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Claim to thofe Sheep, as bequeathed to him by thofe Words fpoken to him, he may carry his Suit for them through all the Courts in the Na tion, and meet every where with the fame Sen tence, that here is no Bequeft to found fuch a Right upon. For he will be fo far from having a Propriety in them all, that he will not have it in any one of them. Be pleas'd to apply this, and make the beft ufe you can of it. And yet again, if it were fuppos'd, though against all Senfe and Reason, that thefe Words did convey a full Power to the Apoftle over all the Sheep committed to his Care; how will it hence follow that this was to be at first, and fince to continue to all Ages, over the whole Church of Chrift? Might it not poffibly be reftrain'd to the Jews, who were in a peculiar manner ftil'd in Scripture God's (a) Sheep. And though the Gentiles are call'd his Sheep alfo, as being defign'd to be brought into his Fold, yet there is a plain Diftinction put between them, (b) other Sheep I have, which are not of this Fold [of the Jews,] these must I bring alfo, that they may be one Fold, and one Shepherd. Accordingly our Lord tells us (c) He was not fent, fave to the loft Sheep of the House of Ifrael. Now it is own'd by all that St. Peter was in a particular manner the Apoftle (d) of the Jews, (e) the Apostle of the Circumcifion; and why therefore might not thefe be the Sheep he was here Commiffion'd to feed? I do not fee why the Words may not bear this Sense; and if they may, your univerfal Supremacy is quite out of Doors.

R. C. See how St. Gregory in his Letter to the Emperor Mauritius underftood this Text. His

(a) St. Mat. 10, 6. & 15, 24. (b) St. Joh. 10. 16: (e) St. Math. 15. 24. (d) Rom. 15. 8. (e) Gal. 2. 8, 9.

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words are extreamly remarkable: It is evident, fays he, to all that know the Gofpel, that the Care of the whole Church was, by our Lord's Voice, committed to the Apoftle St. Peter, Prince of all the Apoftles. For to him it is faid, Peter, loveft thou me? Feed my Sheep and a little after, bebold, fays he, the Care and Primacy [or Supremacy] of the whole Church is committed to him. Ibid.

C. E. Be it fo that a Pope, out of his forward Zeal for the Roman Supremacy, endeavour'd to fettle St. Peter above the reft of the Apoftles, this might fhew the Power of Prejudice and Intereft, even in a better Man than those who have fucceeded him fince; but will never prove that St. Peter had a Superiority over the other Apoftles, or that the Popes have it over all other Bifhops and Christians. And yet after all, what is there fo remarkable in what this Pope fays?

1ft. He calls St. Peter Prince of all the Apoftles; and if this Title be given him, as the firft and chief of them, I fee no great matter in it. And that this was the Senfe in which it was ufually given him, may easily be infer'd from what we find faid of others of them by others of the Fathers, and even by this Gregory himself. For Inftance, He tells us of the Apoftle St. Paul, (4) that though he had been fo great a Perfecutor, yet upon his Converfion to Chriftianity, he was not only (b) made the Head of the Nations, but likewife that he (c) obtain'd the Primacy [or in your own Language,the Supremacy] of the whole Church. Now do these words teftify the Supremacy over all the Church to have been in St. Paul? If not, neither will the fame Defcription evidence it to

(a) In 1. Reg. c. 10. expof. 1. 4. Fol, 2. p. 1469. Edit. Frob. (b) Caput effectus eft nationum. (c) Obtinuit totius Ecclefiæ principatum,

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have been in St. Peter. Yet you fee it is in both places Principatus, Primacy or Principality, or in your Dialect Supremacy, which is by this Pope himfelf afcrib'd to both, and fo muft prove it to belong either to both or to neither; choose you which you pleafe. You have alfo been told before, (a) that the Homily concerning Peter and Paul, whether (b) St. Chryfoftom's or not, feems to give the Preference to St. Paul, when he puts the Que ftions, What is greater than Peter? and presently after, What is equal to Paul? And at other times it is certain, St, Chryfoftom teaches, that (c) des Пaure io, no one is equal to St. Paul, and calls him (d) the Leader and Prefident of the Choir of Saints, (e) the Qecumenical Apostle, (f) the Pillar of the Church, firmer than Iron and a Rock, (g) the Mafter, or Teacher of the World, & dining sisaσκάλες; xdas; and affirms of him (b) that he had the Care upon him, not of one House, but of Cities, and Countries and Nations, and even (i) of the whole World; and again, that he govern'd all the World, (k) as it had been a single House or Ship, being all at once, Sailor and Commander, and Boatswain, having upon him the burden of the Shrouds, and the Veffel and all things and as he is call'd (1) the Head and Prefident of the Jews, fo is he likewise (m) the Preacher of the World. And again,fpeaking of St. Peter, he tells us; (n) St. Paul was equal ir Honour to him, (to fay no more at prefent) and though he came up to him as to a greater and elder Perfon, he came not to learn of him, or be corrected by him, but only to fee him, and honour him

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(b) Tom. 5. p. 992.

stated, p. 14.
(t) In 2 Tim. 3. p. 267.

(e) In 1 Cor. 9. 2.
(g) In Gen. 11. p 246.
(2) ὁλοκλήρω ο οικεμένης.
18. (m) In 1 Cor. 9. 20.

(d) In (f) In

(b) In

(7) Ibid p. 681. (n) Gal. 1. 18.

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with his prefence. And again, Moreover be (a) fhews himself to be equal in Honour, and compares himself, not to the rest, but even to the chief of them, fhewing, that each one was poffelled of the fame Dignity; and again, (b) When he was concerned to compare bimfelf, be mentioned Peter only. And once more, Into his hands, fays the fame Father, (c) were committed the Earth, the Sea, and both the inhabited and uninhabited parts of the World. Of fuch unlimited extent is this Apoftle's Commiffion here declared to have been. And now what more could have been faid of S. Peter, had he been poffefs'd of all that weighty Charge the Romanist's profefs our Saviour to have committed to him. Yet all this, and a great deal more, is.afcrib'd by this eloquent Father to S. Paul, the laft called of the Apoltles. Who alfo profeffes of himself, 2 Cor. 12. 11. that he was not behind the very chiefeft Apoftles. Which yet it is not likely he would have faid in fuch general terms, and without any fort of reftriction, if he had known himself a Subject of S. Peter; And we may hence very well infer, he did not. Agreeably whereto the Title of the (d) Epistle to S. James the Lefs, attributed to Clemens Romanus, is directed in the like lofty manner of Expreffion. Kanuns 'Tandbo Κλήμης Ἰακώβῳ τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπισκόπων ἐπισκόπῳ, &c. Clement, to fames the Lord and Bishop of Bifhops, Ruler over Ferufalem, the Holy Church of the Hebrews, TO'S πανταχῇ Θεῖ προνοίᾳ ἱδρυθείσας, and all that are any where Settled by the Providence of God. And again, he is called at another time, Prince of the Bishops. In like manner Hefychius a Presbyter, and afterwards (ε) Παυλο

(a) In Gal. ii. 8. (b) In v. 9.

δε γω και θάλασαν, καὶ των οικημένην, καὶ των αοικητ Γενεχειρίση] Εις τὸν ἅγιον Απος. Παῦλον, λογ. 6. Τ. 8. p. 39. (d) Coteler. Patr. Apoft. vol. 2. ›

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Patriarch of Jerufalem, extols this fame S. James, the firft Bishop there, in a train that would have been of fingular ufe to the Advocates for the Romish Supremacy, had it been fpoken of S. Peter, and ought as well to have its weight against them, when fpoken on the other fide. He ftiles him (a) The Servant and Brother of Chrift, the Chieftain of the New Jerufalem, the Captain of the Priests, the Prince of the Apostles, the Top among ft the Heads, the brightest among the Lights, and moft refplendent amongst the Stars. The like glorious Titles he gives alfo to S. Andrew, calling him not only (b) the Firstborn of the Choir of the Apoftles, the first fettled Pillar of the Church,but likewife the Peter [or Rock] that was before Peter, the Foundation of the Foundation. In like manner, the foremention'd S. Chryfoftom, fpeaking of the Apoftle S. John; calls him not only (c) the Son of Thunder, the beloved of Chrift, but also the Pillar of the Churches throughout the World, and teaches, that he bad the Keys of the Heavens. And of the Apostles in geneneral he affirms, (d) That they are Princes ordained of God; Princes, not fuch as have received Nations and different Cities, but who all had the World committed to them in common. From which, and other like Sayings of divers of the Fathers, concerning the other Apoftles, as well as S. Peter, it is obvious to obferve, upon how fandy a foundation the Romanists endeavour to erect the pretended Supremacy of that Apoftle, when they argue for it from this fort of Rhetorical Expreffi· (α) Πῶς ἐγκωμιάσω τὸν τῇ Yes δῆλον καὶ ἀδελφὸν, τὸν της νέας Ιερκσαλήμ άρχισράτηγον, τὸν τῶν ἱερέων ἡγεμόνα, τῶν ἀπος όλων τὸν ἔξαρχον, τὴν ἐν κεφαλαῖς κορυφω, τὸν ἐ λύχνοις ὑπερλάμπονζα, τὸν ἐν αςρεις υπερφαίνοντα ; Phot. Bib. Cod. 275.3

(6) Ὁ τῶ χορὶ τῶν ̓Αποςόλων πρωτότοκΘ ὁ πρωτοπαγῆς της εκκλησίας ξύλο, ὁ πρὸ Πέτρο Πέτρος, ὁ τὸ θεμελίο SunG. Cod. 269.

(c) Hom. 1. in Evang. B. Joan,

(α) Περὶ τῇ χρήσ. ἡ τῶν γραφῶν ἀνάγη. Το. 8. p. 115.

ons

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