true wonder of the world and changer of the Age did affirm the Pontifical Authority so much to exceed the Royal Power as the Sun doth the Moon and applieth to the former that of the Prophet Jeremy Ecce constitui te super gentes regna See I have set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down c. Of this Power that Pope made experiment by deposing the Emperour Otho IV whom saith Nauclerus as rebellious to the Apostolical See he first did strike with an Anathema then him persevering in his obstinacy did in a Council of Prelates held at Rome pronounce deposed from Empire The which Authority was avowed by that great Council under this Pope the which according to the men of Trent did represent or constitute the Church wherein it was ordained that If a Temporal Lord being required and admonished by the Church should neglect to purge his Territory from Heretical filth he should by the Metropolitan and the other Comprovincial Bishops be noosed in the band of Excommunication and that if he should slight to make satisfaction within a year it should be signified to the Pope that he might from that time denounce the Subjects absolved from their Fealty to him and expose the Territory to be seised on by Catholicks c. Before that Pope Paschal II. deprived Henry IV. and excited enemies to persecute him telling them that they could not offer a more acceptable Sacrifice to God than by impugning him who endeavoured to take the Kingdom from God's Church Before him Pope Vrban II. called Turban by some in his Age did preach this Doctrine recommended to us in the Decrees that Subjects are by no authority constrained to pay the Fidelity which they have sworn to a Christian Prince who opposeth God and his Saints or violateth their Precepts An instance whereof we have in his granting a privilege to the Canons of Tours which saith he if any Emperour King Prince c. shall wilfully attempt to thwart let him be deprived of the dignity of his honour and power But the great Apostle if not Authour of this confounding Doctrine was Pope Gregory VII a man of a bold spirit and fiery temper inured even before his entry on that See to bear sway and drive on daring projects possessed with resolution to use the advantages of his place and time in pushing forward the Papal Interest to the utmost who did lift up his voice like a trumpet kindling Wars and Seditions thereby over Christendom His Dictates and Practices are well known being iterated in his own Epistles and in the Roman Councils under him extant Yet it may be worth the while to hear him swagger in his own language For the dignity and defence of God's Holy Church in the name of Almighty God the Father Son and Holy Ghost I depose from Imperial and Royal Administration King Henry Son of Henry sometime Emperour who too boldly and rashly hath laid hands on thy Church and I absolve all Christians subject to the Empire from that Oath whereby they were wont to plight their faith unto true Kings for it is right that he should be deprived of Dignity who doth endeavour to diminish the Majesty of the Church Go to therefore most Holy Princes of the Apostles and what I said by interposing your Authority confirm that all men may now at length understand if ye can bind and loose in Heaven that ye also can upon Earth take away and give Empires Kingdoms and whatsoever mortals can have for if ye can judge things belonging unto God what is to be deemed concerning these inferiour and profane things And if it is your part to judge Angels who govern proud Princes what becometh it you to doe toward their servants Let Kings now and all Secular Princes learn by this man's example what ye can doe in Heaven and in what esteem ye are with God and let them henceforth fear to slight the commands of Holy Church but put forth suddenly this judgment that all men may understand that not casually but by your means this Son of iniquity doth fall from his Kingdom So did that Pope not unadvisedly in heat or passion but out of settled judgment upon cool deliberation express himself in his Synods at Rome This Pope is indeed by many held the inventour and broacher of this strange Doctrine And even those who about his Age did oppose it did express themselves of this mind calling it the novel Tradition Schism Heresie of Hildebrand Pope Hildebrand saith the Church of Liege in their answer to the Epistle to P. Paschal is authour of this new Schism and first did raise the Priests lance against the Royal Diadem Who first did girt himself and by his example other Popes with the sword of war against the Emperours This onely Novelty saith Sigebert not to say Heresie had not yet sprang up in the world that the Priests of him who saith to the King Apostate and who maketh hypocrites to reign for the sins of the people should teach the people that they owe no subjection to bad Kings and although they have sworn Allegeance to the King they yet owe him none and that they who take part against the King may not be said to be perjured yea that he who shall obey the King may be held excommunicate he that shall oppose the King may be absolved from the crime of injustice and perjury Indeed certain it is that this man did in most downright strains hold the Doctrine and most smartly apply it to practice yet did he disclaim the invention or introduction of it professing that he followed the notions and examples of his predecessours divers of which he allegeth in defence of his proceedings We saith he holding the Statutes of our Holy Predecessours do by Apostolical authority absolve those from their Oath who are obliged by Fealty or Sacrament to Excommunicate persons and by all means prohibit that they observe Fealty to them And so it is that although for many successions before Pope Hildebrand the Popes were not in condition or capacity to take so much upon them there having been a row of persons intruded into that See void of vertue and of small authority most of them very beasts who depended upon the favour of Princes for their admittance confirmation or support in the place yet we may find some Popes before him who had a great spice of those imperious conceits and upon occasion made very bold with Princes assuming power over them and darting menaces against them For Pope Leo IX telleth us that Constantine M. did think it very unbecoming that they should be subject to an Earthly Empire whom the Divine Majesty had set over an Heavenly and surely he was of his authour's mind whom he alledged although indeed this Pope may be supposed to speak this and other
absolute Monarch upon earth for the Power of St. Peter in their opinion was the same which now the Roman Bishop doth challenge to himself over the Pastours and People of God's Church by virtue of succession to him Saint Peter's Power being the base of the Papal and therefore not narrower than its superstructure but what domination comparable to that hath ever been used in the world What Emperour did ever pretend to a rule so wide in extent in regard either to persons or matters or so absolute in effect Who ever beside his Holiness did usurp a command not onely over the external actions but the most inward cogitations of all mankind subjecting the very Minds and Consciences of Men to his dictates his laws his censures Who ever thundred Curses and Damnations on all those who should presume to dissent from his Opinion or to contest his pleasure Who ever claimed more absolute Power in making abolishing suspending Laws or imposing upon men what he pleased under obligation of Conscience and upon extremest penalties What Prince ever used a style more imperious than is that which is usual in the Papal Bulls Let it be lawfull for no man whatever to infringe this expression of our will and command or to goe against it with bold rashness What Domitian more commonly did admit the appellation of Lord than doth the Pope Our most Holy Lord is the ordinary style attributed to him by the Fathers of Trent as if they were his slaves and intended to enslave all Christendom to him Who ever did exempt his Clients and Dependents in all Nations from subjection to Civil Laws from undergoing common burthens and taxes from being judged or punished for their misdemeanours and crimes Who ever claimed a power to dispose of all things one way or other either directly or indirectly to dispose even of Kingdoms to judge Sovereign Princes and to condemn them to depose them from their authority absolving their Subjects from all allegiance to them and exposing their Kingdoms to rapine To whom but a Pope were ever ascribed prerogatives like those of judging all men and himself being liable to no judgment no account no reproof or blame so that as a Papal Canon assureth us let a Pope be so bad as by his negligence and male-administration to carry with him innumerable people to Hell yet no mortal man whatever must presume here to reprove his faults because he being to judge all men is himself to be judged of no man except he be catcht swerving from the Faith which is a case they will hardly suffer a man to suppose possible To whom but to a Pope was such Power attributed by his followers and admitted by himself that he could hear those words applying to him All Power is given to thee in Heaven and in Earth Such Power the Popes are wont to challenge and when occasion serveth do not fail to execute as Successours of St. Peter to whom therefore consequently they ascribe it and sometimes in express terms as in that brave apostrophe of P. Gregory VII the Spirit of which Pope hath possessed his Successours generally Goe to therefore said he directing his Speech to Saint Peter and Saint Paul most Holy Princes of the Apostles and what I have said confirm by your Authority that now at length all men may understand whether ye can bind and loose that also ye can take away and give on Earth Empires Kingdoms and whatever mortal men can have Now if the assuming and exercising such Powers be not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that exalting ones self that being called Rabbi Father Master which our Lord prohibiteth what is so what then can those words signify what could our Lord mean The Authority therefore which they assign to Saint Peter and assume to themselves from him is voided by those Declarations and Precepts of our Lord the which it can hardly be well conceived that our Lord would have proposed if he had designed to constitute Saint Peter in such a Supremacy over his Disciples and Church 7. Surveying particulars we shall not find any peculiar administration committed to Saint Peter nor any privilege conferred on him which was not also granted to the other Apostles Was Saint Peter an Ambassadour a Steward a Minister a Vicar if you please or Surrogate of Christ so were they by no less immediate and express warrant than he for As the Father sent me so also I send you said our Lord presently before his departure by those words as St. Cyprian remarketh granting an equal Power to all the Apostles and We saith Saint Paul are Ambassadours for Christ we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God and So let a man esteem us as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Was Saint Peter a Rock on which the Church was to be founded Be it so but no less were they all for the Wall of Jerusalem which came down from Heaven had twelve foundations on which were inscribed the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb and We saith Saint Paul are all built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ himself being the chief Corner stone whence Equally saith St. Hierome the strength of the Church is setled upon them Was Saint Peter an Architect of the Spiritual house as himself calleth the Church so were also they for I saith Saint Paul as a wise Master-builder have laid the Foundation Were the Keys of the Church or of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to him So also were they unto them They had a Power to open and shut it by effectual instruction and persuasion by dispensation of the Sacraments by exercise of Discipline by exclusion of scandalous and heretical Persons Whatever faculty the Keys did import the Apostles did use it in the foundation guidance and government of the Church and did as the Fathers teach impart it to those whom they did in their stead constitute to feed and govern the Church Had Saint Peter a Power given him of binding and loosing effectually So had they immediately granted by our Saviour in as full manner and couched in the same terms If thou shalt bind on Earth it shall be bound in Heaven said our Lord to him and Whatsoever things ye shall bind on Earth they shall be bound in Heaven said the same Divine mouth to them Had he a privilege to remit and retain sins it was then by virtue of that common grant or promise Whos 's soever sins ye remit they shall be remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Had he power and obligation to feed the Sheep of Christ all or some so had they indefinitely and immediately so had others by Authority derived from them who were nominated Pastours who had this charge laid on them Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Bloud whom he doth himself exhort Feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof Let feeding signify what it can instruction or guidance or governance or all of them together Regio more impera if you please as Bellarmine will have it it did appertain to their charge to teach was a common duty to lead and to rule were common functions Saint Peter could not nor would not appropriate it to himself it is his own exhortation when he taketh most upon him Be mindfull of the commandment or precept of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Was his commission universal or unlimited so was theirs by the same immediate Authority for All Power said he to them when he gave his last charge is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Goe therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you and Goe ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature They as St. Chrysostome speaketh were all in common intrusted with the whole world and had the care of all Nations Was he furnished with extraordinary gifts with special graces with continual directions and assistences for the discharge of the Apostolical Office so were they for the promise was common of sending the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth and cloathing them with the power from on high and of endowing them with Power to perform all sorts of miraculous works Our Lord before his departure breathed into them and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost All of them saith Saint Luke were filled with the Holy Ghost all of them with confidence and truth could say It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us all of them did abundantly partake of that character which Saint Paul respected when he did say The Signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in signs and wonders and mighty deeds Did Saint Peter represent the Church as receiving privileges in its behalf as the Fathers affirm so did they according to the same Fathers If therefore saith St. Austin citing the famous place sicut me misit Pater they did bear the Person of the Church and this was said to them as if it were said to the Church it self then the peace of the Church remitteth Sins What singular prerogative then can be imagined appertaining to Saint Peter what substantial advantage could he pretend to beyond the other Apostles Nothing surely doth appear whatever the Patrons of his Supremacy do claim for him is precariously assumed without any fair colour of proof he for it is beholding not to any testimony of Holy Scripture but to the invention of Roman fancy We may well infer with Cardinal Cusanus We know that Peter did not receive more Power from Christ than the other Apostles for nothing was said to Peter which was not also said to the others Therefore addeth he we rightly say that all the Apostles were equal to Peter in Power 8. Whereas Saint Peter himself did write two Catholick Epistles there doth not in them appear any intimation any air or savour of pretence to this Arch-apostolical Power It is natural for Persons endowed with unquestionable Authority howsoever otherwise prudent and modest to discover a spice thereof in the matter or in the style of their writing their Mind conscious of such advantage will suggest an authoritative way of expression especially when they earnestly exhort or seriously reprove in which cases their very Authority is a considerable motive to assent or compliance and strongly doth impress any other arguments But no Critick perusing those Epistles would smell a Pope in them The Speech of Saint Peter although pressing his Doctrine with considerations of this nature hath no tang of such Authority The Elders saith he which are among you I exhort who also am an Elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the Glory that shall be revealed by such excellent but common advantages of his Person and Office he presseth on the Clergy his advices Had he been what they make him he might have said I the peculiar Vicar of Christ and Sovereign of the Apostles do not onely exhort but require this of you this language had been very proper and no less forcible but nothing like this nothing of the Spirit and Majesty of a Pope is seen in his discourse there is no pagina nostrae voluntatis mandati which now is the Papal style when He speaketh highest it is in the common name of the Apostles Be mindfull saith he of the command that is of the Doctrine and Precepts of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour 9. In the Apostolical History the proper place of exercising this power wherein as St. Chrysostome saith we may see the predictions of Christ which he uttered in the Gospels reduced to act and the truth of them shining in the things themselves no footstep thereof doth appear We cannot there discern that Saint Peter did assume any extraordinary authority or that any deference by his Brethren was rendred to him as to their Governour or Judge No instance there doth occur of his laying commands on any one Apostle or exercising any act of jurisdiction upon any one but rather to the contrary divers passages are observable which argue that he pretended to no such thing and that others did not understand any such thing belonging to him His temper indeed and zeal commonly did prompt him to be most forward in speaking and acting upon any emergency for the propagation or maintenance of the Gospel and the memory of the particular charge which our Lord departing had lately put on him strongly might instigate him thereto regard to his special gifts and sufficiency did incline the rest willingly to yield that advantage to him and perhaps because upon the considerations before touched they did allow some preference in order to him but in other respects as to the main administration of things he is but one among the rest not taking upon him in his speech or behaviour beyond others All things are transacted by common agreement and in the name of all concurring no appeal in cases of difference is made singly to him no peremptory decision or decree is made by him no orders are issued out by him alone or in a special way in Ecclesiastical Assemblies he acteth but as one member in deliberations he doth onely propound his opinion and passeth a single vote his judgment and practice are sometime questioned and he is put to render an account of them he doth not stand upon his Authority but assigneth reasons to persuade his opinion and justify his actions yea sometimes he is moved by the rest receiving orders and employment from them these things we may discern by considering the
Power even in Temporal matters This Opinion so common doth not I say in effect and practical consideration any-wise differ from the former but onely in words devised to shun envy and veil the impudence of the other Assertion for the qualifications by reason of the Spiritual Power and at least indirectly are but notional insignificant and illusive in regard to practice it importing not if he hath in his keeping a Sovereign Power upon what account or in what formality he doth employ it seeing that every matter is easily referrible to a Spiritual account seeing he is sole Judge upon what account he doth act seeing experience sheweth that he will spiritualize all his interests and upon any occasion exercise that pretended Authority seeing it little mattereth if he may strike Princes whether he doeth it by a downright blow or slantingly § IV. That such an universal and absolute Power hath been claimed by divers Popes successively for many Ages is apparent from their most solemn Declarations and notorious Practices whereof beginning from later times and rising upwards toward the source of this Doctrine we shall represent some The Bull of P. Sixtus V. against the two Sons of wrath Henry K. of Navarre and the P. of Conde beginneth thus The Authority given to Saint Peter and his Successours by the immense Power of the Eternal King excels all the Powers of earthly Kings and Princes It passes uncontrollable sentence upon them all And if it find any of them resisting God's Ordinance it takes more severe vengeance of them casting them down from their Thrones though never so puissant and tumbling them down to the lowest parts of the earth as the ministers of aspiring Lucifer And then he proceeds to thunder against them We deprive them and their posterity for ever of their Dominions and Kingdoms And accordingly he depriveth those Princes of their Kingdoms and Dominions absolveth their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegeance and forbiddeth them to pay any Obedience to them By the Authority of these presents we do absolve and set free all persons as well jointly as severally from any such Oath and from all duty whatsoever in regard of Dominion Fealty and Obedience and do charge and forbid all and every of them that they do not dare to obey them or any of their Admonitions Laws and Commands P. Pius V. one of their Holiest Popes of the last stamp who hardly hath scaped Canonization untill now beginneth his Bull against our Q. Elizabeth in these words He that reigneth on high to whom is given all Power in Heaven and in Earth hath committed the one H. Catholick and Apostolick Church out of which there is no Salvation to one alone on earth namely to Peter Prince of the Apostles and to the Roman Pontife Successour of Peter to be governed with a plenitude of Power This one he hath constituted Prince over all Nations and all Kingdoms that he might pluck up destroy dissipate ruinate plant and build And in the same Bull he declares that he thereby deprives the Queen of her pretended right to the Kingdom and of all Dominion Dignity and Privilege whatsoever and absolves all the Nobles Subjects and people of the Kingdom and whoever else have sworn to her from their Oath and all duty whatsoever in regard of Dominion Fidelity and Obedience P. Clement VI. did pretend to depose the Emperour Lewis IV. P. Clement V. in the great Synod of Vienna declared the Emperour subject to him or standing obliged to him by a proper Oath of Fealty P. Boniface VIII hath a Decree extant in the Canon-Law running thus We declare say define pronounce it to be of necessity to Salvation for every humane creature to be subject to the Roman Pontife The which Subjection according to this intent reacheth all matters for he there challengeth a double Sword and asserteth to himself Jurisdiction over all Temporal Authorities for One Sword saith he must be under another and the Temporal Authority must be subject to the Spiritual Power whence if the Earthly Power doth go astray it must be judged by the Spiritual Power The which Aphorisms he proveth by Scriptures admirably expounded to that purpose This Definition might pass for a Rant of that boisterous Pope a man above measure ambitious and arrogant vented in his passion against K. Philip of France if it had not the advantage of a greater than which no Papal Decree is capable of being expresly confirmed by one of their General Councils for We saith P. Leo X. in his Bull read and pasâ—ed in the Laterane Council do renew and approve that H. Constitution with approbation of the present H. Council Accordingly Melch. Canus saith that the Laterane Council did renew and approve that extravagant indeed extravagant Constitution and Baronius saith of it that all do assent to it so that none dissenteth who doth not by discord fall from the Church The truth is P. Boniface did not invent that Proposition but borrowed it from the School for Thomas Aquinas in his work against the Greeks pretendeth to shew that it is of necessity to Salvation to be subject to the Roman Pontife The which Scholastical Aphorism P. Boniface turned into Law and applied to his purpose of exercising domination over Princes offering in virtue of it to deprive King Philip of his Kingdom The Appendix to Mart. Pol. saith of P. Boniface VIII Regem se Regum Mundi Monarcham unicum in Spiritualibus Temporalibus Dominum promulgavit That he openly declar'd himself to be King of Kings Monarch of the world and sole Lord and Governour both in Spirituals and Temporals Before him P. Innocent IV. did hold and exemplifie the same notion declaring the Emperour Frederick II. his Vassal and denouncing in his General Council of Lions a sentence of Deprivation against him in these terms We having about the foregoing and many other his wicked Miscarriages had before a carefull deliberation with our Brethren and the H. Council seeing that we although unworthy to hold the place of Jesus Christ on earth and that it was said unto us in the person of Saint Peter the Apostle Whatever thou shalt bind on earth the said Prince who hath rendred himself unworthy of Empire and Kingdoms and of all Honour and Dignity and who for his iniquities is cast away by God that he should not reign or command being bound by his sins and cast away and deprived by the Lord of all Honour and Dignity do shew denounce and accordingly by sentence deprive absolving all who are held bound by Oath of Allegeance from such Oath for ever by Apostolical authority firmly prohibiting that no man henceforth do obey or regard him as Emperour or King and decreeing that whoever shall hereafter yield advice or aid or favour to him as Emperour or King shall immediately lie under the band of Excommunication Before him Pope Innocent the Third that
had a peculiar or sole faculty of catching men why might it not by as good a consequence as this whereby they would appropriate to him this opening faculty Many such instances might in like manner be used III. They produce those words of our Saviour to Saint Peter Feed my sheep that is in the Roman interpretation Be thou Vniversal Governour of my Church To this allegation I answer 1. From words which truly and properly might have been said to any other Apostle yea to any Christian Pastour whatever nothing can be concluded to their purpose importing a peculiar duty or singular privilege of Saint Peter 2. From indefinite words a definite conclusion especially in matters of this Kind may not be inferred it is said do thou feed my Sheep it is not said do thou alone feed all my Sheep this is their arbitrary gloss or presumptuous improvement of the Text without succour whereof the words signify nothing to their purpose so far are they from sufficiently assuring so vast a pretence for instance when Saint Paul doth exhort the Bishops at Ephesus to feed the Church of God may it thence be collected that each of them was an Universal Governour of the whole Church which Christ had purchased with his own bloud 3. By these words no new power is assuredly at least granted or instituted by our Lord for the Apostles before this had their Warrant and Authority consigned to them when our Lord did inspire them and solemnly commissionate them saying As the Father did send me so I send you to which Commission these words spoken occasionally before a few of the Disciples did not add or derogate At most the words do onely as St. Cyril saith renew the former Grant of Apostleship after his great offence of denying our Lord. 4. These words do not seem institutive or collative of Power but rather onely admonitive or exhortative to duty implying no more but the pressing a common duty before incumbent on Saint Peter upon a special occasion in an advantagious season that he should effectually discharge the Office which our Lord had committed to him Our Lord I say presently before his departure when his words were like to have a strong impression on Saint Peter doth earnestly direct and warn him to express that special ardency of affection which he observed in him in an answerable care to perform his duty of feeding that is of instructing guiding edifying in faith and obedience those Sheep of his that is those Believers who should be converted to embrace his Religion as ever he should find opportunity 5. The same Office certainly did belong to all the Apostles who as Saint Hierome speaketh were the Princes of our Discipline and Chieftains of the Christian Doctrine they at their first vocation had a commission and command to go unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel that were scattered abroad like sheep not having a shepherd they before our Lord's Ascension were enjoyned to teach all Nations the Doctrines and Precepts of Christ to receive them into the fold to feed them with good instruction to guide and govern their Converts with good Discipline Hence All of them as Saint Cyprian saith were shepherds but the flock did appear one which was fed by the Apostles with unanimous agreement 6. Neither could Saint Peter's charge be more extensive than was that of the other Apostles for they had a general and unlimited care of the whole Church that is according to their capacity and opportunity none being exempted from it who needed or came into the way of their discharging Pastoral Offices for them They were Oecumenical Rulers as St. Chrysostome saith appointed by God who did not receive several Nations or Cities but all of them in common were entrusted with the world Hence particularly St. Chrysostome calleth Saint John a pillar of the Churches over the world and Saint Paul an Apostle of the world who had the care not of one House but of Cities and Nations and of the whole Earth who undertook the World and governed the Churches on whom the whole world did look and on whose soul the care of all the Churches every-where did hang into whose hands were delivered the Earth and the Sea the inhabited and uninhabited parts of the World And could Saint Peter have a larger Flock committed to him could this charge feed my sheep more agree to him than to those who no less than he were obliged to feed all Christian people every-where 7. The words indeed are applicable to all Christian Bishops and Governours of the Church according to that of St. Cyprian to Pope Stephen himself we being many Shepherds do feed one flock and all the sheep of Christ for they are styled Pastours they in terms as indefinite as those in this text are exhorted to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own bloud to them as the Fathers commonly suppose this Injunction doth reach our Lord when he spake thus to Saint Peter intending to lay a charge on them all to express their love and piety toward them in this way by feeding his Sheep and People Which Sheep saith Saint Ambrose and which Flock not onely then Saint Peter did receive but also with him all we Priests did receive it Our Lord saith Saint Chrysostome did commit his Sheep to Peter and to those which came after him that is to all Christian Pastours as the scope of his discourse sheweth When it is said to Peter saith Saint Austin it is said to all Feed my Sheep And we saith Saint Basil are taught this obedience to Superiours by Christ himself constituting Saint Peter Pastour after himself of the Church for Peter saith he dost thou love me more than these feed my Sheep and conferring to all Pastours and Teachers continually afterward an equal power of doing so whereof it is a sign that all do in like manner bind and do loose as he Saint Austin comprizeth all these considerations in those words How could these great Masters more clearly express their mind that our Lord in those words to Saint Peter did inculcate a duty no-wise peculiar to him but equally together with him belonging to all Guides of the Church in such manner as when a Master doth press a duty on one Servant he doth thereby admonish all his Servants of the like duty whence St. Austin saith that Saint Peter in that case did sustain the person of the Church that which was spoken to him belonging to all its members especially to his Brethren the Clergy It was saith Cyril a lesson to Teachers that they cannot otherwise please the Arch-pastour of all than by taking care of the welfare of the rational Sheep 8. Hence it followeth that the Sheep which our Saviour biddeth St. Peter to feed were not the Apostles who were his Fellow-shepherds designed to feed others and needing not to be
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal in honour to Saint Peter as we before shewed The like we declared of St. Hierome St. Cyril c. And as for St. Cyprian who did allow a Primacy to Saint Peter nothing can be more evident than that he took the other Apostles to be equal to him in power and honour The like we may conceive of St. Austin who having carefully perused those Writings of St. Cyprian and frequently alledging them doth never contradict that his sentiment Even Pope Gregory himself acknowledgeth Saint Peter not to have been properly the Head but onely the first member of the universal Church all being members of the Church under one head 6. If Pope Leo I. or any other ancient Pope do seem to mean farther we may reasonably except against their Opinion as being singular and proceeding from partial affection to their See such affection having influence on the mind of the wisest men according to that certain maxime of Aristotle every man is a bad Judge in his own case 7. The Ancients when their subject doth allure them do adorn other Apostles with the like titles equalling those of Saint Peter and not well consistent with them according to that rigour of sense which our adversaries affix to the commendations of Saint Peter The Epistle of Clemens Rom. to Saint James an Apocryphal but ancient Writing calleth St. James our Lord's Brother The Bishop of Bishops the Clementine Recognitions call him the Prince of Bishops Ruffinus in his translation of Eusebius The Bishop of the Apostles St. Chrysost. saith of him that he did preside over all the Jewish believers Hesychius Presbyter of Jerusalem calleth him the chief Captain of the New Jerusalem the Captain of Priests the Prince of the Apostles the top among the Heads c. The same Hesychius calleth Saint Andrew the first-born of the Apostolical Choire the first setled pillar of the Church the Peter before Peter the foundation of the foundation the first-fruits of the beginning c. St. Chrysostome saith of Saint John that he was a pillar of the Churches through the world he that had the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. But as occasion of speaking about Saint Paul was more frequent so the elogies of him are more copious and indeed so high as not to yield to those of Saint Peter He was saith St. Chrysostome the ringleader and guardian of the Choire of all the Saints He was the tongue the teacher the Apostle of the world He had the whole world put into his hands and took care thereof and had committed to him all men dwelling upon Earth He was the light of the Churches the foundation of Faith the pillar and ground of Truth He had the patronage of the World committed into his hands He was better than all men greater than the Apostles and surpassing them all Nothing was more bright nothing more illustrious than he None was greater than he yea none equal to him Pope Gregory I. saith of Saint Paul that he was made head of the Nations because he obtained the principate of the whole Church These Characters of Saint Paul I leave them to interpret and reconcile with those of Saint Peter 8. That the Fathers by calling Saint Peter Prince Chieftain c. of the Apostles do not mean Authority over them may be argued from their joining Saint Paul with him in the same appellations who yet surely could have no Jurisdiction over them and his having any would destroy the pretended Ecclesiastical Monarchy St. Cyril calleth them together Patrons or Presidents of the Church St. Austin or St. Ambr. or Max. calleth them Princes of the Churches The Popes Agatho and Adrian in their General Synods call them the ring-leading Apostles The Popes Nicholas I. and Gregory VII c. call them Princes of the Apostles St. Ambrose or St. Austin or St. Maximus Taur chuse you which doth thus speak of them Blessed Peter and Paul are most eminent among all the Apostles excelling the rest by a kind of peculiar prerogative but whether of these two be preferred before the other is uncertain for I count them to be equal in merit because they are equal in suffering c. To all this discourse I shall onely adde that if any of the Apostles or Apostolical men might claim a presidency or authoritative headship over the rest Saint James seemeth to have the best title thereto for Jerusalem was the mother of all Churches the fountain of the Christian Law and Doctrine the See of our Lord himself the chief Pastour He therefore who as the Fathers tell us was by our Lord himself constituted Bishop of that City and the first of all Bishops might best pretend to be in special manner our Lord's Vicar or Successour He saith Epiphanius did first receive the Episcopal Chair and to him our Lord first did entrust his own Throne upon Earth He accordingly did first exercise the Authority of presiding and moderating in the first Ecclesiastical Synod as St. Chrysostome in his Notes thereon doth remark He therefore probably by Saint Paul is first named in his report concerning the passages at Hierusalem and to his orders it seemeth that Saint Peter himself did conform for 't is said there that before certain came from Saint James he did eat with the Gentiles but when they were come he withdrew Hence in the Apostolical Constitutions in the Prayer prescribed for the Church and for all the Governours of it the Bishops of the principal Churches being specified by name Saint James is put in the first place before the Bishops of Rome and of Antioch Let us pray for the whole Episcopacy under Heaven of those who rightly dispense the word of thy Truth and let us pray for our Bishop James with all his Parishes let us pray for our Bishop Clemens and all his Parishes let us pray for Evodius and all his Parishes Hereto consenteth the Tradition of those ancient Writers afore cited who call Saint James the Bishop of Bishops the Bishop of the Apostles c. SUPPOSITION II. I proceed to examine the next Supposition of the Church Monarchists which is That Saint Peter's Primacy with its Rights and Prerogatives was not personal but derivable to his Successours AGainst which Supposition I do assert that admitting a Primacy of Saint Peter of what kind or to what purpose soever we yet have reason to deem it merely personal and not according to its grounds and its design communicable to any Successours nor indeed in effect conveyed to any such It is a rule in the Canon Law that a personal Privilege doth follow the Person and is extinguished with the Person and such we affirm that of St. Peter for 1. His Primacy was grounded upon personal acts such as his chearfull following of Christ his faithfull confessing of Christ his resolute adherence to Christ his embracing
nor probably did they desire so much as our Adversaries do give to Saint Peter yet our Lord doth not onely reject their sute but generally declareth that none of them were capable of such a preferment in his Kingdom which therein differed from worldly Dominion because in it there was no room for such an ambition especially in that state of things wherein the Apostles were to be placed which was a state of undergoing Persecutions not of enjoying Dignity or exercising Command all the preferment which they reasonably could aspire to being to be dispenced in the future state whereof they were not aware according to God's preparation in correspondence to the patience and industry any of them should exert in God's service upon which account St. Chrysostome saith it was a clear case that Saint Paul should obtain the preference It was indeed as our Lord intimateth incongruous for those who had forsaken all things for Christ who had embraced a condition of disgrace who were designed by self-denial humility neglect of temporal grandeur wealth and honour by undergoing persecution and undertaking conformity to our Lord being baptized with the baptism with which he was baptized to propagate the Faith of a Crucified Master to seek or take on them authoritative dignity for among them there could not well be any need of commanding or being commanded it was more fit that all of them should conspire to help and serve one another in promoting the common design and service of their Lord with mutual condescension and compliance which was the best way of recommending themselves to his acceptance and obtaining from him answerable reward Such was the drift of our Lord's discourse whereunto as in the other case he did annex the prohibition of exercising dominion Ye know saith he that the Princes of nations exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be first among you let him be your servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whoever among you hath a mind to special grandeur and preeminence let him understand that there is no other to be attained beside that which resulteth from the humble performance of charitable Offices to his Brethren the which whoever shall best discharge he alone will become greatest and highest in the eye of God Again at another time the Apostles dreaming of a secular Kingdom to be erected by our Lord disputed among themselves who should be the greatest and for satisfaction presumed to enquire of our Lord about it whenas they surely were very ignorant of Saint Peter's being their head so there was a fair occasion as could be of our Lord 's instructing them in that point and injoyning their duty towards him but he did not so but rather taught him together with the rest not to pretend to any such thing as preferment above the rest He sitting down called the twelve and said unto them If any one desire to be first the same shall be last of all and servant of all how could he considering the occasion and circumstances of that speech in plainer terms establish equality or discountenance any claim to superiority among them Had Saint Peter then advanced such a plea as they now affirm of right belonging to him would he not thereby have depressed and debased himself to the lowest degree To impress this Rule our Lord then calling a little child did set him in the midst of them telling them that except they were converted from such ambitious pretences and became like little children wholly void of such conceits they could not enter into the Kingdom of heaven that is could not in effect be so much as ordinary good Christians adjoyning that whosoever should humble himself as did that little child not affecting or assuming more than such an innocent did should be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven in real worth and in the favour of God transcending the rest so that Saint Peter claiming Superiority to himself would have forfeited any title to eminency among Christians Again as to the power which is now ascribed to Saint Peter by the Party of his pretended Successours we may argue from another place where our Saviour prohibiting his Disciples to resemble the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees in their ambitious desires and practices their affectations of preeminence their assuming places and titles importing difference of rank and authority He saith But be ye not called Rabbi for there is one Master one Guide or Governour of you even Christ but ye are Brethren How more pregnantly could he have declared the nature of his Constitution and the relation of Christians one to another established therein to exclude such differences of Power whereby one doth in way of domination impose his opinion or his will on others Ye are all fellow-scholars fellow-servants and fellow-children of God it therefore doth not become you to be any-wise imperious over one another but all of you humbly and lovingly to conspire in learning and observing the Precepts of your common Lord the doing which is backed with a Promise and a Threat sutable to the purpose He that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that will abase himself shall be exalted the which sentences are to be interpreted according to the intent of the Rules foregoing If it be said that such discourse doth impugn all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction I answer that indeed thereby is removed all such haughty and harsh Rule which some have exercised over Christians that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arbitrary power that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolute uncontrollable authority that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tyrannical prerogative of which the Fathers complain that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domineering over their charges which Saint Peter forbiddeth We saith St. Chrysostome were designed to teach the word not to exercise empire or absolute sovereignty we do bear the rank of advisers exhorting to duty A Bishop saith St. Hierome differeth from a King in that a Bishop presideth over those that are willing the King against their will that is the Bishop's governance should be so gentle and easie that men hardly can be unwilling to comply with it but should obey as Saint Peter exhorteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by constraint but of their own accord and Let saith he the Bishops be content with their honour let them know themselves to be Fathers not Lords they should be loved not feared And Thou saith St. Bernard to Pope Eugenius dost superintend the name of Bishop signifying to thee not dominion but duty At least those precepts of our Lord do exclude that Power which is ascribed to Saint Peter over the Apostles themselves the which indeed is greater than in likelihood any Pharisee did ever affect yea in many respects doth exceed any domination which hath been claimed or usurped by the most