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all the King's of Judah, nor any that were before him. For be clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his Commandments, which the Lord commanded Mofes. And though the other is juftly condemned for worshipping the Golden Calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan, Ch. 10. 29. yet because of his having in this refpect, as well as in the deftruction of the Houfe of Abab, done well in executing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and according to all that was in his beart, therefore is he there promifed, as a Reward of fuch his Service, that his Children of the fourth generation Should fit on the Throne of Ifrael. Which is a fufficient Vindication of our Princes ufing the like Authority, when the Corruptions of your Com munion were fo many, and fo grofs, as to make it highly neceffary. But to return to our own Nation. Did not Queen Mary usher in your Religion amongst us after the fame manner that her Brother had caft it out? And did she not get it confirm'd by Act of Parliament, as he had done ours? And in the Reign of King James II. were not all Artifices ufed to get it brought back the fame way? And were you not refolv'd to risk his Majefty and his Intereft, to get it done, how dear foever himself might pay for it? As he found to his Coft. And have you not been irreconcileable to us ever fince, because you could not get your Religion eftablifh'd by Parlia ment? It is not the King, or Parliaments, medling with Religion you diflike, but only their not appearing in behalf of yours. So that here again, your Charge againft us rebounds home upon your felves.

SECT.

4

R. C.

H

SECT. II.

Owfoever that be, Mr. L. is highly to blame, that he never tells his Reader, where Chrift has placed the Spiritual Supremacy of his Church. Which in fo great a Doctor was no fmall Sin of Omission. (a)

C. E. Your Friend the Reftater did not think an Omiffion of this Nature to be fo unpardonable a Crime. When it was urged by Mr. L. (b) That the Scriptures are filent concerning the fuppofed univerfal Supremacy of S. Peter: Must nothing, fays he, be believ'd, but what is in Scripture? (c) Does the Scripture mention every place, where every Apoftle preached the Gospel, or of which they were. Bishops? So F. Maimbourg (d) argues after the fame manner, Hath be [S. Luke] mentior'd there any thing of S. Paul's Journey into Arabia, of his Return to Damafcus, and then three Years after to Jerufalem, of his Travels into Galatia, his being ravish'd up into Heaven, his eight Scourgings, and a thousand things elfe that be fuffer'd? With fuch trifling Fallacies are great Men fometimes tempted to take up, when engaged in a Caufe that is not otherwife to be maintained. But what fort of Parity is there in thefe Cafes? Are all Chriftians equally concern'd in every Journy S. Paul took, or to know every Place where He or any other of the Apoftles preached, or how long any of them ftay'd there, as in the only Supreme Governour of the Church, to whom every one is bound to fubmit upon pain of Damnation? Thefe Cafes are fo extremely different, that though a Chriftian may be fafely ignorant of the former, it is against common (b) Cafe Stated, p. 4. (c) Cafe, (d) Prerogatives of the Church of Rome

(a). P. 7• Reftated, p. 8.

and her Bishops, Ch, 2. p. 16.

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Senfe

Sense to think the other fhould have been paffed over in filence, had it been more than a meer Chimera. But to let this pafs; I will endeavour to make amends for Mr. E's Omiffion, by fhewing where Chrift has placed the Spiritual Supremacy of bis Church. And I think it is very plain from Scripture, that he has referv'd it to himself, otherwife it will be hard to make Senfe of what the Apoftle fays, Ephef. 1. 22, 23. efpecially as - read in your Vulgar Tranflation, Ipfum dedit capat fuper omnem Ecclefiam, quæ eft corpus ipfius, & plenitudo ejus, qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur (instead of implet). He gave him the Head over all the Church, which is his Body, and his Fulness, who filleth, or according to your Tranflation, "Who is fill'd" all in all. Now if Chrift be the Head of the Church, and the Church his Body, as the Apostle exprefly affirms, there is no difficulty in concluding where the Scripture places the Spiritual Supremacy. It must neceffarily be in Chrift the Head of that Body. The fame Truth is taught again with no lefs plainnefs, Col. 1. 18. He is the Head of the Body the Church. Or if you would enquire for the Power next under his, and who has the chief Command over the Church after him, you need not be told, that the College of the Apostles were all Commiffion'd, S. Matt. 28. 19. to go and make Difciples of all Nations, &c. and that they were all equally fent forth, had the Holy Spirit conferred upon them all alike, and had all the fame Power given them, of Abfolving and Retaining Sins. For fo we read, S. John 20. 21, 22, 22. As my Father fent me, even fo fend I you. And when be, our Lord Jefus Chrift, had faid this, be breathed on them, not on S. Peter alone, but indifcriminately on them all, and faith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whofefoever Sins je remit, they are remitted unto them, and whefefoever Sins ye retain,

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they are retained. To thefe therefore, and their Succeffors the Bishops, was committed the Authority over the Church, next under Chrift, the Supream Head of it. Their Commiffion was general, one and the fame to all of them, and fo muft their Authority likewife be. So that notwithstanding what our Saviour commanded S. Peter, about feeding his Lambs and his Sheep, or the Promise made, That upon this Rock will I build my Church, though we fuppofe it to be built upon himself, as the Vindicator has fhewn (a) before in what Senfe it may be faid to be fo, yet had St. Cyprian good reafon for his Affertion, that (b) That, or the fame thing, were the other Apo ftles, which Peter was, endued with the fame share of Honour and Power, but the beginning proceeds from one, that fo the Church may be fewn to be one. And as the Apostles had the Supremacy contended for in common amongst them, fo had their Succeffors the Colledge of Bishops, and each Bishop in his own Diocefe, till for the better Order's fake, and the better Government of the Church, it was judged proper, by a common Confent, to raise fome above their Brethren, with an Archiepifcopal, and Metropolitical, and others over them with a Patriarchal Title and Power.

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as to their Original Power, it defcended alike upon them all; and (c) the Pope at firft claimed no more Power over his Fellow Bifhops, than

(a) Cafe truly stated, p. 19.

(b) Hoc erant utiq; & cæteri Apoftoli quod fuit Petrus, pari confortio præditi & honoris & poteftatis, fed exordium ab unitate proficifcitur, ut Ecclefia una monftretur. De •Unitat Eccl. p. 107. Edit. Oxon.

(c) Dr Featly, in a little Volume, entituled, Pedum Paftorale, p. 40. Speaking of the Pope, teflifies, that by the Conceffion of one of their own Popes, [Pius II. Epift. 288. Ad quem ante Concilium Nicenum parvus habebatur refpectus] very little regard was bad to him before the Council of Nice..

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they did over him; that is none at all. As has been proved over and over, and you will never be able to difprove it.

R. C. I must confefs the Hiftory of the New Teftament is very barren, as to Facts relating to the Spiritual Jurifdiction of the Laity over Bishops.

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C. E. Not more than it is as to Facts relating to S. Peter's Superiority over the other Apoftles; as you cannot but know very well. Be pleafed therefore to remember this, and to add to it a Conceffion of your own,in the fame Page, that (a) Whatever Right is got by Cuftom, and the Laws of the Church, may also be recalled by it, and brought back to the first Institution; and our cafting off the Ufurpations of the See of Rome, will not appear fo criminal as thofe of your Party always endea vour to reprefent it. For you your felf in the fame place acknowledge, That if Bishops, as well as Kings, are tempted to carry their Claims higher, than either Fuftice or Confcience will allow, and if in this Cafe they demand our Concurrence, We ought to obep God, rather than Men, Acts 5. 29. Which being your own Doctrine, I hope the Truth and Efficacy of it will not be difputed, though alledged on our fide.

R. C. As to the Pope, Mr. L. treats him as civilly, as the Rabble does, when they follow him and the Pretender to the Bonfire, p. 6.

C. E. But fince you cannot, for otherwife I fuppofe you would, tell us, wherein this fort of ill Treatment confifts, you cannot expect that I fhould have any thing to fay to it.

R. C. If Mr. L. had intended to difpute feriously, he would not have measured the Pope's Authority, either by the Practice, or the Pretenfions of fome of his Predeceffors, but only by what the Catholick Church allows, to be his due, Jure Divino, p. 7.

(a) Page 7.

C. E. He

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