Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A56699
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A sermon preached upon St. Peter's day printed at the desire of some that heard it, with some enlargements / by a divine of the Church of England.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing P845; ESTC R4849
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40,780
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79
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because they had not all met with the same Opinion but some with one some with another and therefore every one related what he had heard the People say about him But to this Question they had but one Answer to make being all agreed in one and the same Belief and therefore it was sufficient for one to speak the mind of every one to whom the Question was put But still the Reason is demanded why St. Peter rather than any of the rest made this Answer To which St. Chrysostom thinks it enough to reply When men are moved by the Spirit to do or say a Thing it is in vain to ask a Reason of it Yet he as well as others have given us divers Reasons which have a Foundation in the Holy Scriptures I. First Because he was more warm and forward than the rest of a zealous and active Spirit which made him ready in Speech and all other Motions as well as quick of Apprehension and ardent in his Affection Many of the Fathers a S. Hierom. in loc S. Cyril in Joh. 21. 15. S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 34. have given this account of it as well as St. Chrysostome who mentions it often and here particularly affirms it to be the reason why he stept or rather leaped forth as his word is and prevented the rest in this Confession And if they had not told us this the Story of the Gospel would have furnished us with ten or twelve Instances of his forwardness most of which are collected by b Matt. 14. 28. St. Hierom I will name but two or three The first of them is mentioned in this very Chapter v. 22. When our Lord acquainting his Disciples what things he should suffer Peter out of a certain heat which was natural to him and a vehement but imprudent love to our Lord as St. Chrysostoms words are takes upon him to chide our Lord for having such a purpose advising him to be more favourable to himself A second instance is in the 14th Chapter where we read of his forwardness to go unto our Saviour upon the Sea tho he had not Faith enough to support him there A thrid in his forwardness to draw his Sword on our Saviours defence when the Soldiers laid hold on him in the Garden 26. 51. These things show his temper to have been so warm and zealous that we need no other Reason for his speaking first the mind of them all II. But others add that he was the eldest of the Company being a married man when he entred into our Saviours Service His Brother Andrew indeed was first acquainted with our Saviour Joh. 1. 40 41. But when they were called to be his constant Attendants which was not till some time after Peter is mentioned before him as the Elder of the two St. Matth. iv 18. Mark i. 16. Epiphanius a Haeresi l. 1. indeed thinks otherwise making Andrew the elder Brother but it is unreasonable to follow his Opinion alone especially when he alledges no Tradition for it against the Sense of many other Ancient Writers who Baronius b Ad An. 31. n. xxiii confesses lookt upon Peter as elder than him Which St. Hierom gives as the Reason why St. Peter was preferred before St. John the beloved Disciple to be the first in the Order of the Apostles because he was the elder His words are very remarkable and worthy to be read of all in his first Book against Jovinian where he sets forth the Prerogatives of St. John as most dear to our Saviour because he was a Virgin and so continued to the end Unto which he brings in his Adversary objecting That the Church was founded upon Peter who was a married Man Tho in another place saith St. Hierom the very same is said of all the Apostles and they all received the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the solidity of the Church was equally established on every one of them Yet among the Twelve one was therefore chosen that an Head being constituted all occasion of Schism might be taken away But why was not John being a Virgin chosen This was yielded to his Age for Peter was the Senior Otherwise he will have St. John to have had the Preheminence as it there follows Peter an Apostle and John an Apostle a Married man and a Batchelor But Peter only an Apostle John both an Apostle and an Evangelist and a Prophet III. To which may be added That he was the first of them all called to be Christs constant follower as appears from what was now observed That tho he was not the first that believed on Christ yet he was the first that our Lord called from his secular Employment to wait upon him and to be always with him And therefore called by some of the Ancients the first Fruits of the Apostles IV. For lastly upon such accounts as these he was made the first Apostle not in Power and Authority for therein as hath been said already and will appear more anon they were all alike but in orderly Precedence which is natural and necessary in all Societies And being the Foreman who so fit as he to speak for them all as he did not only now but upon other occasions Matth. xix 27 and Joh. vi 67 68 69. Upon which account St. Chrysostome fitly calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mouth of the Apostles Which he frequently repeats * In Matth. xvii 24. Act. i. 25. Galat. ii 2. and alledges this together with his heat and zeal as the Reason of his speaking rather than the rest For all of them could not make answer to the Question our Saviour here askt without Confusion and they all having but one thing to say therefore one spake for them all And who fitter to be their Speaker than he that was the Senior of all the leading man of the Company whose Age and forward Zeal and early entertainment into our Saviours family had given him the priority of place among the Apostles But observe then That if he spake because he was the Mouth of the rest as the Ancient Opinion was then as he spake the Sense of them all so he spake in all their Names And that which he said was the voice of all the Apostles For either he was not the Mouth of the Apostles or his Confession was the Confession of the whole Body of the Apostles who spake the same in him None of the Ancients that I can find doubted of this St. Hierom particularly hath this note upon these words Petrus ex persona omnium Apostolorum c. Peter in the Person of all the Apostles confesseth Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God. And the famous saying of St. Austin is now grown so familiar to all that I need only Translate it Peter answers one for all Thus St. Cyprian a Epist ad Cornel. and St. Ambrose b L. vi in S. Luc. c. 9. from whom this Sense is transmitted down
before in the next Chapter so when he actually gives this Power which he saith here he will give he bestows it upon every one of them which was after his Resurrection John 20. 21. As my Father hath sent me even so I send you Here he speaks in the present Time and gives them in this Commission the Power which they had not before making them to be what they were ever after In token of which he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted c. Vers 22 23. Can any one who reads these words think that Peter was only sent and made the only Foundation and the only Gate to let Men into the Church when he hears such an Authority as this granted and sealed to them all He hath lost then the ancient sense of the Church which Theophylact * Mat. 16. 19. represents in these words Though it was said to Peter only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will give thee yet it was given to all the Apostles When Then when he said Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted to them For I will give denotes the future Time that is after the Resurrection Hear also how St. Austin t Enarratio in Psal 87. discourses upon these words of the Psalmist before-mentioned Why are they called the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets Because their Authority supports our weakness And why are they Gates Because by them we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For they preach to us and when we enter by them we enter by Christ Is it not plain by this that they did not think St. Peter to be the only Man that stands at the Gate as it were and with his Keys le ts Men into Heaven To say this is as much as to say he only preached Did not St. John preach also and St. James As for St. Paul he laboured more than them all Therefore I may truly say according to St. Austin's meaning by John and by James as well as Peter but especially by Paul we have an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven They all had equal Power they were all equally Gates whereby Men entred into the New Jerusalem they were all equally Foundations of the Church of Christ St. Peter laid the first Stone as he let in the first of the Gentiles but St. Paul let in more than he afterwards as appears by the whole Story of his preaching the Gospel of Christ To conclude this St. Peter himself it is manifest did not know of any such Authority as is now claimed residing in him For writing two Catholick Epistles he gives not the least intimation of any such Universal Pastorship as is now pretended to be derived from him but quite contrary calls himself Fellow Elder with the Pastors of the Church to whom he gives the same Exhortation that Christ did to him Feed the Flock of God 1 Pet. v. 1 2. which doth not differ in sense from Feed my Sheep or Feed my Lambs Joh. xxi 15 16. Nay more than this in the Gospel which the ancient Fathers say St. Mark wrote by St. Peter's direction he doth not so much as mention this Speech of Christ to him but only his own Confession Mark viii 29. which we may look upon as an Argument that he did not think it contained any Power peculiar to him which we may be sure he would not have forgotten Against so many weighty Reasons some think Object 1. it sufficient to argue for his Supremacy meerly from his being constantly named first when there is occasion to speak of him Five places are alledged for this purpose Matth. x. 2. Mark iii. 17. Luke vi 14. Acts i. 13. John xxi 2. Unto which I think fit to make a short Reply First That this is not such exact Truth as Answ to admit of no Exception For there are no less than four places where he is named with other Apostles and not set the first 1 Cor. iii. 22. ix 9. Gal. ii 9. Joh. i. 45. Secondly Supposing it was done designedly in those places where there is a Catalogue given of the Apostles the meer placing of a Name first will prove no Superiority of Power over those who are named after him as might be shown from a great many instances For any little advantage of Age Service Affection or the like may well be a Reason for such Precedence Thirdly The exact truth is when they were together as a Colledge it was necessary some one should be first in order but afterward when they were scattered abroad all over the World there was no such Precedence thought of For others I have shown are named before him and sometimes took place of him as St. James did at Jerusalem where he presided in the Council held there Peter indeed spake and delivered his Opinion first but the Decree is made by James who saith after he had taken notice of what Simeon had spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I determine or judg my Sentence is as we translate it That we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God but write to them that they abstain from Pollutions if Idols c. Acts xv 19 20. And accordingly it was drawn up in his very words in that Letter which was written in the name of them all to the Gentile Christians Vers 28 29. This is no novel Criticism of Protestants but acknowledged heretofore by eminent Writers in the Roman Communion Alphonsus Tostatus r In Mat. 17. for instance observes that in this Council Peter did not produce the definition of the Church but James alone spake definitively as the Organ of the whole Church and greater than any of the Assessors And later than this Lorinus * Comment in Acta C. xv fol. 645. the Jesuite here notes that James seems to speak authentically and as a Judge when Peter is said simply to have spoken his mind How easie were it here if I durst take the liberty to strain several Observations beyond their true intention to bid you mark and observe how St. James declares himself in this Council the Head of the Church set over all his Brethren For first he being Bishop of Jerusalem the Mother-Church of the whole World thus begins his Speech Men and Brethren hearken unto me ver 13. as if he were the Successor of Christ of whom it was said Hear ye Him. Next ver 14. he calls him who had spoken before him bare Simeon not Peter now as if that Name signified Nothing to him who sate above him For he adds as I have said his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I judge or give this sentence And lastly when Peter had pleaded for an absolute and indefinite liberty from the burden of all Legal Rites ver 10. James thinks fit not to grant them an entire freedom but to tie them still to some necessary Observances ver 19 28. But we have not thus learned