Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A31666
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The foundation of popery shaken, or, The Bishop of Rome's supremacy opposed in a sermon upon Matth. XVI. 18, 19 / by William Cade.
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Cade, William, 1651 or 2-1707.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing C194; ESTC R24760
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20,539
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40
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of the Church is not given but promised The Church is said to be built when it is Gathered Fed Taught and Ruled and when any Member is anew added to it or reconciled But in all this manner of building or gathering the Faithful into one Sheepfold The other Pastors are VVorkmen and wise Architects but Peter the Master of the Family the rest are Pillars Peter the Foundation on which they rely He allows Christ to be called in Scripture a Rock and therefore when he went away he left St. Peter his Successor and gave him the same Name because he was to be the Father and Prince of the Church even such a Foundation of it against which the Gates of Hell should not prevail Then he adds that by the Keys Christ gave the fulness of all Ecclesiastical Power only to St. Peter VVhich Power is to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven whether by it is meant Life Eternal or the Communion of the Militant Church VVhich power of the Keys is greater as given to St. Peter than to the rest of the Apostles The power of binding and loosing is a partial and inferior Power which they have but his is to Govern to Teach to Dispose and Exercise all things which belong to the Office of General Pastor For as a King in his Kingdome hath the Sword given to him alone but he commits the use of it to Inferior Magistrates so St. Peter hath the Power of the Keys commited to him properly and principally but transfers the use of them in some inferior manner to Pastors of a lower Rank that are substituted by him In the Remish Translation that we may observe how great stress they put upon these words they are decyphered in a distinct Character and are rendred remarkable by being appointed the Gospel for so many Festivals as for St. Peter's day for the Cathedra Petri Romae Jan. 18. Antiochiae Feb. 22. for the Feast of Petri ad Vincula Aug. 1. and on the day of the Creation and Coronation of the Pope and on the Anniversary thereof What is to be found in their Annotations more than what the Gentlemen already named have hinted is not much Only they are angry with the English Translators for not rendring the words thus Thou art a Rock and upon this Rock or Thou art Peter or Upon this Peter I will build my Church VVhich if it be a fault is likewise to be found in their so much adored vulgar Translation In the Exposition of the Keys they enlarge St. Peter's Power by ascribing to him the Authority and Chair of Doctrine Knowledg Judgment and Discretion between true and false Doctrine The height of Government the power of making Laws of calling Councils of the principal Voice in them of Confirming them of making Canons and wholsome Decrees of Abrogating the contrary of Ordaining Bishops and Pastors or deposing or suspending them finally the Power to dispense the Goods of the Church both Spiritual and Temporal and therefore by the Name of Keyes is given that Super-eminent Power which is called in respect of the Power granted to other Apostles Bishops and Pastors plenitudo Potestatis fulness of Power This is that Exposition on which the Advocates for the Popes Supremacy lay so great stress that they can by no means afford us any other it is the grand support of the Holy Chair the very bottom of all Papal Authority for on whatever Rock other parts of the Christian Church are founded yet this we are assured of that the Roman is built upon this and the greatness of it's Bishop must sink if we take away this only Prop of it By such meanes are the Waters of Life troubled but not by good Angels not to heal the VVounds and make up the breaches of the Church but to vex and widen them and when the Fountain is rendred so muddy we must expect nothing but putrid streams It is a great Argument of a sinking Cause when men catch at Straws for their support And we may conclude that the Scriptures are altogether silent in their Cause when upon this one Foundation they raise so many Structures as the Supremacy of the Pope the Infallibility and Visibility of their Church and the Power of Indulgences All which must of necessity fall to the Ground if the Rock on which they be Built be removed II. As it is certainly in our following Exposition the second thing propos'd whereby the Scriptures shall be so far vindicated from the sense already put on them to which they are rackt that they shall speak in their own proper Language and in it deliver Truth openly and clearly There are as you remember several Opinions concerning the Rock in the Text. The first whereof is that Peter is the Rock which because Bellarmine proves by the Authority of some Fathers I shall take off their Testimony The Authorities are St. Cyril lib. 2. cap. 12. com in Jo. That upon Peter as on a firm Rock his Church should be built The Next is St. Hilary In hunc Locum Oh happy Foundation of the Church in imposing thy new Name c. The last is St. Basil lib. de poenit Tho Peter be a Rock yet he is not a Rock as Christ is For Christ is the true and unmoveable Rock of himself Peter is unmovable by Christ the Rock Now we confess with Cyril Hilary and Basil that Peter was a Stone designed for the Foundation of the Church but so as all the Apostles are Stones upon which the Church is Builded Rev. 21.14 And though we are taught by the Apostles 1 Cor. 3.11 That other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Yet we do not exclude the Ministery and Laborers of his Apostles whom also we acknowledg to be Stones and Foundations of his Church not in respect of their Persons but of their Heavenly Doctrine whereby they became with the Prophets the Foundation Jesus Christ being the Corner Stone Ephes 2.20 So that we can safely allow that Peter may be stiled the Rock on which the Church is built if we take it in a qualified and Secundary sense He is that Apostle on whom in the Planting of the Church as on a chief stone in the Building there is great stress and weight laid He was already one of the most considerable Disciples of Christ sharing with James and John in many signal Favors which others enjoyed not He twice made Confession with greatest Alacrity and firmest boldness of Christ's being the Messias and the Son of God He first made known both to Jews and Gentiles the Truth of that which he here professes that Jesus is the Christ And as amongst the Hebrews all the Levites were in a common Notion of this Phrase called Stones of the Temple so he is called by way of Excellence such a Stone as relying on the Corner Stone was with the Rest of the Apostles a principal Stone in the Building of Christ yet not so as excluding
render it Unserviceable to their Cause And this I shall endeavour to do by this following Method I. I shall propose the Interpretation which the Advocates for the Pope's Supremacy put on these Words II. I shall give the True Sense of the Words and explain the meaning of every particular Phrase in the Text and thereby Answer all that is material in their Interpretation III. I shall consider the Power Authority and Priviledges hereby conferred on St. Peter which are either 1. Extraordinary or Personal 2. Ordinary or to be derived down to his Successors in which latter Branch I shall endeavour to Refute the Supremacy of the Pope as it is pretendedly Supported thereby I. I begin with the Romish Gloss and Interpretation Cajetan in locum The first I meet with is Cardinal Cajetan's literal Exposition In which we need not doubt to find the Doctrine of the Roman Church since he professes in his Epistle to Pope Clement the 7th that he submits it to the Apostolical Seat and that he accounts it not safe to Write any thing but what agrees thereto Thou Art sayes he and not only art Called a Rock and to this purpose thou art such that thou maist be the Foundation of the Church And the Pronoun This shews the Rock of which it is spoken for of no other is it said either Before or After that it is a Rock but of Peter As if Christ had plainly said Thou art a Rock and upon this Rock I will lay the Foundation of my Church Whereby he promises the Government of his Church to Peter since he was to be the same in the Church as the Foundation is in the Building So that Christ appointed his Church to be Supported and Susteined upon the Strength of St. Peter's Seat Against which the Gates of Hell should not prevail But he proceeds I will give thee Now he promises after his Resurrection he gave as Joh. 21.15 c. Feed my Sheep Which Text whether it prove what it is produced for it is not my Business at present to enquire Upon the Word Keyes he tells us That Christ by many Metaphors describes and explains the Supremacy of Peter As before by the Foundation in a Building so now by the Resemblances of Keyes For it is observable That when Princes come first to their Crowns or by Conquest gain new Towns the Keys are presented to them in Acknowledgment of their Supreme Authority In Conformity to which Custome Christ promises That he will give Peter the Keyes and thereby the Primacy in his Church And he adds That it is said Keyes in the Plural Number because the Supream Power consists of two things One is the Power of Discerning Judging and Defining those Things that belong to the Kingdom of Heaven and this is called The Key of Knowledge The Other is the Power of Doing and Executing what is so Defined and this is called The Key of Power What follows concerning the Kingdom of Heaven limits St. Peter's Power to Spirituals not admitting it in Temporals unless in Ordine ad Spiritualia As his Note afterwards upon Super Terram denyes St. Peter to have any Authority in Purgatory But these things concern not us let them Dispute them amongst themselves The next Assertor of St. Peter's Supremacy and consequently a Corrupter of this Text Bell. de Pont. Rom. cap. x. c. is Bellarmine who when he had concluded that Monarchy is the best sort of Government in the Church as indeed it is if all things be subjected to the Scepter of Christ proceeds to prove That St. Peter had this Power committed to him by this Place For sayes he this Power is delivered to him by this Double Metaphor The First is of a Foundation because the same as a Foundation is to the Edifice that the Head is to the Body a Governour to his City a King to his Subjects and a Father of a Family to his House The other Metaphor of Keys signifies thus much That to whomsoever the Keys are delivered the same is appointed King or Governour of the City who may Admit or Exclude whom he pleases And he very peremptorily calls them Hereticks who will not grant Peter to be the Rock nor by the Metaphors of the Foundation and of the Keys will allow Chief and Soveraign Ecclesiastical Authority to be given Concerning the Rock he sayes There are Four Opinions The First that of the Catholicks as they call themselves excluding us That it is Peter not as a Particular Person but as Pastor and Head of the Church The Second is Erasmus his That the Rock is every Faithful Christian The Third is Calvin's That the Rock is Christ The Fourth is Luther's That the Rock is the Faith of Peter and the Confession that he but now made As a Proof for the First of these he tells us That Cephas in the Syriack is Peter and a Rock too In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie the same thing In Confirmation of it also he brings the Testimony of many Fathers whose Sense is so agreeable to the Protestant Doctrine That the Romish Cause is quite destroyed if they may be Judges as in due Place shall be seen I am not so much concerned for Erasmus's Opinion as to enter the Lists for it But let it pass with the same Remark that Bellarmine doth That if every Christian were the Foundation where were the Building When I come to give the true Meaning of my Text I shall shew that both Calvin's and Luther's Sense may be admitted And that either of Them is a safer and truer Exposition of this Text than what they produce and doth stand Confirmed by the Authority of Antient Doctors The Cardinal understands by the Power of the Keys Supreme Power over all the Church which he endeavours to prove out of Isaiah 22.22 The Key of the House of David will I lay upon his Shoulder So he shall Open and none shall Shut and he shall Shut and none shall Open. This Power he sayes is so given to St. Peter as not to be kept by him alone but to be transferred to other Pastors by his Authority But as to the Extent of the Power of the Keys it is not agreed upon betwixt Cajetan Bellarmine The latter of which quarrels with the Other for saying That the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are not the same thing with the Power of Binding and Loosing But that the Keys contain something beside Order and Jurisdiction Which Distinction as Bellarmine observes is more Subtle than True What is wanting in these two Cardinals for the support of St. Peters Primacy is supply'd by Stapleton and the Rhemish Interpreters to consider whose Glosses I now proceed In these words says Stapleton Upon this Rock will I build my Church Christ declares the Reason why he gave Simon the Name of Peter because he was to be the Rock on which the whole Church was to be Built The building