same Holy Law in having the same Faith Hope and Charity the same Heavenly Example one worship in Spirit and in Truth one Communion or Communication of the Members which is the Unity of that Church which includes all the Faithful from the beginning of the World to the end c. In short such an Unity as the Holy Scriptures require in being derived from one beginning which is the Holy Ghost who as one Soul quickens and moves all the Parts in having one Head which is Jesus Christ and in being but one Body partaking the same Doctrine Sacraments and Worship of God This Unity by God's Grace all true Protestants breath after as may apparently be evinced by the Harmony of their Confessions although in points of smaller importance there may be some little differences and most of their Dissentions are rather Verbal then Real As to the Sanctity of that Church let but the Lives of the Roman Bishops be perused written by their own Authors a noysomer Sink and Kennel of Abomination can never be raked up in all Antiquity some Atheists some Conjurers some Adulterers Murderers Incestuous Sodomites Simâ—niacks and what not the manners and conversation of their Clergy Religious Men and Women so heinously tax'd and inveigh'd against by those Famous Writers of their own side S. Bernard Nic. Clemangis Alvar Pelagius Claud. Espencaeus c. and at least they will have little cause so boldly to challenge and appropriate it to themselves above all their Neighbours These things are sufficiently known to any that have viewed their Doctors or conversed even with their Modern practices though themselves are very much amended since the Reformation But I love not to tell stories out of the School and I promised at first to refrain from personal Reflections There are Books enough on this Subject and the World talks sufficiently loud of it If all the precedent Prerogatives signifie nothing at last we must be over-born by whole Legions of Innumerable Miracles that are obtruded upon our Credit But so spurious so ridiculous so impious many of them that the more modest and discreet among themselves dare not own them Their best Writers affirm That Miracles are not necessary for the Being of a Church but onely for the Begetting of a new Faith or an Extraordinary Mission Nay I may add not for an Extraordinary Mission neither as we may see in many of the Prophets of the Old Testament of whose Miracles not one word is mentioned Nor are they at all to be expected from or by the Protestants who neither profess a new Faith nor an Extraordinary Mission The Miracles of our Saviour his Apostles and the first Age of the Church are sufficient Seals to the Doctrine they own And as for those so importunately urged by the Romanists they are but too often convinced to be meer juggles contrivances for filthy Lucre Sleights to uphold some gainful Doctrine or to advance the reputation of some particular place or Religious Order done in a Corner of a far different Nature from those of our B. Saviour and rather of the same stamp with those the Apostle speaks of 2 Thess. 2. 9. belonging to him who comes with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders and Revel 13. 13. who doth great Wonders so that he makes fire come down from Heaven on Earth in the Sight of Men. A man that duly ponders the most palpable Cheats and Impostures of this kind daily practised in the Church of Rome for these By-Respects would almost be of Mr. Chillingworth's mind that it cannot be sufficiently made out that ever so much as a Lame Horse was cured by way of Miracle in confirmation of any Popish Tenet Some insist much on the Outward Prosperity Pomp Splendour and Magnificence of their Church To this the Wise Man hath given an answer Eccles. 9. 1. Our Works are in the hand of God and no man knows either Love or Hatred by all that is before him Nay our Saviour puts it down as a Mark of the false Church Joh. 16. 20. Verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce It remains then that the onely Certain and Evident marks of a True Apostolical Church are The Sincere Preaching of God's Word and a Due Administration of the Sacraments To which may be annexed Ecclesiastical Discipline but this is reducible to the other two These are All that the Holy Scriptures afford us Matth. 28. 19. Go and Teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you Act. 2. 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and Prayers Having thus survey'd the Roman Church in general it will hardly be thought Good Manners if we neglect his Holiness the Pope in particular or as some are pleased to flatter him The Church Virtual For what ever stirâ— and bastle they make about the Church their Mother the plain English of their meaning is nothing but the Pope their Father It is the express Doctrin of S. Thomas Aquinas and his Doctrin in that Church is little less than Canonized 2. 2. q. 1. a. 10. that the making of a true Creed belongs to the Pope as all other things do which belong to the Whole Church and that the Whole Authority of the Universal Church abides in him 2. 2. q. 12. a. 2. Thus as they take all Authority and Sufficiency from the Scripture and give it to the Church so all the Churche's Authority they attribute to the Pope Gregorius de Valentia one of the Learnedst Jesuits tells us plainly That by the Church they mean Its Head that is to say the Roman Bishop in whom resides the full Authority of the Church when he pleases to Determin matters of Faith whether he d th it with a Council or without Bellarmine teaches that the Pope himself without any Council may decree matters of Faith Bannes affirms that the Authority of the Universal Church the Authority of a Council and the Authority of the Pope are one and the same thing The Canon Law in Sext. Extrav Johan 22. c. Cum inter in Gloss. speaks thus It is Heresie to think Our Lord God the Pope may not Decree as he doth And Distinct. 19. in Canon His Rescripts and Decretal Epistles are Canonical Scripture All which passages clearly convince us what is the meaning of those perpetual Braggs of the Catholick Church His Holyness must excuse me if being no Courtier I address not my self to him in the phrase of the Roman Inscription to Paul the V. yet to be seen in that City saluting him as a Vice-God and the Stout Assertor of the Pontifical Omnipotency or as the Gloss of the Canon Law in their last and best Editions viz. the Roman 1580 and Parisian 1612. Our Lord God the Pope Waving therefore these Ceremonies I shall summarily consider his
Subjects Aphorism Confess verbo Clericus Others though I will not say this is so generally taught that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks And if my Memory fail not the Famous Navar hath written a whole Tract in Defence of Equivocation and Mental Reservation and takes upon him the Defence of the Noble Society of Jesus as he calls them for Universally teaching it and to my knowledge practising it It were very Easy to collect these Corollaries out of the Canon Law and the Decretal of Boniface the VIII That Emperors and Kings are the Popes Subjects that they may be Deposed for Heresie and any great Sin that the Pope hath power over the whole World in Spirituals and Temporals and that he hath this Temporal power in a more worthy Superior and perfect manner than Temporal Princes that Statutes made by Lay Men do not bind the Clergy that it is necessary to Salvation to be subject to the Pope and he who affirms the contrary is no Christian without any hope or possibility of Salvation A most Pious and Charitable Rhapsody of Canonical Theology Now you must understand that this Canon Law is approved received and obeyed in that Church as The Rule of Justice in All their Courts and Consistories In this we further learn that the Holy Church by her frequent Authority absolves Subjects from their Oaths to Superiors and it exemplifies in Pope Zachary who deposed the King of France not so much for his Iniquity as for his Unprofitableness And Cardinal Turrecremata in his Comment on this Canon proves that Subjects if they have the Popes Consent may Depose their Kings The Bulls os many Popes against the Princes both of our own and other Nations are too well known and may at any time be seen in the Roman Bullary To draw to a Conclusion in this Odious Matter Our Country Man Creswell the Jesuite in his Philopater sect 2. affirms That it is the Opinion of All Catholicks that Subjects are bound to Depose an Heretical King that they are obliged by the Law of God by the most strick bonds of Conscience and utmost peril of their Souls to do this Bellarmine de Rom. Pontif. l. 5. c. 7. assures us it is the Consent of All Roman Catholicks that Heretical Princes May and Ought to be Deprived of their Dominions And the English Cardinal Allen speaking how S. Thomas defended this Position and how Cardinal Tolet expounds him adds these words of his own in his Answer to the Book of English Justice Thus doth this Notable School-man write Neither do we know any Catholick Divine of any Age to say the contrary If now the Testimonies of their Own most eminent Writers their established Laws and Canons their Authentick Papal Bulls and Decretal Constitutions the Decrees and Canons of their own General Councils the confess'd Representatives of their whole Church seconded by Actual Deposing of Emperours c. be not undeniable Evidence that this Seditious Desperate and Pernicious Doctrine is the Doctrine of the Roman Church I must humbly crave Pardon for my Ignorance in their Faith and must so far disown my self from ever having Embraced that I never understood their Doctrine and consequently never was a Roman Catholick But how Repugnant are these Positions to the Doctrine and Example of our Humble Meek Jesus and his Apostles Learn of me for I am Meek and Lowly The Son of man came not to be Ministred to but to Minister My Kingdom is not of this World Man who made me a Judge or Divider over you Luk. 12. 14. If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet c. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's And He himself paid Tribute to Caesar and made S. Peter do so too He submitted to the Power and Jurisdiction of Pilate who was Caesar's Deputy And this not quia deerant Vires because he wanted power to resist as Bellarmine fondly affirms of the Primitive Christians for He could have called for more than 12 Legions of Angels Nay so far was He from granting the Two Swords so much boasted of to S. Peter that he severely checks him for making Use of one And the Two Princes of the Apostles as they are styled S. Peter and Paul were perfectly of their Master's temper in this point The former would not permit a Common Centurion to fall down at his feet Act. 10. 25. and his Doctrine was far different from his Successors at Rome 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake Whether it be to the King as Supreme c. Fear God Honour the King S. Paul preaches the very same Rom. 13 1. c. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers c. For he bears not the Sword in vain Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake And in matter of Jurisdiction he expresly Appeals to the Judgment Seat of Nero the Emperour And till the Mystery of Iniquity had gained Head the Roman Popes themselves spake in a different Dialect from what they now use We were in hopes says Pope Leo Ep. 44. to the Emperour Marcianus that your Clemency would have condescended so far as to have deferred the Council but since You resolve it should be kept I have sent thither Paschasme Pope Stephen speaks thus to another Emperour Hath not the Roman Church sent her Legats to the Council when you Commanded it We offer these things to your Piety says Pope Hadrian to the Emperour Basilius with all Humility veluti praesentes Genibus Adv lâ—â—i as if we were present before you on our Knees Having thus as briefly as the matter would permit dispatched what was chiefly in my Design of penning this Discourse and what had the greatest Insluence on the satisfying my own mind I shall make much shorter work with what follows General Councils when truly so are highly venerated by Protestants and the Four first so much honoured by S. Gregory the Great are better observ'd by the Church of England than by that of Rome Nor are we so severe as S. Gregory Nazian Ep. 42. ad Procâ—p Who professes he had never seen any good or Happy Issue of any of them but look'd on them as the Increase rather than Remedy of the Churche's Evils Which Censure is certainly true of those Conventions which have been for diverse Ages last past No we desire nothing more than a Free General Council to conclude differences in Religion and are most ready to submit to the Determinations of it and yield the same Authority to it which the Antient Church in the days of Constantine the Great Theodosius c. and which S. Augustine did And that we may not be slandered as being our own Judges We only desire it may be Qualified according to Cardinal Câ—sanus his Doctrine Concord Cath. l. 2. Where he declares that a Compleat General Council consists of All the Patriarchs and Principal Governours of the Universal
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
they brag was President of their Council was sent shut up in Carriers Budgets who a thing worthy to be laugh'd at when the Waters were up as it falls out many times was fain to stay till they were down again before he could repair to the Council By this means it came to pass that the Spirit was not carried on the Waters as in Genesis but along besides the Waters c. Nothing is more talk'd of than the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and this I know to be a most tempting Bait to get Proselytes especially amidst those Many Dissentions in the Christian World at this Day But because this Pretext hath been utterly destroyed by the Lord Falkland Mr. Chillingworth and other most Learned Pens I will only Recommend this Single Consideration to All Judicious Roman Catholicks who would not be chouced out of their Wits Estates and Liberties by a Gang of Ecclesiastical Mountebanks viz. That this Huge Swelling Prerogative of Infallibility is so Sensless a Thing so Ungrounded that no Romanist according to his own Principles can have so much as a probable Moral Assurance of that wherein he thinks himself Infallible And unless every one in particular be Infallible it is to little purpose to boast of an Infallible Judge For a Man may as well mistake the Meaning of his Sentence as the Sentence of one who proceeds only upon prudent Moral Assurance and we see that thousands do erre in the Interpretation of those acknowledged Infallible Oracles the Holy Scriptures The Consideration I recommend is this That after All the Stirr that is made about Infallibility the Learnedest amongst them knows not where to meet with it nor in what cases it is annexed to that Chair in what it forsakes it Some as the Jesuits generally will have it in the Pope but then whether with his Cardinals or by Himself is controverted very briskly Others will have it in a General Council and this Opinion is backt by no less Authority than the Councils of Basil and Constance But then the Church hath been very long without it and possibly may never injoy it by means of a General Council to the End of the World That wherein they fix it with most plausibility is both the Pope and a Council together But even here we are at a great many losses For as to the Pope no man can be assured of his being a true Pope considering the various defects that may render him otherwise as a fundamental Error in his Election Simoniacal Induction the female Sex Want of true Baptism and Holy Orders both which depend upon the Intention and Validity of those from whom he receives them and theirs upon the like Qualifications in their Predecessor c. Occult Heresie and Many others And then as to a Council which consists chiefly of Bishops tho the Popes for some ends best known to themselves have now pack'd in Cardinals Abbots Generals of Orders c. besides that the Validity of a Council depends upon the uncertainty of the Pope's being truly Qualified the very same Difficulties occur in every particular Member as did in respect of the Pope himself The like uncertainty appears in every Sacrament administred in that Church some whereof are absolutely necessary both Necessitate Medii Praecepti v. g. in Baptism Absolution Consecration of the Host which if it be not duly performed Idolatry is committed by the People in adoring it even by their own Concessions Azorius the Jesuit Enchirid. c. 8. openly proclaims That it is a more tolerable Error in them who worship Golden and Silver Statues as the Gentiles did their Gods nay a piece of red Cloth on the top of a Spear as the Laplanders are reported to do than in those who adore a piece of Bread And now I would fain know of a Lay-Roman-Catholick what is become of his Infallibility where it is and to what purpose it serves him No where is it to be found as I know of but in the bold Assertion of every pragmatical Confessor Who bids you be sure to look to your Faith who are the Solifidians now to believe as the Church believes and then all is safe for the breach of the Ten Commandments there are Merits and Indulgences enough in the Church which being mixt with a little Attrition and Confession will do the work Though in the mean while He himself can neither tell where this Infallible Church is nor what she certainly believes Methinks S. Paul spoke as much like a Prophet as an Apostle as if he foresaw the Haughtiness of the Members of that Church to which he wrote And therefore to curb them and banish from their Minds all such vain conceits of Infallibility he tells the Church of Rome she stood on no firmer grounds than her Neighbours His words are these worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance by All Roman-Catholicks Rom. 11. 18 19 Boast not against the Branches c. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and Thou standest by Faith Be not high-minded but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not Thee Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God on them which seli Severity but towards Thee Goodness if Thou continue in his Goodness otherwise Thou also shalt be cut off Which words need rather your Practice than my Paraphrase How much Safer and more Satisfactory is it to rely on the Holy Scriptures themselves which by all Sides are acknowledged Infallible For as much as they were divinely Inspired by that great Infallible Truth which neither can be deceived nor deceive his Creatures which can make you wise enough to Salvation and who hath promised to every humble Petitioner and devout Practiser a sufficient Competency of Knowledge in what is necessary for his present Condition and Eternal Happiness Now all this you will find abundantly provided for in the Doctrine and Constitutions of the Church of England Here is the Word of God faithfully Translated and exactly as far as the Idiomes of Languages will permit compared with the Originals and All those Books received of whose Authority there was never any doubt made in the Church Some others called Apocryphal are read indeed but as Ruffinus in Exposit. Symboli speaks non ad Fidem firmandam sed ad Mores Instruendos Not for confirming Faith but for direction of Manners And they are excluded from the Canon upon very weighty Reasons For that they were never committed as of Divine Authority to the Jews to whom the Oracles of God were intrusted Rom. 3. 2. Nor are they to be found in the Hebrew Canon They are never found cited by Christ or his Apostles and in some places they contain things manifestly false contradictory both to themselves the other Genuine Prophetical Writers You have here the three Creeds the Apostles that of the Nicene Council and that of S. Athanasius together with the four first General Councils which represent to us the Sincere
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