6 The Perfon of Cl.?rifl the only ~c~ his firfr cslling, John 1. 42. Now he gives the reafon ofhis fo doing, namely, becaufe of the illufrrwus Confeillon, that he . /Jnould make of the Rock of the Church. As the Name of God under the Old Tefiament, was called on perfons, and things, ~nd places, - l:ecaufe of fome efpecial Relation unto him. Wherefore the expreffion is varied on purpofe to de– clare, that whatever be the fignification of the Name Peter, yet the Perfon fo called was not the Rock intended. The words are mJ i; nhp®-·, i3 e.m '7r}.;J'TI1 '111 m'Te5f.. Had he in– tended the Perfon off!eter, he would have expre!fed it plain– ly, mJ i; '7rhp~, i3 e.m ad; ihou art aRock, and on thee will I_ builc!. At leafl: the gender had not been altered,but he would haVe faid, erm ri':d'TTJ ~ mTe!fJ, Which WOUld haVe given fome colour to this Imagination. q-hc exception which they lay hereunto, from the ufe ofCepha·s in the Syriack, which was the name ofPeter, and fignifies a Rock or a Stone, Iyes not only againfi the authentick Authority of the Greek Oiginal, but of their own TranDation of it, which reads the word-s, Tu es Petrus, &Juper hanc Petram. · 2. If the Church was built on the Perfon of Peter, then when he died ·the Church mufi utterly fail. . For no building ·can poillbly abide when its foundation is removed and ta– ken away. Wherefore they tell us they do not intend by the Perfon of Peter, that fingular individual Perfon alone to be this Rock; but he and his Succ~/fors the .Bijhops of Rome arefo. But this fiory of his Succ~/fors at Rome is a fl1ameful Fable. If the Pope 'of Rome be a true Believer, he fucceeds in com– mon with all other Believers into the Priviledges which be– long unto this Confeffion. If he be not, he ha~h neither lot · nor portion in this matter. But the pretence is utterly vain on another account alfo. The Apofrle i11ewing the Infuffici– ency of the Aaronical Prieflkoocl wherein there was a fuccef. fion of God's own appointment, affirms that it could not bring
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