It is out of some Regard to an antient Tradition, that I have placed St. Peter at the Head of the Bishops of Rome, though I am well apprised, that this, like most other Traditions, will hardly stand the Test of a strict and impartial Examination. |That St. Peter was
ever at Rome,
known only by
Tradition.| To avoid being imposed upon, we ought to treat Tradition as we do a notorious and known Lyer, to whom we give no Credit, unless what he says is confirmed to us by some Person of undoubted Veracity. If it is affirmed by him alone, we can at most but suspend our Belief, not rejecting it as false, because a Lyer may sometimes speak Truth; but we cannot, upon his bare Authority, admit it as true. Now that St. Peter was at Rome, that he was Bishop of Rome, we are told by Tradition alone, which, at the same time, tells us of so many strange Circumstances attending his coming to that Metropolis, his staying in it, his withdrawing from it, &c. that, in the Opinion of every unprejudiced Man, the Whole must favour strongly of Romance. |Tradition not to be
depended upon.| Thus we are told, that St. Peter went to Rome chiefly to oppose Simon, the celebrated Magician; that, at their first Interview, at which Nero himself was present, he flew up into the Air, in the Sight of the Emperor, and the whole City; but that the Devil, who had thus raised him, struck with Dread and Terror at the Name of Jesus, whom the Apostle invoked, let him fall to the Ground, by which Fall he broke his Legs. Should you question the Truth of this Tradition at Rome, they would shew you the Prints of St. Peter’s Knees in the Stone, on which he kneeled on this Occasion, and another Stone still dyed with the Blood of the Magician[[N1]].
[N1]. This Account seems to have been borrowed from Suetonius, who speaks of a Person that, in the public Sports, undertook to fly in the Presence of the Emperor Nero; but, on his first Attempt, fell to the Ground; by which Fall his Blood sprung out with such Violence, that it reached the Emperor’s Canopy [[1]].
[1]. Suet. l. 6. c. 12.
Fabulous Accounts
of St. Peter.
The Romans, as we are told, highly incensed against him for thus maiming, and bringing to Disgrace, one to whom they paid divine Honours, vowed his Destruction; whereupon the Apostle thought it adviseable to retire for a while from the City, and had already reached the Gate, when, to his great Surprize, he met our Saviour coming in, as he went out, who, upon St. Peter’s asking him where he was going, returned this Answer, I am going to Rome to be crucified anew: which, as St. Peter understood it, was upbraiding him with his Flight; whereupon he turned back, and was soon after seized by the provoked Romans, and, by an Order from the Emperor, crucified. These, and a thousand like Stories, however fabulous and romantic they may seem, we cannot, without great Incoherency, reject, if we admit St. Peter to have been at Rome; since the Whole is equally vouched by the same Authority, and has been upon the same Authority equally believed by those, who are called in by the Advocates for the See of Rome, to witness St. Peter’s having preached the Gospel in that City. |The greatest Men
imposed upon by
false Traditions.| These are Arnobius[[10]], Cyril of Jerusalem[[11]], Eusebius[[12]], Irenæus[[13]], Tertullian[[14]], Jerom[[15]], and Justin the Martyr[[16]]. These have all supposed St. Peter to have been at Rome, and, together with St. Paul, to have planted Christianity in that great Metropolis of the World; but this they took upon Tradition, and consequently their Authority is of no greater Weight than Tradition itself, which had they duly examined, they would not perhaps have so readily pinned their Faith upon it. False and lying Traditions are of an early Date, and the greatest Men have, out of a pious Credulity, suffered themselves to be imposed upon by them. How many Traditions, after having reigned for Ages without Controul, were upon the Reformation, when Men took the Liberty to examine what they believed, rejected by the Church, ashamed to own them, and degraded into popular Errors! But that of St. Peter’s having been at Rome, and the first Bishop of that City, was a Tradition of too great Consequence not to be maintained at all Events, since upon that chiefly was founded the Claim of his pretended Successors to an uncontrouled Authority, and universal Jurisdiction; a Foundation infinitely too weak for such an immense Superstructure.
How little regard
paid to them by
some Popes.
And here I cannot help observing the little Regard that the Popes themselves have shewn to Tradition, though received by the greatest Lights of the Church, when it did not promote the Honour or Interest of their See. Of this we have a glaring Instance in a parallel Case; for as St. Peter, according to Tradition, travelled to Rome, so did St. Paul, according to Tradition, travel into Spain: the former Tradition was received by the Writers I have quoted above, and the latter by some of the same Writers, viz. by Cyril of Jerusalem[[17]], and Jerom[[18]], and by Athanasius[[19]], Chrysostom[[20]], Theodoret[[21]], Gregory the Great[[22]], and many others; yet such a Tradition was rejected, perhaps justly, by Pope Innocent I. who would not allow St. Paul to have ever been in Spain[[23]]. Have we not an equal Right to question, or even to deny, St. Peter’s having ever been at Rome? Are not the Authorities at least equal on both Sides? Why then must the Travels of one Apostle be looked upon as an Article of Faith, and those of the other be deemed fabulous?
No Mention in the
Scripture of St.
Peter’s having ever
been at Rome.