some of them would impose upon us but almost the whole Body of them are of Opinion that their Infallible Master has a Right over Kings not only in Spituals but Temporals not to name Mariana Bellarmine Emanuel Sa. Molina Santarel Simancha and at the least Twenty others of Foreign Countries We can produce of our own Nation Champian and Doleman or Parsons besides many are nam'd whom I have not read who all of them attest this Doctrine that the Pope can depose and give away the Right of any Sovereign Prince Si vel paulum deflexerit if he shall never so little warp but if he once comes to be Excommunicated then the Bond of Obedience is taken off from Subjects and they may and ought to drive him like another Nebuchadnezzar ex hominum Christianorum Dominatu from Exercising Dominion over Christians and to this they are bound by Virtue of Divine Precept and by all the Tyes of Conscience under no less Penalty than Damnation Which is more than our Saviour and the Apostles ever taught or pretended to but the contrary is very evident and to that purpose St. Paul in the 13th to the Romans ver the 1. says Let every Soul be subject unto the Higher Powers c. which Power is there understood the Supream Magistrate and ver 6. For this cause pay you Tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing And to the same purpose St. Peter himself Commands this Duty Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him c. the first Epistle of Peter the 2. chap. the 13. and 14. verses So that 't is plain who the Apostles calls Supream and whom our blessed Lord own'd does appear by his putting himself to the Charge of a Miracle lest he should offend But this was a great while ago and the Cause and the Times alter'd and another sort of a Supremacy set up which was not known in those days not till many Centuries after for if St. Peter had been invested with any such Authority as his pretended Successors pretend too certainly our Saviour or the Apostles would in some manner one time or other have taken notice of it but for our Hearts we cannot find any such thing But to oblige our Roman Friends I will examine the Matter a little farther and the better to inform our selves of this great Point we will take a view of our Saviours treating St. Peter after this suppos'd Prerogative deliver'd him in the same 16th of St. Matthew where our Saviour is supposed to give St. Peter only the Power of the Keys we find our Blessed Lord telling his Disciples what he was to suffer c. From that time forth began Jesus to shew to his Disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day Then St. Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee ver the 21. and 22. but pray mark our Saviours answer to this Infallible Head in the next verse But he turned and said unto Peter get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of Men. By which it appears it was not the Person but the great Truth in the Confession which he deliver'd in the behalf of himself and the rest that was the Rock our Saviour would build his Church c. which indeed is a good and strong Foundation such a one as our Saviour speaks of in the 7th of St. Matthew the 24. and 25. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his House upon a Rock and the Rain descended and the Floods came and the Winds blew and beat upon that House but it fell not for it was founded upon a Rock which Parable is understood of a good Christians Faith which will hold out against the Storms and Tempests of Persecution which all good Christians will do whose Faith is built upon that Confession of St. Peters viz. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God which as a good and strong Foundation will support all the rest of our Creed and therefore by an Allegorical Expression call'd a Rock which must be understood in a Spiritual Sense on which Christ would erect his Spiritual Kingdom Agreeable is that place of St. Paul Ephesians the 2. and the 19. and 20. verses Now therefore ye are no more Strangers and Foreigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone So that here 't is plain and beyond all dispute that the Apostles and Prophets were the Rock and Foundation that is to say the Faith and Doctrine which they did profess and teach and not their Persons was the Rock and Foundation that both our Saviour and St. Paul meant on which the Christian Church was built if otherwise why should he omit telling them they were built upon St. Peter that Rock and Head of the Church and so of the rest but we see he takes no more notice of St. Peter than the rest Besides there is little reason to suppose our Saviour shou'd mean the Person of St. Peter when he so well knew the weakness of that Foundation for tho' he was indeed very forward upon all occasions as his attempting to go to our Saviour when he was walking on the Sea yet we find this presumptive Faith soon fail'd him for he was forc'd to implore our Saviour's Assistance by crying out Lord help me or I perish And again notwithstanding his Resolution to dye rather than deny his Lord c. yet we find our Saviour telling him Matthew the 26. and 34. verse Before the Cock crow he shou'd deny him thrice in all which we do not find any more notice taken of St. Peter by our Saviour than of any of the other Disciples unless it were to reprove him for his want of Faith and other Faults And we may observe further that on all occasions our Saviour was not wanting in cautioning his Disciples not only to forbear setting up such an Authority as we have been treating of amongst them but likewise commanded all Obedience to be given to the Supream Powers that was then in the World and from thence it was that he reprov'd St. Peters rashness in drawing his Sword though he did it with design to defend him against those that came to apprehend him John the 18. ver the 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter put up thy Sword c. and he gives the reason for it ver the 36. Jesus answer'd my Kingdom is not of this world if
RELIGIO LAICI OR A Lay-mans Faith Touching the SUPREAM HEAD AND INFALLIBLE GUIDE OF THE CHURCH In Two Letters to a Friend in the Country By J. R. A Convert of Mr. Bays's Licensed June the 1st 1688. LONDON Printed for John Newton at three Pigeons over against the Inner-Tempe Gate in Fleet-street 1688. THE AUTHOR TO THE READER Courteous Reader A Little before the late King of ever Blessed Memory dyed a Poem was Published call'd Religio Laici c. and not long after another by the same Author call'd the Hind and Panther Which Pieces though as opposite to one another as Light and Darkness fell into an intimate Friends hand of mine who knowing me a great Admirer of that Authors Poems writ to me to desire my Judgment touching the Infallibility of his Mother Hind which was the occasion of the following Letters which indeed has been long since writ and the Reasons why they were not Published before are two The first is the same which a late Reverend Author gave in his Reasons for taking away the Test viz. They were design'd for a private use The second was my fear through a knowledge of my own Inability of a good Cause suffering by the weakness of its Advocate but however the Importunity of my Worthy Friend to whom I writ did at last prevail with me to send them thus as we all came Unpollished into the World. And as you have found them without Prejudice if possible read them and if you meet with any thing that makes amends for the pains I have my End if not I am sure you miss Yours J. R. THE FIRST LETTER SIR THE many and never to be forgotten Favours I have receiv'd commands a ready Compliance to your Request of giving you my Opinion touching the Doctrine of Infallibility so universally receiv'd and believ'd in the Church of Rome though at the same time they differ amongst themselves where to fix this Infallible Guide some are for placing it in a General Council others in his Holiness and Council together and a third sort in the defusive Church and a fourth in the Person of the Pope only he being St. Peter's Successor to whom our Saviour gave as they say the power of the Keys c. But however though they differ in the Manner yet they do all agree in the Matter that such a Convenient Doctrine should belong to their Church and truly I cannot blame them for it for it is indeed the only Rock and Foundation on which all their other Rubbish and Fopperies are built and the Removal of it would be like Sampson's pulling down the Pillars or main Prop so that consequently the whole Fabrick would fall to to the Ground But this being a Herculian work more proper for the fam'd Heroes of our Age viz. Men of great Parts and Letters I had not so much as attempted it but only Sir in obedience to your Command in doing which 't is possible I may put a helping hand toward the removal of some trash and trumpery out of the way whereby others of my own mean Rank and Capacity may the better discern the weakness of this Babel Foundation which has made such a Confusion in the Christian World. And amongst all the late Learned Pieces in Vindication of this Sovereign Antidote viz. Infallibility for if swallow'd it would without doubt exspel the Poyson of all the other Pestilential Doctrins of that Church none has made a greater noise in the World than the last though least unlearn'd Piece of the most famous cellebrated Author Mr. Bays the new Adopted Champion of the Roman Catholick Cause by the Name and Title of the Hind and Panther writ in the true Dialect and Language of the Beast J. D. in which he proves the necessity of an Unerring Guide as plain as a Pike-staff or rather as Demonstrable as Transubstantiation is made out in a late Reverend Authors Reasons for taking away the Test Now for an Unletter'd Lay-man to ingage with this Mighty Sampson of an Author is as rash an Undertaking as little Davids fighting with Great Goliah without Armour But we read Ecclesiastes the 9th and 11th The Race is not always to the swift nor the Battel to the strong therefore in hopes of being assisted by him whose Cause it is namely the Lord of Hosts through whom David not only fought but overcame the Champion of the Philistines I enter the Field and if I perish I perish however the attempt of great things is Honourable And the Method I shall take to engage this Potent Adversary shall be first to fight him with his own Weapons and discharge his own Artillery upon him viz. his own Arguments when he was possible of another Opinion I had almost said Religion but I am Inclinable to believe he never had any Secondly I shall examine those Places of Scripture which the Papists do most insist upon for the Proof of their Infallible Doctrine c. but I will begin with the first and Arm my self with Mr. Bays's own Armour of Proof that he has formerly engag'd with against the Asserters of this Doctrine in a Poem of his call'd Religio Laici In the Preface of which he has Page the 4th these words viz. For having laid down as a Foundation that the Scripture is a Rule that in all things needful to Salvation it is clear sufficient and ordain'd by God Almighty for that purpose I have left my self no right to Interpret obscure Places because whatsoever is obscure is concluded not necessary to be known On which as a Rock I shall being of the same Opinion Erect and build my Faith and that it may the better hold out a Siege against the mighty Host of Wild Beasts Commanded by their Infallible Mother Hind I will fortifie it with such strong murdering Morter-peices of his own c. that I 'le defie all his Bears and Boars his Woolves and Tygers his Foxes and Asses and Lyons c. to demolish and pull it down And the first is the Case which he puts between a Socinian and them of his own Church what that was then you will best understand from his own Arguments which are I think as strong and he as much Inspir'd when he writ them as when he writ the Immortal Milk white Hind and Panther but be your own Judge Religio Laici Page the 20. We hold and prove from Scripture plain That Christ is God the bold Socinian From the same Scripture urges he 's but Man. Now what Appeal can end the Important suit Both parts talk lowdly but the Rule is mute Shall I speak plain and in a Nation free Assume an honest Lay-mans Liberty which I hope is as little a fault now by Virtue of his Majesties Gracious Declaration as it was when Bays did it I think According to my little Skill But to my own Mother Church submitting still That many have been sav'd and many may That never heard this question brought in play The Vnletter'd
my Kingdom were of this world then would my Servants fight that I should not be deliver'd to the Jews but now is my Kingdom not from hence which I think is a very powerful Argument against him who calls himself Christ's Vicar and Lords it over all the Kingdoms of the World contrary to Christs Command and the Practice of the Apostles and Primitive Christians for almost a Thousand years after Christ But to proceed since we cannot find in all the time of our Saviours being with his Disciples in the Flesh any thing to warrant our belief of St. Peters being the Head c. We will go one step further and inquire if after his Resurrection which was the accomplishment and Confirmation of all he had deliver'd to them whether he did deliver to St. Peter any Power or Commission more than he did to any of the rest of his Disciples In the three last verses of the 28th of St. Matthew we thus read All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth go Ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you and loe I am with you even to the end of the world Now 't is granted that here is a Commission given but to whom was it deliver'd to Peter James or John c. No but to them all in those words Go Ye c. Neither do we find any distinction though St. Peter and all the rest was there at the same time as you may read verses the 16th and 17th of that Chapter Then the Eleven Disciples went away to Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted And in St. Mark the 16th and the 14th and 15. verses And afterward he appeared unto the Eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen And he said unto THEM go YE into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature So that here is again the same Commission but without any Preheminence given to either of them St. Luke makes no mention of this Matter And for that Place of St. John which the Romanists brag so much of from our Saviour biding St. Peter three times feed his Sheep it is I think impossible to be understood as if from thence our Saviour intended Him to be the Head and Chief of the Apostles but rather as it is most probable to strengthen his Faith that he might be the better enabled to go through with a difficult Work for we find our Saviour telling him in the two following verses being the 18th and 19th of the last of St. John What he was to suffer for his sake c. So that it is very reasonable to suppose that our Saviour's knowing his weakness from his former denying him might upon that account lay a more strict Command upon him than any of the rest Besides it is not unreasonable to suppose from those words of our Saviour viz. Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me which was as oft repeated as his biding him Feed his Sheep might be to upbraid him for his former denying him whereby he might take notice he had given our Blessed Lord sufficient reason to doubt and as he had notwithstanding his Resolution to the contrary deny'd him with Oaths and Imprecations three several times So possible that might be one great Reason why our Saviour did likewise trible his Commands c. And to me it appears plain that our Saviours trible Command of biding St. Peter Feed his Sheep can have no Relation to his being made Head of the Church notwithstanding that Papistical objection viz. to whom did our Saviour so oft bid Feed his Sheep c which objection I must needs say is a very strong sheepish one though at the same time I know it is urg'd as a strong Argument to confirm as they say the Commission which our Saviour gave to St. Peter in those words viz. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock c. And they tell us our Saviour's giving such a particular charge to St. Peter must import something more than ordinary which indeed is very true and I think the reason as plain for as I before observ'd our Saviour well knowing his Faith wanted his special assistance took more than ordinary care that his Faith might be agreeable to his Confession which indeed was the Rock our Saviour meant and to that purpose we read in the 22. of St. Luke the 31. and 32. verses And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren By which words we find he was not as yet converted nor indeed any of them until after the Resurrection for as our Saviour had foretold Matthew the 26. verse the 31. I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep of the flock shall be scatter'd abroad So after the Jews had put our Saviour to death we find them disperc'd and scatter'd up and down for indeed they could not tell well what to make of the matter as appears by the discourse our Saviour had with some of them as they were going to Emmaus which was distant from Jerusalem some three-score Furlongs Luke the 24. from the 13. to the 25. verse and at the 21. verse But we trusted that it had been He which should have Redeemed Israel c. By which it appear'd they was still in doubt but after Christs Ascension and sending the Holy Ghost the promised Comforter amongst them we find they were very bold and couragious and some thousands was converted Acts the 2. and the 41. at St. Peter's first Sermon from which some Learned Men have understood those words Vpon this Rock I will build my Church c. as a particular favour of our Saviours to St. Peter in making him the first Instrument of laying the Foundation of his Church not at Rome but Jerusalem which indeed was the Mother Church and as our Saviour was to the Jews so may the misunderstanding that Place of Scripture viz. Vpon this Rock c. be a stumbling Block possibly to the Papist And for those words of our Saviours bidding St. Peter feed his Sheep it cannot possible without taking leave of our Understandings be understood as our Roman Friends would perswade us but much rather from their being so oft repeated we may reasonable gather our Saviours purpose was they should make the greater and deeper impression in his Heart that so he might not forget this his last Command as he forgot him Matthew the 26.72 ver And again he deny'd him with an oath I do not know the Man. And so much shall suffice for our inquiry how or in