The rooting out of the Romishe supremacie Wherein is declared, that the authoritie which the Pope of Rome doth challenge to him selfe ouer all Christian bishops and churches, is vnlawfully vsurped: contrarie to the expresse word and institution of our sauiour Iesu Christ: who did giue equall power and authoritie to all the apostles, bishops, and ministers of his Church, whereof he is the true corner stone, and only heade. Set foorth by William Chauncie Esq.

Chap. 3.

That Christ in the promise of his second commission, saying vnto Peter. To thee will I giue the keyes of heauen, doth giue him no supremacie, Neither by these wordes, I haue prayed for thee Peter, that thy faith faile not.

NOwe, to returne to the com∣missions of Christe, because that betwixt the first, whiche was giuen before his passion to his Apostles, as I haue declared, and the second which he gaue them after his death and resurrection, Christ did open to them in the meane time his purpose and intent, both for giuing them further au∣thoritie, then before he gaue them, and for

instructing of them what they should doe with it: he therefore demaunded of his disciples, what men did talke of him, and whom they saide him to be. To whome when they aunswered: some, that Thou art Iohn Baptist, and some, Elias, & others, Ieremias, or one of the prophets:* 1.1 then Ie∣sus said vnto them, Vos autem quem me esse dicitis. Respondens Simon Petrus, dixit: tu es Christus filius Dei viui. Respondens autem Christus dixit ei: beatus es Simon Bar-iona, quia caro & sanguis non reuelauit tibi hoc, sed pater meus qui est in coelis. Et ego dico tibi, tu es Petrus, & super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, & portae inferni non praeua∣lebunt aduersus eam. Et tibi dabo claues regni coelorum: & quidcunque ligaueris super ter∣ram, erit ligatum in coelis, & quidcunque sol∣ueris super terram, erit solutum in coelis. But whom, saith Christ, do you say that I am. He said not, Peter, who dost thou say that I am: but in the plurall nomber, to all his Apostles, who doe you say that I am. Then Peter, as the mouth and speaker of them al, said, Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God. To whom our sauiour Christ aunswered and saide: blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Ionas: for flesh

and bloud hath not reuealed it to thee, but my father which is in heauen. And I say to thee. Tu es Petrus, alluding to the name of Peter, for his perfect faith on the head corner stone, y^e is to say, on Christ, where∣vpon Peter him selfe was builded, and not Christ vpon Peter: therefore Christ said, Vpon this rocke or stone, of thy con∣fession of me to be the sonne of the liuing God, will I builde my Church, and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it. Christ did not say, against thée Peter, but against it, that is, his true Church, buil∣ded vpon that faith that Peter then con∣fessed, and not vpon Peters person. I doe beléeue there is no man so ignoraunt or voide of knowledge, that will iudge our Sauiour Christ would build his Church vpon so weake and fraile a foundation, as Peter was, if we regard not his pro∣fession, but his person: who shewed him∣selfe more wauering and vnstable then any other of the twelue Apostles, as one that vtterly denied his Maister Christe thrée times in one day:* 1.2 and also before that did speake such carnall and worldly wordes vnto him, that Christe was faine to answere him, Thou art an offence vn∣to

me: and added moreouer,* 1.3 Get thee be hinde me Sathan. Wherefore I do leaue it to the iudgement of euerie good Christi∣an man, whether it be more agréeable to our faith, and safe for the Church of God, to be founded vpon Christ, or vpon Pe∣ter: vppon the sonne of the liuing God, whō Peter confessed, or vpon a man, who vttterly denied the sonne of the liuing God, saying, Non noui hominē istum, and that cum iuramento,* 1.4 I do not knowe this man, and bound it with an othe, as the Gospel doth testifie.

It is certaine that Christ builded his Church vpon that rocke or stone,* 1.5 which was sure & stedfast: euen vpon the faith confessed by Peter, and not vpon Peter. And that by the iudgement of the olde fa∣thers, as Hillarie affirmeth in his second booke De Trinitate. Haec est vna foelix fidei Petra, quam Petrus ore suo est confessus. This is the onely blessed rocke of faith, whiche Peter confessed by mouth. And Chrysost. in Matth. Hom. 51. Super hanc petram in hac fide & confessione aedificabo Ecclesiam. Vpon this rocke, vpon this faith and confession, will I builde my Church. And Saint Au∣gustine in his 13. sermon vpon Matthew

saith, Non me aedificabo super te, sed aedificabo te super me. I wil not builde my selfe of thee, but I will build thee vpon me. And this was the meaning of Christ. For af∣ter Peter had saide, Tu es Christus filius dei viui. Christ said not, Super te Petrum, vpon thee Peter, but super hanc petram, vpon this rocke, or stable stone, euen thy con∣fession of me to be the sonne of the li∣uing God, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shal not preuaile against it. He saide not, against Peter, but against his Church, which he builded vpon that rocke of faith that Peter helde. For Christes words are,* 1.6 Portae inferni non praeualebunt aduersus eam, in the feminine gender, against it: which must needes haue relation to Ecclesiam, His Church, & not to Peter: for then he would haue said, Non preualebit aduersus eum. Likewise he saide immediately, Tibi dabo claues regni coelorum: To thee will I giue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen. Now it is plain that he gaue those keies vnto his Church, and not to Peters onely person: though he saide to him, but as to his Apostle, the charge pertayning to al his Apostles, and all the ministers of his Churche, by like

right, Quodcunque ligaueris super terram e∣rit ligatum in coelis, & quodcunque solueris su∣per terram, erit solutum in coelis. Whatsoeuer thou shalt binde vpon the earth, it shall be bound in heauē, & whatsoeuer thou shalt loose vpon ye earth, it shalbe loosed in hea∣uen. For otherwise those keyes of loosing & binding had ben lost cleane, and the au∣thority of Christes church had bene ouer∣throwen for euer, if Peter onely shoulde haue possessed those keyes, as parteining to himselfe alone, and not to Christes Church. For it followeth in the same chapter, how Christ telling his Apostles that he must go to Ierusalem, and there suffer many things by the elders, scribes and princes of the priestes, and be••lains, and the third day rise againe from death: Peter tooke him aside and rebuked him, saying, Let this be farre from thee, let not this happen to thee. Wherevpon Christe turning him selfe to Peter, sayd: vade post me Satana, scandalum es mihi: quia no•• sapis ea quae dei sunt, sed ea qua•• sunt hominum: Get thee behinde me, thou Satan, or Di∣uell: thou art an offence vnto me: for thou doest not sauour of the thinges that are of God, but the thinges that are of men. So

that whatsoeuer Christ said to him before if the same had not concerned the autho∣rity of his whole church, but onely Pe∣ters person: thē al the vertue of those say∣inges had bene clearely quenched, and ta∣ken from Peter, when Christ called him Sathan, and bad him come behinde him. But, that the right of these wordes doth belong vnto the whole Church, it is eui∣dent by the wordes of Christe that do fol∣low in the eightéene Chapter, spoken to the Church:* 1.7 Quaecunque ligaueritis in terra erunt ligata in coelo: Et quaecunque solueritis in terra, erunt soluta in coelo. What soeuer ye binde in earth, shall be bound in heauen: and whatsoeuer ye loose in earth, shall be loosed in heauen. Yea, to regarde the sub∣stance of Christes wordes touching that authority of binding and loosing mentio∣ned to Peter, Christ said not, tibi do claues regni coelorum,* 1.8 I doe giue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen to thee, but tibi dabo, I will giue to thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen, to loose and to binde. So that Christes wordes were spoken of the time to come, not of the time present: to be giuen afterward, not as giuen presently. Whereof it doeth fol∣low, that none of the Apostles had autho∣ritie

of binding and loosing, of retaining and remitting the sinnes of all estates of men, through all nations: vntill our sa∣uiour Christ had suffered his death, and had washed away our sinnes with his bloud, and had conquered death by rising from death. At the which time they recea∣ued the holie Ghost, as it shall appeare in the second commission, and had that per∣fourmed, whiche was promised, when Christ saide,* 1.9 I wil giue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen. But in the mean season, before that was performed: Christ perceiuing by his diuine prescience and foreknowledge, that Peter should denie him thrise in one day, he saide vnto him: Simon,* 1.10 Ecce Satanas expetiuit vos vt cri∣braret sicut triticum: ego autem oraui pro te, vt non deficiat fides tua: & tu aliquando con∣uersus confirma fratres tuos. Ipse verò dixit ei, Domine tecum paratus sum in carcerem & in mortem ire. At ille dixit, dico tibi Petre, non cantabit hodie gallus. donec ter abneges, nosse me. Simon, saith the Lord to Peter: Behold Sathan hath desired you, to syfte you like wheat: but I haue praied for thee, that thy faith fayle not: therefore when thou at length art conuerted, confirme &

stablish thy brethren. Then Peter saide vnto him, Lorde I am ready to go with thee into prison & vnto death. But Christ saide, Peter, I tell thee, the cocke shall not crowe this day, vntill thou hast thrice de∣nied that thou knowest me. Whiche wordes of Christ were fulfilled the same night, as soone as he was brought before the high priest. For Peter being amongst them that stoode by the fire, when he was reported of by a maide, that he was one of those which were with Christ: he aun∣swered, I doe not knowe him. When a∣gaine he was tolde by another man, who stoode by the maide, that he was of them: he answered, I do not know him. Anone after, the thirde time, when another man said, verily this man was with him, for he is also a Galilean: then Peter cursed and did sweare, as S. Matthew doth wit∣nes, that he knew not Christ. And imme∣diately the cocke did crowe.* 1.11 And Christe looked back vpon Peter, and Peter went forth, and did wéepe bitterly. This I haue recited so muche the more at large: because there be some, who would proue authoritie giuen to Peter by the former wordes of Christ: which if they be well

considered, are but a manifestation part∣ly of Christs Godhead in that he did fore∣know Peter would denie him, partely of his mercie shewed gratiously to Peter, whose faith he did establish with his prai∣er, that he should not dispaire, as Iudas Iscariot did, who after he had sold Christ, went and hanged himselfe. So, vpon this verie sentence of Christ, Ego rogaui pro te Petre, vt not deficiat fides tua:* 1.12 Saint Chri∣sostome doth say, that Christe the more sharpely to reproue Peters pride, (who did presume more of him selfe, then any o∣ther of the Apostles) doeth signifie before vnto him, that his fall shal be worse then the fall of the rest, and therefore néedeth greater helpe to raise him vppe againe. Wherefore that he might sée and féele his owne weakenes: Christe suffered him to fal, & told him of it before it happened: yet he preserued him w^tall, through his great care & fauour, that he should not fall from him, though he did denie him: wherwith he cōforted him in saying, I haue prayed for thee Peter, that thy faith fail not. Now as saint Chrisostome doth shewe, y^t Christ did thus manifest his diuine knowledge and fauour vnto Peter, by foreshewing

him his fall, and promising that he would rayse him: so likewise holie Beda wri∣ting on the same wordes, saith, that he who onely knoweth what is in man,* 1.13 both as God, did foretell in what sorte, at what time, how often Peter should denie him: and as merciful, did promise him the help of his defence, least that any of the faith∣ful either vnaduisedly should presume of his owne standing, or more vnaduisedly should dispaire for his owne falling. Wherefore to passe ouer other thinges that might be saide, hereby it is manifest that the words of Christ spoken to Peter of his prayer for him, haue no force at all to proue any preeminence or superioritie in Peter: but they are rather of greate force against him, and those that chalenge to be his successors, sith they doe shewe a notable fall of Peter, by occasion that he had too greate a confidence in himselfe, as it is euident by Christes words.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Matt. 16.
• * 1.2

  Matt. 26.
• * 1.3

  Matt. 16.
• * 1.4

  Matt. 26.
• * 1.5

  Iuellus in replicati∣one ad re∣sponsum Hardingi fol. 221. 222. 246. 262.
• * 1.6

  Matt. 16.
• * 1.7

  Matt. 18.
• * 1.8

  Matt. 16.
• * 1.9

  Iohn. 20.
• * 1.10

  Luke. 22.
• * 1.11

  Matt. 26.
• * 1.12

  Chrisosto∣mus in Mat. Cap. 26. Hom. 83.
• * 1.13

  Beda in E∣uangeliū Lucae cap. 22. lib. 6.