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ons concerning him, in thefe here cited, or others of the Fathers; and by confequence, that no great stress can be laid upon S. Gregory's calling him, The Prince of all the Apostles. If I fhould fay of Homer, that he was the Prince of the Greek, or of Virgil, that he was the Prince of the Latin Poets, or of Tully, that he was the Chief, or moft Eminent, or Prince of the Orators, would not he be thought diforder'd in his head, that fhould undertake from hence, to infer, that they had a Supreme Authority over the rest of the Poets and Orators, and were to look upon them all, and treat them as their Subjects? S. Ferom tiles Origen, (a) poft Apoftolos Ecclefiarum Magiftrum, the Master of the Churches next after the Apoftles; and in Theodoret (b) S. Chryfoftom is called THE Sex Sidonan, yet I am well fatisfied you will not affirm any Jurifdiction over the Churches, or the World, to be implied in either of thefe Titles. Inftances of this nature are very common in all forts of Writers.

R. C. He Jays, the Care and Primacy of the whole Church is committed to him.

C. E. And what is there in this that has not already receiv'd an Anfwer? For if it be faid of S. Paul, that he was the Oecumenical Apoftle, a firmer Pillar of the Church than Iron or Stone, that none was equal to him, that he had the Care and Burden of the whole World upon him, that he honoured Peter with his prefence, and thewed that each of the Apostles was icoruOS, equal in Honour or Dignity; if of St. James, that he was a Captain of the Priests, the Prince of the Apostles, the Top amongst the Heads, &c. of S. Andrew, that he was the Peter that was before Peter, the Foundation of the Foundation; of St. John that he was the Pillar of the Chur(a) Prefat. in lio. Nominum rebr.

(b) Hift. Eccl. 1. 5. c. 3.2.

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ches throughout the World, and had the Keys of Heaven entrusted with him; and of all the Apotles, that God ordained them Princes, not of Cities and Nations, but of the whole World; what is there more in S. Peter's being faid to have the Care and Primacy of the whole World, than what these Sayings amount to? Especially if hereto we add the words of Ifidore of Sevil, who teaches indeed, that The Power of binding (a) and loofing was firft given to St. Peter, and he first converted People to the Faith by the force of his Preaching ; but then immediately fubjoins, that Cæteri Apoftoli cum Petro par confortium bonoris & poteftatis acceperunt, the rest of the Apoftles receiv'd an equal partnership of Honour and Power with Peter.

R. C. To him it was faid, Loveft thou me ?

C. E. It will be very ftrange, if thefe words inveft him in a Supremacy over the Apoftles, and the whole Church, or indeed in any Privilege at all.

R. C. But to him alfo it was faid, Feed my Sheep.

C. E. S. Auguftin, an ancienter Father than S. Gregory, tells you plainly, (b) When it is faid to Peter, it is faid to all, Loveft thou me? Feed my Sheep That he had not any peculiar Priviledge or Authority committed to him,but, as was noted before, what was faid was spoken to him, (c) as a Reprefentative of the whole Catholick Church, to whom it belong'd. And hence infers, that the Catholick Church fhould readily pardon her penitent returning Children; fince S. Peter, who ftood as its Reprefentative, was fo eafly forgiven the divers failures he had been guilty of. And at another time, (d) that Chrift is the one Shep

(a) De Ecclef. Offic. 1..2 c. 5. (b) De agone Chrifti, 30. (e) Ecclefiæ Catholicæ perfonam fuftiner Petrus. (4) Tractat. in Joan, 46.

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Berd, and the Bishops alfo are Shepherds, and yet he is the one Shepherd, because they are all Members of the one Shepherd, whofe own the Sheep are; without the lealt intimation of any one being ab the reft, fave only this one Shepherd and Lord of all. And according to S. Bernard, there can be no peculiar Priviledge or Preheminence given by this Commiffion, for he takes it to import only an Obligation to publifh the glad Tidings of the Gofpel. For fo his words are (a) Evangelizare pafcere eft. Fac opus Evangelifta, & Paftoris opus implefti. To preach the Gofpel, is to Feed. Do the Work of an Evangelift, and thou haft fulfill'd the Work of the Paftor. Nor is it to be conceiv'd, that thefe words to St. Peter fhould be of any larger extent, or convey any other Power, than thofe fpoken to all the other Apoftles, no less than to S. Peter S. Matthew 28. 19, 20. All Power is given me in Heaven and upon Earth. Go ye therefore, and teach [or make Disciples of, ne] all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to obferve all things whatfoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the World. Amen. So that upon the whole, I cannot fee, how S. Gregory's words can be any tolerable Proof of S. Peter's, much lefs of the Pope's Supremacy over the whole Chriftian World; as you and your Friend would have it.

R. C. S. Chryfoftom, you fee, is directly against

you.

C. E. If he fpeaks here in favour of S. Peter, as having the Care of the Flock committed to him; yet that he did not think it committed to him alone, or in a different manner than to the other

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(a) De Confiderat. / 4. e. 3.

Apoftles,

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Apoftles, I have but now fhewn from his having faid as much for his Fellow Apoftle S. Paul which he could not have done, had he looked upon S. Peter as fet over him by our Lord.

R. C. S. Eucherius, Bishop of Lions, fays, He was made not only a Shepherd, but the Shepherd of Shepherds, and had both the Sheep and the Lambs Committed to bim befides which, there is nothing in the Church. And S. Afterius was a few Years later than him, and understood S. John 21. 15. after thé Jame manner with him. p. 21.

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C. E. How Afterius came to be a few Years later than Eucherius I cannot understand, when according to all the accounts I have met with of him, he flourished, and as far as I have obferved, died, above Thirty Years before him. But that I let país, as of no concern in our present Controverfy. It would be much more to our purpofe to confider the Paffages cited from both of them. But from this I muft beg to be excufed at prefent, not having thofe Authors by me; nor be ing able, upon all the fearch I can make, to meet with the Difcourfe appealed to of Eucherius, or with more than Five Sermons of Afterius; out of which Number it is impoffible to fifh an Eighth. For though I prefume the Paffages mentioned by you, to be rightly quoted, it is hard to make a Conftruction of them, without know ing fomething of what goes before, or follows them. All therefore I can now fay of them is, that if the rest of the Authorities produced to the fame purpose, will not prove S. Peter's Supremacy, as you would have them, then neither will thefe; and for the reft, I think I have already, in a good measure, fhewn that they will

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R. C. In the third Century, S. Cyprian fays, Chrift fpeaks to Peter, I fay unto thee, that thou

art

art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church. And after his Refurrection, he fays to him again, Feed my Sheep. From these two Paffages S. Cyprian draws two Conclufions. The first is, Super unum ædificat Ecclefiam fuam, Chrift builds his Church upon one. The fecond is, Ut Unitatem manifeftaret, unitatis ejufdem originem, ak uno incipientem, fud Auctoritate difpofuit. Chrift, to thew the Unity of the Church, ordered, by his own Authority, that one Man fhould be the [Center or] the Original of that very Unity, p. 23.

C. E. Firft you fay, Super unum adificat Ecclefiam fuam, he builds his Church upon one, meaning S. Peter. And hence you infer, that S. Peter, and not only He, but the Popes, down to our own time, were hereby made Princes, and the only Supreme Governours of the Church of Chrift. A very far fetch'd Deduction! For, pray, good Sir, how comes this building of the Church upon that Apoftle, neceffarily to import à Supremacy in all his Roman Succeffors, of whom not a word is fpoken, or even in himfelf! His laying the firft Foundation of the Church, amongst both Jews and Gentiles, as the Vindicafor (a) has fhewn, and you muft needs own he did, is a much more natural Interpretation of these words than that you would have put upon them. For it is much properer to fay a Corporation or Society is built upon him who was the firft Founder, or Beginner of it, than upon him who was only conftituted the Chief Ruler of it. So that till you can prove yours to be the only juft Interpretation of these words, which you will never be able to do, your Argument from them falls to the ground. And the

(a) Cafe truly fated, p. 19, 20.

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