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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58738	Several weighty considerations humbly recommended to the serious perusal of all, but more especially to the Roman Catholicks of England to which is prefix'd, An epistle from one who was lately of that communion to Dr. Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Pauls, declaring the occasion of the following discourse.	T. S. Epistle from a late Roman Catholick to the Very Reverend Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Paul's.; Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1679 (1679)	Wing S183; ESTC R16533	49,205	54

deny S. Peter a Primacy of Authority and Spiritual Jurisdiction over the Church as an Apostle or in respect of his Fellow Apostles a Primacy of Order Calling Graces Gifts Courage c. or that he was a Ministerial Rock But since the Rock and the Keys signifie the same thing to wit the power of Binding and Loosing which Matth. 18. 18. is expresly promised to all the Apostles and the same words of Binding and Loosing are there used which were before to S. Peter and after the Resurrection John 20. 21. the same power was amply bestowed on all the Apostles equally and their Successors He breathed on his Disciples saying As my Father sent me even so send I you Receive you the Holy Ghost Whose sins you retain they are retained and whose sins you remit they are remitted so that no mans Jurisdiction came from Peter to him but every one had it alike and equally from our Savióur who sent him and since S. Paul assures us Ephes. 2. 20. That we are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles in general and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner-stone and S. Anselm well comments on S. M●th 16. This power was not given alone to Peter but as Peter answered o●●●●●● all so in Peter he gave this Power to all This Text will not evince S. P●ter to have been Constituted the Universal Monarch of Christs Church Nor in the whole Series of Divine History do we meet with any Monarch-like Action of his Recorded ●●t ●n the contrary we read that He was sent as a Messenger by the rest of the Apostles Act. 8. 14. That he gave the Right Hand to S. Paul and Bar●●●● Galat. 2. 9. That he was accused to the other Disciples pleaded his ●●●● before them and submitted to their Judgment Acts. 11. 1. c. And that S. Paul withstood him to his face finding that he walk'd not uprightly ●●●●rding to the truth of the Gospel Galat. 2. 11 14. Thus far they think this Soveraignty was only promised In S. Joh. 21. 17. where Christ said to Peter Feed my sheep they teach that this power was absolutely delivered and confirmed But neither was this charge so lay'd on S. Peter that the rest were excluded For they g●●nt that no more was here Given than what was Promised M●th 16. where the Keys are mentioned Now we have evidently proved that all the Apostles were equal in the power of the Keys and that those wor●s concern S Peter no more than the other Disciples In Scripture phrase the word Feed when it is accommodated to Ecclesiastical Functions is the same as to Teach They shall Feed them with knowledge and understanding saies the Prophet Jeremy And then we shall find the same Command and Commission given to all the Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go and Teach all Nations c. B●sid●s since All the Apostles had before been sent as Shepherds to Feed the Flock Muth 9. 36. 10. 6. and were afterwards furnished with more full Instructions and Abilities to the same end Muth 28. John 20. which they executed most diligently and Couragiously as appears by their Acts and Epistles no man can reasonably deny but that pas●e Oves Feed my sheep belong'd to them as well as to S. Peter and they themselves gave the same Duty in Charge to other Pastors Act. 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Neither would S. Peter ingross this privilege to himself but communicated it to others 1 Pet. 5. 2. Feed the Flock of God that is among you S. Cyprian de Unit. Ecclis speaks home They are all Pasters but the Flock is one which by one consent is fed by all the Apostles And S. Chrysostom l. 2. de Sacerdotio Our Saviour at that time intended to teach both Peter and Us how dear his Church is to him c. This is a True Short and Plain Account of S. Peter's Authority both what was given him by our Saviour and what was exercised by himself But alas this is too scant for his pretended Successour as we shall now manifest And I shall be a little more exact in this Seasonable Argument because that I know many of our English Roman Catholicks will not believe that this Vast Unlimited Power is owned by their Church but is onely the product of the Flattery of private Doctors and the Pope's particular Parasites I will onely mention how the Usurpings Innovations and Incroachments of the Roman Bishops have been constantly opposed by the Greatest part of Christendom in all Ages In the first General Council of Nice he was consined to his own particular District as the Patriarch of Alexandria and others were to theirs In the first General Councils of Constantinople and Ephesus the Provinces of the World were distinguished and the Patriarchs restrained to their own Circuits and He of Constantinople is by name made Equal to Him of Rome in all Ecclesiastical Matters He of Rome had indeed the Chief Honour but that consisted not in Jurisdiction but in sitting in the first place and such like Ti●les The Council of Chalcedon confirms the same Decrees and adds withal Our Fathers gave the Privileges to the Seat of Elder Rome because that City had the Empire and the 150 Bishops assembled at the Council of Constantinople moved with the same reason gave the same Privilege to the most Sacred Throne of New Rome thinking it reasonable that the City which is honoured with the Empire and Senate should also have Equal Privileges with Elder Rome and in Ecclesiastical Matters be advanced alike with her Another Council at Constantinople Enacted the same But the Council of Carthage Anno 418. consisting of 217 Bishops is most Worthy of our Remark In this Council when Sozymus Bishop of Rome claimed a Right to receive Appeals from all parts of the World and pretended a Canon of the Nicene Council that should give it him the Bishops strongly debated the Matter and having searched the Original Copies of the Nicene Council whereby the Untruth of his Claim was discovered they wrote sharply to him not to meddle any more with their Provinces nor admit into his Fellowship such as they had Excommunicated Telling him he had nothing to do in their Causes either to bring them to Rome or to send legats to hear them at home and that this pretence of his was expresly against the Nicene Council The Evidence of this Great Testimony stands to this day unanswerable by the Roman Party It is abundantly known how Pope Stephen was sleighted by S. Cyprian and Victor by the Bishops of the East But this is an Infinite Theme and I must not forget my promised Brevity I shall onely Request the Gentlemen of the Roman-Catholick Persuasion seriously to lay to heart what Trivial Grounds this Grand Article of their Church the Pope's Supremacy even in

Ecclesiastical Affairs is founded upon and to consider how many Difficulties must be cleared to make it a probable Tale. 1. That S. Peter was Bishop of Rome 2. That he dyed at Rome by the special Command of Christ. 3. That he dyed Invested with such a Supremacy as is now Exercised in that Church 4. That his so dying there is sufficient without a new Revelation from God to make the Succession of the Bishop of Rome of Divine Authority We shall now take a View of that Grand Machine of the Pope's power over Temporal Princes and make it most evident that it is an Article and Doctrin of the Roman Church and being so that this alone were a sufficient Motive to forsake her Communion since She Teaches Justifies and strictly Commands even under the penalty of being accounted no Christians Treason and Rebellion The present Lord Bishop of Lincoln hath written a Learned and Satisfactory Treatise on this Subject and I find his Lordship very faithful in his Citations Wherefore I may be the more sparing However because I heartily desire that Honoured Pious and Loyal Persons may not unwarily ingage their Liberties Estates and Lives for the Maintainance of so Extravagant and Tyrannical a Power which hath in all Ages caused so many disinal Tragedies in the Christian World and is in it self Fatal and Destructive to all Civil Government I shall briefly treat of this Matter to undeceive others especially since I was herein miserably seduced my self till I had Maturely and Exactly Examined the whole Business I shall begin with General Councils whose Decrees if they will not admit I confess I as yet understand not what the Doctrin of the Roman Church is nor do I know where to find it The Third Council of Lateran c. 27. after it had Condemned and Excommunicated many Hereticks and you must know that All Protestants are both accounted so and as such are once every year solemnly accursed by His Holyness in Person on Maundy Thursday It Absolves All that had sworn Fidelity or Homage to them from those Oaths and we know who they are to whom Fidelity and Homage strictly speaking is due and they are required in Order to the Remission of their Sins to fight against them And those who dye doing Penance in that manner may undoubtedly expect Indulgence for their Sins with Eternal Rewards Then by the Authority of S. Peter and Paul the Council remits to all who shall rise and fight against them two years penance Here a General Council uses all its Industry to poyson people with Rebellious Doctrin and calls Treason Doing of Penance Not long after Pope Celestin Predecessor to Innocent the Third with more than Luciferian Arrogance sets the Crown on the Head of the Emperour Henry the 6th with his two feet and then kicks it off again And the fact is produced by no meaner a Person than Cardinal Baronius to shew that it is in the Pope's power to Give and Take away Empires But to as much purpose as He produced that Text Rise Peter Kill and Eat to incense Paul the 5th against the Venetians The second Evidence shall be the Fourth Great and as they call it Most General Council of Lateran wherein were assembled 1200 of one sort or other These C. 3. make a Decree That the Aid of Secular Princes should be required for the Rooting out of Hereticks i. e All that are not of the Roman Communion and that when the Temporal Lord required and admonished by the Church shall neglect to purge his Territory from Heretical Wickedness He shall be Excommunicated by the Metropolitan and his Suffragans And if he persist in neglecting to give satisfaction for the space of a year let him be signified to the Pope that he from thenceforth may pronounce his Subjects discharged from their Obedience and expose his Territory to be seized on by Catholicks who having exterminated the Hereticks shall possess it without Contradiction and preserve it in the Purity of the Faith So as no Injury be done to the Right of the Supreme Lord where there is such provided He do not any ways oppose himself And the Law is to take place in them who have no Superiour Lord. Which Last Clause perfectly comprehends Soveraign Princes and so anticipates that Reply which some make That the Decree was only made for Feudatory and Subordinate Princes And whereas some few deny it to be a General Council and that it made any Canons it is a most Impudent Cavil For both the Council and Canons have been and are Universally received by the Roman Church the Council as General and Approved so by Innocent the III. and the Canons as Authentick All their Writers concerning Councils put this down among the General ones ●●●● commonly call it the Great General Council of Lateran and Joverius says he cannot see with what face a Man dare deny it They always put it among those Councils that are Approved by the Church for you must know that some are Reprobated some are partly Approbated and partly Reprobated Their Canon Law so esteems of it The Council of Constance puts it among those General Councils to the Observation whereof the Popes were to swear at their Installment The Council of Trent which I hope none will boggle at Sess 24. C. 5. in express terms calls it a General Council and Confirms one of its Canons To which I may add because it concerns us a Synod at Oxford where this Council was received for England And though some Princes that were deposed out of the Pope's meer Spite and Malice got some Advocates to write for them and Synods of Bishops to Protest against the Pope's Proceedings yet in the case of Pretended Heresie which neerly touches Protestant Princes not one Writer or Bishop appears in Vindication of the Temporal Power A shrewd Sign that this Deposing Heretical Magistrates is in General the Romish Doctrine The General Council of Lions is next It was summoned by Innocent the 4th against the Emperour Frederick the 2d Here the Pope having consulted with the Council Declares the Emperour deprived by God of his Dominions and thereupon they Actually Depose him and Absolve All from their Oaths of Fidelity to him strictly charging All persons to acknowledge him no more for Emperour and denouncing All that did otherwise Excommunicated Ipso facto So we have another whole General Council concurring with the Pope in asserting this Deposing Power and with Candles burning in their hands thundering out Sentence against the poor Emperour In the Council of Constance Sess. 19. we often meet with this Clause That All Breakers of their Privileges whether Emperours Kings or any other Degree were thereby Ipso facto subjected to the Banns Punishments and Censures in the Council of Lateran and Sess. 17. in the Pass they gave to the King of Arragon they decree That whatsoever Person either King Cardinal c. hinder him in his Journey he is Ipso sacto deprived of all Honour Dignity Office

Authority both what he pretends to and what it really is And here starts forth a material Difficulty even at our first setting out namely Whether S. Peter whence all this Power and Soveraignty is pretended were himself Bishop of Rome or were indeed ever at Rome I will not Deny either because I know many of the Antients plead for both But the Point being onely grounded on Humane Authority for Divine Authority seems rather to contradict it i. e. Ecclesiastical History and the Differences among the Reporters being so Many and so Considerable both in Chronology and divers other Weighty Circumstances and the Probabilities that are produced against it being not altogether Contemptible I hope a Man may be excused from being a Damn'd Hererick if he do not believe it to be a Fundamental Article of Faith The Article of the Standing or Falling Church sayes a Modern Famous Controvertist and consequently hath a Meaner Esteem for all that prodigious Train of Positions which are thence deduced These following Inducements make it at least Doubtful whether S. Peter ever was Bishop of Rome or was ever there For his ever having been at Rome we do not much stand upon it But the Reasons and Testimonies brought out of Humane Histories which onely mention it are so uncertain and involv'd with such difficulties as may make any Man deservedly question it Vellenus hath published several Demonstrations that he was never there And those Authorities of the Fathers that are alleged for it are so Various that the Learned'st Romanists cannot r. concile them Marsilius Patavinus in his Defens Pacis part 2. c. 16. sayes By Scripture it cannot be made out either that S. Peter was Bishop of Rome or that he was ever there at all and when he considers the Ecclesiastical Historians that affirm it he doth it so that it is evident he doth not believe them It is true S. Peter in his 1. Ep. c. 5. 13. writes as from Babylon but that Babylon was in Assyria For though in the Apocalyptical Visions Rome is designed by Babylon yet in a plain Epistolary Salutation there was no reason at all for such a Trope Nor doth S. Paul or S. Luke who make frequent mention of Rome ever call it Babylon There is indeed an Old Chair at Rome pretended to be S. Peter's and on certain daies it is shewn to the people as likewise a Sepulchre and certain parts of his Body as Relicks But the Jugling and Imposture with Reliques and such like Trumpery is so well known that the World hath long since lessen'd her Credit to such Monuments Nor hath it been the lowest part of Rome's Policy for many Ages with Feigned Miracles Counterfeit Relicks and Forged Records and Legends to raise in the Vulgar an Opinion of her Holiness and so maintain her Grandeur But we have been too long on this Impertinency Whether He was ever Bishop of Rome deserves our stricter Examination Holy Writ seems not silent here as in the former Case but fully Opposite S. Peter and S. Paul by the Instinct of the Holy Ghost made an Accord that S. Peter should Preach to the Jews and S. Paul to the Gentiles Whereupon in the Sacred Text S. Peter's peculiar Title is The Apostle of the Circumcision and Consequent to his Charge we see that he wrote his Epistles to the scatter'd Jews neither did he direct any to or date any from Rome So that it is incredible he should be Bishop or Resident there for 25 years Whereas S. Paul was the Great Doctor and Apostle of the Gentiles and both writ to the Romans and taught and was imprisoned at Rome for several Years as is evident from Scripture Again the Authours of this Story the first whereof were probably Papias and Dionysius the one too Credulous and Erroneous the other a Counterfeit are wholly at a loss in declaring when S. Peter came to Rome how long he sat there when he dyed and who were his Successours And the most tolerable Account that is given by the best Writers How S. Peter the 5th Year after Christ's Passion went to Antioch and there fix'd his Episcopal See for 7 years thence removed to Rome and there continued 25 Years is no waies coherent with what is related of S. Peter Galat 1. 2. Act. 12. 15. From which places it is manifest that S Peter's most usual Abode was at Jerusalem at least till the 18th year after Christ's death and the 17th of S. Paul's Conversion Nor is it likely that S. Peter setled his Chair at Antioch so long since Galat. 2. we read only of his passing by there and that he was so far from behaving himself as their Bishop that he seems to have understood little of the Affairs of that Church till S. Paul had rightly informed him In the 16. to the Romans St. Paul salutes very many by name yet takes not the least notice of S. Peter nor gives them the least account where he was or how he did which seems something odd if S. Peter had then been their Soveraign Pastor And when S. Paul was himself at Rome and writ diverse Epistles in the Reign of Nero at which time Bellarmin would have S. Peter to have been at Rome though he make mention of many others of inferior rank yet not one syllable of S. Peter Nay he generally denies that there was any such present with him Colos. 4. 11. And 2 Tim. 4. 16. he grievously complains that at his first Answer when he appeared before Nero All men forsook him And when S. Paul came first to Rome the Jews there who were S. Peter's peculiar charge seemed to know nothing of the Gospel Act. 28. Thus S. Peter must be Bishop of Rome 25 years and yet never be at Rome when ever the Scripture mentions the Roman Church And S. Paul could never find him there though he is reported to be Martyred there at the same time with him We see then upon how tottering a Foundation this mighty Fabrick depends I mean how justly Questionable the Papal Monarchy is even in matter of Fact and to its very An sit But perhaps it may plead better for it self in point of Right and Equity We will briefly here inquire into two things 1. What Authority S. Peter had 2. What Authority the Pope pretends to derive from him and how justly That our Lord and Saviour never intended such an Absolute Arbitrary Soveraign Monarchical Government in his Church as the Pope at this day exercises both over Clergy and Layity is as evident in the Gospel as any Truth there contained Matth. 20. 25. You know saith Christ that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominton over them c. But it shall not be so among you Whosoever will be great among you let him be your servant And the Apostle Eph. 4. 11. reckoning up the whole Sacred Oeconomy Ministry and Government of the Church le ts not fall one word concerning a Visible Monarch He gave some Apostles some Prophets

Church That a Council kept by the Roman Bishop and those only who are subject to him excluding others is but a particular Council That a General Council may be celebrated though the Pope refuse to concurr by his Presence and Consent That All that meet in Councils ought to have free Liberty orderly to declare and Determin Maters in question That whatever must oblige as Divine ought to be confirmed by the Authority of Holy Scripture That no Councils are Legitimate where private Respects are managed under pretext of Faith and Religion That the Roman Bishop hath not that power which many flatterers attribute to him viz. That he alone is to Determine and Others only to Consult and Advise That a General Council is Superiour to the rest of the Patriarchs and also to the Roman Bishop That a General Council may be deficient and that de facto Councils lawfully assembled have erred And since they have failed and have contradicted one another as appears in the Second Council of Nice and that of Constance among many others the one Decreeing the Worship of Images the other prohibiting Communion in both Kinds against the express words of Scripture the Councils of Lateran in Deposing Kings the Council of Frankfort opposite to that of Nice in the Business of Images the Council of Florence against those of Basil and Constance in the point of the Pope's Superiority over a Council It is certain that Councils are to be Regulated and Examined by God's Word and to be Received or Rejected as Conformable to or Disagreeing from that And for this we have the Authority of the Great S. Augustin contra Maxim Arian l. 3. c. 14. Nec ego Nicenum c. Neither ought I to produce the Nicen nor Thou the Ariminum Council as having already prejudged or absolutely Determined the Cause beyond all Appeal For I am not bound up by the Authority of this nor Thou by the Decree of that but let us regard the Authority of the Holy Scripture witnesses not partial or appropriated to either party but common to both A speech worthy the Gravity Learning and Piety of S. Augustin As for the Councils of the Later Centuries they neither have been General nor hath either their Assimbling or Proceeding been Lawful and they have most Industriously thwarted the Canons of the most Pure and Antient Councils Their Assembling hath not been Legal in that the Modern Popes have Usurped the whole Right and Authority of Convocating Councils contrary to the Primitive Custom and Practice of the Church The first Nicene Council was called by Constantine the Great the first Constantinopolitan which is the second General Council by Theodosius that of Ephesus by Theodosius Junior that of Chalcedon by Martianus the fifth by Justinian c. All which are such evident Proofs that the Cardinals Cusanus Jacobatius and Zabarella confess that in the first Ages of the Church the Right of Calling Councils belonged to the Emperour Nor are Their Proceedings any better For the Popes admit no Assessours or Judges in Councils but their own Faction Men beforehand enslaved by a Solemn Oath which all Bishops of that Communion take at their Consecration to maintain the Regalia Petri all the Usurpations of that See The Pope is the only Authentick Judge in All matters Approving and Refusing whatever He pleases Their own Histories afford us Examples enough to confirm this I shall instance but in the Sleights and Wiles of the Late so much cryed up Trent-Council Wherein to make sure work on the Pope's side there were more Italian Bishops than of all the World beside And most ridiculously to dazle the eyes of the People some of these subscribe themselves Eastern Patriarchs as of Jerusalem c. and Others as if they were Greek Prelates Some had the Titles of Archbishops who had neither Church nor Diocess as Upsalensis and Armachanus who were Created on purpose to fill up the Number And when the Pope on a certain Occasion wanted Voices to sway the cause He sent a fresh supply of 40 Bishops newly made And this was part of that Leigerdemain which an Eminent French Bishop Claud Espenc one of those vvho sat in the Council calls the Great Helena which of late Ruled All at Trent in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. All the Oriental and Greek Patriarchs and Bishops were Excluded None out of England Scotland Ireland Danemark Swedland few out of France and Spain fewer out of Germany it self were admitted When the Protestants required Audience they could not be hearken'd to upon any tolerable terms It was long before they could get a Safe-Conduct and when it was procured it was clogg'd with this Clause That it should belong to none but such as would Repent and Return to the Bosom of the Roman Church This Partiality and Jugling when the Princes of Europe saw they sent their Protestations against the Council as being Insufficient to Resorm Religion In Trying and Deciding Controversies they adhered more to Tradition than Scripture and pass'd nothing till the Pope with his Consistory had seen it at home and approved it and then he transmitted it to his Legats So that as One said the Holy Ghost was continually posted in Cloakbags between Rome and Trent Though by the way their own Doctors teach that the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is a personal Privilege and cannot be Delegated While the Divines were formally Disputing at Trent the Pope was as busie in Ingrossing Canons at Rome and sending them to the Council to be published Thus they proceeded sometimes by a wrong Rule sometimes by none at all In the 4th Session they Decree That none should give any other Exposition of Scripture than such as might agree with the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And yet this very Doctrine was the Thing questioned and the Scriptures were to have been the Touchstone to try it by Take this whole Affair in the Words of Andraeas Dudithius a Bishop in the Roman Church and an Eminent Member of this Council He thus writes in an Epistle to the Emperour Maximilian the 2d what good could be done in that Council where voices were taken by Number and not by Weight The Pope was able to set an 100 of his against every one of ours and if an 100 were not sufficient he could on a sudden have created a thousand to succour those that were ready to faint We might every day see hungry and needy Bishops and those for the most part Beardless Youngsters come in Flocks to Trent hired to give their Voice according to the Pope's humour unlearned indeed and foolish but of good Use to him for their Audaciousness and Impudency The Holy Ghost had nothing to do with that Conventicle All things were carried by Humane Policy which was wholly employed in Maintaining the Immoderate and indeed most Shameless Lordship and Domineering of the Pope From thence were Answers waited for as from the Oracles of Delphos or Dodona From thence the Holy Ghost who as