuncts of all Christians He saith their Faith was spoken of generally but of the fame of their Authority being so spread he taketh no notice that their obedience had come abroad to all men but their commands had not it seemeth come anywhere He wrote divers Epistles from Rome wherein he resolveth many cases debated yet never doth urge the Authority of the Roman Church for any point which now is so ponderous an Argument 7. But however seeing the Scripture is so strangely reserved how cometh it to pass that Tradition is also so defective and staunch in so grand a case We have in divers of the Fathers particularly in Tertullian in St. Basil in St. Hierome Catalogues of Traditional Doctrines and Observances which they recite to assert Tradition in some cases supplemental to Scripture in which their purpose did require that they should set down those of principal moment and they are so punctual as to insert many of small consideration how then came they to neglect this concerning the Papal Authority over the whole Church which had been most pertinent to their design and in consequence did vastly surpass all the rest which they do name 8. The designation of the Roman Bishop by succession to obtain so high a degree in the Church being above all others a most remarkable and noble piece of History which it had been a horrible fault in an Ecclesiastical History to slip over without carefull reporting and reflecting upon it yet Eusebius that most diligent Compiler of all passages relating to the original Constitution of the Church and to all transactions therein hath not â—ne word about it who yet studiously doth report the Successions of the Roman Bishops and all the notable occurrences he knew concerning them with favourable advantage 9. Whereas this Doctrine is pretended to be a Point of Faith of vast consequence to the subsistence of the Church and to the Salvation of men it is somewhat strange that it should not be inserted into any one ancient Summary of things to be believed of which Summaries divers remain some composed by publick consent others by persons of Eminency in the Church nor by fair and forcible consequence should be deducible from any Article in them especially considering that such Summaries were framed upon occasion of Heresies springing up which disregarded the Pope's Authority and which by asserting it were plainly confuted We are therefore beholden to Pope Innocent III. and his Laterane Synod for first Synodically defining this Point together with other Points no less new and unheard of before The Creed of Pope Pius IV. formed the other day is the first as I take it
accommodation of Laws to the different humours and fashions of so many Nations Shall a decrepit old man in the decay of his age parts vigour such as Popes usually are undertake this May we not say to him as Jethro did to Moses Vltra vires tuas est negotium The thing thou doest is not good thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this People that is with thee for this thing is too heavy for thee thou art not able to perform it thy self alone If the care of a small Diocese hath made the most able and industrious Bishops who had a Conscience and sense of their duty to grown under its weight how insupportable must such a thing be The care of his own particular Church if he would act the part of a Bishop indeed would sufficiently take up the Pope especially in some times whenas Pope Alex. saith Vt intestina nostrae specialis Ecclesiae negotia vix possemus ventilare nedum longinqua ad plenum extricare If it be said that Saint Paul testifieth of himself that he had a care of all the Churches incumbent on him I answer that he and other Apostles had the like questionless had a pious solicitude for the welfare of all Christians especially of the Churches which he had founded being vigilant for occasions to edifie them but what is this to bearing the charge of a standing government over all Churches diffused through the world that care of a few Churches then was burthensome to him what is the charge of so many now to one seldom endowed with such Apostolical graces and gifts as Saint Paul was How weak must the influence of such an Authority be upon the circumferential Parts of its Oecumenical Sphere How must the outward branches of the Churches faint and fade for want of sap from the root of Discipline which must be conveyed through so many obstructions to such a distance How discomposed must things be in each Country for want of seasonable resolution hanging in suspence till information do travell to Rome and determination come back thence How difficult how impossible will it be for him there to receive faithfull information or competent testimony whereupon to ground just decisions of Causes How will it be in the power thence of any malicious and cunning person to raise trouble against innocent persons for any like person to decline the due Correction laid on him by transferring the Cause from home to such a distance How much cost how much trouble how much hazard must parties concerned be at to fetch light and justice thence Put case a Heresie a Schism a Doubt or Debate of great moment should arise in China how should the Gentleman in Italy proceed to confute that Heresie to quash that Schism to satisfie that Doubt to determine that Cause how long must it be ere he can have notice thereof to how many cross accidents of weather and way must the transmitting of information be subject how difficult will it prove to get a clear and sure knowledge concerning the state of things How hard will it be to get the opposite parties to appear so as to confront testimonies and probations requisite to a fair and just decision how shall witnesses of infirm sex or age ramble so far how easily will some of them prepossess and abuse him with false suggestions and misrepresentations of the case how slippery therefore will the result be and how prone he to award a wrongfull sentence How tedious how expensive how troublesome how vexatious how hazardous must this course be to all parties Certainly Causes must needs proceed slowly and depend long and in the end the resolution of them must be very uncertain What temptation will it be for any one how justly soever corrected by his immediate Superiours to complain hoping thereby to escape to disguise the truth c. who being condemned will not appeal to one at distance hoping by false suggestions to delude him This necessarily will destroy all Discipline and induce impunity or frustration of Justice Certainly much more convenient and equal it should be that there should be near at hand a Sovereign Power fully capable expeditely and seasonably to compose differences to decide causes to resolve doubts to settle things without more stir and trouble Very equal it is that Laws should rather be framed interpreted and executed in every Countrey with accommodation to the tempers of the People to the circumstances of things to the Civil State there by persons acquainted with those particulars than by strangers ignorant of them and apt to mistake about them How often will the Pope be imposed upon as he was in the case of Basilides of whom St. Cyprian saith going to Rome he deceived our Collegue Stephen being placed at distance and ignorant of the fact and concealed truth aspiring to be unjustly restored to the Bishoprick from which he was justly removed As he was in the case of Marcellus who gull'd Pope Julius by fair professions as St. Basil doth often complain As he was in aiding that versatile and troublesome Bishop Eustathius of Sebastia to the recovery of his Bishoprick As he was in rejecting the man of God and most admirable Bishop Meletius and admitting scandalous reports about him which the same Saint doth often resent blaming sometimes the fallacious misinformation sometimes the wilfull presumption negligence pride of the Roman Church in the case As he was in the case of Pelagius and Celestius who did cajole Pope Zosimus to acquit them to condemn Eros and Lazarus their accusers to reprove the African Bishops for prosecuting them How many proceedings should we have like to that of Pope Zosimus I. concerning that scandalous Priest Apiarius whom being for grievous crimes excommunicated by his Bishop that Pope did admit to communion and undertake to patronize but was baffled in his enterprize This hath been the sense of the Fathers in the case St. Cyprian therefore saith that seeing it was a general statute among the Bishops and that it was both equal and just that every one's cause should be heard there where the crime was committed and that each Pastour had a portion of the Flock allotted to him which he should rule and govern being to render unto the Lord an account of his doing St. Chrysostome thought it improper that one out of Egypt should administer justice to Persons in Thrace and why not as well as one out of Italy The African Synod thought the Nicene Fathers had provided most prudently and most justly that all affairs should be finally determined there where they did arise They thought a transmarine judgment could not be firm because the necessary persons for testimony for the infirmity of sex or age or for many other infirmities could not be brought thither Pope Leo himself saw how dilatory this course would be and that longinquity of region doth cause the examination of truth
Church as having been from the beginning the School of the Apostles and the Metropolis of Religion although yet from the East the instructours of the Christian Doctrine did go and reside there but from hence they desired not to be deemed inferiours because they did not exceed in the greatness and numerousness of their Church They allowed some regard though faintly and with reservation to the Roman Church upon account of their Apostolical foundation they implied a stronger ground of pretence from the grandeur of that City yet did not they therefore grant themselves to be inferiours at least as to any substantial Privilege importing Authority If by Divine right upon account of his succession to Saint Peter he had such preeminence why are the other causes reckoned as if they could add any thing to God's Institution or as if that did need humane confirmation The pretence to that surely was weak which did need corroboration and to be propp'd by worldly considerations Indeed whereas the Apostles did found many Churches exercising Apostolical authority over them eminently containing the Episcopal why in conscience should one claim privileges on that score rather than or above the rest Why should the See of Antioch that most ancient and truly Apostolical Church where the Christian name began where Saint Peter at first as they say did sit Bishop for seven years be postponed to Alexandria Especially why should the Church of Jerusalem the Seat of our Lord himself the mother of all Churches the fountain of Christian Doctrine the first Consistory of the Apostles enobled by so many glorious performances by the Life Preaching Miracles Death Burial Resurrection Ascension of our Saviour by the first preaching of the Apostles the effusion of the Holy Spirit the Conversion of so many people and Constitution of the first Church and Celebration of the first Synods upon these considerations not obtain preeminence to other Churches but in honour be cast behind divers others and as to Power be subjected to Caesarea the Metropolis of Palestine The true reason of this even Baronius himself did see and acknowledge for that saith he the Ancients observ'd no other rule in instituting the Ecclesiastical Sees than the division of Provinces and the Prerogative before established by the Romans there are very many examples Of which examples that of Rome is the most obvious and notable and what he so generally asserteth may be so applied thereto as to void all other grounds of its preeminence X. The truth is all Ecclesiastical presidencies and subordinations or dependencies of some Bishops on others in administration of spiritual affairs were introduced merely by humane Ordinance and established by Law or Custome upon prudential accounts according to the exigency of things Hence the Prerogatives of other Sees did proceed and hereto whatever Dignity Privilege or Authority the Pope with equity might at any time claim is to be imputed To clear which point we will search the matter nearer the quick propounding some observations concerning the ancient forms of Discipline and considering what interest the Pope had therein At first each Church was settled apart under its own Bishop and Presbyters so as independently and separately to manage its own concernments each was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 governed by its own head and had its own Laws Every Bishop as a Prince in his own Church did act freely according to his will and discretion with the advice of his Ecclesiastical Senate and with the consent of his people the which he did use to consult without being controllable by any other or accountable to any farther than his obligation to uphold the verity of Christian profession and to maintain fraternal communion in charity and peace with neighbouring Churches did require in which regard if he were notably peccant he was liable to be disclaimed by them as no good Christian and rejected from communion together with his Church if it did adhere to him in his misdemeanours This may be collected from the remainders of State in the times of St. Cyprian But because little disjointed and incoherent Bodies were like dust apt to be dissipated by every wind of external assault or intestine faction and peaceable union could hardly be retained without some ligature of discipline and Churches could not mutually support and defend each other without some method of entercourse and rule of confederacy engaging them Therefore for many good purposes for upholding and advancing the common interests of Christianity for protection and support of each Church from inbred disorders and dissentions for preserving the integrity of the faith for securing the concord of divers Churches for providing fit Pastours to each Church and correcting such as were scandalously bad or unfaithfull it was soon found needfull that divers Churches should be combined and linked together in some regular form of Discipline that if any Church did want a Bishop the neighbour Bishops might step in to approve and ordain a fit one that if any Bishop did notoriously swerve from the Christian rule the others might interpose to correct or void him that if any errour or schism did peep up in any Church the joint concurrence of divers Bishops might avail to stop its progress and to quench it by convenient means of instruction reprehension and censure that if any Church were oppressed by persecution by indigency by faction the others might be engaged to afford effectual succour and relief for such ends it was needfull that Bishops in certain precincts should convene with intent to deliberate and resolve about the best expedients to compass them And that the manner of such proceeding to avoid uncertain distraction confusion arbitrariness dissatisfaction and mutinous opposition should be settled in an ordinary course according to rules known and allowed by all In defining such precincts it was most natural most easie most commodious to follow the divisions of Territory or Jurisdiction already established in the Civil State that the Spiritual administrations being in such circumstances aptly conformed to the Secular might go on more smoothly and expeditely the wheels of one not clashing with the other according to the judgment of the two great Synods that of Chalcedon and the Trullane which did ordain that if by Royal authority any city be or should hereafter be re-established the order of the churches shall be according to the civil and publick form Whereas therefore in each Nation or Province subject to one Political Jurisdiction there was a Metropolis or Head-city to which the greatest resort was for dispensation of Justice and dispatch of principal Affairs emergent in that Province it was also most convenient that also the determination of Ecclesiastical matters should be affixed thereto especially considering that usually those places were opportunely seated that many persons upon other occasions did meet there that the Churches in those Cities did exceed the rest in number
in opulency in ability and opportunity to promote the common interest in all kinds of advantages Moreover because in all Societies and Confederacies of men for ordering publick affairs for the settling things in motion for effectual dispatch for preventing endless dissentions and confusions both in resolving upon and executing things it is needfull that one person should be authorized to preside among the rest unto whom the power and care should be entrusted to convoke Assemblies in fit season to propose matters for consultation to moderate the debates and proceedings to declare the result and to see that what is agreed upon may be duly executed Such a charge then naturally would devolve it self upon the Prelate of the Metropolis as being supposed constantly present on the place as being at home in his own seat of presidence and receiving the rest under his wing as incontestably surpassing others in all advantages answerable to the secular advantages of his City for that it was unseemly and hard if he at home should be postponed in dignity to others repairing thither for that also commonly he was in a manner the spiritual Father of the rest Religion being first planted in great Cities and thence propagated to others so that the reverence and dependence on Colonies to the mother City was due from other Churches to his See Wherefore by consent of all Churches grounded on such obvious reason of things the presidency in each Province was assigned to the Bishop of the Metropolis who was called the first Bishop the Metropolitane in some places the Primate the Archbishop the Patriarch the Pope of the Province The Apostolical Canons call him the first Bishop which sheweth the Antiquity of this Institution the African Synods did appoint that name to him as most modest and calling him Primate in that sense other ancient Synods style him the Metropolite and to the Metropolites of the principal Cities they gave the Title of Archbishop The Bishops of Rome and Alexandria peculiarly were called Popes although that name was sometimes deferred to any other Bishop During this state of things the whole Church did consist of so many Provinces being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 independent on each other in Ecclesiastical administrations each reserving to it self the constitution of Bishops the convocation of Synods the enacting of Canons the decision of Causes the definition of Questions yet so that each Province did hold peacefull and amicable correspondence with others upon the like terms as before each 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Episcopal precinct did hold intercourse with its neighbours And whoever in any Province did not comply with or submit to the Orders and Determinations resolved upon in those Assemblies was deemed a schismatical contentious and contumelious person with good reason because he did thwart a Discipline plainly conducible to publick good because declining such judgments he plainly shewed that he would admit none there not being any fairer way of determining things than by common advice and agreement of Pastours because he did in effect refuse all good terms of communion and peace Thus I conceive the Metropolitical governance was introduced by humane prudence following considerations of publick necessity or utility There are indeed some who think it was instituted by the Apostles but their Arguments do not seem convincing and such a constitution doth not as I take it well sute to the state of their times and the course they took in founding Churches Into such a Chanel through all parts of Christendom though with some petty differences in the methods and measures of acting had Ecclesiastical administrations fallen of themselves plain community of reason and imitation insensibly propagating that course and therein it ran for a good time before it was by general consent and solemn sanction established The whole Church then was a Body consisting of several confederations of Bishops acting in behalf of their Churches under their respective Metropolitanes who did manage the common affairs in each Province convoking Synods at stated times and upon emergent occasions in them deciding Causes and Controversies incident relating to faith or practice framing Rules serviceable to common Edification and decent uniformity in God's service quashing Heresies and Schisms declaring truths impugned or questioned maintaining the harmony of communion and concord with other Provinces adjacent or remote Such was the state of the Church unto which the Apostolical Canons and Constitutions do refer answerable to the times in which they were framed and which we may discern in the practice of ancient Synods Such it did continue when the great Synod of Nice was celebrated which by its authority presumed to represent the authority of all Bishops in the World who were summoned thereto backed by the Imperial Authority and Power did confirm those Orders as they found them standing by more general custome and received Rules in most Provinces reducing them into more â—â—â—orm practice so that what before stood upon reason customary usage particular consent by so august sanction did become universal Law and did obtain so great veneration as by some to be conceived everlastingly and immutably obligatory according to those maximes of Pope Leo. It is here farther observable that whereas divers Provinces did hold communion and entercourse so that upon occasion they did by their formed Letters render to one another an account of their proceedings being of great moment especially of those which concerned the general state of Christianity and common faith calling when need was for assistence one of other to resolve points of faith or to settle order and peace there was in so doing a special respect given to the Metropolites of great Cities and to prevent dissensions which naturally ambition doth prompt men to grounded upon degrees of respect an Order was fixed among them according to which in subscriptions of Letters in accidental congresses and the like occasions some should precede others that distinction being chiefly and commonly grounded on the greatness splendour opulency of Cities or following the secular dignity of them whence Rome had the first place Alexandria the second Antioch the third Hierusalem the fourth c. Afterward Constantine having introduced a new partition of the Empire whereby divers Provinces were combined together into one Territory under the regiment of a Vicar or a Lieutenant of a Praefectus-praeterio which Territory was called a Diocese the Ecclesiastical state was adapted in conformity thereto new Ecclesiastical Systems and a new sort of spiritual Heads thence springing up so that in each Diocese consisting of divers Provinces an Ecclesiastical Exarch otherwise sometimes called a Primate sometimes a Diocesan sometimes a Patriarch was constituted answerable to the Civil Exarch of a Diocese who by such constitution did obtain a like Authority over the Metropolitanes of Provinces as they had in their Province over the Bishops of Cities so that it appertained to them to call together the Synods of the whole Diocese to preside
Bishop might alledge all having a like right and common interest to Vote in those Assemblies 3. Accordingly the dissent of other Bishops particularly of those eminent in dignity or merit is also alledged in exception which had been needless if his alone dissent had been of so very peculiar force 4. The Emperour and many other Bishops did not know of any peculiar necessity of his confirmation Again it may be objected that Popes have voided the Decrees of General Synods as did Pope Leo the Decrees of the Synod of Chalcedon concerning the Privileges of the Constantinopolitan See in these blunt words But the agreements of Bishops repugnant to the Holy Canons made at Nice your faith and piety joyning with us we make void and by the authority of the Blessed Apostle Saint Peter by a general determination we disanull and in his Epistle to those of that Synod For however vain conceit may arm it self with extorted compliances and think its wilfulness sufficiently strengthened with the name of Councils yet whatever is contrary to the Canons of the above-nam'd fathers will be weak and void Lastly in his Epistle to Maximus Bishop of Antioch he says He has such a reverence for the Nicene Canons that he will not permit or endure that what those holy fathers have determined be by any novelty violated This behaviour of Pope Leo although applauded and imitated by some of his Successours I doubt not to except against in behalf of the Synod that it was disorderly factious and arrogant proceeding indeed from ambition and jealousie the leading act of high presumption in this kind and one of the seeds of that exorbitant ambition which did at length overwhelm the dignity and liberty of the Christian Republick Yet for somewhat qualifying the business it is observable that he did ground his repugnancy and pretended annulling of that Decree or of Decrees concerning Discipline not so much upon his authority to cross General Synods as upon the inviolable firmness and everlasting obligation of the Nicene Canons the which he although against the reason of things and rules of Government did presume no Synod could abrogate or alter In fine this opposition of his did prove ineffectual by the sense and practice of the Church maintaining its ground against his pretence It is an unreasonable thing that the opinion or humour of one man no wiser or better commonly than others should be preferred before the common agreement of his brethren being of the same Office and Order with him so that he should be able to overthrow and frustrate the result of their meetings and consultations when it did not square to his conceit or interest especially seeing there is not the least appearance of any right he hath to such a Privilege grounded in Holy Scripture Tradition or Custom for seeing that Scripture hath not a syllable about General Synods seeing that no Rule about them is extant in any of the first Fathers till after 300 years seeing there was not one such Council celebrated till after that time seeing in none of the First General Synods any such Canon was framed in favour of that Bishop what ground of right could the Pope have to prescribe unto them or thwart their proceedings Far more reason there is in conformity to all former Rules and Practice that he should yield to all his Brethren than that all his Brethren should submit to him and this we see to have been the judgment of the Church declared by its Practice in the cases before touched IV. It is indeed a proper endowment of an absolute Sovereignty immediately and immutably constituted by God with no terms or rules limiting it that its will declared in way of Precept Proclamations concerning the Sanction of Laws the Abrogation of them the Dispensation with them should be observed This Privilege therefore in a high strein the Pope challengeth to himself asserting to his Decrees and Sentences the force and obligation of Laws so that the body of that Canon Law whereby he pretendeth to govern the Church doth in greatest part consist of Papal Edicts or Decretal Epistles imitating the Rescripts of Emperours and bearing the same force In Gratian we have these Aphorisms from Popes concerning this their Privilege No person ought to have either the will or the power to transgress the precepts of the Apostolick See Those things which by the Apostolick See have at several times been written for the Catholick faith for sound doctrines for the various and manifold exigency of the Church and the manners of the faithfull how much rather ought they to be preferr'd in all honour and by all men altogether upon all occasions whatsoever to be reverently received Those Decretal Epistles which most holy Popes have at divers times given out from the City of Rome upon their being consulted with by divers Bishops we decree that they be received with veneration If ye have not the Decrees of the Bishops of Rome ye are to be accused of neglect and carelesness but if ye have them yet observe them not ye are to be chidden and rebuk'd for your temerity All the Sanctions of the Apostolick See are so to be understood as if confirm'd by the voice of Saint Peter himself Because the Roman Church over which by the will of Christ we do preside is proposed for a mirrour and example whatsoever it doth determine whatsoever that doth appoint is perpetually and irrefragably to be observed by all men We who according to the plenitude of our power have a right to dispense above Law or right This See that which it might doe by its sole authority it is often pleased to define by consent of its Priests But this power he doth assume and exercise merely upon Usurpation and unwarrantably having no ground for it in original right or ancient practice Originally the Church hath no other General Law-giver beside our one Lord and one Law-giver As to practice we may observe 1. Anciently before the First General Synod the Church had no other Laws beside the Divine Laws or those which were derived from the Apostles by Traditional custom or those which each Church did enact for it self in Provincial Synods or which were propagated from one Church to another by imitation and compliance or which in like manner were framed and setled Whence according to different Traditions or different reasons and circumstances of things several Churches did vary in points of Order and Discipline The Pope then could not impose his Traditions Laws or Customs upon any Church if he did attempt it he was liable to suffer a repulse as is notorious in the case when Pope Victor would although rather as a Doctour than as a Law-giver have reduced the Churches of Asia to conform with the Roman in the time of celebrating Easter wherein he found not onely stout resistence but sharp reproof In St. Cyprian's time every Bishop had a free power according to his discretion
Christians If he claimeth exorbitant Power and exerciseth Oppression and tyrannical Domination over his Brethren cursing and damning all that will not submit to his Dictates and Commands If instead of being a Shepherd he is a Wolf worrying and tearing the Flock by cruel Persecution He by such behaviour ipso facto depriveth himself of Authority and Office He becometh thence no Guide or Pastour to any Christian there doth in such case rest no obligation to hear or obey him but rather to decline him to discost from him to reject and disclaim him This is the reason of the case this the Holy Scripture doth prescribe this is according to the Primitive Doctrine Tradition and Practice of the Church For 10. In reason the nature of any spiritual Office consisting in Instruction in Truth and Guidance in Vertue toward attainment of Salvation if any man doth lead into pernicious Errour or Impiety he thereby ceaseth to be capable of such Office As a blind man by being so doth cease to be a Guide and much more he that declareth a will to seduce for Who so blind as he that will not see No man can be bound to follow any one into the ditch or to obey any one in prejudice to his own Salvation to die in his iniquity Seeing God saith in such a case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Precepts of men They themselves do acknowledge that Hereticks cease to be Bishops and so to be Popes Indeed they cease to be Christians for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a one is subverted 11. According to their Principles the Pope hath the same relation to other Bishops and Pastours of the Church which they have to their people he being Pastour of Pastours But if any Pastour should teach bad Doctrine or prescribe bad Practice his people may reject and disobey him therefore in proportion the Pastours may desert the Pope misguiding or misgoverning them In such cases any Inferiour is exempted from obligation to comply with his Superiour either truly or pretendedly such 12. The case may be that we may not hold communion with the Pope but may be obliged to shun him in which case his Authority doth fail and no man is subject to him 13. This is the Doctrine of the Scripture The High Priest and his fellows under the Jewish Oeconomy had no less Authority than any Pope can now pretend unto they did sit in the Chair of Moses and therefore all their True Doctrines and Lawfull Directions the people were obliged to learn and observe but their false Doctrines and impious Precepts they were bound to shun and consequently to disclaim their Authority so far as employed in urging such Doctrines and Precepts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them alone saith our Saviour they are blind leaders of the blind Under the Christian dispensation the matter is no less clear our Lord commandeth us to beware of false Prophets and to see that no man deceive us although he wear the cloathing of a Sheep or come under the name of a Shepherd coming in his name Saint Paul informeth us that if an Apostle if an Angel from heaven doth preach beside the old Apostolical Doctrine introducing any new Gospel or a Divinity devised by himself he is to be held accursed by us He affirmeth that even the Apostles themselves were not Lords of our faith nor might challenge any power inconsistent with the maintenance of Christian Truth and Piety We saith he can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth the which an ancient Writer doth well apply to the Pope saying that he could doe nothing against the truth more than any of his Fellow-priests could doe which S. Paul did in practice shew when he resisted Saint Peter declining from the truth of the Gospel He chargeth that if any one doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teach heterodoxies we should stand off from him that if any brother walketh disorderly and not according to Apostolical tradition we should withdraw from him that if any one doth raise divisions and scandals beside the doctrine received from the Apostles we should decline from him that we are to refuse any heretical person He telleth us that grievous Wolves should come into the Church not sparing the flock that from among Christians there should arise men speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them but no man surely ought to follow but to shun them These Precepts and Admonitions are general without any respect or exception of Persons great or small Pastour or Lay-man nay they may in some respect more concern Bishops than others for that they declining from truth are more dangerous and contagious 14. The Fathers in reference to this case do clearly accord both in their Doctrine and Practice St. Cyprian telleth us that a people obedient to the Lord's commandments and fearing God ought to separate it self from a sinfull Bishop that is from one guilty of such sins which unqualifie him for Christian Communion or Pastoral charge and Let not addeth he the common people flatter it self as if it could be free from the contagion of guilt if it communicate with a sinfull Bishop whose irreligious Doctrine or Practice doth render him uncapable of communion for how saith he otherwhere can they preside over integrity and continence if corruptions and the teaching of vices do begin to proceed from them They who reject the commandment of God and labour to establish their own tradition let them be strongly and stoutly refused and rejected by you St. Chrysostome commenting on Saint Paul's words If I or an Angel saith that Saint Paul meaneth to shew that dignity of persons is not to be regarded where truth is concerned that if one of the chief Angels from heaven should corrupt the Gospel he were to be accursed that not onely if they shall speak things contrary or overturn all but if they preach any small matter beside the Apostolical doctrine altering the least point whatever they are liable to an anathema And other-where very earnestly persuading his Audience to render due respect and obedience to there Bishop he yet interposeth this exception If he hath a perverse opinion although he be an Angel do not obey him but if he teacheth right things regard not his life but his words Ecclesiastical Judges as men are for the most part deceived For neither are Catholick Bishops to be assented to if peradventure in any case they are mistaken so as to hold any thing contrary to the canonical Scriptures of God If there be any Church which rejects the faith and does not hold the fundamentals of the Apostolical doctrine it ought to be forsaken lest it infect others with its heterodoxy If in such a case we must desert any Church then the Roman if any Church then much more any Bishop particularly him of
servants But the Papists curse those who although out of humility and modesty will not acknowledge the good works of justified persons to be truly meritorious deserving the encrease of grace eternal life and augmentation of glory so forcing us to use saucy words and phrases if not impious in their sense The Scripture teacheth one Church diffused over the whole world whereof each part is bound to maintain charity peace and communion with the rest upon brotherly terms But the Romanists arrogate to themselves the name and privilege of the onely Church condemning all other Churches beside their own and censuring all for Apostatical who do not adhere to them or submit to their yoke Just like the Donatists who said that the world had apostatized excepting those who upon their own terms did communicate with them onely the communion of Donatus remained the true Church The Holy Scripture biddeth us take care of persons pretending to extraordinary Inspirations charging on the Holy Spirit their own conceits and devices Such have been their Synods boldly fathering their Decrees on God's Spirit And their Pope is infallible by virtue of inspiration communicated to him when he pleaseth to set himself right in his Chair Whence we may take them for bodies of Enthusiasts and Fanaticks the difference onely is that other Enthusiasts pretend singly they conjunctly and by conspiracy Others pretend it in their own direction and defence these impose their dreams on the whole Church If they say that God hath promised his Spirit to his Church it is true but he hath no less plainly and frequently promised it to single Christians who should seek it earnestly of him The ancient Fathers could in the Scriptures hardly discern more than two Sacraments or Mysterious Rites of our Religion by positive Law and Institution of our Saviour to be practised But the Popes have devised others and under uncharitable curses propound them to be professed for such affirming them to confer grace by the bare performance of them Every Clergy-man and Monk is bound by Pius IV. to profess there are just seven of them and the Tridentine Synod anathematizeth all those who do say there are more or fewer although the Ancients did never hit on that number But these our Sacraments both contain grace and also confer it upon those who worthily receive them They require men to believe under a curse that each of those were instituted of Christ and confer grace by the bare performance Particularly they curse those who do not hold matrimony for a Sacrament instituted by Christ and conferring grace What can be more ridiculous than to say that marriage was instituted by Christ or that it doth confer grace Yet with another anathema they prefer Virginity before it and why forsooth is not that another Sacrament And then they must be comparing the worth of these Sacraments condemning those heavily who may conceive them equal as being Divine Institutions If any say that these seven Sacraments are so equal one to another that one is in no respect of more worth than another let him be Anathema The first as it seemeth who reckoned the Sacraments to be seven was Peter Lombard whom the Schoolmen did follow and Pope Eugenius IV. followed them and afterward the Trent men formed it into an Article back'd with an Anathema Upon which rash and peremptory Sentence touching all ancient Divines we may note 1. Is it not strange that an Article of Faith should be formed upon an ambiguous word or a term of art used with great variety 2. Is it not strange to define a Point whereof it is most plain that the Fathers were ignorant were in they never did agree or resolve any thing 3. Yea whereof they speak variously 4. Is it not odd and extravagant to damn or curse people for a point of so little consideration or certainty 5. Is it not intolerable arrogance and presumption to define nay indeed to make an Article of Faith without any manner of ground or colour of Authority either from Scripture or the Tradition of the ancient Fathers The Holy Scripture forbiddeth us to call any man Master upon earth or absolutely to subject our Faith to the dictates of any man It teacheth us that the Apostles themselves are not Lords of our faith so as to oblige us to believe their own inventions It forbiddeth us to swallow whole the Doctrines and Precepts of men without examination of them It forbiddeth us to admit various and strange doctrines But the Pope and Roman Church exact from us a submission to their Dictates admitting them for true without any farther enquiry or discussion barely upon his Authority They who are provided of any Benefices whatever having cure of Souls let them promise and swear obedience to the Roman Church They require of us without doubt to believe to profess to assert innumerable Propositions divers of them new and strange no-wise deducible from Scripture or Apostolical Tradition the very terms of them being certainly unknown to the Primitive Church devised by humane subtilty curiosity contentiousness divers of them being in all appearance to the judgment of common sense uncertain obscure and intricate divers of them bold and fierce divers of them frivolous and vain divers of them palpably false Namely all such Propositions as have been taught by their Great Junto's allowed by the Pope especially that of Trent Moreover all other things delivered defined and declared by the Sacred Canons and Oecumenical Councils and especially by the Holy Synod of Trent I undoubtedly receive and profess and also all things contrary thereunto and all heresies whatsoever condemned and rejected and anathematized by the Church I in like manner do condemn reject and anathematize This is the true Catholick Faith out of which there can be no Salvation This Usurpation upon the Consciences of Christians none like whereto was ever known in the world they prosecute with most uncharitable censures cursing and damning all who do not in heart and profession submit to him obliging all their consorts to join therein against all charity and prudence The Scripture enjoineth us to bear with those who are weak in faith and err in doubtfull or disputable matters But the Popes with cruel uncharitableness not onely do censure all that cannot assent to their devices which they obtrude as Articles of Faith but sorely persecute them with all sorts of punishments even with death it self a practice inconsistent with Christian meekness with equity with reason and of which the Fathers have expressed the greatest detestation They have unwoven and altered all Theology from head to foot and of Divine have made it Sophistical The Pope with his pack of mercenary Clients at Trent did indeed establish a Scholastical or Sophistical rather than a Christian Theology framing Points devised by the idle wits of latter times into Definitions and peremptory Conclusions back'd with Curses and Censures concerning
any of the dissenting Parties to the Judgment of such Authority Indeed if such an Authority had then been avowed by the Christian Churches it is hardly conceivable that any Schisms could subsist there being so powerfull a Remedy against them then notably visible and most effectual because of its fresh Institution before it was darkned or weakned by Age. Whereas the Apostolical Writings do inculcate our Subjection to one Lord in Heaven it is much they should never consider his Vicegerent or Vicegerents upon Earth notifying and pressing the Duties of Obedience and Reverence toward them There are indeed Exhortations to honour the Elders and to obey the Guides of particular Churches but the Honour and Obedience due to those Paramount Authorities or Universal Governours is passed over in dead silence as if no such thing had been thought of They do expresly avow the Secular Pre-eminence and press Submission to the Emperour as Supreme why do they not likewise mention this no less considerable Ecclesiastical Supremacy or enjoin Obedience thereto why Honour the King and be subject to Principalities so often but Honour the Spiritual Prince or Senate doth never occur If there had been any such Authority there would probably have been some intimation concerning the Persons in whom it was setled concerning the Place of their residence concerning the Manner of its being conveyed by Election Succession or otherwise Probably the Persons would have some proper Name Title or Character to distinguish them from inferiour Governours that to the Place some mark of Pre-eminence would have been affixed It is not unlikely that somewhere some Rules or Directions would have been prescribed for the management of so high a Trust for preventing Miscarriages and Abuses to which it is notoriously liable It would have been declared Absolute or the Limits of it would have been determined to prevent its enslaving God's heritage But of these things in the Apostolical Writings or in any near those times there doth not appear any footstep or pregnant intimation There hath never to this day been any place but one namely Rome which hath pretended to be the Seat of such an Authority the Plea whereof we largely have examined At present we shall onely observe that before the Roman Church was founded there were Churches otherwhere there was a great Church at Jerusalem which indeed was the Mother of all Churches and was by the Fathers so styled however Rome now doth arrogate to her self that Title There were issuing from that Mother a fair Offspring of Churches those of Judaea of Galilaea of Samaria of Syria and Cilicia of divers other places before there was any Church at Rome or that Saint Peter did come thither which was at least divers years after our Lord's Ascension Saint Paul was converted after five years he went to Hierusalem then Saint Peter was there after fourteen years thence he went to Hierusalem again and then Saint Peter was there after that he met with Saint Peter at Antioch Where then was this Authority seated How then did the political Unity of the Church subsist Was the Seat of the Sovereign Authority first resident at Jerusalem when Saint Peter preached there Did it walk thence to Antiochia fixing it self there for seven years Was it thence translated to Rome and setled there ever since Did this roving and inconstancy become it 5. The primitive State of the Church did not well comport with such an Unity For Christian Churches were founded in distant places as the Apostles did find opportunity or received direction to found them which therefore could not without extreme inconvenience have resort or reference to one Authority any where fixed Each Church therefore separately did order its own Affairs without recourse to others except for charitable Advice or Relief in cases of extraordinary difficulty or urgent need Each Church was endowed with a perfect Liberty and a full Authority without dependence or subordination to others to govern its own Members to manage its own Affairs to decide Controversies and Causes incident among themselves without allowing Appeals or rendring Accounts to others This appeareth by the Apostolical Writings of Saint Paul and Saint John to single Churches wherein they are supposed able to exercise spiritual Power for establishing Decency removing Disorders correcting Offences deciding Causes c. 6. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Liberty of Churches doth appear to have long continued in practice inviolate although tempered and modelled in accommodation to the circumstances of place and time It is true that if any Church did notoriously forsake the Truth or commit Disorder in any kind other Churches did sometime take upon them as the Case did move to warn advise reprove it and to declare against its proceedings as prejudicial not onely to the welfare of that Church but to the common interests of Truth and Peace but this was not in way of commanding Authority but of fraternal Solicitude or of that Liberty which Equity and Prudence do allow to Equals in regard to common good So did the Roman Church interpose in reclaiming the Church of Corinth from its Disorders and Seditions So did Saint Cyprian and Saint Denys of Alex. meddle in the Affairs of the Roman Church exhorting Novatian and his Adherents to return to the Peace of their Church It is also true that the Bishops of several adjacent Churchs did use to meet upon Emergencies concerning the maintenance of Truth Order and Peace concerning Settlement and Approbation of Pastours c. to consult and conclude upon Expedients for attaining such Ends this probably they did at first in a free way without rule according to occasion as Prudence suggested but afterwards by confederation and consent those Conventions were formed into method and regulated by certain Orders established by consent whence did arise an Ecclesiastical Unity of Government within certain Precincts much like that of the United States in the Netherlands the which course was very prudential and usefull for preserving the Truth of Religion and Unity of Faith against heretical Devices springing up in that free age for maintaining Concord and good Correspondence among Christians together with an Harmony in Manners and Discipline for that otherwise Christendom would have been shattered and crumbled into numberless Parties discordant in Opinion and Practice and consequently alienated in Affection which inevitably among most men doth follow Difference of Opinion and Manners so that in short time it would not have appeared what Christianity was and consequently the Religion being overgrown with Differences and Discords must have perished Thus in the case about admitting the Lapsi to Communion Saint Cyprian relates when the persecution of Decius ceased so that leave was now given us to meet in one place together a considerable number of Bishops whom their own faith and God's protection had preserved sound and entire from the late Apostasie and Persecution being assembled we deliberated of the composition of the matter with wholsome moderation
no more than Humane Thus in effect we see that it hath succeeded from the Pretence of this Unity the which hath indeed transformed the Church into a mere worldly State wherein the Monarch beareth the garb of an Emperour in external splendour surpassing all worldly Princes crowned with a triple Crown He assumeth the most haughty Titles of Our most holy Lord the Vicar general of Christ c. and he suffereth men to call him the Monarch of Kings c. He hath Respects paid him like to which no Potentate doth assume having his Feet kissed riding upon the backs of men letting Princes hold his Stirrup and lead his Horse He hath a Court and is attended with a train of Courtiers surpassing in State and claiming Precedence to the Peers of any Kingdom He is encompassed with armed Guards He hath a vast Revenue supplied by Tributes and Imposts sore and grievous the exaction of which hath made divers Nations of Christendom to groan most lamentably He hath raised numberless Wars and Commotions for the promotion and advancement of his Interests He administreth things with all depth of Policy to advance his Designs He hath enacted Volumes of Laws and Decrees to which Obedience is exacted with rigour and forcible constraint He draweth grist from all Parts to his Courts of Judgment wherein all the formalities of suspence all the tricks of squeezing money c. are practised to the great trouble and charge of Parties concerned Briefly it is plain that he doth exercise the proudest mightiest subtlest Domination that ever was over Christians 8. The Union of the whole Church in one Body under one Government or Sovereign Authority would be inconvenient and hurtfull prejudicial to the main designs of Christianity destructive to the Welfare and Peace of Mankind in many respects This we have shewed particularly concerning the Pretence of the Papacy and those Discourses being applicable to any like Universal Authority perhaps with more advantage Monarchy being less subject to abuse than other ways of Government I shall forbear to say more 9. Such an Union is of no need would be of small use or would doe little good in balance to the great Mischiefs and Inconveniences which it would produce This Point also we have declared in regard to the Papacy and we might say the same concerning any other like Authority substituted thereto 10. Such a Connexion of Churches is not any-wise needfull or expedient to the Design of Christianity which is to reduce Mankind to the Knowledge Love and Reverence of God to a just and loving Conversation together to the practice of Sobriety Temperance Purity Meekness and all other Vertues all which things may be compassed without forming men into such a Policy It is expedient there should be particular Societies in which men may concur in worshipping God and promoting that Design by instructing and provoking one another to good practice in a regular decent and orderly way It is convenient that the Subjects of each temporal Sovereignty should live as in a civil so in a spiritual Uniformity in order to the preservation of Goodwill and Peace among them for that Neighbours differing in opinion and fashions of practice will be apt to contend each for his way and thence to disaffect one another for the beauty and pleasant harmony of Agreement in Divine things for the more commodious succour and defence of Truth and Piety by unanimous concurrence But that all the World should be so joined is needless and will be apt to produce more mischief than benefit 11. The Church in the Scripture sense hath ever continued One and will ever continue so notwithstanding that it hath not had this political Unity 12. It is in fact apparent that Churches have not been thus united which yet have continued Catholick and Christian. It were great no less folly than uncharitableness to say that the Greek Church hath been none There is no Church that hath in effect less reason than that of Rome to prescribe to others 13. The Reasons alledged in proof of such an Unity are insufficient and inconcluding the which with great diligence although not with like perspicuity advanced by a late Divine of great repute and collected out of his Writings with some care are those which briefly proposed do follow together with Answers declaring their invalidity Arg. I. The name Church is attributed to the whole body of Christians which implieth Unity Answ. This indeed doth imply an Unity of the Church but determineth not the kind or ground thereof there being several kinds of Unity one of those which we have touched or several or all of them may suffice to ground that comprehensive Appellation Arg. II. Our Creeds do import the belief of such an Unity for in the Apostolical we profess to believe the Holy Catholick Church in the Constantinopolitan the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Answ. 1. The most ancient Summaries of Christian Faith extant in the first Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian c. do not contain this Point The word Catholick was not originally in the Apostolical or Roman Creed but was added after Ruffin and Saint Austin's time This Article was inserted into the Creeds upon the rise of Heresies and Schisms to discountenance and disengage from them Answ. 2. We do avow a Catholick Church in many respects One wherefore not the Unity of the Church but the Kind and Manner of Unity being in question the Creed doth not oppose what we say nor can with reason be alledged for the special kind of Unity which is pretended Answ. 3. That the Unity mentioned in the Constantinopolitan Creed is such as our Adversaries contend for of external Policy is precariously assumed and relieth onely upon their interpretation obtruded on us Answ. 4. The genuine meaning of that Article may reasonably be deemed this That we profess our adhering to the Body of Christians which diffused over the World doth retain the Faith taught the Discipline setled the Practices appointed by our Lord and his Apostles that we maintain general Charity toward all good Christians that we are ready to entertain communion in Holy Offices with all such that we are willing to observe the Laws and Orders established by Authority or Consent of the Churches for maintenance of Truth Order and Peace that we renounce all heretical doctrines all disorderly practices all conspiracy with any factious combinations of people Answ. 5. That this is the meaning of the Article may sufficiently appear from the reason and occasion of introducing it which was to secure the Truth of Christian Doctrine the Authority of Ecclesiastical Discipline and the common Peace of the Church according to the Discourses and Arguments of the Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian St. Austin Vincentius Lirinensis the which do plainly countenance our Interpretation Answ. 6. It is not reasonable to interpret the Article so as will not consist with the State of the Church in the Apostolical and
Service to the edification of People in Charity and Piety by the encouragement of secular Powers by the concurrent advice and aid of Ecclesiastical Pastours by many advantages hence arising 6. We suppose all Churches obliged to observe friendly communion and when occasion doth invite to aid each other by assistence and advice in Synods of Bishops or otherwise 7. We do affirm that all Churches are obliged to comply with lawfull Decrees and Orders appointed in Synods with consent of their Bishops and allowed by the Civil Authorities under which they live As if the Bishops of Spain and France assembling should agree upon Constitutions of Discipline which the Kings of both those Countries should approve and which should not thwart God's Laws both those Churches and every man in them were bound to comply in observance of them From the Premisses divers Corollaries may be deduced 1. Hence it appeareth that all those clamours of the pretended Catholicks against other Churches for not submitting to the Roman Chair are groundless they depending on the supposition that all Churches must necessarily be united under one Government 2. The Injustice of the Adherents to that See in claiming an Empire or Jurisdiction over all which never was designed by our Lord heavily censuring and fiercely persecuting those who will not acknowledge it 3. All Churches which have a fair settlement in several Countries are co-ordinate neither can one challenge a Jurisdiction over the other 4. The nature of Schism is hence declared viz. that it consisteth in disturbing the Order and Peace of any single Church in withdrawing from it Obedience and Compliance with it in obstructing good Correspondence Charity Peace between several Churches in condemning or censuring other Churches without just cause or beyond due measure In refusing to maintain Communion with other Churches without reasonable cause whence Firmilian did challenge P. Stephanus with Schism 5. Hence the right way of reconciling Dissentions among Christians is not affecting to set up a political Union of several Churches or subordination of all to one Power not for one Church to enterprize upon the Liberty of others or to bring others under it as is the practice of the Roman Church and its Abettors but for each Church to let the others alone quietly enjoying its freedom in Ecclesiastical Administrations onely declaring against apparently hurtfull Errours and Factions shewing Good-will yielding Succour Advice Comfort upon needfull occasion according to that excellent Advice of the Constantinopolitane Fathers to the Pope and Western Bishops after having acquainted them with their proceedings towards the conclusion they thus exhort them We having in a legal and canonical way determined these Controversies do beseech your Reverence to congratulate with us your Charity spiritually interceding the fear of the Lord also compressing all humane affection so as to make us to prefer the edification of the Churches to all private respect and favour toward each other for by this means the word of faith being consonant among us and Christian Charity bearing sway over us we shall cease from speaking after that manner which the Apostle condemns I am of Paul and I am of Apollos but I am of Cephas for if we all do appear to be of Christ who is not divided amongst us we shall then through God's grace preserve the body of the Church from Schism and present our selves before the throne of Christ with boldness 6. All that withdraw their communion or obeysance from particular Churches fairly established unto which they do belong or where they reside do incur the guilt of Schism for such persons being de Jure subject to those particular Churches and excommunicating themselves do consequentially sever themselves from the Catholick Church they commit great wrong toward that particular Church and toward the whole Church of Christ. 7. Neither doth their pretence of joining themselves to the Roman Church excuse them from Schism for the Roman Church hath no reason or right to admit or to avow them it hath no power to exempt or excuse them from their duty it thereby abetteth their Crime and involveth it self therein it wrongeth other Churches As no man is freed from his Allegiance by pretending to put himself under the protection of another Prince neither can another Prince justly receive such disloyal Revolters into his Patronage It is a Rule grounded upon apparent Equity and frequently declared by Ecclesiastical Canons that no Church shall admit into its protection or communion any persons who are excommunicated by another Church or who do withdraw themselves from it for Self-excommunication or Spiritual felony de se doth involve the Churches Excommunication deserving it and preventing it Which Canon as the African Fathers do alledge and expound it doth prohibit the Pope himself from receiving persons rejected by any other Church So when Marcion having been excommunicated by his own Father coming to Rome did sue to be received by that Church into communion they refused telling him that they could not doe it without the consent of his Reverend Father between whom and them there being one faith and one agreement of mind they could not doe it in opposition to their worthy fellow-labourer who was also his Father St. Cyprian refused to admit Maximus sent from the Novatian party to communion So did P. Cornelius reject Felicissimus condemned by St. Cyprian without farther inquiry It was charged upon Dioscorus as a heinous misdemeanour that he had against the Holy Canons by his proper authority received into communion persons excommunicated by others The African Synod at the suggestion of St. Austin decreed that if it happen'd that any for their evil deeds were deservedly expell'd out of the Church and taken again into communion by any Bishop or Priest whosoever that he also who received him should incur the same penalty of Excommunication The same is by latter Papal Synods decreed The Words of Synesius are remarkable He having excommunicated some cruel Oppressours doth thus recommend the case to all Christians Upon which grounds I do not scruple to affirm the Recusants in England to be no less Schismaticks than any other Separatists They are indeed somewhat worse for most others do onely forbear communion these do rudely condemn the Church to which they owe Obedience yea strive to destroy it they are most desperate Rebels against it 8. It is the Duty and Interest of all Churches to disclaim the Pretences of the Roman Court maintaining their Liberties and Rights against its Usurpations For Compliance therewith as it doth greatly prejudice Truth and Piety leaving them to be corrupted by the ambitious covetous and voluptuous Designs of those men so it doth remove the genuine Unity of the Church and Peace of Christians unless to be tyed by compulsory Chains as Slaves be deemed Unity or Peace 9. Yet those Churches which by the voluntary consent or command of Princes do adhere in confederation to the Roman
Aeneas Sylvius his Account hereof Ibid. Catholick How much the abuse of that Word hath conduced to the Pope's Pretences 264. Censures Ecclesiastical Censures the great advantages made from them by the Pope 182. Ceremonies Why multitude of them in the Church of Rome 139. Charity Want thereof in the Church of Rome 286. Charity among Christians 299 301. breach thereof denominates a man to be no Christian 300. Charity to the Poor of other Churches in primitive Times no Argument of Unity of Church Government 320. Church Unity thereof 293. The various acceptations of the Word Church 294. The Titles and Privileges thereof 295. Church Government and Discipline in ancient times 162 c. Church Government No necessity of one kind onely of external Admistration thereof 306 307. The contrary shewed to be most proper and convenient in seq Church of Rome An Account of them who by voluntary Consent or Command of Princes do adhere in Confederation to the Church of Rome 325. Civil Magistrates Authority 271. Clergy Romish Clergy's Exemption from secular Jurisdiction whence 138. Communion Church Communion 296. Community of Men on several accounts may be termed One 297. Confession Auricular Confession 139. Confirmation of Magistrates belongs not to the Pope 269. Conscience The Usurpations made thereupon by the Popish Doctrines 288. Constantine M. His Judgment of Eusebius 86. No General Synod before his Reign 185. Controversies in the Church how in ancient times determined 115 149 264 303 304. Council of Trent Their Character 2. Enjoyned the Pope's Supremacy should not be disputed 18. Councils Their Authority above the Pope's 25. Councils Their Infallibility why pretended 139. Councils General Councils which so esteemed 188 first called by the Emperours ibid. when first celebrated 209 Use of them proves not there was Unity of Government in the Primitive Church 320 the proper occasion of General Councils assigned ibid Cup in the Sacrament why with-holden from the Laity 139. S. Cyprian's Account of S. Peter's primacy of Order 33 his Epistle concerning the deposing Marcianus examined 235 c. S. Cyril's supplying the Place of P. Celestine in the General Council 203 204. Cyril of Hierusalem the first according to Socrates who did introduce Appeals 249. D. POpe Damasus An Epistle of his in Theodoret whence Bellarmine's pretence for the Pope's Supremacy adjudged spurious 156 157. Decrees of Popes when contested against the ancient Canons 214. Whence their new Decrees introduced ibid. Decretal Epistles Their forgery and great advantage to the Church of Rome 184. Discipline and Order of the Primitive Church 211. Discipline The enacting and dispensing with Ecclesiastical Laws about the same belong'd of old to Emperours 214. Discipline of the Church 305. main Form thereof not to be violated ibid. Dispensations 184. the Pope no power to grant them 270 281. Dissentions The Mischiefs arising from them 175 18â— The Profits accrewing from hence to the Romanists ibid. Dissentions How reconciled among Christians 323. E. ECclesiastical Jurisdiction not impugn'd by disclaiming S. Peter's Superiority 40. Emperours not Popes did first conâ—â—â—gate General Synods 185. Testimonies of Popes owning the same 193. Emperours themselves or Honourable Persons authorized by them did heretofore preside in General Synods 203. Empires Their Original and Increase 174. Episcopacy The Ends assigned of that Order 87. Eusebius Constantine M. his Character of him 86. Excommunicated Persons not admitted into Communion by other Churches 305 324 325. Exemptions The Pope no Power to grant them 270. F. FAith Unity of the Church preserved by it 299. Fathers What regard to be given to their account of S. Peter's Primacy of Order or bare Dignity 32. Fathers A Censure of their Writings 71. Bellarmine's account of the same ibid. The latter Fathers most guilty in Expressions 72. Fathers A Character of their Writings 119. Feed my sheep The Romish Interpretation rejected and the true established ibid. G. GLosses of the Romanists on Scripture 70 their Corruptions and Partiality herein 73. Gregory M. his Character and Authority against the Pope 123. H. HEresie of Simony Popes guilty of it 266. Hereticks How confuted in ancient times 115 c. Humility strictly enjoyned to Christ's Apostles and Followers 39. I. JEsuites Their Character 182. Jesus according to common notion of the Jews did imply his being the Son of God 30. Ignorance of Popes in Divinity 267. Ignorance How serviceable to the Church of Rome 182. Image Worship 139 280. Indulgences 184. Infallibility Pretence to it the greatest Tyranny 137. Whence pretended 139. The mother of Incorrigibility and Corruption of Manners 140. v. 265. Inspiration The Popes and Synods bold pretensions to it 286. Jurisdiction Universal Jurisdiction over the Clergy the Pope's Presumption herein and when begun 215. Jurisdiction Temporal and Ecclesiastical nature thereof 271. K. KEys Power thereof as also all other Authority communicated to all the Apostles equally 42 64. Kings have the Power onely of calling General Councils 191. The unreasonableness of the contrary 192. v. Emperours L. LEgends of the Church of Rome the Profits arising from them 184. Laws Ecclesiastical Laws In whose Power to enact them 212. The Pope subject to them ibid. M. MArriage The Romanists abuse thereof 284. Why forbidden to their Priests 139. Mass. Doctrine thereof ibid. Merit Doctrine thereof in the Chur. of Rome 138 286. Miracles Why pretended to by the Romanists 139. Monarchy Universal Monarchy not politick nor convenient 130 neither in Church nor State 152. Monarchy less subject to abuse than other ways of Government 315. Monastries why exempted by the Pope from secular Jurisdiction 138. Monkery 140. N. POpe Nicholas the first who excommunicated Princes secundum Bodin 146. O. OAth of Bishops of Rome at their Election 22. Obedience Blind Obedience 177. Order and Discipline of the Primitive Church 211. v. Discipline Ordination Priority therein did anciently ground a Right to Precedence 34. Orthodox Who such in the Primitive Church 299. P. PAstours of the Church Their duty to maintain Peace and Charity 304. Patriarchs not an higher Order than Primates 169 their Institution and Authority 170 171. Peace to be inviolable among Christians 301 the Sacraments conducive to the same 302 as also Convocation of Synods ibid. S. Peter in personal accomplishments most eminent among the Apostles 32 It is probable he was first called to the Apostolical office 33 his Zeal and Activity 30 34 his Superiority in Power rejected 35 was no Priest at the Celebration of our Lord's Supper contra Concil Trid. 36 not Bishop of Rome 82 whether ever at Rome 83 whence his Primacy asserted 27. Popes Supremacy The Controversies about it 1 The great Disturbances it hath caused 2 pretended authority to depose Princes 3 their behaviour according to their circumstances 17 pretended Supremacy in Spirituals 20 their imperious arbitrary Government 40 the insolent Titles given them 41 no Judge of Controversies 115 c. their Character before and after Constantine 142 Usurpation on Princes 145 Causes of the growth of pretended Supremacy 172
173 did not claim a Power of summoning General Councils till they had in a manner shaken off Subjection to the Emperour 192 no more authority in Councils than Patriarchs and other Clergy 193 Supremacy not indefectible and unalterable 271 a Character of them and their Usurpations 200 314 315 Supremacy disclaimed 309. Power Worldly Power 174 Description thereof and how much it hath advanced the Pope's Usurpations ibid. Pragmatical Sanctions 184. Presidency of the Pope no wise necessary to the being of a General Council 199. Presidency Some imposed upon by the ambiguity of that word 204. Presidencies Spiritual Presidencies To erect and translate them a Prerogative of Sovereign Power 270. Presidents in Councils appointed by Popes of no authority 203. Priests why forbidden Marriage by the Church of Rome 139. Primacy Three kinds thereof 30. Primacy in S. Peter neither personal nor successive 76. Primacy of S. John and S. James have more specious Titles than of S. Peter 70 74. Primacies Diocesan Primacies the Pope's great gain in the W. Churches not embracing that Discipline 170. Privileges The Pope no Power to grant them 270. Provincial Synods When Appeals were first made from them 250. Purgatory Whence invented 138. R. REliques among the Ro. 139. Remission of Sins The Popish Doctrines and Errours about it 280 281. Restitution of Bishops not an Act of Jurisdiction never in the power of the Pope 242 c. pretended Examples shewed to be invalid in seq Residence of Bishops 84 their Translation 85. Revelation Divine Revelation made by the Apostles the onely ground of absolute Belief 127. Rock S. Peter being so called examined 59. Romanists An Enumeration of some of their Errours 138 c. Romanists in England Schismaticks 325. A farther Character of them ibid. Romish Church vainly pretends to greatest Antiquity 310. S. SAcraments The Opus operatum therein among the Romanists 138 why celebrated by them in an unknown tongue 139 their farther abuse thereof 285 286. Saints Papists Doctrine of worshipping them contrary to Scripture 280. Schism Nature thereof 323 the Persons guilty of it ibid. Scripture The onely Rule for our Belief 35. Scriptures Prohibiting of them whence 139 283 and Teaching them in an unknown tongue ibid. Separations in the Church The Mischiefs of them 322. Simony Popes guilty of it 266. Sovereignty The particular branches thereof considered and Popes vain Pretences to the same 185. Spirit v. Inspiration Synod No General Synod before Constantine M. 185. Synods In Ancient Synods divers Things were ordained without the Pope's consent divers against his pleasure 201 208 Instances hereof in seq Synods No Rule extant about them in the first Fathers till after 300 years 209. Synods Their Decrees and Acts by whom ratified 204 205 206. Synods Romish Synods and Enthusiasts compared 286. T. TAxes Imposing them on Clergy or People not in the power of the Pope 270. Tradition in some matters very uncertain and contradictory 34. Traditions of the Church of Rome 139. Traditions Oral Traditions 283. Tradition Universal Tradition disowns the Pope's Supremacy 268. Transubstantiation 139. Trent Council Character thereof 259. V. UNity of the Church mentioned in the Constantinopolitan Creed not of external Policy 316. Vnity Preservation thereof in the Primitive Church no Argument of its being united in one Government 320. Vows in the Church of Rome why imposed 138. W. WEalth how procured by the Church of Rome 183. Words False Interpretations of words how much contributing to the growth of the Church of Rome The End of the First Volume Agitur de summa rei Christianae Bell. Praef. de Rom. Pont. Vpon this one Point the very sum and substance of Christianity depends Tanta est inter Doctores controversia de plenitudine Ecclesiasticae potestatis ad quae se extendat ut pauca sint in ea materia secura Almain de Auct Eccl. cap. 3. di avertire Che non si venga mai per qual causa si sia alla disputa dell Autorita di Papa Concil Trid. lib. 2. p. 159. Hic articulus est contra authoritatem Regis qui non potest privari suo dominio temporali respectu cujus nullum superiorem recognoscit Bochell lib. 5. tit 20. cap. 45. This Article is against the authority of the King who cannot be deprived of his Temporal Dominion wherein he acknowledges no Superiour Prima sententia est summum Pontificem jure divino habere plenissimam potestatem in universum orbem terrarum tam in rebus Ecclesiasticis quam Civilibus Ità docent Aug. Triumphus Alvarus Pelagius Panormitanus Hostiensis Silvester alii non pauci Bell. 5.1 The first Opinion is that the Pope hath a most full Power over the whole world both in Ecclesiastical and Civil affairs This is the Doctrine of Aug. Triumphus c. and of many others Scripsit egregiam summam de Potestate Ecclesiae Bell. de Script Anno 1301. Error est non credere Pontificem Rom. Vniversalis Ecclesiae Pastorem Petri Successorem Christi Vicarium supra temporalia spiritualia Vniversalem non habere Primatum in quem quandoque multi labuntur dictae potestatis ignorantiâ quae cùm sit infinita eò quòd magnus est Dominus magna virtus ejus magnitudinis ejus non est finis omnis creatuâ— intellectus in ejus perscrutatione invenitur deficere Aug. Triumph de Potest Eccl. in praef ad P. Joh. XXII Thomas in fine Secun Sentent dicit in Papa esse apicem utriusque Potestatis Bell. 5.1 Quum quis per sententiam denunciatur propter Apostasiam excommunicatus ipso facto ejus subditi à dominio juramento fidelitatis ejus liberati sunt Th. 2. Secund. qu. 12. art 2. S. Thomas in lib. 3. de Regim Princ. cap. 10. 19. affirmat summum Pontificem jure divino habere spiritualem temporalem Potestatem ut supremum totius mundi Regem adâ—ò 〈◊〉 etiam taleas omnibus Christianis possit imponere civitatis ac castra destruere pro conservatione Christianitatis Bell. 5.5 Quae jura sunt notanda quia malè considerata sunt per multos assentatores qui voluerunt placere Pontificibus per multa retro tempora usque ad hodierna suaserunt eis quòd omnia possent sic quòd facerent quicquid liberet etiam illicita sic plus quà m Deus Zabar de Schism Orbis Princeps Episc. Spal Sess. 1. p. 24. Regum Rex Orbis terrarum Monarcha Del Rio Sess. 8. p. 87. Virum in quo erat Potestas supra omnes Potestates â—am coeli quà m terrae Episc. Patrac Sess. 10. p. 132. Arripe ergò gladium Divinae Potestatis tibi creditum his acutum jube impera manda ut Pax universalis Colligatio per decennium inter Christianos ad minus fiat Reges ad id in compedibus magni Regis liga Nobiles in manicis ferreis Censurarum constringe quoniam tibi data est omnis Potestas in coelo
Pont. 1.10 Tostat. in Matth. 16. qu. 67. 1 Cor. 3.11 Scio me postea saepissimè exposuisse ut super hanc Petram intelligeretur quem confessus est Petrus harum autem duarum sententiarum quae sit probabilior eligat Lector Aug. Retr 1.21 Vide Aug. in Joh. tr 124. de verb. Dom. in Matt. Serm. 13. Super hanc inquit Petram quam confessus es aedificabe Ecclesiam meam Aug. in Joh. tr 124. de Verb. Dom. in Matt. Serm. 13. Tom. 10. Super hanc Petram id est super me aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Ans. in Matt. 16.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Matt. 16.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Joh. 1.50 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Tom. 5. Or. 163. Super hanc igitur confessionis Petram Ecclesiae aedificatio est Hil. de Trin. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. Ep. 77. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Orig. in Matt. 16. p. 275. In vera fide persistite vitam vestram in Petra Ecclesiae hoc est in confessione B. Petri Apostolorum Principis solidate Greg. M. Ep. 3.33 Persist in the true Faith and establish and fix your life upon the rock of the Church that is upon the confession of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles Super ista confessione aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Felix III. Ep. 5. Vide Nic. I. Ep. 2 6. Joh. VIII Ep. 76. Vnus pro omnibus loquens Ecclesiae voce respondens Cypr. Ep. 55. One speaking for all and answering in the name of the Church Cui Ecclesiae figuram gerenti Dominus ait Super hanc Aug. Ep. 165. To whom representing the whole Church our Lord saith Vpon this rock c. Petrus ex persona omnium Apostolorum profitetur Hier. in loc Peter professes in the person of all the Apostles Vide Rigalt in Cypr. Ep. 27.40.70.71.73.69 Luke 22.14 Mark 9.34 Matth. 18.1 Matth. 20.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when the ten heard it they were moved with indignation Quare sunt fundamenta Apostoli Prophetae quia eorum auctoritas portat infirmitatem nostram Aug. in Ps. 86. In illis erant fundamenta ibi primùm posita est fides Ecclesiae Hier. in Ps. 86. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas. in If. 2. p. 86â— Petrus à Petra nomen adeptus est quia primus meruit Eâ—clesiam fidei firmitate fundare Chrysol Serm. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Orig. in Matth. 16. p. 275. Eph. 2.20 Petra Christus est qui donavit Apostolis ut ipsi quoque Petrae vocentur Hier. in Amos. 9.12 Dicis super Petrum sundatur Ecclesia licèt id ipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos fiat Hier. in Jovin 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil. in Isa. 2. p. 869. Cypr. Ep. 71 73. Dominus noster Episcopi honorem Ecclesiae suae rationem disponens dicit Petro Ego tibi dico Inde per temporum successionum vices Episcoporum ordinatio Ecclesiae ratio decurrit ut Ecclesia super Episcopos constituatur omnis actus Ecclesiae per eosdem praepositos gubernetur Cypr. Ep. 27. de Vnit. Eccl. Latuit aliquid Petrum aedificandae Ecclesiae Petram dictum Tertull. de Praescr cap. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Peter first of all the Apostles preached Christ. Petra dicitâ—r eâ— quòd primus in natiorâ—bus fidei fundamenta posuerit Ambr. de Sanctis Serm. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas. contra Eunom lib. 2. Petra aedificandae Ecclesiae Tertull. de praes c. 22. Sic enim exitus docet in ipso Ecclesia extructa est id est per ipsum c. Tert. de pudic cap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys. Tom. 5. Or. 59. Matth. 10.2 John 6.69 Loci non immeâ—or sui primatum egit primatum Confessionis non honoris Fidei non ordinis Ambr. de Incarn cap. 4. Per claves datos Petro intelligimus summam potestatem in omnem Ecclesiam Bell. de Pont. 1.3 Dixit Petro dabo tibi claves at non dixit dabo tibi soli Rigalt in Epist. Firmil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. in Matt. 16. p. 275. Quod Petro dicitur Apostolis dicitur Ambr. in Psal. 38. What is said to Peter is said to the Apostles Licè◠id ipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos fiat cuncti claves regni coelorum accipiant Hier. in Jov. 1.14 Though the same thing in another place is done upon all the Apostles and all receive the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Claves regni coelorum communicandas caeteris solus accepit Opt. lib. 7. Communicandas caeteris dixit quâ—s ipse Christus communicaturus erat caeteris Rigalt in Cypr. de Vn. Eccl. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in praef Evang. Joh. Claves intelligit verbum Dei Evangelium Christi Rigalt in Cyp. Ep. 73. Episcopi quos constat esse vicarioâ— Christi clavigeros regni coelorum Conc. Compend apud Bin. Tom. 6. p. 361. Transivit quidem in Apostolos alios vis istius potestatis sed non frustra â—ni commendatur quod omnibus intimetur Petro ergò singulariter hoc creditur quia cunctis Ecclesiae rectoribus Petri forma proponitur Leo I. in Nat. Petri Pauli Serm. 2. The efficacy of this Power passed indeed upon all the Apostles yet was it not in vain that what was intimated to all was commended to one Therefore this is committed singly to Peter because Peter's pattern and example is propounded to all the Governours of the Church In B. Petro claves regni coelorum cuncti suscepimus sacerdotes Ambr. de dign Sac. 1. Ecclesia quae fundatur in Christo claves ab eo regni coelorum accepit id est potestatem ligandi solvendique peccata Aug. tract 124. in Joh. vide tract 50. The Church which is founded upon Christ received from him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. the power of binding and loosing Sins In typo unitatis Petro Dominus dedit potestatem Aug. de Bap. 3.17 Our Lord gave the power to Peter as a type of Unity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phot. Cod. 280. Such Authority was given to the rest of the Apostles in the person of him who was the chief Non sine causa inter omnes Apostolos Ecclesiae Catholicae personas sustinet Petrus huic enim Ecclesiae claves regni coelorum datae sunt cùm Petro datae sunt Aug. de Ag. Chr. cap. 30. in Ps. 108. Not without cause does Peter among the rest of the Apostles sustain the Person of the Catholick Church for to this Church are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given when they are given unto Peter * August supr Matt. 18.18 John 20.23 Sic enim exitus docet in ipso Ecclesia extructâ— est id est per ipsum ipse clavem imbuit vide quam Viri Israelitae auribus mandate quae dico Jesum Nazerenum virum à Deo vobis destinatum
Apostles and yet he greater than they it is manifest that he shall enjoy the highest honour and preeminence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 5. Or. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. Or. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. Ep. 146. The most wise and best Architect or chief builder of the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just. M. resp ad Orthod Qu. 119. The blessed Apostle the Father of the Fathers Caput effectus est Nationum quia obtinuit totius Ecclesiae principatum Greg. M. in 1 Reg. lib. 4. Videsis Paulus Apostolorum Princeps Ep. Sp lat in Lat. Syn. sub P. Jul. II. Sess. 1. p. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Cat. 6. Ecclesiarum Principes Aug. de Sanct. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. Agatho in 6 Syn. Act. 4. p. 35. P. Adrian in 7 Syn. Act. 2. p. 554. Nicol. Ep. 7. Plat. in Greg. VII c. Beati Petrus Paulus eminent inter Vniversos Apostolos peculiari quâdam praerogativâ praecellunt verùm inter ipsos quis cui praeponatur incertum est puto enim illos aequales esse meritis quìa aequales sunt passione c. Ambr. Serm. 66. Aug. de Sanct. 27. Max. Taur Serm. 54. Hae voces Ecclesiae ex qua habuit omnis Ecclesia initium Iren. 3.12 These are the words of the Church from whence every Church had its beginning Isa. 2.3 Luke 14.47 Ecclesia in Hierusalem fundata totius orbis Ecclesias seminavit Hieron in Is. 2. The Church founded in Jerusalem was the Seminary of the Churches throughout the whole world Theod. 5.9 Vide Tert. de Praescr cap. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in 1 Cor. Or. 11. After that he was seen of James I suppose to his Brother for he is said to have ordained him and made him the first Bishop of Jerusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. haer 78. Gal. 2.9 Gal. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Const. Ap. 8.10 Privilegium personale Personam sequitur cum Persona extinguitur Reg. Iuris 7. in Sexto Matt. 16.17 John 21.15 16 17. Matt. 16.17 Joh. 21. 15 Qualis es everâ—ens atque commutanâ— manifestam Domini intentionem personaliter hoc Petro conferentem Tertull. de pud 21. Gal. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Ibid. Act. 1.21 1 Cor. 9.1.15.8 Act. 22.14 2 Cor. 12.12 Rom. 15.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Act. 8.18 De solis Apostolis legitur quorum vicem tenent Episcopi quod per manûs impositionem Spiritum S. dabant P. Eugenius IV. in Instit. Arm. 'T is recorded of the Apostles alone in whose room the Bishops succeed that they gave the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Joh. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Gen. 7. Act. 15.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Rom. 1. Or. 1. Tom. 8. p. 114. Quis nescit illum Apostolatû◠principatum cuilibet Episcopatui praeferendum Aug. de Bapt. c. Don. 2.1 Episcopi nullam habent partem verae Apostolicae auctoritatis Bell. 4.25 * The Apostles themselves do make the Apostolate a distinct Office from Pastours and Teachers which are the standing Offices in the Church Eph. 4.11 1 Cor. 12.28 Non succeditur propriè nisi praecedenti at simul fuerunt in Ecclesia Apostoli Episcopi Bell. de Pont. R. 4.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. ad Corinth 1. p. 54. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. p. 57. Singulis pastoribus portio gregis adscripta est quam regat unusquisque gubernet Cypr. Ep. 55. Praepositos qui Apostolis vicariâ ordinatione succedunt ..... Ep. 69.42.75 Apostolos id est Episcopos praepositos Dominus elegit Ep. 65. Cathedra una super Petrum Domini voce fundata Ep. 40. Ep. 73. de unit Eccl. Episcopatus unus Episcoporum multorum concordi numerositate diffusus Ep. 5â— Episcopatus unus cujus à singulis in solidum pars tenetur De unit Eccl. Et Pastores sunt omnes sed grex unus ostenditur qui ab Apostolis omnibus unanimi consentione pascatur De unit Eccl. Nam etsi Pastores multi sumus unum tamen gregem pascimus oves universas c. Epist. 67. For though we are many Pastours yet we feed one flock and all the sheep c. Manifesta est sententia Domini nostri Jesu Christi Apostolos suos mittentis ipsis solis potestatem à patre sibi datam permittentis quibus nos successimus eâdem potestate Ecclesiam Domini gubernantes The mind and meaning of our Lord Jesus Christ is manifest in sending his Apostles and allowing the power given him of the Father to them alone whose successours we are governing the Church of God by the same power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. de Sacerd 1. Hier. ad Evagr. Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi successores eorum usque ad nos Iren. 3.3 Proinde utique caeterae exhibent quos ab Apostolis in Episcopatum constitutos Apostolici seminis traduces habent Tert. de Praes 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus. hist. 4.1 Primus is the fourth from the Apostles who was the Bishop of that place or obtained the ministery there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem Alex. apud Euseb. 3.23 Ordo Episcoporum ad originem recensus in Johannem stabit autorem Tert. in Marc. 4.5 Tert. de Praescr 32. Vnitatem à Domino per Apostolos nobis successoribus traditam Cypr. Ep. 42. Adversarii nostri qui Apostolis successimus Firmiâ—l in Cypr. Ep. 75. ab illis Ecclesiis quae licèt nullum ex Apostolis vel Apostolicis auctorem suum proferant ut multo posterìores quae denique quotidie instituuntur tamen in eadem fide conspirantes non minùs Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae Tert. de Praescr 32. Hier. ad Evagr. Bell. 4.25 c. 1 Cor. 12.28 Eph. 4.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Tom. 8. p. 115. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Eph. 4.11 Non erat ejus Officii in uno loco consistere sed quantum homini licuisset universum peragrare orbem nondum credentes ad fidem perducere credentes vero in fide penitus stabilire Baron Anno 58. §. 51. Gal. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 18.2 Sueton. in Claud. 25. in Tib. 36. Euseb. 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Petr. ad Jacob. Scal. in Euseb. p. 189. Onuph apud Bell. 2.6 Vales. in Euseb. 2.16 Act. 11.2.15.7 Gal. 1.18.2.9 Gal. 2.11 1 Pet. 5.13 1 Cor. 1.12 Euseb. 2.25 2 Pet. 3.2 1 Pet. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. haer 27. Coloss. 4.11 2 Tim. 4.16 2 Tim. 4.6 2 Tim. 4.21 Conc. Nic. Can. 16. Conc. Ant. Can. 3. Conc. Sard. Can. 11 12. Conc. Trull Can. 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Apol. 1. Having read the Scriptures you know how great an offence it is
for a Bishop to forsake his Church and to neglect the Flocks of God Oportet enim Episcopâ—s curis secularibus expeditos curam suorum agere populorum nec Ecclesiis suis abesse diutiús P. Paschal II. Ep. 22. For Bishops ought to be disentangled from secular cares and to take charge of their people and not to be long absent from their Churches Praecipimus nè conductitiis ministris Ecclesiae committantur unaquaeque Ecclesia cui facultas suppetit proprium habeat Sacerdotem Conc. Lat. 2. sub Innoc. II. Can. 10. We enjoyn that Churches be not committed to hired Ministers but that every Church that is of ability have its proper Priest Cum igitur Ecclesia veâ— Ecclesiasticum ministerium committi debuerit talis ad hoc persona quaeratur quae residere in loco curam ejus per seipsum valet exercere quòd si aliter fuerit actum qui receperit quod contra Sanctos Canones accepit amittat Conc. â—at 3. sub Alexandro III. Cap. 13. Therefore when a Church or the Ecclesiastical Ministry be to be committed to any man let such a person be found out for this purpose who can reside upon the place and discharge the cure by himself but if it prove otherwise then let him who has received lose that which he has taken contrary to the holy Canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. haer 27. Apost Can. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. Ep. 86. The great City of the Antiochians hath the throne of the great Saint Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. 5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas. Apol. 2. p. 726. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Alex. apud Athan. p. 727. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. p. 765. Syn. Nic. Can. 15. Syn. Chalc. Can. 5. Syn. Ant. Can. 21. Syn. Sard. Can. 1. Syn. Arel Can. 22. Grat. Caus. 8. qu. 1. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. sub Menn p. 9. P. Jul. I. apud Athan. in Apolog. 2. p. 744. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. 5.11 Those that pass from their own Churches to other Churches we esteem so long excommunicate or strangers from our communion till such time as they return to the same Cities where they were first ordained Si quis Episcopus mediocritate Civitatis suae despectâ administrationem loci celebrioris ambierit ad majorem se plebem quacunque occasione transtulerit non solìon à Cathedra quidem pellatur aliena sed carebit propriâ c. P. Leo I. Ep. 84. c. 4. If an Bishop despising the meanness of his City seeks for the administration of a more eminent place and upon any occasion whatsoever transfers himself to a greater people he shall not onely be driven out of another's See but also lose his own c. Euseb. de Vit. Const. 3.61 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. 7.7 Illud praeterea commoneo dilectionem vestram nè patiamini aliquem contra Staâ—uta majorum nostrorum de Civitate alia ad aliam transduci deserere plebem sibi commissam c. P. Damasi Epist. apud Holsten p. 41. R. Marc. 5.21 Moreover this I advise you that out of your charity you would not suffer any one against the Decrees of our Ancestours to be removed from one City to another and to forsake the people committed to his charge c. Quis enim unquam audet dicere S. Petrum Apostolorum Principem non benè egisse quando mutavit sedem de Antiochia in Romam Pelag. II. Ep. 1. Contra Ecclesiasticam dispositionem contra Evangelicam legem contra Institutionis Catholicae unitatem Cypr. Ep. 44. ut Ep. 46 52 55 58. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. 4.15 Syn. Nic. Can. 8. Cornelius apud Euseb. 6.43 Cypr. Ep. 46. P. Innocentius apud Sozom. 8.26 Opt. I. Cathedra una In remedium Schismatis Hier. à gloriofissimis duobus Apostolis Petro Paulo Romae fundaeta constituta Ecclesia Iren. 3.3.3.1 Haer. 27. Act. 28.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iren. apud Euseb. 5.6 Romanorum Ecclesiae Clementem à Petro ordinatum edit Tert. de Praescr 32. Ex quìbus electum magnum plebique probatum Hâc Cathedrâ Petrus quâ sederat ipse locatum Maxima Roma Linum primum considere jussit Tert. in Marc. 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Const. Apost 7.46 Euseb. 3.4 13. Aug. Ep. 165. Epiph. Haer. 27. Opt. 2. Tertull. poem in Marc. 3.9 Phot. Cod. 112. p. 290. N. Eusebius 3.2 saith that Linus did sit Bishop after the Martyrdom of Saint Peter but this is not so probable as that which the Authour of the Constitutions doth affirm which reconcileth the dissonancies of Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. Inn. I. apud Soz. 8.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Ant. Can. 23. Cùm post primum secundus esse non possit quisquis post unum qui solus esse debeat non jam secundus ille sed nullus est Cypr. Ep. 52. Theod. hist. 2.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adhuc in corpore posito beatae memoriae patre Episcopo meo sene Valerio Episcopus ordinatus sum sedi cum illo quod concilio Niceno prohibitum fuisse nesciebam nec ipse sciebat Aug. Ep. 110. While my Father and Bishop of blessed memory old Valerius was yet living I was ordained Bishop and held the See with him which I knew not nor did he know to be forbidden by the Council of Nice Ipse sublimavit Sedem in qua etiam quiescere praesentem vitam finire dignatus est Greg. I. Ep. 6.37 Innoc. I. Ep. 21. P. Nic. I. Ep. 9. p. 509. Grat. caus 8. q. 1. cap. 1. He advanced that See wherein he vouchsafed both to set up his rest and also to end this present life Bell. 2.12 § At verò Petrum Apostolum successisse in Episcopatu Antiocheno alicul ex discipulis quod est planè intolerandum Bell. 2.6 Quidam enim requirunt quo modo cùm Linus Cletus in urbe Roma ante Clementem hunc fuerint Episcopi ipse Clemens ad Jacobum Scribens sibi dicat à Petro docendi Cathedram traditam cujus rei hanc accepimus esse rationem quòd Linus Cletus fuerunt quidem ante Clementem Episcopi in urbe Roma sed superstite Petro videlicet ut illi Episcopatûs curam gererent ipse verò Apostolatûs impleret Officium Ruffin in praef ad Clem. Recogn Const. Apost 7.46 Iren. 3.3 Tertull. Fundantes igitur instruentes beati Apostoli Ecclesiam Lino Episcopatum administrandae Ecclesiae tradiderunt Iren. 3.3 The Blessed Apostles therefore founding and instructing the Church delivered the Episcopal power of ordering and governing the Church to Linus Euseb. 3.4 13 15. Iren. 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb. 4.1 Iren. 1.28.3.3 4. Euseb. 4.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb. Chron. p. 7. Hist. 3.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pseud. Ignat. ad Ant. Euseb. counteth Anniaâ—â—s the first Bishop of Alexandria 3.21 Celebris mos est Apostolos pro potestate
112. § 8. P. Greg. VII Ep. 3.7 P. Jul. in Conc. Lat. Sess. 5. p. 57. Non solùm hujusmodi Electio vel assumptio eo ipso nulla existat c. Vide sup § 12. Such an Election or assumption let it not onely be upon that account void and null Vide quaeso quantum isti degeneraverint à majoribus suis Illi enim utpote viri Sanctissimi Dignitatem ultrò oblatam contemnebant orationi Doctrinae Christianae vacantes hi verò largitione ambitione Pontificatum quaerentes adepti posthabito divino cultu c. Plat. in Serg. 3. p. 279. Vid. in Bened. IV. p. 277. See I beseech you how much they have degenerated from their Ancestours For they as being very Holy men did contemn that Dignity when freely offered giving themselves wholly to Prayer and the Doctrine of Christ but these by bribery and ambition seek and obtain the Papacy Plat. in Joh. 10. p. 275. Pontifices ipsi à Petri vestigiis discesserant The Popes had swerv'd from the Examples of Peter Possessor malae fidei ullo tempore non praescribit Reg. â—ur 2. in Sexto He that has no right to the thing he possesses cannot prescribe or plead any length of time to make his possession lawfull Nec vero simile sit ut rem tam nocessariam ad Ecclesiae unitatem continendam Christus Dominus Apostolis suis non revelârit Melch. Can. 6.8 Neither is it likely that our Lord Christ would not have revealed to his Apostles a thing so necessary for preserving the Unity of the Church Ad Firmamentum igitur Coeli hoc est Vniversalis Ecclesiae fecit Deus duo magna Luminaria id est duâ—s instituit Dignitates quae sunâ— Pontificalis auctoritas Regalis potestas sed illa quae praeest diebus id est Spiritualibus major est quae verò Carnalibus minor c. Innoc. III. in Decret Greg. I. 33.6 For the Firmament therefore of Heaven i. e. of the Universal Church God made two great Lights i. e. he ordained two Dignities or Powers which are the Pontifical Authority and the Regal Power but that which rules the days i. e. Spiritual matters is the greater but that which governs Carnal things is â—he lesser c. Proinde sive de Christo sive de ejus Ecclesia sive de quacunque alia re quae pertinet ad fidem vitamque nostram non dicam Nos nequaquam comparandi ei qui dixit licet si nos sed omnino quod sequutus adjecit si Angelus de coelo vobis annunciaverit praeterquam quod in Scripturis Legalibus ac Evangelicis accepistis anathema sit Aug. contr Petil. 3.6 Exod. 28.1 Exod. 28.4 Levit. 21. P. Nic. I. Ep. 10. P. Leo. IX Ep. 1. P. Greg. VII Ep. 1.22 1 Pet. 2.13 17. Eph. 3.11 12 13. 1 Cor. 12.28 Quarum laudum gloriae degenerem suisse maximum crimen est Cl. Rom. ad Cypr. Ep. 31. To degenerate from which praise and glory is an exceeding great crime Rom. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vid. Chrys. Theo. Hier. Baron Anno 58. § 46. c. Rom. 1.7.1.8.16.19 Tertull. de Cor. Mil. 3. Basil. de Sp. S. 27. Hier. advers Lucif 4. Const. Apost 7.41 a full Creed at Baptism Conc. Lat. 4. cap. 5. Anno 1215. procedantque vehiculis insidentes circumspectè vestiti epulas curantes profusas adeò ut eorum convivia Regales superent mensas Marcell lib. 27. p. 338. They travel sitting in Chariots curiously apparelled procuring profuse dainties insomuch as their meals exceed the feasts of Kings Sentiunt enim Deum esse solum in cujus solius potestate sunt à quo sunt secundi post quem primi ante omnes super omnes Deos. Quidni cùm super omnes homines qui utique vivunt mortuis antistant Tertull. Apolog c. 30. For they think it is God alone in whose power they are next to whom they are the chief before all and above all Gods And why not when they are above all men alive and surpass the dead ‖ Colimus Imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem Tertull. ad Scap. 2. * Cùm super Imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus quì fecit Imperatorem Opt. lib. 3. †dum se Donatus super Imperatorem extollit jam quasi hominum excesserat modum ut se ut Deum non hominem aestimaret Id. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. p. 463. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys. in Rom. â—3 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. suprá Por he that is thus wrong'd has not his equal upon earth for he is King c. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril ad Theod. in Conc. Eph. part 1. cap. 3. p. 20. ‖ P. Greg. M. Ep. 2.62 Quia Sereniss Domine ex illo jam tempore Dominus meus fuisti quando adhuc Dominus omnium non eras Ego quidem jussioni subjectus Ibid. Ad hoc enim potestas Dominorum meorum pietati coelitus data est super omnes homines c. Ibid. Ego indignus famulus vester Ib. Qui honori quoque Imperii vestri se per privatum vocabulum superponit P. Greg. I. Ep. 4.32 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. Greg. II. in Epist. 1. ad Leon. Isaur apud Bin. Tom. 5. p. 502. As King and Head of Christians una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N. Antistite nostro N. Rege nostro N. omnibus Orthodoxis c. Together with thy Servant our Pope N. and our Bishop N. and our King N. and all Orthodox c. * Fiat autem oratio pro dignitate Regia post orationem factam pro Papa quia potestas suprema Sacerdotalis excedit Regiam antiquitate dignitate utilitate c. Gab. Biel in Can. mis. Let prayer be made for the King after prayer made for the Pope because the supreme Sacerdotal power exceeds the Kingly in antiquity dignity and utility c. Subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanae creaturae declaramus dicimus definimus pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis P. Bonif. VIII in Extrav com lib. 1. tit 38. At quamvis utcunque tolerabile sit ut Principes seculares in Concilio sedeant ante alios Episcopos tamen nullo modo convenit ut ante ipsum summum Pontificem c. Bell. de Conc. 1.19 Quapropter attendat clementia vestra quantus fuerit erga sedis Apostolicae reverentiam Antecessorum véstrorum piorum duntaxat Imperatorum amor studium qualiter eam diversis privilegiis extulerint donis ditaverint beneficiis ampliaverint qualiter eam literis suis honoraverint ejus votis annuerint c. P. Nich. I. Epist. 8. ad Mich. Imp. Apol. Bell. p. 202. Const. Apost 8.4 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apost Can. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys. de Hier. Eccl. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
sciam frater pro mutua dilectione quam debemus exhibemus invicem nobis florentissimo illic Clero tecum praesidenti sanctissimae atque amplissimae plebi legere te semper literas nostras Cypr. Ep. 55. ad Corn. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Ant. Can. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Dionys. Corinth apud Euseb. 4.23 Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est eos qui sunt ubique fideles Iren. 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I conjecture he said Quoniam pro magnitudine sua debeat Carthaginem Roma praecedere Cypr. Ep. 49. Autoritate qua potiores aeternae urbis Episcopi Amm. Marcell lib. 15. p. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. Ep. 113. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Chalc. Act. 16. Can. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Placid in Syn. Chalc. p. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Const. Can. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Chalc. Can. 28. Sacrosanctam quoque hujus religiosissimae civitatis Ecclesiam matrem nostrae pietatis Christianorum Orthodoxae religionis omnium ejusdem Regiae urbis sanctissimam sedem c. Imp. Leo. Cod. Lib. 1. Tit. 2. § 16. The Holy Church of this most religious city the mother of our devotion and of all orthodox Christians and the most holy See of that imperial city Bonifacius III. à Phoca Imperatore obtinuit magnâ tamen contentione ut sedes B. Petri. Apostoli quae caput est omnium Ecclesiarum ità diceretur haberetur ab omnibus quem quidem locum Ecclesia Constantinopolitana sibi vendicare conabatur faventibus interdum Principibus affirmantibúsque eo loci primam sedem esse debere ubi Imperii caput esset Plat. in Bonif. III. p. 161. Boniface III. though with a great deal of stir obtained of the Emperour Phocas that the See of Saint Peter the Apostle which is the head of all Churches should be so called and accounted by all which dignity the Church of Constantinople did indeed endeavour to assert to it self Princes sometime favouring them and affirming that there the chief See ought to be where the head of the Empire was Phocas rogante Papâ Bonifacio statuit sedem Romanae Ecclesiae caput esse omnium Ecclesiarum quia Ecclesia Constantinopolitana primam se omnium Ecclesiarum scribebat Anastas in Bonif. III. Idem Sabellicus Blondus Laetus c. tradunt Phocas at the entreaty of Pope Boniface appointed that the Roman See should be the head of all Churches because the Church of Constantinople wrote her self the chief of all Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. Orat. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evag. 2.4 passim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph de Bello Jud. 3.3 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas. Ep. 48. ad Athanas. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Ant. Can. 9. Syn. Chalc. 17. Sedis Apostolicae primatum S. Petri meritum qui Princeps est Episcopalis coronae Romanae dignitas Civitatis sacrae etiam Synodi firmavit authoritas Valentin Nov. 24. in fin Cod. Theod. Cypr. Ep. 55.52 Atque ego in hac parte justè indignor ad hanc tam apertam manifestam Stephani stultitiam quod qui sic de Episcopatûs sui loco gloriatur se successionem Petri tenere contendit Stephanus qui per successionem Cathedram Petri habere se praedicat Firmil apud Cypr. Ep. 75. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. Synod Const. Theodoret hist. l. 5. c. 9. p. 211. Quae quantumlibet à Petro ante Alexandrinam fuerat instituta tamen quoniam praefectura Alexandrina Augustalis dicta longè praestabat Syriae praefecturae c. Baron Ann. 39. § 10. Epiph. Synod Constant. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Optat. lib. 6. p. 169. Hier. Ep. 61. Conc. Nic. Can. 7. Majores enim in instituendis sedibus Ecclesiarum non aliam iniisse rationem quam secundum divisionem Provinciarum Praerogativas à Romanis anteà stabilitas quà m plurima sunt exempla Baron Anno 39.10 * Cypr. Ep. 52.55.72.73.76 Omnis hic actus populo erat insinuandus P. Corn. apud Cypr. Ep. 46. All this business was to have been imparted to the people Secundum arbitrium quoque vestrum omnium nostrum commune consilium ea quae agenda sunt disponere Cypr. Ep. 40. Plebi Vniv. To order what was to be done according to your judgment and the common advice of us all Et limanda plenius ratio non solùm cum Collegis meis sed cum plebe ipsa universa Cypr. Ep. 28. And the reason is more throughly to be examined not onely with my Collegues but with the whole people Praejudicare ego soli mihi rem communem vindicare non audeo Ep. 18. I dare not therefore prejudge nor assume to my self alone a matter which is common to all Hoc enim verecundiae disciplinae vitae ipsi omnium nostrum convenit ut Episcopi plures in unum convâ—nientes praesente stantium plebe quibus ipsis pro fide timore suo honor habendus est disponere omnia consilia communis religione possimus Cypr. Ep. 14. For it becomes the modesty the discipline and the manner of our living that many Bishops meeting together the people being also present to whom respect ought to be had for their faith and fear we may order all things with the common advice quoniam non pancorum nec Ecclesiae unius aut unius Provinciae sed totius orbis haec causa est Cypr. Ep. 14. because this is the concern not of a few men or one Church or one Province but of the whole world Idcirco copiosum corpus est Sacerdotum ut si quis ex Collegio nostro haeresin facere gregem Christi lacerare vastare tentaverit subveniant caeteri Cypr. Ep. 76. Therefore the Clergy is a large body that if any one of our own society should vent an heresie and attempt to rent and waste the flock of Christ the rest might come in to their help * Particularly in the dispensation of Church goods Conc. Ant. Can. 25. †Nov. 137. cap. 4.123 cap. 10. ‖ Vid. Can. Apost 38. al. 30. de Synodis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Const. can 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Chalced. Can. 17. Conc. Trull Can. 38. P. Anacl dist 99. cap. 1. P. Greg. VII Ep. 6.35 Ad hoc divinae dispensationis provisio gradus diversos constituit ordines in se distinctos ut dum reverentiam minores potioribus exhiberent potiores minoribus diligentiam impenderent una concordiae fieret à diversitate contentio rectè officiorum gereretur administratio singulorum Joh. VIII Ep. 95. To this end divine providence hath appointed degrees and divers orders distinct from one another that while the less reverence the greater and