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
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
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
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
before in the next Chapter so when he actually gives this Power which he saith here he will give he bestows it upon every one of them which was after his Resurrection John 20. 21. As my Father hath sent me even so I send you Here he speaks in the present Time and gives them in this Commission the Power which they had not before making them to be what they were ever after In token of which he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted c. Vers 22 23. Can any one who reads these words think that Peter was only sent and made the only Foundation and the only Gate to let Men into the Church when he hears such an Authority as this granted and sealed to them all He hath lost then the ancient sense of the Church which Theophylact * Mat. 16. 19. represents in these words Though it was said to Peter only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will give thee yet it was given to all the Apostles When Then when he said Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted to them For I will give denotes the future Time that is after the Resurrection Hear also how St. Austin t Enarratio in Psal 87. discourses upon these words of the Psalmist before-mentioned Why are they called the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets Because their Authority supports our weakness And why are they Gates Because by them we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven For they preach to us and when we enter by them we enter by Christ Is it not plain by this that they did not think St. Peter to be the only Man that stands at the Gate as it were and with his Keys le ts Men into Heaven To say this is as much as to say he only preached Did not St. John preach also and St. James As for St. Paul he laboured more than them all Therefore I may truly say according to St. Austin's meaning by John and by James as well as Peter but especially by Paul we have an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven They all had equal Power they were all equally Gates whereby Men entred into the New Jerusalem they were all equally Foundations of the Church of Christ St. Peter laid the first Stone as he let in the first of the Gentiles but St. Paul let in more than he afterwards as appears by the whole Story of his preaching the Gospel of Christ To conclude this St. Peter himself it is manifest did not know of any such Authority as is now claimed residing in him For writing two Catholick Epistles he gives not the least intimation of any such Universal Pastorship as is now pretended to be derived from him but quite contrary calls himself Fellow Elder with the Pastors of the Church to whom he gives the same Exhortation that Christ did to him Feed the Flock of God 1 Pet. v. 1 2. which doth not differ in sense from Feed my Sheep or Feed my Lambs Joh. xxi 15 16. Nay more than this in the Gospel which the ancient Fathers say St. Mark wrote by St. Peter's direction he doth not so much as mention this Speech of Christ to him but only his own Confession Mark viii 29. which we may look upon as an Argument that he did not think it contained any Power peculiar to him which we may be sure he would not have forgotten Against so many weighty Reasons some think Object 1. it sufficient to argue for his Supremacy meerly from his being constantly named first when there is occasion to speak of him Five places are alledged for this purpose Matth. x. 2. Mark iii. 17. Luke vi 14. Acts i. 13. John xxi 2. Unto which I think fit to make a short Reply First That this is not such exact Truth as Answ to admit of no Exception For there are no less than four places where he is named with other Apostles and not set the first 1 Cor. iii. 22. ix 9. Gal. ii 9. Joh. i. 45. Secondly Supposing it was done designedly in those places where there is a Catalogue given of the Apostles the meer placing of a Name first will prove no Superiority of Power over those who are named after him as might be shown from a great many instances For any little advantage of Age Service Affection or the like may well be a Reason for such Precedence Thirdly The exact truth is when they were together as a Colledge it was necessary some one should be first in order but afterward when they were scattered abroad all over the World there was no such Precedence thought of For others I have shown are named before him and sometimes took place of him as St. James did at Jerusalem where he presided in the Council held there Peter indeed spake and delivered his Opinion first but the Decree is made by James who saith after he had taken notice of what Simeon had spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I determine or judg my Sentence is as we translate it That we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God but write to them that they abstain from Pollutions if Idols c. Acts xv 19 20. And accordingly it was drawn up in his very words in that Letter which was written in the name of them all to the Gentile Christians Vers 28 29. This is no novel Criticism of Protestants but acknowledged heretofore by eminent Writers in the Roman Communion Alphonsus Tostatus r In Mat. 17. for instance observes that in this Council Peter did not produce the definition of the Church but James alone spake definitively as the Organ of the whole Church and greater than any of the Assessors And later than this Lorinus * Comment in Acta C. xv fol. 645. the Jesuite here notes that James seems to speak authentically and as a Judge when Peter is said simply to have spoken his mind How easie were it here if I durst take the liberty to strain several Observations beyond their true intention to bid you mark and observe how St. James declares himself in this Council the Head of the Church set over all his Brethren For first he being Bishop of Jerusalem the Mother-Church of the whole World thus begins his Speech Men and Brethren hearken unto me ver 13. as if he were the Successor of Christ of whom it was said Hear ye Him. Next ver 14. he calls him who had spoken before him bare Simeon not Peter now as if that Name signified Nothing to him who sate above him For he adds as I have said his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I judge or give this sentence And lastly when Peter had pleaded for an absolute and indefinite liberty from the burden of all Legal Rites ver 10. James thinks fit not to grant them an entire freedom but to tie them still to some necessary Observances ver 19 28. But we have not thus learned
to the Churches they never bid them be subject unto him much less to his Successors but only to those that rule over them to those that admonish them and watch for their Souls that is to their own Pastors and Governors in those places where they lived II. Since therefore we are undoubtedly a true Church of Christ though we have no dependance on him and should have been so though we had never heard there was such a Bishop in the World let us be mindful of the Exhortation of the Apostle St. Jude ver 20 21. which contains the properest Use of what hath been said 20. But ye Beloved building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life First Build up your selves on your most holy Faith. Do not think of building upon the Successor of St. Peter as the Priests of the Church of Rome would perswade you but upon that Christ and that most holy Faith on which St. Peter himself was built There are three things which the Apostles of our Lord speak concerning Faith. First They speak of laying the Foundation of it which I hope is done already so that there is no need to exhort you to it but I may say as the Apostle doth to the Hebrews Ch. vi 1. Let us go on unto perfection not laying again the Foundation of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God. Secondly They speak of continuing in the Faith for by that we continue in the Church the Body of Christ Rom. xi 20. Thou standest by Faith 2 Cor. i. ult by Faith ye stand Thirdly Of continuing stedfast in it Col. ii 5. I rejoyce beholding your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ 1 Cor. xvi 13. Stand fast in the Faith. And here St. Jude adds an Exhortation to building up our selves on it to endeavour that is to increase and grow strong in Faith by understanding all the Grounds and Reasons on which it relies by observing all the Testimonies which God hath given to his Son Jesus Christ for this is the very Foundation of Religion to use the words of St. Chrysostom the original of Righteousness the head and fountain of Sanctity the beginning of all true Devotion the light of the Soul and the gate of Eternal Life But we need not go to Rome for any of these and particularly we may know this great thing St. Chrysostom speaks of and be sure without consulting them that the Son of God is come as it is in the last Verse but one of the first Epistle of St. John and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true i. e. the true God whose Nature and Will is declared by him and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ that is Children of the true God or his chosen People in or by his Son Jesus Christ that is by hearty Faith in him who is his only Begotten of one substance with the Father full of Grace and Truth Of all this I say we may be sure and this as it there follows is the true God and Eternal Life though we never know whether there be such a place as Rome and such a Bishop as the Pope of whom many Christians no doubt in several parts of the World never heard so much as one word And therefore let us not be so weak as to think we must needs use any of his Tools and Instruments for the laying the Foundation or for the building up our selves in the Christian Faith. Which relies upon the Testimony of all the Apostles whose words we have recorded in the holy Books and no where else and which all the Ministers of Christ have as much Authority to expound as they and can give as good reason for what they say as appears by what hath been said upon this place which is the Principle from whence they would wring for derive they cannot so great a Power as they challenge To which if you submit it is to undo all that you have done to lay again the Foundation of Faith or rather to overturn it and build upon Human Authority instead of Divine Which is one thing that would prevail with you if it were considered not to give up your selves to their Directions whose great labour it is to unsettle your Faith not to strengthen it to make you doubtful of every thing in the Christian Religion not to build you up on the Faith of Christ Secondly But besides this he would have us pray in the Holy Ghost That is ardently and with such devout Affections as the Holy Ghost sometimes inspires and for such things as the Holy Ghost teaches us to ask in the holy Gospel which is the Mind of the Spirit of God and especially to pray thus in the Christian Assemblies For the Apostle here opposes these things to the practice of those that separated themselves being sensual having not the Spirit ver 19. Our Lord would have us pray always and in our Closet especially in the Assemblies of our Christian Brethren where we must take heed of being frigid or luke-warm of praying to gratify any of our Carnal Desires especially that of Revenge as St. James teaches us ch iv 1 2 3. and of praying in the Name of St. Peter or St. Paul or any other Saint or Angel for which the Holy Ghost hath given no direction but quite contrary told us by the Mouth of his holy Apostles that to us there is but one God and one Lord 1 Cor. viii 6. One God and one Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. ii 5. So that to use any other is to fall into a Schism to spoil the Unity and break the Communion of the Church of Christ as they of the Church of Rome have done both by this and by changing the ancient Government Discipline and Faith of the Christian Church which believed nothing heretofore concerning St. Peter and his Successor's Supream Power over all the Bishops in the World who took themselves to be the Vicars of Christ as much as the Bishop of Rome Take a Review of what I have said and you will see that it is they who have separated themselves from the rest of the Christian World by usurping this Universal Jurisdiction as well as by many other things and so broken that Charity and quenched that loving and kind Spirit which gives the greatest efficacy to our Prayers and makes them most fervent and most prevalent Joyn not therefore your selves to them but as the Apostle adds in the third place Thirdly Keep your selves in the Love of God. Our Lord Christ tells you how Joh. xv 10. If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love c. adding ver 12. This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you which he repeats again Verse 17. These things I command