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and fays they were tanquam Ecclefiarum omnium principes facti difpenfatione cælefti, made as Princes of all the Churches by a heavenly Difpenfation; and of St. Paul alone it is faid, that he was Chri ftiani nominis princeps futurus, to be Prince of the Chriftian Name. And in the 4th Homily upon thefe Saints he affirms of both, that they were (a) Ecclefiarum columna, the Pillars of the Churches. All which places I produce only to fhew, that he puts no difference between them, but attributes the fame Titles equally to them both; which was not to have been expected, if he had look'd upon the one of them as the Sovereign, and the other as his Subject. But in his (b) 5th Homily upon these Apoftles, which I take the Liberty to call his, rather than either St. Ambrofe's or St. Auguftin's, becaufe Mr. Du Pin (c) affirms of this and divers others of them, that they are vifibly this Bishop's; in this Homily I fay, he teaches that Peter and Paul have a Pre-heminence amongst all the Apostles, and excel them by a certain peculiar Prerogative; and in fuch a manner that it is not certain whether of them has a right to the Preference. Petrus & Paulus eminent inter univerfos Apoftolos & peculiari quadam prærogativd præ cellunt. Verum inter ipfos quis cui præponatur incertum eft. Thus Cyril of Jerufalem terms them the (d) Pro vofts or Prefidents of the Church, riress * пãuλ---οἱ ἡ ἐκκλησίας πωςάται. And thus Dr. Barrow tells us (e) that both the Popes Agatho and Adrian call them equally the Ringleading Apostles. Kogupaior Κορυφαιοι dresowy; and Nicholas I. and Gregory VII, the Princes of the Apostles. Whence it is natural to collect, how little Supremacy thefe, or the like Expref

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(a) P.231 (b) Ibid. (c) Nouv. Bibl. Tom. 3. part 2. p. 178. (d) Catech. 6. p. 88. Edit, Oxon. (e) Of the Pope's Supremacy, p. 75.

Lions attribute to St. Peter above St. Paul, or indeed above the other Apoftles; And you have been already told (a) that St. Auguftine was exprefly fil'd fummus Chrifti Pontifex, Chrift's fupreme or chief High Priest, as St. Germain of Paris was alfo by Venantius Fortunatus; and that St. Bafil not only tells St. Athanafius that he took care of all the Churches, in like manner as of his own, but exprefly affirms, that they fled to him, Bones ¿nì noguçlu ray one, as to the Head of the whole; and again, that the Title of the fuppofititious Epistle of Clement runs thus, Clement to our Lord James, Bishop of Bishops, Prefident over the Holy Catholick Church at Jerufalem, and fuch others as are any

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bere fettled by God's Providence, &c. which Title, though fuppofititious, is however fome Intimation of what was the Opinion of thofe Times concerning thefe forts of Appellations. And all thefe Teftimonies do abundantly confute that ftrange extravagant Prerogative thofe of your Party would build upon them, in behalf of your Sovereign Lord the Pope.

c: R. C. St.Augustine in several places owns St. Peter's Supremacy, calling him the first and chief of the Apoi files, Ibid.

C. E. This is no more than thofe you laft named have faid of him, and what might be very well allow'd him, without your pretended Supremacy. The Senior Fellow of a Colledge, or the uppermost Boy in a School, is the first and chief of his Companions, as is also the eldeft amongst divers Sons; but what Supremacy you can draw from hence is paft my Conception, and I dare fay your own too. He does indeed attri bute a Primacy to this Apoftle, which you are pleas'd (for what reason you best know) to interpret a Supremacy. But I am yet to learn how (a) Cafe truly stated, P. 53.

this implies any more concerning him, than what the fame Father meant of him at another time, when he faid that he was the first of the Apostles, (a) primus Apoftolus: which by the Inftances now mention'd appears to be very far from proving a Supremacy, or any fott of Jurifdiction over the other Apoftles. But any thing muft ferve for Proof, where that which is to the purpofe cannot be had.

R. C. St. Leo in the 5th Century fays, Out of all the World Peter alone is chofen and prefer'd before all the Apoftles, that though in God's People there be many Priefts, and many Paftors, yet Peter fhould rule all properly whom Chrift rules principally. And again, that the Apostles had (in refpect of one another) a different Power,p. 24. M. C. If by thefe Words of your own Infertion, in respect of one another, you do not mean over one another, this latter Claufe feems not at all to your purpofe, nor will prove any thing for St. Peter's Authority over the other Apofties. But if you do mean fo, I muft beg leave to affure the Reader, that the Saying is your own, not Pope Leo's. His Words, as you have rightly quoted them are thefe, Quoniam & inter beatiffimos Apoftolos, in fimilitudine honoris, fuit quædam difcretio poteftatis; because even amongit the Bleffed Apoftles, after the manner of Honour, there was fome Diftinction of Power; which might very well have been with refpect to their Charge, and the extent of their Care towards thofe committed to them, without fuppofing any of them to be fet over the reft. But fuppofing that Leo had faid as you would have him here, and that he meant as he fays in the former Paffage, that Peter alone was prefer'd before all the Apostles, and was to rule all those whom Chrift rules; this is the (a) In Joan. Tra&. 56.

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a

lefs to be relied upon, as not being spoken till the fifth Century; and befides confidering it is not only the faying of a Pope, and fo a Judgment in his own Favour, but even of fuch a Pope, as feems to be intent upon magnifying his See to the utmost; one that writes himself not only Bishop of Rome, but (a) of Rome and the Univerfal and Catholick Church, calls his own (b) the Apoftolical See, as if none others had been fo, profeffes (c) to have a principal Care committed to him over all the Churches, and would have the Bishops (d) fubmit the Care of the whole Church to the one Seat of Peter, takes upon him to determine (e) the Cafe of Eutyches a Presbyter condemn'd at Conftantinople, tells the French Bishops that his Letters are enforc'd (f) by the Authority and Merit of his oft bleffed Lord Peter the Apostle, reproves Anatolius of Conftantinople (g) for not obeying his Legats, and dif-annuls all Determinations of Bifhops made contrary to the Canons of the Nicene Council (b) by the Authority of St. Peter the Apoftle; with a great deal more to the fame Effect, which I need not repeat. Now if fuch a Pope as this endeavours to magnify St. Peter's Authority, and thereby to advance and improve his own, this is but making himself a Judge in his own Caufe; which no one not grofly under the Power of Prejudice can think reasonable. Befides, it is farther to be noted that (i) this Pope Leo fpeaks both of St. Peter and St. Paul in fuch a manner, as cannot well confift with a Supremacy in the one, and Subjection in the other. He fays the Favour of God had rais'd them to fuch a height

(c) Epift.

(a) Epift. 54, & 97. (b) Paffim. 84.c. I (d) Per quos ad unam Pétri fedem univerfalis Ecclefiæ cura conflueret. c. 12.

(f) Epift. 52.

(g) Epift. 53

) Serm. 1. in Nat. Apoft. Pet. & Paul, c. 7.

(e) Epift. 8, (b) Epift. 55.

amongst

amongst all the Members of the Church, as to make them as a pair of Eyes, in that Body whereof Christ is the Head. De quorum meritis atque virtutibus, &c. as he proceeds, of whofe Merits and Virtues,which furpass all power of Expreffion, nothing is to be thought different, nothing diftinguishing; because their Election made them co-ordinate, their Labour alike, and their End equal. The natural Confequence of which feveral Confiderations in relation to this Pope is, that very little regard is to be had to what he fays in behalf of the pretended Supremacy of St. Peter.

R. C. Gelafius I. fays, The firft See confirms every General Council by its Authority, and is their perpetual Guardian, by reafon of its Supremacy, (which the Apostle St. Peter receiv'd from the Mouth of Chrift) which the Church too bath feconded, and which that See has both always held, and does hold at prefent. Ibid.

C. E. However, this is only the Saying of a Pope, and a Pope no lefs zealous for the extent of his own Dominion than his Predeceffor Leo; and whofe Authority therefore, in a Cafe of this Nature, can fignify no more than his. And it is other fort of Teftimony we want, not that of Popes in their own behalf. Befides that the Pindicator has fhewn that what this Pope afferts (a) is false in Fact. And you do not pretend in any wife to difprove his Evidence.

R. C. S. Bernard fpeaks alfo to the fame purpose, p. 25.

C. E. But St. Bernard is fomewhat of the latest to be produc'd as a Witness here: He liv'd in the 12th Century; and it will be hard to prove either the Faith or Practice of the Primitive Church, from one who was at fo great a diftance from it. So that nothing but want of good fuffiçient Evidence, could tempt you to look fo far back for it, fince you were fure before hand, that

(a) Cafe truly stated, P. 47.

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