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
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
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
neither in Paul 's nor in Peter 's but in the name of Christ that Peter might be built upon the Rock not the Rock upon Peter The like we meet withal in another place †Tract CXXIV in evang Johannis The Church is founded upon the Rock whence Peter received his Name For the Rock is not denominated from Peter but Peter from the Rock * Non enim à Petro Petra sed Petrus à Petra directly contrary to Card. Baronius who confidently says non Petrus à Petra sed ipse Petra not Peter from that Rock but he is the Rock Ad An. 31. n. 24. as Christ hath not his name from Christian but a Christian from Christ for therefore the Lord said Vpon this Rock I will build my Church because Peter had said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God. Vpon this Rock therefore saith he which thou hast confessed will I build my Church FOR THE ROCK WAS CHRIST upon which foundation even Peter himself is built For other foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Christ Jesus I will not trouble you with any more Authorities such as that of Venerable Bede †In Cap. XXI Johan who hath transcribed these last words of S. Austin into his own Book because I have a fourth exposition to add which will help to clear the rest especially the first IV. There are those who having what I have now said in their mind expound these words of all the Apostles and their Successors that is of all Christian Bishops who laid this foundation stone and continued to build upon it after it was laid Thus S. Cyprian * Ad Lapsos Epist XXXIII Edit Oxon. most expresly Our Lord whose precepts we ought to reverence and observe ordering the honour of the Bishop and the rule of his Church saith in the Gospel unto Peter I say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this Rock c. From hence through the course of times and successions runs down the Ordination of Bishops and the rule of the Church THAT THE CHVRCH MAY BE CONSTITVTED VPON BISHOPS and every affair of the Church be governed by those Overseers The very same is affirmed by S. Austin who in several places looks upon the whole order of Bishops as comprehended in S. Peter particularly in an Epistle to three †Epist CLXV vide Launoii Epist Par. V. ad Carolum Magisirum p. 47. c. ad Gulielâ—â— Voellum p. 12. c. great persons where he saith Christ spake these words to him sustaining the figure of the whole Church It will not be fit to mention all the rest of the antient Writers who thus extend the sense of this place I shall only note that Paschasius Radbertus the founder of Transubstantiation was of this mind For thus he writes * L. IV. in Matt. v. 26. p. 18. The Church of God is not built upon Peter alone but upon all the Apostles and the Successors of the Apostles Unto these four Expositions I might add a fifth there being those who have understood every Christian Man and Woman by this Rock they being the stones and materials as I may call them of which the Church consists But I will pass this by though it have more great names to support it besides Origen because I have said enough already to expose the foul dealing and unworthy reasonings and conclusions of greatest Doctors of the Church of Rome which I shall represent in these following Considerations PART III. Reflections upon what hath been said concerning these Interpretations I. IF these things be certainly true as I assure you they are and themselves cannot deny that there are these several interpretations of this Scripture among the ancient Doctors then there can be no excuse made for their partiality who receive and adhere only to one of these interpretations as the Catholick Exposition and lay aside all the rest even those which are far more Catholick Thus doth Bellarmine * L. 1. de Pontif. Rom. C. X. who finding fault with Erasmus for contradicting their Exposition of the Church being founded upon Peter saith that all the Fathers teach it And thus doth Cardinal Baronius †Ad An. 33. n. XXVII to name no more who is not ashamed to say that it is an interpretation received and approved by the consent of the whole Catholick Church What truth can you expect from such Men or who can think it safe to give up himself to the conduct of such Guides who thus notoriously falsifie in a matter so evident that for one antient Father or Ecclesiastical Writer that by the Rock understands Peter himself there are two nay very near three that interpret it of the Faith which S. Peter confessed For to all those which a very learned and ingenuous Doctor of the Roman Church hath collected which are XLIV in number * V. Jo. Launoii Epist P. V. ad Guil. Voellum p. 18. c. others may be added besides Fortunatus and Epiphanius before mentioned For example Euagrius seems to have had this in his thoughts who speaking of Anastasius Bishop of Antioch where S. Peter sat before he was at Rome to whom such fierce assaults were given as if they thought in his overthrow to subvert the Church it self saith he manfully withstood them all †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. IV. C. 40. for he stood firm upon the impregnable Rock of Faith. If the sense of the Antients be to be reverenced at all why not one sense as well as another And why not that most of all which hath the most to assert it With what conscience do they fix upon one and throw away nay detest all the other which are of more credit Is it not highly unjust to make Peter this Rock here spoken of rather than Christ our Lord when there are so many reasons as well as great Authority for the last more than for the other And yet they not only do this but most immodestly say all the Fathers are of their mind And which is worse they make this an Article of the Faith That the Church is founded upon S. Peter nay the prime Article of all unto which it is evident the Church hath never agreed but manifestly contradicted it Upon this Bellarmine grounds the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome because Peter is the Rock and the Foundation of the Church as the Supreme Governor of it and therefore every Successor of his is in like manner the Rock and Foundation of the Church And thus he saith all the Fathers have expounded it * L. IV. de Pontif. Rom. C. III. And hence proceeds so far as to say this is the summ of Christian affairs †Praefat. in illos Libros the whole frame of the visible Church depending so much upon the Roman Bishop that if he be taken away the Church falleth Upon this Foundation also they have raised to him such an Authority they make him by Christs
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
you that ye love one another Have a sincere and hearty Affection for all Christian People and imitate not the Romanists who are out of Charity with the far greatest part of the Christian World. This Love of God and of our Brethren which are inseparable is the fruit of Faith and of Prayer without which they are nothing worth We must not only lift up our Hands to God which is a description of Prayer but lift up our Hands also unto his Commandments which we have loved Psal cxix 48. which is to do God's Will with a sincere Affection to it Without such fruits of Faith we shall not be able to stand fast in time of Temptation as Men built upon a Rock No our Lord hath told us that they who hear his Word and do it not are like to a Man that built his House upon the Sand which is soon overturned If we profess then this Faith which St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God which is the Foundation of Christianity let us be faithful and obedient unto him in all things For what he hath bidden us do as well as what he hath bidden us believe comes with the very same Authority and ought to be look'd upon as the words of the ever living God by his only begotten Son whom he hath sent to reclaim the World both from their Infidelity and from their Impiety This is part of the Foundation of our Religion that we renounce all Wickedness as well as that we believe our Lord Jesus to be the eternal Son of God. So St. Paul teaches us as we translate his words 2 Tim. ii 19. The Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity As much as to say this a setled Truth in the Christian Religion that they are Christ's they alone are known or approved by him who so profess Belief in him as to depart from Iniquity A profession of his Faith we ought to make but not content our selves with that alone We must add something to it and St. Peter tell us what 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7. Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg and to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ And so as St. Jude teaches you in the last place Fourthly You may look for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life That is have a good hope to be saved in the day of the Lord by the great Grace and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus Stedfastly expect this and wait for it with a patient hope whatsoever any Man can say to discourage you Let it not shake you nor make you doubt of the Mercy of God in this way unto which the Holy Ghost directs us all the Power to which the Pope pretends from St. Peter shall never be able to shut you out of Heaven He may shut out himself by his unjust Usurpations and by his Uncharitableness and by his unwarrantable Additions to the Christian Doctrine and Religion but none of those who trust in God after this manner which I have declared shall ever be confounded Let him thunder and lighten as much as he pleases it shall never hurt and therefore should not fright any of those pious Souls nor shall their hope ever make them ashamed The sound of Damnation perpetually in their Ears they ought to hear as an empty noise and vain words which should not so much as startle much less terrify them or turn them out of the way wherein they are All the Conceit which others may have of their own Merits and of the Merits of the Saints and of the Treasures of their Church and the Indulgences of the Pope shall never avail them so much as the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ towards those who look for his appearing unto Eternal Life by an holy Faith and by ardent Devotion and by unfeigned Love to God and to all Christian People Which cannot fail to commend us sufficiently unto him who is able as it follows in St. Jude to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy. You ought not to question it nor suffer others to raise doubts in your Minds about it but in assured hope of it continually bless and praise the Father of Mercies who hath called you into his Church chosen you to be his People wrought Faith and Love and hope of Eternal Life in you saying as he concludes his Epistle To the only Wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power both now and ever Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 14. for would not read could not P. 24. l. 14. Marg. r. Faelix iii. P. 30. l. antepen r. the greatest P. 33. l. 19. r. that they make P. 41. l. 21. f. prevent r. pervert P. 45. l. 18. r. next Chapter but one P. 51. l. 17. r. next Chapter but one P. 56. l. 23. r. next Chapter but one An Advertisment Of Books printed for Richard Chiswell THE History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. in two Volumes Folio The Moderation of the Church of England in her Reformation in avoiding all undue Compliances with Popery and other sorts of Phanaticisms c. By TIMOTHY PVLLER D. D. Octavo A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sees By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. Octavo An Answer to Mr. Serjeants Sure Footing in Christianity concerning the Rule of Faith With some other Discouses By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. Quarto A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Answer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. Octavo The History of the Gunpowder Treason collected from Approved Authors as well Popish as Protestant With a Vindication of the said History and of the Proceedings and Matters relating thereunto from the Exceptions which have been made against it and more especially of late Years by the Author of the Catholick Apology and others Quarto A Relation of the barbarous and bloody Massacre of about an hundred thousand Protestants begun at Paris and carried on over all France in the Year 1572. Collected out of Mezeray Thuanus and other Approved Authors Quarto The Apology of the Church of England and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio a Venetian Gentleman concerning the Council of Trent Written both in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN JEWEL Lord Bishop of Sarisbury Made English by a Person of Quality To which is added The Life of the said Bishop Collected and written by the same Hand Octavo A Letter writ by the last Assembly General of the Clergy of France to the Protestants inviting them to return to their Communion Together with the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction Translated into English and examined By GILB BVRNET D. D. Octavo The Life of WILLIAM BEDLE D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with certain Letters which passed betwixt him and James Waddesworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition in Sevil in matter of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience Quarto The Decree made at Rome the second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Jesuits and other Casuists Quarto A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Quarto First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late Bishop of Condom in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 4º A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England Octavo The Second Edition corrected with a Vindication of a Passage in the said Catechism from the Exceptions made against it in A Reply to the Answer of the Amicable Accommodation