Christ as S. Paul speaks that is the Christian Religion though from less Circumstances than these some endeavour to prove the Monarchy of St. Peter Our Saviour say they speaks to him after such a particular manner as argues he intended to Object 2. bestow on him some particular Grace not common to him with others For he calls him by the Name he had before he came to him and mentions his Father's Name and the Name he himself had given him and then alludes to that Name of Peter in the word Rock and gave him a particular Blessing upon occasion of a particular Act of his confessing Christ's Divinity which God in particular revealed to him All these show that the Promise made to him after such a way and introduced with such peculiar Circumstances was not common to others but peculiar to himself But after this labourious heaping up of meer circumstantial things the Consequence they Answ would infer from hence falls to the ground Because we are informed by him who cannot deceive us that he did not design the great Power here promised particularly to him alone but to them all for what he promises here to him ver 19. he promises to them all in the next Chapter xviii 18. And besides this as the substantial part of this Discourse belongs to them all so most of the Circumstances which I have enumerated are common to others and not peculiar to him For others confessed his Divinity and were taught it by God and were blessed and designed also for Stones in the Fabrick of the Church as hath been already proved So that there is nothing left but Simon Bar-jona that is his own Name and his Fathers Name and the Name of Peter to support this weighty Foundation of St. Peter's Supremacy And they are very slender things For the mention of Barjona Son of Jona was necessary to distinguish this Simon from the other Simon Zelotes and Simon was necessary to be mentioned that this Son of Jona might be distinguished from Andrew who was his Son also And as for the Name of Peter tho we should grant it to be the very same with the Rock after mentioned it is very far from proving that he alone had the thing because he alone had the Name for they were all Rocks I have shown in the same sense that he was a Rock And the most we can gather from it or from the rest of these peculiar Circumstances is this that he had the Honour promised him of being the first that should lay the Foundation of Faith among the Gentiles Which St. Ambrose y Serm. xlvii de fide Petri Apostoli or some other old Homilist that assumed his Name makes the reason of his being called a Rock Petra dicitur eo quod primus in Nationibus fidei fundamenta posuerit He is said to be the Rock because he first laid the Foundations of Faith among the Nations Which notwithstanding did not give him a Supremacy over them but St. Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles Rom. xi 13. and as God wrought so mightily with him that he made great Conversions among them so being brought to Christ he had upon him the Care of all the Churches 2 Cor. xi 28. Which if St. Peter had any where said of himself I am sure it would have been urg'd as an evident proof of his Universal Pastorship but we make no such Inference from it for St. Paul because we know Christ made no one Head of all Churches nor gave to any of the Apostles a Supremacy of Power and Universality of Jurisdiction V. But beyond all this there is still a higher Presumption that they are guilty of who extend the Prerogative supposed to be granted here to St. Peter unto all the succeeding Bishops of Rome whom they make the Heirs of his Authority In which there are a vast number of Suppositions that can never be proved as many Writers of our Church have shown and therefore I will not here repeat them It is sufficient to tell them that they themselves are forced to grant That some Speeches of our Saviour were so personally directed to St. Peter that he himself only was concerned in them and not his Successors z See Bellarm Q. 2. de Pont. Rom. c. xii Resp ad 5. Object Calvini Now if any there is great reason to look upon this as one of those Speeches which were limited to Peter's Person and cannot be thought to be intended to any body after him For 1. First the description of his Person by the personal adjuncts both of his Name and of his Parentage may most properly be urged to prove that this Speech is personal limited to him alone by express terms of individual difference And it is observable that both here when he saith he will build his Church upon him and when he bids him Feed his Sheep Joh. xxi 15 16 17. he uses the very same terms of individual difference calling him Simon Son of Jona So that of all the places upon which they of the Church of Rome chiefly ground the claim of their Bishops as his Successors there are none more personal than these two which most evidently restrain the words to Peter alone 2. And this appears farther from the impossibility that this Honour of founding the Church upon him should reach beyond his Person Because there can be no more Foundations of a Building than are laid at first All that comes after is built upon that and is as we call it Superstructure If St. Peter therefore were the Foundation of the Church his Successors cannot be intended in this Name because the Church is not still to be founded but all that come after him do themselves rely upon that Foundation 3. But the chief thing of all is That Christ did not lay such a Foundation of his Church as might fail and have need of the Succession of another which was also to fail it self and required another continued Succession of Foundations For as the Author to the Hebrews proves from hence the Infirmity of the Aaronical Priesthood that their High-Priests being mortal could not administer an Eternal Priesthood which belongs to Christ alone who remains for ever in like manner may we certainly argue in this matter If the Foundation of the Church must be constant and permanent they cannot be the Foundation of it who dying frequently make it necessary another should be substituted in their stead But it was absolutely necessary the Foundation should be perpetual immoveable and unalterable always remaining the same and never changing and therefore we may be sure they are not the Rock on which the Church is built who are in a perpetual change and cannot continue but must give way to others If we should allow such a Foundation of the Church we must allow as many several Foundations as there are Popes and so the Rock on which the Church is built cannot be said to be one and the same for
Imprimatur JO. BATTELY Oct. 14. 1686. A SERMON PREACHED UPON St. Peter's Day Printed at the Desire of Some that heard it WITH SOME ENLARGEMENTS By a Divine of the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII A SERMON PREACHED UPON Saint PETER 's Day c. MATTH XVI 18. beginning And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church THE Text as we call it is part of the Gospel for this Day and according to the Interpretation which some give of it it is the whole Gospel of Christ These two Words PETER and CHURCH being so comprehensive that if they be well learnt there needs no further pains to come acquainted with all the rest of the Christian Religion For in PETER who they say is the Rock here spoken of all the Bishops of Rome in all succeding Ages are included who inherit the very same Prerogative which St. Peter had of being the Foundation of the Church Which CHURCH say they is nothing else but that Body of Men and Women who are united unto the Roman Bishop as their Head From whom all Ecclesiastical Power is derived unto all other Pastors of the Church Over whom and consequently over all Christians he hath a Soveraign Authority to declare the Rule of Faith to determine the Canonical Books of Scripture and the Traditionary Word In brief To be as infallible a Guide in the way to Heaven as Saint Peter was So that if any Man would know infallibly what the Christian Religion is he need be at no more trouble but only to enquire of that Church which adheres to him as the Foundation and resign up himself to the belief of whatsoever it teaches him because it cannot possibly teach him amiss These are wonderful things and we are highly concerned to examine whether there be ground enough in this Speech of our Saviour for the Church of Rome to raise upon it so large so high so glorious a Structure to it self as this is Because if it appear that our Lord did give not only to Saint Peter but to all the Roman Bishops and to them alone this Universal Pastorship and Power to Teach to Rule and Govern all Christians of whatsoever sort they be we must without any Contradiction obediently submit unto it and have not so much as this liberty left us To enquire whether the Roman Bishops do not extend their Power too far in commanding us to do those things which are directly contrary to the Commands of Him from whom all Power comes Because tho we think we see clearly that they do yet we must not believe our own eyes but them who tell us they do not On the contrary if it can be demonstrated that our Saviour in these Words to St. Peter did not confer any such power upon him much less upon all that succeed in the Roman See we shall discern how little reason we have to commit our selves to the Guidance of that Church which builds upon such a sandy Foundation And that it is our certain duty to adhere to the Constitutions of this Church of England whereof we are Members which not only teaches That no manner of Obedience and Subjection is due to any such Forreign Power but commands us who are Ministers in it To use the utmost of our Wit Knowledg and Learning purely and sincerely without any Colour or Dissimulation to teach manifest open and declare four times every Year at least that all such Power is for just Causes taken away and abolished In obedience to which Injunction which is the An. 1603. very first Canon of our Church I shall in this Discourse endeavour according to the best of my Understanding and most diligent Enquiry to give you the Genuine and Sincere Meaning of those Words which are the prime Foundation of that high Claim now mentioned and that as they were expounded in the first and best Times of the Church when the Doctors of it were not engaged in those unhappy Controversies which now disturb or rather distract the Christian World. And if I prove That neither the Apostles after they heard these Words from Christ no not St. Peter himself who is said to be most nay only concerned in them nor the Ancient Bishops that succeeded them no not the Bishops of Rome themselves when they on purpose treat of these Words did think of any such Monarchy it may be truly called as is now built upon them you will conclude that this is a new Doctrine and that the Asserters and Maintainers of it not we who oppose it deserve the Name of Innovators in Religion And for the clearer Exposition of them I think it will be necessary First To observe the Occasion upon which they were spoken and from thence proceed Secondly To show in what sense they were anciently understood And Lastly What Inferences and Deductions are necessarily to be made from their Interpretations PART I. The Occasion of the Words THE meaning of these Words of Christ will be better understood when we have well weighed the occasion on which they were spoken which was this The Opinion and Discourse of the Country concerning our blessed Saviour which was thus reported to him by his Disciples when he askt them about it vers 14. Some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and others Jeremias or one of the Prophets That is there were very various and uncertain Opinions conceived of him for tho they all agreed in general he was a great Man nay a Man of God as they called the Prophets yet they were not resolved much less setled in any particular determinate notion of him To try therefore the Proficiency of those who were constantly bred in his School he asks what their Opinion was vers 15. But whom say ye that I am Unto which Simon Peter makes this reply vers 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God. The Question ye may observe is propounded to them all not to Peter alone He doth not say Peter whom dost thou say that I am But he saith unto them that is to his Disciples before mentioned Whom say ye that I am Unto the same Persons of whom he enquired Whom do men say that I am v. 13. He now saith But whom say ye that I am And yet the Answer to this Question is not returned by them all or by several of them as before but by one only Simon Peter answered and said c. What should be the reason of this The plainest and most undoubted answer is That there was no difference of Opinion among them as there was among the common People but they were all of one mind in this matter and therefore no more offered to speak but one because they had all but one thing to say That he was Christ the Son of the Living God. To the first Question one of them alone would not return an Answer
could add Sixteen other ancient Writers and not put S. Austin into the number who often follows this Exposition four of which were Popes of Rome * Leo I. Foelix M. Gregorius I. Adrian I. and I do not reckon neither Isidorus Hispalensis venerable Bede and a great many other excellent Writers later than they down to Alphonsus Tostatus and lower among whom are five or six Bishops of Rome †Nicholas I. John VIII Steph. VI. Innocent II. Hadrian IV. Urban III. who expresly say The Rock that Christ here speaks of is the Faith which Peter confessed For the Church saith the last named Writer is built upon faith which faith is called a rock because it always remains firm and solid III. But there are others of no less name and credit that understand Christ himself by this Rock Who then may be conceived to have pointed to his own person when he spake these words shewing by his voice and gesture whom he meant by this Rock Which as it is an elegant so it is no unusual form of Speech but made use of by our Lord himself on another occasion Joh. II. 19. when he saith destroy this Temple intending the Temple of his Body and in three days I will raise it up And there are no small number of the antient Doctors who thus expound these words particularly S. Austin in divers places of his Works as he himself takes notice in his Review of them Where he saith †Retract L. 1◠Cap. 21. that in a certain place of his Book against the Epistle of Donatus he made Peter the Rock on which the Church was founded but since that time had very often said it was Christ the Son of the living God. He leaves the Reader indeed to chuse which he pleases but any one may see he inclined to the last which he followed in those Books which he wrote after this of his Retractions For which I must needs say there are no small reasons that are worthy to be mentioned First this very Apostle whose name is Peter or Stone calls Christ a living stone unto whom ye coming saith he to his flock as lively stones are built up a spiritual house c. 1 Pet. II. 4 5. Who can read these words without prejudice and not think that S. Peter lookt upon Christ as that Rock on whom every one must be built who will be a part of the spiritual House that is of the Church And therefore he adds that Christ is that chief Corner Stone elect and pretious whom the Prophet Isaiah foretold God would lay in Sion v. 6. And Christ alone for if he had had any conceit that he was a joynt secondary foundation of this building it would have been very seasonable or rather necessary to have bidden his flock come to him as that chief Corner Stone which God of old predicted he would lay in Sion as the foundation of his Church together with Christ For so Bellarmin †is bold to expound that Praefat. ad Libros de summo Pontif. Prophecy of Isaiah indeavouring at large to prove that every particular there mentioned belongs to Peter and his Successors in the See of Rome who he saith are that tried Stone that pretious nay that corner Stone that sure foundation in fundamento fundatus as they translate it that stone laid in the foundation which we read of Isaiah XXVIII 16. Directly against the words of S. Peter himself who applys all this to Christ alone and indeavours to fasten his flock unto him as the only sure Rock of their Redemption and Salvation This is a Doctrine frequent in the mouth of this very Apostle whom against his own mind they will needs make the Foundation of the Church and which he had read in other places of the antient Prophets For long before the writing of this Epistle he tells the Council of Jerusalem that Jesus was the stone which was set at nought by such Builders as they but become the head of the Corner Act. IV. 11. The great Men that is of the Jewish Church would not build on this Foundation by joyning themselves unto him as the rest of the Stones in a House are to that of the Corner and so they excluded themselves from his Body and from Salvation for there is no Salvation saith he in any other Secondly Another great Apostle also tells us that Christ is the Rock 1 Corinth X. 4. Who poured out his Spirit after his Death upon the Church as the Rock in the Wilderness after it was smitten did Water for the Israelites Thirdly And more than that he tells us in that Epistle III. 11. Other foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ How is it possible to have a better interpreter of Christs words to Peter than this which is here given us by the great Apostle of us Gentiles There are sundry Elogiums indeed which the antient Fathers have bestowed on S. Peter in their writings of which they of the Church of Rome are wont to boast and we grant them all nay have often told them that if it will do them any service we will furnish them with as many more titles of Honour out of the Fathers as they have collected But when we have done we will present them with as many and great and transcendent yea the very same titles bestowed upon S. Paul Who here tells us in plain words whom we are to understand by the Foundation of the Church and consequently by the Rock on which it is built And indeed our Saviour doth not here say to Peter Thou art Peter and upon thee will I build my Church but upon this Rock as if he spoke of something else either himself or that Faith concerning him which Peter had confessed Tu Petrus Ego Petra thou art Peter and I am the Rock on whom thou art built thy self and must help to build others If Peter himself was the Rock then how is he built upon the Rock He would be a Rock and a Foundation to himself For there is no mention of more Rocks than one which if it be Christ then Peter and all must be built on him Hear how handsomely S. Austin * Serm. 13. De verbis Domini Cap. 1 2. expounds these words Thou therefore art Peter and upon this Rock which thou hast confessed upon this Rock which thou hast known saying Thou art Christ the Son of the living God I will build my Church Super me aedificabo te non me super te I will build thee upon me not me upon thee For they that would build upon men said I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas that is Peter and others who would not be built upon Peter but upon the Rock said I am of Christ Now S. Paul seeing them make choice of him and contemn Christ asks them Is Christ divided Was Paul Crucified for you Or were you baptized in the name of Paul No
neither in Paul 's nor in Peter 's but in the name of Christ that Peter might be built upon the Rock not the Rock upon Peter The like we meet withal in another place †Tract CXXIV in evang Johannis The Church is founded upon the Rock whence Peter received his Name For the Rock is not denominated from Peter but Peter from the Rock * Non enim à Petro Petra sed Petrus à Petra directly contrary to Card. Baronius who confidently says non Petrus à Petra sed ipse Petra not Peter from that Rock but he is the Rock Ad An. 31. n. 24. as Christ hath not his name from Christian but a Christian from Christ for therefore the Lord said Vpon this Rock I will build my Church because Peter had said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God. Vpon this Rock therefore saith he which thou hast confessed will I build my Church FOR THE ROCK WAS CHRIST upon which foundation even Peter himself is built For other foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Christ Jesus I will not trouble you with any more Authorities such as that of Venerable Bede †In Cap. XXI Johan who hath transcribed these last words of S. Austin into his own Book because I have a fourth exposition to add which will help to clear the rest especially the first IV. There are those who having what I have now said in their mind expound these words of all the Apostles and their Successors that is of all Christian Bishops who laid this foundation stone and continued to build upon it after it was laid Thus S. Cyprian * Ad Lapsos Epist XXXIII Edit Oxon. most expresly Our Lord whose precepts we ought to reverence and observe ordering the honour of the Bishop and the rule of his Church saith in the Gospel unto Peter I say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this Rock c. From hence through the course of times and successions runs down the Ordination of Bishops and the rule of the Church THAT THE CHVRCH MAY BE CONSTITVTED VPON BISHOPS and every affair of the Church be governed by those Overseers The very same is affirmed by S. Austin who in several places looks upon the whole order of Bishops as comprehended in S. Peter particularly in an Epistle to three †Epist CLXV vide Launoii Epist Par. V. ad Carolum Magisirum p. 47. c. ad Gulielâ—â— Voellum p. 12. c. great persons where he saith Christ spake these words to him sustaining the figure of the whole Church It will not be fit to mention all the rest of the antient Writers who thus extend the sense of this place I shall only note that Paschasius Radbertus the founder of Transubstantiation was of this mind For thus he writes * L. IV. in Matt. v. 26. p. 18. The Church of God is not built upon Peter alone but upon all the Apostles and the Successors of the Apostles Unto these four Expositions I might add a fifth there being those who have understood every Christian Man and Woman by this Rock they being the stones and materials as I may call them of which the Church consists But I will pass this by though it have more great names to support it besides Origen because I have said enough already to expose the foul dealing and unworthy reasonings and conclusions of greatest Doctors of the Church of Rome which I shall represent in these following Considerations PART III. Reflections upon what hath been said concerning these Interpretations I. IF these things be certainly true as I assure you they are and themselves cannot deny that there are these several interpretations of this Scripture among the ancient Doctors then there can be no excuse made for their partiality who receive and adhere only to one of these interpretations as the Catholick Exposition and lay aside all the rest even those which are far more Catholick Thus doth Bellarmine * L. 1. de Pontif. Rom. C. X. who finding fault with Erasmus for contradicting their Exposition of the Church being founded upon Peter saith that all the Fathers teach it And thus doth Cardinal Baronius †Ad An. 33. n. XXVII to name no more who is not ashamed to say that it is an interpretation received and approved by the consent of the whole Catholick Church What truth can you expect from such Men or who can think it safe to give up himself to the conduct of such Guides who thus notoriously falsifie in a matter so evident that for one antient Father or Ecclesiastical Writer that by the Rock understands Peter himself there are two nay very near three that interpret it of the Faith which S. Peter confessed For to all those which a very learned and ingenuous Doctor of the Roman Church hath collected which are XLIV in number * V. Jo. Launoii Epist P. V. ad Guil. Voellum p. 18. c. others may be added besides Fortunatus and Epiphanius before mentioned For example Euagrius seems to have had this in his thoughts who speaking of Anastasius Bishop of Antioch where S. Peter sat before he was at Rome to whom such fierce assaults were given as if they thought in his overthrow to subvert the Church it self saith he manfully withstood them all †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. IV. C. 40. for he stood firm upon the impregnable Rock of Faith. If the sense of the Antients be to be reverenced at all why not one sense as well as another And why not that most of all which hath the most to assert it With what conscience do they fix upon one and throw away nay detest all the other which are of more credit Is it not highly unjust to make Peter this Rock here spoken of rather than Christ our Lord when there are so many reasons as well as great Authority for the last more than for the other And yet they not only do this but most immodestly say all the Fathers are of their mind And which is worse they make this an Article of the Faith That the Church is founded upon S. Peter nay the prime Article of all unto which it is evident the Church hath never agreed but manifestly contradicted it Upon this Bellarmine grounds the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome because Peter is the Rock and the Foundation of the Church as the Supreme Governor of it and therefore every Successor of his is in like manner the Rock and Foundation of the Church And thus he saith all the Fathers have expounded it * L. IV. de Pontif. Rom. C. III. And hence proceeds so far as to say this is the summ of Christian affairs †Praefat. in illos Libros the whole frame of the visible Church depending so much upon the Roman Bishop that if he be taken away the Church falleth Upon this Foundation also they have raised to him such an Authority they make him by Christs
is no Supremacy or Dominion and that it had been an insolent and arrogant thing if he had assumed to himself any such Primacy 8. For the Fathers it must be next observed never understood these words exclusively but call all the Apostles by the very same names of Honour and Dignity that they do Peter and other Bishops afterwards by the same Names that they do the Bishop of Rome For Example I find one called Father of Fathers another Bishop of Bishops nay all of them called Vicarios Christi the Vicars of Christ whose place they here supplied Which Eminent Title the Popes of Rome heretofore were so far from appropriating to themselves that as their common Title was Vicars of St. Peter not Vicars of Christ to this last they themselves have honoured other Bishops withal as whole Councils have also done who exhort the People to honour the Governours and Pastors of Churches as Fathers and Christ's Vicars p V. Joh. Lanoii par 3. Epistol ad Michaelem Marollium p. 21 c. n. 36. But that perhaps which will be thought most to the purpose is this That as St. Chrysostome q Tom. v. p 992. 995. Edit Savil. in his Sermon upon those blessed pair as he calls them St. Peter and St. Paul gives them alike Titles and says God trusted them with the Souls of the whole World so speaking of all the Twelve Apostles he calls them expresly in the singular Number the Rock or Foundation of the Church Thus I show'd before St. Cyprian also discourses when he saith from these words of our Saviour is derived all the Power of Bishops and Governours in the Church who successively ordain Pastors that the Church may be constituted upon Bishops To whom I will only add Theodoret upon that known place in the Psalms lxxxvii 1. His Foundation is in the Holy Mountains which in the spiritual Sense being meant of the New Jerusalem he thus expounds The Foundations of Piety are the Divine Instructions which Christ hath given us the Holy Mountains upon whom he hath laid these Foundations are the Apostles of our Savioar Who are thence called themselves Foundations because they laid the Foundation of Christianity by the Divine Instructions which they gave from Christ according to that of St. Paul which he immediately adds Ye are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone 9. And therefore when the Fathers treat of this very matter they give other reasons why Christ named Peter only when he spake these words not to give him any Prerogative much less Monarchy but to signifie the Unity he would have in his Church This St. Cyprian discourses of at large in words as express as can be desired Christ said to Peter Upon this Rock I will build my Church and tho he gave to all his Apostles after his Resurrection parem Potestatem equal Power yet ut Vnitatem manifestaret that he might declare the Unity he would have he spake first to him alone that on him he would build his Church Not making him by these words it is plain the Imperial Head of the Church but only a representative Type of its Unity For he immediately adds The rest of the Apostles were the very same that Peter was endued with equal Co-partnership both of Honour and of Power but the beginning proceeds from Vnity that the Church of Christ may be shewed to be one r De Unite Ecclesiae Cathol edit Rigalt p. 180. Episcopatus unus est cujus à singulis in solidum pars tenetur And a little after he considers all the Bishopricks in the World as one Mass or Lump whereof every Bishop in the World hath an intire part The like I might add out of Pope Symmachus himself in a Letter to the Bishop of Arles s Baron ad An. 499. num xxxvi where he acknowledges that as the power of the Holy Trinity is one and undivided so there is one Bishoprick amongst divers Bishops But I have not room for more Authorities of this kind I will rather observe That there is another plainer reason of Christ's speaking thus to St. Peter which is that he was chosen by Christ to begin the glorious Work of gathering a Catholick Church and therefore he directed his Speech particularly to him as the Person who should be first imployed in this business telling him I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven because he was first to open the Gate or Door of Faith to the Gentiles and let them into the Church of Christ This appears from the memorable History of Cornelius upon which he reflects when he tells the Apostles in the Council at Jerusalem Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my Mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe Acts 15. 7. The words are more significant in the Greek which we translate a good while ago 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the ancient days or the first times God made choice of me from among the rest which may well refer to those of our Saviour whose times are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 1. 1. the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God which St. Peter first published among the Gentiles This was an Honour peculiar to him and bestowed on him it 's likely because of the forwardness of his Faith in Christ and the vehemency of his Affection to him as well as because he was first chosen to be an Apostle And with respect to this we readily acknowledg Christ promised something singular to him in these words which was that he should first lay the Foundation of the Church among the Gentiles Some add among the Jews also because we read he was the first Speaker upon the day of Pentecost Acts 1. 14. But those words sufficiently intimate that the rest of the Apostles then spake as well as he especially if we compare them with what goes before Vers 7 8 9. where it is said The Multitude heard them speak every Man in his own Language c. Tertullian s De Pudicitia C. xxi adds other instances of his first exercising the Power of the Keys but none of them prove more than that he had the Honour to be primus non supremus first not supream Princeps post quem alii deinceps the chief or beginning whom all the rest followed in equal Power and Authority For he was chief only in Order and Place not in Dominion or Jurisdiction 10. No We must after all this consider that our Lord when he spake these words did not lay the Foundation of the Church but only promises he would hereafter build his Church upon this Rock and give him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven For so the words are in the future Time I will build and I will give thee c. Now as he makes this Promise to them all I shewed
ever All which shows how true it is that Peter himself was not that Rock on which Christ promised to build his Church unless we understand thereby only his Ministerial Function which he did not exercise solely but had all the rest Co-workers with him VI. But let us in the last place suppose once more that he was the Rock more than the rest yet it is a strange Conclusion from hence that Christ made him the Lord and sole Governour of his Church For what relation hath a Rock to Power Government and Dominion We may as soon draw Water out of a Pumice as any such Doctrine out of this word Rock which hath relation only to Solidity Firmness Stedfastness or something of that kind as appears from the very nature of the word and the use of it in all Authors where it never imports any thing of that which is now so much pleaded for and made the Subject of the greatest Contests And therefore those Writers who expound these words of Peter say nothing of his Dominion much less of the Dominion of the Popes of Rome for which there is now so much stickling but they give us quite another reason why he is called the Rock Because of the solidity of his Devotion saith one because he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hard as a Rock or stone in the Faith saith another because of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firmness of his Faith saith a third because of his Faith in the true Rock saith a fourth because also he laid the first Foundation of Faith among the Gentiles and because that this Faith which he professed viz. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the first Principle of our Religion the beginning of Christianity the Foundation and Bottom of all that we believe In which Faith he was so stedfast that he did not fluctuate in uncertainty like the rest of the Jews some of which said he was Elias others Jeremias others John the Baptist but was setled in this constant Perswasion that Jesus was the Son of God which he as constantly preached unto others and converted unto this Faith. I have not thought it necessary to quote the Authors where all these things may be found I will only name Epiphanius a Haeres lix num 7 8. who speaking of St. Peter whom he calls the most principal of the Apostles he adds Who truly was to us a firm Rock founding the Faith of the Lord upon which the Church is altogether built First when he confessed Christ to be the Son of the Living God and heard our Saviour say Vpon this Rock of an unshaken Faith will I build my Church And again he was a firm Rock the Foundation of the House of God when denying Christ he returned and had those words said unto him Feed my Sheep For Christ saying this draws us to Repentance that on him may be built again a well-grounded Faith which doth not deny Life to those that truly repent Who doth not see that this Father thought he was the Rock because he laid the Foundation of Faith in us And there are those who think he had the Name of Peter given him to show also the Difficulties and Dangers he was to go through in that Imployment unto which he was called of preaching the Faith. But more than such things as these is not to be drawn out of these words No such thing as the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome which is another Presumption built upon this word Rock For supposing Peter to be the Rock that is saith Bellarmine the Foundation of the Church thence it follows he could not err because then the Foundation would prove ruinous and the Church which is the Building would fall to the ground And consequently his Successors cannot err for the same reason because they are what he was the Foundation upon which the Church relies and if they should fail the Christian Religion might come to nothing Which is so wretched a sort of reasoning that it shows the greatest Wits were not able to say any thing considerable in this cause For it supposes that which hath no proof at all that Peter was the sole Foundation of the Church If he were not then if this reasoning be good it proves all Bishops who are the Successors of the Apostles and frequently so called by ancient Writers to be infallible But I shall say no more of this for there are so many flaws in such Discourses as derive to the Successors all that was in Peter or the rest of the Apostles that they are not easily numbred and I have said enough I hope to show that all the pretensions of the present Church of Rome grounded upon this place are weak and without any bottom They fall to the ground when we come to touch them with one rational thought and prove like a Building that hath no Foundation Or they are not like a Structure built on a Rock but like a House that Men build on the Sand. There is nothing of solidity nothing of strength in their Arguments upon this Subject but after much pains to connect a great many things together they fall asunder like a Rope of Sand. There is no solid reason to make us think that our Lord spake here of Peter and not of Himself Or if he spake of Peter that he meant his Person and not that Doctrine which he preached And no reason in the Earth that he spake concerning himself or his Doctrine only to Peter and not to them all Or if we should make this large grant that he spake only of Peter there is not the least shadow of reason to make us think he spake of his Dominion and supream Power but only of his stedfastness in the Faith and his being the first Instrument in gathering a Church among the Gentiles tho he was not the prime Instrument if we thereby understand the chiefest and greatest for that was St. Paul. Some Vses of what hath been said I. And therefore we are a true Church though we have nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome This is no part of the definition of a Church that it is united to him as its Head but it is intire without it The Bishop of Rome makes all his claim from St. Peter who it is plain had no Universal Jurisdiction granted or promised in these words and therefore the Pope can get nothing by them Faith in Christ Jesus Communion with our Christian Brethren and Subjection to those Pastors who are over us in the Lord are sufficient to make us a Church whether the Pope will or no. Though there were no such Bishop in the World though the Chair of St. Peter were overturned and no where to be found the Church of Christ would be where it was built upon the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets There is not one of the Apostles that say a word in their Writings of the Prerogative of St. Peter Among all their Admonitions
because they had not all met with the same Opinion but some with one some with another and therefore every one related what he had heard the People say about him But to this Question they had but one Answer to make being all agreed in one and the same Belief and therefore it was sufficient for one to speak the mind of every one to whom the Question was put But still the Reason is demanded why St. Peter rather than any of the rest made this Answer To which St. Chrysostom thinks it enough to reply When men are moved by the Spirit to do or say a Thing it is in vain to ask a Reason of it Yet he as well as others have given us divers Reasons which have a Foundation in the Holy Scriptures I. First Because he was more warm and forward than the rest of a zealous and active Spirit which made him ready in Speech and all other Motions as well as quick of Apprehension and ardent in his Affection Many of the Fathers a S. Hierom. in loc S. Cyril in Joh. 21. 15. S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 34. have given this account of it as well as St. Chrysostome who mentions it often and here particularly affirms it to be the reason why he stept or rather leaped forth as his word is and prevented the rest in this Confession And if they had not told us this the Story of the Gospel would have furnished us with ten or twelve Instances of his forwardness most of which are collected by b Matt. 14. 28. St. Hierom I will name but two or three The first of them is mentioned in this very Chapter v. 22. When our Lord acquainting his Disciples what things he should suffer Peter out of a certain heat which was natural to him and a vehement but imprudent love to our Lord as St. Chrysostoms words are takes upon him to chide our Lord for having such a purpose advising him to be more favourable to himself A second instance is in the 14th Chapter where we read of his forwardness to go unto our Saviour upon the Sea tho he had not Faith enough to support him there A thrid in his forwardness to draw his Sword on our Saviours defence when the Soldiers laid hold on him in the Garden 26. 51. These things show his temper to have been so warm and zealous that we need no other Reason for his speaking first the mind of them all II. But others add that he was the eldest of the Company being a married man when he entred into our Saviours Service His Brother Andrew indeed was first acquainted with our Saviour Joh. 1. 40 41. But when they were called to be his constant Attendants which was not till some time after Peter is mentioned before him as the Elder of the two St. Matth. iv 18. Mark i. 16. Epiphanius a Haeresi l. 1. indeed thinks otherwise making Andrew the elder Brother but it is unreasonable to follow his Opinion alone especially when he alledges no Tradition for it against the Sense of many other Ancient Writers who Baronius b Ad An. 31. n. xxiii confesses lookt upon Peter as elder than him Which St. Hierom gives as the Reason why St. Peter was preferred before St. John the beloved Disciple to be the first in the Order of the Apostles because he was the elder His words are very remarkable and worthy to be read of all in his first Book against Jovinian where he sets forth the Prerogatives of St. John as most dear to our Saviour because he was a Virgin and so continued to the end Unto which he brings in his Adversary objecting That the Church was founded upon Peter who was a married Man Tho in another place saith St. Hierom the very same is said of all the Apostles and they all received the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the solidity of the Church was equally established on every one of them Yet among the Twelve one was therefore chosen that an Head being constituted all occasion of Schism might be taken away But why was not John being a Virgin chosen This was yielded to his Age for Peter was the Senior Otherwise he will have St. John to have had the Preheminence as it there follows Peter an Apostle and John an Apostle a Married man and a Batchelor But Peter only an Apostle John both an Apostle and an Evangelist and a Prophet III. To which may be added That he was the first of them all called to be Christs constant follower as appears from what was now observed That tho he was not the first that believed on Christ yet he was the first that our Lord called from his secular Employment to wait upon him and to be always with him And therefore called by some of the Ancients the first Fruits of the Apostles IV. For lastly upon such accounts as these he was made the first Apostle not in Power and Authority for therein as hath been said already and will appear more anon they were all alike but in orderly Precedence which is natural and necessary in all Societies And being the Foreman who so fit as he to speak for them all as he did not only now but upon other occasions Matth. xix 27 and Joh. vi 67 68 69. Upon which account St. Chrysostome fitly calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mouth of the Apostles Which he frequently repeats * In Matth. xvii 24. Act. i. 25. Galat. ii 2. and alledges this together with his heat and zeal as the Reason of his speaking rather than the rest For all of them could not make answer to the Question our Saviour here askt without Confusion and they all having but one thing to say therefore one spake for them all And who fitter to be their Speaker than he that was the Senior of all the leading man of the Company whose Age and forward Zeal and early entertainment into our Saviours family had given him the priority of place among the Apostles But observe then That if he spake because he was the Mouth of the rest as the Ancient Opinion was then as he spake the Sense of them all so he spake in all their Names And that which he said was the voice of all the Apostles For either he was not the Mouth of the Apostles or his Confession was the Confession of the whole Body of the Apostles who spake the same in him None of the Ancients that I can find doubted of this St. Hierom particularly hath this note upon these words Petrus ex persona omnium Apostolorum c. Peter in the Person of all the Apostles confesseth Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God. And the famous saying of St. Austin is now grown so familiar to all that I need only Translate it Peter answers one for all Thus St. Cyprian a Epist ad Cornel. and St. Ambrose b L. vi in S. Luc. c. 9. from whom this Sense is transmitted down
to later times for Dionysius Carthusianus follows it whose words are these in our language Peter as the Principal gives the answer for them all And there are two Reasons the Fathers give for this the one is a moral Reason the other a mystical The Moral is To avoid Confusion it being unseemly and disorderly for all to speak at once therefore he being first spake the mind of them all The Mystical is To denote the Unity that should be among the Apostles and consequently the Unity of the Church and of all that believe according to the Prayer of our Saviour when he was about to leave the World Joh. xvii 21. That they all might be one as He and the Father were one That speaking the same thing and perfectly agreeing in the Doctrine they preached the World might believe that the Father had sent him This was much in the thoughts of St. Cyprian in more places than I can easily number and other African Fathers who followed after him But I do not find any of those Ancient Writers mention this as the reason of Peters speaking and not any of the rest which Bellarmine a L. 1. de Pontif. Rom. C. xix makes his peculiar Prerogative Because he alone knew at this time that Jesus was the Eternal Son of God. St. Hilary in the Latin Church and Basil of Seleucia in the Greek were the first and only Persons of any account who by the Rule of the Roman Church ought not to be followed against the stream of ancient Interpreters that had in their minds this conceit For Euthymius who follows them is of no consideration for his Antiquity What Advantage they that contend for it can make of this notion I do not see because if Christ did now reveal this to St. Peter alone it was that it might be known to them all yet I do not think fit to grant it because it is apparently against common Reason and against the History of the Gospel and against the best and most ancient Authority 1. In reason we cannot think the Apostles to have been such dullards to use no harder word as in two years time and more when they had been in our Saviours School heard his words and seen his wonderful Works not to have learnt the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Athanasius b Orat. III. contra Arianos calls this Confession the peculiar and principal Article of our Christian Faith that he was God Incarnate the Word made Flesh Especially when they had been introduced into this belief by John the Baptist who had told them as much before they were admitted Christs Disciples Andrew it is certain was not ignorant of it who thereupon sought his Brother Simon and told him we have found the Messias i. e. Christ Joh. 1. 40 41. For John the Baptist had reported how he saw the Spirit descend on our Saviour and had heard the voice from Heaven and therefore bare record saying This is the Son of God v. 34. Nay he bare witness that he was Gods only begotten for he cryed saying No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him v. 15 18. By this Testimony they were drawn to our Saviour who at the very beginning manifested forth his Glory that is his Divine Majesty by such illustrious Miracles That his Disciples believed on him Joh. 2. 11. That is did not doubt of the truth of what John had said and which as you shall see presently the very Devils themselves openly acknowledged and confessed Who then can believe after all this that they were ignorant of the very first thing in our Religion With other points we find them unacquainted but to fancy them not to have known this is to make them as insensible as so many stones and in no other sense to have deserved the Name of Stones and Pillars whereby they are afterward called but only because they were so hardned in stupidity that nothing would enter into them no more than our words will into the hardest Flint in the World. What wretched Christians do we make them if after such means of Instruction we suppose them to have learnt nothing of the very foundation of Christianity 2. But besides this it is directly against the express Testmiony of the Holy Scriptures which informs us that several Persons had before this time made as full a Confession of the Faith as St. Peter himself They for instance who were with our Saviour in the Ship when it was tossed on the Sea by a contrary Wind and when St. Peter's heart had failed him as he walkt with our Saviour on the Water came and worshipped him after he had made the Sea calm saying Of a truth thou art the Son of God Matt. xiv 33. Nay more early than this as soon as ever St. Peter was acquainted with our Saviour Nathanael who is thought not without some reason to be the Apostle Bartholomew made as distinct and clear a Confession as his Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Joh. 1. 49. I shall not insist on the Confession of Martha Joh. xi 27. because it was afterward towards the Conclusion of our Saviours life The plain acknowledgment of the Mariners and Passengers in the Ship who were the persons St. Hierom thinks that came and worshipped him and made the foremention'd Confession is a sufficient proof that this was not a secret known to St. Peter alone by a special Revelation St. Chrysostom indeed is of Opinion That there is more in these Words of St. Peter than in theirs or in Nathanael's Who only confessed him to be the adopted Son of God but St. Peter went further and confessed him his Son by Nature But the reason he gives is insufficient which is only this That our Lord here pronounces Peter blessed which he doth not say to the rest For there might be other Reasons for pronouncing him blessed Particularly this That the Shipmen perhaps made that Confession only in a great transport of Passion but he upon a setled and deliberate Perswasion and that notwithstanding the various opinions that were in the Country about him which might have distracted the Apostles minds if they had not been attentive Considerers of the Testimonies our Lord gave of his Divinity Besides he seems in effect to have called Nathanael blessed tho he does not use the word For because he believed upon such a small and single Testimony of his Divinity as his seeing him under the Figtree He tells him he would reward his Faith with stronger Confirmations of it Joh. i. 50. Thou shalt see greater things than these Which is a promise containing much of his Grace and Favour toward him and is thus inlarged v. 51. And he saith unto him Verily I say unto you Hereafter ye shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man That is more manifest tokens of
Roman Bishop but directly against the sense of the Ancient Fathers whom he was bound by solemn Oath to follow who as a learned Man h Iv. Launoy Epist ad Raimundum Formentinum pars 2. of the Roman Communion hath largely proved understand hereby every faithful Pastor in the Church of Christ Who according to the way and method of the Divine Counsels which is to give unto those that have to bestow more on those who make a good use of what they have already received immediately hereupon opens to the Apostles his purpose of gathering a Church and drawing more disciples to him besides themselves who should perpetually keep and preserve this Confession and withal declares that he would use Peter as an eminent instrument in this great undertaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I also or moreover say unto thee beside what I have said already I tell thee further Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church His Speech is directed to Peter but it is evident from what hath been said that in him he comprehends all the Apostles as they were all comprehended in his Confession Who knew already that he was Christ the Son of the Living God but did not understand his intention of gathering a Church by their means This Name of Peter we met withal before Matth. x. 2. being given him at his first coming to our Saviour John i. 42. Where he told him Thou shalt be called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone or Peter Concerning which Justin Martyr a Dialog cum Tryh p. 333 334. See also Tertullian L. iv adv Marcionem c. 13. hath this Excellent Observation That it was to show our Saviour was the very same God who in the beginning had given new Names to Abraham and Sarah to Jacob and Joshua And for the same reason he called other two Disciples by the name of Boanerges to signify that he had the same Authority by which names were anciently changed and that he was their Lord and Soveraign of which the imposing a name on any person was a mark So that the Words of our Saviour in this place are to be understood as if he had said Thou art he to whom when thou first camest to me I gave a new Name and called Peter a Stone and truly my Church shall be built on a bottom as firm as any stone or rock It was the custom of our Lord when he was about to declare any Divine Truth to lay hold on some sensible similitude then near at hand the better to represent it to the minds of those that heard him As discoursing with the Woman of Samaria at the Well-side he takes occasion to tell her of living water that he had to bestow upon her Such as should be in those that drank it a well of water springing up into everlasting life John IV. 10 14. And at another time feeding a Multitude miraculously with a few Barly Loaves and Fishes he thence lays hold of the opportunity to discourse of the bread of life which came down from heaven which he admonishes them to labour after because if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever John VI. 26 27 50 51. In like manner here from the Name he had given Peter he takes the occasion of representing the stedfastness of that Foundation on which his Church should be built saying on this rock will I build my Church There was something in Peter no doubt which was the motive to the bestowing this Name upon him and that was the forwardness of his Faith which carried him to Christ meerly upon the report which his Brother Andrew gave of him Which was the reason S. Gregory Nyssen thinks that though Abraham's Name was not changed till after long acquaintance with God and many Divine Apparitions to him Peter's was changed at the very first sight of our Saviour he at the same time hearing his Brother and believing on the Lamb of God was consummated by Faith and being knit to the rock viz. Christ was made Peter * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. XV. in Cantic Canticorum p. 691. For our Lord intended to imploy him though not him alone as an eminent instrument to bring others to the Faith and build them on the same Rock that he himself was built till they became a Church The word CHURCH signifies the whole company of Believers united unto Christ as their Lord and Master who are here compared to a House The building of this Church is nothing else but the joyning these Persons with their Pastors into Company and Society one with another in such good order as the Stones which make an House are laid in upon their Foundation All the difficulty is about the Rock or the Foundation upon which this Society stands and by holding fast to which it remains a Church Which is the second thing I undertook to treat of unto which I now proceed PART II. What is here meant by the Rock COncerning this there are various expositions among the ancient Fathers as is manifest to every one that hath read their Writings though in truth as you shall see before I have done they differ rather in words than in sense and quite overthrow all the pretensions of the Church of Rome from this place of Holy Scripture I will name four I. It is confessed by all Protestants that some of the ancient Fathers by the Rock do understand Peter No Body that I know of disputes about this but only about their meaning when they say he was this Rock on which Christ said he would build his Church Which undoubtedly is not such as they of the Church of Rome would have it because other Persons far more in number and of as eminent rank in the Christian Church expound it of the Faith which S. Peter confessed So that he was the Rock and the Foundation only as he preached this Faith which is the second interpretation and shall be made appear to be the meaning of those who call Peter the Foundation of the Church II. If numbers are to be followed there are most I am sure for this sense of these words that by the Rock we are to understand that faith which S. Peter now confessed It is mentioned by Fortunatus an African Bishop in a Council at Carthage * De Baptizanâ—is Hareticis apud Cyprian p. 233. edit Oxon. where he saith the Lord hath built his Church Supra petram non super haeresin upon a Rock not upon Heresie In which words Rock being opposed to Heresie without all doubt he understood our Saviour to speak of a sound and solid Faith in him when he said he would build his Church upon this Rock Which is exactly the sense of Epiphanius also who by the Gates of Hell understanding all sorts of Heresies adds immediately †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haeres LXXIV n. 14. but they cannot prevail against the Rock that is against the Truth To whom I
Institution the Monarch of the Church * Baron ad An. 33. n XX. and consequently above the whole Church above General Councils the Supreme Judge of Controversies who can be judged by none and I know not how many other extravagancies And to make all this indubitable some have had the confidence against the sense of all Antiquity to translate these words thus †Jo. Hart. confer with Doctor Reynolds p. 22. Thou art Peter and upon this Peter I will build my Church Which Translation though the Rhemists have not put in the Text of their English Testament as a great Doctor among them would have had them done yet they maintain in their Annotations that they who translate out of Hebrew Syriack or Greek ought to have so translated it not observing that they herein condemn their own authentick Latin which hath done otherwise But when Men are bent to serve a Cause right or wrong they cannot but thus contradict themselves as well as the ancient Fathers Whose authority they pretend to reverence but when it is against them make so bold with it as not only to reject but to indeavour utterly to destroy it Thus they have ordered these words to be expunged out of a Sermon of S. Chrysostom's * Serm. in Pentecost in his Works printed at Basil though I have shown they are most Catholick the Church is not built upon the man but upon his Faith. After all which confidence it is no wonder if they proceed to such a height of boldness as to call those Innovators and Hereticks nay shameless Innovators and impudent Hereticks †Baronius ad An. 33. n. XXI Bellarm. de Pontif. Rom. L. 1. C. X. who interpret this place not of Peter but of Christ or the Faith which Peter confessed I will not imitate their ill Language though it might most justly be returned upon them For their opinion who make Faith the Rock as the Lutherans commonly do is so far from Novelty that it hath the most Antiquity among which seven or eight Popes of Rome on its side and they who say Christ is the Rock as the followers of Mr. Calvin commonly do are back'd also with the Authority of ancient * Such as S. Hierom S. Austin Theodoret c. Doctors among whom are some Popes particularly Innocent the Third who mentioning these words saith Christ himself is both the Founder and the Foundation of the Church †Serm. 2. de Consecr Pont. How then can they be said to have lost their modesty who say nothing but what the greatest Men in the Church of Christ have said before them And what Character do they deserve who notwithstanding this unquestionable evidence against it not only affirm that Peter is meant by the Rock but that this is the proper and as one may say the immediate and literal sense * Bellarm. L. 1. C. X. de R. Pont. of the words and hath the consent of the whole Church both of the Greek and of the Latin Fathers But that which aggravates all this guilt is still behind that they thus expound the place directly against the Decree of the Council of Trent and that Profession of Faith which every Priest solemnly makes wherein he promises he will never understand and interpret the Scriptures but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers * Bulla Pii IV. super forma juramenti professionis fidei Now it 's as clear as that there are such Fathers that they most unanimously consent in that interpretation which these Men contradict and that there are but few in comparison who agree in that which they assert for the proper sense of the place Think seriously of such things as these and you will not be moved from your stedfastness by the confidence of those who bear the World in hand that they alone hold the ancient Apostolick Catholick Faith according to the exposition of the ancient Doctors It is meer pretence for in their Exposition of our Saviour's Words they chuse that which is least Catholick and more than that they make that which is least Catholick to be a Principal point of the Catholick Faith. If this be not the highest degree of partiality it is because they themselves exceed it in what follows II. They cannot but know that those very Persons in the ancient Church who by the Rock understand Peter meant no more than they do who understand thereby Christ himself or Faith in him For these are not really three different senses but in effect no more than one The ancient Doctors using only a diversity of speech not of opinion as S. Austin was wont to say Which appears most manifestly in this that the very same Person uses these words promiscuously sometimes Peter sometimes his Faith sometimes Christ S. Hilary * Can. XVI in Matth. for instance is often quoted for this saying speaking of S. Peter O happy Foundation of the Church But the same Hilary says in another place This Faith is the Foundation of the Church †L. VI. de Trinitate and in another This is the one happy Rock of Faith confessed by Peter 's Mouth Thou art the son of the living God * L. II. de Trin. These sayings ought in Justice to be taken notice of as much as the first but then Peter in his opinion was no such Foundation as they would have unless the good Father be supposed to contradict himself In like manner S. Chrysostom who upon these words ON THIS ROCK makes the sense to be as he doth in many other places upon the Faith which he confessed upon the very next Verse expounds the words thus Thou art Peter and upon thee I will build my Church Shall we think that so great a Man did in one and the same breath as I may say forget and contradict himself and not rather expound the later words by the former that by upon Peter he still meant upon the Faith that Peter then confessed and afterward preached Pope Leo the First also who in his Epistle to Leo Augustus says Peter is the Rock in four other places interprets it of his Faith. S. Cyprian likewise I have shown expounds it of all the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as well as of S. Peter And S. Austin expounds it all the four ways before-mentioned of Peter of Christ of Faith and of all the Apostles What shall we say then Did not these great Doctors know their own mind Were they wavering and unsetled in their Opinions not knowing what to determine They were not such Children in understanding but by these various forms of Speech have plainly told us That when they say Peter is the Rock they did not mean his Person much less him only but his Doctrine which he preached which was also preached as much by others Just as when we bid one read Tully or Virgil we mean their Works which they have left us The reason of all which is nothing
else but this that the Church is built upon Christ by Faith in him which was professed and preached by Peter and by the rest of the Apostles Christ is in proper speaking the Rock and the Foundation upon which the whole Church relies Peter was an eminent Minister of his and so were the other Apostles to lay this Foundation that is to Preach and declare him to the World and perswade Men to believe on him upon whom they themselves were built as their Foundation They first believed on him and then were co-workers with him to bring others to the Faith and lastly after they were dead that Faith which they confessed and taught still remained to be preached by their Successors in all Ages as the Doctrine on which we must stand and to which we must hold if we intend to be owned by Christ as Members of his Church So all these Expositions agree very well and do not cross one another for when the Fathers use sometimes one word sometimes another they still mean the same thing If they say S. Peter is the Rock they mean only as a Minister that laid the Foundation-stone and then so was S. Paul too who calls himself a chief Master-builder If they say Faith is the Rock they mean a belief of this Doctrine that Jesus is the Son of the living God which is the first Principle of the Christian Religion And if they say the faithful are the Rock for so some of them have spoken they mean that being built upon this Faith in Christ they also profess maintain and support it For in effect as I said all these Interpretations meet in one Christ being the Principal cause of all Peter a Ministerial or Instrumental cause by preaching Christ while he lived and perswading Men to joyn themselves to him and become a Church and their belief of that which he and the rest of the Apostles preached concerning Christ Jesus was both then and after they were dead the means whereby they were joyned to Christ He and the Doctrine concerning him was the Foundation upon which all were built by the Ministry of Peter and his fellow Apostles who squared and fastened Men unto this living Stone upon whom being setled by Faith in him they became themselves living Stones as S. Peter speaks in the place before-mentioned and were built up a Spiritual House or Temple an Holy Priesthood to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ I will conclude this with an excellent saying of S. Chrysostom * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. who speaking of S. Paul and what he had preach'd and done says When I mention Paul it is as if I had said Christ himself For Christ moved and inspired that blessed Soul Christ spake by him and his Voice was the Voice of Christ Which I may fitly apply to the present matter and say as truly of S. Peter when he is named Christ is named and nothing else is meant but that upon him that is upon Christ should by him or speaking in him the Church should be built Thus it is certain Tertullian understood these words which he thus interprets the Church is built on him that is by him †In ipso Ecclesia exstructa est id est per ipsum L. de pudicitia C. XXI But not on him that is by him alone III. For that is a farther piece of injustice to make these words spoken only to Peter who I have shown was the mouth of the Apostles in the confession he made and spake the sense of them all and therefore in all reason this reply of our Saviour's is to be thought intended to them all who were as much Rocks or foundations of the Church as he For did not our Lord propound the question to them all in those words whom do you say that I am v. 15. And if he askt them the question did he not expect their Answer Where then shall we find that Answer unless the Foreman delivered in the sense of the whole Body and in the name of the rest of his Brethren made this declaration Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Which is affirmed I have told you by S. Austin and others who say Peter answers one for all Now if they all made this confession then they were all concerned in our Saviours reply who tells him and in him tells them that upon this Rock that is himself which they confessed he would build his Church by their Ministry that is by their constant preaching what they had now confessed And thus Venerable Bede our Countryman understood this matter in his Homily upon S. Peter where he hath these very words Nam sicut interrogatis generaliter omnibus c. For as when all were askt in general who he was Peter answered one for all So what our Lord answered to Peter in Petro omnibus respondit in Peter he answered to all the Apostles Thus even common reason taught Men to expound words when it was not swayed by prejudice interest or any private affection Which when we suffer to intermeddle they prevent our judgment and make strange glosses upon Gods word casting a mist before our eyes when the light of divine truth clearly shines into them An instance of which we have in the Rhemists Annotations on these words who could not but see that the Fathers do some time say if they could have spoke out they would have siad do very often or rather most commonly say the Church is bult on Peter 's Faith But immediately as if darkness had come on a sudden upon them they add the Fathers meant not that it should be built upon Faith either separate from the Man or in any other Man as we they say unlearnedly take them but upon Faith as in him who here confessed that Faith. Which is as much as to say the Church is built upon Peter's Faith alone and not upon the same Faith in any other Apostle If this be Christian learning it is very new never thought of till of late as will more fully appear in the following Considerations IV. If we should grant that thèse words of Christ were spoken only to him yet it is very unjust to understand them exclusively of all the rest For we may as well argue that Christ intended S. Peter only should draw Men to him by preaching the Gospel and so the rest of the Apostles have nothing to do because he said to him alone and not to James and John who were his Partners Simon fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men Luke V. 10. as that he intended him alone to be the Rock because he said only to him Thou art Peter c. without any mention of the rest of the Apostles Who ought not to be thought excluded unless there had been some such word of restriction as limited the sense to S. Peter only and barred their claim to a joynt share in this grant for the Church may be built on
him and on them too he may be the Rock and they also in the same sense that it is meant of him And this appears to be true from a great many things that may be fit here to be observed 1. First the Apostles never thought themselves to be excluded but by their behaviour declared they took themselves to be equal to him Which Alphonsus Tostatus * In Matth. XVIII qu. VII and in Matth. XX. qu. 83. no longer ago than in the Fifteenth Century asserts most earnestly and with great concern alledges many undeniable arguments to prove they did not understand any supremacy to have been given to Peter by these words For after this saith he they contended for superiority disputing who should be the greatest Matth. XVIII 1. Mark IX 33. And again the two Sons of Zebedee who always seemed to be equal with him in our Saviour's favour have their desire of preference promoted by their Mother Matth. XX. 10. c. Nay this dispute was renewed at his last Supper as he understands Luke XXII 24 25. concerning which his words are remarkable Every Apostle saith he doubted which of them should be the greater and that doubt remained until the day of Christ's death for in the last Supper of Christ they began to inquire among themselves which of them should seem the greater and yet they would not have made this dispute publickly if they had thought Peter by the collating of the Keys to have been preferred above them Thus far then they thought themselves equal when they could not resolve which should be the greater 2. And after our Lords Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost when they cannot be supposed ignorant of any thing concerning his Kingdom they still took themselves as much concerned in these words as Peter For not only S. Paul but S. John a Man exceedingly beloved of our Saviour and his bosome Disciple thought all the Apostles to be the Foundation on which the Church is built Read at your leisure Ephes II. 20. and Revel XXI 14. where you will find the Wall of the New Jerusalem that is the Christian Church had twelve Foundations and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb Not one Foundation and on that the name of Peter but twelve Foundations bearing the name of the twelve Apostles Peter was unum sed non unicum fundamentum one Foundation but not the only one He was one of the next stones which lay immediately upon the Rock Christ and so may be called a Foundation but so was S. John also another of those stones which immediately rely upon Christ and so were all the rest of the Apostles None of which were built upon S. Peter nor he on them but all on Christ Whom S. Austin †In Psalm LXXXVII calls fundamentum fundamentorum the Foundation of the Foundations that is of the very Apostles and Prophets upon whom the Church is said to be built because by their Ministry it was erected In this sense Peter was a Rock and so were all the rest of the Apostles as much as he equal in power alike intrusted with this great work of raising a Church upon him the living Stone 3. Whence it is that St. Paul giving an account of the several Orders and Ranks of Men which God hath placed in his Church makes the highest Power in it to be that which belongs unto them all For he saith God hath set these in the Church first Apostles c. 1. Cor. 12. 28. He doth not say first Peter as he should have done if by these words Thou art Peter c. he was set higher than the rest but the Apostles in general who were all the prime Ministers of Christ of equal Dignity among themselves without any one set over them in Superiority above the rest 4. Which appears farther from the Promise of bestowing the Keys upon him which here immediately follows Vers 19. and is acknowledged on all sides to be the highest Power conferred upon him which is promised to all the Apostles in the very next Chapter Matth. 18. 18. in the very same words without any alteration but only a change of the singular into the plural Here it is said Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth c. there Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth c. What reason then to fancy any difference between them Which the ancient Christians did not but look'd upon them all as having a joynt share in this Power Which is so evident that a Learned Man l Joh. Lanoi◠Epist ad Hadrianum Vallantium p. 27 c. Pa. 2. in the Roman Communion hath shown at large even by the Confession of Popes themselves that in Peter Christ gave the Keys or rather promised them to the whole Church 5 And the truth is Nothing was here given to him by these words of Christ Thou art Peter with respect to the Apostles but with respect to the Church only which was raised by the joynt Labour and Pains of the whole Number To whom another being afterwards added he laboured more abundantly than they all 1 Cor. 15. 10. 6. And was so far from thinking he had any Superiour though he was chosen last of all and look'd upon himself as a kind of Abortive 1 Cor. 15. 8. that he doubted not to say He was not a whit in nothing behind the very chiefest of the Apostles 2 Cor. 11. 5. 12. 11. The words are very significant in the Greek m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying there were more very eminent or super-excellent Apostles than one called in other places Pillars Gal. 2. 9. and Chiefs n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. vers 2 6. Peter no doubt was one of these but there were others as eminent and neither he nor they had a Preheminence of Power and Authority among them there being nothing wanting in St. Paul to make him equal to the most Eminent Apostles 7. Particularly to St. Peter with whom he contended openly opposing and reprehending his Error Gal. 2. 11. which he durst not have done if he had known any Superiority in Power and Authority to have been in St. Peter Nay here had been a fit occasion for St. Peter to have asserted his Authority if he had known any to have been in him which was not in St. Paul and not have suffered himself to be thus corrected by him for his Error Of which we have not one word nor did he tho our Lord chose him first and built his Church upon him challenge to himself any thing insolently or arrogantly so as to say he had the Primacy and therefore ought rather to be obeyed by those who were novel and later Persons They are the words of St. Cyprian o Epist lxxi edit Rigal whose Notes there a. f. are worth perusing who plainly hereby declares his sense to have been that these words of our Lord to St. Peter gave him no such Primacy as set him above Correction that
before in the next Chapter so when he actually gives this Power which he saith here he will give he bestows it upon every one of them which was after his Resurrection John 20. 21. As my Father hath sent me even so I send you Here he speaks in the present Time and gives them in this Commission the Power which they had not before making them to be what they were ever after In token of which he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted c. Vers 22 23. Can any one who reads these words think that Peter was only sent and made the only Foundation and the only Gate to let Men into the Church when he hears such an Authority as this granted and sealed to them all He hath lost then the ancient sense of the Church which Theophylact * Mat. 16. 19. represents in these words Though it was said to Peter only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will give thee yet it was given to all the Apostles When Then when he said Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted to them For I will give denotes the future Time that is after the Resurrection Hear also how St. Austin t Enarratio in Psal 87. discourses upon these words of the Psalmist before-mentioned Why are they called the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets Because their Authority supports our weakness And why are they Gates Because by them we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For they preach to us and when we enter by them we enter by Christ Is it not plain by this that they did not think St. Peter to be the only Man that stands at the Gate as it were and with his Keys le ts Men into Heaven To say this is as much as to say he only preached Did not St. John preach also and St. James As for St. Paul he laboured more than them all Therefore I may truly say according to St. Austin's meaning by John and by James as well as Peter but especially by Paul we have an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven They all had equal Power they were all equally Gates whereby Men entred into the New Jerusalem they were all equally Foundations of the Church of Christ St. Peter laid the first Stone as he let in the first of the Gentiles but St. Paul let in more than he afterwards as appears by the whole Story of his preaching the Gospel of Christ To conclude this St. Peter himself it is manifest did not know of any such Authority as is now claimed residing in him For writing two Catholick Epistles he gives not the least intimation of any such Universal Pastorship as is now pretended to be derived from him but quite contrary calls himself Fellow Elder with the Pastors of the Church to whom he gives the same Exhortation that Christ did to him Feed the Flock of God 1 Pet. v. 1 2. which doth not differ in sense from Feed my Sheep or Feed my Lambs Joh. xxi 15 16. Nay more than this in the Gospel which the ancient Fathers say St. Mark wrote by St. Peter's direction he doth not so much as mention this Speech of Christ to him but only his own Confession Mark viii 29. which we may look upon as an Argument that he did not think it contained any Power peculiar to him which we may be sure he would not have forgotten Against so many weighty Reasons some think Object 1. it sufficient to argue for his Supremacy meerly from his being constantly named first when there is occasion to speak of him Five places are alledged for this purpose Matth. x. 2. Mark iii. 17. Luke vi 14. Acts i. 13. John xxi 2. Unto which I think fit to make a short Reply First That this is not such exact Truth as Answ to admit of no Exception For there are no less than four places where he is named with other Apostles and not set the first 1 Cor. iii. 22. ix 9. Gal. ii 9. Joh. i. 45. Secondly Supposing it was done designedly in those places where there is a Catalogue given of the Apostles the meer placing of a Name first will prove no Superiority of Power over those who are named after him as might be shown from a great many instances For any little advantage of Age Service Affection or the like may well be a Reason for such Precedence Thirdly The exact truth is when they were together as a Colledge it was necessary some one should be first in order but afterward when they were scattered abroad all over the World there was no such Precedence thought of For others I have shown are named before him and sometimes took place of him as St. James did at Jerusalem where he presided in the Council held there Peter indeed spake and delivered his Opinion first but the Decree is made by James who saith after he had taken notice of what Simeon had spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I determine or judg my Sentence is as we translate it That we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God but write to them that they abstain from Pollutions if Idols c. Acts xv 19 20. And accordingly it was drawn up in his very words in that Letter which was written in the name of them all to the Gentile Christians Vers 28 29. This is no novel Criticism of Protestants but acknowledged heretofore by eminent Writers in the Roman Communion Alphonsus Tostatus r In Mat. 17. for instance observes that in this Council Peter did not produce the definition of the Church but James alone spake definitively as the Organ of the whole Church and greater than any of the Assessors And later than this Lorinus * Comment in Acta C. xv fol. 645. the Jesuite here notes that James seems to speak authentically and as a Judge when Peter is said simply to have spoken his mind How easie were it here if I durst take the liberty to strain several Observations beyond their true intention to bid you mark and observe how St. James declares himself in this Council the Head of the Church set over all his Brethren For first he being Bishop of Jerusalem the Mother-Church of the whole World thus begins his Speech Men and Brethren hearken unto me ver 13. as if he were the Successor of Christ of whom it was said Hear ye Him. Next ver 14. he calls him who had spoken before him bare Simeon not Peter now as if that Name signified Nothing to him who sate above him For he adds as I have said his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I judge or give this sentence And lastly when Peter had pleaded for an absolute and indefinite liberty from the burden of all Legal Rites ver 10. James thinks fit not to grant them an entire freedom but to tie them still to some necessary Observances ver 19 28. But we have not thus learned
to the Churches they never bid them be subject unto him much less to his Successors but only to those that rule over them to those that admonish them and watch for their Souls that is to their own Pastors and Governors in those places where they lived II. Since therefore we are undoubtedly a true Church of Christ though we have no dependance on him and should have been so though we had never heard there was such a Bishop in the World let us be mindful of the Exhortation of the Apostle St. Jude ver 20 21. which contains the properest Use of what hath been said 20. But ye Beloved building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life First Build up your selves on your most holy Faith. Do not think of building upon the Successor of St. Peter as the Priests of the Church of Rome would perswade you but upon that Christ and that most holy Faith on which St. Peter himself was built There are three things which the Apostles of our Lord speak concerning Faith. First They speak of laying the Foundation of it which I hope is done already so that there is no need to exhort you to it but I may say as the Apostle doth to the Hebrews Ch. vi 1. Let us go on unto perfection not laying again the Foundation of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God. Secondly They speak of continuing in the Faith for by that we continue in the Church the Body of Christ Rom. xi 20. Thou standest by Faith 2 Cor. i. ult by Faith ye stand Thirdly Of continuing stedfast in it Col. ii 5. I rejoyce beholding your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ 1 Cor. xvi 13. Stand fast in the Faith. And here St. Jude adds an Exhortation to building up our selves on it to endeavour that is to increase and grow strong in Faith by understanding all the Grounds and Reasons on which it relies by observing all the Testimonies which God hath given to his Son Jesus Christ for this is the very Foundation of Religion to use the words of St. Chrysostom the original of Righteousness the head and fountain of Sanctity the beginning of all true Devotion the light of the Soul and the gate of Eternal Life But we need not go to Rome for any of these and particularly we may know this great thing St. Chrysostom speaks of and be sure without consulting them that the Son of God is come as it is in the last Verse but one of the first Epistle of St. John and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true i. e. the true God whose Nature and Will is declared by him and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ that is Children of the true God or his chosen People in or by his Son Jesus Christ that is by hearty Faith in him who is his only Begotten of one substance with the Father full of Grace and Truth Of all this I say we may be sure and this as it there follows is the true God and Eternal Life though we never know whether there be such a place as Rome and such a Bishop as the Pope of whom many Christians no doubt in several parts of the World never heard so much as one word And therefore let us not be so weak as to think we must needs use any of his Tools and Instruments for the laying the Foundation or for the building up our selves in the Christian Faith. Which relies upon the Testimony of all the Apostles whose words we have recorded in the holy Books and no where else and which all the Ministers of Christ have as much Authority to expound as they and can give as good reason for what they say as appears by what hath been said upon this place which is the Principle from whence they would wring for derive they cannot so great a Power as they challenge To which if you submit it is to undo all that you have done to lay again the Foundation of Faith or rather to overturn it and build upon Human Authority instead of Divine Which is one thing that would prevail with you if it were considered not to give up your selves to their Directions whose great labour it is to unsettle your Faith not to strengthen it to make you doubtful of every thing in the Christian Religion not to build you up on the Faith of Christ Secondly But besides this he would have us pray in the Holy Ghost That is ardently and with such devout Affections as the Holy Ghost sometimes inspires and for such things as the Holy Ghost teaches us to ask in the holy Gospel which is the Mind of the Spirit of God and especially to pray thus in the Christian Assemblies For the Apostle here opposes these things to the practice of those that separated themselves being sensual having not the Spirit ver 19. Our Lord would have us pray always and in our Closet especially in the Assemblies of our Christian Brethren where we must take heed of being frigid or luke-warm of praying to gratify any of our Carnal Desires especially that of Revenge as St. James teaches us ch iv 1 2 3. and of praying in the Name of St. Peter or St. Paul or any other Saint or Angel for which the Holy Ghost hath given no direction but quite contrary told us by the Mouth of his holy Apostles that to us there is but one God and one Lord 1 Cor. viii 6. One God and one Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. ii 5. So that to use any other is to fall into a Schism to spoil the Unity and break the Communion of the Church of Christ as they of the Church of Rome have done both by this and by changing the ancient Government Discipline and Faith of the Christian Church which believed nothing heretofore concerning St. Peter and his Successor's Supream Power over all the Bishops in the World who took themselves to be the Vicars of Christ as much as the Bishop of Rome Take a Review of what I have said and you will see that it is they who have separated themselves from the rest of the Christian World by usurping this Universal Jurisdiction as well as by many other things and so broken that Charity and quenched that loving and kind Spirit which gives the greatest efficacy to our Prayers and makes them most fervent and most prevalent Joyn not therefore your selves to them but as the Apostle adds in the third place Thirdly Keep your selves in the Love of God. Our Lord Christ tells you how Joh. xv 10. If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love c. adding ver 12. This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you which he repeats again Verse 17. These things I command