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
to later times for Dionysius Carthusianus follows it whose words are these in our language Peter as the Principal gives the answer for them all And there are two Reasons the Fathers give for this the one is a moral Reason the other a mystical The Moral is To avoid Confusion it being unseemly and disorderly for all to speak at once therefore he being first spake the mind of them all The Mystical is To denote the Unity that should be among the Apostles and consequently the Unity of the Church and of all that believe according to the Prayer of our Saviour when he was about to leave the World Joh. xvii 21. That they all might be one as He and the Father were one That speaking the same thing and perfectly agreeing in the Doctrine they preached the World might believe that the Father had sent him This was much in the thoughts of St. Cyprian in more places than I can easily number and other African Fathers who followed after him But I do not find any of those Ancient Writers mention this as the reason of Peters speaking and not any of the rest which Bellarmine a L. 1. de Pontif. Rom. C. xix makes his peculiar Prerogative Because he alone knew at this time that Jesus was the Eternal Son of God. St. Hilary in the Latin Church and Basil of Seleucia in the Greek were the first and only Persons of any account who by the Rule of the Roman Church ought not to be followed against the stream of ancient Interpreters that had in their minds this conceit For Euthymius who follows them is of no consideration for his Antiquity What Advantage they that contend for it can make of this notion I do not see because if Christ did now reveal this to St. Peter alone it was that it might be known to them all yet I do not think fit to grant it because it is apparently against common Reason and against the History of the Gospel and against the best and most ancient Authority 1. In reason we cannot think the Apostles to have been such dullards to use no harder word as in two years time and more when they had been in our Saviours School heard his words and seen his wonderful Works not to have learnt the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Athanasius b Orat. III. contra Arianos calls this Confession the peculiar and principal Article of our Christian Faith that he was God Incarnate the Word made Flesh Especially when they had been introduced into this belief by John the Baptist who had told them as much before they were admitted Christs Disciples Andrew it is certain was not ignorant of it who thereupon sought his Brother Simon and told him we have found the Messias i. e. Christ Joh. 1. 40 41. For John the Baptist had reported how he saw the Spirit descend on our Saviour and had heard the voice from Heaven and therefore bare record saying This is the Son of God v. 34. Nay he bare witness that he was Gods only begotten for he cryed saying No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him v. 15 18. By this Testimony they were drawn to our Saviour who at the very beginning manifested forth his Glory that is his Divine Majesty by such illustrious Miracles That his Disciples believed on him Joh. 2. 11. That is did not doubt of the truth of what John had said and which as you shall see presently the very Devils themselves openly acknowledged and confessed Who then can believe after all this that they were ignorant of the very first thing in our Religion With other points we find them unacquainted but to fancy them not to have known this is to make them as insensible as so many stones and in no other sense to have deserved the Name of Stones and Pillars whereby they are afterward called but only because they were so hardned in stupidity that nothing would enter into them no more than our words will into the hardest Flint in the World. What wretched Christians do we make them if after such means of Instruction we suppose them to have learnt nothing of the very foundation of Christianity 2. But besides this it is directly against the express Testmiony of the Holy Scriptures which informs us that several Persons had before this time made as full a Confession of the Faith as St. Peter himself They for instance who were with our Saviour in the Ship when it was tossed on the Sea by a contrary Wind and when St. Peter's heart had failed him as he walkt with our Saviour on the Water came and worshipped him after he had made the Sea calm saying Of a truth thou art the Son of God Matt. xiv 33. Nay more early than this as soon as ever St. Peter was acquainted with our Saviour Nathanael who is thought not without some reason to be the Apostle Bartholomew made as distinct and clear a Confession as his Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Joh. 1. 49. I shall not insist on the Confession of Martha Joh. xi 27. because it was afterward towards the Conclusion of our Saviours life The plain acknowledgment of the Mariners and Passengers in the Ship who were the persons St. Hierom thinks that came and worshipped him and made the foremention'd Confession is a sufficient proof that this was not a secret known to St. Peter alone by a special Revelation St. Chrysostom indeed is of Opinion That there is more in these Words of St. Peter than in theirs or in Nathanael's Who only confessed him to be the adopted Son of God but St. Peter went further and confessed him his Son by Nature But the reason he gives is insufficient which is only this That our Lord here pronounces Peter blessed which he doth not say to the rest For there might be other Reasons for pronouncing him blessed Particularly this That the Shipmen perhaps made that Confession only in a great transport of Passion but he upon a setled and deliberate Perswasion and that notwithstanding the various opinions that were in the Country about him which might have distracted the Apostles minds if they had not been attentive Considerers of the Testimonies our Lord gave of his Divinity Besides he seems in effect to have called Nathanael blessed tho he does not use the word For because he believed upon such a small and single Testimony of his Divinity as his seeing him under the Figtree He tells him he would reward his Faith with stronger Confirmations of it Joh. i. 50. Thou shalt see greater things than these Which is a promise containing much of his Grace and Favour toward him and is thus inlarged v. 51. And he saith unto him Verily I say unto you Hereafter ye shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man That is more manifest tokens of
his Divinity upon which the Angels waited and attended just as they did upon the Divine Majesty in the Old Testament Gen. xxviii 12. And if all this do not seem sufficient to evince the Truth what think you of the Testimony which St. Peter bears to them all that they did believe and know that he was the Christ the Son of the Living God Joh. vi 69. To which may be added that our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself solemnly gives Praise and Glory to God for revealing those things which concerned his Kingdom of which this was the first unto them all Matth. xi 25 26. And lastly As this Opinion is against Reason and Scripture so it is most certainly against the Authority of the Ancient Fathers For as St. Hierom a In Matth. xiv 33. alledges the Confession of the Mariners against the Arians So the Orthodox commonly used this as an Argument against them That the very Devils had more Faith than they for they confessed what the Arians denied That Jesus was the true and natural Son of God. So they interpret those words Mark iii. 11. b V. Athanasium de Incarn Verbi p. 85. Which Maldonate himself acknowledges the Fathers are wont wonderfully to amplifie against those Hereticks which they could not have done if they thought less was meant by it than by this Confession of St. Peter's Who if he were the only Person that at this time understood this secret then the Quire of the Apostles as Basil calls them when he speaks of their Ignorance had less knowledg of the Saviour of the World than the Herd of unclean Spirits Which we cannot affirm without the greatest reproach to them they having been so long under our Saviours Discipline and seen his Power over those Spirits nay received Power themselves from him as it there follows to heal Sicknesses and to cast out Devils Mark iii. 15. But I need not laboriously inlarge upon this Argument St. Ambrose saith c L. vi in Luc. cap. 9. expresly they all knew what St. Peter alone spake And St. Chrysostom himself is of the same mind when he makes him here the Mouth of all and elsewhere d In Gal. ii 2. saith he was their Tongue and answered for them all which he could not have done if he had not known they were all of his belief And therefore we can learn nothing in this matter from such Doctors as Bellarmine but that they are resolved to affirm any thing to maintain their unjust Pretences The ambitious claim of the Bishop of Rome must by all means be supported else they would not prostitute their Consciences and their Reputations too in this manner by asserting things which are so apparently untrue that the smallest skill in the Holy Scripture is sufficient to confute them But of all the accounts of this Confession of St. Peter there is none so unaccountable as that of Cardinal Baronius who without the least Syllable in all Antiquity to countenance it adventures to say That now St. Peter Defined Decreed and made a Rule of Faith for all the World For he fancies our Blessed Saviour now to have held a Council with his Disciples in which St. Peter e Ad Annum 33. N. xvii talem fert sententium ut erudiat atque decernat ac fidei Canonem perpetuo per mansurum oonstituat Decreed and Constituted the Canon of Faith for ever to endure So that there was no need saith he our Saviour should consult the rest of the Apostles though the Text saith expresly he askt them all Whom say ye that I am What their Opinion was it being sufficient that Peter had spoken f Acquid de fide sentiendum esset clavam fixisse Ibid. and so struck the nail to the head that he had setled what was to be thought of Faith. Which is such an astonishing Instance of the Power of Prejudice Passions of all sorts and worldly Interest to corrupt and pervert the wisest Minds that it ought to be an admonition to us all to employ the strictest Care to discharge all these when we are seeking after Truth that they may not frame our Opinion for us For how could such a Thought as this without a strange Bias upon his Mind enter into any Mans head Or if it did how could it stay there or how should he be perswaded to publish such an absurdity to the Christian World Is it credible that in the Company where the Lord Jesus the Eternal Son of God was present any person though never so great should take upon him to teach nay to make an Article of Faith St. Peter certainly was no Master in this Assembly but a Scholar only not an Instructor but a Learner of Religion at this time and in this place Much less was he a Supreme Lawgiver and a Judg of Truth of which as yet he had not much Knowledg it appears by what follows in this Chapter where we read he so opposed our Saviour in another great point of Faith that he calls him Satan but barely pronounced what he had been taught to believe by our Lord himself and had heard as I have shown from John the Baptist and seen proved by such mighty Works as none could do but God alone If I seem to have stood too long in explaining this Confession let those who think so consider that it was to open the clearer passage to all the rest that follows which will be the more plainly and easily understood Particularly the next words of the Evangelist who tells us that upon this Confession of St. Peter our Lord answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood that is man hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven v. 17. In which words he pronounces them all happy men this not being revealed peculiarly unto him but unto the whole Company who were all taught of God by such means as I have named as much as he For if Peter were their Mouth then as you have heard his Confession was their common voice in answer to a question put to them all and by the same reason our Saviours reply to him was the pronouncing a Blessing on them all who in him had made this worthy Confession and thereby demonstrated their proficiency in his School In one regard indeed St. Peter was more happy than the rest that as he was the first in the Colledg of the Apostles so he had the Honour as you shall hear to be the first employed in that glorious work unto which they were all chosen as much as he and in which they so laboured that they were partakers no less than himself in that Blessedness which is elsewhere pronounced to that faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his houshold c. Matth. xxvi 45 46. Which words g Lib. ii de Concil c. 17. Bellarmin hath the confidence to apply peculiarly to St. Peter and the
Roman Bishop but directly against the sense of the Ancient Fathers whom he was bound by solemn Oath to follow who as a learned Man h Iv. Launoy Epist ad Raimundum Formentinum pars 2. of the Roman Communion hath largely proved understand hereby every faithful Pastor in the Church of Christ Who according to the way and method of the Divine Counsels which is to give unto those that have to bestow more on those who make a good use of what they have already received immediately hereupon opens to the Apostles his purpose of gathering a Church and drawing more disciples to him besides themselves who should perpetually keep and preserve this Confession and withal declares that he would use Peter as an eminent instrument in this great undertaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I also or moreover say unto thee beside what I have said already I tell thee further Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church His Speech is directed to Peter but it is evident from what hath been said that in him he comprehends all the Apostles as they were all comprehended in his Confession Who knew already that he was Christ the Son of the Living God but did not understand his intention of gathering a Church by their means This Name of Peter we met withal before Matth. x. 2. being given him at his first coming to our Saviour John i. 42. Where he told him Thou shalt be called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone or Peter Concerning which Justin Martyr a Dialog cum Tryh p. 333 334. See also Tertullian L. iv adv Marcionem c. 13. hath this Excellent Observation That it was to show our Saviour was the very same God who in the beginning had given new Names to Abraham and Sarah to Jacob and Joshua And for the same reason he called other two Disciples by the name of Boanerges to signify that he had the same Authority by which names were anciently changed and that he was their Lord and Soveraign of which the imposing a name on any person was a mark So that the Words of our Saviour in this place are to be understood as if he had said Thou art he to whom when thou first camest to me I gave a new Name and called Peter a Stone and truly my Church shall be built on a bottom as firm as any stone or rock It was the custom of our Lord when he was about to declare any Divine Truth to lay hold on some sensible similitude then near at hand the better to represent it to the minds of those that heard him As discoursing with the Woman of Samaria at the Well-side he takes occasion to tell her of living water that he had to bestow upon her Such as should be in those that drank it a well of water springing up into everlasting life John IV. 10 14. And at another time feeding a Multitude miraculously with a few Barly Loaves and Fishes he thence lays hold of the opportunity to discourse of the bread of life which came down from heaven which he admonishes them to labour after because if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever John VI. 26 27 50 51. In like manner here from the Name he had given Peter he takes the occasion of representing the stedfastness of that Foundation on which his Church should be built saying on this rock will I build my Church There was something in Peter no doubt which was the motive to the bestowing this Name upon him and that was the forwardness of his Faith which carried him to Christ meerly upon the report which his Brother Andrew gave of him Which was the reason S. Gregory Nyssen thinks that though Abraham's Name was not changed till after long acquaintance with God and many Divine Apparitions to him Peter's was changed at the very first sight of our Saviour he at the same time hearing his Brother and believing on the Lamb of God was consummated by Faith and being knit to the rock viz. Christ was made Peter * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. XV. in Cantic Canticorum p. 691. For our Lord intended to imploy him though not him alone as an eminent instrument to bring others to the Faith and build them on the same Rock that he himself was built till they became a Church The word CHURCH signifies the whole company of Believers united unto Christ as their Lord and Master who are here compared to a House The building of this Church is nothing else but the joyning these Persons with their Pastors into Company and Society one with another in such good order as the Stones which make an House are laid in upon their Foundation All the difficulty is about the Rock or the Foundation upon which this Society stands and by holding fast to which it remains a Church Which is the second thing I undertook to treat of unto which I now proceed PART II. What is here meant by the Rock COncerning this there are various expositions among the ancient Fathers as is manifest to every one that hath read their Writings though in truth as you shall see before I have done they differ rather in words than in sense and quite overthrow all the pretensions of the Church of Rome from this place of Holy Scripture I will name four I. It is confessed by all Protestants that some of the ancient Fathers by the Rock do understand Peter No Body that I know of disputes about this but only about their meaning when they say he was this Rock on which Christ said he would build his Church Which undoubtedly is not such as they of the Church of Rome would have it because other Persons far more in number and of as eminent rank in the Christian Church expound it of the Faith which S. Peter confessed So that he was the Rock and the Foundation only as he preached this Faith which is the second interpretation and shall be made appear to be the meaning of those who call Peter the Foundation of the Church II. If numbers are to be followed there are most I am sure for this sense of these words that by the Rock we are to understand that faith which S. Peter now confessed It is mentioned by Fortunatus an African Bishop in a Council at Carthage * De Baptizanâ—is Hareticis apud Cyprian p. 233. edit Oxon. where he saith the Lord hath built his Church Supra petram non super haeresin upon a Rock not upon Heresie In which words Rock being opposed to Heresie without all doubt he understood our Saviour to speak of a sound and solid Faith in him when he said he would build his Church upon this Rock Which is exactly the sense of Epiphanius also who by the Gates of Hell understanding all sorts of Heresies adds immediately †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haeres LXXIV n. 14. but they cannot prevail against the Rock that is against the Truth To whom I
you that ye love one another Have a sincere and hearty Affection for all Christian People and imitate not the Romanists who are out of Charity with the far greatest part of the Christian World. This Love of God and of our Brethren which are inseparable is the fruit of Faith and of Prayer without which they are nothing worth We must not only lift up our Hands to God which is a description of Prayer but lift up our Hands also unto his Commandments which we have loved Psal cxix 48. which is to do God's Will with a sincere Affection to it Without such fruits of Faith we shall not be able to stand fast in time of Temptation as Men built upon a Rock No our Lord hath told us that they who hear his Word and do it not are like to a Man that built his House upon the Sand which is soon overturned If we profess then this Faith which St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God which is the Foundation of Christianity let us be faithful and obedient unto him in all things For what he hath bidden us do as well as what he hath bidden us believe comes with the very same Authority and ought to be look'd upon as the words of the ever living God by his only begotten Son whom he hath sent to reclaim the World both from their Infidelity and from their Impiety This is part of the Foundation of our Religion that we renounce all Wickedness as well as that we believe our Lord Jesus to be the eternal Son of God. So St. Paul teaches us as we translate his words 2 Tim. ii 19. The Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity As much as to say this a setled Truth in the Christian Religion that they are Christ's they alone are known or approved by him who so profess Belief in him as to depart from Iniquity A profession of his Faith we ought to make but not content our selves with that alone We must add something to it and St. Peter tell us what 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7. Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg and to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ And so as St. Jude teaches you in the last place Fourthly You may look for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life That is have a good hope to be saved in the day of the Lord by the great Grace and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus Stedfastly expect this and wait for it with a patient hope whatsoever any Man can say to discourage you Let it not shake you nor make you doubt of the Mercy of God in this way unto which the Holy Ghost directs us all the Power to which the Pope pretends from St. Peter shall never be able to shut you out of Heaven He may shut out himself by his unjust Usurpations and by his Uncharitableness and by his unwarrantable Additions to the Christian Doctrine and Religion but none of those who trust in God after this manner which I have declared shall ever be confounded Let him thunder and lighten as much as he pleases it shall never hurt and therefore should not fright any of those pious Souls nor shall their hope ever make them ashamed The sound of Damnation perpetually in their Ears they ought to hear as an empty noise and vain words which should not so much as startle much less terrify them or turn them out of the way wherein they are All the Conceit which others may have of their own Merits and of the Merits of the Saints and of the Treasures of their Church and the Indulgences of the Pope shall never avail them so much as the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ towards those who look for his appearing unto Eternal Life by an holy Faith and by ardent Devotion and by unfeigned Love to God and to all Christian People Which cannot fail to commend us sufficiently unto him who is able as it follows in St. Jude to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy. You ought not to question it nor suffer others to raise doubts in your Minds about it but in assured hope of it continually bless and praise the Father of Mercies who hath called you into his Church chosen you to be his People wrought Faith and Love and hope of Eternal Life in you saying as he concludes his Epistle To the only Wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power both now and ever Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 14. for would not read could not P. 24. l. 14. Marg. r. Faelix iii. P. 30. l. antepen r. the greatest P. 33. l. 19. r. that they make P. 41. l. 21. f. prevent r. pervert P. 45. l. 18. r. next Chapter but one P. 51. l. 17. r. next Chapter but one P. 56. l. 23. r. next Chapter but one An Advertisment Of Books printed for Richard Chiswell THE History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILBERT BVRNET D. 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Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with certain Letters which passed betwixt him and James Waddesworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition in Sevil in matter of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience Quarto The Decree made at Rome the second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Jesuits and other Casuists Quarto A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Quarto First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late Bishop of Condom in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 4º A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England Octavo The Second Edition corrected with a Vindication of a Passage in the said Catechism from the Exceptions made against it in A Reply to the Answer of the Amicable Accommodation
could add Sixteen other ancient Writers and not put S. Austin into the number who often follows this Exposition four of which were Popes of Rome * Leo I. Foelix M. Gregorius I. Adrian I. and I do not reckon neither Isidorus Hispalensis venerable Bede and a great many other excellent Writers later than they down to Alphonsus Tostatus and lower among whom are five or six Bishops of Rome †Nicholas I. John VIII Steph. VI. Innocent II. Hadrian IV. Urban III. who expresly say The Rock that Christ here speaks of is the Faith which Peter confessed For the Church saith the last named Writer is built upon faith which faith is called a rock because it always remains firm and solid III. But there are others of no less name and credit that understand Christ himself by this Rock Who then may be conceived to have pointed to his own person when he spake these words shewing by his voice and gesture whom he meant by this Rock Which as it is an elegant so it is no unusual form of Speech but made use of by our Lord himself on another occasion Joh. II. 19. when he saith destroy this Temple intending the Temple of his Body and in three days I will raise it up And there are no small number of the antient Doctors who thus expound these words particularly S. Austin in divers places of his Works as he himself takes notice in his Review of them Where he saith †Retract L. 1◠Cap. 21. that in a certain place of his Book against the Epistle of Donatus he made Peter the Rock on which the Church was founded but since that time had very often said it was Christ the Son of the living God. He leaves the Reader indeed to chuse which he pleases but any one may see he inclined to the last which he followed in those Books which he wrote after this of his Retractions For which I must needs say there are no small reasons that are worthy to be mentioned First this very Apostle whose name is Peter or Stone calls Christ a living stone unto whom ye coming saith he to his flock as lively stones are built up a spiritual house c. 1 Pet. II. 4 5. Who can read these words without prejudice and not think that S. Peter lookt upon Christ as that Rock on whom every one must be built who will be a part of the spiritual House that is of the Church And therefore he adds that Christ is that chief Corner Stone elect and pretious whom the Prophet Isaiah foretold God would lay in Sion v. 6. And Christ alone for if he had had any conceit that he was a joynt secondary foundation of this building it would have been very seasonable or rather necessary to have bidden his flock come to him as that chief Corner Stone which God of old predicted he would lay in Sion as the foundation of his Church together with Christ For so Bellarmin †is bold to expound that Praefat. ad Libros de summo Pontif. Prophecy of Isaiah indeavouring at large to prove that every particular there mentioned belongs to Peter and his Successors in the See of Rome who he saith are that tried Stone that pretious nay that corner Stone that sure foundation in fundamento fundatus as they translate it that stone laid in the foundation which we read of Isaiah XXVIII 16. Directly against the words of S. Peter himself who applys all this to Christ alone and indeavours to fasten his flock unto him as the only sure Rock of their Redemption and Salvation This is a Doctrine frequent in the mouth of this very Apostle whom against his own mind they will needs make the Foundation of the Church and which he had read in other places of the antient Prophets For long before the writing of this Epistle he tells the Council of Jerusalem that Jesus was the stone which was set at nought by such Builders as they but become the head of the Corner Act. IV. 11. The great Men that is of the Jewish Church would not build on this Foundation by joyning themselves unto him as the rest of the Stones in a House are to that of the Corner and so they excluded themselves from his Body and from Salvation for there is no Salvation saith he in any other Secondly Another great Apostle also tells us that Christ is the Rock 1 Corinth X. 4. Who poured out his Spirit after his Death upon the Church as the Rock in the Wilderness after it was smitten did Water for the Israelites Thirdly And more than that he tells us in that Epistle III. 11. Other foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ How is it possible to have a better interpreter of Christs words to Peter than this which is here given us by the great Apostle of us Gentiles There are sundry Elogiums indeed which the antient Fathers have bestowed on S. Peter in their writings of which they of the Church of Rome are wont to boast and we grant them all nay have often told them that if it will do them any service we will furnish them with as many more titles of Honour out of the Fathers as they have collected But when we have done we will present them with as many and great and transcendent yea the very same titles bestowed upon S. Paul Who here tells us in plain words whom we are to understand by the Foundation of the Church and consequently by the Rock on which it is built And indeed our Saviour doth not here say to Peter Thou art Peter and upon thee will I build my Church but upon this Rock as if he spoke of something else either himself or that Faith concerning him which Peter had confessed Tu Petrus Ego Petra thou art Peter and I am the Rock on whom thou art built thy self and must help to build others If Peter himself was the Rock then how is he built upon the Rock He would be a Rock and a Foundation to himself For there is no mention of more Rocks than one which if it be Christ then Peter and all must be built on him Hear how handsomely S. Austin * Serm. 13. De verbis Domini Cap. 1 2. expounds these words Thou therefore art Peter and upon this Rock which thou hast confessed upon this Rock which thou hast known saying Thou art Christ the Son of the living God I will build my Church Super me aedificabo te non me super te I will build thee upon me not me upon thee For they that would build upon men said I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas that is Peter and others who would not be built upon Peter but upon the Rock said I am of Christ Now S. Paul seeing them make choice of him and contemn Christ asks them Is Christ divided Was Paul Crucified for you Or were you baptized in the name of Paul No
else but this that the Church is built upon Christ by Faith in him which was professed and preached by Peter and by the rest of the Apostles Christ is in proper speaking the Rock and the Foundation upon which the whole Church relies Peter was an eminent Minister of his and so were the other Apostles to lay this Foundation that is to Preach and declare him to the World and perswade Men to believe on him upon whom they themselves were built as their Foundation They first believed on him and then were co-workers with him to bring others to the Faith and lastly after they were dead that Faith which they confessed and taught still remained to be preached by their Successors in all Ages as the Doctrine on which we must stand and to which we must hold if we intend to be owned by Christ as Members of his Church So all these Expositions agree very well and do not cross one another for when the Fathers use sometimes one word sometimes another they still mean the same thing If they say S. Peter is the Rock they mean only as a Minister that laid the Foundation-stone and then so was S. Paul too who calls himself a chief Master-builder If they say Faith is the Rock they mean a belief of this Doctrine that Jesus is the Son of the living God which is the first Principle of the Christian Religion And if they say the faithful are the Rock for so some of them have spoken they mean that being built upon this Faith in Christ they also profess maintain and support it For in effect as I said all these Interpretations meet in one Christ being the Principal cause of all Peter a Ministerial or Instrumental cause by preaching Christ while he lived and perswading Men to joyn themselves to him and become a Church and their belief of that which he and the rest of the Apostles preached concerning Christ Jesus was both then and after they were dead the means whereby they were joyned to Christ He and the Doctrine concerning him was the Foundation upon which all were built by the Ministry of Peter and his fellow Apostles who squared and fastened Men unto this living Stone upon whom being setled by Faith in him they became themselves living Stones as S. Peter speaks in the place before-mentioned and were built up a Spiritual House or Temple an Holy Priesthood to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ I will conclude this with an excellent saying of S. Chrysostom * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. who speaking of S. Paul and what he had preach'd and done says When I mention Paul it is as if I had said Christ himself For Christ moved and inspired that blessed Soul Christ spake by him and his Voice was the Voice of Christ Which I may fitly apply to the present matter and say as truly of S. Peter when he is named Christ is named and nothing else is meant but that upon him that is upon Christ should by him or speaking in him the Church should be built Thus it is certain Tertullian understood these words which he thus interprets the Church is built on him that is by him †In ipso Ecclesia exstructa est id est per ipsum L. de pudicitia C. XXI But not on him that is by him alone III. For that is a farther piece of injustice to make these words spoken only to Peter who I have shown was the mouth of the Apostles in the confession he made and spake the sense of them all and therefore in all reason this reply of our Saviour's is to be thought intended to them all who were as much Rocks or foundations of the Church as he For did not our Lord propound the question to them all in those words whom do you say that I am v. 15. And if he askt them the question did he not expect their Answer Where then shall we find that Answer unless the Foreman delivered in the sense of the whole Body and in the name of the rest of his Brethren made this declaration Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Which is affirmed I have told you by S. Austin and others who say Peter answers one for all Now if they all made this confession then they were all concerned in our Saviours reply who tells him and in him tells them that upon this Rock that is himself which they confessed he would build his Church by their Ministry that is by their constant preaching what they had now confessed And thus Venerable Bede our Countryman understood this matter in his Homily upon S. Peter where he hath these very words Nam sicut interrogatis generaliter omnibus c. For as when all were askt in general who he was Peter answered one for all So what our Lord answered to Peter in Petro omnibus respondit in Peter he answered to all the Apostles Thus even common reason taught Men to expound words when it was not swayed by prejudice interest or any private affection Which when we suffer to intermeddle they prevent our judgment and make strange glosses upon Gods word casting a mist before our eyes when the light of divine truth clearly shines into them An instance of which we have in the Rhemists Annotations on these words who could not but see that the Fathers do some time say if they could have spoke out they would have siad do very often or rather most commonly say the Church is bult on Peter 's Faith But immediately as if darkness had come on a sudden upon them they add the Fathers meant not that it should be built upon Faith either separate from the Man or in any other Man as we they say unlearnedly take them but upon Faith as in him who here confessed that Faith. Which is as much as to say the Church is built upon Peter's Faith alone and not upon the same Faith in any other Apostle If this be Christian learning it is very new never thought of till of late as will more fully appear in the following Considerations IV. If we should grant that thèse words of Christ were spoken only to him yet it is very unjust to understand them exclusively of all the rest For we may as well argue that Christ intended S. Peter only should draw Men to him by preaching the Gospel and so the rest of the Apostles have nothing to do because he said to him alone and not to James and John who were his Partners Simon fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men Luke V. 10. as that he intended him alone to be the Rock because he said only to him Thou art Peter c. without any mention of the rest of the Apostles Who ought not to be thought excluded unless there had been some such word of restriction as limited the sense to S. Peter only and barred their claim to a joynt share in this grant for the Church may be built on
him and on them too he may be the Rock and they also in the same sense that it is meant of him And this appears to be true from a great many things that may be fit here to be observed 1. First the Apostles never thought themselves to be excluded but by their behaviour declared they took themselves to be equal to him Which Alphonsus Tostatus * In Matth. XVIII qu. VII and in Matth. XX. qu. 83. no longer ago than in the Fifteenth Century asserts most earnestly and with great concern alledges many undeniable arguments to prove they did not understand any supremacy to have been given to Peter by these words For after this saith he they contended for superiority disputing who should be the greatest Matth. XVIII 1. Mark IX 33. And again the two Sons of Zebedee who always seemed to be equal with him in our Saviour's favour have their desire of preference promoted by their Mother Matth. XX. 10. c. Nay this dispute was renewed at his last Supper as he understands Luke XXII 24 25. concerning which his words are remarkable Every Apostle saith he doubted which of them should be the greater and that doubt remained until the day of Christ's death for in the last Supper of Christ they began to inquire among themselves which of them should seem the greater and yet they would not have made this dispute publickly if they had thought Peter by the collating of the Keys to have been preferred above them Thus far then they thought themselves equal when they could not resolve which should be the greater 2. And after our Lords Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost when they cannot be supposed ignorant of any thing concerning his Kingdom they still took themselves as much concerned in these words as Peter For not only S. Paul but S. John a Man exceedingly beloved of our Saviour and his bosome Disciple thought all the Apostles to be the Foundation on which the Church is built Read at your leisure Ephes II. 20. and Revel XXI 14. where you will find the Wall of the New Jerusalem that is the Christian Church had twelve Foundations and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb Not one Foundation and on that the name of Peter but twelve Foundations bearing the name of the twelve Apostles Peter was unum sed non unicum fundamentum one Foundation but not the only one He was one of the next stones which lay immediately upon the Rock Christ and so may be called a Foundation but so was S. John also another of those stones which immediately rely upon Christ and so were all the rest of the Apostles None of which were built upon S. Peter nor he on them but all on Christ Whom S. Austin †In Psalm LXXXVII calls fundamentum fundamentorum the Foundation of the Foundations that is of the very Apostles and Prophets upon whom the Church is said to be built because by their Ministry it was erected In this sense Peter was a Rock and so were all the rest of the Apostles as much as he equal in power alike intrusted with this great work of raising a Church upon him the living Stone 3. Whence it is that St. Paul giving an account of the several Orders and Ranks of Men which God hath placed in his Church makes the highest Power in it to be that which belongs unto them all For he saith God hath set these in the Church first Apostles c. 1. Cor. 12. 28. He doth not say first Peter as he should have done if by these words Thou art Peter c. he was set higher than the rest but the Apostles in general who were all the prime Ministers of Christ of equal Dignity among themselves without any one set over them in Superiority above the rest 4. Which appears farther from the Promise of bestowing the Keys upon him which here immediately follows Vers 19. and is acknowledged on all sides to be the highest Power conferred upon him which is promised to all the Apostles in the very next Chapter Matth. 18. 18. in the very same words without any alteration but only a change of the singular into the plural Here it is said Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth c. there Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth c. What reason then to fancy any difference between them Which the ancient Christians did not but look'd upon them all as having a joynt share in this Power Which is so evident that a Learned Man l Joh. Lanoi◠Epist ad Hadrianum Vallantium p. 27 c. Pa. 2. in the Roman Communion hath shown at large even by the Confession of Popes themselves that in Peter Christ gave the Keys or rather promised them to the whole Church 5 And the truth is Nothing was here given to him by these words of Christ Thou art Peter with respect to the Apostles but with respect to the Church only which was raised by the joynt Labour and Pains of the whole Number To whom another being afterwards added he laboured more abundantly than they all 1 Cor. 15. 10. 6. And was so far from thinking he had any Superiour though he was chosen last of all and look'd upon himself as a kind of Abortive 1 Cor. 15. 8. that he doubted not to say He was not a whit in nothing behind the very chiefest of the Apostles 2 Cor. 11. 5. 12. 11. The words are very significant in the Greek m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying there were more very eminent or super-excellent Apostles than one called in other places Pillars Gal. 2. 9. and Chiefs n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. vers 2 6. Peter no doubt was one of these but there were others as eminent and neither he nor they had a Preheminence of Power and Authority among them there being nothing wanting in St. Paul to make him equal to the most Eminent Apostles 7. Particularly to St. Peter with whom he contended openly opposing and reprehending his Error Gal. 2. 11. which he durst not have done if he had known any Superiority in Power and Authority to have been in St. Peter Nay here had been a fit occasion for St. Peter to have asserted his Authority if he had known any to have been in him which was not in St. Paul and not have suffered himself to be thus corrected by him for his Error Of which we have not one word nor did he tho our Lord chose him first and built his Church upon him challenge to himself any thing insolently or arrogantly so as to say he had the Primacy and therefore ought rather to be obeyed by those who were novel and later Persons They are the words of St. Cyprian o Epist lxxi edit Rigal whose Notes there a. f. are worth perusing who plainly hereby declares his sense to have been that these words of our Lord to St. Peter gave him no such Primacy as set him above Correction that
is no Supremacy or Dominion and that it had been an insolent and arrogant thing if he had assumed to himself any such Primacy 8. For the Fathers it must be next observed never understood these words exclusively but call all the Apostles by the very same names of Honour and Dignity that they do Peter and other Bishops afterwards by the same Names that they do the Bishop of Rome For Example I find one called Father of Fathers another Bishop of Bishops nay all of them called Vicarios Christi the Vicars of Christ whose place they here supplied Which Eminent Title the Popes of Rome heretofore were so far from appropriating to themselves that as their common Title was Vicars of St. Peter not Vicars of Christ to this last they themselves have honoured other Bishops withal as whole Councils have also done who exhort the People to honour the Governours and Pastors of Churches as Fathers and Christ's Vicars p V. Joh. Lanoii par 3. Epistol ad Michaelem Marollium p. 21 c. n. 36. But that perhaps which will be thought most to the purpose is this That as St. Chrysostome q Tom. v. p 992. 995. Edit Savil. in his Sermon upon those blessed pair as he calls them St. Peter and St. Paul gives them alike Titles and says God trusted them with the Souls of the whole World so speaking of all the Twelve Apostles he calls them expresly in the singular Number the Rock or Foundation of the Church Thus I show'd before St. Cyprian also discourses when he saith from these words of our Saviour is derived all the Power of Bishops and Governours in the Church who successively ordain Pastors that the Church may be constituted upon Bishops To whom I will only add Theodoret upon that known place in the Psalms lxxxvii 1. His Foundation is in the Holy Mountains which in the spiritual Sense being meant of the New Jerusalem he thus expounds The Foundations of Piety are the Divine Instructions which Christ hath given us the Holy Mountains upon whom he hath laid these Foundations are the Apostles of our Savioar Who are thence called themselves Foundations because they laid the Foundation of Christianity by the Divine Instructions which they gave from Christ according to that of St. Paul which he immediately adds Ye are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone 9. And therefore when the Fathers treat of this very matter they give other reasons why Christ named Peter only when he spake these words not to give him any Prerogative much less Monarchy but to signifie the Unity he would have in his Church This St. Cyprian discourses of at large in words as express as can be desired Christ said to Peter Upon this Rock I will build my Church and tho he gave to all his Apostles after his Resurrection parem Potestatem equal Power yet ut Vnitatem manifestaret that he might declare the Unity he would have he spake first to him alone that on him he would build his Church Not making him by these words it is plain the Imperial Head of the Church but only a representative Type of its Unity For he immediately adds The rest of the Apostles were the very same that Peter was endued with equal Co-partnership both of Honour and of Power but the beginning proceeds from Vnity that the Church of Christ may be shewed to be one r De Unite Ecclesiae Cathol edit Rigalt p. 180. Episcopatus unus est cujus à singulis in solidum pars tenetur And a little after he considers all the Bishopricks in the World as one Mass or Lump whereof every Bishop in the World hath an intire part The like I might add out of Pope Symmachus himself in a Letter to the Bishop of Arles s Baron ad An. 499. num xxxvi where he acknowledges that as the power of the Holy Trinity is one and undivided so there is one Bishoprick amongst divers Bishops But I have not room for more Authorities of this kind I will rather observe That there is another plainer reason of Christ's speaking thus to St. Peter which is that he was chosen by Christ to begin the glorious Work of gathering a Catholick Church and therefore he directed his Speech particularly to him as the Person who should be first imployed in this business telling him I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven because he was first to open the Gate or Door of Faith to the Gentiles and let them into the Church of Christ This appears from the memorable History of Cornelius upon which he reflects when he tells the Apostles in the Council at Jerusalem Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my Mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe Acts 15. 7. The words are more significant in the Greek which we translate a good while ago 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the ancient days or the first times God made choice of me from among the rest which may well refer to those of our Saviour whose times are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 1. 1. the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God which St. Peter first published among the Gentiles This was an Honour peculiar to him and bestowed on him it 's likely because of the forwardness of his Faith in Christ and the vehemency of his Affection to him as well as because he was first chosen to be an Apostle And with respect to this we readily acknowledg Christ promised something singular to him in these words which was that he should first lay the Foundation of the Church among the Gentiles Some add among the Jews also because we read he was the first Speaker upon the day of Pentecost Acts 1. 14. But those words sufficiently intimate that the rest of the Apostles then spake as well as he especially if we compare them with what goes before Vers 7 8 9. where it is said The Multitude heard them speak every Man in his own Language c. Tertullian s De Pudicitia C. xxi adds other instances of his first exercising the Power of the Keys but none of them prove more than that he had the Honour to be primus non supremus first not supream Princeps post quem alii deinceps the chief or beginning whom all the rest followed in equal Power and Authority For he was chief only in Order and Place not in Dominion or Jurisdiction 10. No We must after all this consider that our Lord when he spake these words did not lay the Foundation of the Church but only promises he would hereafter build his Church upon this Rock and give him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven For so the words are in the future Time I will build and I will give thee c. Now as he makes this Promise to them all I shewed
ever All which shows how true it is that Peter himself was not that Rock on which Christ promised to build his Church unless we understand thereby only his Ministerial Function which he did not exercise solely but had all the rest Co-workers with him VI. But let us in the last place suppose once more that he was the Rock more than the rest yet it is a strange Conclusion from hence that Christ made him the Lord and sole Governour of his Church For what relation hath a Rock to Power Government and Dominion We may as soon draw Water out of a Pumice as any such Doctrine out of this word Rock which hath relation only to Solidity Firmness Stedfastness or something of that kind as appears from the very nature of the word and the use of it in all Authors where it never imports any thing of that which is now so much pleaded for and made the Subject of the greatest Contests And therefore those Writers who expound these words of Peter say nothing of his Dominion much less of the Dominion of the Popes of Rome for which there is now so much stickling but they give us quite another reason why he is called the Rock Because of the solidity of his Devotion saith one because he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hard as a Rock or stone in the Faith saith another because of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firmness of his Faith saith a third because of his Faith in the true Rock saith a fourth because also he laid the first Foundation of Faith among the Gentiles and because that this Faith which he professed viz. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the first Principle of our Religion the beginning of Christianity the Foundation and Bottom of all that we believe In which Faith he was so stedfast that he did not fluctuate in uncertainty like the rest of the Jews some of which said he was Elias others Jeremias others John the Baptist but was setled in this constant Perswasion that Jesus was the Son of God which he as constantly preached unto others and converted unto this Faith. I have not thought it necessary to quote the Authors where all these things may be found I will only name Epiphanius a Haeres lix num 7 8. who speaking of St. Peter whom he calls the most principal of the Apostles he adds Who truly was to us a firm Rock founding the Faith of the Lord upon which the Church is altogether built First when he confessed Christ to be the Son of the Living God and heard our Saviour say Vpon this Rock of an unshaken Faith will I build my Church And again he was a firm Rock the Foundation of the House of God when denying Christ he returned and had those words said unto him Feed my Sheep For Christ saying this draws us to Repentance that on him may be built again a well-grounded Faith which doth not deny Life to those that truly repent Who doth not see that this Father thought he was the Rock because he laid the Foundation of Faith in us And there are those who think he had the Name of Peter given him to show also the Difficulties and Dangers he was to go through in that Imployment unto which he was called of preaching the Faith. But more than such things as these is not to be drawn out of these words No such thing as the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome which is another Presumption built upon this word Rock For supposing Peter to be the Rock that is saith Bellarmine the Foundation of the Church thence it follows he could not err because then the Foundation would prove ruinous and the Church which is the Building would fall to the ground And consequently his Successors cannot err for the same reason because they are what he was the Foundation upon which the Church relies and if they should fail the Christian Religion might come to nothing Which is so wretched a sort of reasoning that it shows the greatest Wits were not able to say any thing considerable in this cause For it supposes that which hath no proof at all that Peter was the sole Foundation of the Church If he were not then if this reasoning be good it proves all Bishops who are the Successors of the Apostles and frequently so called by ancient Writers to be infallible But I shall say no more of this for there are so many flaws in such Discourses as derive to the Successors all that was in Peter or the rest of the Apostles that they are not easily numbred and I have said enough I hope to show that all the pretensions of the present Church of Rome grounded upon this place are weak and without any bottom They fall to the ground when we come to touch them with one rational thought and prove like a Building that hath no Foundation Or they are not like a Structure built on a Rock but like a House that Men build on the Sand. There is nothing of solidity nothing of strength in their Arguments upon this Subject but after much pains to connect a great many things together they fall asunder like a Rope of Sand. There is no solid reason to make us think that our Lord spake here of Peter and not of Himself Or if he spake of Peter that he meant his Person and not that Doctrine which he preached And no reason in the Earth that he spake concerning himself or his Doctrine only to Peter and not to them all Or if we should make this large grant that he spake only of Peter there is not the least shadow of reason to make us think he spake of his Dominion and supream Power but only of his stedfastness in the Faith and his being the first Instrument in gathering a Church among the Gentiles tho he was not the prime Instrument if we thereby understand the chiefest and greatest for that was St. Paul. Some Vses of what hath been said I. And therefore we are a true Church though we have nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome This is no part of the definition of a Church that it is united to him as its Head but it is intire without it The Bishop of Rome makes all his claim from St. Peter who it is plain had no Universal Jurisdiction granted or promised in these words and therefore the Pope can get nothing by them Faith in Christ Jesus Communion with our Christian Brethren and Subjection to those Pastors who are over us in the Lord are sufficient to make us a Church whether the Pope will or no. Though there were no such Bishop in the World though the Chair of St. Peter were overturned and no where to be found the Church of Christ would be where it was built upon the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets There is not one of the Apostles that say a word in their Writings of the Prerogative of St. Peter Among all their Admonitions