SERMON VIII.

THE USURPATION OF THE BISHOP OF ROME.

2 THESSALONIANS ii. 4.

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

WITHOUT comment, I shall make this text the theme of one branch of the general subject proposed for discussion, viz.

1. The primitive state of the Christian Church. 2. The manner in which ecclesiastical power and dominion were gradually assumed by the Christian priesthood.

3. The rise and extent of the usurpation of the Bishop of Rome.

4. The causes which produced the separation of protestants from the Romish Church; and the nature and extent of the Reformation.

5. The duty of protestants to act in consistency with their avowed principles, and to make progressive improvements in religious knowledge and attainments in Christian virtue, corresponding with the means of the age in which they live..

To the third proposition, our attention will at this time be directed, viz.

3. The rise and extent of the usurpation of the Bishop of Rome; and the corruptions and abuses of the Papal Hierarchy.

The supremacy, which the Bishop of Rome acquired, has not a parallel in the history of the world. Jesus Christ, the common Lord and Master of Christians, declared that his kingdom is not of this world; and he in the most express terms forbid his disciples to cherish the spirit of domination, or to exercise authority over the consciences of men in the concerns of religion. When James and John ambitiously requested the honour of sitting, one at the right hand, and the other at the left, of their Master, in his kingdom of glory, he called the twelve disciples before him, and said unto them-" Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you; but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever of you will be chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." Yet the ministers of the meek and humble Jesus, in violation of the command of their Lord, did aspire to supreme dominion, as well in civil as ecclesiastical concerns. The Bishop of Rome, claiming to be the successor of St. Peter, and the vicegerent of Christ, succeeded in the attempt to subjugate the understandings and the consciences of men to his authority, and to

place their property and their lives at his disposal. The proudest king was made to bow with servile submission to his rule, and the most powerful emperor to tremble at his mandate,

Every reflecting mind must be disposed to review measures which occasioned such perversion of the principles of the gospel, and to trace the steps that led the Christian bishop to this spiritual dominion.

It is well known, that the Pope of Rome, for ages, has founded his claim of supremacy on the plea that this dominion in the Church was given to the apostle Peter, who was, as they affirm, the first bishop of Rome; and that the Pope, as his successor, inherits all the prerogatives which St. Peter possessed. It may, not therefore, be amiss in the introduction, to examine this plea. The pretence that Peter was constituted head of the Christian Church, is founded on the declaration of our Saviour to him.— "Thou art Peter; and on this rock (the meaning of the Greek word ergos) I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." This declaration was made in consequence of Peter's profession of his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Our Saviour then changed his name from Simon to Peter, and pronounced the above-mentioned benediction. But the only distinction which this gave Peter above his fellow apostles, was the honour of be

ing the first to publish the Christian religion to the Gentile world-opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, as Paul expresses it. Peter's address to his countrymen, is the best comment of the promise of our Saviour to him." Brethren, ye know that God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel." That is, first hear it but in the propagation of the Christian faith, his fellow apostles were his coadjutors. In this cause, St. Paul laboured more abundantly, and declared that he was not a whit behind the chiefest of the apostles. This is the amount of giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter. It gave him no other privilege than that of first preaching the gospel to Gentiles: it invested him with no exclusive prerogative. "On this rock I will build my Church!" You shall have the honour to build up the Christian kingdom: but the other apostles were fellow labourers with him.Christian societies, says St. Paul, "are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." This is figurative language, borrowed from Jewish phraseology. The meaning is, that Peter was commissioned to publish the conditions of pardon and salvation to sinners; and that whatsoever he, under divine inspiration, should publish on earth, as bound or forbidden men, as a disqualification for the happiness of immortality; and whatsoever he on earth should publish, as loosened, or permitted, or enjoined men,

pertaining to life eternal, should be ratified and confirmed by the authority of God in heaven. But this was not the prerogative of Peter alone: the commission for this high purpose was given to all the apostles.

There is not the shadow of evidence that Peter. was constituted the bishop of Rome: that he was ever in the city of Rome, rests wholly on traditionary evidence; there is no passage in the New Testament that favours such a supposition. The earliest ecclesiastical historians mention Linus, whose name occurs in the salutation of Paul to Timothy, as the first bishop of Rome. The commission of an apostle extended to the whole Christian community. To station him as a parish minister, or place him at the head of the clergy of a province, or even kingdom, would be to degrade him from his apostolick office.

Peter was the oldest man among the twelve disciples of our Lord; and from several passages of the New Testament, it appears that he acted as the president of the standing council of Christians at Jerusalem. In the Gospels, and in the Acts, his name generally stands first, when an enumeration of individuals is made. Matthew, himself an apostle, stiles Peter the first: that is, first among equals. He acted as the presiding officer: as such he delivered their decisions, and to him in this capacity probably letters to the council were addressed; but it is evident that he possessed no exclusive authority; for this very council sent Peter and John into Samaria, as their missionaries to the new converts of that province. This appears more like