Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A30059
|
The contrariety of popery to the blessed word of God wherein may be seen that the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome are not consistent with the sacred oracles of the Old and New Testament ... / written by Digby Bull ...
|
Bull, Digby.
|
1695
(1695)
|
Wing B5410; ESTC R8749
|
67,944
|
72
|
The Contrariety of POPERY TO THE Blessed Word of GOD Wherein may be seen that the DOCTRINE and PRACTICE OF THE Church of Rome Are not consistent with the SACRED ORACLES OF THE Old and New Testament Very fit now to be seriously minded by all Good PROTESTANTS when we have such Warnings of the Approach of Popery Written by DIGBY BULL M. A. and late Rector of Sheldon in Warwick-shire LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by J. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1695. I. The Fundamental Doctrine of the Romish Church That the blessed Apostle St. Peter was the Head and Governour of all the Apostles and of all the Church is not consistent with the sacred Scriptures but is flat contrary to them THIS grand Position of the Church of Rome whereupon all their pretended Power and Authority is built is altogether groundless and false and not consistent with the blessed Word of God as we may see by a multitude of places First We may see That the places of Scripture which are urged upon this account have no force at all to prove that St. Peter was the Universal Head and Governour of the Apostles and of the Church Great Matters are spoken of St. Peter but nothing at all that will prove this Matt. 16.18 Saith our blessed Lord to him Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it But this doth not prove that St. Peter was to be the sole Foundation of the Church and it is clear by other places of Scripture that this is not the meaning of this place For in this Similitude wherein the Church is compared to a Building Jesus Christ our blessed Lord is the sole and only Foundation and none can pretend to be a Foundation in such a high manner as he is so And this the Apostle St. Paul hath plainly taught us 1 Cor. 3.11 For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Here when some were pretending to be of Paul and some of Apollos the Apostle doth positively affirm That Christ Jesus is the Foundation upon which the Christian Church was to be built and neither Paul nor Apollos nor Cephas or Peter are to stand in competition with him in this respect And when the Foundation is attributed to the Apostles they are mentioned together and Christ is called the chief Corner-stone Ephes 2.20 saith St. Paul And are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone And in St. John's holy Jerusalem the Apostles are all equally concerned Rev. 21.14 And the Wall of the City had twelve Foundations saith he and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. The Apostles we see are all concerned in the Foundation of the Christian Church and it was to be built upon them all as Ministers in this Spiritual Building and in respect of the Doctrine and Foundation of Christ which they laid and St. Peter alone is not the Foundation of the Christian Church And not only St. Peter but others also are mentioned as Pillars of the Church Gal. 2.9 saith St. Paul And when James Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me James and John here are accounted as Pillars of the Church as well as Cephas that is Peter It is plain we see that St. Peter was not appointed to be the sole Foundation of the Christian Church and that nothing can be fairly urged from these words of our Saviour to him to prove him to be the Universal Head of the Church Again our blessed Saviour promiseth to St. Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and power of binding and loosing Mat. 16.19 And I will give unto thee saith he to Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Here we see that very great Power indeed is promised to St. Peter but yet this doth not at all prove him to be the Universal Head over all the Church For this seems not to be an actual Grant of this Power but only a Promise and the actual conferring of this Power doth clear this matter That it was not granted to St. Peter alone but to all the Apostles This may be clearly seen by these places Matt. 18.18 Verily I say unto you saith our Lord whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Here the Power of Binding and Loosing the same Power that St. Peter was to have is as firmly ratified and confirmed to all the Apostles as it is to St. Peter and he could pretend to no Power above his fellow Apostles And after our Saviour's Resurrection immediately before his ascension to Heaven when he most solemnly invested the Apostles with this Power he equally gave it to them all Joh. 20.21 23. Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Here we see this Power is actually and solemnly settled upon them all And the Commission is large bearing a correspondence with that which God the Father gave him As my Father hath sent me even so send I you in the plural number And the Commission is Universal Whos 's soever sins ye remit This great Power then we see plainly is actually settled upon them all and none hath a greater share of it than his Fellows And when St. Peter said unto our blessed Saviour in behalf of himself and his Fellows Matt. 19 27 28. Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore Our Saviour returned this answer And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And saith he Luke 22.29 30 And I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me That ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Here we see that it is equally granted to them all to sit upon Thrones and to judge the twelve Tribes of Israel And these places are understood to respect the Power that they were to have to govern Christ's Church here upon Earth after his departure to Heaven It is clear then that our blessed Saviour gave and left St. Peter no more Power and Authority than he did the rest of the holy Apostles Again the Care of Christ's Flock is
St. Peter's Joh. 19 26 27. When Jesus therefore saw his Mother and the Disciple standing by whom he loved he said unto his Mother Woman behold thy Son Then said he to the Disciple behold thy Mother And from that hour that Disciple took her to his own home Here we see that our blessed Saviour recommended his dear Mother to the Care of St. John and not of St. Peter and yet it is highly probable that this Care would have been committed to him if he alone was to have been Christ's Vicar General This Care wherein our Saviour was concerned when he was expiring upon the Cross had been very fit to have been committed to him if his Power and Authority had been greater than the rest But yet St. Peter we see took not the Care of her nor was he intrusted with it In matters of Trespass and Wrong our blessed Saviour orders that an offended and injured Brother should go and admonish the offending Brother alone And if that would not do that he should take with him one or two more to convince him of his fault And if this proved ineffectual that he should then tell it to the Church that they might judge of it but orders no appeal to St. Peter in this case Matt. 18.15 If thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church But if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican Here in Matters of Injury and Wrong the last Appeal that our blessed Saviour orders is to the Church And if an offending Brother will not hear the Church we are to have no more to do with such And if our Saviour had left a Supreme Power with St. Peter and constituted him the sole Determiner of all Controversies and Matters in debate he sure would have ordered that Appeal at last should have been made to him that he might have put an end to the Matter in dispute and might have quieted men's minds But here is no such thing and yet our blessed Saviour had great occasion here to mention St. Peter's supreme Power and Authority if he had granted him any such thing which clears the matter more that St. Peter was not at all before the rest in Authority and Power And immediatly upon this our blessed Saviour subjoins these words Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven v. 18. Again our blessed Lord hath sufficiently shewed that no one of his Disciples was to exalt himself above the rest and to Domineer and Lord it over them He forewarned them that they should not be called Rabbi because they were all Brethren and of an equal Rank and Order Matt. 23.8 But be not ye called Rabbi saith our Lord to them for one is your Master even Christ and ye are all brethren And when there was a strife among them which of them should be the greatest our Saviour expresly tells them that it should not be so amongst them as it was among the Gentile Kings that one of them should exercise Lordship and Dominion over the rest Luk. 22.24 And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest And he said unto them The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors But ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve Here we see that there was a strife among them which of them should be the greatest and this shews that our Saviour had exalted none of them above his Fellows For if he had done so this Dispute would have ceased and they would have all acquiesced and sat down contented with what their Lord and Master had done and have accounted St. Peter the chief if our Saviour had made him so But our Saviour having determined nothing in this matter they fall to strife about it And at this time he grants no Pre-eminence to St. Peter above the rest which sure he would have done if he had intended that St. Peter should have been the Head of them all But instead of this he expresly tells them that no one of them should Lord it over the rest as the Gentile Kings exercised Lordship over the Gentiles It is plain then That our blessed Saviour granted to St. Peter no Superiority and Authority over the rest of the Apostles Thirdly We find no footsteps of any Superiority and Power over the rest of the Apostles that ever St. Peter claimed or pretended to He arrogated no such Supreme Authority over the rest but shews a more humble Mind as it became a Disciple and an Apostle of such a Master of Humility and Condescension as our blessed Saviour was He stiles himself a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ in his Epistles and gives himself no Title of Superiority 1 Pet. 1.1 Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers And 2 Pet. 1.1 Simon Peter a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ He exhorts the Elders to feed the Flock of God among them and saith that he also is an Elder assuming no other Title to himself but what he gave them 1 Pet. 5.1 The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ He joins himself with the rest of the Apostles and saith the Commandment of us the Apostles and asserts no Authority of his above theirs 2 Pet. 3.2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy Prophets and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour He pretends here no more but to be of the same level with the rest of the Apostles and assumeth no Authority above them He disswadeth the Elders from Lording it over God's heritage 1 Pet. 5.2 Feed the flock of God saith he which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind Neither as being Lords over God's heritage but being ensamples to the flock From filthy Lucre and Lording it over the Flock he dissuades them and we may be sure that he set them no ill Example herein He affirmeth our blessed Saviour to be the chief Shepherd and enforceth his Exhortation by the Crown that they should receive from him and doth not urge any supreme Authority of his own v. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear saith he ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away Such is his carriage and demeanor and there is no appearance of any Superiority