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2dly, If this pretended promife had been made to St Peter, it is not to be fuppos'd that Chrift's Difciples, after having known the Mind of their Lord and Mafter, wou'd have difputed about Superiority notwithstanding; but we find they did, and that Chrift called the twelve, 'tis to be fuppos'd that Peter was amongst them) and said unto them, (a) "If any Man defire to be firft, the fame fhall "be laft of all, and Servant of All." Therefore there cannot poffibly be any fuller or clearer Proof of an Equality among the Apostles.

3dly, If our Saviour had appointed St. Peter his Vicar general upon Earth, 'tis to be prefumed, the other Apostles wou'd have acknowledged him their Governor in all their Proceedings, relating to fpiritual Matters: But the contrary is manifeft, because, when there was a Vacancy in the College of Apoftles, the Hiftory tells us, that (b) the whole Affembly to about an hundred and twenty agreed upon him that fucceeded Judas; St. Peter being prefent thereat, without the leaft Mark of Diftinction.

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4thly, When that great Queftion concerning the Ob. fervation of the Mofaick Ceremonies was in Agitation, there was no Appeal to Peter as the Judge of Controver fies; for they determined, (c) "That Paul and Bar"nabas, and certain other of them fhou'd go up to Ferufalem, unto the Apostles and Elders about this Queftion, &c." And when there had been much difputing, and after Peter had made his Speech, Fames closed: the Debate thus:. (d) "Wherefore my Sentence is, &c. (How wou'd the Romish Doctors have boasted if Peter had closed the Debate, as James did? Yet they will not allow him any Supremacy of Power.) And the Re-fult was, That it pleafed the Apoftles and Elders of the whole Church, to fend chofen Members to. Antioch,

(a) Mark 9. 35, &c, (b) Afis 1. 15, 16, ✪ 26. (c) Acts 15, (d) Ibidem.

and

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and they wrote Letters by them after this Manner: "The Apoftles and Elders, and Brethren, fend greeting, &c. So that, in this whole Affair, there is not any Notice taken of Peter's Authority, and especially in this Epiftle, which the Apoftles wou'd not have neglected upon this Occafion, had they thought Peter their fupreme Governor; therefore it is indifputable, that Peter had no fuch Superiority.

5thly, (a) If St. Paul were not inferior to the very chiefeft Apoftles, then Peter cou'd not be vefted with this high Dignity; (b) " And Paul withstood Peter to the "Face, and did find that he walked not uprightly, ac"cording to the Truth of the Gofpel: " Therefore Peter had neither fuch Authority, nor Infallibility over other Apostles.

6thly By St. Peter's Behaviour all along to his Brethren, he neither looked upon himself, nor did they ufe him, as Heads of the univerfal Church: He calls the Reft of the Difciples his Brethren: He calls himself Compresbiterium, fellow Elder: He neither commanded, nor commiffioned any of them, but both heard and treated them as his Equals and Fellows: And being fent into Samaria by his Brethren, he made no fcruple of going as their Meffenger, (c) And they reproved him for going to Cornelius, and converfing with Heathens: And he fubmitted to the Judgment of the Council; therefore it is not to be fuppos'd that the Reft of the Apoftles wou'd have dared to make Peter their Meffenger, whom they knew Chrift had made their Prince and Governor; or that they wou'd have prefumed to contend with Peter, had they thought him the Vicar of Chrift.

Laftly, If Peter had been appointed by Chrift fuch a Monarch in his Church, and vested with fuch Authority,

(a) Cor. 11. 5. (b) Gal. 2. 11. 14.

11. 3.

(c) Acts

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he wou'd fome time or other have exercised the fame, but this he no where did; neither when present with the Reft of the Apoftles, nor in his Epiftles to them: His Stile is not commanding as a Superior, but only exhorting as amongst Equals. Nor are thefe Romish Doctors able to produce any one particular Act of Peter's which may imply his Superiority, during the whole Course of that Apoftle's Life: Therefore he had no fuch Authority at all, and the Notion is groundless and vain.

The chief Text which the Papifts abuse to countenancethis Matter is from thefe Words of our Saviour. (a) "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my "Church, and I will give unto thee the Keys of the King"dom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou fhalt bind on "Earth fhall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou "fhalt loofe on Earth fhall be loofed in Heaven."

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But this makes nothing to their Purpose, the Meaning is plain: For in the foregoing Words, our Saviour demands of his Difciples "Who they faid he was?" To which Péter for them all anfwers, "Thou art Chrift the "Son of the living God." Thereupon, Christ said unto him, "Thou art Peter, thy Name fignifies a Stone, and upon this Rock of thy Confeffion, I will build my "Church, and the Gates of Hell fhall not prevail against "it." That is, against that Church which by thy Miniftry, and the Miniftry of thy Fellow Labourers, fhall be built upon this great and fundamental Article of your Faith. And as for thofe Words, "I will give you the "Keys" 'tis a Promise made to all his Apoftles in the Perfon of Peter, who had answered in the Name of them all; which is plain from the Words of our Saviour, when he appeared unto them after his Crucifixie on, (b)" And breathed upon them, and faid unto them, re"ceive ye the Holy Ghoft; and, whofe Sins ye remit, "they are remitted, c." So that by this, Power was given unto them all equally of Ministration in the

(a) Matt. 16. 18, 19. (b) John 20. 22, 23.

Church.

Church. And this is the Judgment of the old Catholick Fathers.

St. Cyprian pronounces, that, (a)" All the Apoftles "were of like Power among themselves, and the Rest "were the fame that Peter was, and it was faid indifferent"ly to them all, feed ye; indifferently to them all, go in"to the World; indifferently to them all, Teach ye the Gospel."

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And thus Gregorius Nyffenus expoundeth this Text, (b)" Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my "Church. He meaneth the Confeffion of Chrift, for " he had faid before, Thou art Ghrift the Son of the "living God."

So faith St. Hillarie, (c) " This is that only bleffed Rock "of Faith that Peter confeffed with his Mouth: And up" on this Rock of Peter's Confeffion is the building of "the Church."

So faith St. Chryfoftom, (d)" Upon this Rock, that is, upon this Faith, and this Confeffion 1 will build my "Church."

So faith Origen, (e)" He is the Rock whofoever is the Difciple of Christ, and upon such a Rock, all Chrifti"an Authority and Knowledge is built. If thou think

that the whole Church is built only on Peter, what then "wilt thou fay of every of the Apoftles: Shall we dare "to fay that the Gates of Heil fhall not prevail only against Peter, or the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven "given only unto Peter?

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And this agrees with what St. Paul, fays to his Converts; (f) "Now therefore ye are no more Strangers "and Foreigners, but Fellow Citizens with the Saints, " and of the Houfhold of God, and are built upon the "Foundation of the Apoftles and Prophets, Jefus Chrift

(a) De fimpl. Prelator. (b) In ex veter. Teft. (c) De Trin. Lib. 2. Hom. 55. (e) In Matt. Tract. 1.

20, 21, 22..

Teftimoniis Dilectis 6. (d) In Matt. (f) Ephef. 2. 19,

es himself:

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"himfelt being the chief Corner Stone, in whom all "the Building fitly framed together, groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord, in which you also are build"ed together, for an Habitation of God thro' the "Spirit.

From thefe Teftimonies of holy Scripture and the pri· mitive Fathers, it is abundantly plain, that this is the true and juft Interpretation of those Words of our Saviour; fo that not St. Peter's Perfon, but his Confeffion is the Rock upon which the Church is built; and confequently that Argument that the Papists draw from the Words of our Saviour to prove the Pope's Supremacy, is founded upon a Mistake, and must neceffarily fall to the Ground.

Now as to the Pope's being St. Peter's Succeffor as Bifhop of Rome; It is fo far from being demonftrable, that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome, that it is hardly probable he was ever there. And for thefe Reasons.

ift, By St. Paul's Epiftle to the Galatians, it appears, that Peter and Paul (a) made an Agreement, by the Direction of the Holy Spirit, that Peter fhou'd preach to the Jews, and Paul to the Gentiles, and that Peter is therefore call'd the Apoftle of Circumcifion, and accordingly did write his Epiftles to the scattered Jews, but he neither directs to, nor dated any from Rome. It is therefore most unlikely he shou'd be Bishop or Resident there.

2dly, When St. Paul (b) writes to the Romans, and fends greeting to above forty by Name; he lays nothing of Peter whom it is not likely he wou'd have omitted, either then, or afterwards, when he fent particular Salutations from others in feveral of his Epiftles. Nay, he complains that, (c) "All that were at Rome fought their own,

not the Things which are Jefus Chrift's." Befides, when St. Paul first came to Rome, the Jews there, who

(a) Gal. 2. 7. (b) Rom. 16.

Acts 28.

(c) Phil. 2. 21.

were

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