The contrariety of popery to the blessed word of God wherein may be seen that the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome are not consistent with the sacred oracles of the Old and New Testament ... / written by Digby Bull ...

II. Their Position and Doctrine, That the Bishops of Rome do succeed St. Peter in such a Supreme Power and Authority, and are now the Head of all the Chri∣stian Church, is not consistent with the sacred Scriptures, but directly contrary to them.

This is proved by what hath been said already: For if St. Peter had no such Universal Power and Authority over the Apostles and all the Church (as it is clear that he had not) then the Roman Bishops have no ground to pretend to succeed him in such a supreme Power and Authority. This is altogether vain, seeing there is no truth in the former. And there is no proof at all that they should be St. Peter's Heirs and Successors, and be the only Masters of that Power and Au∣thority which he had in the Church. And how then can they assume such an Universal Power and Authority which he had not? Heb. 5.4. And no man taketh this honour unto himself (saith the Apostle) but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. And how then can the Bi∣shops of Rome justly assume to themselves such a supreme and univer∣sal Power over all the Church, till they can shew some Divine Com∣mission for it? And for such Authority they have no Plea nor Co∣lour from the sacred Word of God. There is no clear place in the sacred Scriptures to prove that ever St. Peter was at Rome; and he wrote no Epistle to them, to confer any Power upon them; and in those Epistles that he wrote, he makes no mention of any such Power and supreme Authority that they were to have. St. Peter was chiefly the Apostle of the Jews, as St. Paul sheweth; Gal. 2.7. And how then can the Roman Gentiles pretend that all his Power is devolved upon them? St. Peter was much at Jerusalem, and the Bishops of that place might have had a better Title to be his Successors in a higher manner than others, if any were to have been so, than the Bishops of Rome can have; because he was chiefly and primarily the Apo∣stle of the Jews. St. Peter was also at Antioch some time; Gal. 2.11. And the Bishops of that place may alledg as good a Plea to be his Successors, as the Bishops of Rome can. Again, St. Paul writes an Epi∣stle to the Romans, and several Epistles from Rome; but no intimation in them that the Bishops of that place only were to be St. Peters Suc∣cessors and to have an universal Power and Authority over the whole Church. And from hence we may see that St. Paul knew nothing of any

such universal Power that the Roman Bishops were to have: For if he had known that our blessed Lord had designed them to be the Univer∣sal Pastors over all the Church, we may be sure that he would not have been wanting to have instructed the Churches, to which he wrote, in this great Point of Duty, and to have let them know where the Supreme Power of the Church was lodged, that they might have had recourse to it in all weighty Concerns. The Apostle command∣eth Christians, Heb. 13.17, To obey them that have the Rule over them, and to submit themselves, but not a word of obeying the Ro∣man Bishop, nor any regard that is to be had to him more than to another.

Again, if any place should have been Invested with such a Supreme Power over all the Christian Church, we may well conclude that Jerusalem should have been the place: For more is said of that place tending this way, than of any place in the whole World besides. This is the place that is renowned above all others in the sacred Word of God; and the Bishops of this place might have pleaded the most of all for a Divine Right of Governing the Universal Church of Christ. For this was the Holy City, as St. Matthew calls it, Matt. 4.5. This was the City of the Great King, as our Saviour himself calls it, Matt. 5.35. Nei∣ther by Jerusalem (saith he) for it is the City of the Great King. This was the City of the Lord of Hosts, the Great King of all Kings. This was the place where Christ the Great Shepherd of all did exercise the Power that God the Father gave him over all the Church; and for whose sacred Temple he shewed so much Zeal, and was so much con∣cerned; Mar. 11.15—. Within the jurisdiction of this City, and among the Jews who had a dependence upon this City as their great Metropolis, did our Lord do all his Miracles and exercised his Pa∣storal Office. This was the great Metropolis of the whole World, and here had Almighty God recorded his Holy Name. Psal. 87.2, 3; The Lord loveth the gates of Zion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob: Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God. Great Matters were spoken and predicted of this City. This was to be the City of Truth; Zac. 8.3. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the Mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy Mountain. This was the place from whence the Law was to go forth, according to the predictions of the Prophets. Isa. 2.3. And many people shall go and say; Come ye, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in

his paths: For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And Micah 4.2; For the Law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem From this place was the Law and Word of God to go forth. This is the place where God is said to dwell for ever; and he promiseth to cloath her Priests with Salvation. Psal. 132.13, 14. For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation: This is my Rest for ever. And ver. 16. I will also cloath her Priests with Salvation—. This is said of this place and the Priests thereof. Here the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost; Acts 2. Here was held the first Coun∣cil; Act. 15. And St. James, that was Bishop of Jerusalem, was Pre∣sident of this Council of Apostles and Elders. And if all this, and much more, be said of this place in the Word of God; we may be sure that Jerusalem should have been the place of Supremacy and Power over all the Church, if any place should have been so. We may be sure that the Bishops of this place should have been the Uni∣versal Head of the Church, if there should have been any such Head: For more may be said for a Divine Right, of Ruling over all the Church, for Jerusalem, than for any place in the whole World besides. But seeing Jerusalem has no such Superiority, and doth not exalt it self over all other places, we may be sure that no other place ought to do so; For Rome or any other place cannot stand in Competition with it for Superiority, or urge any thing out of the sacred Oracles to countervail what is said of it.

Again, we may see that it is an impossible thing for one spiritual Pastor to superintend and overlook the Affairs of the whole Church, and to do it in such a Christian manner as it ought to be done. There is no more likelihood that one Bishop should Rule and see to the whole Church, than that one Temporal Prince should govern the whole World, which hath never yet been done, since it hath been overspread with Inhabitants. It is altogether impossible for one Pastor to take Care of the Church that is scattered into the four quarters of the Earth, and to administer Assistance to places a thousand or perhaps four or six thousand miles from him. To such he can be nothing but an Inutile Pondus, and hinder them of that speedier Help and Suc∣cour which otherwise they might have, by having Pastors of their own, that could act without waiting for his tedious Commissions.

And it is clear that particular and National Churches had Power to govern themselves, without any dependance at all upon the Church

of Rome. The Epistles to the Corinthians do shew that they had Power to govern their own Church according to St. Paul's Dire∣rections and Commands. 1 Cor. 5.12. Do not ye judge them that are within? saith the Apostle. And by the Power of Christ were they to deliver over the Incestuous Person to Satan. ver. 4, 5; In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ (saith St. Paul) when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. In this weighty Matter which was to be done in such a solemn manner, there was no need of any Authority from St. Peter or Rome, but they might act of themselves with the Power of Christ. And saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 14.40; Let all things be done decently and in order. By this Chapter and other places in his Epistles to the Corinthians, we may clearly see that St. Paul doth give them full Power to govern and rule their own Church, without any dependance at all upon Rome or any other Church. And the Epi∣stles to Timothy and Titus do plainly shew that they had Power to do so too. And our Lord, as I have shewed before, hath expresly de∣clared that no one of his Disciples should Lord it over the rest as the Kings of the Gentiles did: Matt. 20.25—. And this plainly shews that all the Pretences of the Roman Church of this kind are vain and groundless, and not at all consistent with the Gospel of Christ.

But farther, It is our Lord's Prerogative and Peculiar to be the Chief Shepherd and the Universal Head of all the Church; and those that do assume such a Title invade his Prerogative and Right. This the Apostles shews that our blessed Saviour Christ is the Supreme Head of the Church and the Chief Shepherd thereof. Ephes. 1.20—. Which he wrought in Christ, (saith the Apostle) when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all Principality and Power—: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is his Body. And saith he, Ephes. 5.23; For the husband is the head of the Wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church. And again, Col. 1.18, And he is the Head of the Body the Church; who is the beginning, the First-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre∣eminence. And St. Peter sheweth that Christ is the Chief Shepherd. 1 Pet. 5.4. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, (saith he) ye shall receive a Crown of glory that fadeth not away. And he tells the dispersed Jews to whom he wrote, that they ought not to Lord it over God's Heritage. ver. 3. Neither as being Lords over God's heri∣tage;

but being ensamples to the flock. We see that no Bishops are to Domineer over the Church; and that it is our Lord's Right and Peculiar to be the Head and chief Shepherd of the Church, and that no one ought to invade this Right and Prerogative of his. And no one ought to be forward to give such Supremacy and Preeminence to any earthly Bishop, and think it a light thing to do so.

Lastly, Those that keep not the Doctrine of the Gospel pure and uncorrupt, but fall to gross Errors and Heresies, can be no true Go∣vernors of the Church at all, much less the supreme Governors there∣of. This the sacred Scriptures plainly shew. A Bishop must be blameless (saith St. Paul, Tit. 1.7-9) as the Steward of God—; Holding fast the faith∣ful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort, and to convince the gainsayers. And such men as act flat con∣trary to the Gospel of Christ, do make void their Authority. Matt. 5.19, saith our blessed Saviour; Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. And Joh. 15.6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. No one must pretend to be a Pastor under our blessed Lord that doth not carefully observe his Doctrine and Com∣mands; but must then expect to be cast out like a withered branch that is to be cast into the fire and burned. And St. Paul sheweth that an Apostle or an Angel that should pretend to come from Heaven, which should preach contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel, is not to be heard and heeded, but to be accounted accursed. Gal. 1.8. But tho' we (saith he) or an Angel from Heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be Accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other Gospel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed. But it is plain by these Papers that Popery is another Gospel, in that they make the Pope the supreme Head of the Church, and allow him a Power to over-rule and disannul the sacred Commands of our blessed Lord at his own plea∣sure, and to set up his own Commands in the room of them. And how can the Bishops of Rome then, that establish another Gospel, and whom the Apostle here pronounceth accursed for so doing; How can they, I say, be any Pastors at all of Christ's Church? And what good Christian then, that is zealous for our blessed Lord and his sacred Commandments, can comply in such a sinful Religion as Popery is? And saith St. John, 2 Joh. 9—, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God—. If there come any unto you,

and bring not this Doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds. We are to have nothing to do, we see, with such as keep not the Doctrine of Christ pure and uncorrupt, and much less to ac∣count them our true Heads and Governors. And Rev. 22.18— saith St. John; For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this Book; If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues thar are written in this Book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book. It is clear by these places, that such as keep not the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ pure and uncorrupt, cannot be the true Pastors and Governors of the Church of Christ, nor so much as true Members thereof, but have a Wo and Curse denounced against them. And it is clear by what is said in these Papers, to such as will impartially consider it, That the Doctrine and Practice of the Romish Church is not consistent with the Gospel of Christ, but contrary to it; And therefore that the Bishops of Rome, that are the Patrons of such Doctrine and Practice, cannot be true Pastors of the Church of Christ, and much less the supreme Pastors and Head thereof, if any such should have been. From what hath been said upon this and the former Head, it is manifest that this Doctrine and Position of the Romish Church, That the Bishops of Rome do succeed St. Peter in a supreme Power and Authority over all the Church, is not consistent at all with the sacred Word of God, but is quite contrary to it.