and J will giue to thee the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind vpon earth it shall bee bound also in the heavens and whatsoever thou shalt loose in earth it shall be loosed also in the Heavens Math. 16. v. 18.19 And our Saviour said Simon Simon behold Satan hath required to haue thee for to sift as wheat But I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not and thou being converted confirme thy Brothren Luk. 22. v. 31.32 Our Saviour Christ asking Peter if he loued him more then these said yea Lord thou knowest I loue thee whereupon Christ said to him twice feed my Lambes and the third time feede my Sheepe Ioh. 21. v. 15.16.17 That Saint Peter was chiefe of the Apostles and the first Bishop of Rome When all the holy Apostles are named S. Peter is the first Math. 10. vers 2. After the Apostles had visibly receiued the Holy Ghost S. Peter made the first Sermon thereof whereat 3000. persons were converted Act. 2. v. 41. With his word and power he killed Ananias and Saphira for their Sacriledge Act. 5. v. 5. Saiut Peter called the first Councell of the Apostles held at Ierusalem and first spake therein Act. 15. v. 7. Jt is affirmed by old writers and some moderne learned Protestants that S. Peter was 15. yeares Bishop of Rome and by the auncient Ecclesiasticall wryters that S. Peter and S. Paul were both of them martyred together in Rome vnder the Emperour Nero. Orig. apud Euseb Lib. 3. cap. 1. Eus Cap. 24. Lib. 2. Hist Eccliastic Tertul. de praesc c. 26. Aug. tract 123 in Ioh. Chrysost Beda in hunc locum S. Ambr. Serm. 66.68 St Maximus Statu faelix Ecclesia cui totam doctrinam Apostoli cum suo fanguine pro funderunt vbi Petrus passioni Dominicae adaequatur vbi Paulus Iohannis exitu Coronatur Tertul. de Praescrip cap. 36. That St Peters Successors Bishops of Rome haue exercised chiefe authority in the Church Militant ever since to this day After the Martyrdome of St Peter first Bishop of Rome 32. of the succeeding Bishops there were martyred for the faith of Christ Eusebius Pope Victor in the first 200. yeares excommunicated the Asian Bishops about the observation or keeping Easter day Pope Silvester 314. yeeres called the first Councell of Nice against the Arian hereste Pope Damasus 367. called the second generall Councell at Constantinople against Macedonius the heretique Pope Caelestine 414. called the third generall Councell at Ephesus against Nestorius the heretique Pope Leo 440. called the fourth generall Councell at Calcedon against the heretique Eutiches And likewise euer since to the last generall Councell of Trent the Bishops of Rome haue called them all as heresies and false Prophets did arise in the Church Jt is confessed by divers learned Protestants that the Roman Church was the true Mother Church which Christ our Saviour planted some for 300. yeares some for 400. yeares some for 600. yeares and some for 800 yeares after Christ which being true that it was once the true Church and also true that our Saviour Christ promised to bee with it to the consummation of the world and to send the spirit of Truth to abide with it for ever and that Hell gates should not preuaile against it and Christ saith Heaven and Earth shall passe but my words shall not passe How then can it be true that the Roman Church being once the true mother Church should fall so fouly from her first puritie as is by some too too boldly affirmed Jt is so necessary for every one to know and beliene the holy Catholique Church Militant that whosoever is not a sound member of that society either in act or desire cannot be saved as all those which were out of Noahs Arke were drowned And to end with a demonstration all the Patriarchall Episcopall Seas of the Apostles be extinguished and worne out many hundred yeares since by Heretiques and Jnfidels onely the Church of Rome the Seate of Saint Peter stands at this day most conspicuous according to the prayer and promise of Christ that his faith should not faile and that the gates of Hell should not prevaile against it Thus briefly is proued the beginning encreasing and continuing of the holy Christian Catholique Apostolique and Romane Church as also the promised continuall assistance of the Holy Ghost the Spirit of truth to remaine therewith alwaies to the Consummation of the World that is for ever Of which Vine all Christians that shall be saued must be vnited liuely branches and members THE ANSWERE to the Priests Motiues GOod Brother Whosoever he was that sent you these lines as motiues to make you a Romish Catholique I must needs thinke him your friend and by that name I meane to call him hereafter because I thinke hee did it out of a desire to saue your soule although I am sure he goes the wrong way to worke And if you should follow him which God forbid hee will certainly leade you into the ditch Though his proofes bee simple ones as I hope you will see by the answere yet it seemes hee thought better of them and they were the best he knew and therefore if hee faile in his purpose as I hope he shall yet you haue some cause to thanke him in that hee vsed the same arguments to perswade you wherewith hee himselfe was perswaded But for the validity of his reasons doe you judge your selfe when you haue heard vs both speake or if not let it bee tried by God and the country And who soever he was he hath placed a sentence in the foot of his discourse which for the importancie thereof deserved to bee set in a higher roome therefore I will begin with that first The true Catholique Church Jt is so necessary saith hee for every one to know and beleeue the holy Catholique Church militant that whosoever is not a sound member of that society either in act or desire cannot bee saved All this is true and there is great reason for it for if it were once agreed among Christians which were the true Church of Christ other differences in Religion would more easily be composed by the authority thereof But so long as the doubt remaines concerning the Church it selfe as in these daies that is the capitall controversie betweene Protestants Papists there is small hope of any good accord vnlesse both sides could agree vpon some third party to be vmpire Who must be such a one as is of sufficient vnderstanding to discerne where the truth resteth and withall of that indifferency in affection that he encline no way to one side more then to another For that either the Romish or reformed Church being themselues the parties litigant that they should require to be made Iudges in their own cause though some of our adver saries be not ashamed to make such a proposition yet I thinke there is no man that hath his fiue wits about him
friends can assure him that there is no proofe of it there so haue wee also just cause to mistrust the inferior Priests the feet when the head begins to faile and when we heare S. Hierome crying out that all heresies and commotions both Ecclesiasticall and Civill commonly came from Priests nay it seemes they justly deserue to be thus stigmatized when their owne Canons haue laid this note vpon them which saies omne malum à Sacerdotibus dist 50. quod retentum à Gregorio 13. expunxit Sixtus Quintus Jnd. expurg Belg. fol 306. Besides by this rule of blind obedience they that followed Luthers doctrine are justified against the Pope because he was their lawfull Pastor and they did no more then their duty in harkening vnto him if it be true indeede that the Laity are bound to obey the Clergy in all things touching their faith and salvation The perpetuity of Christs Church on earth That the Church increased by Preaching and Miracles at the first That it shall continue vnto the end of the world by vertue of Christs promise and the assistance of the Holy Ghost All this is vndoubted truth and I pray you aske your friend whether hee know any Protestant that doth deny it Stapleton some other of the shamelesse crew haue gone about to perswade the world that wee beleeue not the perpetuity of Christs Church for ever vpon earth but it is so shamelesse a slaunder that Bellarmine himselfe stands vpon our defence and pleads our cause against all such calumniators Notandum est saith he multos ex nostris tempus terere let your friend note it for hee is one of those multi whom it concernes dum probant absolutè Ecclesiam non posse deficere Nam Calvinus caeteri Haeretici id concedunt Bellarm lib. 3. de Eccl. milit c. 13. in initio capit And though himselfe vndertaking in the same place to set downe the Protestants opinion doe it very vntowardly yet you see what hee thinkes of those other gamesters who charge vs to hold that the Church hath at sometime decayed and consequently that Christ hath failed in his promise made vnto her Tempus terunt saith he they are all but triflers If your friend haue any such conce it of vs desire him to belieue Bellarmine and hereafter to haue a better opinion If not aske him to what purpose hee cited Isa 59.22 Math. 28.19.20 Joh. 14.16.17 Math. 18.18 Howsoever let him now know that we belieue the Catholique Church to bee Regnum quod non dissipabitur an everlasting Kingdome that shall stand when all earthly Kingdomes faile But wee doe not beleeue that this is true of every particular Church and wee know that the Romish Church is no more then a particular and therefore as subiect to mutability and corruption as any other of the same nature Secondly tell him how wee beleeue that the holy Ghost doth and ever will guide the same Catholique Church into all necessary truth but we deny first that all those things are necessary to be beleeved which Rome professeth as truths Secondly that the guidance into such truths is a grace entailed to any one succession of Bishops more then to other or that the Popes chaire hath any greater reason to presume of her infallibility then any other Patriarchicall Seas had heretofore of theirs But we must talke more of this hereafter Saint Peter not the ministeriall head of the Church That our Saviour did constitute St Peter to bee Ministeriall of his Church Well may the name of a Ministeriall head be given to Saint Peter in respect of his Apostleship and there is not one of the twelue but that in the same respect the same name belongs vnto him as they are called the twelue foundations of the holy Ierusalem Apoc. 21.14 so they may bee called 12. Ministeriall Heads of the Church vnder Christ But to appropriate these names vnto Peter alone to make him not a Ministeriall but the Ministeriall head as if the rest were no Heads at all it is such a wrong done to the other Apostles as cruell Landlords sometimes offer to their Tenants when they take away their common from them and make it their owne inclosure As for the curtesie which perhaps they thinke they doe vnto Saint Peter it is such a one as he will never giue them thankes for that blessed Saint knowes well enough that all this quarrelling about Supremacy is not for his sake but for the Popes and that his name is vsed only for a leaping stocke to helpe the other to horse Hee takes as much delight in this honourable supremacy which they would cast vpon him joyned with the disgrace of his fellow Apostles as Paul and Barnabas did when the men of Lystra would haue sacrificed vnto them Act. 14.14 Hoc erant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti Honoris Potestatis Cip. de vnit Eccles And yet we doe not say that this equality betweene the Apostles was so equall but that there was ever a Prius Posterius among them as in all well-guided societies it is fit there should bee for avoiding confusion Iames and Peter and Iohn are termed Pillars by which they are vnderstood to be persons of speciall note among the rest Gal. 2.9 and like enough that Peter in regard either of his seniority in the Apostleship or the fervency of his zeale to Christ or some other speciall grace wherein hee did excell might be a more eminent pillar then any one of the other vt Plato Princeps Philosophorum sic Petrus Princeps Apostolorum Hierom. adversus Pelag. lib. 1. cap. 4. Now as that name made not other Philosophers subiect to Plato so neither doth the like giuen to Peter inferre any Iurisdiction that hee had over his fellowes or makes them any whit inferiour vnto him that way Saint Ambrose saith of Paul that he was not inferiour to Peter or to any other of the Apostles that went before onely in time in 2. Cor. 12.9 And in his booke de Incar Dom. Cap. 4. speaking of that Primacy that Peter had he calleth it Primatum Confessionis wherein Peter was preferred a primacy of confession faith he not of honour a primacy of faith but not of degree Your friend is of another minde and brings Scripture to proue a greater supremacy given vnto Peter then all this we speake of consider his proofes St Peters supremacy And I say to thee thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it and J will giue to thee the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind vpon earth it shall be bound also in the heavens and whatsoever thou shalt loose in earth it shall be loosed also in the heavens Math. 6. vers 18.19 Before that ever our Saviour spake these words to Peter you must vnderstand that hee had proposed a certaine question to them all
in generall Vos autem quem me esse dicitis v. 15. Vnto which question Peter making answere in the name of them all saith Tues ille filius Dei viuentis vers 16. Wherevpon hee receiued the promise of the keyes and those other comfortable words spoken by Christ vnto him vers 18.19 yet not so spoken to him alone but that it is apparent that the substance of the promise did equally belong vnto them all and there is nothing singularly belonging vnto Peter alone throughout the whole speech but only an allusion betweene his name and the nature of his confession betweene Petrus Petra for the rest it is all common for either wee must say that the disciples did make no answere at all to their Masters question which had beene a point of great incivility and so not likely or else the answer that Peter made must bee taken for their common answer and his confession the common confession of them all Now if it be granted that it was the common confession and only delivered by Peter as the fore-man of the Jury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. Hist Eccl. cap. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so Eusebius calls him our Saviours-reply therevnto cannot with any congruity be otherwise vnderstood then to belong vnto them all though spoken vnto Peter as judges vse to direct their speech to the foreman when they would haue the whole Iury take knowledge of it Petrus pro omnibus dixit cum omnibus accepit Orig. tract 1. in Mat. Aug. de verbis Dom. secund Mat. Ser. 13. Quia tu dixisti mihi Tu es filius Dei viui ego tibi tu es Petrus Vpon this rocke will I build my Church Whether by the rocke wee vnderstand Christ himselfe or whether wee vnderstand the confession of Saint Peter made of Christ all comes to one if there be any difference betweene them it is meerely verball and consisteth rather of a diverse manner of mens expressing their mindes then in any matter of substance But for the person of Peter the Church of Christ did never vnderstand her selfe to bee any otherwise built vpon it then vpon the rest of the Apostles Apoc. 21.14 or then Saint Paul when hee saith it is built vpon the foundation not only of the Apostles but also of the Prophets that is vpon their doctrine Eph. 2.20 Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram quam confessus es super hanc Petram quam cognovisti dicens tu es Christus filius Dei viui aedificabo Ecclesiam meam super me aedificabo te non me super te Aug. vbi supra I could cite twenty places out of August to the same purpose besides Ambr. Ser. 84. Hil. de Trin. l. 2. Hier. in Mat. l. 1. c. 7. Tert. adversus Marcion l. 4. c. 13 Theod. in Psal 47. But for August he is so plain for vs against the Popish interpretation that Bellarmine would faine quarrell with him vpon the point chargeth him with ignorance of the Hebrew tongue l. 1. de Rom. Pont. c. 10. and Stapleton calls it lapsum humanum in that holy Father because he could not thinke of the matter as they would haue him Princip doctrinal lib. 6. c. 3. And the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it This makes it more plaine that the other part of the speech was not spoken to Peter alone because this cannot bee vnderstood of Peter alone and so Origen collecteth Tr. 1. in Mat. shall we dare to say saith he that the gates of Hell shall not overcome onely Peter and that the same gates shall prevaile against all the other Apostles And againe in the same Tract 1. in Mat. If you thinke that the whole Church was builded only vpon Peter what will you say of Iohn the sonne of thunder and of every of the Apostles And I will giue to thee the keyes c. Here is nothing promised in the Keyes to Peter nor in the power of binding loosing but what is likewise promised to all the Apostles Mat. 18.18 Quaecunque ligaveritis in terrâ erunt ligata in coelo and when this promise came to performance Ioh. 20.22.23 you shall finde that it was performed to all alike Accipite Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittentur iis -Now it is certaine that remitting and retaining of sins is a power of the same extent with the power of the keyes and that being giuen to them all Ioh. 20. as well as vnto Peter proues that there was nothing promised vnto Peter Mat. 16. but was intended to them all Cuncti Apostoli claves regni coelorum accipiunt Hier. adversus Iovinianum l. 1. Origen An vero soli Petro dantur claves regni coelorum nec alius beatorum quisquam eas accepturus est Quod si dictum hoc tibi dabo claves caeteris quoque commune est cur non simul omnia communia Tract 1. in Mat. Cypr. Christus Apostolis omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem tribuit l. 1. de vnitat Eccl. August in Ioh. tractat 124. quando Petro dictum est tibi dabo claves quodcunque ligaveris vniversam significabat ecclesiam vide eundem Tra. 50. Theoph vpon Math. 16. Nay Anselme that was a child in comparison of the Fathers yet hee vnderstood this truth Notandum est saith he quod haec potestas non solum Petro data est sed siout Petrus vnus pro omnibus respondit sic Christus in Petro omnibus hanc potestatem dedit And our Saviour said Simon Simon behold Satan hath required to haue thee for to sift as wheat but J haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not and thou being converted confirme thy brethren Luk. 22. vers 31.32 The first part of this speech was spoken to all the Disciples Satanas expetivit vos vt cribraret as the vulgar likewise translateth and therefore it is no good dealing in your friend to render it in the singular number Satan hath required to haue thee for to sift as if these words had beene spoken to Peter alone which is a meere falsifying of the Text as if a man would pay his creditor with counterfeit coine but let that passe with his former citation of Malachy In the words themselues 1. Christ signifies to his Disciples the malice of Satan against them all and consequently the dāger wherein they stood vnlesse his grace did stand by them 2. Because he knew that Peters danger was greatest that he would proue the weakest in his performance who had made the greatest promises of loue to his Master Christ I say foreseeing that Peters fall would bee more dangerous in many respects then the fall of any of his other fellowes therefore hee turnes the latter part of his speech to him alone promising to assist him with his speciall prayer as the greatnes of his sinne had speeciall need of If Satan desire to sift them all saith Chrysostome why