themselves, one Affecting Superiority over another, and Encreafing it to an Abfolute Temporal Dominion. Of which Chrift faid to the Apostles, [4] It ball not be fo among you. And

again, (for they Contended more than once for the Superiority) after the Inftitution and Celebration of the Holy Eucharist, juft as He was going to Enter upon His Sacred Paffion, and to take His final Leave of them, this Dispute arose again, Which of them should be the Greatest, and that was the Time to Determine it if Ever, but He again Checked their Ambition, and the Error of their Thought, as if the Church were to be Go verned with Temporal Sway and Authority, like the Grandeur of Secular Princes, but told them plainly [b] Te fhall not be so.

And in His farewel Sermon, continued upon the fame Occafion, and at the fame Time, He infifted much upon their Unity, and Placed it, not upon the Superiority of any One of them over the Others, but in their Mutual Love and good Agreement with Each other, in their Union with God and with Himself, upon which He wonderfully Expatiates in moft Exalted Words, which take up four whole Chapters in S.John, and begins, (c) Little Children, yet a little while I am with you A new Commandment I give unto That ye Love one another— By this fhall all Men know that ye are My Difciples, if ye have Love one to another. This is the Unity of which Chrift fpeaks

you,

N4

[a] Matth. xx. 25. [6] Luk. xxii. 26. [] Joh. xiii, 33°

fpeaks in these His laft Words to the Apostles. He faid, [a] My Kingdom is not of this World: If my Kingdom were of this World, then would my Servants Fight But he that calls himself Servus Servorum, the Servant of His Servants, has Fought, and Raifed bloody Wars in Defence, as he fays, of this his Mafter's Kingdom! And he will have the Government of it just the fame as of other Kingdoms of the World, and its Unity to Confift, like theirs, in being under one Abfolute and Defpotick Head or King. But no Kingdom of the Earth will Content him. He will be Univerfal Monarch of the whole World. And why? Because Christ is the Head of all Churches, and therefore muft have an Univerfal Vicar. And from the fame Parity of Reafon, becaufe [b] God is the King of all the Earth, therefore He must have an Univerfal Vicar in Temporals. And if England, France, Spain, &c. fhould Contend which of them were this Univerfal Vicar, would not the Anfwer be Eafy? That the Contest was foolifh and vain, for though one Kingdom might be Greater or more Ancient than another, yet was it ftill but a Part of the Whole, that is of the World. And

Univerfal at God had Appointed no fuch

Vicar. The Cafe is exactly Parallel, unless it can be fhewed, that Christ has Appointed fuch an Univerfal Vicar in the Church; And told us Plainly who it is, that we may

obey

[4] Joh. xviii. 36. [6] Pfal. xlvii. 7.

obey Him. Which when done, we will own our felves Hereticks, Schifmaticks, and what you will, till we Return and Pay our Obedience to Him.

But on the other hand, if Chrift has Appointed no fuch Univerfal Vicar, then are you under a Mortal Miftake concerning the Unity of the Church, which you Place wholly upon our being United in Obedience to fuch an One. And your Church is the Great Breaker of Ecclefiaftical Unity, while fhe will bear no Sifter Church, but will be the Mother of all Churches, though the be not the Eldest.

This, My Lord, is the very Heart of the Caufe. And we are verily Perfuaded that ther is not the leaft Ground for this Universal Supremacy, either in the Holy Scriptures, or in Antiquity, or in the Reafon of the Thing, or in Fact, fince the firft Foundation of Chriftianity to this Day,or that it was ever Acknowledged, or is Now, by the Majority of Chriftian Churches. And yet this is the Foundation of all the Dif putes betwixt your Church and ours, and all other Christian Churches.

Chrift forfaw the Confequences of trufting an Univerfal Supremacy in the Hands of Fallible Men. An Univerfal King muft Ruin the World, for Appeals to Him muft lye in all Caufes from all the Parts of the Earth, and Men must Attend with their Witneffes, and all other things Neceffary to carry on a Law Suit. The Oppreffion of this (beyond all other Tyranries) may Appear by the Appeals

peals to Rome, in the times of Popery, no further than from England thither, where Caufes lafted from Age to Age, loudly Complained of in thofe Times and Attempts made to Reftrain it in fome Measure by feveral of our Acts of Parliament, but not to Purpose till the Reformation: And this indeed made the Reformation even Neceffary, for the Prefervation of the People, as well Laity as Clergy, who Groaned under this Burden which neither they nor their Fathers were able to Bear. Dr. Parker late Lord Bishop of Oxford, in his Excellent Difcourfe fent to the late King James, when he was Arch Deacon of Canterbury, Printed here in the Year 1690, fays upon this Head, p. 29. I my felf enjoy a small Office in this Church, wherein my Predeceffors had a Suit for a Privilege belonging to it, hanging in the Court of Rome for fome Hundreds of Tears, till very Time of the Diffolution of the Pope's Power. Hence we may Judge how it would be with the Churches, in the Indies and the most Remote Places in the World, if it were All under his Power, as he Pretends! But the Good Providence of God has not Suffered it to Extend to Half of the Chriftian Churhces (as before is faid) and His Wifdom and Goodness has ftill Preferved the Major Part true Proteftants against this Ufurpation; befides the great Number He has Refcued from it, and has never Suffered any of these Reformed Churches or Nations to Return to it again, as before has been Obferved: And befides that the Principle it

the

felf,

felf, and the Pretenfions of the Pope to this Univerfal and Unlimited Supremacy are Beat down and Exploded by the Gallican Church, and others the most Learned who ftill Remain in his Communion whether he will or not, and though he Excommunicates them afresh every Year!

And now, My Lord, I cannot but think it made Plain to a Demonftration, that this Univerfal Supremacy is a thing Impracticable; and that if it could be in Fact, it would be the greatest Ruin and Oppreffion to the Church that is Poffible. And if an Univerfal King would be Infupportable to the World. how much more an Univerfal Bishop to the Church? For he must have an Abfolute Dominion over our Faith, over the Holy Scriptures, and over the Church, which muft fuddenly Fall (as I before quoted Gregory the Great) if it comes to depend upon One. And that whoever should Affume it, would be as he Prophefied a Lucifer, and the fore-runner of Anti-Christ. And can he be less, if he has Ufurped fo vast an Authority, and Infallibity it felf to fupport it.

I faid before, that an Universal King would make all Wars to be Rebellion, and fo Incurable but by utter Deftruction. Thus it is with the Univerfal Bishop, Oppofing his Supremacy is Herefy, Schifm, and Excommunication: And is the only Article in your Creed to be Believed Explicitly, as for the others, Implicit will do for them all! That is, it is no Matter

whether