reconcild he is loofed in Heaven; if therefore this is done in the Church, Peter when he receiv'd the Keys, fignified the Church. The natural and inevitable Confequence of which Pofition is, that according to St. Auguftine, Peter receiv'd the Keys, not for himfelf, but, as Proxy for or Reprefentative of the Church. And fo he could not have an univerfal Supremacy convey'd upon him for himfelf, by what was only entrusted with him in behalf of the Church, whofe Reprefentative he

was.

In the next place, St. Jerome fpeaking of the two Sons of Zebedee, fays, fa) John and James, because they ask'd more than the others, had not their Petition granted them, and yet their Dignity was not leffened, for they were equal to the rest of the Apostles. To the reft, it may be Mr. H. will fay, except St. Peter; but he muft needs fee St. Jerome no more excepts this Apoftle than any of the others; for it is plain he excepts none.

The laft is St. Cyprian, and he is very exprefs against the Romanifts high Pretences for St. Peter: his Words are thefe, (b) The fame were the other Apo fles that St.Peter was,endued with the fame Partnership both of Honour and Power. Which is as full a Declation on our fide, as Words can be: Nevertheless I must not omit to add at the fame time, leaft I fhould be pen'd in, as the poor Vindicator was, on all Sides, p. 123. that St. Cyprian tells us farther; but the Beginning proceeds from one, (as much as to fay One, that is St. Peter, was to have the Honour of being the firft Preacher of the Gofpel amongst both Jews and Gentiles,) that the Church may be fhewn to be one. Of what advantage thefe Words will be to your Cause I know not, but I am fure the former are as much to mine, as any I could defire. In like manner when he had juft (a) L. 2. in Jovih, c. iz. (b) De anit. Eccle.

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before

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before faid, Though he gives to all the Apostles a like or equal Power, parem poteftatem, and Jays, as my Father fent me, fo also fend I you, &CA notwithftanding that he adds, in the fame manner as in the foregoing Words, That he might manifest Unity, by his Authority be order'd the original of this Unity beginning from one; yet how you will make thefe words to confer upon St. Peter an univerfal Supremacy, is past my Conception. But this I am fure of, that you cannot fo much as attempt it, without attempting at the fame time to make St. Cyprian manifeftly contradict himself in one and the fame Breath; which I perfuade my felf will not be thought a juftifiable Undertaking.

And thus I think I have fufficiently vindicated Dr. Barrow as to any thing he might fear from these three Fathers, and have fhewn that they are fo far from answering his whole Difcourfe of 428 Pages, that they do not answer any one Page of it, and that it ftill highly deferves to be tranflated into other Languages, for the benefit of Foreigners, notwithstanding all your ufelefs Efforts against it. I may add alfo, that Mr. Tillotson's Charge, as you call him, ftands for ought I can fee, ftill as firm against you as ever.

For a Conclufion therefore of this Section, I only fay, That if St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Cyprian muft needs fight it out, as you would have them, it must not be with Dr. Barrow, for they are all of his fide, but with your felf who Subpoena'd them in through pure Miftake.

R. C.

MR.

SEC T. III.

R. L's Vindicator, and Dr. Barrow before him, are very pofitive that St. Pe

ter's Supremacy cannot be concluded from our Saviour's

threefold

threefold Command to that Apostle, to feed his Lambs and bis Sheep, St. Job. 21. 15, 16, 17. p. 17.

C. E. And indeed who would not be very pofitive in fo very plain a Cafe? Here is a Conclufion of the weightieft Confequence, drawn from fuch Premifes, as are no manner of Proof of it. But let us fee how you frame your Argument from them, sv

R. C. If Chrift did not defign to give St. Peter any more Power than to the other Apostles over his Flock, why did he fay to him, loveft thou me more than thefe? p. 18.

C. E. Now fuppofe I could not tell why our Saviour put this Queftion to St. Peter, would my Ignorance prove his Supremacy? I cannot think you will pretend this. But I must confefs I fee no Difficulty in giving a Reason, for the Queftion here put by our Bleffed Lord. St. Peter had profefs'd a peculiar Zeal and Affection for our Bleffed Saviour above the reft of the Apoftles, infomuch that though all Men fhould be offended because of him, yet be would never be offended, St. Mat. 26. 33. nay, though be fhould die with him, yet he would not deny him; v.35. Now whether it were only to put him in mind of his former Profeffion of a lingular Love to our Saviour, and fo make him the more diligent upon that account; or to humble him under a Senfe of his dreadful Fall, confequent hereupon as St. Ambrofe (a) feems to fuppofe, and thus to quicken his Care, and excite his Zeal by the Remembrance of his paft Mifcarriage; either of thefe is a much better ground of the Question put to St.Peter, than that of his univerfal Supremacy; and for this plain reafon that fuch a Profeffion

(a) Qui enim Dominum tertio negaverat, tertio confitetur, & quotiens culpam delinquendo contraxerat, totiens gratiam diligendo conquirit. S. Ambr. Serm. 48.

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was

was certainly made, and fuch a Failure happen'd upon it, but there is no certainty that fuch a Supremacy was ever granted, but very good Evidence against it. And indeed who would not be exceedingly furpriz'd to hear fo mighty, fupereminent a Privilege rais'd upon fo ftrangely flight a Foundation as this Queftion of our Lord; Loveft thou me more than thefe in which which is no Grant at all, much lefs a Grant of fuch exceffive Importance as this pretended Supremacy would be.

R. C. Again, if he did not give him the Paftoral Care of all his Sheep, bow came be to exprefs his Commiffion three times over in an unlimited Form? Ibid.

C. E. You have already been told, (a) that it was the neceffary Duty of all the Apostles during their time, and of their Succeffors in all following Generations, to feed our Saviour's Lambs and Sheep and if St. Peter was requir'd to do the fame, this implies no more Furifdiction in him, than in the other Apofles, on each of whom this Duty was no less incumbent than on him. And it is easier to ask the fame Question over again, than to fhew the Deficiency of the Anfwer to it. For which reafon you are pleas'd to take no notice of that. And if the Command here given were deliver'd three times over, you have been told likewife, (b) that if the Words themselves do not convey any fuch paramount Furifdictis on, the Repetition of them can never do it. Which is a great Truth; and you do not deny it, but only put the Queftion again, as if nothing had been faid to it. Nor indeed had fuch a Repetition been at all neceffary, for conveying any fort of Privilege; it being fufficient that fuch Privilege be once granted in plain Terms, which this you fee is not. But fuppofing the Words to be fpoken (a) Cafeftated, p. 24. (b) P. 22.

with a Defign to remind the Apoftle of his Fall, and excite him to a reater Care and Stability for the future, nothing could be more proper, than to prefs and inculcate the Obligation that lay upon him. And 'tis very ftrange therefore, that this fo plain a Reafon of the Queftion, the Command and the Repetition of it, must be rejected, purely to ake way for a Pretence of a different nature, that has no reafon at all in it. But when a Caufe is to be maintain'd, fomething muft be faid for it, whether to the purpose or not.

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R. C. Thefe Words, Feed my Sheep, and ftrengthen thy Brethren, feem to import the Exercife of the very fame Office, and without any Restrictions,

p. 19.

C. E. I fhould be very glad to learn by what fort of Construction, ftrengthen thy Brethren, can poffibly denote a Commiffion to rule over the whole Church of Chrift, it being a Command that might as well be given to any one in a lower Station, as to an Apofle. And yet if this does not import fuch a fuperlative Power and Preheminence, as it moft certainly does not, nor can; then by your own Confeffion neither do thofe other Words, Feed my Sheep: fince you make them equivalent Terms, and which, to use your own Expreflion, feem to import the Exercife of the very fame Office.

R. C. I am inclined to think, if any one of thefe Gentlemen, that will not grant this to be good Evidence, had a Legacy left to him in these Terms: Item, I leave my Sheep to Mr. he would be tempted to put in his Claim to the whole Flock.

C. E. 1 grant it. But I befeech you, good Sir, is it the fame thing to fay in a Will, I give my Sheep to Mr-and to fay to a Servant, Take care to feed my Sheep after I am dead, as well as in the mean time. If that Servant fhould thence put in a Claim