heavenly kingdome to his Apostles giving to them like commission and equall authority to preach and teach the same through all the world saying in the last chapter of Matthew after the words before declared that all power was given to him in heaven and in earth Goe ye forth and teach all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost teaching them to keepe all those things which I have commanded you Christ also in the 30. chapter of Iohn said the evening after his resurrection when he appeared to his Disciples the dores being shut As my Father hath sent me I doe send you and after he had so said he breathed upon them saying Whose sinnes soever ye shall forgive be forgiven and whose sinnes ye shall retaine be retained And likewise had said to them all before his death in the 18. chapter of Matthew what things soever ye shall binde upon earth I shall be bound in heaven and what things soever ye shall lose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven which power hee gave to theâ— all equally alike as wâ— to all the residue as to Peter Which authority Christ declareth in the 20. chapter of Iuke to be high and to be regarded of all men and not to be contemned in any wife saying He that heareth you heareth me and he that heareth me heareth my Father of heaven that hath sent me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth my Father of heaven that hath sent mee At the day of iudgement Sodome and Gomorrah which heard not of Christ shall be in better case then such despisers shall be But here the Bishop of Rome steppeth in and saith Peter had authority given to him above all the residue of the Apostles for Christ said to him in the 10. chapter of Matthew Thou art Peter and upon this make I shall build my Church and I shall give thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven and whatsoever thou shall binde upon earth shall be bound in the heavens this said Christ and Saint Peter is buried at Rome whose successor I â—…and ought to rule the Church as Peter did and to be Porter at heaven gates as Peter was And Christ said also to Peter after his resurrection Feede my sleepe which words he spake to him onely so that thereby he had authority over all that be of Christs flocke and I as â—is successour have the same and therefore who so will not obey me King or Prince I will curse him and deprive him his kingdome or seignorie for all power is given to me that Christ had and I am his Vicar generall as Peter was here in earth over all and none but I as Christ is in heaven This ambitious and pompous objection is made by him and his adherents and hath of late yeeres much troubled the world and made dissention debate and open warre in all parts of Christendome and nourished the same But if the Bishop of Rome would take those places after the right sense of them as both the Apostles themselves taught us and all the antient best learned and most holy interpreters doe expound them the world should be more at quietnesse then it is where now by wrong interpretation the Scripture is perverted and another Gospell in that poynt preached unto us than ever the Apostles preached so that though an Angell came from heaven and would tell us such new expositions of those places as is now made to turne the words which were spoken for spirituall authority of preaching the word of God and ministring of the Sacraments to a worldly authority wee ought to reject him as Saint Paul saith in the first chapter to the Galathians But to open the true sense of the Scripture in the places aforesaid it is to be observed that Christ in the said 16. chapter of Matthew asked his Disciples whom men did say that he was whereunto after answer given by them diversly some saying that he was Iohn Baptist some saying that he was Elias some saying that he was Ieremie or one of the Prophets Christ asked them whom doe yee say that I am whereunto Peter answered for them all for of all of them the question was asked as he was alwaies ready to make answer Thou art Christ the Sonne of God that liveth Iesus answered Blessed be thou Simon the sonne of Iona for flesh and bloud hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in heaven And I say to thee Thou art Peter and upon this rocke I shall build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it that is to say upon this rocke of thy confession of mee to be the Sonne of God I shall build my Church for this confession containeth the whole summary of our faith and salvation Which confession first was spoken by the mouth of Peter Who of all the twelve Apostles that Christ chose to send into the world to preach his word was the first that with his mouth uttered that confession and knowledging by which all christian men must be saved and without which no man can be saved as it is written in the 10. chapter to the Romans by Paul The word of saith that we doe preach is at hand in thy mouth and in thine heart for if thou confesse with thy mouth our Lord Iesus and with thy heart doe beleeve that God raised him from death to life thou shalt be saved Vpon this first confession of Peter and not upon the person of Peter the Church is builded As Chrysostome expoundeth that place in the 26. Sermon of the feast of Pentecost saying Not upon the person of Peter but upon the faith Christ hath builded his Church And what is the faith This thou art Christ the Sonne of God that liveth What is to say upon this rocke that is upon this confession of Peter And with this saying of Chrysostome all antient expositors treating that place doe agree For it we should expound that place that the Church is builded upon the person of Peter we should put another foundation of the Church than Christ which is directly against Saint Paul saying in the 3. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians no man may put any other foundation but that which is put already which is Christ Iesu and therefore that exposition that the person of Peter should be the foundation of the Church should make of the Trinitie a quaternitie and put a fourth person besides the Trinitie to be the foundation of the Church And this first confession of Peter by faith that Christ is the Sonne of God is the preheminence and primacy that Peter had before the other spoken of in the tenth of Matthew wherein reciting the names of the twelve Apostles chosen by Christ it is written The first is Simon Peter For he first confessed that faith that all men must be saved by For who so doth agree with Peter in
his said first confession as all the Apostles did and as all we that purpose to be saved must doe shall be saved and who so doth not agree with that confession shall be damned And where he is called by many antient and holy interpreters of the Scripture for his faith sometime the chiefe of the Apostles sometime the mouth of the Apostles sometime the Prince of the Apostles sometime the President of the holy Church all these honourable names be attribute by them unto him for his foresaid first confession wherein all our faith is contained And because hee was of all the Apostles most ardent in saith and feared not being in great tempest on the Sea upon Christs word to come out of the shippe and goe to him upon the water being in great rage which his deed declared his faith to be mervailously vehement in Christ The greatnesse and vehemency also of his faith was declared in the 2.3 and 4. chapters of the Acts when the Iewes in the beginning withstood the Apostles Preaching the Faith of Christ For then Peter as most ardent in faith of all the Apostles was ever most ready to defend the faith against the impugners of it speaking for them all unto the people in defence of it for the fervent love that he bore to Christ And as Peter was most ardent in faith in which he had of God a most singular gift so was Paul most fervent in zeale both to win the Iewes to Christ desiring the salvation of his country to win them to Christ and wishing himselfe in a manner to have beene separate from Christ so that they might have beene saved thereby as it is written in the 9. chapter to the Romans and also in zeale to winne all the Gentiles and other nations to Christ as he writeth in the second Epistle to the Corinthians in the 11 chapter saying who is weake and I am not weake with him who is offended and I am not offended with him where he speaketh also of the cure that he tooke for all Churches which his fervent zeale doth appeare in many places of all his Epistles And as Paul was fervent in zeale so was Iohn the Evangelist most excellent in innocency and in charity whereunto he chiefely exhorteth all men in his first Epistle And all other the Apostles had their speciall gifts diversly given unto them as the gifts of Almighty God be given diversly and not all to one man as it is written in the 12. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and as Christ is called by Saint Paul in the 15. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians the first fruit of those that rose from death to life so is Peter called the first in faith for he was the first that with his mouth confessed it And Epenetus is likewise called by Saint Paul the first that beleeved in the Church of Asia in the 16. chapter to the Romans And the houshold of Stephen is the first that beleeved in Achaia in the last chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians And that Peter should not have a rule above all other the Apostles in all places Saint Paul plainely sheweth in the 2. chapter to the Galathians where he saith that as the Apostleship of the Circumcision that is to say of the Iewes was given by Christ to Peter to was the Apostleship of the Gentiles given to me among the Gentiles so that there they divided themselves asunder that Peter Iames and Iohn should goe preach the faith to the Iewes and Paul and Barnabas should goe preach to the Gentiles as they did Here it appeareth that Paul knew no primacie of Peter concerning people or places but among the Iewes For which cause Peter dissembled in Antioch to eate of the Gentiles meates when the Iewes came thither lest he should offend his flocke of the Iewes committed to him in which matter Paul defending the liberty of meats that he had preached to the Gentiles withstood him And Saint Ambrose expounding that place saith The primacie of the Iewes was given chiefely to Peter albeit Iames and Iohn were joyned with him as the primacie of Gentiles was given to Paul albeit Barnabas was joyned with him so that Peter had not a rule over all And also that Saint Peter himselfe knew no such primacie over all people and places given unto him it appeareth plainely in the 10. of the Acts where Saint Peter after the comming of the holy Ghost being at Ioppa and sent for by Cornelius to come to him then being in Cesarea durst not goe to him without a vision of a sheete letten downe from heaven containing all manner of Beasts Birds and Serpents whereof he was bidden eate and repute not those meats uncleane that God had purged Which vision opened unto him that he should not refuse the Gentiles whom the Iewes did abhorre as uncleane Now if he had knowne his commission to be over all hee should not have needed any such vision but he himselfe understood it not so large or above the other But he remembred well that Christ in the last chapter of Luke bade them beginne first at Ierusalem to preach to the Iewes as he did And after his returne to Ierusalem againe from Cesarea he made a great excuse to the Iewes of his flocke offended with his going thither written in the 11. chapter of the Acts so it appeareth that Peter himselfe doth agree with Saint Paul that his commission and authority was among the Iewes as Pauls was among the Gentiles And that all the Apostles had like dignity and authority it appeareth by Saint Paul in the 2. chapter to the Ephesians where he saith Now ye be not guests and strangers but ye be Citizens and domestickes of Almighty God builded upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets Christ being the corner stone upon whom every edifice builded groweth to be a holy temple in our Lord. Here he saith that they be builded not upon the foundation of Peter onely but upon the foundation of the Apostles so that all they be in the foundation set upon Christ the very rocke whereupon the whole Church standeth So likewise in the 21. chapter of the Apocalyps it is written that the wall of heavenly Ierusalem the Citie of Almighty GOD which is the Church Christs Spouse hath 12. foundations and in them the names of the 12. Apostles written so that the name of Peter is not there written onely for the twelve Apostles through all the world as well as Peter preached Christ to be the Son of God who is the very rocke whereupon all our faith is founded Saint Cyprian also saith in his booke of the simplicitie of Prelates that all the Apostles had equall power and dignitie given to them by Christ And because all should preach one thing therefore the beginning thereof first began by one which was Peter who confessed for them all that Christ was the Sonne of God that liveth saying further that in
the Church there is one office of all Bishops whereof every man hath a part allotted wholly unto him Now if the Bishop of Rome may meddle over all where he will then every man hath not wholly his part for the Bishop of Rome may meddle in his part with him so that he hath it not wholly which is against Cyprian And where Christ said that he would give to Peter the keyes of heaven that was said to him not for himselfe onely but for the whole Church which confessing the Faith that he did should have the keyes of heaven as well as he as Saint Austine saith expounding the Gospell of Iohn in the 50. treaty And as to the authority of the last chapter of Iohn where Christ said thrice to Peter Feede my sheepe after he had confessed to love Christ thrice asked that place is as Cyrillus saith expounding the same thus to be understood that because Peter had thrice denyed Christ whereby he thought himselfe he had lost his Apostleship Christ to comfort him againe and to restore him to his office that he had lost asked him thrice whether he loved him and so restored him againe to his office which else he durst not have presumed unto saying to him Feede my sheepe With which Exposition the antient holy Expositours of that place doe agree And where it is said that those words were spoken onely to Peter whereby he ought to have a preheminence above the other Saint Paul in the 22. chapter of the Acts proveth the contrary where Saint Paul said to all the Bishops assembled at Milete Take heed to your selves and to all your flocke in which the holy Ghost hath put you to govern his Church which word To governe is in the originall Text of Greeke Pimenin the same word that Christ spake to Peter and doth signifie to feed and governe the sheepe as the shepheard ought to doe so that Saint Paul saith that the holy Ghost hath ordained all Bishops to feed their flocke as Peter was bidden doe Saint Peter also in the last chapter of his first Epistle saith Yee that be Priests feed the flocke of God amongst you which word there spoken to all Priests is the same word that Christ spake to Peter So it appeareth plainely by the Scriptures aforesaid conferred together that neither the 16. chapter of Matthew nor the 21. of Iohn doe prove that Peter had power authority or dignity given by Christ over all the other that they should be under him and yet his primacie that hee first of all the Apostles confessed our faith that Christ is the Sonne of God with which his confession all the Apostles did consent and preached the same standeth still And all that will be saved must follow that lesson that hee first taught us to confesse And so the Bishops of Romes power over all which he would prove by those places wrong alledged for his purpose utterly quaileth and is not proved Besides this when Faustinus Legate to the Bishop of Rome alledged in the 6 Counsell Carthaginense that the Bishop of Rome ought to have the ordering of all great matters in all places by his supreme authority he alledged no Scripture for him for at that time no Scripture was thought to make for it but hee alledged untruly the first generall Councell Nicene in which Arrius the heretike was condemned to make for that purpose Which after the Booke was brought forth and no such article found in it but the contrary yet the Councell at that time sent to Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch where the patriarchall Sees were to have the true copy of the councell Nicene which was sent unto them and also from Rome whither they sent also for that purpose And after they found no such article in it but in the fifth chapter thereof the contrary that all causes ecclesiasticall should either be determined within the Diocesse or else if any were grieved then to appeale to the Councell provinciall and there the matter to take full end so that for no such causes men should goe out of their Province The whole Councell Carthaginence wrote to Celestine at that time being Bishop of Rome that since the Councell Nicene had no such Article in it as was untruely alledged by Faustinus but the contrary they desired him to abstaine after to make any more such demand denouncing unto him that they would not suffer any cause great or small to be brought by appeale out of their country And thereupon made a law that no man should appeale out of the country of Affricke upon paine to be denounced accursed Wherewith the B. of Rome ever after held him content and made no more businesse with them seeing he had nought to say or himself to the contrary And at this councell amongst other S. Augustine was present and subscribed the same which he would not have done if he had known or taken any part of the Gospell or of the Scripture to be contrary It is also determined in the sixth Article of the said Councell Nicene that in the orient the Bishop of Antioch should be chiefe in Egypt the Bishop of Alexandria about Rome the Bishop of Rome and likewise in other countries Metropolitans should have their preheminence so that the Bishop of Rome never had medling in those countries And in the next Article following the Bishop of Ierusalem which citie before had beene destroyed and almost desolate is restored to his old prerogative to be the chiefe in Palestine and the country of Iury which Church of Ierusalem if places should be regarded should be the chiefe for there was accomplished the mystery of our redemption and Christ himselfe the eternall Word and Sonne of God there preached in person and after his ascention all the Apostles and Disciples and Saint Paul also preached there in person the whole twelve Apostles began first there as Christ had commanded to have the saying of Esay the Prophet in the second chapter fulfilled where he saith The law shall goe forth out of Sion and the word of God out of Ierusalem Which place Saint Ierome there expounding saith that the Church first founded at Ierusalem did fow abroad all other churches of the world And at that time and a good season after Rome had not heard tell of Christ so that the Church of Rome must needs confesse that they came out of Ierusalem which was their mother as shee was to all other Churches as Esay had prophecied And now since the purpose and ambitious objection of the Bishop of Rome is cleerely avoyded let us returne to our purpose to declare what commission was giuen by Christ to his Apostles We shewed before that hee bade them preach and teach to all men all things that hee had commanded them and in the 10. chapter of Matthew and of Luke he sheweth them how they shall enter their charge saying Into what house or place soever ye shal arrive first ye shall say Peace be to this house and if