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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Church of England cleared from the
+charge of Schism, by Thomas William Allies
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Church of England cleared from the charge of Schism
+       Upon Testimonies of Councils and Fathers of the first six centuries
+
+Author: Thomas William Allies
+
+Release Date: September 19, 2010 [EBook #33765]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH OF ENGLAND CLEARED OF SCHISM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Giacomelli, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+CHURCH OF ENGLAND
+
+CLEARED FROM
+
+THE CHARGE OF SCHISM,
+
+UPON
+
+TESTIMONIES OF COUNCILS
+
+AND
+
+FATHERS OF THE FIRST SIX CENTURIES.
+
+BY
+
+THOMAS WILLIAM ALLIES, M. A.
+
+RECTOR OF LAUNTON, OXON.
+
+LONDON:
+
+JAMES BURNS, 17, PORTMAN STREET,
+
+PORTMAN SQUARE.
+
+1846.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LONDON:
+R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The writer of the following pages is more and more convinced that the whole
+question between the Roman Church and ourselves, as well as the Eastern
+Church, turns upon the Papal Supremacy, as at present claimed, being of
+divine right or not. _If it be_, then have we nothing else to do, on peril
+of salvation, but submit ourselves to the authority of Rome: and better it
+were to do so before we meet the attack, which is close at hand, of an
+enemy who bears equal hatred to ourselves and to Rome; the predicted
+Lawless One, the Logos, reason, or private judgment of apostate humanity
+rising up against the Divine Logos, incarnate in His Church. _If it be
+not_, then may we take courage; for the position of the Church of England
+being tenable, all the evils within her pale, which we are now so deeply
+feeling, will, by God's blessing, be gradually overcome. As to practical
+abuses in her, who will venture to say they are so great as in the Roman
+Church of the tenth century, when the First See was filled successively by
+the lovers of abandoned women, who made and deposed Popes at their will?
+Our cause being good, all that we have to deplore of actual evil should
+lead to more earnest intercession, more continued striving after that love
+which breathes itself forth in unity, but should not shake the confidence
+of any obedient heart in our mother's title. When the Donatists made the
+crimes of individuals an excuse for breaking unity, St. Augustin reminded
+them, that the crimes of the chaff do not prejudice the wheat, but that
+both must grow together till the Lord of the harvest send forth his angels
+to make the separation.
+
+The writer will not conceal that he took up this inquiry for the purpose of
+satisfying his own mind. Had he found the Councils and Fathers of the first
+six centuries bearing witness _to_ the Roman supremacy, as at present
+claimed, instead of _against_ it, he should have felt bound to obey them.
+As a Priest of the Church Catholic in England, he desires to hold, and to
+the best of his ability will teach, all doctrine which the undivided Church
+always held. He finds by reference to those authorities which could not be
+deceived, and cannot be adulterated, that while they unanimously held the
+Roman primacy, and the patriarchal system, of which the Roman pontiff stood
+at the head, they as unanimously did not hold, nor even contemplate, that
+supremacy or monarchy which alone Rome will now accept as the price of her
+communion. They not only do not recognise it, but their words and their
+actions most manifestly contradict it. This is, in one word, his
+justification of his mother from the sin of Schism. If true, it is
+sufficient: if untrue, he knows of no other.
+
+But should any opponent think these pages worthy of a reply, the writer
+warns him, at the outset, that he must in fairness discard that old
+disingenuous trick of using testimonies of the Fathers to the primacy of
+the Roman See in the episcopal and patriarchal system, in order to prove
+the full papal supremacy, as now claimed, in a system which is nearly come
+to pure monarchy. By this method, because the Fathers recognise the Bishop
+of Rome as successor of St. Peter, they are counted witnesses to that
+absolute power now claimed by the Roman pontiff, though they recognise
+other Bishops, in just the same sense, to be successors of the holy
+Apostles; or though they call every Bishop's see the see of Peter, as the
+great type and example of the episcopate. What such an one has to establish
+in order to justify the Roman Church, and to prove that the English and the
+Eastern are in Schism, is, that Roman doctrine, as stated by Bellarmine,
+which is really the key-stone of the whole system, that "Bishops succeed
+not properly to the Apostles," "for they have no part of the true apostolic
+authority," but that "all ordinary jurisdiction of Bishops descends
+immediately from the Pope," and that "the Pope has, full and entire, that
+power which Christ left on the earth for the good of the Church."[1] Let
+this be proved on the testimony of the first six centuries, and if it be
+true, nothing can be more easy than to prove it, as the contradictory of it
+is attempted to be proved in the following pages, and all controversy will
+be at an end. We claim that it should be proved, for even De Maistre, who
+has put forward this theory with the least compromise, declares, "There is
+nothing new in the Church, and never will she believe save what she has
+always believed."[2]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CLEARED FROM
+THE CHARGE OF SCHISM.
+
+The course of events, for some time past, has been such as to force upon
+the most faithful sons of the Church of England the consideration of
+questions which they would rather have left alone, as long ago settled; for
+the nature of these questions is such, not to speak of their intricacy and
+painfulness, as almost to compel the student to place himself, as it were,
+_ab extra_ to that community, which he would rather regard with the
+unreasoning and unhesitating instinct of filial affection. One of these
+questions, perhaps the first which directly meets and encounters him, is
+the charge of Schism brought against the Church of England on account of
+the events of the sixteenth century, and her actual state of separation
+from the Latin communion, which has been their result. Time was, and that
+not long since, when it might have been thought a sort of treason for one
+who ministers at the altars of the Church of England, and receives by her
+instrumentality the gift of Life, so much as to entertain the thought,
+whether there was a flaw in the commission of his spiritual mother, a flaw
+which, reducing her to the condition of a sect, would invalidate his own
+sonship. And certainly the treatment of such a question must be most
+painful to any one, who desires to be obedient and dutiful, and therefore
+to be at peace. How can it be otherwise, when, instead of eating his daily
+portion of food in his Father's house, he is called upon to search and
+inquire whether indeed he have found that house at all, and be not rather a
+fugitive or an outcast from it. Such, however, is the hard necessity which
+is come upon us. Let no one imagine that it is our _choice_ to speak on
+such subjects. We are in the case of a beleaguered soldier in an enemy's
+country; he may not think of peace; he must maintain his post or die; his
+part is not aggression, but defence: the matter at issue is the
+preservation of all that he holds dear, or extermination. The question of
+_schism_ is a question of salvation.
+
+But over and above the general course of events which forces us to
+reconsider this question, circumstances have taken place in the past year
+which we may boldly pronounce to be without a parallel in the history of
+the Church in England since she became divided from Catholic communion.
+Those who have followed with anxious sympathy that great restorative
+movement which, for twelve years, has agitated her bosom,--those who have
+felt with an ever increasing conviction, as time went on, and the different
+parties consolidated and unfolded themselves, that it was at the bottom a
+contest for the ancient faith delivered to the saints, for dogmatic truth,
+for a visible Church, in whom, as in a great sacrament, was lodged the
+presence of the Lord, communicating Himself by a thousand acts of spiritual
+efficacy, against the monstrous and shapeless latitudinarianism of the day;
+against the unnumbered and even unsuspected heresies which have infected
+the whole atmosphere that we breathe; against, in fine, the individual will
+of fallen man, under cover of which the coming Antichrist is marshalling
+interests the most opposite, and passions the most contradictory; and
+further, those not few nor inconsiderable, we believe, who, by God's grace,
+owe to the teaching of _one man_ in particular a debt they never can
+repay,--the recovery, perchance, of themselves from some form of error
+which he has taught them to discern, or the building them up in a faith
+whose fair proportions he first discovered to them,--these will feel with
+deeper sorrow than we can express the urgency of the occasion to which we
+allude. For how, indeed, could the question, whether the Church of England
+is fallen into schism, or be, as from the laver of their regeneration they
+have been taught to believe, a member of that one sacred Body in which
+Christ incarnate dwells,--how could this question be so forced upon their
+minds, as by the fact that her Champion, whom they had hitherto felt to be
+invincible, who had seemed her heaven-sent defender, with the talisman of
+victory in his hands, of whom they were even tempted to think
+
+                  Si Pergama dextra
+  Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent,
+
+that he, who fighting her battles, never met with his equal, unsubdued by
+any foe from without, has surrendered to his own doubts and fears;
+self-conquered, has laid down her arms, and has gone over to the camp
+opposed. Henceforth she has ranged against her those powers of genius and
+that sanctity of life, to which so many of her children looked as to a
+certain omen of her Catholicity. They felt that she who bore such children,
+must needs be the spouse of God. It is no wonder that many others, of no
+mean name among us, and whom we could ill afford to spare, have had their
+doubts and disquietudes determined by such a fact as this. For the first
+time, I repeat, in the history of the Church of England have earnest and
+zealous children of hers, who desired nothing but their own salvation and
+the salvation of others, found no rest for the sole of their feet within
+her communion. Men who set out with the most single-minded purpose of
+defending her cause, nay, of winning back to her bosom alienated
+multitudes, of building her up in a beauty and a glory which she has not
+yet seen, and one, especially, who has been the soul of that great movement
+to restore her,--these have now, after years of hard fighting spent in her
+service, quitted her, and proclaim that all who value their salvation must
+quit her likewise.
+
+These are some of the special circumstances which force upon the most
+reluctant the question of Schism. It was the privilege of other days to
+feed in the quiet pastures of truth. We have to seek the path to Heaven
+through the wilderness of controversy, where too often "the highways are
+unoccupied, and the travellers walk through byways." But it is a question
+which cannot be put off or thrust aside. No instructed Christian, who has
+any true faith or love, can bear the thought that he is out of the one fold
+of Christ. The question cannot be put off, for it will brood upon him in
+his daily devotions and labours; a doubt as to the justice of his cause
+will paralyse all his exertions. It cannot be thrust aside; for the
+imputation of heresy on another has no tendency to answer the charge of
+schism against oneself. It must be met openly, honestly, and without
+shrinking. The charge of Schism touches immediately the Christian's
+conscience, for this reason, that, if true, it takes away from his prayers,
+his motives, his actions, his sufferings, that one quality which is
+acceptable to Almighty God. Here it is most true, that "all, which is not
+of faith, is sin:" he who does not believe, at least, that he is a member
+of the one Church, whatever outward acts he may perform, cannot please his
+Judge. In the words of one who himself gave his goods to feed the poor, and
+shed his blood for the testimony of Jesus,[3] "if such men were even killed
+for confession of the Christian name, not even by their blood is this stain
+washed out. Inexpiable and heavy is the sin of discord, and is purged by no
+suffering. He cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church; he can never
+attain to the kingdom, who leaves her with whom the kingdom shall be." "A
+man of such sort may indeed be killed, crowned he cannot be." Therefore the
+charge of Schism, when once brought before the reflecting mind, cannot be
+turned aside,--it must be met and answered: if it is not answered, at least
+to the conviction of the individual, it leaves upon the whole of his
+obedience the stain of insincerity, which is fatal. In this respect it is
+more pressing and imperious, more fatal, even than that of heresy. I
+observe this, because, in the comments I have seen on the painful
+departures of friends from among us, and in exhortations not to follow
+them, it has not seemed to be always recognised. When men leave us on the
+ground that we are in schism, surely all censure of them, and all defence
+of ourselves, is beside the mark, which does not meet and rebut this
+particular accusation. Under this no man can rest: it is useless, it is
+sinful, to ask him to rest, unless you can remove the imputation. To talk
+of "disappointment, or a morbid desire of distinction, or impatience under
+deficiencies, want of discipline, or sympathy in spiritual superiors," and
+such-like causes, as being those which have impelled a man to the most
+painful sacrifices, and "in the middle of his days to begin life again," is
+surely both untrue as regards the individual, and futile as to preventing
+others doing like him, when the ground of schism among others is alleged by
+himself, and is felt to lie at the bottom. Could we prove that the Church
+of England is clear both of enunciating heresy in her formularies, and of
+allowing it within her pale, it would in no respect answer this charge of
+schism against her, except so far as the _a priori_ presumption, that she
+who is clear of the one would be clear of the other also. But it would
+remain to be met and answered specifically.
+
+Moreover, I must confess that this is a point on which I, for one, cannot
+write in the spirit of a controversialist. I must state, to the best of my
+poor ability, and to the utmost reach of my limited discernment, not only
+the truth, but the whole truth. I cannot keep back points which tell
+against us. Gibbon charges Thomassin with telling one half the truth, and
+Bingham the other half, in their books upon the ancient discipline of the
+Church. Whether this be true or not, I cannot, in my small degree, do
+likewise. I have found Bishop Beveridge, in his defence of the 37th
+Article, quote, in several instances, part of a paragraph from ancient
+Fathers, because it told for him, and omit the other part, because it told
+against him. And, in considering the celibacy of the clergy, it is usual to
+find Protestant writers enlarging on the fact, that St. Peter was married;
+and that the Greek Church has always allowed its parish priests to be
+married; while they keep out of view that St. Peter's marriage preceded his
+call, and that the Eastern Church never allowed those who were already in
+holy orders, to marry, but only to keep those wives which they had taken as
+laymen. Or again, in deference to the circumstances of the English Church,
+writers conceal the fact, that the whole Church of the East and West, on
+the authority, as to the first point, of the express Word of God itself,
+has never allowed a person who married twice, or who married a widow, to be
+in holy orders at all. I have observed Bingham, when he treats of celibacy,
+alluding triumphantly to the biography of St. Cyprian, by Pontius, to prove
+that an ancient saint, martyr, and bishop, of the third century, was a
+married man; but taking care to leave out the express notice of Pontius,
+that, from his conversion, he lived in continence. Those who wish to see on
+the Roman side another sort of unfairness alluded to in the Advertisement
+may look to the 6th Chapter of the 1st Book of De Maistre, on the Pope,
+where they will find a host of quotations to prove the Supremacy, which
+only prove at the outside the Primacy; and by far the greater number of
+them might be paralleled by like expressions which are addressed to other
+bishops, but of which fact no mention is made. They are assumed in a sort
+of triumphant strain to prove the point in question, while, to the student
+of antiquity, their weakness, or, sometimes, their irrelevancy, only proves
+the reverse. This sort of disingenuousness is so common on both sides, that
+it may be said to be the besetting sin of controversialists. If, however,
+there be any question in which perfect candour is requisite, it is surely
+this of schism. Would it not be a most miserable success to be able to
+deceive oneself, or others, as to whether one is or is not within the
+covenant of salvation? The special pleader in such a case is surely the
+most unhappy of all men; for he deprives himself of the greatest of
+blessings. He seems to win his cause, while he most thoroughly loses it;
+for if a man be indeed out of the ark of Christ's Church, what benefit can
+one possibly render him equal to that of bringing him within it? I write,
+then, with the strongest sense of responsibility on this subject, and shall
+not be deterred from making admissions, if truth require them, which seem
+to tell on the other side, and which have accordingly been shrunk from, or
+slurred over, by our defenders in former times.
+
+And this leads to another consideration. The charge of Schism against the
+Church of England is, that by rejecting the Papal authority in the
+sixteenth century, she lost the blessing of Catholic communion, and ceased
+to belong to that One Body to which salvation is promised. Now, in such a
+matter, the Church of England must be judged by principles which have been,
+from the first, and are still, recognised by all Christendom. Whatever
+obedience we may owe, in virtue of our personal subscription, to articles
+or other formularies, drawn up in the sixteenth century, it is obvious they
+can decide nothing here. What I mean will be best shown by an example.
+Suppose a person were to take the 6th Article, and set upon it a meaning,
+not at all uncommon in these days, viz. that the Church of England therein
+declares, that Holy Scripture is the sole standard of faith; and that every
+man must decide for himself, what is, or is not, contained in Holy
+Scripture; and that he, searching Holy Scripture for the purpose, can find
+nothing whatever said about the Papal authority;--it is obvious, that such
+a mode of arguing would be utterly inadequate either to terminate
+controversy, or, one would think, to quiet any troubled conscience: for
+whether or no this be the meaning of the 6th Article, the whole Greek and
+Latin Church would reject with horror such propositions as the first two
+put together, as being subversive of the very existence of a Church, and of
+all dogmatic authority. It is a valid argument enough to an individual to
+say, You have signed such and such documents, and are bound by them: but if
+he is in doubt whether the documents themselves be tenable, they cannot be
+taken to prove themselves. The decision of a province of the Church in the
+sixteenth century cannot be quoted to prove that that decision is right,
+for it is the very thing called in question. It is the Reformation itself
+which is put on trial; it cannot appeal to itself as a witness; it must be
+content to bring its cause before a judge, whose authority all will
+admit,--and that judge, need we say, must be antiquity, and the consent of
+the undivided Church. And the Church of England, it must be admitted, has
+not shrunk from this appeal. Her often-quoted canon enjoins her ministers,
+in that part of their duty wherein most is left to their private judgment,
+"to teach nothing which they wish to be held and believed religiously by
+the people, save what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old or New
+Testament, and what the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops, have
+collected out of that very doctrine." Thus she spoke in the year 1571. The
+Church had then passed through fifteen centuries of a chequered, but
+superhuman, and most marvellous existence. Her continuous life implies a
+continuity of principles, ruling her from the beginning; and any
+controversy which affects her well-being, as does that concerning the
+integrity or loss of a great member, must be judged according to those
+principles. The present position of the Church of England may be merely a
+provisional one, I firmly believe that such is the fact; but if she is to
+claim the allegiance of her children as a part of the Catholic Church, it
+must be proved that such her position is tenable upon the principles which
+directed that Church when undivided. In short, I propose honestly, though
+briefly, to meet this imputation of schism by an appeal to the authority of
+the first six centuries: an authority, which no Roman Catholic can slight
+or refuse.
+
+Let us go back to the first period at which the universal Church, emerging
+from the fires of persecution, is found acting as one body. United, indeed,
+it had ever been from the day of Pentecost, in charity, in doctrine, in
+sacraments, in communion. The Christian people, scattered throughout the
+wide precincts of the Roman empire, and speaking its various tongues, was
+one in heart and spirit--"A peculiar people," like none other: the Bread
+which they ate, and the Cup which they drank, made them One living Body.
+But so long as the Church was engaged in a fierce and unrelenting conflict
+with the Paganism and despotism of the empire, she could hardly exhibit to
+the world her complete outward organization. So, although in the intervals
+of persecution, important provincial councils had been held, and though it
+was felt to be necessary for discipline that local synods should take place
+twice every year, yet not until the year 325, at the Council of Nicea, does
+the whole Church meet in representation; the immediate cause of that
+assemblage being a heresy so malignant as to threaten her existence, and
+which could be repressed by no less energetic means. That is a strongly
+marked and important point in her existence, throwing light upon the
+centuries preceding, and establishing irremovable landmarks for those
+ensuing, at which we have full means for judging what her constitution and
+government were. As the decrees of the 318 Fathers established for ever the
+true doctrine concerning the Eternal Son, so do they offer an imperishable
+and unambiguous witness concerning the discipline and hierarchy of the
+Church. What was schism then, is schism now; what was lawful and compatible
+with Christian Sonship and privileges then, is so now. What then is the
+view they present us with? We find the Bishops throughout the whole world
+recognised, without so much as a doubt, to be the successors of the
+Apostles, invested with the plenitude of that royal Priesthood which the
+Son of God had set up on the earth in His own Person, and from that Person
+had communicated to His chosen disciples, and so possessed of whatever
+authority was necessary to govern the Church. Thus spoke a fresh and
+unbroken tradition, so universal and so unquestionable that no other voice
+was heard beside. Thus the Episcopal power may be safely recognised as of
+divine appointment: in truth it is scarcely possible to have stronger
+evidence than we have of this. One of the most learned of those who are
+opposed to us on the charge of schism, thus sums up the decisions "of all
+the Fathers and all the Councils of the first ages." "The Bishop represents
+Christ, and stands in his place on earth. As therefore the Priesthood of
+Christ embraces all sacerdotal authority and complete power to feed the
+flock, so that while we may indeed distinguish and define the various
+powers included in that fullness and perfection, yet it is a great crime to
+dissever and rend them in any way from each other, just as we distinguish
+without dividing the attributes and perfections of the Godhead itself; so
+the Episcopate in its own nature contains the fullness of the Priesthood,
+and the perfection of the Pastoral office. For Christ received the
+perfection of the Priesthood from His Father, when He was sent by Him.
+Moreover the perfection of the Priesthood, or both the Episcopal powers,
+(_i.e._ the Sacerdotal and the Pastoral,) He gave at once to His Apostles
+when he sent them as He himself was sent by the Father. Lastly, that same
+perfection they transmitted to Bishops, sending them as they themselves
+were sent by Christ." "Whence Bishops are Fathers by the most noble
+participation of divine Fathership which is on earth; so that here that
+expression of Paul is true--'From whom every Fathership in heaven and earth
+is named.' For no greater Fathership is there on the earth than the
+Apostolical and the Episcopal." _Thomassin_, Part I. Liv. i. ch. 2.
+
+And, viewed in itself, this power was sovereign and independent in every
+individual Bishop, who was the spouse of the Church, the successor of the
+Apostles, and of Peter, the centre of unity; able, moreover, to communicate
+this authority to others, and to become the source of a long line of
+spiritual descendants. But was this power in practice exercised in so
+unmodified a form? Would there not have been not only imminent danger, but
+almost certainty, that a power unlimited in its nature, committed to so
+large a body of men, who might become indefinitely more numerous, yet were
+each independent centres of authority, instead of tending to unity would
+produce diversity? Accordingly we find, together with the apostolical
+authority, admitted to be lodged in the Episcopal body in general, a
+preponderating influence exercised by certain sees, viz. by Rome in the
+West, and by Alexandria and Antioch in the East. Under these leading
+Bishops are a great number of metropolitans; and others, again, like the
+Bishops of Cyprus, have their own metropolitan, but are not subordinate to
+either of the three great sees. Next to these, rank the Bishops of Ephesus,
+Cesarea, and Heraclea, who preside respectively over the provinces of Asia,
+Cappadocia, and Thrace, and were afterwards called Exarchs. And the source
+of this preponderating influence is to be traced to the fact that the
+Apostles laid hold of the principal cities, and founded Churches in them,
+which became centres of light to their several provinces, and naturally
+exercised a parental authority over their children. The three great
+Bishops, though not yet called Patriarchs, or even Archbishops, seem to
+have exercised all the power of Patriarchs. No general Council would be
+binding without their presence in person, or by deputy, or their subsequent
+ratification. Moreover, among these, the Bishop of Rome, as successor of
+St. Peter, has a decided preeminence. What the extent of that preeminence
+was, had not yet been defined; but it is very apparent, and acknowledged in
+the East as well as in the West. It does not seem, indeed, that his
+authority differed in _kind_, but only in _degree_, from that of his
+brethren, especially those of Alexandria and Antioch. The Apostolical
+Canons, more ancient than the Council of Nice, and representing the whole
+East, say:--"The Bishops of every nation must acknowledge him who is first
+among them, and account him as their head, and do nothing of consequence
+without his consent; but each may do those things only which concern his
+own parish, (_i.e._ diocese,) and the country places which belong to it.
+But neither let him (who is the first) do anything without the consent of
+all, for so there will be unanimity, and God will be glorified through the
+Lord Jesus Christ." Canon 34. The Council of Nicea mentions the sees of
+Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome in precisely similar terms:--"Let the ancient
+customs be maintained, which are in Egypt and Libya, and Pentapolis;
+according to which the Bishop of Alexandria has authority over all those
+places. For this is also customary to the Bishop of Rome. In like manner in
+Antioch, and in the other provinces, the privileges are to be preserved to
+the Churches." Canon 6. That is, as it would seem, let the Bishop of
+Alexandria have the power to consecrate Bishops in the three provinces of
+his Patriarchate, for the Bishop of Rome does the same in his, _i.e._ in
+the suburbicarian provinces, or in Italy, south of the province of Milan,
+and in Sicily. This precedence or prerogative of Rome, to whatever extent
+it reached, was certainly, notwithstanding the famous 28th Canon of
+Chalcedon, not either claimed or granted merely because Rome was the
+imperial city. It was explicitly claimed by the Bishop of Rome himself, and
+as freely conceded by others to him, as in a special sense successor of St.
+Peter. From the earliest times that the Church comes before us as an
+organized body, the germ at least of this preeminence is observable. From
+the very first, the Roman Pontiff seems possessed himself, as from a living
+tradition which had thoroughly penetrated the local Roman Church, with a
+consciousness of some peculiar influence he was to exercise on the whole
+Church. This consciousness does not show itself here and there in the line
+of Roman Pontiffs, but one and all, whatever their individual characters
+might be, seem to have imbibed it from the atmosphere which they breathed.
+St. Victor, and St. Stephen, St. Innocent, St. Leo the Great, and St.
+Gregory, are quite of one mind here. That they were the successors of St.
+Peter, who himself sat and ruled and spoke in their person, was as strongly
+felt, and as consistently declared, by those Pontiffs who preceded the time
+of Constantine, and who had continually to pay with their blood the price
+of that high preeminence, as by those who followed the conversion of the
+empire, when the honour of their post was not accompanied by so much
+danger. We are speaking now, be it remembered, of the feeling _which
+possessed them_. The feeling of their brother Bishops concerning them may
+have been less definite, as was natural: but, at least, even those who most
+opposed any arbitrary stretch of authority on their part, as St. Cyprian,
+fully admitted that they sat in the See of Peter, and ordinarily treated
+them with the greatest deference. This is written so very legibly upon the
+records of antiquity, that I am persuaded any one, who is even very
+slightly acquainted with them, cannot with sincerity dispute it. I cannot
+think Mr. Newman has the least overstated the fact when he says, "Faint
+they (the ante-Nicene Testimonies to the authority of the Holy See) may be
+one by one, but at least they are various, and are drawn from many times
+and countries, and thereby serve to illustrate each other, and form a body
+of proof. Thus, St. Clement, in the name of the Church of Rome, writes a
+letter to the Corinthians, when they were without a Bishop. St. Ignatius,
+of Antioch, addresses the Roman Church, and it only out of the Churches to
+which he writes, as 'the Church which has the first seat in the place of
+the country of the Romans.' St. Polycarp, of Smyrna, betakes himself to the
+Bishop of Rome on the question of Easter;" (but the Pope, St. Anicetus, and
+he, not being able to agree as to the rule of keeping Easter, agreed to
+retain their several customs; a fact which is as much opposed to the
+present notion of the Roman Supremacy, as any fact can well be.) "The
+heretic, Marcion, excommunicated in Pontus, betakes himself to Rome. Soter,
+Bishop of Rome, sends alms, according to the custom of his Church, to the
+Churches throughout the empire, and, in the words of Eusebius,
+'affectionately exhorted those who came to Rome, as a father his children.'
+The Montanists, from Phrygia, come to Rome to gain the countenance of its
+Bishop. Praxeas, from Africa, attempts the like, and for a while is
+successful. St. Victor, Bishop of Rome, threatens to excommunicate the
+Asian Churches. St. Irenaeus speaks of Rome, as 'the greatest Church, the
+most ancient, the most conspicuous, and founded and established by Peter
+and Paul,' appeals to its tradition, not in contrast, indeed, but in
+preference to that of other Churches, and declares that 'in this Church
+every Church--that is, the faithful from every side, must meet,' or 'agree
+together, _propter potiorem principalitatem_.' 'O Church, happy in its
+position,' says Tertullian, 'into which the Apostles poured out, together
+with their blood, their whole doctrine.' The Presbyters of St. Dionysius,
+Bishop of Alexandria, complain of his doctrine to St. Dionysius, of Rome;
+the latter expostulates with him, and he explains. The Emperor Aurelian
+leaves 'to the Bishops of Italy and of Rome' the decision, whether or not
+Paul, of Samosata, shall be dispossessed of the see-house at Antioch. St.
+Cyprian speaks of Rome as 'the See of Peter, and the principal Church,
+whence the unity of the Priesthood took its rise, ... whose faith has been
+commended by the Apostles, to whom faithlessness can have no access.' St.
+Stephen refuses to receive St. Cyprian's deputation, and separates himself
+from various Churches of the East. Fortunatus and Felix, deposed by St.
+Cyprian, have recourse to Rome. Basilides, deposed in Spain, betakes
+himself to Rome, and gains the ear of St. Stephen."[4]
+
+It must be observed that the _extent_ of this authority, in the Chief See,
+has not been defined; but, whatever it was, it did not interfere with the
+divine right of the Bishops to govern each in his own diocese. They derived
+their authority by transmission from the Apostles, as the Bishop of Rome
+from St. Peter; the one was as much recognised as the other. They were not
+his _delegates_, but his _brethren_. Frater and Co-episcopus _they style
+him_, as he styles them, for hundreds of years after the Council of Nicea;
+owing him, indeed, and willingly rendering him the greatest deference, but
+never so much as imagining that their authority was derived from him. This
+fact, too, lies upon the face of all antiquity, and is almost too notorious
+to need proof. If, however, any be wanted, it is found in the names which
+Bishops bore both then, and for a long time afterwards, and in their mode
+of election and their jurisdiction. For their names: "It must first be
+confessed," says a very learned Roman Catholic, who, in his humility,
+shrunk from the Cardinalate offered to him for his services to the papal
+see, "that the name of Pope, of Apostle, of Apostolic Prelate, of Apostolic
+See, was still common to all Bishops, even during the three centuries which
+elapsed from the reign of Clovis to the empire of Charlemagne;" and he adds
+presently: "These august names are not like those vain and superficial
+titles with which the pride of men feeds itself; they are the solid marks
+of a power entirely from Heaven, and of a holiness altogether Divine."[5]
+Indeed, the view which every where prevailed was that so admirably
+expressed by St. Cyprian: "Episcopatus unus est, cujus a singulis in
+solidum pars tenetur."[6] "The Episcopate is one; it is a whole in which
+each enjoys full possession." St. Isidore, of Seville, says: "Since also
+the other Apostles received a like fellowship of honour and power with
+Peter, who also were scattered throughout the whole world, and preached the
+Gospel; whom, at their departure, the Bishops succeeded, who are
+established throughout the whole world in the seats of the Apostles."[7]
+But Pope Symmachus (A.D. 498-514) has expressed the equality and unity of
+the Episcopate and Apostolate between the Pope and all Bishops, by the
+highest and most sacred similitude which it is possible to conceive. "For
+inasmuch as after the likeness of the Trinity, whose power is one and
+indivisible, the priesthood is one in the hands of various prelates, how
+suits it that the statutes of the more ancient be broken by their
+successors?"[8] We are told by the same author: "Pope Hormisdas (A.D.
+514-523) prescribed, and all the Bishops of the east subscribed, after the
+Patriarch John of Constantinople, a formulary of faith and of Catholic
+Communion, where, among other remarkable points, this is worthy of
+particular attention:--that as all Churches make but one Church, so all the
+thrones of the Apostolate, and all the Sees of the Episcopate, spread
+through all the earth, are but one apostolic see, inseparable from the see
+of Peter." This is the view of St. Augustin, expressed again and again in
+his writings, especially when he is explaining those remarkable words of
+our Lord to St. Peter, on which Roman Catholics ground the _scriptural_
+proof of his Primacy. "For it is evident that Peter, in many places of the
+Scriptures, represents the Church, (_personam gestet Ecclesiae_) chiefly in
+that place where it is said, 'I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
+Heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in Heaven: and
+whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.' What! did
+Peter receive those keys, and Paul not receive them? Did Peter receive
+them, and John and James not receive them, and the rest of the Apostles? Or
+are not those keys in the Church, where sins are daily remitted? But since
+in meaning hinted, but not expressed, (_in significatione_), Peter was
+representing the Church, what was given to him singly, was given to the
+Church. So, then, Peter bore the figure of the Church: the Church is the
+body of Christ."[9] So St. Chrysostom: "But when I speak of Paul, I mean
+not only him, but also Peter, and James, and John, and all their choir. For
+as in a lyre there are different strings, but one harmony, so, too, in the
+choir of the Apostles, there were different persons, but one teaching;
+since one, too, was the Musician, even the Holy Spirit, who moved their
+souls. And Paul signifying this, said: 'Whether, therefore, it were they or
+I, so we preach.'"[10] How little, on the one hand, the pre-eminence of St.
+Peter's see derogated from the apostolicity of other Bishops, or, on the
+other hand, their distinct descent and jurisdiction hindered them from
+paying due deference to the Chief See, is apparent likewise in these words
+of St. Jerome: "But, you say, the Church is founded upon Peter; although,
+in another place, this self-same thing takes place upon all the Apostles,
+and all receive the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, _and the strength of the
+Church is consolidated equally upon them_: nevertheless, for this reason,
+out of the twelve one is selected, that, by the appointment of a head, the
+occasion of Schism may be taken away."[11] Thomassin doubts whether at the
+Council of Nicea, or even at that of Antioch, sixteen years afterwards, the
+name even of Archbishop was yet in use; the highest title used in those two
+Councils being that of Metropolitan. St. Epiphanius quotes a letter of
+Arius to Alexander, of Alexandria, in which he only gives him the quality
+of Pope and Bishop, but nowhere that of Archbishop.
+
+So much for the equality of the names of Bishops in the fourth century,
+which recognises the essential equality and unity of their office. The laws
+in force respecting their consecration and jurisdiction are as decisive.
+Every Bishop, after being elected by the Clergy and people, and the
+assembled provincial Bishops, was consecrated by the Metropolitan of his
+province, except, indeed, in the Patriarchate of Alexandria, where the
+Primate, as we have seen, and not the Metropolitans under him, consecrated
+all Bishops. Where a Metropolitan had no immediate superior, in case of a
+vacancy, the Bishops of his own province consecrated him, as in the case of
+Carthage. Whatever might be the particular privileges of Patriarchs and
+Metropolitans, as a general rule, no one Bishop had direct jurisdiction in
+the diocese of another. The Bishops of the great sees, specially Rome,
+Alexandria, and Antioch, announced their accession to each other, together
+with a profession of the orthodox faith. But as for any jurisdiction
+emanating from Rome to the great Bishops of the east, such a thing was
+never even imagined. Let us even rest the whole question on this important
+point, for it is absolutely necessary to the Papal theory; and I do not
+think any vestige of such a doctrine can be found in the first six
+centuries. At least, let it be shown; for, to assert it in the face of
+Canons which imply a system the very reverse of it, is merely begging the
+whole question. That in cases of difficulty, or disputed succession, or
+heresy, or schism, the voice of the Bishop of Rome would have great weight,
+is, indeed, indisputable. When the ship of the Church was in distress, whom
+should we expect to see at the rudder but St. Peter? Thus St. Jerome,
+himself baptized at Rome, naturally looks to Rome in this difficulty. Mr.
+Newman says:[12] "The divisions at Antioch had thrown the Catholic Church
+into a remarkable position; there were two Bishops in the see, one in
+connexion with the East, and the other with Egypt and the West,--with
+which, then, was Catholic Communion? St. Jerome has no doubt upon the
+subject. Writing to St. Damasus, he says: 'Since the East tears into pieces
+the Lord's coat, _and foxes lay waste the vineyard of Christ, so that among
+broken cisterns, which hold no water, it is difficult to understand where
+the sealed fountain and the garden inclosed is_, therefore by me is the
+chair of St. Peter to be consulted, and that faith which is praised by the
+Apostle's mouth, _thence now seeking food for my soul where of old I
+received the robe of Christ. Whilst the bad children have wasted their
+goods, the inheritance of the Fathers is preserved uncorrupt among you
+alone. There the earth from its fertile bosom returns the pure seed of the
+Lord a hundred fold: here the grain buried in the furrows degenerates into
+darnell and tares. At present the Sun of Righteousness rises in the West;
+but in the East that fallen Lucifer hath placed his throne. You are the
+light of the world: you the salt of the earth: you the vessels of gold and
+silver: but here the vessels of earth or wood await the iron rod and the
+eternal flame.' Therefore_, though your greatness terrifies me, yet your
+kindness invites me. From the Priest the sacrifice claims salvation; from
+the Shepherd the sheep claims protection. Let us speak without offence: I
+court not the Roman height: I speak with the successor of the Fisherman,
+and the disciple of the Cross. I, who follow none as my chief but Christ,
+am associated in communion with thy blessedness; that is, with the See of
+Peter. On that rock the Church is built I know. Whoso shall eat the Lamb
+outside that house is profane.... I know not Vitalis (the Apollinarian);
+Meletius I reject; I am ignorant of Paulinus. Whoso gathereth not with
+thee, scattereth; that is, he who is not of Christ is of Antichrist."[13]
+
+Considering all the circumstances of the case, no one can wonder at St.
+Jerome's application. When it is remembered that the Roman See, up to that
+time, had been free from all suspicion of heresy, and that the Arian
+controversy was the one in question, and that he himself, of full manhood,
+had been baptized, and had lived at Rome, the force of his language is
+hardly surprising. His words certainly prove, what, I suppose, no student
+of antiquity can doubt, the Primacy of the Roman See: but could there be a
+greater unfairness than to apply their bare letter to a state of things
+totally changed? or to consider expressions proving the _primacy_ of Rome,
+as claimed in the fourth century, to prove equally a _supremacy_ as claimed
+in the nineteenth, which is as different from the former as one thing can
+well be from another. This very St. Meletius, a man of pre-eminent sanctity
+of life, the ordainer of St. Chrysostom, dies, it would appear, out of
+communion with Rome, and has ever been accounted a saint in the Western as
+well as in the Eastern Church.
+
+But to recur to the point of jurisdiction at the time of the Nicene
+Council. It is beyond question, both from the acts of that Council, and
+from the Apostolic Canons, which represent the Eastern Church in the second
+and third centuries, that, whatever the pre-eminence of Rome might consist
+in, there was no claim whatever to confer jurisdiction on Bishops out of
+the Roman Patriarchate, then comprising Italy, south of Milan, and Sicily.
+Even differences, any where arising, were to be settled in Provincial
+Councils. "It is necessary to know, that, up to the Council of Nicea, all
+ecclesiastical affairs had been terminated in the Councils of each
+Province; and there had been but very few occasions in which it had been
+necessary to convoke an assembly of several Provinces. The Council of
+Nicea, even, only speaks of Provincial Councils, and orders that all things
+should be settled therein."[14] The testimony and conduct of St. Cyprian
+will illustrate the Roman Primacy, to which Mr. Newman claims him as a
+witness. And such he is beyond doubt. In his fifty-fifth letter, which
+begins, "Cyprian to his brother Cornelius, greeting;" he complains bitterly
+to that Pope that Felicissimus and his party "dare to set sail, and to
+carry a letter from schismatical and profane persons to the see of Peter,
+and to the principal Church, whence the unity of the priesthood took its
+rise; nor consider that they are the Romans whose faith had been praised by
+the preaching of the Apostle, to whom faithlessness can have no access."
+This Mr. Newman considers a pretty strong testimony in his "cumulative
+argument" for the authority of Rome. It would be as well, however, to go on
+a little further, and see what was the cause of St. Cyprian's vehement
+indignation. It was, that Felicissimus ventured _to appeal to Pope
+Cornelius_, when his cause had already been heard and settled by St.
+Cyprian, at Carthage. "But what was the cause of their coming and
+announcing that a Pseudo-Bishop had been made against the Bishops? For,
+either they are satisfied with what they have done, and persevere in their
+crime, or, if they are dissatisfied, and give way, they know whither they
+may return. For, since it has been determined by all of us, and is both
+equitable and just, that the cause of every one be heard there where the
+crime has been committed, and _to every shepherd a portion of the flock is
+allotted, which each one rules and governs, as he is to give an account of
+his doings to the Lord_, it is certainly behoving that those over whom we
+preside should not run about, nor break the close harmony of Bishops with
+their deceitful and fallacious rashness, but should plead their cause where
+they may find both accusers and witnesses of their crime; _unless to a few
+desperate and abandoned men the authority of the Bishops seated in Africa
+seem less_, who have already judged concerning them, and have lately
+condemned, by the weight of their sentence, their conscience, bound by many
+snares of crimes. Their cause has been already heard, their sentence
+already pronounced; nor is it becoming to the judgment of priests to be
+reprehended by the levity of a fickle and inconstant mind, when the Lord
+teaches and says, 'Let your conversation be yea, yea; nay, nay.'" Let any
+candid person say, whether he who so wrote to one whom he acknowledged as
+the successor of St. Peter, could have imagined that there was a Divine
+right in that successor to re-hear not only this, but all other causes; to
+reverse all previous judgments of his Brethren by his single authority;
+nay, more, to confer on all those Brethren their jurisdiction "by the grace
+of the Apostolic See."[15]
+
+Another letter of St. Cyprian to another Pope, St. Stephen, will set forth
+both his view of the Primacy, and of the Episcopal relation to it. He
+wishes St. Stephen to write a letter to the people of Arles, by which their
+actual Bishop Marcian, who had joined himself to the schismatic Novatian,
+might be excommunicated, and another substituted for him. This alone shows
+how great the authority of the Bishop of Rome in such an emergency was. But
+the tone of his language is worth considering. It is just such incidents as
+these which are made use of by Roman Catholic controversialists in late
+times to justify the full extent of Papal power now claimed.[16] "Cyprian
+to his brother Stephen, greeting. Faustinus, our colleague at Lyons,
+dearest brother, hath more than once written to me, signifying what I know
+has certainly been reported to you also, both by him, and by the rest of
+our brother-Bishops, in that province, that Marcian of Arles, has joined
+himself to Novatian, and has departed from the unity of the Catholic
+Church, and from the agreement of our body and priesthood.... This matter
+it is our duty to provide against and remedy, most dear brother, we, who
+considering the Divine clemency, and holding the balance of the Church's
+government, so exhibit to sinners our vigorous censure as not to deny the
+medicine of Divine goodness and mercy to the restoration of the fallen and
+the healing of the wounded. Wherefore it behoves you to write a very
+explicit letter to our fellow Bishops in the Gauls, that they may not any
+longer suffer our order (_collegio nostro_) to be insulted by Marcian,
+obstinate, haughty, the enemy both of piety to God, and of his brethren's
+salvation.... For, therefore, most dear brother, is the numerous body of
+priests joined together in mutual concord, and the bond of unity, that _if
+any one of our order_ attempt to make a heresy, and to sever and lay waste
+the flock of Christ, the rest may fly to the rescue, and, like useful and
+merciful shepherds, collect the Lord's sheep into a flock.... For, although
+we are many shepherds, yet we feed one flock; and we ought to collect and
+cherish all those sheep which Christ sought with His own blood and
+passion.... For we must preserve the glorious honour _of our predecessors_,
+the blessed Martyrs, Cornelius and Lucius," (the last Popes,) "whose memory
+we indeed honour, but which you much more, most dear brother, who are
+become their successor, ought to distinguish and preserve by your weight
+and authority. For they being full of the spirit of God, and made glorious
+martyrs, determined that reconciliation was to be granted to the lapsed,
+and set down in their letters, that, after a course of penitence, the
+advantage of communion and peace was not to be refused them. _Which thing
+we all have everywhere entirely determined._ For there could not be in us a
+difference of judgment in whom there is One Spirit." Now, might it not be
+stated, that St. Cyprian wrote to Pope Stephen, to request him to depose
+Marcian, Bishop of Arles? But how much is the inference from this fact
+modified by the language of Cyprian himself? It is just such a letter as an
+Eastern Primate would have written to the Patriarch of Alexandria, or of
+Antioch, to request his interference at a dangerous juncture. It bears
+witness, not to the present Papal, but to the Patriarchal, system. It
+tallies exactly with the spirit of him who wrote elsewhere, to the lapsed,
+"Our Lord, whose precepts and warnings we are bound to observe, regulating
+the honour of the Bishop, and the constitution of his Church, speaks in the
+Gospel, and says to Peter, 'I say unto thee that thou art Peter,' &c.
+Thence, according to the change of times and successions, the ordination of
+Bishops and the constitution of the Church has descended, _so that the
+Church is established upon the Bishops, and every act of the Church is
+directed by the same, its governors_. This being established by Divine
+law,"[17] &c. It is evident that, if the see of Peter, so often referred to
+by St. Cyprian, means the local see of Rome, it also means the see of every
+Bishop who holds that office, whereof Peter is the great type, example, and
+source.
+
+But it was reserved for a more celebrated controversy, fully to bring out
+St. Cyprian's view of the relation of the Bishop of Rome to the rest of the
+Episcopal body: I mean, of course, the controversy whether heretics should
+be admitted into the Church by rebaptization or by the imposition of hands.
+I most fully believe, be it observed, that Cyprian acknowledged the Roman
+Primacy, that he admitted certain high prerogatives to be lodged in the
+Roman Pontiff, as St. Peter's successor, which did not belong to any other
+Bishop. It is this very thing which makes his conduct the more remarkable.
+He took a very strong view on one side of the controversy in question: and
+St. Stephen took an equally strong one on the other. St. Stephen, we all
+know, turned out to be right. That fervent Pontiff, it may be remarked,
+when St. Cyprian would not give up his view, seemed inclined to treat him
+much as St. Gregory the Seventh did a refractory Emperor, or St. Innocent
+the Third, the dastard tyrant John. This may be very satisfactory to the
+modern defenders of Papal omnipotence, but St. Cyprian's conduct is not so
+at all. St. Cyprian called a Council of Bishops of the provinces of
+Carthage and Numidia; they attended to the number of seventy-one, and
+decided that heretics should be rebaptized. St. Cyprian informs the Pope of
+the decision of himself and his colleagues. After saying that they had
+found it necessary to hold a council, he proceeds--[18]"But I thought I
+ought to write to you and confer with your gravity and wisdom concerning
+that especially which most belongs to the authority of the priesthood, and
+to the unity alike and dignity of the Catholic Church derived from the
+ordering of a Divine disposition.... This, most dear Brother, we have
+brought to your knowledge on account both of the honour we share with you,
+and of our single-hearted affection, believing that what is both religious
+and true is acceptable to you also according to your true religion and
+faith. But we know that some are unwilling to give up an opinion they have
+once imbibed, nor easily change their mind; but, without interruption to
+the bonds of peace and concord with their colleagues, retain certain
+peculiarities which have once grown into usage among themselves." (Such is
+the manner in which St. Cyprian mentions a judgment deliberately expressed
+by a Pope on a matter of high discipline, which involved a point of faith.)
+"In which matter we too do violence and give the law to no one, inasmuch as
+_every Bishop has the free choice of his own will in the administration of
+the Church, as he will give an account of his acts to the Lord_." St.
+Stephen received this decision of the African Council so ill, that he would
+not even see the Bishops who brought it, nor allow the faithful to offer
+them common hospitality. So important in his eyes was the matter in
+dispute. St. Cyprian reports his answer in a letter to his Brother-Bishop
+Pompeius, in which he says, [19]"Although we have fully embraced all that
+is to be said concerning the baptizing of heretics, in the letters of which
+we have sent to you copies, most dear Brother, yet, because you desired to
+be informed what answer our Brother Stephen sent me to our letters, I send
+you a copy of his rescript, after reading which you will more and more mark
+his error, who attempts to assert the cause of heretics against Christians
+and against the Church of God. For amongst other either proud or
+impertinent or inconsistent remarks, which he has written rashly and
+improvidently, &c.... But what blindness of mind is it, what perverseness
+to refuse to recognise the unity of the faith coming from God the Father
+and the tradition of Jesus Christ our Lord and God.... But since no heresy
+at all, nor indeed any schism, can possess outside (the Body) the
+sanctification of saving baptism, why has the harsh obstinacy of our
+Brother Stephen burst forth to such a degree?" &c.... "Does he give honour
+to God, who, the friend of heretics and the enemy of Christians, deems the
+priests of God, maintaining the truth of Christ and the unity of the
+Church, worthy of excommunication?" St. Stephen had inflicted this on the
+African prelates, until they should give up their judgment on the point in
+question.... "Nor ought the custom, which has crept in _among certain
+persons_, to hinder truth from prevailing and conquering. For custom
+without truth is but old error."... "But it is hurried away by presumption
+and contumacy that a person rather defends his own perverseness and falsity
+than accedes to the right and truth of another. Which thing the blessed
+apostle Paul foreseeing, writes to Timothy and warns, that a Bishop must
+not be quarrelsome, nor contentious, but gentle and teachable. Now he is
+teachable, who is mild and gentle to learn patiently. For a Bishop ought
+not only to teach, but also to learn, because he teaches better who daily
+improves and profits by learning better." Even as we copy this language
+used concerning a Pope by a great Bishop and Martyr of the third century,
+who elsewhere writes, [20]"That our Lord built His Church upon Peter alone,
+and though He gave to all the apostles an equal power, yet in order to
+manifest unity He has by His own authority so placed the source of the same
+unity as to begin from one;" we feel the contrast to be almost overpowering
+with the tone in which the first Patriarch of the Latin Church, however
+good his cause might be, would now venture to address the Supreme Pontiff.
+Towards the conclusion of this letter he says, instead of admitting that
+the Pope's judgment terminated the matter--"This now the priests of God
+ought to do, preserving the Divine precepts, so that if in anything truth
+has been shaken and tottered, we may return to the fountain-head of the
+Lord, and to the evangelical and apostolical tradition, and that the rule
+of our acting may spring thence, whence its order and origin arose."
+
+After receiving the Pope's rescript, and his excommunication, St. Cyprian
+convoked another Council of the three provinces of Africa, Numidia, and
+Mauritania, which was held at Carthage on the 1st of Sept. 256. It was
+attended by eighty-five Bishops, among whom were fifteen Confessors, beside
+Priests and Deacons, and a great part of the people. St. Cyprian opened it,
+observing: "It remains for us each to deliver our sentiments on this
+matter, judging no one, nor removing any one, if he be of a different
+opinion, from the right of Communion. _For no one of us sets himself up to
+be a Bishop of Bishops, or by fear of his tyranny compels his colleagues to
+the necessity of obedience, since every Bishop according to his recognised
+liberty and power possesses a free choice, and can no more be judged by
+another than he himself can judge another. But let us all await the
+judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who singly and alone has the power both
+of setting us up in the government of His Church, and of judging our
+proceedings._"[21] The Bishops delivered their judgments _seriatim_,
+finishing with St. Cyprian, and unanimously ratified what they had agreed
+upon before, that heretics should be admitted into the Church by baptism,
+and not merely by the imposition of hands: and thus an African Council of
+the third century treated a judgment of the Pope, and his sentence of
+excommunication until they altered their practice.
+
+But these last words of St. Cyprian are so remarkable in themselves, and
+have such a bearing on the present Papal claims, that they deserve further
+notice. Now, lest we should imagine that St. Cyprian was hurried away by
+the ardour of his defence of a favourite doctrine, and his sense of the
+Pope's severity, into unjustifiable expressions concerning the rights of
+Bishops, it so happens that we possess the comment of the greatest of the
+Fathers on these very words. St. Augustin, writing 140 years after, and
+fully agreeing with the judgment of Pope Stephen, as had the whole Church
+finally, quotes the whole passage. "'It remains for us each to deliver our
+sentiments on this matter, judging no one, nor removing any one, if he be
+of a different opinion, from the right of communion.'[22] There he not only
+permits me without loss of communion further to seek the truth, but even to
+be of a different judgment. 'For no one of us,' saith he, 'sets himself up
+to be a Bishop of Bishops, or by fear of his tyranny compels his colleagues
+to the necessity of obedience.' What can be more gentle? What more humble?
+Certainly no authority deters us from seeking what is the truth: 'since,'
+he says, 'every Bishop according to his recognised liberty and power
+possesses a free choice, and can no more be judged by another than he
+himself can judge another:' certainly, I imagine, in those questions which
+have not yet been thoroughly and completely settled. For he knew how great
+and mysterious a sacrament the whole Church was then with various
+reasonings considering, and he left open a freedom of inquiry, that the
+truth might by search be laid open.... I cannot by any means be induced to
+believe that Cyprian, a Catholic Bishop, a Catholic Martyr, and the greater
+he was the more in every respect humbling himself, that he might find grace
+before God, did, especially in a holy Council of his colleagues, utter with
+his mouth other than what he carried in his heart, particularly as he
+adds--'But let us all await the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+singly and alone has the power both of setting us up in the government of
+His Church, and of judging our proceedings.' Under appeal then to so great
+a judgment, expecting to hear the truth from his colleagues, should he
+offer them the first example of falsehood? God avert such a madness from
+any Christian, how much more from Cyprian. We possess then a free power of
+inquiry, admitted us by Cyprian's own most gentle and true language."
+
+Who can conclude otherwise than that St. Augustin in the year 400, as St.
+Cyprian in the year 256, was utterly ignorant of any such power as is now
+claimed for the See of Rome, under cover of that original Primacy to which
+both these great saints have borne indubitable witness? For the words of
+St. Cyprian, attested and approved by St. Augustin, contain the most
+explicit denial of that power lodged in the see of Rome as distinct from an
+Oecumenical Council, by which alone, if at all, the Church of England has
+been declared schismatical and excommunicate.
+
+These are Bishops of the West speaking, but the East also must give its
+voice. St. Dionysius of Alexandria, and many other Eastern Prelates, among
+the rest Firmilian, Metropolitan of Cesarea, in Cappadocia, supported St.
+Cyprian on the question of rebaptization. The latter had been informed of
+St. Stephen's strong judgment and decided proceedings in the matter, who
+had threatened to separate the Bishops of the East also from his communion,
+if they did not comply with his rule. Firmilian wrote a long letter to
+Cyprian, which contains very remarkable expressions. He alludes in it more
+than once to the Primacy of St. Peter, and to that of Stephen as descending
+from him. [23]"But what is the error, and how great the blindness of him
+(_i.e._ the Pope) who says, remission of sins can be given in the meetings
+of heretics, nor remains in the foundation of the one Church which was once
+fixed by Christ upon the rock, may be hence understood, because to Peter
+alone Christ said, Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
+heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;
+and again, in the Gospel, when on the Apostles alone Christ breathed and
+said, Receive the Holy Ghost: whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and
+whose ye retain, they are retained. _Therefore the power of remitting sins
+was given to the Apostles and the Churches which they, being sent by
+Christ, set up, and to the Bishops who have succeeded them by ordination in
+their stead_.... And here I am justly indignant at this so open and
+manifest folly of Stephen, because, glorying as he does in the rank of his
+Episcopate, and maintaining that he holds the succession of Peter, upon
+whom the foundations of the Church were laid, he introduces many other
+rocks, and sets up new buildings of many Churches, while he affirms, on his
+own authority, that Baptism is in them.... Nor does he perceive that the
+truth of the Christian rock is clouded over by him, and in a manner
+abolished, who thus betrays and deserts unity.... You Africans can say
+against Stephen, that, when the truth became known to you, you relinquished
+an erroneous custom. But we join custom also to truth, and to the custom of
+the Romans oppose a custom indeed, but that of truth, holding from the
+beginning this which has been delivered down from Christ, and from the
+Apostles." He had said before, "One may know that those who are at Rome do
+not in all things observe what has been delivered down from the beginning,
+and vainly allege the authority of the Apostles, even by this, that in
+celebrating Easter, and in many other sacred rites, one may see there is
+among them certain variations; nor are all things there kept as they are
+kept at Jerusalem; just as in very many other provinces also, according to
+the diversity of places and names, there are variations; nor yet on this
+account have the peace and unity of the Catholic Church ever been departed
+from. Which now Stephen has dared to do, breaking peace towards you, which
+his predecessors always kept with you, in reciprocal love and honour;
+casting, too, shameful reproach (infamans) on the blessed Apostles, Peter
+and Paul, as if they had handed this down, &c." The letter concludes with
+an apostrophe to Stephen, which only a regard to truth induces us to quote,
+so painful is its vehemence, though it proves _ex abundanti_ the point we
+are upon: "And Stephen is not ashamed to assert this, that remission of
+sins can be given through those who are themselves in all their sins....
+But thou art worse than all heretics; for whilst many, acknowledging their
+error, come to thee thence to receive the true light of the Church, thou
+assistest the errors of those so coming.... Nor understandest that their
+souls will be demanded at thy hand, when the day of judgment is come, who
+to the thirsting hast denied the Church's draught, and hast been the cause
+of death to those who would live. And moreover thou art indignant! See with
+what ignorance thou venturest to censure those who strive for the truth
+against falsehood. For who had most right to be angry at another; he who
+supports the enemies of God, or he who argues for the truth of the Church
+against him who supports God's enemies? except that it is evident that the
+ignorant are also passionate and wrathful, whilst, through lack of wisdom
+and discourse, they readily betake themselves to passion, so that it is of
+none other than thee that Holy Scripture says, 'The passionate man prepares
+quarrels, and the wrathful man heaps up sins;' for what quarrels and
+dissensions hast thou caused through the Churches of the whole world! But
+how great a sin hast thou heaped upon thyself, _when thou didst cut thyself
+off from so many flocks; for thou hast destroyed thyself. Do not be
+deceived. Since he is the true schismatic who has made himself an apostate
+from the communion of the Church's oneness; for whilst thou dost fancy that
+all can be excommunicated by thee, thou hast excommunicated thyself alone
+from all_.... This salutary advice of the Apostle how diligently hath
+Stephen fulfilled! preserving humility of feeling and lenity, _in his first
+rank_, (primo in loco.) For what could be more humble or gentle, than to
+have disagreed with so many Bishops throughout the whole world, breaking
+peace with one and the other on various grounds of discord, now with the
+Eastern, as we are sure you are aware, now with you in the South; episcopal
+deputies from whom he received with such patience and mildness, that he did
+not even admit them to an interview; moreover, so mindful of the claims of
+charity and affection, that he charged the whole brotherhood, that no one
+should receive them into his house?" &c.
+
+Concerning this remarkable history, Fleury says:[24] "It is not known what
+was then the issue of this dispute. It is certain that it still continued
+under Pope Saint Sixtus, successor of St. Stephen: this is seen by the
+letters that St. Dionysius of Alexandria wrote him; and it does not appear
+that St. Cyprian or Firmilian changed their mind." (So that St. Cyprian
+died under excommunication from Pope Stephen.) "Still St. Cyprian is
+counted among the most illustrious martyrs, even in the Roman Church, which
+names him in the Canon of the Mass, in preference to Pope St. Stephen; and
+the Greeks, in their Menologium, honour the memory of Firmilian. With
+reason, since we shall see him preside over the first Council of Antioch,
+against Paul of Samosata; and the Fathers of the second Council, writing to
+the Pope, name Firmilian, of happy memory, as they do Dionysius of
+Alexandria. Why the error of St. Cyprian and St. Firmilian hurt not their
+sanctity is, that they always preserved on their part the unity of the
+Church, and charity, and that they maintained in good faith a bad cause,
+which they believed good, _and upon which there had not yet been a decision
+received by unanimous consent of the whole Church_. Thus St. Augustin
+speaks of it, _not counting as a final decision the decree of Pope St.
+Stephen, though true in its matter, and clothed with all the force that he
+could give it. No one of the ancients has accused these holy Bishops of
+obstinacy for not having obeyed this decree_. The decision of Pope St.
+Stephen respecting the baptism of heretics has prevailed, because it was
+the most ancient and the most universal, and consequently the best.... At
+length this question was entirely set at rest by the authority of the
+universal Council, that is to say, at the latest, at the Council of Nicea."
+Most fair and just: St. Cyprian and St. Firmilian may have innocently erred
+in such a matter; but what of the way in which they treated the Pope? Could
+they be ignorant of the constitution of that Church of which they were
+Primates, Saints, and one a Martyr? If his decision was final, must they
+not have known it? If his primacy involved their obedience, must they not
+have rendered it? But if they were his deputies, as the present Roman claim
+would have it, who can express their rashness? Had they been right, and the
+Pope wrong, according to the present tenets of the Latin Church, obedience
+had been better than sacrifice. In truth, they would have anticipated the
+noble submission of the Archbishop of Cambrai, and yielded at once to the
+chair of St. Peter, whatever had been their conviction as to the truth of
+their views; but the Archbishop of Carthage, the sternest defender of
+ecclesiastical unity and discipline which even the Church of the Fathers
+produced, knew not that he had any such duty towards the See of St. Peter.
+
+Nay, and St. Augustin knew it not either. It was no more the belief in his
+day than in St. Cyprian's. The Donatists alleged against him in the
+question of Baptism the authority of Cyprian in this great Council of
+Carthage. This leads him to make a very important statement--"You are wont
+to object against us Cyprian's letters, Cyprian's judgment, Cyprian's
+Council: why do you assume the authority of Cyprian for your schism, and
+reject his example for the peace of the Church? But who is ignorant that
+canonical holy Scripture, as well of the Old as of the New Testament, is
+contained in its own certain limits, and is so preferred to all subsequent
+letters of Bishops, that no doubt or discussion at all can be held
+concerning it, as to whether that be true or right, which is acknowledged
+to be found written in it: but that the letters of Bishops which either
+have been or are written after the confirmation of the canon, may be
+reprehended both by the reasoning, peradventure more full of wisdom, of
+some one in that matter more skilled, and by the weightier authority and
+more learned judgment of other Bishops, and by Councils, if haply there has
+been in them any deviation from the truth; and that Councils themselves,
+holden in particular regions or provinces, yield, beyond all question, to
+the authority of plenary Councils, which are made out of the whole
+Christian world: and that former plenary Councils themselves are often
+corrected by subsequent ones, when by some practical experience what has
+been hidden is laid open, and what lay concealed is recognised, without any
+puffing up of sacrilegious pride, without any haughty exhibition of
+arrogance, without any strife of livid envy, with holy humility, with
+Catholic peace, with Christian charity."[25] Here, where, in a _dignus
+vindice nodus_, we should have expected some mention of the Chief See, and
+St. Peter's rights, all is referred to the voice of Bishops in
+Council,--that See, in which, according to Bellarmine, the plenitude of all
+the power resides which Christ left in His Church, is not even spoken of.
+He proceeds--"Wherefore holy Cyprian, the more exalted, the more humble,"
+(in a matter for which he was excommunicated by the Pope, and in which, if
+the present Papal theory be true, his conduct was to the last degree
+insolent, and unjustifiable,) "who so loved the example of Peter as to
+say,--'Showing, indeed, an instance to us of concord and patience, that we
+should not pertinaciously love our own opinion, but should rather count for
+our own any useful and sound suggestions, which at times are made by our
+brethren and colleagues, if they be true and lawful:' he sufficiently shows
+that he would most readily have corrected his judgment, had any one pointed
+out to him that the Baptism of Christ might be given by those who had gone
+out (from the Church) in the same manner that it could not be lost when
+they went out: on which point we have already said much. Nor should we
+ourselves venture to make any such assertion, were we not supported by the
+unanimous authority of the whole Church: to which he too, without doubt,
+would yield, if the truth of this question had at that period been
+thoroughly sifted, and declared, and established by a plenary Council. For
+if he praises and extols Peter for having with patience and harmony
+suffered correction from a single younger colleague, how much more readily
+would he himself, with the Council of his province, have yielded to the
+authority of the whole world, when the truth was laid open? because,
+indeed, so holy and so peaceful a soul might most readily agree to one
+person (_i.e._ the Pope), speaking and proving the truth; and this,
+perhaps, was really the fact, but we know not. For not all which at that
+time was transacted between Bishops could be committed to posterity and
+writing, nor do we know all which was so committed. For how could that
+matter, involved in so many clouds of altercations, be brought to the clear
+consideration and ratification of a plenary Council, unless first for a
+long time throughout all the regions of the world it had been thoroughly
+tried, and made manifest by many discussions and conferences of Bishops on
+the one side and on the other? But wholesome peace produces this, that when
+obscure questions have been long under inquiry, and, through the difficulty
+of ascertaining them, beget various judgments in brotherly discussion,
+until the pure truth be arrived at, the bond of unity holds, lest in the
+part cut off the incurable wound of error should remain." He considers Pope
+Stephen here, even when he was right, as one of many _brethren_, who had a
+right to be deferentially heard, but no more. As in another place, arguing
+with these same Donatists, he distinctly considers the case of the judgment
+of the Roman Pontiff being erroneous. "The Donatists,"[26] says he, "chose
+with a double purpose, to plead their cause with Coecilian before the
+Churches across the sea; being doubly prepared, that if they could by any
+skilfulness of false accusation have overcome him, they might to the full
+satiate their desire: but if they failed in this, might continue in the
+same perversity, but still as if they would have to allege, that they had
+suffered in having bad judges: this is what all wrong suitors cry, though
+they have been overcome by the plainest truths: as if it might not be
+answered them and most justly retorted,--Let us suppose that these Bishops
+who judged at Rome," (Pope Melchiades and his Council,) "were not fair
+judges; there still remained a plenary Council of the universal Church,
+where the cause might have been tried even with those very judges, so that
+had they been convicted of false judgment their decision might be
+reversed."
+
+Nay, it appears, the cause of the Donatists, after being decided by Pope
+Melchiades, was reheard, and that, not by a plenary Council, but by other
+Bishops of the West, deputed by Constantine. "Know,"[27] says St. Augustin,
+"that your first ancestors carried the cause of Coecilianus before the
+Emperor Constantine. Demand this of us, let us prove it to you, and if we
+prove it not, do with us what you can. But because Constantine dared not to
+judge in the cause of a Bishop, he delegated the discussion and terminating
+of it to Bishops. This took place in the city of Rome under the presidency
+of Melchiades, Bishop of that Church, with many of his colleagues. They
+having pronounced Coecilianus innocent, and condemned Donatus, who had made
+the schism at Carthage, your party again went to the Emperor, and murmured
+against the judgment of the Bishops in which they had been beaten. For how
+can the guilty party praise the judge by whose sentence he has been beaten?
+Yet a second time the most indulgent Emperor assigned other Bishops as
+judges, at Arles, in Gaul, and from them your party appealed to the Emperor
+himself, until he too heard the cause, and pronounced Coecilianus innocent,
+and them false accusers." Did he who wrote these words mean to censure
+Constantine for granting a second hearing after the judgment of Pope
+Melchiades?
+
+"Basilides," says Mr. Newman, "deposed in Spain, betakes himself to Rome,
+and gains the ear of St. Stephen." This, however, is only half the case. It
+comes to the knowledge of St. Cyprian that he has done so. Let us take
+Fleury's account.[28] "As Basilides and Martial still endeavoured to force
+themselves back upon their sees, Felix and Sabinus, their legitimate
+successors, went to Carthage with letters from the Churches of Leon,
+Asturia, and Merida, and from another Felix, Bishop of Sarragossa, known in
+Africa as attached to the faith, and a defender of the truth. These letters
+were read in a Council of thirty-six Bishops, at the head of whom was St.
+Cyprian, who answered in the name of all by a letter addressed to the
+Priest Felix, and to the faithful people of Leon and Asturia, and to the
+Deacon Loelius, with the people of Merida." In this letter he says,
+"Wherefore,[29] according to Divine tradition, and Apostolic observance,
+that is to be kept and observed, which is observed by us also, and
+generally throughout all the provinces, that in order rightly to celebrate
+ordinations, the nearest Bishops of the same province should meet together
+with that people for whom the head is ordained, and the Bishop should be
+chosen in the presence of the people, which is most fully acquainted with
+the life of every one, and has observed the conduct of each individual from
+his conversation. And this we see was observed by you in the ordination of
+our colleague Sabinus, so that, according to the suffrage of the whole
+brotherhood, and the judgment of the Bishops, who were either present, or
+had sent you letters about him, the Episcopate was conferred upon him, and
+hands laid upon him in the place of Basilides. Nor can it invalidate a
+rightful ordination, that Basilides, after the detection of his crimes and
+the laying bare his conscience even by his own confession, going to Rome
+deceived our colleague Stephen, who was far removed and ignorant of the
+thing as it was really done, that he might make interest for an unjust
+restoration to that Episcopate from which he had been rightfully deposed.
+It comes to this, that the crimes of Basilides have been rather doubled
+than wiped away, since to his former sins, the crime of deceit and
+circumvention has been added. _Nor should he be so much blamed, who through
+negligence was overreached_, as the other execrated, who fraudulently
+deceived. But if Basilides could overreach men, God he cannot," &c. If the
+appeal of Basilides to Stephen proves the Roman Primacy, what does the
+subsequent appeal of the people of Leon, Asturia, and Merida, to Carthage,
+prove? And if the restoration of Basilides by Stephen, proves that he
+possessed that power, what does the subsequent pronouncing of that
+restoration void by Cyprian and his brother Bishops, without even first
+acquainting Stephen, prove?
+
+In truth, all the acts of St. Cyprian's Episcopate, of which we have given
+several in illustration, are an indisputable assurance to the candid mind
+that he treated the Roman Pontiff simply as his brother,--his elder
+brother, indeed,--holding the first see in Christendom, but, individually,
+as liable to err as himself. And it is equally clear that St. Augustin, a
+hundred and forty years later, did not censure him for this. What we have
+seen, is this. In the matter of Fortunatus and Felicissimus, Cyprian
+rejects with vehement indignation their appeal to Rome: in the case of
+Marcian of Arles, he writes as an equal to Pope Stephen, almost enjoining
+him what to do: in the question of rebaptizing heretics, he disregards St.
+Stephen's judgment, and the anathema which accompanies it; and how strong
+St. Firmilian's language is we need not repeat, who declares that St.
+Stephen's excommunication only cut off himself: in the case of Basilides,
+he deposes afresh one whom Stephen had restored.
+
+Such are the illustrations afforded by the preceding century to what we
+have stated was the unquestioned constitution of the Catholic Church at the
+time of the Council of Nicea; viz. that while the three great Sees of Rome,
+Alexandria, and Antioch exercised a powerful but entirely paternal
+influence on their colleagues, that of Rome having the undoubted primacy,
+not derived from the gift of Councils, or the rank of the imperial city,
+but from immemorial tradition as the See of St. Peter; yet, at the same
+time, the fullness of the priesthood, and with it all power to govern the
+Church, were acknowledged to reside in the whole Episcopal Body. "The
+Bishop," says Thomassin, quoting with approbation a Greek writer, as
+representing the doctrine of the early Fathers, and of the universal Church
+since, "is the complete image in the Church on earth of Him who in the holy
+Trinity alone bears the name of Father, as being the first principle
+without principle, and the fruitful source of the other Persons, and of all
+the divine perfections.... The Bishop communicates the Priesthood, as He
+who is without principle in the Godhead, and is therefore called
+Father."[30] The Apostolic Canons, and those of the Council of Nicea, are
+the legislative acts bearing witness to this order of things: the conduct
+and words of St. Cyprian, St. Firmilian, and St. Augustin, which we have
+instanced, and an innumerable multitude of other cases, exhibit it in full
+life and vigour; while, on the other side, there is absolutely nothing to
+allege.
+
+The history of the Church during the three hundred years following the
+Nicene Council is but a development of this constitution. The problem was,
+how to combine in the harmonious action of One organized Body those
+Apostolical powers which resided in the Bishops generally. The Patriarchal
+system was the result. As the Church increased in extent, her rulers would
+increase in number. This multiplication, which would tend so much to
+augment the centrifugal force, was met by increased energy in the
+centripetal: the power of the Patriarchs, and specially of the Bishop of
+Rome, grew. It is impossible, in my present limits, to follow this out, but
+I propose to give a few specimens, as before, in illustration.
+
+In so vast a system of interlaced and concurrent powers as the Church of
+Christ presented, differences would continually arise; and in so profound a
+subject-matter as the Christian revelation, heresies would be continually
+starting up: to arrange the former, and to expel or subjugate the latter,
+the Bishops, says Thomassin, having already more than once appealed to the
+Christian Emperors for the calling of great Councils, saw the danger of
+suffering the Imperial authority to intervene in ecclesiastical causes, and
+sought to establish a new jurisprudence on this head.[31] "The Council of
+Antioch (A.D. 341), and that of Sardica (A.D. 347), which were held almost
+at the same time,--the one in the East, the other in the West,--set about
+this in a very different manner, aiming, however, at the same end. The
+Council of Antioch ordered that Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, who should
+have been condemned by a provincial Council, might recur to a larger
+Council of Bishops; but that if they carried their complaints before the
+Emperor they could never be reestablished in their dignity." "One must in
+good faith admit, that this regulation had much conformity with what had
+been practised in the first ages of obscurity and persecution, for it was
+in the same way that extraordinary Councils had been held, such as were
+those of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, Bishop of that great city. It
+was the Metropolitans and Bishops of the neighbourhood who assembled with
+those of the Province where the flame of a great dissension had been
+kindled. The Council of Sardica, urged by the same desire to break through
+the custom which was introducing itself, of having recourse to the Emperor
+for judgment of spiritual causes of the Church, bethought itself of another
+means, which was not less conformable to the practice of the preceding
+centuries, and which had, beside that, much foundation in the Holy
+Scriptures. For Jesus Christ, having given the Primacy, and the rank of
+Head, to St. Peter, above the other Apostles, and having given successors
+as well to the Apostles, to wit, all the Bishops, as to St. Peter, to wit,
+the Roman Pontiffs; moreover, having willed that His Church should remain
+for ever one by the union of all Bishops with their Head, it is manifest,
+that if the Bishops of a province could not agree in their Provincial
+Council, and if the Bishops of several provinces had disputes between each
+other, the most natural way to finish these differences was to introduce
+the authority of the Head, and of him whom Jesus Christ has established as
+the centre of unity of His universal Church."
+
+Accordingly, at the Council of Sardica, attended by St. Athanasius, then in
+exile, and about a hundred Western Bishops, after the secession of the
+Eastern or Arian portion, Hosius proposed, "If two Bishops of the same
+province have a disagreement, neither of the two shall take for arbitrator
+a Bishop of another province: if a Bishop, having been condemned, feels so
+assured of his right, that he is willing to be judged anew in a Council,
+_let us honour, if you think it good, the memory of the Apostle St. Peter_:
+let those who have examined the cause, write to Julius, Bishop of Rome; if
+he thinks proper to order a fresh trial, let him name judges; if he does
+not think that there is reason to renew the matter, let what he orders be
+kept to. The Council approved this proposition. The Bishop Gaudentius
+added, that, during this appeal, no Bishop should be ordained in place of
+him who had been deposed, until the Bishop of Rome had judged his
+cause."[32]
+
+"To make the preceding Canon clearer, Hosius said, 'When a Bishop, deposed
+by the Council of the province, shall have appealed and had recourse to the
+Bishop of Rome, if he judge proper that the matter be examined afresh, he
+shall write to the Bishops of the neighbouring province to be the judges of
+it; and if the deposed Bishop persuade the Bishop of Rome to send a priest
+from his own person, he shall be able to do it, and to send commissioners
+to judge by his authority, together with the Bishops; but if he believes
+that the Bishops are sufficient to settle the matter, he will do what his
+wisdom suggests to him.' The judgment which Pope Julius, together with the
+Council of Rome, had given in favour of Athanasius and the other persecuted
+Bishops, seems to have given cause to this Canon, and we have seen that
+this Pope complained that they had judged St. Athanasius without writing to
+him about it."
+
+Such is the modest commencement of that power of hearing episcopal causes
+on appeal, which has been the instrument of obtaining the wonderful
+authority concentrated by a long series of ages in the see of Rome. However
+conformable to the practice of preceding centuries, as Thomassin says, this
+may have been, this power is here certainly _granted_ by the Council, _not
+considered as inherent in the see of Rome_. And this one fact is fatal to
+the present claim of the supremacy. To use De Maistre's favourite analogy,
+it is as though the States General or Parliament conferred his royal powers
+on the Sovereign who convoked them, and whose assent alone made their
+enactments law. Accordingly, like the whole course of proceedings in these
+early Councils, it is incompatible with the notion of the Pope being the
+monarch in the Church. We may safely say, history offers not a more
+wonderful contrast in a power bearing the same name, than that here
+conferred on Pope Julius in 347, and that exercised by Pope Pius the
+Seventh in 1802. On the bursting out of the French revolution, out of a
+hundred and thirty-six Bishops more than a hundred and thirty remained
+faithful to God and the Church: some offered the testimony of their blood;
+the rest became confessors in all lands for Christ's sake, in poverty,
+contempt, and banishment. After ten years, the civil governor, who had
+lately professed himself a Mahometan, proposes to the Pope to re-establish
+the Church, but on condition of himself nominating to the sees, and those
+not the ancient sees of the country, but a selection from them, to the
+number of eighty. Thereupon the Pope requires those eighty Bishops and
+Confessors who still survived, and whom he acknowledged to be not only
+blameless, but martyrs for the name of Christ, to resign into his hands
+their episcopal powers. Of his own single authority he abolishes the
+ancient sees of the eldest daughter of the Western Church, constitutes that
+number of new sees which the civil power permits, and treats as schismatics
+those few Bishops who disobey his requisition. I do not presume to express
+any blame of Pope Pius; I simply mention a fact. But it seems to me,
+certainly, that those who would entirely recognise the power and precedence
+exercised by Pope Julius, are not necessarily schismatics because they
+refuse to admit a power not merely greater in degree, but different in
+kind, and to set the High Priesthood of the Church beneath the feet of one,
+though it be the First of her Pontiffs.
+
+The restrictions under which, according to the Council of Sardica, the Pope
+could cause a matter to be reheard, are specific. Much larger power is
+assigned in the fourth General Council, that of Chalcedon, to the see of
+Constantinople, in the ninth Canon, which says, "If any Bishop or Clergyman
+has a controversy against the Bishop of the province himself (_i.e._ the
+Metropolitan), let him have recourse to the Exarch of the diocese, or to
+the throne of the Imperial city of Constantinople, and plead his cause
+before him."
+
+But, between these two Councils of Nicea, A.D. 325, and Chalcedon, 451, the
+whole Patriarchal system of the Church had sprung up, and covered the
+provinces of the Roman Empire with as it were a finely reticulated net. The
+system may be said to be built on two principles, recognised and enforced
+in the Apostolic Canons, and consistently carried out, from the Bishop of
+the poorest country town up to the primatial see of Rome. These principles
+are, "the authority of the Metropolitan over his Bishops in important and
+extraordinary affairs, and the supreme authority of Bishops in the ordinary
+government of their particular bishoprics. With this distinction, that the
+Metropolitan even cannot arrange important and extraordinary affairs but
+with the counsel of his suffragans, whilst every Bishop conducts all the
+common and ordinary affairs of his Diocese without being obliged to take
+the advice of his Metropolitan."[33] This latter principle, it will be
+seen, expresses the essential equality and unity of the High Priesthood
+vested in Bishops by descent from the Apostles, to which St. Cyprian bears
+such constant witness, so that it may be said to be the one spirit which
+animates all his government: while the former, leaving this quite
+inviolate, builds together the whole Church in one vast living structure.
+For as the Bishops of the province have their Metropolitan, and their
+spring and autumn Councils under him, so the Metropolitan stands in a like
+relation to his Exarch, or Patriarch; and of the five great Patriarchs of
+Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, who are found at
+the Council of Chalcedon to preside over the Church Catholic, that of Rome
+has the unquestioned primacy, and is seen at the centre, sustaining and
+animating the whole. "The most important of all the powers of
+Metropolitans, Exarchs, and Patriarchs, was the election of Bishops, the
+confirmation and consecration of Bishops elected. For all the other degrees
+of authority were founded on this one, which rendered the Metropolitan the
+Father, Master, and Judge of all his suffragans."[34] "And so that famous
+Canon of the Council of Nicea, (the 6th,) which seems in appearance only to
+confirm the ancient right of the three first Metropolitans of the world to
+ordain the Bishops of all the provinces of their dependence, establishes in
+effect all the rights and all the powers of the Metropolitans, because it
+establishes the foundation on which they all rest. 'If any one be made a
+Bishop contrary to the sentence of his Metropolitan, the great Synod
+declares that he should not be a Bishop.' Nothing is juster than to found
+the right of a holy and paternal rule on the right of generation. For by
+ordination the Bishops engender not children indeed, but Fathers, to the
+Church." This system continued unimpaired in the whole Church, at least to
+the time of St. Gregory the Great. It offers, I think, an unanswerable
+refutation to what must be considered the strongest argument of the Roman
+Catholics for the Supremacy, that there could be no unity in the Church
+without it, as a living organized body; history says, there _was_ unity,
+with five co-ordinate Patriarchs, and an Episcopate twice as numerous as
+that of the present Latin Communion. In the Latin Church itself, this
+system was only gradually overshadowed by another system which sprang from
+the excessive development of one of its parts; in the Greek and Russian
+Church, it continues down to this day; whatever ecclesiastical constitution
+we still have ourselves, is a part of this system. And by reference to, and
+under cover of this, which if not strictly of Divine right, as is the High
+Priesthood of Bishops, approaches very nearly indeed to it, and was the
+effluence of the Spirit of God ruling and guiding the Church of the
+Fathers, we must justify ourselves from the damning blot of schism. We
+cannot, dare not, do this upon principles such as "the right of private
+judgment"--"The Bible alone is the religion of Protestants,"--and the like,
+which lead directly, and by most certain consequence, to dissent, heresy,
+and anarchy. God forbid that they who profess to be members of the One holy
+Catholic Church should, urged by any unhappiness of their provisional and
+strange position, take up Satanic and Antichristian arms. No! if we may not
+hope for that system under which Augustin and Chrysostom laboured and
+witnessed, we will have nothing to do with those who destroy dogmatic faith
+altogether, and break up the visible unity of the Church of Christ into a
+multitude of atoms. _Quot homines, tot voluntates._ We cannot so relapse
+into worse than a second heathenism, and with the unity of Pentecost
+offered us, deliberately choose the confusion of Babel.
+
+But over and above his natural eminence in the Church, which I have
+attempted to describe, a concurrence of events in the fourth century tended
+to give a still greater moral weight to the voice of the Bishop of Rome.
+While the other great sees of the Church were vexed with heresy or schism,
+his was providentially exempted from both. The same century witnessed
+Coecilianus of Carthage, judged and supported by Pope Melchiades, while the
+Donatist schism all that century long rent Africa in twain; and St.
+Athanasius, of Alexandria, driven from his see, and persecuted by the whole
+East, received and justified by Pope Julius; and St. John Chrysostom, too
+good by far for a corrupt capital and a degenerate court, in life
+protected, and in death restored, by Pope Innocent. We have seen St. Jerome
+appeal to Pope Damasus, to know which of three competitors for the
+Patriarchal throne of Antioch was the right Bishop. But it is impossible to
+describe the confusion and violence which the Arian heresy, and the cognate
+heresies concerning the Person of our Lord, wrought throughout the Church
+and Empire. In all these the Roman Patriarch was beheld immovable,
+supporting, with his whole authority, what turned out to be the orthodox
+view. What Mr. Newman asserts is, moreover, entirely in accordance with the
+Patriarchal system, as we have attempted to describe it, "that the writers
+of the fourth and fifth centuries fearlessly assert, or frankly allow, that
+the prerogatives of Rome were derived from apostolic times, and that
+because it was the See of St. Peter." I confess that these words set me
+upon the search, and that I have found such testimonies in abundance; but
+then they are invariably to the Bishop of Rome _as holding the first see,
+not as_ Episcopus Episcoporum: _they bear witness to the Patriarchal
+system, not to the Papal_. For instance, all lovers of truth would be
+obliged to Mr. Newman to point out, in all the works of St. Augustin, a
+single passage which is sufficiently distinct and specific to justify the
+Papal claims, nay, which does not consider the Pope the first Bishop, and
+_no more_. It is little to say I have searched for such in vain. But in a
+Western Father, whose extant writings are so voluminous, and whose personal
+history is almost a history of the Church during the nearly forty years of
+his episcopate, and who continually gives judgment on all matters
+concerning the Church's government and constitution, it would seem
+impossible but that such a testimony should be found, if a thing so
+wondrous as is the Papal Power then existed. On the contrary, St. Augustin,
+continually explaining those often cited passages of Scripture, on which
+mediaeval and later Roman writers ground the Papal prerogatives, that is,
+Thou art Peter, &c., Feed my sheep, &c., says specifically, that Peter
+represents the Church. One of these passages we have already quoted. Take
+another. "And I say unto thee, because thou hast said to me; thou hast
+spoken, now hear; thou hast given a confession, receive a blessing;
+therefore, and I say unto thee, that thou art Peter; because I am the Rock,
+thou art Peter; for neither from Peter is the Rock, but from the Rock,
+Peter; because not from the Christian is Christ, but from Christ the
+Christian. And upon this Rock I will build my Church; _not upon Peter,
+which thou art, but upon the Rock which thou hast confessed_. But I will
+build my Church, _I will build thee, who in this answer representest the
+Church_."[35] Again, in a passage which conveys that old view of Cyprian,
+that every Bishop's chair is the chair of St. Peter. "For as some things
+are said which would seem to belong personally to the Apostle Peter, yet
+cannot be clearly understood unless when they are referred to the Church,
+which he is admitted, in figure, to have represented, on account of the
+Primacy which he held among the disciples,--as is,--I will give to thee the
+keys of the kingdom of Heaven;--and if there be any such like."[36] Again:
+"For Peter himself, to whom He entrusted His sheep as to another self, He
+willed to make one with Himself, that so He might entrust His sheep to him;
+that he might be the Head, the other bear the figure of the Body, that is,
+the Church; and that, as man and wife, they might be two in one flesh."[37]
+Again: "The Lord Jesus chose out His disciples before His Passion, as ye
+know, whom He named Apostles. Amongst these, Peter alone almost everywhere
+was thought worthy (_meruit_) to represent the whole Church. On account of
+that very representing of the whole Church, which he alone bore, he was
+thought worthy to hear, I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of
+Heaven. _For these keys not one man but the unity of the Church received._
+Here, therefore, the eminence of Peter is set forth, because he represented
+the very universality and unity of the Church, when it was said to him, I
+give to thee what was given to all. For that you may know that the Church
+has received the keys of the kingdom of God, hear what in another place the
+Lord says to all his Apostles: Receive the Holy Ghost. And presently:
+Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted to him; whosesoever ye retain,
+they are retained. This belongs to the keys concerning which it was said,
+What ye loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven; and what ye bind on
+earth, shall be bound in Heaven. But this He said to Peter. That you may
+know that Peter then represented the whole Church, hear what is said to
+him,"[38] &c. "For deservedly, after His resurrection, the Lord delivered
+His sheep to Peter himself to feed; _for he was not the only one among the
+disciples who was thought worthy to feed the Lord's sheep_. But when Christ
+speaks to one, unity is commended; and to Peter above all, because Peter is
+the first among the Apostles."[39] Again: "As in the Apostles, the number
+itself being twelve, that is, four divisions into three,"--(he seems to
+mean, that there was a mystical universality betokened in the number four,
+as a mystical unity in the number three,)--"and all being asked, Peter
+alone answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And it is
+said to him, I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, _as if
+he alone had received the power of binding and loosing; the case really
+being, that he singly said that in the name of all, and received this
+together with all, as representing unity itself; therefore one in the name
+of all, because unity is in all_."[40] This, written at so many different
+times, was evidently the view preferred by this great Father;[41] and be it
+observed, that while, on the one hand, there is a total silence as to the
+local see of Rome, on the other hand, there is in these words a specific
+denial of the present Roman doctrine, that all spiritual jurisdiction
+throughout the whole Church is derived from the see of Rome _alone_. That
+jurisdiction is derived from the see of Rome, and the other Apostolic Sees
+in conjunction, is the truth of the Patriarchal system; that it is derived
+from the see of Rome, as distinct from them, and without them, is the
+exaggeration of the Papal system.
+
+I may remark here, that St. Leo the Great does apply these passages both to
+St. Peter personally, as distinct from the other Apostles, and to the Roman
+Pontiffs, as his successors, distinct from all other Bishops. St.
+Augustin's different application is the more remarkable.
+
+The strongest expressions respecting the power of the Roman see, which I
+have been able to find in the works of St. Augustin, are contained not in
+his proper works, but in two letters of Pope St. Innocent, written in
+answer to the synodical letters of the Council of Milevi,--"who thought fit
+likewise to communicate their judgment to the Pope St. Innocent in order to
+join the Apostolical authority to their own."[42] Their own words
+are,--"What we have done, Sir and Brother, we have thought good to intimate
+to your holy charity, that the authority of the Apostolical See may also be
+added to what we, in our mediocrity, have ordered, to protect the salvation
+of many, and also to correct the perversity of some."[43] They were writing
+concerning a point nearly touching the common faith, _i.e._, in
+condemnation of Pelagius. The Pope in his answer, praises them,
+that--"Guarding, according to the duty of priests, the institutions of the
+Fathers, ye resolve that those regulations should not be trodden under
+foot, which they with no human but Divine voice decreed: viz., that
+whatever was being carried on, although in the most distant and remote
+provinces, should not be terminated before it was brought to the knowledge
+of this see: by the full authority of which the just sentence should be
+confirmed, and that thence all other churches might derive what they should
+order; whom they should absolve; whom, as being bemired with ineffaceable
+pollution, the stream, that is worthy only of pure bodies, should avoid; so
+that as from their parent source all waters should flow, and through the
+different regions of the whole world the pure streams of the fountain well
+forth uncorrupted."[44] And in like manner to the Bishops of Numidia, at
+the same Council. "Ye do, therefore, diligently and becomingly consult the
+secrets of the Apostolical honour, (that honour, I mean, on which beside
+those things that are without, the care of all the Churches awaits,) as to
+what judgment is to be passed on doubtful matters, following in sooth the
+direction of the ancient rule, which you know, as well as I, has ever been
+observed in the whole world. But this I pass by, for I am sure your
+prudence is aware of it: for how could you by your actions have confirmed
+this, save as knowing that throughout all provinces answers are ever
+emanating as from the Apostolic fountain to inquirers? Especially, so often
+as a matter of faith is under inquiry, I conceive that all our brethren and
+fellow-Bishops ought not to refer, save to Peter, that is, the source of
+their own name and honour, just as your affection hath now referred, for
+what may benefit all Churches in common, throughout the whole world. For
+the inventors of evils must necessarily become more cautious, when they see
+that at the reference of a double synod they have been severed from
+ecclesiastical communion by our sentence."[45]
+
+There is certainly an indefiniteness about these expressions, which may be
+made to embrace anything; but they do not fairly mean more than that
+supervision of the faith which belonged to the office of the first of the
+Patriarchs. Moreover, they come from a Pope; in St. Augustin's mouth, they
+would have much more force. They show us, besides, what a tendency there
+was in the power of the Patriarch continually to increase, as being the
+centre of appeal to so many, not only Bishops, but Metropolitans. Nay, at
+this very time, within less than a century, a rival power had grown up in
+the East, in the See of Constantinople, which, from a simple bishopric,
+under the Exarch of Heraclea, threatened to push aside the Patriarchs of
+Alexandria and Antioch; and, by virtue of the Imperial residence at, or
+near Constantinople, to exercise as great an influence through the whole
+East, as Rome did in the West. If this happened where there was no
+Apostolic See to build upon, but simply the privileges of the royal city,
+how much more in the case of Rome, which stood alone in the West the single
+object of common reverence; "since it is well known," says this same Pope
+Innocent, "that there were no churches founded by any one, either in Italy,
+the Gauls, Spain, Africa, Sicily, or in the adjacent islands, unless by
+those whom the Apostle St. Peter, or his successors, had appointed
+Bishops."[46] So that the Pope, on the Patriarchal theory, was the common
+father of the whole West.
+
+In the latter years of St. Augustin's life, the important question of
+appeals from African Bishops to Rome was settled. Apiarius, a priest, had
+been excommunicated by his Bishop, and appealed to the Pope. The Bishops of
+Africa would not agree to the Pope's claim, that the causes of clergy,
+condemned by their own Bishop, should be brought before the neighbouring
+Bishops; nor that Bishops should appeal to Rome. The Pope alleged the
+Canons of Nicea, (not, be it observed, an inherent power in his see to
+judge Bishops;) the Bishops of Africa said they could not find those Canons
+in the copies which they had. They agreed, however, to be thus treated,
+provisionally, for a short time, till they were better informed of the
+decrees of Nicea. It turned out that, by the Canons of Nicea, the Pope
+meant those of Sardica, to which the African Bishops refused obedience. The
+end of this was, that Pope St. Coelestine restored Apiarius to communion,
+and sent him back to Africa, with Faustinus, his Legate. "At his arrival,
+the Bishops of Africa assembled a Council, in which Aurelius, of Carthage,
+and Valentine, Primate of Numidia, presided. Thirteen more are named, but
+the name of St. Augustin does not appear among them. This Council having
+examined the affair of Apiarius, found him charged with so many crimes,
+that it was impossible for Faustinus to defend him, though he acted the
+part rather of an advocate than of a judge, and violated all right in the
+opposition he maintained against the whole Council, under pretence of
+supporting the privileges of the Church of Rome. For he wanted Apiarius to
+be received to the communion of the Bishops of Africa, because the Pope had
+restored him to it, believing that he had appealed, though he could not
+prove even the fact of his appeal. After a debate of three days, Apiarius
+at last, stung with remorse, and moved by God, confessed, on a sudden, all
+the crimes of which he had been accused, which were so infamous and
+incredible as to draw groans from the whole Council; after which he was for
+ever deprived of all ecclesiastical administration.
+
+"The Bishops wrote a synodical letter to Pope Coelestine, in which they
+conjure him, for the future, not to receive to his communion those who have
+been excommunicated by them; since this was a point ruled by the Nicene
+Council. For, they added, if this be forbidden with respect to the minor
+Clergy, or Laymen, how much more did the Council intend its observance in
+respect to Bishops? Those, therefore, who are interdicted from communion in
+their own provinces, ought not to be restored by your Holiness too hastily,
+and in opposition to the rules; and you ought to reject the Priests, and
+other Clergy, who are so rash as to have recourse to you. For no ordinance
+of our fathers has deprived the Church of Africa of this authority, and the
+decrees of the Nicene Council have subjected the Bishops themselves to
+their respective Metropolitans. _They have ordained with great wisdom and
+justice, that all matters should be terminated in the places when they
+arise; and did not think that the grace of the Holy Ghost would be wanting
+in any province to bestow on its Bishops the knowledge and strength
+necessary for their decisions; especially, since whosoever thinks himself
+wronged, may appeal to the Council of his province, or even to a General
+Council, unless it be imagined that God can inspire a single individual
+with justice, and refuse it to an innumerable multitude of assembled
+Bishops. And how shall we be able to rely on a sentence passed beyond the
+sea, since it will not be possible to send thither the necessary witnesses,
+whether from the weakness of sex, or of advanced age, or any other
+impediment? For that your Holiness should send any one on your part we can
+find ordained by no Council._"
+
+"With regard to what you have sent us by our brother, Faustinus, as being
+contained in the Nicene Council, we find nothing of the kind in the more
+authentic copies of that Council, which we have received from our brother,
+the Bishop of Alexandria, and the venerable Atticus, of Constantinople, and
+which we formerly sent to Boniface, your predecessor, of happy memory. For
+the rest, whoever desires you to delegate any of your clergy to execute
+your orders, we beseech you not to comply, lest it seem that we are
+introducing the pride of secular dominion into the Church of Christ, which
+ought to exhibit to all men an example of simplicity and humility. For as
+to our brother Faustinus, since the wretched Apiarius is cut off from the
+Church, we depend confidently on your goodness, that, without violating
+brotherly charity, Africa shall be no longer forced to endure him. Such is
+the letter of the Council of Africa to Pope St. Coelestine."[47]
+
+I confess it was not without astonishment that I first read this passage of
+history; so exactly had the African Bishops, in 426, when the greatest
+father of the Church was one of them, anticipated and pleaded the cause of
+the English Church, in 1534. It is precisely the same claim made in both
+instances, viz. that these two laws should be observed, on which the
+stability of the government of the whole Church Catholic rests; as
+Thomassin remarks:--first, that the action of the Bishop in his own
+diocese, in matters proper to that diocese, should not be interfered with;
+secondly, that the action of the Metropolitan with his Suffragans, in
+matters belonging to his province, should be left equally free. Who ever
+accused the African Bishops, and St. Augustin, of schism, for maintaining a
+right which had come down to them from all antiquity, was possessed and
+acted on all over the Church, was specifically enacted at the greatest
+Ecumenical Council, and recognised in every provincial Council held up to
+that time? This was all that the Church of England claimed; she based her
+claim on the unvarying practice of the whole Church during, at least, the
+first six centuries. We repeat, it is not a case of doubt, of conflicting
+testimony, in words elsewhere quoted, "of Popes against Popes, Councils
+against Councils, some Fathers against others, the same Fathers against
+themselves; a consent of Fathers of one age against a consent of Fathers of
+another age, the Church of one age against the Church of another age."[48]
+It is the Church of the Martyrs, the Church of the Fathers, of Athanasius,
+Basil, Gregory, and Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustin, and Gregory the
+Great, bearing one unbiassed indisputable witness, attested in a hundred
+Councils, denied in none, for the Patriarchal system, and against a power
+assumed by one Bishop, though the greatest, most venerable, and most
+illustrious in his own see, to interfere, dispense with, suspend, or
+abrogate, the authority of the Bishop in his Diocese, and of the
+Metropolitan in his Council; to exercise singly, by himself, powers which
+belong only to an Ecumenical Council, and to annul the enactments of at
+least the first four Ecumenical Councils. Had an advocate been instructed
+to draw out the abstract case of the English Church, he could not have
+described it more exactly than the African Bishops in stating their own.
+True, indeed, it is, that the African Bishops were maintaining a right
+which not only had never been interrupted, but was universal; while the
+English Bishops resumed a power which had been surrendered, not only by
+them, but by all the west of Europe, for many hundred years. Accordingly,
+the African Bishops did not suffer even a temporary suspension of communion
+with Rome, for having both condemned afresh Apiarius, whom the Pope had
+restored, and explicitly refused permission to the Pope to interfere in the
+ordinary government of their dioceses; while the English Church has ever
+since been accused of schism by the rest of the Latin communion. This
+decision of the African Bishops, in the year 426, is a proof that the Canon
+of the Council of Sardica, conferring, in certain cases, the power of
+ordering a cause to be reheard on the Pope, and the most favourable to his
+authority of any Canon of an ancient Council, was yet not received even
+throughout all the West.
+
+In the year 402, St. Augustin wrote a letter to the Catholics, commonly
+called his treatise "on the Unity of the Church." The bearing of this book
+on the controversy respecting schism between ourselves and the Roman
+Catholics is very remarkable. The Saint refers triumphantly to most express
+passages from the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, our Lord's own teaching,
+and that of His Apostles, bearing witness to the catholicity of the Church,
+an "Ecclesia toto terrarum orbe diffusa." He challenges his adversaries,
+the Donatists, to produce a single passage, which either restricted the
+Church to the confines of Africa, or declared that it would perish from the
+rest of the world, and be restored out of Africa. His test seems decisive
+against the Donatists, and against all those who in after times have
+restricted the Church to one province, or have declared the Roman Church to
+be so corrupt that it is not a part of the true Church. For if it be not,
+then the promises of Christ have failed. But while it annihilates the
+position of the Donatists, and of the Puritan or Evangelical faction in
+these present times, it leaves unassailed that of Andrewes and Ken. St.
+Augustin every where appeals to the Church spread throughout the whole
+world, as being, by virtue of that fact, the one communion in which alone
+there was salvation, and this upon the testimony of the Holy Scriptures
+only. "To salvation itself, and eternal life, no one arrives, save he who
+has Christ for his head. But no one can have Christ for his head, except he
+be in His Body, which is the Church, which like the Head itself we ought to
+recognise in the Holy Canonical Scriptures, nor to seek after it in the
+various reports, opinions, doings, sayings, and sights of men."[49] But in
+the whole book there is not one word about the Roman see, or the necessity
+of communion with it, save as it forms part of the one universal Church. It
+is not named by itself any more than Alexandria, or Antioch. Any one will
+see the force of this fact who has but looked into the writings of late
+Roman Catholic authors. He will see how unwearied they are in setting forth
+the necessity of the action of the Roman see; how they consider it, and
+rightly, the centre of their system; how they are ever crying, "Without the
+sovereign pontiff there is no true Christianity."--_De Maistre._ The
+contrast in St. Augustin is the more remarkable. The creed of the Council
+of Trent says, "I acknowledge one holy, catholic, and apostolic Roman
+Church, the mother and mistress of all Churches: and I promise and vow true
+obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of the blessed Peter, Prince of
+the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ." This is distinct and unambiguous:
+just as much so is St. Augustin's "orbis terrarum." "For this the whole
+world says to them (the Donatists,) an argument most briefly stated, but
+most powerful by its truth. The case is, the African Bishops had a contest
+between themselves; if they could not arrange between themselves the
+dissension which had arisen, so that the wrong side should either be
+reduced to concord, or deprived, and they who had the good cause remain in
+the communion of the whole world through the bond of unity, there was
+certainly this resource left, that the Bishops beyond the sea, where the
+largest part of the Catholic Church is spread, should judge concerning the
+dissensions of their African colleagues,"[50] &c. No doubt the Bishop of
+Rome was one, and the most eminent of these Bishops beyond the sea; but St.
+Augustin refers the decision of the Donatist controversy not to him
+specially, but to the Bishops generally. This is the very principle, for
+which the Eastern Church for a thousand years, and the English Church for
+three hundred, have contended against the Church of Rome. I know not
+whether what St. Augustin says or what he does not say is strongest against
+the present Roman claim; but I think his _silence_ in his book "De Unitate
+Ecclesiae" absolutely convincing to any candid mind. Let us hold for an
+infallible truth his dogma, "Securus judicat orbis terrarum;" but the Latin
+communion is not the "orbis terrarum." In truth, the papal supremacy at
+once cut the Church in half; the West, where the Pope's was the only
+apostolical see, unanimously held with him; the East, with its four
+patriarchs, as unanimously refused his claim, as a new thing which they had
+never received. Even De Maistre observes, (Liv. 4. ch. 4,) "It is very
+essential to observe that never was there a question about dogmas between
+us at the beginning of the great and fatal division."
+
+Again, St. Augustin has five sermons on the day of the Apostles Peter and
+Paul; he enlarges, as we might expect, on their labours and martyrdom; on
+the wonderful change of life which grace produced in them, the one thrice
+denying, and then thrice loving; the other, a blasphemer and persecutor,
+and then in labours more abundant than all. He speaks of their being joined
+in their death, the first apostle and the last, in the service and witness
+of Him, who is the First and the Last; of their bodies, with those of other
+martyrs, lying at Rome. But not one allusion is there in all these to the
+Roman Pontiff; not a word as to his being the heir of a power not committed
+to the other Apostles. On the contrary, on the very occasion of St. Peter's
+festival, he does say, "What was commended to Peter,--what was enjoined to
+Peter, not Peter alone, but also the other Apostles heard, held, preserved,
+and most of all the partner of his death and of his day, the Apostle Paul.
+They heard that, and transmitted it for our hearing: we feed you, we are
+fed together with you." "Therefore hath the Lord commended his sheep to us,
+because he commended them to Peter."[51] Thus Peter's commission is viewed
+not as excluding, but including that of all the rest; not as distinguished
+from, but typical of, theirs. Yet at this very time Roman Catholics would
+have us believe that the successor of Peter communicated to all Bishops
+their power to feed the Lord's flock; and that such a wonderful power and
+commission is passed _sub silentio_ by the Fathers.
+
+The very same principles which the Great Voice of the Western Church
+proclaims in Africa, St. Vincent of Lerins repeats from Gaul. Take the
+summary of his famous Commonitorium by Alban Butler. "He layeth down this
+rule, or fundamental principle, in which he found, by a diligent inquiry,
+all Catholic pastors and the ancient Fathers to agree, that such doctrine
+is truly catholic as hath been believed in all places, at all times, and by
+all the faithful. By this test of universality, antiquity, and consent, he
+saith all controverted points in belief must be tried. He sheweth, that
+whilst Novatian, Photinus, Sabellius, Donatus, Arius, Eunomius, Jovinian,
+Pelagius, Coelestius, and Nestorius expound the Divine oracles different
+ways, to avoid the perplexity of errors we must interpret the Holy
+Scriptures by the tradition of the Catholic Church, as the clue to conduct
+us in the truth. For this tradition, derived from the Apostles, manifesteth
+the true meaning of the Holy Scripture, and all novelty in faith is a
+certain mark of heresy; and in religion nothing is more to be dreaded than
+itching ears after new teachers. He saith, 'They who have made bold with
+one article of faith, will proceed on to others; and what will be the
+consequence of this reforming of religion, but only that these refiners
+will never have done, till they have reformed it quite away?' He elegantly
+expatiates on the Divine charge given to the Church, to maintain inviolable
+the sacred depositum of faith. He takes notice that heretics quote the
+Sacred Writings at every word, and that in the works of Paulus Samosatenus,
+Priscillian, Eunomius, Jovinian, and other like pests of Christendom,
+almost every page is painted and laid on thick with Scripture texts, which
+Tertullian also remarks. But in this, saith St. Vincent, heretics are like
+those poisoners or quacks, who put off their destructive potions under
+inscriptions of good drugs, and under the title of infallible cures. They
+imitate the father of lies, who quoted Scripture against the Son of God,
+when he tempted Him. The Saint adds, that if a doubt arise in interpreting
+the meaning of the Scriptures in any point of faith, we must summon in the
+holy Fathers, who have lived and died in the faith and communion of the
+Catholic Church, and by this test we shall prove the false doctrine to be
+novel. For that only must we look upon as indubitably certain and
+unalterable, which all, or the major part of these Fathers have delivered,
+like the harmonious consent of a general council. But if any one among
+them, be he ever so holy, ever so learned, holds any thing besides, or in
+opposition to the rest, that is to be placed in the rank of singular and
+private opinions, and never to be looked upon as the public, general,
+authoritative doctrine of the Church. After a point has been decided in a
+general council, the definition is irrefragable. These general principles,
+by which all heresies are easily confounded, St. Vincent explains with
+equal elegance and perspicuity." "The same rules are laid down by
+Tertullian in his book of Prescriptions, by St. Irenaeus, and other
+Fathers."--_Lives of the Saints_, May. 24.
+
+But not a word is there here of the authority of the See of Rome deciding
+of itself what is, and what is not, error; or of its Communion of itself
+being a touchstone of what is, and what is not, the Catholic Church. These
+are necessary parts of the Papal Supremacy; instead of which St. Vincent
+holds universal consent.
+
+Now let us hear Bossuet speaking of St. Vincent's rule. "These things then
+are understood not by this or by that Doctor, but by all Catholics with one
+voice, that the authority of the Church Catholic agreeing is most certain,
+irrefragable, and perspicuous. Christians must rest on that agreement, as a
+most firm and divine foundation; from whom nothing else is required but
+that in the Apostles' Creed, that believing in the Holy Spirit they also
+believe the holy Catholic Church; and claim for her the most certain
+authority and judgment of the Holy Spirit, by which they are led captive to
+obedience. Which entirely proves that this indefectible power both lies and
+is believed to lie in consent itself; and this clear and manifest voice
+dwells altogether in the agreement of the Churches; in which we see
+clearly, on the testimony of the same Vincent of Lerins, that not a part of
+the Church, but universality itself, is heard: For we follow," saith he,
+"the whole in this way, if we confess that to be the one true faith which
+the whole Church throughout the world confesses." And a little after, "What
+doth the Catholic Christian, if any part hath cut itself off from the
+communion of the universal faith? What surely, but prefer the soundness of
+the whole body to that pestilent and corrupted member?[52]
+
+"Thence floweth unto General Councils that certain and invincible authority
+which we recognise in them. For it is on no other principle that Unity and
+Consent have force in Councils, or in the assembled Church, than because
+they have equal force in the Church spread through the whole world. For the
+Council itself hath force, because it represents the whole Church; nor is
+the Church assembled in order that Unity and Consent may have force, but it
+is therefore assembled, that the Unity which in itself has force in the
+Church, everywhere spread abroad, may be more clearly demonstrated in the
+same Church assembled, by Bishops, the Doctors of the Churches, as being
+the proper witnesses thereunto.
+
+"Hence, therefore, is perceived a double method of recognising Catholic
+truth; the first, from the consent of the Church everywhere spread abroad;
+the second, from the consent of the Church united in Ecumenical or General
+Councils; both which methods I must set forth in detail, to show more
+clearly that this infallible and irresistible authority resides in the
+whole body of the Church."
+
+He then proceeds to show that the type or form of all Ecumenical Councils
+was taken from the first Council held at Jerusalem by the Apostles. He
+notes these particulars: First, there was a great dissension, the cause of
+it: then, that the chief Church, in which Peter sat, was then at Jerusalem;
+whence it became a maxim, that Councils should not be regularly held
+without Peter and his Successors and the First Church in which he sits.
+Thirdly, it was as universal as could be. Fourthly, all were assembled
+together. Fifthly, the question was stated, next deliberated on, lastly
+decided by common sentence; which all became rules for future Councils.
+Sixthly, the discussion is thus stated in the Acts, "when there had been
+much disputing." Seventhly, the deliberation is opened by Peter, whence it
+became a custom that the President of the Council should first give
+sentence. Eighthly, Paul and Barnabas give their testimony, in confirmation
+of Peter's sentence; and James expressly begins with Peter's words--"Simon
+hath declared," whence the custom that the rest give their voice at the
+instance of the President. "They do not, however, so proceed as if they
+were altogether bound by the authority of the first sentence, but
+themselves give judgment; and James says, 'I give sentence.' Then he
+proposes what additions seemed good to the principal question, and gives
+sentence also concerning them." Tenthly, "The decree was then drawn up in
+the common name, and adding the authority of the Holy Spirit, 'It seemed
+good unto us being assembled with one accord,' and 'It seemed good to the
+Holy Ghost and to us;' there then lies the force, 'to the Holy Ghost and to
+us:' not, what seemed good to Peter precisely, but, to us; and led by the
+Spirit, not Peter alone, but the unity itself of the holy Council. Whence,
+too, Christ said that concerning the Spirit whom he was about to send: 'But
+when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall teach you all truth:' you,
+saith He, the Pastors of the Churches, and the Masters of the rest. Hence,
+the Spirit is always added to the Church and the holy congregation. 'I
+believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Church, the Catholic Church:' and with
+reason therefore, and carefully was the maxim which we have mentioned laid
+down of old by our Doctors: 'The strength of Councils resides not in the
+Roman Pontiff alone, but chiefly in the Holy Spirit and in the Catholic
+Church.'
+
+"Eleventhly: when the matter had been judged by common sentence, nothing
+was afterwards reconsidered, nor any new dissension left to any one; but
+the decree was carried to the Churches, and the people are taught to keep
+the decrees which were decreed, in the Greek 'judged,' by the Apostles and
+Elders which were at Jerusalem.
+
+"This we Catholics urge with common consent against heretics who decline
+the commands and authority of Councils: which would have no force, unless
+together with the authority we also prove the form, and place the force
+itself of the decree, not in Peter alone, but in Unity, and in the Consent
+of the Apostles and the Pastors of the Church."[53]
+
+In another place he says, 'In ecclesiastical acts we do indeed find that
+the Catholic Church is affirmed by Chief Pontiffs and Councils to be
+represented by Ecumenical Synods, which contain all its virtue and power,
+which we are wont to mean by the word "represent." But this we do not read
+of the Roman Pontiff, as affirmed either by the Pontiffs themselves, or by
+Ecumenical Councils, or any where in Ecclesiastical Acts.[54]
+
+I have been unable to find any testimony of St. Chrysostom to the
+transmission of St. Peter's primacy over the whole Church to the Bishop of
+Rome. He has, however, a passage about Rome which is worth transcribing;
+for sometimes, as we have just seen, as much is proved by what is _not_
+said, as by what _is_ said. Speaking then of St. Paul, he writes:--"Rather
+if we listen to him here, we shall surely see him there; if not standing
+near him, yet we shall see him surely shining near to the King's throne,
+where the Cherubim ascribe glory, where the Seraphim spread their wings.
+There with Peter shall we behold Paul--him that is the leader and director
+of the choir of the saints,--and shall enjoy his true love. For if, being
+here, he so loved men, that having the choice "to depart and be with
+Christ," he chose to be here, much more there will he show warmer
+affection. Rome likewise for this do I love, although having reason
+otherwise to praise her, both for her size, and her antiquity, and her
+beauty, and her multitude, and her power, and her wealth, and her victories
+in war. But passing by all these things, for this I count her blessed;
+because, when alive, he (Paul) wrote to them, and loved them so much, and
+went and conversed with them, and there finished his life. Wherefore the
+city is on that account more remarkable than for all other things together,
+and like a great and strong body, it has two shining eyes, the bodies of
+these saints. Not so bright is the heaven when the sun sends forth his
+beams, as is the city of the Romans sending forth everywhere over the world
+these two lights. Thence shall Paul, thence shall Peter, be caught up.
+Think, and tremble, what a sight shall Rome behold, when Paul suddenly
+riseth from that resting-place with Peter, and is carried up to meet the
+Lord. What a rose doth Rome offer to Christ! with what two garlands is that
+city crowned! with what golden fetters is she girdled; what fountains does
+she possess! Therefore do I admire that city; not for the multitude of its
+gold, nor for its columns, nor for its other splendours, but for these the
+pillars of the Church."[55] Had St. Chrysostom felt like a Roman Catholic
+could he have stopped there? Loving Rome for possessing the blessed and
+priceless bodies of the two Apostles, could he have failed to mention the
+sovereignty of the universal Church, which together with his body Peter had
+left enshrined at Rome? Would it not have seemed to him by far the greatest
+marvel at Rome, as it has to a late eloquent partisan, that Providence has
+placed "in the middle of the world, to be there the chief of a religion
+without its like, and of a society spread everywhere, a man without
+defence, an old man who will be the more threatened, the more the increase
+of the Church in the world shall augment the jealousy of princes, and the
+hatred of his enemies."[56] "This vicar of God, this supreme pontiff of the
+Catholic Church, this Father of kings and of nations, this successor of the
+fisherman Peter, he lives, he raises among men his brow, charged with a
+triple crown, and the sacred weight of eighteen centuries; the ambassadors
+of nations are at his court: he sends forth his ministers to every
+creature, and even to places which have not yet a name. When from the
+windows of his palace he gazes abroad, his sight discovers the most
+illustrious horizon in the world, the earth trodden by the Romans, the city
+they had built with the spoils of the universe, the centre of things under
+their two principal forms, matter and spirit: where all nations have
+passed; all glories have come: all cultivated imaginations have at least
+made a pilgrimage from far: Rome, the tomb of Martyrs and Apostles, the
+home of all recollections. And when the Pontiff stretches forth his arms to
+bless it, together with the world which is inseparable from it, he can bear
+a witness to himself which no sovereign shall ever bear, that he has
+neither built nor conquered, nor received his city, but that he is its
+inmost and enduring life, that he is in it like the blood in the heart of
+man, and that right can go no further than this, a continuous generation
+which would make the parricide a suicide." Such feelings as these are what
+any Churchman must habitually entertain, who looks on the Roman Pontiff as
+at once the governing power and the life of the Church. Could, then, St.
+Chrysostom have beheld in Rome the Church's heart, whence her life-blood
+courses over the whole body, and have seen no reason to love her for that?
+or have stated that she was more remarkable for possessing even the bodies
+of the blessed Apostles than for all other things together? What Roman
+Catholic would so speak now? The power of the Roman Pontiff in the Latin
+Communion is actually such, that Lacordaire's words respecting the city of
+Rome apply to the whole Church; to destroy that power would be to destroy
+the Church herself; the parricide would be a suicide. But how can this
+dogma be imposed upon us as necessary to salvation, if St. Augustin, St.
+Chrysostom, and the Church of their day knew it not? or let it be shown us,
+how any men who did know it, could either have written as they write, or
+have been silent as they are silent.
+
+We may sum up St. Augustin's view of the relation of the Roman Pontiff to
+his brother Bishops in his own beautiful words to Pope Boniface: "To sit on
+our watch-towers and guard the flock belongs in common to all of us who
+have episcopal functions, although the hill on which you stand is more
+conspicuous than the rest."[57] My object in these remarks throughout has
+been to show, that a denial of either of these truths is a violation of the
+Church's divine constitution. The Papacy has greatly obscured the essential
+equality of Bishops; its opponents have avenged themselves by explaining
+away the unquestionable Primacy of St. Peter, and its important action on
+the whole Church.
+
+What this Primacy was, and how it was exercised at a most important crisis
+of the Church, I will now endeavour to show. Five years after the decision
+of the African Bishops about appeals, the third Ecumenical Council
+assembled at Ephesus,--and here, as in other cases, I prefer that another
+should speak, and he the most illustrious Prelate of France in modern
+times.[58] "In the third general Council of Ephesus, and in those which
+follow, our whole argument will appear in clearer light, its Acts being in
+our hands; and there existing very many judgments of Roman Pontiffs _on
+matters of faith_, set forth with the whole authority of their see, which
+were afterwards re-considered in general Councils, and only approved after
+examination, than which nothing can be more opposed to the opinion of
+infallibility. And as to the Council of Ephesus, the thing is clear. The
+innovation of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, is known; how, by
+denying to the Virgin Mary the title of 'Mother of God,' he divided into
+two the person of Christ. Pope St. Coelestine, watchful, according to his
+office, over the affairs of the Church, had charged the blessed Cyril,
+Bishop of Alexandria, to send him a certain report of the doctrine of
+Nestorius, already in bad repute. Cyril declares this in his letter to
+Nestorius; and so he writes to Coelestine all the doctrines of Nestorius,
+and sets forth his own: he sends him two letters from himself to Nestorius,
+who likewise, by his own letters and explanations, endeavoured to draw
+Coelestine to his side. Thus the holy Pontiff, having been most fully
+informed by letters from both sides, is thus inquired of by Cyril. 'We have
+not confidently abstained from communion with him (Nestorius) before
+informing you of this; condescend, therefore, to unfold your judgment, that
+we may clearly know whether we ought to communicate with him who cherishes
+such erroneous doctrine.'" And he adds, that his judgment should be written
+to the other Bishops also, "that all with one mind may hold firm in one
+sentence." Here is the Apostolic See manifestly consulted by so great a
+man, presiding over the second, or at least the third, Patriarchal See, and
+its judgment awaited; and nothing remained but that Coelestine, being duly
+consulted, should perform his Apostolic office. But how he did this, the
+acts themselves will speak out.
+
+"And first, he approves of Cyril's letters and doctrine; for he writes to
+him thus: 'We perceive that you hold and maintain all that we hold and
+maintain:' and to Nestorius, 'We have approved, and do approve, the faith
+of the Prelate of the Church of Alexandria:' and he threatens him with
+extremities, "If you preach not that which Cyril preaches.' Nothing could
+be said more marked. Nor does he only approve Cyril's doctrine, but
+disapproves, too, the perverse dogma of Nestorius: 'We have seen,' he says,
+'your letters containing open blasphemy;' and that distinctly, because he
+was unwilling to call the Blessed Virgin 'Mother of God:' and he decrees
+that he should be deprived of the episcopate and communion, unless, within
+ten days from the date of the announcing of the sentence, he openly rejects
+this faithless innovation, which endeavours to separate what Scripture
+joineth together, that is, the Person of Christ. Here is the doctrine of
+Nestorius expressly disapproved, and a sentence of the Roman Pontiff on a
+matter of faith most clearly pronounced under threat of deposition and
+excommunication: then, that nothing be wanting, the holy Pope commits his
+authority to Cyril to carry into execution that sentence, 'associating,' he
+saith to Cyril, 'the authority of our See, and using our person, place, and
+power:' so to Nestorius himself; so to the Clergy of Constantinople; so to
+John of Antioch, then the Bishop of the third or fourth Patriarchal See; so
+to Juvenal, Bishop of the Holy City, whom the Council of Nice had ordered
+to be especially honoured: so he writes to the other Bishops also, that the
+sentence given may be duly and in order made known to all. Cyril proceeds
+to execute his office, and performs all that he had been commanded. He
+promulgates and executes the decrees of Coelestine; declares to Nestorius,
+that after the _ten_ days prescribed and set forth by Coelestine, he would
+have no portion, intercourse, or place with the Priesthood. Nothing
+evidently is wanting to the Apostolical authority being most fully
+exercised; but whether the sentence put forward with such authority, after
+a great dissension had arisen and mention been made of an Ecumenical
+Council, was held to be final, the succeeding acts will demonstrate.
+
+"We have often said--we shall often say--that it is the constitution of the
+Church only in extraordinary cases and dissensions to recur, of necessity,
+to an Ecumenical Council. But in the usual order even the most important
+questions on the faith, when they arise, are terminated by the consent of
+the Church being added to the decree of the Roman Pontiff. This is clearly
+manifest from the cause of Nestorius. We confess plainly that the sentence
+of Coelestine would have been sufficient, as Cyril hoped, to repress the
+new heresy, had not great commotions arisen, and the matter seemed of such
+a nature as to be referred to an Ecumenical Council. But Nestorius, Bishop
+of the royal city, possessed such influence, had deceived men's minds with
+such an appearance of piety, had gained so many Bishops, and enjoyed such
+favour with the younger Theodosius and the great men, that he could easily
+throw everything into commotion; and thus there was need of an Ecumenical
+Council, the question being most important, and the person of the highest
+dignity; because many Bishops, amongst these almost all of the East, that
+is, of the province of Antioch, and the Patriarch John himself, were ill
+disposed to Cyril, and seemed to favour Nestorius; because men's feelings
+were divided, and the whole empire of the East seemed to fluctuate between
+Cyril and Nestorius. Such was the need of an Ecumenical Council.
+
+"To this must be added the prayers of the pious and orthodox; here were
+most pious monks, who had suffered much from Nestorius for the orthodox
+faith, and the expression, 'Mother of God,' supplicating the Emperor 'for a
+sacred and Ecumenical Council to assemble, by the presence of which he
+should unite the most holy Church, bring back the people to one, and
+restore to their place the Priests who preached the pure faith, before that
+impious doctrine (of Nestorius) crept wider.' And again, 'We have asked you
+to call together an Ecumenical Council, which can most fully consolidate
+and restore the tottering.' Here, after the judgment of the Roman Pontiff,
+a firm and complete settling of the tottering state of things is sought for
+by the pious in an Ecumenical Council.
+
+"The Emperor, moved by these and other reasons, wrote to Cyril,--'It is our
+will that the holy doctrine be discussed and examined in a sacred Synod,
+and that be ratified which appeareth agreeable to the right faith, whether
+the wrong party be pardoned by the Fathers or no.'
+
+"Here we see three things: first, after the judgment of St. Coelestine,
+another is still required, that of the Council; secondly, that these two
+things would rest with the Fathers, to judge of doctrine and of persons;
+thirdly, that the judgment of the Council would be decisive and final."
+
+"He adds, 'those who everywhere preside over the priesthood, and through
+whom we ourselves are and shall be professing the truth, must be judges of
+this matter; on whose faith we rest.' See in whose judgment is the final
+and irreversible authority.
+
+"Both the Emperor affirmed, and the Bishops confessed, that this was done
+according to the Ecclesiastical Canons. And so all, and Coelestine himself,
+prepared themselves for the Council. Cyril does no more, though named by
+Coelestine to execute the pontifical decree. Nestorius remained in his
+original rank; the sentence of the universal Council is awaited; and the
+Emperor had expressly decreed, 'that before the assembling and common
+sentence of the most holy Council, no change should be made in any matter
+at all, on any private authority.' Rightly, and in order; for this was
+demanded by the majesty of an universal Council. Wherefore, both Cyril
+obeyed and the Bishops rested. And it was established, that although the
+sentence of the Roman Pontiff on matters of faith, and on persons judged
+for violation of the faith, had been passed and promulged, all was
+suspended, while the authority of the universal Council was awaited. This
+we have seen acted on by the Emperor, acquiesced in by the Bishops and the
+Pope himself. The succeeding acts will declare that it was approved in the
+Ecumenical Council itself.
+
+"Having gone over what preceded the Council, we review the acts of the
+Council itself, and begin with the first course of proceeding. After,
+therefore, the Bishops and Nestorius himself were come to Ephesus, the
+universal Council began, Cyril being president, and representing
+Coelestine, as being appointed by the Pontiff himself to execute his
+sentence. In the first course of proceeding this was done. First, the
+above-mentioned letter of the Emperor was read, that an Ecumenical Council
+should be held, and all proceedings in the mean time be suspended: this
+letter, I say, was read, and placed on the acts, and it was approved by the
+Fathers, that all the decrees of Coelestine in the matter of Nestorius had
+been suspended until the holy Council should give its sentence. You will
+ask if it was the will of the Council merely that the Emperor should be
+allowed to prohibit, in the interim, effect being given to the sentence of
+the Apostolic See. Not so, according to the acts; but rather, by the
+intervention of a General Council's authority, (the convocation of which,
+according to the discipline of those times, was left to the Emperor,) the
+Council itself understood that all proceedings were of course suspended,
+and depended on the sentence of the Council. Wherefore, though the decree
+of the Pontiff had been promulged and notified, and the ten days had long
+been past, Nestorius was held by the Council itself to be a Bishop, and
+called by the name of Most Religious Bishop, and by that name, too, thrice
+cited and summoned to take his seat with the other Bishops in the holy
+Council; for this expression, to take his seat, is distinctly written; and
+it is added, in order to answer to what was charged against him. For it was
+their full purpose that he should recognise, in whatever way, the
+Ecumenical Council, as he would then afterwards be, beyond doubt,
+answerable to it; but he refused to come, and chose to have his doors
+besieged with an armed force, that no one might approach him.
+
+"Thereupon, as the Emperor commanded, and the Canons required, the rule of
+faith was set forth, and the Nicene Creed read, as the standard to which
+all should be referred, and then the letters of Cyril and Nestorius were
+examined in order. The letter of Cyril was first brought before the
+judgment of the Council. That letter, I mean, concerning the faith, to
+Nestorius, so expressly approved by Pope Coelestine, of which he had
+declared to Cyril, 'We see that you hold and maintain all that we hold and
+maintain;' which, by the decree against Nestorius, published to all
+churches, he had approved, and, wished to be considered as a canonical
+monition against Nestorius: that letter, I repeat, was examined, at the
+proposition of Cyril himself, in these words: 'I am persuaded that I have
+in nothing departed from the orthodox faith, or the Nicene Creed; wherefore
+I beseech your Holiness to set forth openly whether I have written this
+correctly, blamelessly, and in accordance with that holy Council.'
+
+"And are there those who say that questions concerning the faith, once
+judged by the Roman Pontiff on his Apostolical authority, are examined in
+general Councils, in order to understand their contents, but not to decide
+on their substance, as being still a matter of question? Let them hear
+Cyril, the President of the Council; let them attend to what he proposes
+for the inquiry of the Council: and though he were conscious of no error in
+himself, yet, not to trust himself, he asked for the sentence of the
+Council in these words: 'whether he had written correctly and blamelessly,
+or not.' This Cyril, the chief of the Council, proposes for their
+consideration. Who ever even heard it whispered, that after a final and
+irreversible judgment of the Church on a matter of faith, any such inquiry
+or question was made? It was never so done, for that would be to doubt
+about the faith itself, when declared and discussed. But this was done
+after the judgment of Pope Coelestine: neither Cyril, nor any one else,
+thought of any other course: that, therefore, was not a final and
+irreversible judgment.
+
+"In answer to this question, the Fathers in order give their
+judgment,--'that the Nicene Creed, and the letter of Cyril in all things
+agree and harmonise.' Here is inquiry and examination, and then judgment.
+The acts speak for themselves: we say not here a word.
+
+"Next that letter of Nestorius was produced, which Coelestine had
+pronounced blasphemous and impious. It is read: then at the instance of
+Cyril it is examined, 'whether this, too, be agreeable to the faith set
+forth by the holy Council of the Nicene Fathers, or not.' It is precisely
+the same form according to which Cyril's letter was examined. The Fathers,
+in order, give judgment that it disagreed from the Nicene Creed, and was,
+therefore, censurable. The letter of Nestorius is disapproved in the same
+manner, by the same rule, by which that of Cyril was approved. Here, twice
+in the same proceeding of the Council of Ephesus, a judgment of the Roman
+Pontiff concerning the Catholic Faith, uttered and published, is
+re-considered. What he had approved and what he had disapproved, is equally
+examined, and, only after examination, confirmed.
+
+"These were the first proceedings of the Council of Ephesus in the matter
+of faith. We proceed to review what concerns the person of Nestorius, in
+the same proceeding. First, the letter of Coelestine to Cyril is read and
+placed on the Acts; that, I mean, in which he gave sentence concerning
+Nestorius: on which sentence, as the Fathers were shortly, after full
+consideration, to pass their judgment, for the present it was only to be
+placed among the Acts. In the letter of Coelestine there was no special
+doctrine: it only contained an approval of Cyril's doctrine and letter, and
+a disapproval of those of Nestorius; concerning which letters of Cyril and
+Nestorius, the judgment of the Holy Council was already past, so that it
+would be superfluous to add anything to them.
+
+"But for the same reason, the other letter of Cyril being read,--that, I
+mean, which executed the sentence of Coelestine,--nothing special was done
+concerning that letter, but it was only ordered to be placed on the Acts.
+
+"After these preliminaries, judgment was to be pronounced on the person of
+Nestorius. Inquiry was made, whether what Coelestine had written to
+Nestorius, and what Cyril had done in execution, had been notified to
+Nestorius; it was certified that it had been notified, and that he had
+remained still in his opinion: and that the days had elapsed, both which
+were first fixed by St. Coelestine, and, afterwards by the Emperor,
+convoking the Council. Next, for accumulation of proof, testimonies of the
+Fathers are compared with the explanations of Nestorius: the huge
+discrepancy shows Nestorius to be an innovator and heretic. A decree is
+made in these words. The holy Council declares,--'Since the most impious
+Nestorius has neither been willing to obey our procedures, nor to admit the
+Bishops deputed by us, we have, necessarily, proceeded to the examination
+of what he has impiously taught: finding, therefore, partly from his own
+letters, partly from his discourses, that he holds and preaches
+impiety,--compelled by the holy Canons, and by the letters of our most holy
+Father, our fellow-minister, Coelestine, Bishop of the Roman Church,--we
+have come to this sentence: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, by this most holy
+Council, declareth Nestorius to be deprived of his dignity."' You see the
+Canons joined with the letters of Coelestine in terms, indeed, of high
+honour, which tend to set forth the majesty of the Apostolic see. You see
+the Council carry out what Coelestine decreed, and thus compelled it comes
+to a painful judgment, but that a new one, and put forth in its own terms
+in the name of Christ; and after, by legitimate inquiry, it was evident
+that all had been done rightly and in order.
+
+"Finally, the sentence pronounced by the Council, is written to the most
+impious Nestorius: 'The holy Council to Nestorius, another Judas: know thou
+hast been deposed by the holy Council. So he, who before the inquiry of the
+holy Council was called the most religious Bishop, after this inquiry, is
+presently set forth as most impious, as another Judas, and as deposed by an
+irrevocable sentence, from his episcopal seat.
+
+"Thus a most weighty matter is completed by the most weighty agreement;
+that same which we have asserted gives validity to everything in the
+Church: and the order of the judgment is plain in itself. That is, sentence
+is put forth by Coelestine; it is suspended by the Convocation of a General
+Council; it is heard and examined; it is corroborated by a new and
+irrevocable judgment, united with the authority of the whole Church. This
+the Fathers declare in their report to the Emperor: 'We have removed
+Nestorius from his see, and canonically deprived him; highly extolling
+Coelestine, Bishop of Great Rome, who before our sentence had condemned the
+heretical doctrines of Nestorius, and had anticipated us in giving judgment
+against him.' This is that unity, this that agreement, which gives
+invincible and irresistible force to ecclesiastical judgments.
+
+"So every thing is in harmony, and our judgment is supported. For in that
+the holy Council approves and executes the judgment of the Apostolical see,
+on a matter of faith and on a person, it does, indeed, recognise the
+legitimate power and primacy of the said see. In that it does not approve
+of its judgment, until after legitimate hearing and renewed inquiry, it
+instructs us that the Roman Pontiff is, indeed, superior to all Bishops,
+but is inferior only to a General Council, even in matters of faith. Which
+was to be proved.
+
+"In the mean time, the Bishops Arcadius and Projectus, and the Presbyter
+Philip, had been chosen by Coelestine to be present at the Council of
+Ephesus, with a special commission from the Apostolic see, and the whole
+Council of the West. So they come from Rome to Ephesus, and appear at the
+holy Council, and here the second procedure commences.
+
+"Wolf, of Louvain, amongst other records of antiquity, has put forth the
+charge of Coelestine to his Legates, and his instructions, as Coelestine
+himself calls them. In these he charged them, to defend the dignity of the
+Apostolic see; 'not to mix themselves with the dissensions of the Bishops,
+whose judges they should be,' in conjunction, that is, with the Council:
+'to confer on proceedings with Cyril, as being faithful.' We shall now
+review what they did, in compliance with these orders: and by this we shall
+easily show that our cause is confirmed.
+
+"First, they bring forward the letter of St. Coelestine to the Council, in
+which the charge committed to his Legates is thus expressed:--'We have
+directed our holy brethren to be present at the proceedings, and to execute
+what we have ordained.' Hence, it is evident, that the Council of Ephesus
+was employed in executing the Apostolical judgment. But of what sort this
+execution is, whether it be, as they will have it, mere obedience, or by a
+legitimate hearing of the Council itself, and then by a certain and
+infallible judgment, the ensuing proceedings will show.
+
+"After reading the letter of Coelestine, the Legates, in pursuance, say to
+the Bishops;--'According to the rule of our common faith, command to be
+completely and finally settled what Coelestine hath had the goodness before
+to lay down and now to remind you of.' This is the advantage of a Council;
+after whose sentence there is no new discussion, or new judgment, but
+merely execution. And this the Legates request to be commanded by the
+Council, in which they recognise that supreme authority.
+
+"Firmus, Bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, answers for the Council;--'The
+Apostolical and holy See of the Bishop Coelestine hath prescribed the
+sentence and rule for the present matter.' The Greek words are, hath first
+set forth the sentence and rule, or type, which expression is afterwards
+rendered, form. We will not quarrel about words; let us hear the same
+Firmus accurately explaining what the thing is:--'We,' says he, 'have
+charged to be executed this form respecting Nestorius, alleging against him
+the Canonical and Apostolic judgment;' that is, in the first procedure, in
+which, after examination and deliberation, we have seen the decree of
+Coelestine confirmed. Thus a general Council executes the sentence of the
+First See, by legitimate hearing and inquiry, and not as a simple
+functionary; but after giving a canonical and apostolical judgment. Let the
+Pope's decree, as is due to the authority of so great a See, be the form,
+the rule; which same, after convocation of a Council, only receives full
+authority from the common judgment.
+
+"It behoved, also, that the Legates, sent to the Council on a special
+mission, should understand whether the proceedings against Nestorius had
+been pursued according to the requisition of the Canons, and due respect to
+the Apostolic See. This we have already often said; wherefore, with reason,
+they require the acts to be communicated, 'that we too,' say they, 'may
+confirm them.' The proceedings themselves will declare what that
+confirmation means.
+
+"After that, at the request of the Legates, the acts against Nestorius were
+given them, they thus report about them at the third procedure:--'We have
+found all things judged canonically, and according to the Church's
+discipline.' Therefore judgments of the Apostolic see are canonically, and,
+according to the Church's discipline, re-considered, after deliberation, in
+a General Council, and judgment passed upon them.
+
+"After the Legates had approved the acts against Nestorius communicated to
+them, they request that all which had been read and done at Ephesus from
+the beginning, should be read afresh in public Session, 'in order,' they
+say, 'that obeying the form of the most holy Pope Coelestine, who hath
+committed this care to us, we may be enabled to confirm the judgment also
+of your Holiness.' After these all had been read afresh, and the Legates
+agreed to them, Cyril proposes to the holy Council, 'That the Legates, by
+their signature, as was customary, should make plain and manifest their
+canonical agreement with the Council.' To this question of Cyril the
+Council thus answers, and decrees that the Legates, by their subscription,
+confirm the acts; by which place, this confirmation, spoken of by the
+Council, is clearly nothing else but to make their assent plain and
+manifest, as Cyril proposed. This true and genuine sense of confirmation we
+have often brought forward, and shall often again; and now congratulate
+ourselves that it is so clearly set before us by the holy Council of
+Ephesus.
+
+"But of what importance it was that the decrees of Ephesus should be
+confirmed by the authority of the Legates of the Apostolic see, as says
+Projectus, one of the Legates, is seen from hence; because, although Cyril,
+having been named the executor of the Pope's sentence, had executed it in
+the Council, yet he had not been expressly delegated to the Council, of
+which Coelestine had yet no thought, when he entrusted Cyril to represent
+him. But Arcadius, Projectus and Philip, being expressly sent by Coelestine
+to the Council, confirmed the acts of the Council, in virtue of their
+special commission, and put forth in clear view by all manner and testimony
+the consent of all Churches with the chief Church, that of Rome.
+
+"Add to this, that the Legates, sent by special commission to the Council
+of Ephesus, bore the sentence, not only of the Apostolic see, but also of
+the whole West, whence the Presbyter Philip, one of the Legates, after all
+had been read afresh, and approved by common consent, thus sums up; 'It is
+then established according to the decree of all Churches, for the Priests
+of the Church, (Eastern and Western,) either by themselves, or by their
+Legates, to take part in this consent of the Priesthood, which was
+pronounced against Nestorius.'
+
+"Hence it is clear how the decrees of the Churches themselves mutually
+confirm each other; for all those things have force of confirmation, which
+declare the consent and unity of all Churches, inasmuch as the strength of
+ecclesiastical decrees itself consists in unity and mutual agreement. So
+that, in putting forth an exposition of the faith, the East and the West,
+and the Apostolic see and Synodical assemblies, mutually confirm each
+other; whence, too, we read that acclamation to Coelestine, in the Council
+of Ephesus:--'To Coelestine, guardian of the faith, (to Coelestine agreeing
+with the Council,) one Coelestine, one Cyril one faith of the Council,'
+(one faith of the whole world.)
+
+"These acclamations, then, of Catholic unity being heard, Philip, the
+Legate, thus answers:--'We return thanks to your holy and venerable
+Council, because, by your holy voices, as holy members, you have joined
+yourselves to a holy head; for your blessedness is not ignorant that the
+blessed Peter is the head of the whole faith, or even of the Apostles.'
+This, therefore, is the supreme authority--the supreme power--that the
+members be joined with each other, and to the Roman Pontiff, as their head.
+Because the force of an ecclesiastical judgment is made invincible by
+consent.
+
+"Finally, Coelestine himself, after the conclusion of the whole matter,
+sends a letter to the holy Council of Ephesus, which he thus begins; 'At
+length we must rejoice at the conclusion of evils.' The learned reader
+understands where he recognises the _conclusion_; that is, after the
+condemnation of Nestorius by the infallible authority of an Ecumenical
+Council, _viz._ of the whole Catholic Church. He proceeds: 'We see, that
+you, with us, have executed this matter so faithfully transacted.' All
+decree, and all execute, that is, by giving a common judgment. Whence
+Coelestine adds, 'We have been informed of a just deposition, and a still
+juster exaltation:' the deposition of Nestorius, begun, indeed, by the
+Roman see, but brought to a conclusion by the sentence of the Council; to a
+full and complete settlement, as we have seen above: the exaltation of
+Maximianus, immediately after the Ephesine decrees substituted in place of
+Nestorius: this is the conclusion of the question. Even Coelestine himself
+recognises this conclusion to lie not in his own examination and judgment,
+but in that of an Ecumenical Council.
+
+"And this was done in that Council in which it is admitted that the
+authority of the Apostolic See was most clearly set forth, not only by
+words, but by deeds, of any since the birth of Christ. At least the Holy
+Council gives credence to Philip uttering these true and magnificent
+encomiums, 'concerning the dignity of the Apostolic See, and Peter the head
+and pillar of the Faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, and by
+Christ's authority administering the keys, who to this very time lives
+ever, and exercises judgment in his successors.' This he says, after having
+seen all the acts of the Council itself, which we have mentioned, so that
+we may indeed understand, that all these privileges of Peter and the
+Apostolic See entirely agree with the decrees of the Council, and the
+judgment entered into afresh, and deliberation upon matter of faith held
+after the Apostolic See."
+
+The letter of Pope Coelestine, received with all honour as that of the
+first Bishop in the world, recognises likewise the authority of his
+brethren. It began thus: "The assembly of Priests is the visible display of
+the presence of the Holy Ghost. He who cannot lie has said, 'Where two or
+three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them:'
+much more will He be present in so large a crowd of holy men; for the
+Council is indeed holy in a peculiar sense,--it claims veneration as the
+representative of that most holy Synod of Apostles which we read of. Their
+Master, whom they were commanded to preach, never forsakes them. It was He
+who taught them, it was He who instructed them, what they should teach
+others; and He has assured the world, that in the person of His Apostles
+they hear him. This charge of teaching has descended equally upon all
+Bishops. We are all engaged in it by an hereditary right; all we, who
+having come in their stead, preach the name of our Lord to all the
+countries of the world, according to what was said to them, 'Go ye and
+teach all nations.' You are to observe, my brethren, that the order we have
+received is a general order, and that He intended that we should all
+execute it, when he charged them with it as a duty devolving equally upon
+all. We ought all to enter into the labours of those whom we have all
+succeeded in dignity."
+
+"Thus Pope Coelestine acknowledged that it was Christ Himself who
+established Bishops in the persons of His Apostles, as the teachers of His
+Church: He places Himself in their rank, and declares that they ought all
+to concur in the preservation of the sacred deposit of Apostolical
+doctrine."[59]
+
+The importance of this testimony will be felt by those who remember that
+Bellarmine specifically denies that the government of the Church resides in
+Bishops generally; and that in this he is at least borne out by the last
+three centuries of Roman practice.
+
+Bossuet proceeds to remark as follows:--"From this doctrine of St.
+Coelestine we draw many conclusions: first, this,--that Bishops in the
+Apostles were appointed teachers by Christ Himself, not at all by Peter, or
+Peter's successors. Nor does a Pontiff, seated in so eminent a place, think
+it unworthy to mix himself with the rest of the Bishops. 'We all,' he says,
+'in the stead of the Apostles preach the name of the Lord: we all have
+succeeded them in honour.' Whence it is the more evident that authority to
+teach was transmitted from Christ, as well to Coelestine himself, as to the
+rest of the Bishops. Hence that the deposit of sacred doctrine is committed
+to all, the defence of which lies with all; and so the faith is to be
+settled by common care and consent; nor will the protection of Christ, the
+true Master, be wanting to the masters of Churches. This Coelestine lays
+down equally respecting himself and all Bishops, successors of the
+Apostles. Then what agrees with it: that as the Apostles, assembled on the
+question concerning legal rites, put forth their sentence as being at once
+that of the Holy Spirit and their own, so too shall it be in other most
+important controversies; and the Council of the Apostles will live again in
+the Councils of Bishops. Which indeed shows us, that authority and the
+settlement of the question lies not in the sentence of Peter alone, or of
+Peter's successors, but in the agreement of all.
+
+"Nor, therefore, does Coelestine infringe on his own privilege in reckoning
+himself with the other successors of the Apostles; for as the other Bishops
+were made successors to the other Apostles, so he, being made by Christ
+successor to Peter their chief, everywhere takes precedence of all by
+authority of Peter, as we read set forth and acted on in the same Council.
+
+"Thus in the third holy General Council, and in those first ages, we both
+prove against heretics, that the power of the Apostolical See everywhere
+takes precedence and leads all, and, what is of the most importance, in the
+name of Peter, and so as instituted by Christ. Not less do we show to
+Catholics, that the final and infallible force of an ecclesiastical
+judgment is seated there, where to the authority of Peter, that is, of the
+Pope, is added the authority and agreement of Bishops also, who are
+throughout the whole world in the stead of Apostles; which alone the Church
+of France demands,"[60]--and, we may add, the Church of England.
+
+Again; compare the spirit of St. Coelestine's words with the spirit that
+dictated the following to De Maistre, whom we might leave alone, if he were
+not the exponent of a theory now in the greatest vogue in the Roman
+Church;--a theory, indeed, which those must accept, who leave us, without
+any chance of modification; for it is not Bossuet's most Catholic doctrine,
+but Bellarmine's, which is acted on and taught now. "I do not affect to
+cast the least doubt upon the infallibility of a general Council. I merely
+say, that it only holds this high privilege from its head, to whom the
+promises have been made. We know well that the gates of hell shall not
+prevail against the Church. But why? On account of Peter, on whom she is
+founded. Take away this foundation, how would she be infallible, since she
+exists no longer? Unless I am deceived, in order to be something, one must
+first exist."[61]
+
+Again: "We see that for two centuries and a half religion has done very
+well without them (General Councils), and I do not think that any one
+thinks of them, in spite of the extraordinary needs of the Church, for
+which the Pope will provide much better than a General Council, if only
+people knew how to avail themselves of his power."[62]
+
+It must not be forgotten that this same Council of Ephesus, which allows
+none but heretics to refuse to the blessed Virgin the title and the honour
+of 'Mother of God,' confirms by its eighth Canon the Episcopal and
+Patriarchal system, and bears the strongest testimony against the Roman. It
+runs thus: "The most beloved of God and our fellow-bishop Rheginus, and
+Zeno and Evagrius, the most religious Bishops of the Province of Cyprus,
+have declared unto us an innovation which has been introduced contrary to
+the laws of the Church, and the Canons of the holy Fathers, and which
+affects the liberty of all. Wherefore since evils which affect the
+community require more attention, inasmuch as they cause greater hurt; and
+especially since the Bishop of Antioch has not so much as followed an
+ancient custom in performing ordinations in Cyprus, as those most religious
+persons who have come to the holy Synod have informed us, by writing and by
+word of mouth; we declare that they who preside over the holy Churches
+which are in Cyprus, shall preserve, without gainsaying or opposition,
+their right of performing by themselves the ordinations of the most
+religious Bishops, according to the Canons of the holy Fathers and the
+ancient custom. The same rule shall be observed in all the other Dioceses,
+and in the Provinces everywhere, so that none of the most religious Bishops
+shall invade any other Province, which has not heretofore from the
+beginning been under the hands of himself or his predecessors. But if any
+one has so invaded a Province and brought it by force under himself, he
+shall restore it, that the Canons of the Fathers may not be transgressed,
+nor the pride of secular dominion be privily introduced under the
+appearance of a sacred office, nor we lose by little the freedom which our
+Lord Jesus Christ, the deliverer of all men, has given us by His own blood.
+The Holy and Ecumenical Synod has therefore decreed, that the rights which
+have heretofore, and from the beginning, belonged to each province, shall
+be preserved to it pure and without restraint, according to the custom
+which has prevailed of old, each metropolitan having permission to take a
+copy of the things now transacted for his own security. But if any one
+shall introduce any regulation contrary to what has been now defined, the
+whole Holy and Ecumenical synod has decreed that it shall be of no
+effect."[63]
+
+It must be allowed that De Maistre has very good reasons for disliking
+General Councils.
+
+Nine years after this Council, St. Leo the Great became Pope, whose long
+and able Pontificate will afford us the best means of judging what the
+legitimate power of the Roman See was, and how it tended to the
+preservation and unity of the whole Church. He lived at an important
+crisis, when the barbarous tribes of the North were about to burst over the
+Empire and the Church; the system of which, had it not been consolidated by
+himself, his immediate predecessors and successors, might have been
+dissolved and broken up into fragments.
+
+I will first show, by a few quotations, that St. Leo had no slight sense of
+his own duty and dignity among his brother Bishops. We will then see how
+his actions, and the way in which they were received by others, supported
+his words.
+
+In a sermon on the anniversary of his consecration, after noticing with
+pleasure the number of Bishops present, he continues, "Nor, as I trust, is
+the most blessed Apostle Peter, in his kind condescendence and faithful
+love, absent from this assembly, nor does he disregard your devotion,
+reverence for whom has drawn you together. And so he at once rejoices at
+your affection, and welcomes the observance of the Lord's Institution in
+those who share his honour; approving that most orderly charity of the
+whole Church, which in Peter's see receives Peter, and slackens not in love
+to so great a shepherd, even in the person of so unworthy an heir." On a
+like occasion,--"Although, then, beloved, our partaking in that gift be a
+great subject for common joy, yet it were a better and more excellent
+course of rejoicing, if ye rest not in the consideration of our humility:
+more profitable and more worthy by far it is to raise the mind's eye unto
+the contemplation of the most blessed Apostle Peter's glory, and to
+celebrate this day chiefly in the honour of him who was watered with
+streams so copious from the very Fountain of all graces, that while nothing
+has passed to others without his participation, yet he received many
+special privileges of his own. The Word made flesh already dwelt in us, and
+Christ had given up Himself whole to restore the race of man. Wisdom had
+left nothing unordered; power left nothing difficult. Elements were
+obeying, spirits ministering, angels serving; it was impossible that
+Mystery could fail of its effect in which the Unity and the Trinity of the
+Godhead Itself was at once working. _And yet out of the whole world, Peter
+alone is chosen to preside over the calling of all the Gentiles, and over
+all the Apostles, and the collected Fathers of the Church: so that though
+there be among the people of God many priests and many shepherds, yet Peter
+rules all by personal commission_ (proprie), _whom Christ also rules by
+sovereign power. Beloved, it is a great and wonderful participation of His
+own power which the Divine condescendance gave to this man: and if He
+willed that other rulers should enjoy ought together with him, yet never
+did He give, save through him, what He denied not to others._ In fine, the
+Lord asks all the Apostles what men think of Him; and they answer in common
+so long as they set forth the doubtfulness of human ignorance. But when
+what the Disciples think is required, he who is first in Apostolic dignity
+is first also in confession of the Lord. And when he had said, 'Thou art
+Christ, the Son of the living God,' Jesus answered him, 'Blessed art thou,
+Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but
+My Father, which is in heaven:' that is, Thou art blessed, because My
+Father hath taught thee; nor opinion which is of the earth deceived thee,
+but heavenly inspiration instructed thee; and not flesh and blood hath
+shown Me to thee, but He, whose only-begotten Son I am. And I, saith He,
+say unto thee, that is, as My Father hath manifested to thee My Godhead, so
+I, too, make known to thee thine own pre-eminence. For thou art Peter; that
+is, whilst I am the immutable Rock, I, the cornerstone, who make both one,
+I, the foundation beside which no one can lay another; _yet thou also art a
+rock, because by My virtue thou art established, so that whatever is Mine
+by sovereign power, is to thee by participation common with Me_. And upon
+this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
+against it: on this strength, saith He, I will build an eternal temple, and
+My Church, which in its height shall reach the heaven, shall rise upon the
+firmness of this faith. This confession the gates of hell shall not
+restrain, nor the chains of death fetter; for that voice is the voice of
+life. And as it raises those who confess it unto heavenly places, so it
+plunges those who deny it into hell. Wherefore it is said to most blessed
+Peter, 'I will give to 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.' The
+privilege of this power did indeed pass to the other Apostles, and the
+order of this decree reached to all the rulers of the Church, but not
+without purpose what is intended for all is put into the hands of one. For
+therefore is this entrusted to Peter singly, because all the rulers of the
+Church are invested with the figure of Peter. The privilege, therefore, of
+Peter remaineth, wheresoever judgment is passed according to his equity.
+Nor can severity or indulgence be excessive, where nothing is bound,
+nothing loosed, save what blessed Peter either bindeth or looseth. But at
+the approach of His passion, which would disturb the firmness of His
+disciples, the Lord saith, 'Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have
+you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy
+faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren, that
+ye enter not into temptation.' The danger from the temptation of fear was
+common to all the Apostles, and they equally needed the help of Divine
+protection, since the devil desired to dismay, to make a wreck of all: and
+yet the Lord takes care of Peter in particular, and asks specially for the
+faith of Peter, as if the state of the rest would be more certain, if the
+mind of their Chief were not overcome. _So then in Peter the strength of
+all is protected, and the help of Divine grace is so ordered, that the
+stability, which through Christ is given to Peter, through Peter is
+conveyed to the Apostles._
+
+"Since, therefore, beloved, we see such a protection divinely granted to
+us, reasonably and justly do we rejoice in the merits and dignity of our
+Chief, rendering thanks to the Eternal King, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
+Christ, for having given so great a power to him whom He made chief of the
+whole Church, that if anything, even in our time, by us be rightly done and
+rightly ordered, it is to be ascribed to his working, to his guidance, unto
+whom it was said,--'And thou, when thou art converted, strengthen thy
+brethren:' and to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, in answer to the
+triple profession of eternal love, thrice said with mystical intent, 'Feed
+My sheep.' And this, beyond a doubt, the pious shepherd doth even now, and
+fulfils the charge of his Lord; strengthening us with his exhortations, and
+not ceasing to pray for us, that we may be overcome by no temptation. But
+if, as we must believe, he everywhere discharges this affectionate
+guardianship to all the people of God, how much more will he condescend to
+grant his help unto us his children, among whom on the sacred couch of his
+blessed repose he resteth in the same flesh in which he ruled. To him,
+therefore, let us ascribe this anniversary day of us his servant, and this
+festival, by whose advocacy we have been thought worthy to share his seat
+itself, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ helping us in all things, Who
+liveth and reigneth with God the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and
+ever." I have before me similar passages in abundance; but these are enough
+to show how far the teaching of St. Leo, as to his own office, agreed with,
+how far went beyond, that of St. Augustin. The combination of the
+Patriarch's, and still more of the universal Primate's, power with that of
+the Bishop, is a nice point. If this be pushed too far, it issues in a
+monarchy; if the other alone be allowed, it converts the one kingdom of
+Jesus Christ into an unlimited number of petty republics. On the one hand
+there is danger pregnant to the high priesthood of the Church; on the other
+hand, to the sacrament of unity. The one-sided development of St. Leo's
+teaching has produced the Papacy, in which the Bishops, who represent the
+Apostles, are no longer the brethren, co-ordinate in authority, but the
+delegates, of St. Peter's successor: but the one-sided development of St.
+Cyprian's teaching has rent into pieces the seamless robe of Christ. Yet
+this need not be so: in the bright days of the Church of Christ it was not
+so. Surely the first six centuries of her existence are not a dream; and
+that beautiful image of St. Augustin not an imagination, but what he saw
+before his eyes: "to sit on our watch-towers, and guard the flock, belongs
+in common to all of us who have episcopal functions, although the hill on
+which you stand is more conspicuous than the rest."
+
+A Pontiff so deeply and religiously impressed with the prerogatives of St.
+Peter's successor was likely to be energetic in discharging his duties. In
+truth we behold St. Leo set on a watch-tower, and directing his gaze over
+the whole Church: over his own West more especially, but over the East too,
+if need be. He can judge Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, as well
+as Eugubium, and is as ready too. Wherever Canons are broken, ancient
+custom disregarded, encroachments attempted, where Bishops are neglectful,
+or Metropolitans tyrannical, where heresy is imputed to Patriarchs, in
+short, wherever a stone in the whole sacred building is being loosened, or
+threatens to fall, there is he at hand to repair and restore, to warn, to
+protect, or to punish. But still they are brethren, they are equals, they
+are fellow-apostles, with whom he has to act, over whom he presides. If
+Peter was reproved by Paul, and yet the glorious Apostles laboured,
+witnessed, fought together, and together rest in Roman earth, then may the
+successors of the Twelve remonstrate with, nay, reprove and resist the
+successor of the Chief of the Twelve. If he is vicar of Christ, so are
+they. We have already seen examples of this, we shall find others, without
+schism.
+
+It had become the custom of the Roman Pontiffs, at least as early as St.
+Damasus, (366--384,) and St. Siricius, (384--398,) to charge some one
+prelate, in each province where their influence extended, to represent the
+Roman Church; to report any infractions of discipline, or innovations on
+the faith; to announce the election and consecration of Bishops. Thus
+Anastasius of Thessalonica presided over the ten Metropolitans of Illyricum
+in Pope Leo's name. The Primate of Arles represented him in southern Gaul;
+and others in Spain; and so on. It is even said that all the Primacies of
+western Europe were in their origin derivations thus made from the Primacy
+of St. Peter. An authority, which was exercised on the whole for the good
+of all, seems to have been generally submitted to by the Bishops of the
+different provinces: doubtless every Bishop felt his hands strengthened in
+his particular diocese, and had an additional security against any
+infraction of his rights by his brethren, when he was able to throw himself
+back on the unbiassed and impartial authority of the Bishop of Rome. An
+authority, however, which in its commencement professed to be the especial
+guardian of the Canons, and to protect and maintain all in their proper
+place, was very liable to abuse, and had an inherent tendency to increase,
+and to absorb the power of the local Bishops and Metropolitans in the
+indefinite pretensions of the Patriarch. We have seen the resistance
+offered to the Pope in the case of the wretched Apiarius by the African
+Church, and now the Church of Gaul furnishes a defender of the rights of
+Metropolitans against Pope Leo in one of the holiest and most apostolical
+of its ancient Bishops.
+
+St. Hilary of Arles, of noble birth, of splendid ability, having in the
+world the highest prospects, was converted to God by the prayers of St.
+Honoratus. Thereupon he sold his large possessions, and bestowed them on
+the poor, and retired to the desert of Lerins. His friend, St. Honoratus,
+was shortly after made Bishop of Arles, but he could not persuade St.
+Hilary to remain there with him. Within three years he died, and St.
+Hilary, who was attending him in his sickness, hastened, as soon as all was
+over, to return to his monastery. But it was in vain: he was pursued,
+brought back by force, and ordained, in spite of himself, Metropolitan of
+the first See in Gaul, at the age of twenty-nine years. At forty-eight he
+died, worn out with the severe labours and ascetic life he had imposed on
+himself. The nineteen years of his episcopate were devoted to the most
+incessant exertions as Bishop and Metropolitan. Unwearied in energy,
+unbounded in charity, gifted with extraordinary eloquence, a severe
+defender of discipline, yet winning others to follow where he was ready to
+go before himself, he becomes the soul of the three or four provinces over
+which the See of Arles then presided. He is connected in some degree with
+ourselves, as having probably held one of the chief places in that great
+council of the Gauls in the year 429, which sent St. Germanus and St. Lupus
+into Britain to resist the Pelagians. He belonged to the same monastery as
+St. Vincent of Lerins, and at the same time. It is certain, also, that he
+was a great friend of St. Germanus, and often conferred with him. On one of
+these occasions great complaints were brought to the two saints against
+Celidonius, Bishop of Besancon, for having formerly married a widow, and
+for having condemned persons to death. St. Hilary judged Celidonius in a
+provincial council, which declared that, having been husband of a widow, he
+could not keep his bishopric, and that he ought voluntarily to quit a
+dignity which the rules of Scripture permitted him not to hold. He was
+accordingly deposed.
+
+"Celidonius,[64] finding himself deposed, had recourse to Rome, where he
+complained that he had been unjustly condemned. It seems that St. Leo,
+without further examination, at once admitted him to his communion, in
+which he may have followed what Zosimus and Coelestinus did in respect of
+the miserable Apiarius, priest of Africa. But I know not what Canon or what
+rule of the Church justifies such a proceeding. St. Hilary learnt this at
+the severest time of winter. Nevertheless, all the discomforts and dangers
+of this season gave way to the ardour of his zeal and faith. He undertook
+to pass the Alps, and to go on foot to Rome; and this he accomplished,
+without having even a horse either to ride or to carry baggage. Being come
+to Rome, he first visited the relics of the Apostles and Martyrs. Next he
+waited on St. Leo; and having paid him the greatest respect, he besought
+him very humbly to please to order what respected the state of the Churches
+according to immemorial practice. Persons were seen attending at Rome on
+the holy altar who had been juridically and justly deposed in Gaul: he was
+obliged to address to him his complaints of this; and, if they were found
+correct, besought the Pope at least to stop by a secret order this
+violation of the Canons. If not, he would not trouble him further, not
+being come to Rome to bring an action, and make accusations, but to pay to
+him his respects, to declare to him the state of things, and to beseech him
+to maintain the rules of discipline. There is reason to believe that St.
+Hilary maintained that St. Leo had no right at all to take cognizance of
+this cause as judge, meaning, doubtless, that the Church of France was in
+the same condition as that of Africa, and had the same power to terminate
+causes which arose there, without an appeal elsewhere being allowed. St.
+Leo even sufficiently assures us that this was St. Hilary's view; and he
+takes occasion from it to accuse him of unwillingness to be subject to St.
+Peter, and to recognise the Primacy of the Roman Church: which would prove
+that all the holy Bishops of Africa did not recognise it, and give heretics
+a great advantage. St. Leo, on the other hand, maintained not only that the
+Churches of the Gauls had often consulted that of Rome in various
+difficulties--which had nothing to do with the matter in question--but,
+also, that they had often appealed to the Holy See, which had either
+altered or confirmed judgments pronounced by them. If we may be allowed to
+regard the depositions of St. Leo and St. Hilary as the claims of different
+parties, and to examine the matter to the bottom, according to the light
+which history sheds on it, we may say that we do not find that the Gallican
+Church had hitherto admitted, up to that time, any appeal to the Holy See;
+and that Zosimus, having wished to claim the right of judging Proculus,
+Bishop of Marseilles, Proculus always maintained himself, in spite of all
+the efforts of this Pope. Meanwhile, as St. Leo, sufficiently jealous of
+the greatness of his See, found himself opposed by St. Hilary in a point of
+this importance, it is not surprising that he was susceptible of the bad
+impression given him of the conduct of this great saint, as we shall see
+hereafter. 'I dare not examine,' says the historian of St. Hilary, 'the
+judgment and the conduct of two men so great, especially now that God has
+called them to the possession of His glory. I confine myself to saying,
+that Hilary singly opposed this great number of adversaries; that he was
+not shaken by their menaces; that he laid the truth before those who would
+listen to it; that he prevailed over those who would dispute with him; that
+he yielded not to the powerful; in short, that he preferred running the
+risk of losing his life to admitting to his communion him whom he had
+deposed together with so many great Bishops.'
+
+"Had St. Leo only required to have the affair reheard in the Gauls,
+agreeably to the Canons of Sardica, the only ones which the Church had
+hitherto made in favour of appeals to the Pope, St. Hilary would, perhaps,
+have consented; that is, if he were better acquainted with this Council
+than they were in Africa. But it is not apparent that such a rehearing was
+mentioned. And as to suffering the matter to be judged at Rome, St. Hilary,
+besides the other reasons which he might have, considered, doubtless, with
+St. Cyprian, that the proofs of the facts on which judgment must be made
+cannot be transported thither. So the Gallican Church has always maintained
+itself in the right, that appeals made to Rome be referred back to the
+spot. Though St. Hilary had protested that he was not come to engage in any
+dispute, nevertheless he did not refuse to take part in a conference, in
+which St. Leo heard him, together with Celidonius. Several Bishops were
+there. Notes were made of all that was said. St. Leo says that St. Hilary
+had nothing reasonable to answer; his passion carried him away to say
+things that a layman would not have dared to utter, and that the Bishops
+could not listen to. He adds that this haughty pride touched him to the
+quick, and that, nevertheless, he had used no other remedy than patience,
+not wishing to sharpen and increase the wounds which this insolent language
+caused in the soul of him who held it: that moreover, having received him
+at first as his brother, he only thought of soothing rather than vexing and
+paining him; and that indeed he did this to himself sufficiently by the
+confusion into which the weakness of his answers threw him. It is clear
+that St. Hilary would not answer on the main point of Celidonius's affair,
+because he maintained that St. Leo could not be judge of it. And we must
+not be surprised that the Romans found much insolence in the inflexible
+firmness with which he maintained it. Doubtless it was this pretended
+insolence which caused him even to be put under guard, which may surprise
+us in the case of a Bishop, and in an affair purely ecclesiastical. Among
+the insolent and rash expressions of which St. Leo in general complains, he
+remarks, in particular, that St. Hilary had often demanded to be condemned,
+if he had condemned Celidonius contrary to the rules of the Canons. He
+wished, then, that we should judge others by the rule which fully justifies
+St. Hilary. The saint, seeing that his reasons were not listened to, would
+not wait St. Leo's sentence. He preferred withdrawing secretly, while this
+affair was still being examined. So he escaped from his guards, and though
+it was still winter, left Rome, and returned to Arles, perhaps in February
+(445): so that when they sought for him to speak further on this matter, it
+was found that he was gone. St. Leo failed not to proceed, reversed the
+judgment delivered against Celidonius, declared him absolved and acquitted
+of the accusation of having married a widow, and restored him to his rank
+of Bishop, which he had already done at first, without having examined the
+affair."
+
+There were other accusations made against St. Hilary, into which we need
+not enter. St. Leo wrote a very severe letter about him to the Bishops of
+Gaul: he accused him "of raising himself against St. Peter, and being
+unwilling to recognise his Primacy, as if all those who believe that a
+successor of St. Peter passes the bounds of the Canons were enemies of the
+Primacy of the Holy See. That would be to arm against the Popes in favour
+of heretics a great number of Fathers, of Saints, and of Councils."[65] The
+result was that he took away from St. Hilary his rights of Metropolitan,
+and conferred them on the Bishop of Vienne, who had claims upon them. But
+this measure was so disliked by the suffragans of Arles, that he restored
+the See of Arles to most of its privileges under Ravennius, the successor
+of St. Hilary. However, this matter had even more important consequences.
+We will let the Roman Catholic historian, as before, describe them. "St.
+Leo apparently feared that the Bishops of the Gauls would not be
+sufficiently submissive to what he had ordered. And though he had made it a
+charge against St. Hilary that he had employed an armed force in affairs of
+the Church, for all that he recurred himself to the imperial power against
+him. He represented him to the Emperor Valentinian the Third as one who
+rebelled both against the authority of the Apostolic See, and the majesty
+of the Empire, and obtained of this prince, who was then at Rome, a
+celebrated rescript, addressed to the Patrician Aetius, general of the
+armies of the Empire, by which, under pretext of maintaining the peace of
+the Church, he forbids undertaking any thing whatever without the authority
+of the Apostolic See, or resisting its orders, which, says he, had always
+been observed inviolably up to Hilarius. He orders all Bishops to hold as
+law all that the authority of the Pope establishes, and all magistrates to
+compel by force to appear before the tribunal of the Bishop of Rome all
+persons cited thither, if they refused to go. It may be seen by what
+happened about this time to Atticus, Metropolitan of Nicopolis, in Epirus,
+how scandalous this employment of force was, and how opposed, according to
+St. Leo himself, to the gentleness of the Church. Valentinian adds, that
+the sentence given by St. Leo against St. Hilary, had no need of any one to
+be executed in the Gauls, since the authority of so great a Pontiff has a
+right to give any order to the Churches. He goes so far as to make it a
+charge against St. Hilary, to have deposed and ordained Bishops without
+consulting the Pope. He even names him a criminal of State on the score of
+his being charged with having employed the force of arms to establish
+Bishops, and to place them on a throne where they had only to preach peace.
+This law is dated the 6th of June, 445, and it is this which fixes the time
+of all this history. It is undoubtedly very proper, as says Baronius, to
+show that the Emperors have greatly contributed to establish the greatness
+and authority of the Popes. This is not the place to make other reflections
+upon it; but we cannot forbear saying that, in the mind of those who have
+any love for the liberty of the Church, and any knowledge of its
+discipline, this law will always as little honour him whom it praises as it
+will injure him whom it condemns. Pope Hilary quotes this law, and avails
+himself of the authority it attributes to the decisions of Rome."[66] It
+would be presumptuous to add a word to the judgment of one who has made the
+first centuries of the Church his especial study. St. Hilary, on his return
+to Arles, made many attempts to reconcile the Pope to him, but all were
+fruitless, as he would not give up the point in dispute. "It seems," says
+Tillemont, "that he continued resolved to do nothing in prejudice of the
+rights he believed to belong to his Church, but that seeing the two great
+powers of Church and State united against him, he remained quiet and
+silent, occupied only in the work of his salvation, and that of his
+people." During the four years he survived, he redoubled his austerities
+and good works: he died in the odour of sanctity; and after his death, "St.
+Leo, though still persuaded that he was a presumptuous spirit, calls him
+'of holy memory.' Yet, we have neither proof nor probability that he had
+restored him to his communion, from which he had cut him off."[67] His name
+occurs in the Roman Martyrology.
+
+Thus an encroachment, which had failed in Africa, succeeded through a
+conjuncture of circumstances, especially the intervention of the civil
+power, in Gaul. Of course it was made the stepping-stone to further
+advances. This one specimen may give us a notion how the lawful power of
+the Patriarch and the recognised pre-eminence of the one Apostolic See of
+the West had a continual tendency to develop, and won, by degrees,
+unlimited control over the original and acknowledged rights of the Bishops
+and Metropolitans. Still, even in the hands of St. Leo, this was merely an
+extraordinary interference. Ravennius, the successor of this very St.
+Hilary, was elected and consecrated by the Bishops of his province, who
+then announced it to Pope Leo, and received a congratulatory answer.[68] He
+says himself to the Bishops of the province of Vienne, "It is not for
+ourselves that we defend the ordinations of your provinces, which perhaps
+Hilarius may, according to his wont, falsely state to you, to render
+disaffected the mind of your Holiness; but it is for you we claim them
+through our solicitude." And again: "Decreeing this, that if any one of our
+brethren in any province die, he who is known to be the Metropolitan of
+that province, should claim to himself the ordination of the Priest."[69]
+
+So long as the election and consecration of Bishops and Metropolitans were
+thus free and canonical, the greatness of the central See could never
+depress and extinguish the essential equality of the Episcopate. Let it be
+remembered that St. Leo, with all his power and influence, consecrated no
+other Bishops than those of Southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, which
+were the bounds of his proper patriarchate; there his authority was direct
+and immediate; but in Africa, the Gauls, Spain, Illyricum, and the West
+generally, it was only properly exercised in matters beyond the range of
+the Bishops and Metropolitans. We suppose it is impossible to define a
+power which was to correct and restore in emergencies. The Bishops of the
+province of Aries afterwards besought Pope Leo to restore the primacy to
+Arles, and render, A.D. 450, this undoubted testimony to the Primacy of the
+Roman Church, and to the connexion between the rights of the Metropolitan
+and the Patriarch:--
+
+"By the Priest of this Church (Arles) it is certain that our predecessors,
+as well as ourselves, have been consecrated to the High Priesthood by the
+gift of the Lord; in which, following antiquity, the predecessors of your
+Holiness confirmed by their published letters this which old custom had
+handed down concerning the privileges of the Church of Arles, (as the
+records of the Apostolical See doubtless prove;) believing it to be full of
+reason and justice, that as through the most blessed Peter, Prince of the
+Apostles, the holy Roman Church holds primacy over all the Churches of the
+whole world, so also within the Gauls the Church of Arles, which had been
+thought worthy to receive for its Priest St. Trophimus, sent by the
+Apostles, should claim the right of ordaining to the High Priesthood."[70]
+
+The view on which St. Leo acted in these proceedings against St. Hilary is
+very plainly set forth in certain of his letters. Thus, "To our most
+beloved Brethren, all the Bishops throughout the province of Vienne, Leo
+Bishop of Rome.... The Lord hath willed that the mystery of this gift (of
+announcing the Gospel) should belong to the office of all the Apostles, on
+the condition of its being chiefly seated in the most blessed Peter, first
+of all the Apostles; and from him, as it were from the head, it is His
+pleasure that His gifts should flow into the whole body, that whoever dares
+to recede from the rock of Peter may know that he has no part in the divine
+mystery. For him hath He assumed into the participation of His indivisible
+unity, and willed that he should be named what He himself is, saying, 'Thou
+art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church:' that the rearing of
+the eternal temple by the wonderful gift of the grace of God might consist
+in the solidity of Peter, strengthening with this firmness His Church, that
+neither the rashness of man might attempt it, nor the gates of hell prevail
+against it."[71] So to his vicar the Bishop of Thessalonica, whom he was
+erecting into an Exarch over the ten Metropolitans of Eastern Illyricum:
+"As my predecessors to your predecessors, so have I, following the example
+of those gone before, committed to your affection my charge of government;
+that you imitating our gentleness might relieve the care _which we in
+virtue of our headship_ (principaliter), _by Divine institution, owe to all
+Churches_, and might, in some degree, discharge our personal visitation to
+provinces far distant from us; since you can readily ascertain, by near and
+convenient inspection, what in every matter you might either by your own
+zeal arrange, or reserve to our judgment." "For we have entrusted your
+affection to represent us on this condition, that you are called to a part
+of our solicitude, but not to the fulness of our power.... But if in a
+matter which you believe fit to be considered and decided on with your
+brethren," (the Bishops of the province,) "their sentence differs from
+yours, let every thing be referred to us on the authority of the Acts, that
+all doubtfulness may be removed, and we may decree what pleaseth God. For
+to this we direct all our solicitude and care, that the unity of mutual
+agreement and the maintenance of discipline be broken by no dissension, nor
+neglected by any slothfulness.... For the compactness of our unity cannot
+remain firm, unless the bond of charity bind us into an inseparable whole;
+because, 'as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the
+same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one
+members one of another.' For it is the joining together which makes one
+soundness, and one beauty in the whole body: and this joining together, as
+it requires unanimity in the whole body, so especially demands concord
+among Priests. For though these have a like dignity, yet have they not an
+equal jurisdiction; (_quibus cum dignitas sit communis, non est tamen ordo
+generalis_;) since even amongst the most blessed Apostles, as there was a
+likeness of honour, so was there a certain distinction of power; and the
+election of all being equal, pre-eminence over the rest was given to one.
+From which type (_forma_) the distinction between Bishops also has arisen,
+and it was provided by an important arrangement that all should not claim
+to themselves power over all, but that in every province there should be
+one, whose sentence should be considered the first among his brethren; and
+others again seated in the greater cities should undertake a larger care,
+through whom the direction of the Universal Church should converge to the
+one See of Peter, and nothing anywhere disagree from its head."[72]
+
+I think it fair to admit that the germ of something very like the present
+papal system, without, however, such a wonderful concentration and
+absorption of all power, is discernible in these words. I shall give
+further on, Bossuet's interpretation of their most remarkable expression.
+But it is also certain that such is not the view of the Church's government
+set before us by St. Cyprian, St. Augustin, St. Vincent of Lerins, and the
+Fathers generally, nor the one supported by the acts of the ancient Church.
+There is a very distinct tone in the teaching and acts of St. Leo, and the
+other Popes generally, from that of the contemporary Bishops and Fathers
+who had not succeeded to St. Peter's own see. It consists in dwelling on
+the Primacy so strongly, as quite to throw out of view the apostolic powers
+of other Bishops; whereas these latter dwell upon the apostolic powers of
+the episcopate generally; and, while they admit St. Peter's Primacy and
+that of the Roman see, place the government of the Church in the harmonious
+agreement of all. St. Leo's view, rigorously carried out, as it has been by
+the later Roman Church, substitutes St. Peter singly, for St. Peter and his
+brethren; and this usurpation, I repeat, we have to admit afresh, or else
+be accounted heretics and schismatics.
+
+Now, as to the government of which St. Leo had the ideal before him, I must
+first remark that it was _new_. He says himself to the Bishop of
+Thessalonica: "The government of Churches in Illyricum, which we commit in
+our stead to your affection, following the example of Siricius of blessed
+memory, who to your predecessor Anysius of holy memory _then first
+committed with a certain charge_ the supporting of the Churches of that
+province, which he desired to be maintained in discipline."[73] That is, it
+was scarcely sixty years since Pope Siricius had selected the Bishop of the
+Metropolis to keep a watch over the maintenance of the canons. And now Pope
+Leo was already requiring the Metropolitans to consecrate no Bishop without
+first consulting the Bishop of Thessalonica as his vicar.
+
+Secondly, this proceeding on the part of the Popes was not submitted to
+generally, even throughout the West. The "Codex Ecclesiae Africanae" is
+full of prohibitions against even appealing to "Bishops beyond the sea,"
+_i.e._ the Pope. In St. Augustin's time, as we have seen, they positively
+forbad the Pope's interference with their internal government, and only
+submitted to it after they had been enfeebled by the irruption of the
+Vandals.
+
+Thirdly, this power was set up very much indeed by help of the imperial
+authority. The process, in fact, of centralizing in the Church, ran
+completely parallel with that in the State. The law of Valentinian, above
+mentioned, is a strong proof of this. Of course the object of the emperors
+was to control the action of the Church through one Bishop made the chief.
+But it is somewhat remarkable that that Church which maintains a standing
+protest against the interference of the State with spiritual matters, (a
+protest for which she is worthy of all respect and admiration,) should owe
+to the support of the State, in different periods of her history, very much
+more of her power than any other Church. It may be that God rewards the
+fearless maintenance of spiritual rights by the grant of that very temporal
+power which threatens them with destruction.
+
+Now as we have had St. Jerome in a noted place appealing to Rome, and
+acknowledging her primacy, let us take another passage of his which, I
+think, implicitly denies St. Leo's view. Arguing then against the pride of
+the Roman deacons, in which city, as they were only seven in number, the
+office was in higher estimation than even the priesthood, which was
+numerous, he observes, "Nor is the Church of the Roman city to be
+considered one, and that of the whole world another. Both the Gauls, and
+the Britains, and Africa, and Persia, and the East, and India, and all
+barbarous nations, adore one Christ, observe one rule of truth. If you
+require authority, _the world is greater than the city_. Wherever a bishop
+is, be it at Rome, or Eugubium, or Constantinople, or Rhegium, or
+Alexandria, or Tanae, he is of the same rank, the same priesthood. The
+power of riches, and the humility of poverty, make a bishop neither higher
+nor lower. But all are successors of the Apostles. But you say, how is it
+that at Rome a priest is ordained upon the testimony of a deacon? Why
+allege to me _the custom of a single city_? Why defend against the laws of
+the Church a fewness of number, which is the source of their pride?"[74]
+The very force of St. Leo's view lies in the exact contradictory of St.
+Jerome's words: viz. _the city is greater than the world_, and this alone
+justifies and bears out the present claim of the Roman see, and its
+attitude both to those within, and to those without, its pale.
+
+But fourthly, had this government, as imaged out by St. Leo, been submitted
+to not only in Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Illyricum, but throughout the West
+generally, all this would still be nothing for its catholicity, and
+therefore its binding effect, unless it had been allowed by the East. Now
+we have the strongest proof that it never was so allowed. This
+interference, and much more, the centralization pointed at, as it never
+would have been tolerated, so neither was it attempted, in the
+patriarchates of the East. There was far less danger of the patriarchal
+power becoming excessive, when it was possessed by five, who were a check
+to each other. St. Leo's influence and authority in the West were balanced
+by the exercise of like influence and authority in the East, originally by
+the sees of Alexandria and Antioch, and at this and later times still more
+by that of Constantinople. And though throughout the East the Bishop of
+Rome was reckoned the first of these in rank, yet the Easterns were
+governed entirely by their own Patriarchs. So far from there being any
+authority delegated by Rome to the Eastern Patriarchs, there was no appeal
+from them to Rome, that is to say, in a matter belonging to their
+particular government; for as to the general faith of the Church, in any
+peculiar emergency or violation of the usual order of procedure, there was
+an appeal, if not lawful, at least exercised, to any of the Patriarchs.
+Thus Theodoret of Cyrus, unjustly deposed by Dioscorus of Alexandria in the
+Latrocinium of Ephesus, flies "to the Apostolic throne" of St. Leo; "for in
+all things it is becoming that you should have the primacy. For your throne
+is adorned with many advantages. It has the sepulchres of our common
+Fathers and teachers of the truth, Peter and Paul. These have made your
+throne exceedingly illustrious. This is the height of your blessings."[75]
+Though a supplicant, he addresses him only as first Bishop of the Church,
+not as monarch. It is a virtual denial of the present Papal authority,
+because a silence, where it would have been put forward, had it been known.
+So the heretic Eutyches, before the council of his own Patriarch, "when his
+deposition was read, appealed to the holy synod of the most holy Bishop of
+Rome, and Alexandria, and Jerusalem, and Thessalonica."[76] Thus St.
+Isidore of Spain, in the sixth century, says: "The order of Bishops is
+fourfold; that is, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Metropolitans, and Bishops. In
+Greek a Patriarch is called the first of the Fathers, because he holds the
+first, that is, the Apostolic place, and therefore, because he holds the
+highest rank, he has such an appellation, as the Roman, the Antiochene, and
+the Alexandrine."[77] Accordingly Gieseler says, "At the end of this
+period," (A.D. 451,) the four Patriarchs of the East "were held in their
+patriarchates for ecclesiastical centres, to which the other Bishops had to
+attach themselves for maintenance of ecclesiastical unity; and in
+conjunction with their patriarchal synod they formed the highest tribunal
+of appeal in all ecclesiastical matters of the patriarchate; whilst, on the
+other hand, they were treated as the highest representatives of the Church,
+who, through mutual communication with each other, were to maintain the
+unity of the universal Church, and without whose concurrence no decrees
+concerning the whole Church could be made."[78]
+
+But no more certain proof of the independence of the Eastern Church can be
+given than the Synodical Epistle of the Council of Constantinople to the
+Pope and the Western Bishops. This was a Synod of purely Eastern Bishops,
+held in 381, which afterwards, by the consent of the Western Church, became
+Ecumenical. This Council "arranged, without any reference to the West, the
+affairs of the Oriental Church, and was even quite openly on the side of
+the party of Meletius, rejected by the Westerns; just so the interference
+attempted by the Italian Bishops in the matter of Maximus, the
+counter-Bishop of Constantinople, remained quite disregarded."[79] They
+write thus: "To our most honoured Lords and pious brethren and
+fellow-ministers, Damasus," of Rome, "Ambrosius," of Milan, "Britton,
+Valerianus, Ascholius, Anemius, Basilius, and the other holy Bishops
+assembled in the great city of Rome, the holy Synod of orthodox Bishops
+assembled in the great city of Constantinople greeting in the Lord."[80]
+Then after informing them what they had decreed concerning the highest
+matters of the faith, they go on--"But as to the management of particular
+matters in the Churches, both an ancient fundamental principle, ([Greek:
+thesmos],) as ye know, hath prevailed, and the rule of the holy Fathers at
+Nicea, that in each province those of the province," _i.e._ the Bishops,
+"and if they be willing, their neighbours also, should make the elections
+according as they judge meet. In accordance with which know ye both that
+the rest of the Churches are administered by us, and that Priests of the
+most distinguished Churches have been appointed. Whence in the, so to say,
+newly-founded Church of Constantinople, which by the mercy of God we have
+snatched as it were out of the jaws of the lion, from subjection to the
+blasphemy of the heretics, we have elected Bishop the most reverend and
+pious Nectarius, in an Ecumenical[81] Council, with common agreement, in
+the sight both of the most religious emperor Theodosius, and with the
+consent of all the Clergy and the whole city. And those," the Bishops,
+"both of the province and of the diocese[82] of the East, being canonically
+assembled, the whole accordant Church as with one voice honouring the man,
+have elected the most reverend and religious Bishop Flavian to the most
+ancient and truly apostolical Church of Antioch in Syria, where first the
+venerable name of Christian became known: which legitimate election the
+whole Synod hath received." (And this notwithstanding the Bishop Paulinus,
+who was received by Rome and the West, had survived St. Meletius, and was
+then alive. So that they would not, even when such an opportunity occurred,
+accept the Bishop in communion with Rome--a fact on the one side, which I
+suppose may weigh against those words of St. Jerome on the other, "I know
+not Vitalis; Meletius I reject; I am ignorant of Paulinus." Quoted, p. 26.
+It seems that though the test of communion with Rome satisfied St. Jerome,
+it did not satisfy an Ecumenical Council.) "But of the Church in Jerusalem,
+_the mother of all Churches_, we declare that the most reverend and
+religious Cyril is Bishop, both as long since canonically elected by those
+of his province, and as having struggled much against the Arians in
+different places. Whom, as being lawfully and canonically established by
+us, we invite your piety also to congratulate, through spiritual love, and
+the fear of the Lord, which represses all human affection, and accounts the
+edification of the Churches more precious than sympathy with, or favour of,
+individuals. For thus, by agreement in the word of faith, and by the
+establishment of Christian love in us, we shall cease to say what the
+Apostle has condemned--I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas. For
+all being shown to be Christ's, who in us is not divided, by the help of
+God we shall keep the body of the Church unrent, and shall stand with
+confidence before the tribunal of the Lord."
+
+Here is the whole East, in the year 381, long before the schism, announcing
+to the Bishops of Rome, Milan, Aquilea, and the West, the election of its
+Patriarchs, and exercising as an ancient incontestable right that liberty
+of self-government, according to the canons, for continuing to do which
+very thing, and for nothing else, the Latin Church accounts both the Greek
+and English Church schismatic. Now the Eastern Church, as its own rituals
+to this day declare, always acknowledged St. Peter's primacy, and that his
+primacy was inherited by the Bishop of Rome; but it is apparent at once
+that it never received, nay most strongly abhorred, that system of
+centralization of all power in Rome, which St. Leo seems to have had before
+his eyes. Its most holy and illustrious Fathers never submitted to this
+domination. St. Basil had already complained of the Western pride, ([Greek:
+dutike ophrus].)[83] St. Gregory of Nazianzum is that very Archbishop by
+whose voluntary cession and advice Nectarius is elected. St. Gregory of
+Nyssa, and Peter, brothers of St. Basil, are in this council, and so St.
+Cyril of Jerusalem. And yet Bellarmine will have it that Bishops who so
+wrote and so acted received their jurisdiction from Rome; and what is far
+more important, if they did not, the present Papal theory falls to the
+ground.
+
+When Gieseler speaks of "the principle of the mutual independence of the
+Western and Eastern Church being firmly held in the East generally,"[84] of
+course it must be understood that there can be no independence, strictly so
+called, in the Church and Body of Christ. Independence annihilates
+membership and coherence. Accordingly, I am fully prepared to admit that
+the Primacy of the Roman See, even among the Patriarchs, was a real thing;
+not a mere title of honour. The power of the First See was really exerted
+in difficult conjunctures to keep the whole body together. I am quite aware
+that the Bishop of Rome could do, what the Bishop of Alexandria, or of
+Antioch, or of Constantinople, or of Jerusalem, could not do. Even merely
+as standing at the head of the whole West he counterbalanced all the four.
+But I accept _bona fide_ what Socrates and Sozomen tell us. I believe they
+had before them neither the Papal Empire of St. Gregory the Seventh, nor
+the maxims of the Reformation. They are unbiassed witnesses. Sozomen then
+tells us, that when St. Athanasius, unjustly deposed, fled to Rome for
+justice, together with Paul of Constantinople, Marcellus of Ancyra, and
+Asclepas of Gaza, "the Bishop of the Romans, having inquired into the
+accusations against each, when he found them all agreeing with the doctrine
+of the Nicene Synod, admitted them to communion as agreeing with him. _And
+inasmuch as the care of all belonged to him on account of the rank of his
+See, he restored to each his Church_. And he wrote to the Bishops
+throughout the East, &c., which they took very ill;"[85] so ill, indeed,
+that they afterwards pronounced a sentence of deposition against the Pope
+himself. Again, Pope Julius "wrote to them, accusing them of secretly
+undermining the doctrine of the Nicene Synod, and that, contrary to the
+laws of the Church, they had not called him to their Council. _For that it
+was an hierarchical law to declare null what was done against the sentence
+of the Bishop of the Romans._"[86] That is, in matters concerning the state
+of the whole Church, as was this cause of Athanasius. So Socrates says, in
+reference to the same matter, that Pope Julius asserted to the Bishops of
+the East, that "they were breaking the Canons in not having called him to
+their Council, _the ecclesiastical Canon ordering that the Churches should
+not make Canons contrary to the sentence of the Bishop of Rome_."[87] These
+passages mark the prerogative of the First See: yet are they quite
+compatible with the general self-government of the Eastern Church. No
+doubt, when the Patriarchs of the East were at variance, all would look for
+support to him who was both the first of their number, and stood alone with
+the whole West to back him.
+
+And thus again in St. Leo's time a very extraordinary emergency arose,
+which still further raised the credit of the Roman Patriarch. Dioscorus of
+Alexandria, supporting the heretic Eutyches, had, by help of the Emperor,
+deposed and murdered St. Flavian of Constantinople: Juvenal of Jerusalem
+was greatly involved in this transaction. Dioscorus had then consecrated
+Anatolius to be the successor of St. Flavian, and Anatolius had consecrated
+Maximus to Antioch, instead of Domnus, who, too, had been irregularly
+deposed after St. Flavian. Now, had Dioscorus been otherwise blameless, his
+consecrating Anatolius, of his own authority, to Constantinople, and
+Anatolius then consecrating Maximus to Antioch, without the participation
+of Rome, was an infringement of the just rights of the Primacy; as a
+Patriarch could not be deposed without the concurrence of the First See.
+Thus the whole East was in confusion. A heretic had been absolved; one
+Patriarch murdered, two deposed; and of the other two, one was chief agent,
+and the other not clear, in these transactions. No wonder that at the
+Council of Chalcedon, the Bishop of Rome appeared at the head of the West,
+both to vindicate his own violated rights, for Dioscorus had even deposed
+him, and as the restorer of true doctrine, and the deliverer of the Church.
+
+But I must now quote, at considerable length, the argument of Bossuet, and
+his statement as to where the sovereign power in the Church resides. We
+have already seen what he has said respecting the Council of Ephesus; and
+his observations on that of Chalcedon and the four succeeding Councils are
+equally important. His argument, which was intended for the justification
+of the Gallican Church, really reaches to that of the Greek and English
+Church also; and it is of the very utmost value, as it rests upon
+authorities which are sacrosanct in the eyes of every Catholic--the
+proceedings and decrees of Ecumenical Councils. Let it only be remembered,
+that I quote no German rationalist, no one who denies either the doctrine
+or hierarchy of the Church; but a Catholic prelate, the most strenuous
+defender of the faith, and one who, in the great assembly of his brethren,
+cried out, "If I forget thee, Church of Rome, may I forget myself; may my
+tongue dry, and remain motionless in my mouth, if thou art not always the
+first in my remembrance, if I place thee not at the beginning of all my
+songs of joy."[88]
+
+The question then at issue is, whether the Bishop of Rome be the first of
+the Patriarchs, and first Bishop of the whole world, the head of the
+Apostolic college, and holding among them the place which Peter held, all
+which I freely acknowledge, as the testimony of antiquity; or whether he
+be, further, not only this, but the source of all jurisdiction, uniting in
+his single person all those powers which belonged to Peter and the Apostles
+collectively: an idea which, however extravagant, is actually maintained at
+present in the Church of Rome, is moreover absolutely necessary to justify
+its acts, and to condemn the position of the Greek and English Church.
+Bossuet, who fought for the Gallican liberties, fought for the Anglican
+likewise.
+
+"Let[89] us now review the Acts of the General Council of Chalcedon. The
+previous facts were these. The two natures of Christ were confounded by
+Eutyches, an Archimandrite and Abbot of Constantinople, an old man no less
+obstinate than out of his senses. He then was condemned by his own Bishop,
+St. Flavian of Constantinople, and appealed to all the Patriarchs, but
+chiefly to the Roman Pontiff. Leo writes to Flavian, and 'orders everything
+to be laid before him.' Flavian answers and requests of Leo 'that, making
+his own the common cause and the discipline of the holy Churches, he
+should, at the same time, decree that the condemnation of Eutyches was
+regularly passed, and by his own words should strengthen the faith of the
+Emperor.' He added, 'For the cause only needs your support and definition;
+and you should, by your own determination, bring it to peace.' This means,
+it is plain and clear, it has yet few followers, and those obscure, and of
+no great name. He ends, 'For so the heresy which has arisen will be most
+easily destroyed, by the cooperation of God, through your letters; and the
+Council, of which there are rumours, be given up, that the holy Churches be
+not disturbed.' This, too, is in accordance with discipline, for heresies
+to be immediately suppressed, first by the Bishop's care, then by that of
+the Apostolic See: nor is it forthwith necessary that an universal Council
+be assembled, and the peace of all Churches troubled.
+
+"After the proceedings had been sent to Leo, he writes to Flavian, most
+fully and clearly setting forth the mystery of the Lord's incarnation, as
+he says himself, and as all Churches bear witness; at the same time he
+praises the acts of Flavian, and condemns Eutyches, yet with the grant of
+indulgence, should he make amends. This is that noble and divine letter
+which was afterwards so warmly celebrated through the whole Church, and
+which I wish to be understood so often as I name simply Leo's letter.
+
+"And here the question might have been terminated, but for those incidents
+which induced the Emperor Theodosius the younger to call the Synod of
+Ephesus. He was the same who had appointed the First Council of Ephesus,
+under Coelestine and Cyril.
+
+"Of this Synod St. Leo writes to Theodosius, at first, 'that the matter was
+so evident, that for reasonable causes the calling of a Synod should be
+abstained from.' And Flavian likewise seemed to have been against this. But
+after the Emperor, with good intentions, had convoked the Synod, Leo gives
+his consent, and sends the letter to the Synod, in which he praises the
+Emperor for being willing to hold an assembly of Bishops, 'that by a fuller
+judgment all error may be done away with.' He mentions that he had sent
+Legates, who, says he, 'in my stead shall be present at the sacred assembly
+of your Brotherhood, and determine, by a joint sentence with you, what
+shall please the Lord.'
+
+"Here are three points: first, that in questions of faith it is not always
+necessary for an Ecumenical Council to be assembled. Secondly, that Leo,
+great Pontiff as he was, did not decline a judgment, if the cause required
+it, after the matter had been judged by himself. Thirdly, that, if a Synod
+were held, it behoved that all error should be done away with by a fuller
+judgment, and the question be terminated by the Apostolic See, by a joint
+sentence with the Bishops, in which he acknowledges that full force of
+consent, so often mentioned by me.
+
+"But after Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria, the protector of Eutyches, had
+done every thing with violence and crime, and not a Council, but an
+assembly of robbers downright, had been held at Ephesus, then, when the
+Episcopal order had been divided, and the whole Church thrown into
+confusion, under the name of the Second Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, Leo
+himself admits that a new general Council must be held, which should either
+remove or mitigate all offences, so that there should no longer be either
+any doubt as to faith, or division in charity. Therefore he perceived that
+schisms, and such a fluctuation of minds respecting the faith itself, could
+not be sufficiently removed by his own judgment. And the Pontiff, no less
+wise and good than resolute, demanded a fuller, firmer, greater judgment,
+by the authority of a General Council, by which, that is, all doubt might
+be removed.
+
+"But the Emperor Theodosius would not hear of a new Council, so long as he
+thought that due order had been preserved at Ephesus. 'For the matter was
+settled at Ephesus by the deposition of those who deserved it; and a
+decision having been once passed, nothing else can be determined after it.'
+Here the difference between the judgments of Roman Pontiffs and of General
+Councils is very evident; the judgment of the Roman Pontiff being
+reconsidered in a Council, whereas after a Council, so long as it is held a
+lawful one, nothing can be reconsidered, nothing heard.
+
+"But as Theodosius shortly afterwards died, the Emperor Marcian, upon
+understanding that the Ephesine assembly had used violence, and acted
+otherwise against the Canons, and was therefore refused the name and
+authority of an Ecumenical Council by most Bishops, but chiefly by the
+Roman Pontiff, could not deny the calling of a new Council to Leo's
+request. So the Council of Chalcedon took place, and all admitted that
+there were certain dissensions on matter of faith so grave, that they can
+only be settled by the authority of an Ecumenical Council.
+
+"All know that more than six hundred Bishops assembled at Chalcedon. The
+Bishops Paschasinus and Lucentius presided over the holy Council in Leo's
+stead. Magistrates were assigned by the Emperor to direct the proceedings,
+and restrain disorder; but to leave the question of faith and all
+ecclesiastical matters to the power and judgment of the Council.
+
+"But in this Council two things make for us: first, the deposition of
+Dioscorus; secondly, the sentence of the Council respecting the approval of
+Leo's letter.
+
+"With Dioscorus they thus proceeded: when, upon being cited, he refused to
+present himself to judgment, and his crimes were notorious to all,
+Paschasinus, Legate of the Apostolic See, asks the Fathers,--'We desire to
+know what your Holiness determines:' the holy Synod replied, 'What the
+Canons order.' The Bishop Lucentius said, 'Certain proceedings took place
+in the holy Council of Ephesus by our most blessed Father Cyril; look into
+their form, and assign what form you determine on.' The Bishop Paschasinus
+said, 'Does your piety command us to use Ecclesiastical punishment? Do you
+consent?' The holy Council said, 'We all consent.' The Bishop Paschasinus
+said, 'Again I ask, what is the pleasure of your blessedness?' Maximus,
+Bishop of the great city of Antioch, said, 'We are conformable to whatever
+seems good to your Holiness.' Thus the initiative, and form, as it was
+called, was to be given by the Apostolic See. And so the Legates, after
+recounting the crimes of Dioscorus, thus pronounced: 'Wherefore, holy Leo,
+by us and this present Council, together with the most blessed Apostle
+Peter, who is the rock and ground of the Church, and the foundation of the
+right faith, hath declared him cut off from all sacerdotal power.'
+Anatolius, Bishop of Constantinople, said, 'As our most blessed Archbishop
+and Father Leo, so Anatolius.' The rest to the same effect: 'I agree; I am
+of the same mind; I agree to the condemnation made by the Council; I
+declare, I decree the same:' and the subscription, 'I, Paschasinus, declare
+and subscribe;' 'I, Anatolius, declare and subscribe;' and so the rest.
+
+"Thus from Peter the head and source of Unity the sentence began, and then
+became of full force by common agreement of the Bishops, just as that first
+Council of the Apostles is always represented.
+
+"By this is understood the letter of the Emperor Valentinian to the Emperor
+Theodosius: 'We ought to defend with all devotion, and preserve in our
+times uninjured, the dignity of the veneration due to the blessed Apostle
+Peter: so that the most blessed Bishop of the Roman city may have power to
+judge concerning the faith and Bishops.' Not, however, alone, but with the
+condition added by the Emperor, 'That the aforesaid Bishop,' at least, in
+those causes which touch the faith and the universal state of the Church,
+'may give sentence after assembling the Priests from the whole world.' That
+is, by a common decree, as both Leo himself had demanded, and as we have
+seen done in the Council itself.
+
+"With the same view, the Empress Pulcheria writes to Leo concerning
+assembling the Bishops, 'who,' she says, 'when the Council is made, shall
+decree, at your instance, concerning the Catholic confession, and
+concerning Bishops.'
+
+"The Emperors Valentinian and Marcian write the same to Leo: that, 'by the
+Council to be held,' every thing should be done at his instance: first
+laying this down, that he 'possessed the first rank in the Episcopate, as
+to faith.'
+
+"Hence it is very plainly evident, that, in the usual order, both the Pope
+should have the initiative, and the Bishops sitting with him should be
+judges; and that the force of an irreversible decree lies in agreement: the
+very thing to which the Empress Pulcheria bears witness, in her letter to
+Strategus the Consular, who was ordered to protect the Council from all
+violence: 'that the holy Council, holding its sittings with all discipline,
+what has been revealed by the Lord Christ should be confirmed in common by
+all, without any disturbance, and with agreement.'
+
+"Meanwhile, it is evident that proceedings are at the instance of the
+Pontiff, yet so that the force of the decree lies, not in the sole
+authority of the Pontiff, which no one then imagined, but in the consent
+itself and approval of the Council: and that the Fathers and the Council
+decree together, judge together, and the sentence of the Council is the
+sentence of the Pope; which, when the consent of the Churches is added, is
+then held to be irreversible and final, which is all I demand.
+
+"Another important point treated in the Council of Chalcedon, that is, the
+establishing of the faith, and the approval of Leo's letter, is as follows.
+Already almost the whole West, and most of the Easterns, with Anatolius
+himself, Bishop of Constantinople, had gone so far as to confirm by
+subscription that letter, before the Council took place; and in the Council
+itself the Fathers had often cried out, 'We believe, as Leo: Peter hath
+spoken by Leo: we have all subscribed the letter: what has been set forth
+is sufficient for the faith: no other exposition may be made.' Things went
+so far, that they would hardly permit a definition to be made by the
+Council. But neither subscriptions privately made before the Council, nor
+these vehement cries of the Fathers in the Council, were thought sufficient
+to tranquillize minds in so unsettled a state of the Church, for fear that
+a matter so important might seem determined rather by outcries than by fair
+and legitimate discussion. And the Clergy of Constantinople exclaimed, 'It
+is a few who cry out, not the whole Council which speaks.' So it was
+determined that the letter of Leo should be lawfully examined by the
+Council, and a definition of faith be written by the Synod itself. So the
+acts of foregoing Councils being previously read, the magistrates proposed
+concerning Leo's letter, 'As the Gospels lie before you, let every one of
+the most reverend Bishops declare whether the exposition of the 318
+Fathers, and, after that, of the 150 Fathers, agrees with the letter of
+holy Leo.'
+
+"Since the question as to examining the letter of Leo was put in this form,
+it will be worth while to weigh the sentences, and, as they are called, the
+votes of the Fathers, in order to understand from the beginning why they
+approved of the letter; why they afterwards defended it with so much zeal;
+why, finally, it was ratified after so exact an examination of the Council.
+Anatolius first gives his sentence. 'The letter of the most holy Leo agrees
+with the Creed of the 318 and the 150 Fathers; as also with what was done
+at Ephesus under Coelestine and Cyril; therefore I agree and willingly
+subscribe to it.' These are the words of one plainly deliberating, not
+blindly subscribing out of mere obedience. The rest say to the same effect:
+'It agrees, and I subscribe.' Many plainly and expressly, 'It agrees, and I
+therefore subscribe.' Some add, 'It agrees, and I subscribe, as it is
+correct.' Others, 'I am sure that it agrees.' Others, 'As it is concordant,
+and has the same aim, we embrace it, and subscribe.' Others, 'This is the
+faith we have long held: this we hold: in this we were baptized: in this we
+baptize.' Others, and a great part, 'As I see, as I feel, as I have proved,
+as I find that it agrees, I subscribe.' Others, 'As I am persuaded,
+instructed, informed, that all agrees, I subscribe.' Many set forth their
+difficulties, mostly arising from a foreign language; others from the
+subject matter, saying, that they had heard the letter, 'and in very many
+points were assured it was right: some few words stood in their way, which
+seemed to point at a certain division in the person of Christ.' They add,
+that they had been informed by Paschasinus and the Legates 'that there is
+no division, but one Christ; therefore,' they say, 'we agree and
+subscribe.' Others, after mentioning what Paschasinus and Lucentius had
+said, thus conclude: 'By this we have been satisfied, and, considering that
+it agrees in all things with the holy Fathers, we agree and subscribe.'
+Where the Illyrian Bishops, and others who before that examination had
+expressed their acclamations to the letter, again cry out, 'We all say the
+same thing, and agree with this.' So that, indeed, it is evident that, in
+the Council itself, and before it, their agreement is based on this, that,
+after weighing the matter, they considered, they judged, they were
+persuaded, that all agreed with the Fathers, and perceived that the common
+faith of all and each had been set forth by Leo.
+
+"This was done at Chalcedon; but likewise before that Council our Gallic
+Bishops, at a synod held in Gaul, wrote thus to Leo himself, concerning
+receiving his letter: 'Many in that letter of Leo to Flavian with joy and
+exultation have recognised what their faith was assured of, and are with
+reason delighted that, by tradition from their fathers, they have always
+held just what your Apostleship has set forth. Some rendered more careful,
+congratulate themselves every way on being instructed by receiving the
+admonition of your blessedness, and rejoice that an occasion is given them,
+in which they may speak out freely and confidently, and each one assert
+what he believes, supported by the authority of the Apostolic See.'
+
+"The Italian (Bishops) agree, at the instance of Eusebius, Bishop of Milan,
+'for it was evident that that (letter of Leo to Flavian) had the full and
+vigorous simplicity of the faith; was illuminated likewise by statements
+from the Prophets, by authorities from the Gospels, and by testimonies of
+Apostolic teaching, and in every point agreed with what the holy Ambrose,
+moved by the Holy Spirit, put in his books concerning the mystery of the
+Lord's incarnation. And inasmuch as all the statements agree with the faith
+of our ancestors delivered down to us from antiquity, all determined that
+whoever hold impious opinions concerning the mystery of the Lord's
+incarnation, are to be visited with fitting condemnation, as they
+themselves agree, according to the sentence of your authority.'
+
+"See here an authoritative sentence in the Roman Pontiff; and also the
+agreement of the Bishops to the instance of the Roman Pontiff, and that
+granted after inquiry into the truth. On these terms they gave their
+approval, and their subscription, and decreed that a letter, agreeing with
+the apprehensions of their common faith, and found and judged to be such by
+them, was of universal authority by the union of their sentences with the
+Apostolic See. Which wonderfully accords with what we have just read in the
+sentences of the Fathers of Chalcedon.
+
+"This is that examination of Leo's letter, synodically made at Chalcedon,
+and placed among the acts; of which examination Leo himself thus writes to
+Theodoret: 'What God had before set forth by our ministry, He hath
+confirmed by the irreversible assent of the whole brotherhood, to show that
+what was first put forth in form by the First See of all, and then received
+by the judgment of the whole Christian world, really proceeded from Himself
+(that in this too the members might agree with the Head.)'[90]
+
+"He proceeds: 'For in order that the consent of other sees to that which
+the Lord appointed to preside over all the rest should not appear flattery,
+or any other adverse suspicion creep in, persons were found who doubted
+concerning our judgment.... The truth, likewise, itself is both more
+clearly conspicuous, and more strongly maintained, when after-examination
+confirms what previous faith had taught.' Here he speaks distinctly of
+examination, and that most free. 'In fine, the merit of the priestly office
+shines forth very brightly, when the authority of the highest is preserved,
+without the liberty of the lower seeming to be at all infringed. And the
+end of the examination profits to the greater glory of God, when it has
+confidence enough to exert itself so far as to prevail over the opposite
+opinion. So that what is in itself proved to be heterodox may not seem
+overcome, merely because it is passed over in silence,' Lastly, 'the letter
+of the Apostolic See, confirmed by the assent of the whole holy
+Council'[91] is proposed as a most certain and perfect rule of faith, not
+again to be reconsidered. Here is what Leo considered to be irrevocable, or
+rather not to be mended, which no one can be blamed for holding together
+with the world and the Fathers of Chalcedon: the form is set forth by the
+Apostolic See; yet it is to be examined, and that freely, and every Bishop,
+the highest and the lowest, to pronounce judgment in a body concerning
+decreeing it.
+
+"They conceived no other way of removing all doubt; for after the
+conclusion of the synod, the emperor thus proclaims: 'Let then all profane
+contention cease, for he is indeed impious and sacrilegious, who, after the
+sentence of so many priests, leaves any thing for his own opinion to
+consider.' He then prohibits all discussion concerning religion; for, says
+he, 'he does an injury to the judgment of the most religious Council, who
+endeavours to open afresh, and publicly discuss what has been once judged,
+and rightly ordered.'
+
+"Here in the condemnation of Eutyches is the order of Ecclesiastical
+judgments in questions of faith. He is judged by his proper Bishop Flavian:
+the cause is reheard, reconsidered by the Pope St. Leo;" (let it be
+remembered that Eutyches likewise appealed to Alexandria, Jerusalem, and
+Thessalonica;) "it is decided by a declaration of the Apostolic See: after
+that declaration follows the examination, inquiry, judgment of the Fathers
+or Bishops, in a General Council: after the declaration has been approved
+by the judgment of the Fathers no place is any longer left for doubt or
+discussion.
+
+"To the same effect Leo: 'For no longer is any refuge or excuse allowable
+to any, on plea of ignorance, or difficulty of understanding, inasmuch as
+for this very purpose the Council of about six hundred of our brethren and
+fellow-Bishops met together hath permitted no skill in reasoning, no flow
+of eloquence, to breathe against the faith built on a divine foundation.
+Since, through the endeavours of our brethren and representatives, by the
+help of God's grace, (their devotion in every procedure being most entire,)
+it hath been fully and evidently made manifest, not only to the priests of
+Christ, but to princes also, and Christian powers, and to all ranks of the
+clergy and people, that this is the truly Apostolic and Catholic faith,
+flowing from the fountain of Divine goodness, which we preach, and now with
+the agreement of the whole world defend pure and clean from all pollution
+of error.'[92]
+
+"Thus at length supreme and infallible force is given to an Apostolic
+decree, after that it is strengthened by universal inquiry, examination,
+discussion, and thereupon consent and testimony."
+
+[93]"We add a third point, important to our cause, respecting the
+restitution of Theodoret to his see. After, then, by order of the Bishops,
+he had openly anathematized Nestorius, 'the most illustrious magistrates
+said, all doubt respecting Theodoret is now removed; for he hath both
+anathematized Nestorius before you, and has been received by Leo, most holy
+Archbishop of old Rome, and has willingly accepted the definition of faith
+set forth by your piety, and moreover hath subscribed the epistle of the
+aforesaid most holy Archbishop Leo. It is fitting, therefore, that sentence
+be pronounced by your most acceptable holiness, that he may recover his
+Church, as the most holy Archbishop Leo has judged.' All the most reverend
+Bishops cried out, 'Theodoret is worthy of his See. Leo hath judged after
+God.' So then the judgment put forth by Leo concerning his restoration to
+his See would have profited Theodoret nothing, unless, after the matter had
+been brought before the Council, he had both approved his faith to the
+Council, and the judgment of Leo been confirmed by the same Council. This
+was done in the presence of the Legates of the Apostolic See, who
+afterwards pronounced that sentence on confirming Leo's judgment, which the
+whole Synod approved."
+
+Let any one of candour consider these Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, and
+then say, which of these two views agrees with them, viz. that St. Leo was
+first Bishop of the Church, looked up to with great reverence as the
+special successor of St. Peter, and representative of the whole West; or
+that he was beside this the only Vicar of Christ, the source and origin of
+the Episcopate, from whom his brethren received their jurisdiction, which
+is the Papal idea of the middle ages. For on the truth of this latter view
+depends the charge, that the Church of England is in schism.
+
+What follows may perhaps assist our solution of the question. At this very
+Council of 630 Bishops, the largest ever held in ancient times, and where
+the credit of the Roman Pontiff was so great, a very celebrated Canon was
+enacted concerning the rank of the Bishop of Constantinople. The Pope's
+legates attempted, by absenting themselves, to prevent its being enacted,
+but that only led to its being confirmed the next day, in spite of their
+opposition. The circumstances were as follows, and they seem to deserve our
+most stedfast consideration, from their bearing upon the great subject we
+are considering, the Papal Supremacy.
+
+"On the same day, being the last of October, the fifteenth session was
+held, at which neither the magistrates nor legates were present: for after
+the formula of faith had been agreed to, and the private business brought
+before the Council had been despatched, the Clergy of Constantinople asked
+the legates to join them in discussing an affair concerning their Church.
+This they refused, saying, that they had received no instructions about it.
+They made the same proposal to the magistrates, and these referred the
+matter to the Council. When the magistrates and legates therefore had
+retired, the rest of the Council made a Canon respecting the prerogatives
+of the Church of Constantinople."[94] To make the scope of this clear we
+must observe, that the See of Constantinople had been now for at least
+seventy years the chief See of the East: at the second Ecumenical Council,
+held in 381, at Constantinople, it is declared in the third canon, that
+"the Bishop of Constantinople shall have the primacy of honour after the
+Bishop of Rome, because that Constantinople is New Rome." It seems that in
+the interval that Bishop had not only taken precedence of Alexandria and
+Antioch, and reduced under him the Exarchs of Pontus, Thrace, and Asia, but
+that his authority was very great throughout all the East. Theodoret
+says,[95] that St. Chrysostom governed twenty-eight provinces. Accordingly,
+in its famous 28th Canon, the Council of Chalcedon only confirmed an
+authority to the Bishop of Constantinople which he had long enjoyed and
+often exceeded. It ran thus: "We, following in all things the decisions of
+the holy Fathers, and acknowledging the Canon of the 150 most religious
+Bishops which has just been read, do also determine and decree the same
+things respecting the privileges of the most holy city of Constantinople,
+New Rome. For the Fathers properly gave the primacy to the throne of the
+elder Rome, because that was the imperial city. And the 150 most religious
+Bishops, being moved with the same intention, gave equal privileges to the
+most holy throne of New Rome, judging with reason, that the city which was
+honoured with the sovereignty and senate, and which enjoyed equal
+privileges with the elder royal Rome, should also be magnified like her in
+Ecclesiastical matters, being the second after her. And (we also decree)
+that the Metropolitans only of the Pontic, and Asian, and Thracian
+Dioceses, and, moreover, the Bishops of the aforesaid Dioceses who are
+amongst the Barbarians, shall be ordained by the above-mentioned most holy
+throne of the most holy Church of Constantinople; each Metropolitan of the
+aforesaid Dioceses ordaining the Bishops of the Province, as has been
+declared by the divine Canons; but the Metropolitans themselves of the said
+Dioceses shall, as has been said, be ordained by the Bishop of
+Constantinople, the proper elections being made according to custom, and
+reported to him."
+
+"The Legates,[96] being informed of what had passed, demanded that the
+Council should assemble again, and the magistrates be present. On the
+morrow, therefore, being Thursday, the 1st November, the twelfth
+sitting[97] was held. The magistrates were there with the Legates, and the
+Bishops of Illyria, and all the rest. After they had taken their seats,
+Paschasinus spoke, having asked permission of the magistrates, and said,
+that he was astonished that so many things had been done the day before in
+their absence, which were contrary to the Canons and the peace of the
+Church, for which the Emperor was labouring with so much application and
+zeal. He demanded the reading of what had passed the day before. And
+Aetius, (Archdeacon of Constantinople,) having said that it was the Legates
+themselves who had refused to be present at the deliberation, presented the
+Canon which had been drawn up with the signatures of the Bishops. After the
+signatures had been read, Lucentius said the Bishops had been surprised,
+and compelled to sign. This is what St. Leo repeated often in the letter
+which he wrote concerning this twenty-eighth Canon, accusing Anatolius of
+having extorted the signatures of the Bishops, or of having surprised them
+by his artifices. Nevertheless, upon the reproach of Lucentius, all the
+Bishops cried out that no one had been forced. They protested again
+afterwards, both all in common, and the principal by themselves, that they
+had signed it of their full consent. Anatolius also maintains to St. Leo,
+that the Bishops took this resolution of their own accord.
+
+"The Legates continued to oppose the Canon, and showed that they had an
+express order of the Pope to do so. They alleged that the Canon was
+contrary to the Council of Nicea, of which they read the sixth Canon, with
+the celebrated heading--'The Roman Church has always had the primacy,'
+which is also found added in the ancient Roman code. The same Canon was
+afterwards read as it is in the original Greek, and the Canon of the second
+Ecumenical Council, to which the Legates answered nothing.
+
+"The magistrates having next begged the Bishops who had not signed the day
+before, to give their opinion, Eusebius, of Ancyra, represented with much
+gentleness and modesty, that it was better for the Church that ordinations
+should be made upon the spot by the Council of the province. Thalassius
+then spoke a single word, but I know not his meaning."
+
+Thereupon "the magistrates[98] said,--'It appears, from the depositions,
+first of all, that the primacy and precedency of honour ([Greek: ta
+proteia, kai ten exaireton timen]) should be preserved according to the
+Canons for the Archbishop of Old Rome, but that the Archbishop of
+Constantinople ought to enjoy the same privileges, ([Greek: ton auton
+presbeion tes times],) and that he has a right to ordain the Metropolitans
+of the Dioceses of Asia, Pontus, and Thrace, in the manner following. In
+each metropolis, the clergy, the proprietors of lands, and the gentry, with
+all the Bishops of the province, or the greater part of them, shall issue a
+decree for the election of one whom they shall deem worthy of being made a
+Bishop of the metropolis. They shall all make a report of it to the
+Archbishop of Constantinople, and it shall be at his option either to
+enjoin the Bishop elect to come thither for ordination, or to allow him to
+be ordained in the province. As to the Bishops of particular cities, they
+shall be ordained by all, or the greater part, of the comprovincial
+Bishops, under the authority of the Metropolitan, according to the Canons,
+the Archbishop of Constantinople taking no part in such ordination. These
+are our views, let the Council state theirs.' The Bishops shouted, 'This is
+a just proposal: we all say the same: we all assent to it, we pray you
+dismiss us:' with other similar acclamations. Lucentius, the Legate,
+said,--'The Apostolic See ought not to be degraded in our presence; we,
+therefore, desire that yesterday's proceedings, which violate the Canons,
+may be rescinded; otherwise let our opposition be inserted in the Acts,
+that we may know what we are to report to the Pope, and that he may declare
+his opinion of this contempt of his See, and subversion of the Canons.' The
+magistrates said,--'The whole Council approves of what we said.' Such was
+the last Session of the Council of Chalcedon."
+
+The remarks of Tillemont on this Canon are significant, and worth
+transcribing.[99] "It seems," he says, "to recognise no particular
+authority in the Church of Rome, save what the Fathers had granted it, as
+the seat of the empire. And it attributes in plain words as much to
+Constantinople as to Rome, with the exception of the first place.
+_Nevertheless I do not observe that the Popes took up a thing so injurious
+to their dignity, and of so dangerous a consequence to the whole Church._
+For what Lupus quotes of St. Leo's 78th (104th) letter, refers rather to
+Alexandria and to Antioch, than to Rome. St. Leo is contented to destroy
+the foundation on which they built the elevation of Constantinople,
+maintaining that a thing so entirely ecclesiastical as the Episcopate ought
+not to be regulated by the temporal dignity of cities, which, nevertheless,
+has been almost always followed in the establishment of the metropolis,
+according to the Council of Nicea.
+
+"St. Leo also complains that the Council of Chalcedon broke the decrees of
+the Council of Nicea, the practice of antiquity, and the rights of
+Metropolitans. Certainly it was an odious innovation to see a Bishop made
+the chief, not of one department, but of three; for which no example could
+be found save in the authority which the Popes took over Illyricum, where,
+however, they did not claim the power to ordain any Bishop."
+
+Now I suppose any Roman Catholic would observe that this Canon is entirely
+opposed to the present Papal theory: he would say that St. Leo and the West
+for that very reason refused to receive it. The opposition, beyond all
+question, is such, that it is quite impossible to reconcile them. Let any
+one, then, read through the 104th letter of St. Leo to the Emperor
+Mauricius, the 105th to the Empress Pulcheria, and the 106th to Anatolius
+himself, and he will see that St. Leo bases his opposition to it throughout
+on its being a violation of the Nicene Canons: there is not a word in all
+the three letters about any violation of the rights of St. Peter. May we
+not quote, alas! St. Leo's words, in these letters, to St. Leo's successor.
+"He[100] loses his own, who lusts after what is not his due.... For the
+privileges of the Churches, instituted by the Canons of the holy Fathers,
+and fixed by the decrees of the venerable Nicene Synod, cannot be plucked
+up by any wickedness, or changed by any innovation. In the faithful
+execution of which work, by the help of Christ, I am bound to show
+persevering service; since the dispensation has been entrusted to me, and
+it tends to my guilt, if the rules of the Fathers' sanctions, which were
+made in the Nicene Council for the government of the whole Church, by the
+teaching of God's Spirit, be violated, which God forbid, by my connivance;
+and if the desire of one brother be of more weight with me than the common
+good of the whole house of the Lord." This to the Emperor. To the Empress,
+thus:--"Since no one is allowed to attempt[101] anything against the
+statutes of the Fathers' Canons, which many years ago were based on
+spiritual decrees in the city of Nicea; so that if any one desires to
+decree anything against them, he will rather lessen himself than injure
+them. _And if these are kept uninjured, as it behoves, by all Pontiffs,
+there will be tranquil peace and firm concord through all the Churches.
+There will be no dissensions concerning the degree of honours; no contests
+about ordinations; no doubts about privileges; no conflicts about the
+usurpation of another's right; but under the equal law of charity, both
+men's minds and duties will be kept in the due order_; and he will be truly
+great, who shall be alien from all ambition, according to the Lord's words,
+'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, &c.'" But to
+Anatolius, thus:--"Those[102] holy and venerable Fathers, who in the Nicene
+city established laws of ecclesiastical Canons, _which are to last to the
+end of the world_, when the sacrilegious Arius with his impiety was
+condemned, live both with us and in the whole world by their constitutions;
+and if anything anywhere is presumed upon contrary to what they appointed,
+it is without delay annulled, &c."
+
+But _what_ the violation was he likewise states: it is not any wrong done
+to his own see personally. He says to the Empress: "But[103] what doth the
+prelate of the Church of Constantinople desire more than he hath obtained?
+Or what will satisfy him, if the magnificence and glory of so great a city
+satisfy him not? It is too proud and immoderate to go beyond one's own
+limits, and, trampling on antiquity, to wish to seize on another's right.
+And, in order to increase the dignity of one, to impugn the primacy of so
+many Metropolitans; and to carry a new war of disturbance into quiet
+provinces, settled long ago by the moderation of the holy Nicene Council,"
+&c.
+
+To Anatolius himself he says: "I grieve--that you attempt to infringe the
+most sacred constitutions of the Nicene Canons; as if this were a
+favourable opportunity presented to you, when the See of Alexandria may
+lose the privilege of the second rank, and the Church of Antioch its
+possession of the third dignity; so that when these places have been
+brought under your jurisdiction, all Metropolitan Bishops may be deprived
+of their proper honour."[104] "I oppose you, that with wiser purpose you
+may refrain from throwing into confusion the whole Church. Let not the
+rights of provincial Primacies be torn away, nor Metropolitan Bishops be
+deprived of their privileges in force from old time. Let no part of that
+dignity perish to the See of Alexandria, which it was thought worthy to
+obtain through the holy Evangelist Mark, the disciple of blessed Peter;
+nor, though Dioscorus falls through the obstinacy of his own impiety, let
+the splendour of so great a Church be obscured by another's disgrace. Let
+also the Church of Antioch, in which first, at the preaching of the blessed
+Apostle Peter, the name of Christian arose, remain in the order of its
+hereditary degree, and being placed in the third rank never sink below
+itself."
+
+So then it was not St. Peter's Primacy, nor his own proper authority in the
+Church, which St. Leo conceived to be attacked by this Canon; but he
+refused to be a party to "treading under foot the constitution of the
+Fathers"--to disturbing "the state of the universal Church, protected of
+old by a most wholesome and upright administration."[105] So the Emperor
+Marcian, Anatolius, Julian of Cos, beseech Leo to grant this, without so
+much as imagining that they are injuring _his_ rank by asking it. I see not
+how it is possible to avoid the conclusion, that the power of the First
+See, even as its most zealous occupant viewed it, was quite different from
+that power which was set up in the middle ages. This is only one of a vast
+number of proofs which distinguish the Primacy from the present Supremacy.
+And it is the more valuable, because St. Leo certainly carries his notion
+of his own rights as universal Primate further than any Father of his time.
+I shall have occasion to make a like remark presently in the matter of St.
+Gregory's protest.
+
+But, indeed, such a Canon as this being passed in the most numerous
+Ecumenical Synod, in spite of the opposition of the Pope's Legates, speaks
+for itself. I am well aware that St. Leo refused to receive it, that, "by
+the authority of the blessed Peter, he annulled it by a general
+declaration, as contrary to the holy Canons of Nicea."[106] Accordingly it
+was not received in the West; but it nevertheless always prevailed in the
+East, and the Popes ultimately conceded the point it enacted. And[107] from
+the hour it was enacted to this, it has remained the law of the Eastern
+Church; and the Patriarchal power, which in the Western Church has
+developed into the Papal, has remained attached to the throne of
+Constantinople in the other great division of Christ's kingdom.
+
+The ninth Canon of Chalcedon also says:--"If a Clergyman has any matter
+against his own Bishop or another, let him plead his cause before the
+Council of the province. But if either a Bishop or Clergyman have a
+controversy against the Metropolitan of the same province, let him have
+recourse either to the Exarch of the Diocese, or to the throne of the
+imperial city of Constantinople, and plead his cause before it." I remark
+this, because it is a far greater power of hearing appeals granted to the
+Bishop of Constantinople, than was granted to the Bishop of Rome a hundred
+years before at the Council of Sardica.
+
+Now, let us be fair and even-handed. If the great influence and authority
+exercised at the Council of Chalcedon by St. Leo is to be acknowledged as
+witnessing the Roman Primacy, let us also grant, that unless the Acts and
+the Canons of the first four Ecumenical Councils are to be swept away as
+waste paper before the omnipotence of Papal prerogative, then the ancient
+decrees of Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, offer an
+insurmountable barrier to the present claims of Rome. But concerning the
+Canons of Nicea, St. Leo, at least, says:--"I hold all ecclesiastical rules
+to be dissolved, if any part of that sacrosanct constitution of the Fathers
+be violated."[108] St. Gregory repeats:--"I receive the four Councils of
+the holy universal Church as the four books of the Holy Gospel."[109] Mr.
+Newman says, "that the definition passed at Chalcedon is the Apostolic
+Truth once delivered to the Saints, is most firmly to be received from
+faith in that overruling Providence, which is by special promise extended
+over the Acts of the Church."[110] Does it not equally follow that the
+Church government recognised as immemorial, and enforced at Nicea,
+Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, _and the doctrine which is involved
+therein_, are likewise to be maintained, and that none who appeal to them
+with truth, as practised by themselves, whatever else they may fall into,
+can be guilty of schism?
+
+The hundred and thirty years between the death of St. Leo and the accession
+of St. Gregory, were years of trouble, confusion, and disaster: "the stars
+fell from heaven, and the powers of the heavens were shaken." The Western
+empire was overthrown; barbarians and heretics obtained the mastery in
+Italy, and generally in the West; there was but one fixed and central
+authority to which the eyes of churchmen could turn with hope and
+confidence in the whole West, that of the Roman Pontiff.
+
+I select the following points as bearing on our subject:--
+
+In the year 536 we have one of those rare instances in which the Primacy of
+Rome is seen acting on the Eastern Church, but in perfect accordance with
+the Canons and the Patriarchal system. The Pope Agapetus had been compelled
+by Theodatus, king of the Goths, to proceed to Constantinople, in order
+that he might, if possible, prevail upon Justinian not to attempt the
+recovery of Italy. Not having wherewith to pay the expenses of his journey,
+he had been compelled to borrow money on the sacred vessels of St. Peter's
+Church. On arriving at Constantinople he refused to see the new Patriarch
+Anthimus, or to receive him to his communion, both because he was suspected
+of heresy, and had been translated from the See of Trebisond. Anthimus
+refused to appear in the Council that the Pope held at Constantinople to
+judge him; so he was deposed, and returned his pallium to the Emperor.
+Mennas was elected in his stead by the Emperor, with the approbation of all
+the Clergy and the people, and the Pope consecrated him in the church of
+St. Mary. "Pope Agapetus wrote a synodal letter to Peter, Patriarch of
+Jerusalem, to acquaint him with what he had done in this Council. 'When we
+arrived,' said he, 'at the court of the Emperor, we found the See of
+Constantinople usurped, contrary to the Canons, by Anthimus Bishop of
+Trebisond. He even refused to quit the error of Eutyches. Therefore, after
+having waited for his repentance, we declare him unworthy of the name of
+Catholic and Bishop, until he fully receive the doctrine of the Fathers.
+You ought likewise to reject the rest whom the Holy See has condemned. We
+are astonished that you approved this injury done to the See of
+Constantinople, instead of informing us of it; and we have repaired it by
+the ordination of Mennas, who is the first of the Eastern Church ordained
+by the hands of our See.'"[111] I find this Pope presently called by the
+Easterns, 'Father of fathers,' 'Archbishop of ancient Rome,' 'Ecumenical
+Patriarch.' This latter title is also given to Mennas. I shall have more to
+say about it hereafter; but it is remarkable that it was first given, so
+far as we have any record, to Dioscorus,[112] by a Bishop in some complaint
+made to him at the Latrocinium of Ephesus; but Justinian gives to the
+Patriarch of Constantinople the title, "to the most holy and blessed
+Archbishop of this royal city, and Ecumenical Patriarch."[113]
+
+The Pope shortly after dies at Constantinople, and a Council is held, at
+which the Patriarch Mennas presides, the Bishops who had accompanied the
+defunct Pope taking rank after him. He writes to the Patriarch Peter of
+Jerusalem, and informs him of the acts of this Council. Peter assembles his
+Council at Jerusalem: the procedure which took place at Constantinople was
+there found canonical, and the deposition of Anthimus was confirmed. Here
+the same facts which prove the Pope's Primacy refute his Supremacy: and
+this is not an isolated incident, but one link in a vast and uninterrupted
+chain of evidence.
+
+I find in the laws of the Emperor Justinian just at the same time, looking
+at them merely as facts, a full confirmation and recognition of the
+Episcopal and Patriarchal constitution of the Church. In 538, the Emperor,
+in an edict, addressing the Patriarch Mennas, says, "Wherefore we exhort
+you to assemble all the Bishops who are in this imperial city ... and
+oblige them all to anathematize by writing the impious Origen ... that your
+Blessedness send copies of what you do on this subject to all the other
+Bishops, and to all the superiors of monasteries.... We have written as
+much to Pope Vigilius and the other Patriarchs".... "The Patriarch Mennas,
+and the Bishops who were at Constantinople, subscribed to this: it was then
+sent to Pope Vigilius, to Zoilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, to Ephrem of
+Antioch, and to Peter of Jerusalem, who all subscribed to it".... "There
+are three great laws of the year 511, of which the first regulates
+ordinations:" those of the Bishops were still in the hands of the several
+clergy, laity, and Metropolitans.... "The second law of the 18th March
+enacts, that the four General Councils shall have the force of law, that
+the Pope of Rome is the first of all the Bishops, and after him the Bishop
+of Constantinople."--"Bishops cannot be called to appear against their will
+before secular judges for any cause whatsoever. If Bishops of the same
+province have a difference together, they shall be judged by the
+Metropolitan, accompanied by the other Bishops of the province, _and may
+appeal to the Patriarch, but not beyond_. Likewise if an individual, clerk
+or lay, has a matter against his Bishop. The Metropolitan can only be tried
+before the Patriarch."--"Simony is forbidden ... still it is allowed to
+give for consecrations, according to ancient customs, in the following
+proportion. The Pope and the four Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria,
+Antioch and Jerusalem, may give to the Bishops and the Clergy according to
+custom, provided that it exceed not twenty pounds of gold. The
+Metropolitans and the other Bishops may give a hundred gold solidi for
+their enthronement," &c.[114]
+
+So, again: "Therefore let the most holy Patriarchs of each Diocese propose
+these things to the most holy Churches under them, and make known to the
+Metropolitans, most beloved of God, what we have ratified. Let these again
+set it forth in the most holy Metropolitan Church, and notify it to the
+Bishops under them. But let each of these propose it in his own Church,
+that no one in our commonwealth be ignorant of it."[115]
+
+"We charge the most blessed Archbishops and Patriarchs, that is, of elder
+Rome, and Constantinople, and Alexandria, and Theopolis and
+Jerusalem."[116]
+
+But Pope Pelagius I. himself says: "As often as any doubt ariseth to any
+concerning an Universal Council, in order to receive account of what they
+do not understand--let them recur to the Apostolical Sees.--Whosoever then
+is divided from the Apostolical Sees, there is no doubt that he is in
+schism."[117]
+
+St. Augustin had said long before, "What hath the See of the Roman Church
+done to thee, in which Peter sat, in which Anastasius sitteth now: or of
+the Church of Jerusalem, in which James sat, and where now John sitteth:
+with which we are joined in Catholic unity, and from which ye in impious
+fury have separated."[118]
+
+We now come to the dark and sad history of Pope Vigilius. And here I am
+glad that another can speak for me. Bossuet says: "The acts of the Second
+Council of Constantinople, the fifth general, under Pope Vigilius and the
+Emperor Justinian, will prove that the decrees of the third and fourth
+Councils were understood in the same sense by the fifth as we have
+understood them. And this Council received the account of them near at
+hand, and transmitted it to us."[119]
+
+"The three chapters were the point in question; that is, respecting
+Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret's writings against Cyril, and the letter
+of Ibas of Edessa to Maris the Persian. The question was whether that
+letter had been approved in the Council of Chalcedon. So much was admitted
+that it had been read there, and that Ibas, after anathematizing Nestorius,
+had been received by the Council. Some contended that his person only was
+spared; others that his letter also was approved. Thus inquiry was made at
+the fifth Council how writings on the faith were wont to be approved in
+former Councils. The acts of the third and fourth Council, those which we
+have mentioned above respecting the letter of St. Cyril and of St. Leo,
+were set forth. Then the holy Council declared--'It is plain, from what has
+been recited, in what manner the holy Councils are wont to approve what is
+brought before them. For, great as was the dignity of those holy men who
+wrote the letters recited, yet they did not approve their letters simply or
+without inquiry, nor without taking cognisance that they were in all things
+agreeable to the exposition and doctrine of the holy Fathers, with which
+they were compared.' But the acts proved that this course was not pursued
+in the case of the letter of Ibas; they inferred, therefore, most justly,
+that that letter had not been approved. So, then, it is certain, from the
+third and fourth Councils, the fifth so declaring and understanding it,
+that letters approved by the Apostolic See, such as was that of Cyril, or
+even proceeding from it, as that of Leo, were received by the holy Councils
+not simply, nor without inquiry."
+
+Pope Vigilius afterwards, when consenting to this Council, "acknowledges
+that the letter of St. Leo was not approved at the Council of Chalcedon
+until it had been examined and found conformable to the faith of the three
+preceding Councils; and this avowal is the more important in the mouth of a
+Pope."[120]
+
+"Again, in the same fifth Council the acts against the letter of Nestorius
+are read, in which the Fathers of Ephesus plainly pronounce, 'that the
+letter of Nestorius is in no respect agreeable to the faith which was set
+forth at Nicea.' So this letter also was rejected, not simply, but, as was
+equitable, after examination; and Ibas condemned, who stated that Nestorius
+had been rejected by the Council of Ephesus without examination and
+inquiry.
+
+"The holy Fathers proceed to do what the Bishops at Chalcedon would have
+done, had they undertaken the examination of Ibas' letter. They compare the
+letters with the acts of Ephesus and Chalcedon. The holy Council
+declared--'The comparison made proves, beyond a doubt, that the letter
+which Ibas is said to have written is, in all respects, opposed to the
+definition of the right faith, which the Council of Chalcedon set forth.
+All the Bishops cried out, 'We all say this; the letter is heretical.'
+Thus, therefore, is it proved by the fifth Council that our holy Fathers in
+Ecumenical Councils pronounce the letters read, whether of Catholics or
+heretics, or even of Roman Pontiffs, to be orthodox or heretical, according
+to the same procedure, after legitimate cognisance, the truth being
+inquired into, and then cleared up; and upon these premises judgment given.
+
+"What! you will say, with no distinction, and with minds equally inclined
+to both parties? Indeed we have said, and shall often repeat, that there
+was a presumption in favour of the decrees of orthodox Pontiffs; but in
+Ecumenical Councils, where judgment is to be passed in matter of faith,
+that they were bound no longer to act upon presumption, but on the truth
+clearly and thoroughly ascertained.
+
+"Such were the acts of the fifth Council. This it learnt from the third and
+fourth Councils, and approved; and in this argument we have brought at once
+in favour of our opinion the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils of Ephesus,
+Chalcedon, and the second Constantinopolitan."[121]
+
+The point here taken up by Bossuet, and proved upon indisputable authority,
+is of the greatest importance, viz. that the decree of a Roman Pontiff, _de
+fide_, and he, perhaps, the greatest of the whole number, was judged by a
+General Council, and only admitted when it was found conformable to
+antiquity. It settles, in fact, the whole question, that the Bishop of Rome
+is indeed possessed of the First See, and Primate of all Christendom; but
+that he is not the sole depository of Christ's power in the Church, which
+is, in truth, the Papal idea, laid down by St. Gregory the Seventh, and
+acted upon since. The difference between these two ideas is the difference
+between the Church of the Fathers and the present Latin Communion in the
+matter of Church government, in which they are wide as the poles asunder.
+
+The history of Pope Vigilius further confirms the truth of what we have
+said. Bossuet proceeds: "In the same fifth Council the following acts
+support our cause.
+
+"The Emperor Justinian desired that the question concerning the
+above-mentioned three Chapters should be considered in the Church. He
+therefore sent for Pope Vigilius to Constantinople. There he not long after
+assembled a Council. The Orientals thought it of great moment that these
+Chapters should be condemned, against the Nestorians, who were raising
+their heads to defend them; Vigilius, with the Occidentals, feared lest
+thus occasion should be taken to destroy the authority of the Council of
+Chalcedon; because it was admitted that Theodoret and Ibas had been
+received in that Council, whilst Theodore, though named, was let go without
+any mark of censure. Though then both parties easily agreed as to the
+substance of the faith, yet the question had entirely respect to the faith,
+it being feared by the one party lest the Nestorian, by the other lest the
+Eutychean, enemies of the Council of Chalcedon should prevail.
+
+"From this struggle many accusations have been brought against Vigilius,
+which have nothing to do with us. I am persuaded that everything was done
+by Vigilius with the best intent, the Westerns not enduring the
+condemnation of the Chapters, and things tending to a schism." The facts
+here alluded to, but for obvious reasons avoided by Bossuet, are as
+follows, very briefly. Vigilius on the 11th of April, 548, issues his
+'Judicatum' against the three Chapters, saving the authority of the Council
+of Chalcedon. Thereupon the Bishops of Africa, Illyria, and Dalmatia, with
+two of his own confidential Deacons, withdraw from his communion. In the
+year 551, the Bishops of Africa, assembled in Council, excommunicate him,
+for having condemned the three Chapters. At length the Pope publicly
+withdraws his 'Judicatum.' While the Council is sitting at Constantinople
+he publishes his 'Constitutum,' in which he condemns certain propositions
+of Theodore, but spares his person; the same respecting Theodoret; but with
+respect to Ibas, he declares his letter was pronounced orthodox by the
+Council of Chalcedon. Bossuet goes on: "however this may be, so much is
+clear that Vigilius, though invited, declined being present at the Council;
+that nevertheless the Council was held without him; that he published a
+'Constitutum' in which he disapproved of what Theodore, Theodoret, and Ibas
+were said to have written against the faith; but decreed that their name
+should be spared, because they were considered to have been received by the
+fourth Council, or to have died in the communion of the Church, and to be
+reserved to the judgment of God. Concerning the letter of Ibas, he
+published the following, that, understood in the best and most pious sense,
+it was blameless; and concerning the three Chapters generally, he ordered
+that after his present declaration Ecclesiastics should move no further
+question.
+
+"Such was the decree of Vigilius, issued upon the authority with which he
+was invested. And the Council, after his constitution, both raised a
+question about the three Chapters, and decided that question was properly
+raised concerning the dead, and that the letter of Ibas was manifestly
+heretical and Nestorian, and contrary in all things to the faith of
+Chalcedon, and that they were altogether accursed, who defended the impious
+Theodore of Mopsuestia, or the writings of Theodoret against Cyril, or the
+impious letter of Ibas defending the tenets of Nestorius; and who did not
+anathematize it, but said it was correct.
+
+"In these latter words they seemed not even to spare Vigilius, although
+they did not mention his name. And it is certain their decree was confirmed
+by Pelagius the Second, Gregory the Great, and other Roman Pontiffs....
+These things prove, that in a matter of the utmost importance, disturbing
+the whole Church, and seeming to belong to the faith, the decrees of sacred
+Councils prevailed over the decrees of Pontiffs, and that the letter of
+Ibas, though defended by a judgment of the Roman Pontiff, could
+nevertheless be proscribed as heretical."
+
+Compare with this history the following remark of De Maistre, "that Bishops
+separated from the Pope, and in contradiction with him, are superior to
+him, is a proposition to which one does all the honour possible in calling
+it only extravagance."[122]
+
+After all this Fleury says: "At last the Pope Vigilius resigned himself to
+the advice of the Council, and six months afterwards wrote a letter to the
+Patriarch Eutychius, wherein he confesses that he has been wanting in
+charity in dividing from his brethren. He adds, that one ought not to be
+ashamed to retract, when one recognises the truth, and brings forward the
+example of St. Augustin. He says, that, after having better examined the
+matter of the three chapters, he finds them worthy of condemnation. 'We
+recognise for our brethren and colleagues all those who have condemned
+them, and annul by this writing all that has been done by us or by others
+for the defence of the three chapters.'"[123]
+
+Nor can I think it a point of little moment that Bishops of Rome were at
+different times deposed or excommunicated by other Bishops. As in the
+second century the Eastern Bishops disregard St. Victor's excommunication
+respecting Easter; and in the third St. Firmilian in Asia, and St. Cyprian
+in Africa, disregard St. Stephen's excommunication in the matter of
+rebaptizing heretics; so when the Bishops of the Patriarchate of Antioch
+found that Pope Julius had received to communion St. Athanasius, and others
+whom they had deposed, they proceeded to depose him, with Hosius and the
+rest.[124] This was in the fourth century. In the fifth, Dioscorus, at the
+Latrocinium of Ephesus, attempts to excommunicate St. Leo. In the sixth, as
+we have just seen, the Bishops of Africa, Illyria, and Dalmatia, all of the
+West, separate Pope Vigilius from their communion, and the former
+afterwards solemnly excommunicate him. It matters not that in all these
+cases the Bishops were wrong; I quote these acts merely to prove that they
+esteemed the Bishop of Rome the first of all Bishops indeed, yet subject to
+the Canons like themselves, and only of equal rank. For on the present
+Papal theory, such an act, as we have seen le Pere Lacordaire affirm, would
+be merely suicidal,--pure insanity. It is in utter contradiction to the
+notion of an ecclesiastical monarchy.
+
+In like manner we find portions of the Church, as that of Constantinople,
+again and again out of communion with the Roman Pontiff, but they do not
+therefore cease to be parts of the true Church. So Gieseler states that in
+consequence of jealousies about the condemning the three Chapters the
+Archbishops of Aquileia, with their Bishops, were out of communion with
+Rome from A.D. 568 to 698.[125] A reconciliation takes place, and communion
+is renewed. Facts of the same nature, and applying closely to our own
+position, are mentioned by Bossuet;[126] viz. that the Spanish Bishops, not
+having been present at, nor invited to, the sixth General Council, did not
+receive it as Ecumenical, though invited to do so by the Pope of the day,
+until they had themselves examined its acts, and found them accordant with
+previous Councils. And as to the second Nicene, or seventh General Council,
+the Gallic Bishops, with Charlemagne at their head, long refused to receive
+it, though supported by the Pope, because neither they nor other
+Occidentals were present at it. "Nor were they in the mean time held as
+heretical or schismatical, though they differed on a point of the greatest
+moment, that is, the interpretation of the precepts of the first table,
+because they seemed to inquire into the matter with a good intention, not
+with obstinate party spirit."[127] Yet Pope Adrian had himself written
+against them.
+
+Now all these various facts, from the first Nicene Council, converge
+towards one view, for which, I think, there is as full evidence as for most
+facts of history,--that the Pope, to the time of St. Gregory the Great, and
+indeed long afterwards, was but the first of the Patriarchs, who, in their
+own Patriarchates, enjoyed a co-ordinate and equal authority with his in
+the West. I suppose De Maistre acknowledges as much in his own way, when he
+says, "The Pope is invested with five very distinct characters; for he is
+Bishop of Rome, Metropolitan of the Suburbican Churches, Primate of Italy,
+Patriarch of the West, and, lastly, Sovereign Pontiff. The Pope has never
+exercised over the other Patriarchates any powers save those resulting from
+this last; so that except in some affair of high importance, some striking
+abuse, or some appeal in the greater causes, the Sovereign Pontiffs mixed
+little in the ecclesiastical administration of the Eastern Churches. And
+this was a great misfortune, not only for them, but for the states where
+they were established. It may be said that the Greek Church, from its
+origin, carried in its bosom a germ of division, which only completely
+developed itself at the end of twelve centuries, but which always existed
+under forms less striking, less decisive, and so endurable."[128] The
+confession of one who travesties antiquity so outrageously as De Maistre is
+curious at least:--and now let us proceed to the testimony of St. Gregory.
+
+And, assuredly, if there was any Pontiff who, like St. Leo, held the most
+strong and deeply-rooted convictions as to the prerogatives of the Roman
+see, it was St. Gregory. His voluminous correspondence with Bishops, and
+the most notable persons throughout the world, represents him to us as
+guarding and superintending the affairs of the whole Church from the
+watch-tower of St. Peter, the loftiest of all. Let one assertion of his
+prove this. Writing to Natalis, Bishop of Salona in Dalmatia, he says,
+"After the letters of my predecessor and my own, in the matter of Honoratus
+the Archdeacon, were sent to your Holiness, in despite of the sentence of
+us both, the above-mentioned Honoratus was deprived of his rank. _Had
+either of the four Patriarchs done this, so great an act of contumacy could
+not have been passed over without the most grievous scandal._ However, as
+your brotherhood has since returned to your duty, I take notice neither of
+the injury done to me, nor of that to my predecessor."[129] The following
+words in another letter will elucidate his meaning here. "As to what he
+says, that he (a Bishop) is subject to the Apostolical See, _I know not
+what Bishop is not subject to it, if any fault be found in Bishops. But
+when no fault requires it, all are equal according to the estimation of
+humility._"[130] And again, writing to his own Defensor in Sicily, a part
+of the Church most under his own control, "I am informed that if any one
+has a cause against any clerks, you throw a slight upon their Bishops, and
+cause them to appear in your own court. If this be so, we expressly order
+you to presume to do so no more, because beyond doubt it is very unseemly.
+For if his own jurisdiction is not preserved to each Bishop, what else
+results but that the order of the Church is thrown into confusion by us,
+who ought to guard it."[131] Gieseler says: "They (the Roman Bishops)
+maintained, that not only the right of the highest ecclesiastical tribunal
+in the West belonged to them, but the supervision of orthodoxy, and
+maintenance of the Church's laws, in the whole Church; and they based these
+claims, still, it is true, at times, upon imperial edicts, and decrees of
+Councils, but most commonly upon the privileges granted to Peter by the
+Lord."[132] And I suppose if the Primacy of Christendom has any real
+meaning, it must mean this, that in case of necessity, such as infraction
+of the Canons, an appeal may be made to it. So undoubtedly St. Gregory
+understood his own rights. What his ordinary jurisdiction was, Fleury thus
+tells us:--"The Popes ordained clergy only for the Roman (local) Church,
+but they gave Bishops to the greater part of the Churches of Italy."[133]
+"St. Gregory entered into this detail only for the Churches which specially
+depended on the Holy See, and for that reason were named suburbican; that
+is, those of the southern part of Italy, where he was sole Archbishop,
+those of Sicily, and the other islands, though they had Metropolitans. But
+it will not be found that he exercised the same immediate power in the
+provinces depending on Milan and Aquileia, nor in Spain and the Gauls. It
+is true that in the Gauls he had his vicar, who was the Bishop of Arles, as
+was likewise the Bishop of Thessalonica for Western Illyricum. The Pope
+further took care of the Churches of Africa, that Councils should be held
+there, and the Canons maintained; but we do not find that he exercised
+particular jurisdiction over any that belonged to the Eastern empire, that
+is to say, upon the four patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem,
+and Constantinople. He was in communion and interchange of letters with all
+these Patriarchs, without entering into the particular management of the
+Churches depending on them, except it were in some extraordinary case. The
+multitude of St. Gregory's letters gives us opportunity to remark all these
+distinctions, in order not to extend indifferently rights which he only
+exercised over certain Churches."[134]
+
+Now in St. Gregory's time a discussion arose, which served to draw forth
+statements on his part most remarkably bearing on the present claims of the
+See of Rome. In the year 589 Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch, accused of a
+grievous crime, appealed to the Emperor and his Council. He accordingly
+went to Constantinople, and was tried. All the Patriarchs of the East in
+person, or by their deputies, attended this trial, the Senate likewise, and
+many Metropolitans; and the cause having been examined in several sittings,
+Gregory was absolved, and the accuser flogged through the city and
+banished. At this Council John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople,
+took the title of Universal Bishop. Immediately the Roman Pontiff Pelagius
+heard of it, he sent letters by which, of St. Peter's authority, he
+annulled the acts of this Council, save as to the absolution of Gregory,
+and ordered his deacon, the Nuncio, not to attend the mass with John. But
+he left the contest about the name Ecumenical, or Universal, Bishop or
+Patriarch, to his successor Gregory. We have many letters of Gregory on the
+subject, of which I will give extracts. The Pope foresaw the great danger
+there was that the Patriarch of Constantinople would reduce completely
+under him the other three Eastern Patriarchs, and perhaps attempt to gain
+the Primacy of the whole Church; for this, among other reasons, neither St.
+Leo, nor any of his successors, had ever allowed in the West the 28th Canon
+of Chalcedon, giving him the next place to Rome. And now this title of
+Ecumenical, combined with the fact that the Bishop of that See was, from
+his position, the intermediary between all the Bishops of the East and the
+imperial power, seemed to point directly to such a consummation. He was the
+natural president of a Council continually sitting at Constantinople, which
+might be said to lead and give the initiative to the whole East.
+Accordingly St. Gregory appears in this matter the great defender of the
+Patriarchal equilibrium. "Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, and
+Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch."[135]... "As your venerable Holiness is
+aware, this name Universal was offered by the holy Synod of Chalcedon to
+the Pontiff of the Apostolic See, a post which by God's providence I fill.
+But no one of my predecessors ever consented to use so profane a term,
+because plainly, if a single _Patriarch is called Universal, the name of
+Patriarch is taken from the rest_. But far, far be this from the mind of a
+Christian, that any one should wish to claim to himself that by which the
+honour of his brethren may seem to be in any degree diminished. Since,
+therefore, we are unwilling to receive this honour when offered to us,
+consider how shameful it is that any one has wished violently to usurp it
+to himself. Wherefore let your Holiness in your letters _never call any one
+Universal, lest in offering undue honour to another you should deprive
+yourself of that which is your due_.... Let us, therefore, render thanks to
+Him, who, dissolving enmities, hath caused in His flesh, that in the whole
+world there should be one flock and one fold under Himself the one
+Shepherd.... For because he is near of whom it is written, 'He is king over
+all the children of pride,' what I cannot utter without great grief, our
+brother and fellow-Bishop John, despising the Apostolic precepts, the rules
+of the Fathers, endeavours by this appellation to go before him in
+pride.... So that he endeavours to claim the whole to himself, and aims by
+the pride of this pompous language _to subjugate to himself all the members
+of Christ, which are joined together to the one sole head, that is,
+Christ_.... By the favour of the Lord we must strive with all our strength,
+and take care lest by one poisonous sentence the living members of Christ's
+body be destroyed. For if this is allowed to be said freely, _the honour of
+all the Patriarchs is denied_. And when, perchance, he who is termed
+Universal perishes in error, presently no Bishop is found to have remained
+in the state of truth. Wherefore it is your duty firmly, and without
+prejudice, to preserve the Churches as you received them, and let this
+attempt of diabolic usurpation find nothing of its own in you. Stand firm,
+stand fearless; _presume not ever either to give or receive letters with
+this false title of Universal_. Keep from the pollution of this pride all
+the Bishops subject to your care, that the whole Church may recognise you
+for Patriarchs, not only by good works, but by your genuine authority. But
+if perchance adversity follow, persisting with one mind, we are bound to
+show, even by dying, that we love not any special gain of our own to the
+general loss." So, likewise to the Bishops of Illyricum he says--"Because
+as the end of this world is approaching, the enemy of the human race hath
+appeared in anticipation, to have for his precursors through this name of
+pride, those very priests who ought by a good and humble life to resist
+him; I therefore exhort and advise that no one of you ever give countenance
+to this name, ever agree to it, ever write it, ever receive a writing
+wherein it is contained, or add his subscription; but, as it behoves
+ministers of Almighty God, keep himself clean from such-like poisonous
+infection, and give no place within him to the crafty lier-in-wait; _since
+this is done to the injury and disruption of the whole Church, and, as we
+have said, in contempt of all of you. For if, as he thinks, one is
+universal, it remains that you are not Bishops_."[136] To Sabinianus, then
+his Deacon, afterwards his successor--"For to consent to this nefarious
+name, is nothing else but to lose our faith."[137] "Gregory to the Emperor
+Mauricius"[138]... "Concerning which matter, my Lord's affection has
+enjoined me in his commands, saying that scandal ought not to grow between
+us, for the term of a frivolous name. But I beg your Imperial Piety to
+consider, that some frivolities are very harmless, some highly injurious.
+When Antichrist at his coming calls himself God, will it not be very
+frivolous, but yet cause great destruction? If we look at the amount of
+what is said, it is but two syllables, (_Deum_,) if at the weight of
+iniquity, it is universal destruction. _But I confidently affirm that
+whoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, in his
+pride goes before Antichrist_; because through pride he prefers himself to
+the rest. And he is led into error by no dissimilar pride, because like
+that perverse one, he wishes to appear God over all men; so, _whoever he is
+who desires to be called sole Priest_, he lifts up himself above all other
+Priests. But since the Truth says, 'every one who exalteth himself shall be
+abased,' I know that the more any pride inflates itself, the sooner it
+bursts."
+
+"Gregory to the Emperor Mauritius."[139] ... "But since it is not my cause,
+but God's, and since not I only, but the whole Church, is thrown into
+confusion, since sacred laws, since venerable synods, since the very
+commands even of our Lord Jesus Christ are disturbed by the invention of
+this haughty and pompous language, let the most pious Emperor lance the
+wound, &c.... _For to all who know the Gospel, it is manifest that the
+charge of the whole Church was entrusted by the voice of the Lord to the
+holy Apostle Peter, chief of all the Apostles._ For to him is said, Peter,
+lovest thou me? Feed my sheep. To him is said, Behold, Satan hath desired
+to sift you, &c. To him is said, Thou art Peter, &c. _Lo he hath received
+the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the power of binding and loosing is
+given to him, the care of the whole Church is committed to him, and the
+Primacy, and yet he is not called Universal Apostle._ And that holy man, my
+fellow-priest, John, endeavours to be called Universal Bishop.... Do I, in
+this matter, most pious Lord, defend my own cause? is it a private injury
+that I pursue? the cause of Almighty God, the cause of the universal
+Church. Who is he, who, in violation of the statutes of the Gospel, in
+violation of the decrees of Canons, presumes to usurp a new name to
+himself? _Would that he who desires to be called universal may exist
+himself without diminution to others!_... If, then, any one claims to
+himself that name in that Church, as in the judgment of all good men he has
+done, the whole Church (which God forbid!) falls from its place, when he
+who is called Universal falls. But far from Christian hearts be that
+blasphemous name, in which the honour of all Priests is taken away, while
+it is madly arrogated by one to himself! Certainly, to do honour to the
+blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, this was offered to the Roman Pontiff
+by the venerable Synod of Chalcedon. But no one of them ever consented to
+use this singular appellation, that all Priests might not be deprived of
+their due honour by something peculiar being given to one. How is it, then,
+that we seek not the glory of this name, though offered us, yet another
+presumes to claim it, though not offered?"
+
+John had been succeeded by Cyriacus at Constantinople: and he writes
+further,[140] "Gregory to Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch.... I thought it
+not worth while on account of a profane appellation to delay receiving the
+synodical letter of our Brother and Fellow-Priest Cyriacus, that I might
+not disturb the unity of the holy Church: nevertheless, I have made a point
+of admonishing him respecting that same superstitious and haughty
+appellation, saying that he could not have peace with me unless he
+corrected the pride of the aforesaid expression, _which the first Apostate
+invented_. But you should not call this cause of no importance; because, if
+we bear this patiently, we corrupt the faith of the whole Church. For you
+know how many, not only heretics, but even heresiarchs, have come forth
+from the Church of Constantinople. And, not to speak of the injury done to
+your honour, if one Bishop be called Universal, the whole Church tumbles to
+pieces, if that one, being universal, falls.[141] But far be such folly,
+far be such trifling, from my ears. But I trust in the Almighty Lord, that
+what He hath promised, He will quickly perform: every one that exalteth
+himself shall be abased." In another most interesting letter he
+communicates to the Bishop of Alexandria, that "while the nation of the
+English, placed in a corner of the world, was remaining up to this time in
+unbelief, worshipping stocks and stones, by the help of your prayers I
+determined that I ought to send over to it a monk of my monastery, by the
+blessing of God, to preach there. After permission from me, he has been
+made a Bishop by the Bishops of Germany, and, assisted by their kindness,
+reached the aforesaid nation at the end of the world; and even at this
+present moment I have received accounts of his safety and labours; for
+either he, or those who have gone over with him, are distinguished among
+that nation by so great miracles, that they seem to imitate the powers of
+Apostles by the signs which they show forth. On this last feast of the
+Lord's Nativity more than ten thousand English are reported to have been
+baptized by this our brother and fellow-bishop, which I mention that you
+may know what you are doing among the people of Alexandria by your voice,
+and in the ends of the world by your prayers."[142]--"Your Blessedness has
+also taken pains to tell me that you no longer write to certain persons
+those proud names, which have sprung from the root of vanity, and you
+address me, saying, _as you commanded_, which word _command_ I beg you to
+remove from my ears, because I know who I am, and who you are. For in rank
+you are my Brother, in character my Father. I did not, therefore, command,
+but took pains to point out what I thought advantageous. I do not, however,
+find that your Blessedness was willing altogether to observe the very thing
+I pressed upon you. For I said that you should not write any such thing
+_either to me or to any one else_, and lo! in the heading of your letter,
+directed to me, the very person who forbad it, you set that haughty
+appellation, _calling me Universal Pope_. Which I beg your Holiness, who
+are most agreeable to me, to do no more, because _whatever is given to
+another more than reason requires is so much taken away from yourself_. It
+is not in appellations, but in character, that I wish to advance. Nor do I
+consider that an honour by which I acknowledge that my brethren lose their
+own. For my honour is the honour of the Universal Church. My honour is the
+unimpaired vigour of my brethren. Then am I truly honoured, when the true
+honour is not denied to each one in his degree. _For if your Holiness calls
+me Universal Pope, you deny that you are yourself what you admit me to be,
+Universal._ But this God forbid. Away with words which inflate vanity, and
+wound charity. Indeed, in the holy Synod of Chalcedon, and by the Fathers
+subsequently, your Holiness knows this was offered to my predecessors. Yet
+none of them chose ever to use this term; that, while in this world they
+entertained affection for the honour of all Priests, in the hands of
+Almighty God they might guard their own."
+
+As to what Gregory says about the Council of Chalcedon offering this title,
+Thomassin says,[143] "It authorized at least by its silence the title of
+Ecumenical (Patriarch), which was given to Pope Leo in several requests
+there read." It appears these requests really were the complaints of two
+Alexandrian Deacons against Dioscorus.[144] How very different it was to
+pass over without reprobating a title bestowed in documents which came
+before it, from itself conferring that title, is plain at once. In just the
+same way it had been given at the Latrocinium to Dioscorus. However, the
+title Ecumenical has been constantly since, and is now, borne by the
+Patriarch of Constantinople; no doubt a very innocent meaning may be given
+to it. The remarkable thing is, that Gregory has pointed out in such
+precise unmistakeable language a certain power and claim, which he
+inferred, rightly or wrongly, would be set up on this title Ecumenical, and
+which he pronounces to be a corruption of the whole constitution of the
+Church.
+
+Perhaps, however, the most remarkable passage remains yet to be quoted. It
+is in a letter to the Patriarch John himself. "Consider, I pray you, that
+by this rash presumption the peace of the whole Church is disturbed, and
+the grace, poured out upon all in common, contradicted. And in this,
+indeed, you yourself will be able to increase just so much as you purpose
+in your own mind; and become so much the greater, as you restrain yourself
+from usurping a proud and foolish name. And you profit in the degree that
+you do not study to arrogate to yourself by derogating from your brethren.
+Therefore, most dear brother, with all your heart love humility, by which
+the harmony of all the brethren and the unity of the holy universal Church,
+may be preserved. Surely the Apostle Paul, hearing some say, I am of Paul,
+I of Apollos, I of Cephas, exclaimed, in exceeding horror at this rending
+of the Lord's Body, by which His members attached themselves, as it were,
+to other heads, saying, Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in
+the name of Paul? If he then rejected the members of the Lord's Body being
+subjected to certain heads, as it were, besides Christ, and that even to
+Apostles themselves, as leaders of parts, what will you say to Christ, _who
+is, as you know, the Head of the Universal Church, in the examination of
+the last judgement_,--_you, who endeavour to subject to yourself under the
+name of Universal, all His members_? Who, I say, in this perverse name, is
+set forth for imitation but he, who despised the legions of angels joined
+as companions to himself, and endeavoured to rise to a height unapproached
+by all, that he might seem to be subject to none, and be alone superior to
+all. Who also said, 'I will ascend into heaven: I will exalt my throne
+above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,
+on the sides of the North. I will ascend above the height of the clouds: I
+will be like the Most High.'
+
+"For what are all your brethren, the Bishops of the Universal Church, but
+the stars of heaven? Whose life and language together shine amid the sins
+and errors of men, as among the shades of night. And while you seek to set
+yourself over these by a proud term, and to tread under foot their name, in
+comparison with your own, what else do you say, but 'I will ascend into the
+heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.' Are not all the
+Bishops clouds, who rain down the words of their preaching, and shine with
+the light of good works? And while your brotherhood despises them, and
+endeavours to put them under you, what else do you say but this, which is
+said by the old enemy: 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds?' And
+when I see all these things with sorrow, and fear the secret judgments of
+God, my tears increase, my heart contains not my groans, that that most
+holy man, the Lord John, of such abstinence and humility, seduced the
+persuasion of those about him, hath proceeded to such pride, that in
+longing after a perverse name, he endeavours to be like him, who, desiring
+in his pride to be as God, lost even the grace of that likeness to God
+which had been given him; and so forfeited true blessedness, because he
+sought false glory. _Surely Peter, the first of the Apostles, a member of
+the holy universal Church, Paul, Andrew, John, what else are they but the
+heads of particular communities? and yet all are members under one head._
+And to comprehend all in one brief expression, the saints before the law,
+the saints under the law, the saints under grace, all these making up the
+body of the Lord, are disposed among members of the Church, and no one ever
+wished to be called Universal. Let, then, your Holiness acknowledge how
+great is your pride, who seek to be called by that name, by which no one
+has presumed to be called who was really holy."[145]
+
+Now had these passages occurred in the writings of some ancient saint, who
+was generally opposed to the authority of the Roman See, had they belonged
+to a Patriarch of Antioch, or Constantinople, jealous of his own rights,
+they would surely have had their weight, as testimonies to a fact, not mere
+opinions of the speaker. They would have borne witness to no such thing as
+they reprobate having, till then, been allowed or thought of. Or, had they
+been isolated statements, not borne out by contemporaneous or antecedent
+documents, but standing alone, uncontradicted indeed, but unsupported, they
+would still have told. How, then, are we to express their weight, or the
+full assurance of faith which they give us, as being the deliberate,
+oft-repeated, official statements of a Pope, than whom there never was one
+more vigorous in defending or in exercising the rights of his See? As being
+supported and borne out, and in every possible way corroborated by the
+facts of history, the decrees of Councils, the innumerable testimonies of
+all parts of the world, the everyday life of the living, breathing Church
+for six hundred years? In an early work, Mr. Newman had said, "What there
+is not the shadow of a reason for saying that the Fathers held, what has
+not the faintest pretensions of being a Catholic Truth, is this, that St.
+Peter, and his successors, were and are universal Bishops; that they have
+the whole of Christendom for their own diocese, in a way in which other
+Apostles and Bishops had and have not."
+
+In his last work he has retracted, saying, "Most true, if, in order that a
+doctrine be considered Catholic, it must be formally stated by the Fathers
+generally from the very first: but, on the same understanding, the doctrine
+also of the Apostolic succession in the Episcopal order has not the
+faintest pretensions of being a Catholic truth."[146]
+
+Now these words of Mr. Newman seem to imply that the expressions of
+Fathers, or the decrees of Councils, look towards this presumed Catholic
+truth, tend to it, and finally admit it, as a truth which they had been all
+along implicitly holding, or unconsciously living upon, and at last
+recognised and expressed. On the contrary, to my apprehension, they hold
+another view about the See of Rome, and express it again and again. It is
+not a point on which there is variation or inconsistency among them. I have
+as clear a conviction as one can well have that St. Augustine did _not_
+hold the Papal theory. I think the words that I have quoted from him prove
+this. Moreover, the Fathers generally express a view about other Bishops
+which is utterly incompatible with this theory as now received, which by no
+process of development can be made to agree with it. And I confess that I
+am unable to understand the meaning of words, if this so-called "Catholic
+truth" of the Pope being the universal Bishop, is not distinctly considered
+in these passages of St. Gregory, formally repudiated for himself as well
+as for others, and the very notion declared to be, in any case whatsoever,
+_that of the Pope being specially named_, blasphemous and antichristian.
+Could heretics say any thing of the kind against the doctrine of the
+Apostolical succession, out of the first six centuries, they would have an
+advantage against the Church, which, thank God, they are far from
+possessing.
+
+And it is of no small importance that we have here speaking a Pope, one to
+whom twelve centuries have given the name of Great, one who, with St. Leo,
+stands forth out of the ancient line of St. Peter's heirs as an especially
+legislative mind. Every Catholic is bound to take his words without
+suspicion. Now St. Gregory asserts, as we have seen, the right of his See
+to call _any_ Bishop to account, even the four Patriarchs, in case of a
+violation of the Canons; declaring at the same time that, when the Canons
+are kept, the meanest Bishop is his equal in the estimation of humility.
+Even while arguing against this title he says, "To all who know the Gospel
+is manifest that the charge of the whole Church was entrusted by the voice
+of the Lord to the holy Apostle Peter,"--"and yet he is not called
+Universal Apostle;" but this title, he asserts, and the theory implied in
+it, is devilish, an imitation of Satan, an anticipation of Antichrist. What
+else can we conclude but that which so many other documents prove, that
+this Primacy over the whole Church, the ancient and undoubted privilege of
+the Bishop of Rome, was something quite different from what he is here
+reprobating? For St. Gregory, least of all men, was so blind as to use
+arguments which might be retorted with full force against himself. And yet,
+any one reading these words of his, and not knowing whence they came, would
+suppose they were written by a professed opponent of the present Papal
+claims. For in these letters St. Gregory acknowledges all the Patriarchs as
+co-ordinate with himself, acknowledges our Lord to be sole Head of the
+Church, declares the title of Universal Bishop blasphemous and
+Antichristian, expressly on the ground that it is a wrong done to the
+Universal Church, to every Bishop and Priest: "If one is universal, it
+remains that you are not Bishops;" declares, moreover, that St. Peter
+himself is only a member of the Universal Church, as St. Paul, St. John,
+St. Andrew, were other members, the heads of different communities. This
+may be said to be the precise logical contradictory of De Maistre's
+assertion, that "the Pope" is "the Church," in which he assuredly only
+expresses the Papal idea. Rarely, indeed, is it that any controversy,
+appealing to ancient times, can have a testimony on all its details so
+distinct, and specific, and authoritative as this: and yet it may be said
+no more than to crown the testimony of the six centuries going before it.
+That during this period the Bishop of Rome was recognised to be first
+Bishop of the whole Church, of very great influence, successor of St.
+Peter, and standing in the same relation to his brethren the Bishops that
+St. Peter stood in to his brother Apostles; this, on the whole, I believe
+to be the testimony of the first six centuries, such as a person, not
+wilfully blind, and who was not content to take the witness of a Father
+when it suited his purpose and pass it by when it did not, would draw from
+ecclesiastical documents. I have set it forth to the best of my ability, as
+well where it seemed to tell against the present position of the Church of
+England, as in those many points in which it supports her.
+
+What then is our defence on her part against the charge of schism? It is
+simply this. That no one can now be in the communion of Rome without
+admitting this very thing which Pope Gregory declares to be blasphemous and
+anti-Christian, and derogatory to the honour of every Priest. This is the
+very head and front of our offending, that we refuse to allow that the Pope
+is Universal Bishop. If the charge were that we refuse to stand in the same
+relation to the Pope that St. Augustin of Canterbury stood in to this very
+St. Gregory, that we refuse to regard and honour the successor of St.
+Gregory with the same honour with which our Archbishops, as soon as they
+were seated in the government of their Church, and were no longer merely
+Missionaries but Primates, regarded the occupant of St. Peter's See, I
+think both the separation three hundred years ago, and the present
+continuance of it on our part, would, so far as this question of schism is
+concerned, be utterly indefensible. But this is _not_ the point. It may
+indeed be, and frequently is, so stated by unfair opponents. The real point
+is, that, during the nine hundred years which elapsed between 596 and 1534
+the power of the Pope, and his relation to the Bishops in his communion,
+had essentially altered: had been, in fact, placed upon another basis. That
+from being first Bishop of the Church, and Patriarch, originally of the ten
+provinces under the Praefectus Praetorii of Italy, then of France, Spain,
+Africa, and the West generally, he had claimed to be the source and channel
+of grace to all Bishops, the fountain-head of jurisdiction to the whole
+world, East as well as West; in fact, the 'Solus Sacerdos,' the 'Universus
+Episcopus,' contemplated by St. Gregory. There is a worldwide difference
+between the ancient signature of the Popes, 'Episcopus Catholicae Ecclesiae
+Urbis Romae,' and that of Pope Pius at the Council of Trent, 'Ego Pius
+Catholicae Ecclesiae Episcopus.' It has been no longer left in the choice
+of any to accept his _Primacy_, without accepting his _Monarchy_, which
+those who profess to follow antiquity must believe that the Bishops of
+Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, Augustin and Chrysostom, the
+West and the East, would have rejected with the horror shown by St. Gregory
+at the first dawning of such an idea. And, whereas Holy Scripture and
+antiquity present us with one accordant view of the Universal Church
+governed by St. Peter and the Apostolic College, and, during the first six
+centuries at least, as the Bishop of Rome is seen to exercise the Primacy
+of St. Peter, so his brother-Bishops stand to him as the College of
+Apostles stood to St. Peter: instead of this, which is the Church's divine
+hierarchy, instituted by Christ Himself, the actual Roman Church is
+governed by one Bishop who has an apostolical independent power, whilst all
+the rest, who should be his brethren, are merely his delegates, receiving
+from his hand the investiture of such privileges as they still retain. If
+St. Gregory did not mean this by the terms 'Solus Sacerdos,' 'Universus
+Episcopus,' what did he mean? That the Pope should be the only Priest who
+offered sacrifice, or the only Bishop who ordained, confirmed, &c. is
+physically impossible. Nor did the title of the Bishops of Constantinople
+tend to this: but to claim to themselves jurisdiction over the co-ordinate
+Patriarchs of the East, as the Popes have since done over the Bishops of
+the whole world. We have no need to consider what is the amount of this
+difficulty to Roman Catholics themselves: the same Providence which has
+placed them under that obedience, has placed us outside of it. Our cause,
+indeed, cannot be different now from what it was at the commencement of the
+separation. If inherently indefensible then, it is so now. But if then
+'severe but just,' the lapse of three centuries in our separate state may
+materially affect our relative duties. I affirm my conviction, that it is
+better to endure almost any degree of usurpation, provided only it be not
+anti-Christian, than to make a schism: for the state of schism is a
+frustration of the purposes of the Lord's Incarnation; and through this,
+not only the English, and the Eastern Church, but the Roman also, lies
+fettered and powerless before the might of the world, and bleeding
+internally at every pore. How shall a divided Church meet and overcome the
+philosophical unbelief of these last times? or, the one condition to which
+victory is attached being broken, crush the deadliest attack of the old
+enemy? But the schism is made; let those answer for it before Christ's
+tribunal who made it. Now that it is made, I see not how a system, which is
+not a true development of the ancient Patriarchal constitution, but its
+antagonist, according to St. Gregory's words, can be forced upon us, on
+pain of our salvation, who have the original succession of the ancient
+Bishops of this realm, if any such there be, and the old Patriarchal
+constitution, 'sua tantum si bona norint.' I ground our present position
+simply on the appeal to tradition and the first six centuries.
+
+Not that there is any abrupt break in the testimony of history there; but
+it is necessary to put a limit somewhere. Otherwise the seventh century
+supplies us with the remarkable fact of Pope Honorius condemned, by the
+sixth Ecumenical Council in 681, as having connived at and favoured the
+Monothelite heresy, condemned more than forty years after his death; a fact
+which utterly destroys the new dogma of the infallibility of the one Roman
+Pontiff by himself; and which Bellarmine and Baronius can only meet by
+attempting to prove that the acts of the sixth Council have been falsified,
+though they had been received for genuine by the seventh and eighth
+Councils, and for nine hundred years; and the letter of St. Leo,
+immediately after that Council, falsified also, in which he condemns the
+Monothelites, and amongst them Honorius, "who did not adorn this
+Apostolical See with the doctrine handed down from the Apostles, but
+endeavoured to subvert the undefiled faith by a profane tradition." The
+condemnation of the Council runs as follows:--"Having examined the letters
+of Sergius of Constantinople to Cyrus, and the answer of Honorius to
+Sergius, and having found them to be repugnant to the doctrine of the
+Apostles, and to the opinion of all the Fathers, in execrating their
+impious dogmas, we judge that their very names ought to be banished from
+the Holy Church of God; we declare them to be smitten with anathema; and,
+together with them, we judge that Honorius, formerly Pope of ancient Rome,
+be anathematized, since we find, in his letter to Sergius, that he follows
+in all respects his error, and authorizes his impious doctrine."[147]
+
+It appears, likewise, that as the letter of St. Cyril was read and approved
+in the third Council, and that of Pope St. Leo in the fourth, so that of
+Pope St. Agathon was read and approved in the sixth, and that of Pope
+Adrian the First in the seventh, A.D. 787. But here it may be well to give
+Bossuet's summary. "This tradition" (_i.e._ that the supreme authority in
+the Church resides in the consent of the Bishops) "we have seen to come
+down from the Apostles, and descend to the first eight General Councils;
+which eight General Councils are the foundation of the whole Christian
+doctrine and discipline, of which the Church venerates the first four, in
+St. Gregory's words, no less than the four Gospels. Nor is less reverence
+due to the rest, as, guided by the same Spirit, they have a like authority.
+Which eight Councils, with a great and unanimous consent, have placed the
+final power of giving decisions in nothing else but in the consent of the
+Fathers. Of which the six last have legitimately examined the sentence of
+the Roman Pontiff even given upon Faith, and that with the approval of the
+Apostolic See, the question being put in this form, as we read in the
+Acts--'Are these decrees right, or not?'
+
+"But we have seen that the judgment of a General Council never was so
+reconsidered, but that all immediately yielded obedience to it. Nor was a
+new inquiry ever granted to anyone after that examination, but punishment
+threatened. Thus acted Constantine; thus Marcian; thus Coelestine; thus
+Leo; thus all the rest, as we have seen in the Acts. The Christian world
+hath acknowledged this to be certain and indubitable.
+
+"To this we may add the testimony of the admirable Pope St. Gelasius: 'A
+good and truly Christian Council once held, neither can nor ought to be
+unsettled by the repetition of a new Council.' And again: 'There is no
+cause why a good Council should be reconsidered by another Council, lest
+the mere reconsideration should detract from the strength of its decrees.'
+Thus what has received the final and certain judgment of the Church, is not
+to be reconsidered; for that judgment of the Holy Spirit is reversed,
+whenever it is reconsidered by a fresh judgment. But the judgment put forth
+by a Roman Pontiff is such, that it has been reconsidered. It is not
+therefore that ultimate and final judgment of the Church.
+
+"Nor is that sentence of Gregory the Great less clear, comparing the four
+General Councils to the four Gospels, with the reason given; 'Because being
+decreed by universal consent, whoever presumes either to loose what they
+bind, or bind what they loose, destroys not them but himself.'
+
+"So then our question is terminated by the tradition of the ancient
+Councils and Fathers. All should consent to the power of the Roman Pontiff,
+as explained according to the decree of the Council of Florence, after the
+practice of General Councils. The vast difference between the judgment of a
+Council and of a Pontiff is evident, since after that of the Council no
+question remains, but only the obedience of the mind brought into
+captivity; but that of the Pontiff is upon examination approved, room being
+given to object,--which was to be proved."[148]
+
+Here the real question at issue is, whether the Bishop of Rome be First
+Bishop, or Monarch, of the Church. Now, I have endeavoured to delineate,
+from the Fathers and from Councils, what the true Primacy of the Roman See
+is. What is now required from us to admit as terms of communion is--"That
+the ordinary jurisdiction of Bishops descends immediately from the Pope;"
+"the government of the Church is monarchical, therefore all authority
+resides in one, and from him is derived unto the rest;" "there is a great
+difference between the succession to Peter and that to the rest of the
+Apostles; for the Roman Pontiff properly succeeds Peter not as Apostle, but
+as ordinary Pastor of the whole Church; and therefore the Roman Pontiff has
+jurisdiction from Him from whom Peter had it: but Bishops do not properly
+succeed the Apostles, as the Apostles were not ordinary, but extraordinary,
+and, as it were, delegated Pastors, to whom there is no succession.
+Bishops, however, are said to succeed the Apostles, not properly in that
+manner in which one Bishop succeeds another, and one king another, but in
+another way, which is two-fold. First, in respect of the holy Order of the
+Episcopate; secondly, from a certain resemblance and proportion: that is,
+as when Christ lived on earth, the twelve Apostles were the first under
+Christ, then the seventy-two Disciples: so now the Bishops are first under
+the Roman Pontiff, after them Priests, then Deacons, &c. But it is proved
+that Bishops succeed to the Apostles so, and not otherwise; for they have
+no part of the true Apostolic authority. Apostles could preach in the whole
+world, and found Churches ... this cannot Bishops." ... "Bishops succeed to
+the Apostles in the same manner as Priests to the seventy-two
+Disciples."[149] Again: "But, if the Supreme Pontiff be compared with the
+rest of the Bishops, he is deservedly said to possess the plenitude of
+power, because the rest have fixed regions over which they preside, and
+also a fixed power; but he is set over the whole Christian world, and
+possesses, in its completeness and plenitude, that power which Christ left
+on earth for the good of the Church."[150] He proceeds to prove this by
+those passages of Scripture:--'Thou art Peter,' &c.; 'Feed my sheep,' &c.;
+which we have seen St. Augustin explaining as said to St. Peter in the
+person of the Church, while he expressly denies that they are said to him
+merely as an individual. "These keys not one man but the unity of the
+Church received:" "he was not the only one among the Disciples who was
+thought worthy to feed the Lord's sheep," &c. What Bellarmine here says,
+is, assuredly, both the true Roman view, and moreover _absolutely necessary
+to justify that Church in the attitude she assumes and the measures she
+authorizes towards other parts of the Church. And if it be the ancient
+Catholic doctrine, it does justify her_. That it is _not_ the ancient
+doctrine, I think I have already shown; but let us hear what Bossuet says
+of it. "One objection of theirs remains to be explained, that Bishops
+borrow their power and jurisdiction from the Roman Pontiff, and therefore,
+although united with him in an Ecumenical Council, can do nothing against
+the root and source of their own authority, but are only present as his
+Counsellors; and that the force of the decree, as well in matters of faith
+as in other matters, lies in the power of the Roman Pontiff. Which fiction
+falls of itself to the ground, even from this, that it was unheard of in
+the early ages, and began to be introduced into theology in the thirteenth
+century; that is, after men preferred generally to act upon philosophical
+reasonings, and those very bad, before consulting the Fathers.[151]
+
+"But to this innovation is opposed, first, what is related in the Acts of
+the Apostles respecting that Council of Apostles, which the letter of St.
+Coelestine to the Council of Ephesus, and the proceedings of the fifth
+Ecumenical Council, proved to be as it were repeated and represented in all
+other Councils. But if any one says that, in this Council, the Apostles
+were not set by Christ to be true judges, but to be the counsellors of
+Peter, he is too ridiculous.[152]
+
+"Secondly, is opposed that fact which we have proved, that the decrees and
+judgments of Roman Pontiffs _de fide_ were suspended by the convocation of
+an Ecumenical Council, were reconsidered by its authority, and were only
+approved and confirmed after examination made and judgment given. Which
+things undoubtedly prove that they sat there not as counsellors of the
+Pope, but as judges of Papal decrees.
+
+"And they must indeed be legitimately called together, that they may not
+meet tumultuously; but, when once called together, they judge by the
+authority of the Holy Spirit, not of the Pope: they pronounce anathemas,
+not by authority of the Pope, but of Christ; and we have seen this so often
+pressed upon us by the Acts, that we are weary of repeating it.
+
+"Add to this that expression of the first Council of Arles to St.
+Sylvester: 'Had you judged together with us, our assembly had exulted with
+greater joy:' and in the very heading of the Council to the same Sylvester:
+'What we have decreed with common consent, we signify to your charity.'
+Relying then on this authority of their Priesthood, they judge concerning
+most important matters; that is, the observation of the Lord's passover,
+that it may be kept on one day all over the world: concerning the
+non-iteration of Baptism, and the discipline of the Churches. Instances of
+this kind occur everywhere. But it is a known fact, that even by particular
+Councils, where the Pope presided, his decrees, even when present, were
+examined and confirmed by consent; the Fathers equally with him judged,
+decreed, defined, and we have seen this a thousand times written on the
+Acts.
+
+"But in a matter so clear, they have only one thing to object drawn out of
+antiquity, the saying of St. Innocent, 'that Peter is the author of the
+Episcopal name and honour.'[153] And again,[154] 'whence the Episcopate
+itself and all the authority of that name sprung.' And of St. Leo,[155] 'If
+he willed that anything should be enjoyed by the other heads (that is, the
+Apostles) in common with him (Peter), he never gave save through Peter
+whatever he denied not to the rest.' And elsewhere also, 'that Christ
+granted to the rest of the Apostles the ministry of preaching on this
+condition, that he poured into them, as into the whole body, his gifts from
+Peter, as from the head.'[156] Whence also came that expression of Optatus
+of Milevi: 'For the good of unity, the blessed Peter was thought worthy to
+be preferred to all the Apostles, and alone received the keys of the
+kingdom of heaven to be imparted to the rest,'[157]--and that of Gregory of
+Nyssa, 'Through Peter He gave to the Bishops the keys of heavenly
+honours.'[158] And that of St. Caesarius of Arles to Pope Symmachus: 'As
+from the person of the blessed Apostle Peter the Episcopate takes its
+beginning, so is it necessary that by suitable rules of discipline your
+Holiness should plainly show to every Church what they ought to
+observe.'[159]
+
+"If they push these and such like expressions to the utmost, they will come
+to assert that the Apostles were appointed by Peter, not by Christ, or by
+Christ through Peter, but not by Him immediately and in person: as if any
+other but Christ called the Apostles, sent them, and endued them with
+heavenly power by the infusion of His Spirit; and Peter and not Christ
+said: 'Go ye, teach, preach, baptize, receive, and, as My Father sent me,
+even so send I you.'
+
+"I am aware that John of Turrecremata, and a few others, thinking that the
+words now quoted of St. Leo and others cannot be defended by them
+sufficiently, unless the Apostles also received their jurisdiction from St.
+Peter, have been hurried away even into this folly, against the most
+manifest truth of the Gospel. Which fiction Bellarmine himself has
+confuted.
+
+"But this being the greatest absurdity, it will appear that what follows is
+the teaching of the Fathers quoted.
+
+"First; the episcopal authority and jurisdiction is contained in the keys,
+and in the power of binding and loosing, which is clear of itself.
+
+"Secondly; it is evident from the Gospel History that Peter was the first
+in whom that power was shown forth and appointed. For, although Christ said
+to all the Apostles, 'Receive the Holy Ghost,' (John xx. 22,) and
+'whatsoever ye bind,' &c., 'whatsoever ye loose,' &c. (Matt, xviii. 18);
+yet, what He said to Peter had gone before, 'I will give to thee the keys,'
+&c. (Matt. xvi. 19).
+
+"Thirdly; both these two, that is, both what was said to Peter and what was
+said to the Apostles, proceed equally from Christ: for He who said to
+Peter, 'I will give to thee,' and 'Whatsoever thou shalt bind,' said also
+to the Apostles, 'Receive ye,' and 'Whatsoever ye shall bind.'
+
+"Fourthly; that is therefore true which Optatus says of Peter: 'For the
+good of unity, he alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to be
+imparted to the rest.' For, in truth, these which were given to Peter in
+the 16th Matt. were to be imparted afterwards to the Apostles, Matt. 18th,
+and John 20th, but to be imparted not by Peter, but by Christ, as is clear.
+
+"Fifthly; that also is true which Caesarius says, 'The Episcopate takes its
+beginning from Peter:' he being the first in whom, through the ministry of
+binding and loosing, the Episcopal power was shown forth, begun,
+entrusted.'
+
+"Sixthly; hence, also, is true what Innocent says,--'that the Episcopate,
+and all the authority of that name, sprung from Peter,' because he, first
+of all, was appointed or set forth as Bishop.
+
+"Seventhly; for this cause, Peter is called by the same Innocent the author
+of the Episcopate; not that he instituted it,--not that the Apostles
+received the power of binding and loosing from him,--for the Scriptures
+everywhere exclaim against this; but that from him was made the beginning
+of establishing that power among men, and of appointing or marking out the
+Episcopate.
+
+"Eighthly; to make this clearer, and that it may be easily perceived what
+means that expression, 'through Peter,' which we read in Leo, we must
+review the tradition of the ancient Church, drawn from the Scriptures
+themselves.
+
+"It is plain, then, that when the Lord asked the Apostles, 'Whom say men
+that I, the Son of Man, am?' Peter, the chief of all, answered in the
+person of all, 'Thou art the Christ:' and afterwards Christ said to Peter,
+thus representing them, 'I will give to thee,'--'Whatsoever thou shalt
+bind:' by which it appears that in these words, not Peter only, but in
+Peter, their chief, and answering for all, all the Apostles and their
+successors were endued with the Episcopal power and jurisdiction.
+
+"All which Augustin includes when he writes, 'All being asked, Peter alone
+answered, Thou art Christ, and to him is said, I will give to thee, &c., as
+if he alone received the power of binding and loosing, the case really
+being, that he said that singly for all, and received this together with
+all, as representing unity.'[160] Than which nothing can be clearer."
+
+He then quotes passages from St. Cyprian and St. Augustin, which I have
+already brought; adding, "In Peter, therefore, singly, Cyprian acknowledges
+that all Bishops were instituted, and not without reason; the Episcopate,
+as he everywhere attests, being one in the whole world, was instituted in
+one. And this was done to establish 'the origin of unity beginning from
+one,' as he says.
+
+"But most of all does Augustin set forth and inculcate the common
+tradition. For, not content with having said that once in the place above
+mentioned, he is very full in setting forth this view of that doctrine.
+Hence he says, 'In Peter was the sacrament of the Church;'" and other
+passages I have already quoted. "Whence, everywhere in his books against
+the Donatists, he says, 'The keys are given to Unity.'
+
+"The sum, then, is this. The Apostles and Pastors of Churches being both
+one and many,--one, in ecclesiastical communion, as they feed one flock;
+many, being distributed through the whole world, and having allotted to
+them each their own part of the one flock; therefore, power was given to
+them by a two-fold ratification of Christ: first, that they may be one, in
+Peter their chief, bearing the figure and the person of unity, to which has
+reference that saying in the singular number, 'I will give to thee,' and
+'Whatsoever thou shall bind,' &c.: secondly, that they may be many, to
+which that has reference in the plural number, 'Receive ye,' and
+'Whatsoever ye shall bind:' but both, personally and immediately from
+Christ; since He who said, 'I will give to thee,' as to one, also said,
+'Receive ye,' as to many: nevertheless, that saying came first, in which
+power is given to all, in that they are one: because Christ willed that
+unity, most of all, should be recommended in His Church.
+
+"By this all is made clear; not only Bishops, but also Apostles, have
+received the keys and the power from Christ, in Peter, and, in their
+manner, through Peter, who, in the name of all, received that for all, as
+bearing the figure and the person of all."
+
+He then shows that this tradition had gone down even to his own times:
+"This holy and apostolic doctrine of the Episcopal jurisdiction and power
+proceeding immediately from, and instituted by, Christ, the Gallic Church
+hath most zealously retained." "Therefore,[161] that very late invention,
+that Bishops receive their jurisdiction from the Pope, and are, as it were,
+vicars of him, ought to be banished from Christian schools, as unheard of
+for twelve centuries."
+
+It is precisely "this very late invention" which is urged against the
+Church of England. Unless this be true, her position in itself, supposing
+her to be clear of heresy, with which, at present, I have nothing to do, is
+impregnable.
+
+Such is the most Catholic interpretation by which Bossuet sets in harmony
+with the teaching of all antiquity a few expressions, which are all that I
+have been able to find that are even capable of being forced into
+accordance with the present Papal system, and which, as soon as they are so
+forced, contradict the whole history of Councils, and the whole life of the
+most illustrious Fathers.
+
+Now there is no doubt that Bellarmine's doctrine is the true logical
+development of the Papal Theory; it alone has consistency and completeness;
+it alone is the adequate expression of that prodigious power which was
+allowed to enthrone itself in the Church during the middle ages; it would
+fain account for it and justify it. Grant but its postulate, that the Pope
+is the sole vicar of Christ, and all which it requires must follow. On the
+other hand, that school which ranks Bossuet at its head, and which sought
+to limit, in some degree, by the Canons the power of the Roman Pontiff, and
+maintained that Bishops were, _jure divino_, successors of the Apostles, in
+a real, not in a fictitious sense, however well-founded in what it
+maintained on the one side, was certainly inconsistent. It gave either too
+much or too little to the Roman See;--too much, if its own declarations
+about the succession of Bishops and the authority of General Councils be
+true, and founded in antiquity, as we believe; too little, if the Pope be
+indeed the only Vicar of Christ on earth, and the supreme Ruler of His
+Church; for then these maxims put their partisans very nearly into the
+position of rebels, and, in truth, brought the Gallican Church to the brink
+of a schism, in 1682. However this may be, that school is extinct; the
+ultramontane theory alone has now life and vigour in the Roman Church. It
+seems to absorb into itself all earnest and self-denying minds, while the
+other is left to that treacherous conservatism which would use the Church
+of Christ as a system of police, for the security of worldly interests.
+What the ultramontane theory is, we see from Bellarmine. It proclaims that
+the government of the Church is a monarchy, concentrating in one person all
+the powers bestowed by Christ upon the Apostles. In this the student of
+history is bound to declare that it stands in point-blank contradiction to
+the decrees of General Councils, to the sentiments of the Fathers, and the
+whole practice of the Church for the first six hundred years; for much
+longer indeed than this, but this is enough. Well may Bossuet ask, "if the
+infallible authority of the Roman Pontiff is of force by itself before the
+consent of the Church,--to what purpose was it that Bishops should be
+summoned from the farthest regions of the earth, at the cost of such
+fatigues and expense, and Churches be deprived of their Pastors, if the
+whole power resided in the Roman Pontiff? If what he believed or taught was
+immediately the supreme and irrevocable law, why did he not himself
+pronounce sentence? Or if he pronounced it, why are Bishops called together
+and wearied out, to do again what is already done, and to pass a judgment
+on the supreme judgment of the Church? Would not this be fruitless? But all
+Christians have imbibed with their faith the conviction, that, in important
+dissensions, the whole Church ought to be convoked and heard. All therefore
+understand that the certain, deliberate, and complete declaration of the
+truth is seated not in the Pope alone, but in the Church spread
+everywhere."[162] "This too is certain, that when General Councils have
+been holden, the sentence of the Roman Pontiff has generally preceded them;
+for undoubtedly Celestine, Leo, Agatho, Gregory the Second, Adrian the
+First, had pronounced sentence, when the third, fourth, sixth, seventh
+Councils were held. What was desired therefore was, not a Council for the
+Pontiff about to give judgment, but, after he had given judgment, the force
+of a certain and insuperable authority."
+
+In fact, on this theory, as we have seen above, St. Cyprian, St. Firmilian,
+St. Hilary of Arles, the African Bishops in 426, the Fathers of Chalcedon
+in 451, in passing their famous 28th Canon, the Fathers of Ephesus in 431,
+in passing their 8th, the Fathers of Constantinople in 381, in passing
+their 2d and 3d Canons, and in the synodal letter addressed to the Pope and
+the Western Bishops, the Fathers of Nicea, in passing their 6th, nay, all
+ancient Councils whatever, in all their form and mode of proceeding, were
+the most audacious of rebels. But what are we to say about the language of
+St. Gregory? Did he then betray those rights of St. Peter, which he held
+dearer than his life? When he wrote to Eulogius of Alexandria, "If your
+Holiness calls me Universal Pope, you deny that you are yourself what you
+admit me to be--universal. But this God forbid:" are we to receive
+Thomassin's explanation, that he meant, as Patriarch, he was not universal,
+but, as Pope, he was, all the time? or when he says to the same, "in rank
+you are my brother, in character my father," was Eulogius at the same time,
+as Bellarmine will have it, merely his deputy? "In the beginning, Peter set
+up the Patriarch of Alexandria, and of Antioch, who, receiving authority
+from the Pontiff (of Rome), presided over almost all Asia and Africa, and
+could create Archbishops, who could afterwards create Bishops."[163] And
+this, it appears, is the key which is to be applied to the whole history of
+the early Church. Those Bishops, Metropolitans, Exarchs, and Patriarchs,
+throughout the East, who had such a conviction of the Apostolic authority
+residing in themselves as governors of the Church, who showed it in every
+Council in which they sat, who expressed it so freely in their writings and
+letters: St. Augustin, again, in the West, himself a host, who speaks of a
+cause decided by the Roman Pontiff being reheard, of "the wholesome
+authority of General Councils," who assents to St. Cyprian's proposition,
+that "every Bishop can no more be judged by another, than he himself can
+judge another," with the single limitation, "certainly, I imagine, in those
+questions which have not yet been thoroughly and completely settled;" who,
+in a question of disputed succession, which more than any other required
+such a tribunal as the Papal, had it existed, appeals not to the authority
+of the Roman See, but to the testimony of the whole Church spread
+everywhere, not mentioning that See pre-eminently; or when he does mention
+"the See of Peter, in which Anastasius now sits," mentioning likewise "the
+See of James, in which John now sits:"--all these were nothing more, at the
+same time, than the Pope's delegates, and received through him their
+jurisdiction.
+
+Can a claim be true which is driven to shifts such as this for its
+maintenance? Or can the truth of Christianity and the unity of the Church
+rest upon a falsehood? Is infidelity itself in such "a hopeful
+position,"[164] as regards Christianity, that it is really come to this,
+that we must either receive a plain and manifest usurpation, or be cast out
+of the house and kingdom of God? That we must reject the witness and
+history of the first six hundred years of the Church's life on the one
+hand, or be plunged into the abyss of infidelity on the other? If it be
+true that the Pope is Monarch of the Church, which is the present Papal
+theory, the Church of England is in schism. If it be not true, she is at
+least clear of that fatal mark. All that is required for her position is
+the maintenance of that Nicene Constitution which we have heard St. Leo
+solemnly declare was to last to the end of the world, viz. that every
+province of the Church be governed by its own Bishops under its own
+Metropolitan. And who then but will desire that the successor of St. Peter
+should hold St. Peter's place? Will the Patriarch of Constantinople, or the
+Archbishop of Moscow, or the Primate of Canterbury, so much as think of
+assuming it? Be this our answer when we are accused of not really holding
+that article of the Creed "one Catholic and Apostolic Church." Let the
+Bishop of Rome require of us that honour and power which he possessed at
+the Synod of Chalcedon, _that, and not a totally different one under the
+same name_, and we shall be in schism when we do not yield it. At present
+we have no farther separated from him than to fall back on the constitution
+of the Church of the Martyrs and the Fathers.
+
+But, it may be said, is the Catholic Church unanimous on the one hand, and
+the Anglican communion, restricted to one small province, left alone in her
+protest on the other? Did not she, whom they would call "the already
+decrepit rebel of three hundred years," submit from 596 to 1534 to that
+very authority which she now denies? It would be quite beyond my present
+limits to trace, as I had first purposed, the Roman Bishop's power from
+that point at which it stood when St. Gregory sent our Apostle Augustin
+into England, to that point which it had reached in the thirteenth century,
+and which it strove to maintain in the sixteenth. I can only now very
+briefly point out a few of the steps in that most wonderful rise. The two
+centuries, then, which succeeded St. Gregory, were even more favourable to
+this growth than those which went before. While the confusion and violence
+of secular governments by the breaking in and settlement of the various
+northern tribes were greater than ever,--while the ecclesiastical
+constitution was all that yet held together the scattered portions of the
+shattered Western empire--the single Apostolical See of the West, whose
+Bishop was in constant correspondence with the spiritual rulers of these
+various countries, whose voice was ever and anon heard striving to win and
+soften into mercy and justice those temporal rulers, would be, as it were,
+"a light shining in a dark place." The Bishops, everywhere miserably
+afflicted by their own sovereigns, found a stay and support in one beyond
+the reach of the feudal lord's violence. The benefit they thus derived from
+the Roman Patriarch was so great, that they would be disposed to overlook
+the gradual change which was ensuing in the relation between themselves and
+him, the deference which was deepening into subjection. Or, if here and
+there, what Leo would have called "a presumptuous spirit," such as Hincmar
+of Rheims, or our own Grossetete, in after times, set himself against the
+stream, it would all be in vain. However good his cause might be, if he did
+not yield, he would be beaten down like St. Hilary of Arles. Moreover, as
+the great heresy of Mahomet invaded and hemmed in three of the Patriarchal
+Sees of the East, their counterpoise to the originally great influence of
+the Roman See was removed. Political separation from the East, and the
+difficulty of communication, would of themselves greatly tend to this
+result. To this must be added the great increase of power which the house
+of Charlemagne, for their own political purposes, bestowed on the Roman
+See; it was worth while building up a popedom for an imperial crown. De
+Maistre says, "The Popes reign since the ninth century at least."[165] But
+it is a somewhat naive confession, "The French had the singular honour, one
+of which they have not been at all sufficiently proud, of having set up,
+humanly, the Catholic Church in the world, by raising its august head to
+the rank indispensably due to his divine functions; and without which he
+would only have been a Patriarch of Constantinople, miserable puppet of
+Christian sultans, and Musulman autocrats." Just, too, when it was most
+difficult to detect imposture, and to refer to the acts of ancient
+Councils, that singular counterfeit of the false decretals made its
+appearance, which so wonderfully helped the Roman Patriarchs in
+consolidating the manifold structure of their authority. This, indeed,
+assailed the Bishops of the West by their most reverential feelings, and
+added to the force of a great present authority, almost always beneficially
+exercised, the weight of what seemed an Apostolical tradition. Besides
+these causes, the Popes found in the several monastic orders throughout
+Europe the most unceasing and energetic pioneers of their power. From the
+very first there appears to have existed a desire to exchange the present
+superintendence of the local Bishop for the distant authority of the Pope.
+The great orders, indeed, were themselves so many suspensions of the
+Episcopal system. With reason do the statues of their founders adorn the
+nave of St. Peter's, not only as witnesses of the Church's exuberant life,
+but as those whose hands, more than any others, have helped to rear that
+colossal central power, of which that fane is the visible symbol. Thus the
+Papal structure was so gradually built upon the Patriarchal, that no one
+age could accurately mark where the one ended and the other began, but all
+may see the finished work. It requires no microscopic eye to distinguish
+the authority of St. Leo or St. Gregory from that of St. Innocent the
+Third. The poet spake of a phantom what is true of a great reality:--
+
+          "Mobilitate viget, viresque acquirit eundo,
+  Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit."
+
+That power, for which the heroic and saintly Hildebrand died in exile,[166]
+if exile there could be to him who received the heathen for his
+inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession; for
+which our own St. Anselm, forced against his will to the Primacy, stood
+unquailing in the path of the Red King, most furious, if not the worst, of
+that savage race, whose demon wrath seemed to justify the fable of their
+origin; for which St. Bernard, the last of the Fathers in age, but equal to
+the first in glory, wrote and laboured, and wore himself out with vigils,
+and wrought miracles; for which our own St. Thomas shed that noble blood,
+which sanctifies yet our primatial Church, an earnest of restoration and
+freedom to come; that power, for which St. Francis, the spouse of holy
+poverty, so long neglected since her First Husband ascended up on high, and
+St. Dominic--
+
+                  l' amoroso drudo
+  Della fede Cristiana, il santo atleta,
+  Benigno a' suoi, ed a' nemici crudo;[167]
+
+and one greater yet, the warrior saint, Ignatius, raised their myriads of
+every age and of both sexes, armed in that triple mail of poverty,
+chastity, and obedience, "of whom the world was not worthy;"--that power,
+to which have borne witness so many saintly Bishops, poor in the midst of
+poverty, and humble in the exercise of more than royal power,--so many
+scholars, marvellously learned,--so many, prodigal of labour and blood, who
+are now counted among the noble army of martyrs,--so many holy women, who
+have hidden themselves under the robe of the first of all saints, and
+followed the Virgin of virgins in their degree;--that power is, indeed, the
+most wondrous creation which history can record, and one to which I am not
+ashamed to confess that I should bow with unmingled reverence, had not
+truth a yet stronger claim upon me, and did not the voice of the early
+Church, its Fathers, Councils, and Martyrs, sound distinctly in my ears
+another language. Still, human and divine, ambition and Providence, are so
+mingled there, that I would not utter a word more than truth requires. I
+should even be compelled to give up the strongest individual conviction,
+acknowledging the weakness and liability to err of any private judgment;
+acknowledging, moreover, that a single province of the Church, if opposed
+to all the rest, is certain to be in error, were it not that, besides the
+voice of antiquity, we have witnesses the most legitimate, the most
+time-honoured, the most unswerving in their testimony,--witnesses who take
+away from our opponents their proudest claim,--nay, a claim which, if real,
+would be irresistible,--that of being, by themselves, the Catholic Church.
+
+Let it never, then, be forgotten, that any argument which would prove the
+Church of England to be in schism would condemn likewise the Eastern and
+Russian Church. It is not the Catholic Church against a revolted province,
+as our adversaries would have us believe; it is the one Patriarch of the
+West, with his Bishops, against the four Patriarchs of the East, with
+theirs, and that great and, as yet, unbroken phalanx of the North, which
+Constantinople won to the faith of old, and which now promises to beat back
+the tide of heresy and infidelity from the beleaguered Sees of the East. On
+this point of schism, at least, they bear witness with us. The causes,
+adverted to above, which were so influential in exalting the great fabric
+of Roman power in the West, did not act upon the East,--nay, acted in the
+inverse direction. The See of Constantinople still remains where the
+Council of Chalcedon placed it, where the Emperor Justinian recognised it
+to be, the second See of the world: and it has ever since refused to admit
+that Rome was _first_ in any sense in which itself was not _second_. This
+may serve to set in a clear light the vast difference between the
+legitimate power of the First See, and the claim to give jurisdiction to
+all Bishops. The systems, of which these are expressions, are in truth
+antagonistic. Constantinople maintains still that constitution of the whole
+Church which St. Gregory accused its Bishops of undermining. The evil which
+he foresaw has come from his own successors: "the cause of Almighty God,
+the cause of the Universal Church," the privileges and rights of Bishops
+and Priests, as against one "Universal Pope," are borne witness to now, as
+they have ever been, by the immutable East. Here, at least, are no
+sympathies with the heresiarchs of the sixteenth century: the Synod of
+Bethlehem has anathematised Luther and Calvin as decidedly as the Council
+of Trent. Here was no Henry the Eighth fixing his supremacy on a reluctant
+Church by the axe, the gibbet, the stake, and laws of premunire and
+forfeiture: no State using that Church as a cat's-paw for three hundred
+years, and ready now to offer it up a holocaust to the demon of liberalism.
+Here is the ancient Patriarchal system, the thrones of Constantinople,
+Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, subsisting still. Here is the same body
+of doctrine, the same seven sacraments, the same Real Presence, the same
+mighty sacramental and sacerdotal system, which Latitudinarian and
+Evangelical, statesman and heretic, dread while they hate, as being indeed
+the visible presence of Christ in a fallen world,--the residence of a
+spiritual power which controls and torments the worldling, while it
+disproves and falsifies the heretic. Here is all that the Roman Catholic
+claims as tokens of the truth for himself: but there is one thing more, the
+same protest that we make against the monarchical, as distinct from the
+patriarchal, power, the same appeal back to early Councils, and the
+unambiguous voice of those who cannot be silenced or corrupted, the Fathers
+of the Church. In the Fathers of the undivided Church, the East and the
+North and the West, so long severed, meet: we are not alone, who have with
+us, on the very point which divides us from our Mother Church, the still
+unbroken line of successors from St. Athanasius and St. Chrysostom. There
+is no break in the descent or in the doctrine of the Eastern Churches.
+There is the same dogmatic, the same hierarchical fabric, subsisting now as
+when St. Gregory addressed Anastasius of Antioch, and Eulogius of
+Alexandria. It may suit the purposes of unfair Roman controversialists to
+brand them as schismatics, and overcome, by calling them a name, their own
+most formidable opponents: but history cannot be so overcome. They have
+_never_ admitted the Papal sway, any more than the Fathers who passed the
+28th Canon of Chalcedon: they have, indeed, admitted the Roman _Primacy_,
+as those same Fathers admitted it; for the very system, for which they are
+witnesses, is not complete without the Bishop of Rome stands at the head of
+it: the _due_ honour of Rome is involved in the due honour of
+Constantinople; and, we may add, the due honour of Canterbury: the same
+temper, the same persons, who reject the one, hate the other. What we say
+they never have admitted is, that which has really worked the disunion of
+the Universal Church, as St. Gregory foretold it would, the doctrine which
+is the centre of the present Papal system, which alone makes all its parts
+cohere, and justifies all its acts, and triumphs over all appeal to
+argument, and all testimonies of antiquity, viz., that, "the Pope is set
+over the whole Christian world, and possesses in its completeness and
+plenitude that power which Christ left on earth for the good of the
+Church."[168] They have never for a moment admitted that the Bishops of the
+Universal Church were the Pope's delegates, and received their jurisdiction
+from him. _We_ fight, it must be admitted, at some disadvantage with our
+opponents. The long subjection which our Church yielded to Rome, the
+manifold obligations under which we lie to her, the complete unsettling of
+the ecclesiastical and doctrinal system in the sixteenth century, the
+horrible vices of those who effected the change, the connection with those
+whose doctrine has now worked itself out into Socinianism, infidelity, and
+anarchy, the inability we have ever since been under of shaking ourselves
+completely clear of them, the thoroughly unsatisfactory position of the
+state towards us, as a Church, at present,--all these things are against
+us,--all these things tell on the mind which really lives and dwells on
+antiquity, and looks to the pure Apostolic Church. Still, though they
+weaken, they do not overcome our cause. But from all these objections the
+witness of the Eastern Churches is free. They were never subject to Rome,
+but to their own Patriarchs; they derived not their Christianity from her:
+the Priesthood, and the pure unbloody sacrifice, and the power to bind and
+to loose, remain undisputed among them: the Eastern mind cannot conceive a
+Church without them. They have received no reformation from those whose
+lives were a scandal to all Christian men: they are not mixed up with the
+Lutheran or Calvinistic heresy: nor has Erastianism eaten out their life.
+Yet, if we are schismatics, so are they, and on the same ground. Moreover
+the Roman Church has again and again treated with them as parts of the true
+Church. It is only in comparatively modern times, that as the hope of
+re-union became fainter, the line of denying their being members of the One
+Body has been taken up. I have seen even so late as the time of Clement the
+Eighth a letter of that Pope to the Czar, in which he treats him as already
+belonging to the Church. Moreover the Eastern Church has put forth the best
+and most convincing sign of Catholicity, _life_: to her, _since her
+separation from Rome_, and to this particular attention must be claimed, is
+due the most remarkable conversion of a great nation to the Faith which has
+taken place in the last eight hundred years--Russia with her Bishops, her
+clergy, her monasteries, her convents, her Christian people, her ancient
+discipline, her completely organised Church system, her whole country won
+from Paganism by the preaching of Monks and Missionary Bishops, is a
+witness to the Greek Church (which who shall gainsay?) that she is a true
+member of the One Body. The Patriarch of Constantinople exercised that
+charge which the Council of Chalcedon gave him, and ordained Bishops among
+the barbarians, and the Spirit of God blessed their labours, and the whole
+North became his spiritual offspring. Rome cannot show, since she has been
+divided from the East, a conversion on so large a scale, so complete, so
+permanent. And on that great mass she has hitherto made no impression. It
+is a complete refutation of her claim to be _by herself_ Catholic, that
+there exists out of her communion a Body of Apostolic descent and
+government, with the same doctrinal system as her own, with the ascetic
+principle as strongly developed, with the same claim to miracles,--with
+all, in fact, which characterises a Church; a Body, moreover, so large,
+that, supposing the non-existence of the Roman Communion, the promises of
+God in Scripture to His Church might be supposed to be fulfilled in that
+Body.[169] And this Body, like ourselves, denies that particular Roman
+claim, for which Rome would have us and them to be schismatic. And it has
+denied it not merely for three hundred years, but from the time that it has
+been advanced. Truly all that was deficient on our side seems made up by
+the Greek Church. And this living and continuous witness of a thousand
+years is to be added to that most decisive and unambiguous voice of the
+whole undivided ancient Church.
+
+I have, throughout these remarks, considered the Church of Christ to be
+what, at the Councils of Nicea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, she so manifestly
+appeared, one organic whole; a Body, with One Head, and many members; as
+St. Gregory says, Peter, and Paul, and Andrew, and John; a kingdom with One
+Sovereign, and rulers, an Apostolic College appointed by that Head, with a
+direct commission from Himself. I believe that no other idea about the
+Church prevailed up to St. Gregory's time. It follows that all so-called
+national churches, unless they be subordinate to the law of this kingdom,
+are so many infringements of the great primary law of unity, in that they
+set up a member instead of the Body. St. Paul, in the 12th chapter of the
+1st Epistle to the Corinthians, has clearly set forth such, and no less, to
+be the unity of Christ's Body. Certainly it is a difficulty, that we must
+admit this essential law to be at present broken. But I do not think it
+fair to argue against a provisional and temporary state, such as that of
+the Church of England is confessed to be--which, too, has been forced upon
+her--as if it were a normal state, one that we have chosen, a theory of
+unity that we put forth over against the ancient theory, or the present
+Roman one. Nay, thousands and ten thousands feel, the whole rising mind of
+the Church feels, that we are torn "from Faith's ancient home," that we
+groan within ourselves, waiting until God in his good time restore a
+visible unity to His Church, till the East and the West and the South be
+one again in the mind of Christ. Who but must view it as a token of that
+future blessing, that public prayers have been offered up in France and
+Italy for such a consummation? Let us begin to pray for each other, and we
+must end by being one. Let _us_, too, pray that the clouds of error and
+prejudice, the intense blind jealousy on one side, the cruel and
+disingenuous temper on the other, may be subdued by the Spirit of God, who
+in some great and blessed Pentecost shall draw long alienated hearts
+together, and mould them into a union closer than has ever been, against an
+attack the last and most terrible of the foretold enemy, the tokens of
+whose coming are at hand.
+
+But the Roman Catholic, who seems to escape this difficulty, and points to
+his communion as one organic whole, falls into another. Grant that it is
+one, but it is at the expense of ceasing to be Catholic: it has lost all
+the East and the North, and part of the West. Thus, in this choice between
+difficulties, it seems the least to suppose that the unity of Christendom
+may be for a time suspended, during which the several parts of Christ's
+Body retain communion with the one Head, and thence derive life, though
+active communion with each other is suspended. A less difficulty, I say,
+than to cut off, not merely our own Church, but the seventy millions of the
+Eastern Church, having a complete inward identity with the Roman, from the
+covenant of salvation, merely because that intercommunion is prevented by a
+claim to spiritual monarchy, which was unknown in the best ages of the
+Church, and has been resisted ever since it was set up. If this view be
+true, we should expect that the several parts, though living, would yet be
+languishing, and far from that healthy vigour which they ought to possess;
+that the Great Head would give manifold warnings of the injury done to His
+Body. Now, it is very remarkable that the circumstances, no less of the
+Latin than of the Eastern and the Anglican Church, exactly agree to this
+expectation. I need not speak on this point of the second and third; but I
+cannot help thinking that they who have suffered themselves to be driven by
+fearful scandals out of our bosom, who have brooded over acknowledged but
+unrelieved wants, till the duty of patient long-suffering has been
+forgotten, close their eyes to the state of France, Spain, and Italy, under
+what they have now learnt to call _by itself_ the "Catholic" Church. Yet
+are there tokens abroad which men of less spiritual discernment might lay
+to heart. Does the "obscene rout" of Ronge and Czerski, bursting forth from
+the bosom of the Roman Church, awake no misgiving? Fearful, when viewed by
+Scripture and antiquity, as the state of England is, (an argument which is
+now being used against our communion with such effect on tender and loving
+minds,) he must be bold who would venture to say that the relation of the
+French Church to the French nation in the last century, or its relation
+even now, greatly as the present French Church is to be admired and
+sympathised with, does not offer as much ground for fearful apprehension,
+as much reason to dread, lest the terms on which victory is promised to the
+Church over the world have been essentially broken. I fear there is no
+doubt that two-thirds of the French capital are not _Christian_, in any
+sense of the word; and probably the proportion is as great in the larger
+towns. How did this state of things arise? How has nearly the whole
+intellect of that country become infidel? From the French Revolution, it
+will be answered. But how could that great Satanical outburst have ever
+taken place, had the Church of Christ, free from corruption, as those who
+have left us believe, and throned in the possession of sixteen hundred
+years, with its numberless religious houses, its unmarried clergy, and
+great episcopate, been discharging its functions, I do not say aright, but
+with any moderate efficiency? Surely the acts of the States General were as
+bad as those of Henry the Eighth; yet its members were Catholics, in full
+communion with the Roman See. Surely the ecclesiastical legislation of
+Napoleon was as uncatholic as that of a House of Commons; yet it was
+sanctioned by Concordat with the Pope. But if manifold corruptions did not
+unchurch the Gallican communion in the last century,--if the mass of a
+great nation, which the Church once completely possessed, but has now
+surrendered to active unbelief, does not invalidate her claim to be a pure
+communion at present, why are such things alleged as so fatal a mark
+against us? God forbid that one should mention such things without the
+deepest sorrow; but when our troubles, and difficulties, and relations with
+the state, and the alienated hearts of our people, and the absence of
+external discipline and inward guidance, and the misery of our divisions,
+are alleged to prove that we are out of the pale of the Church, these
+things ought to be weighed on the other side. There ought not to be
+different measures on different sides of the Channel. I forbear to speak of
+the state of Spain, Portugal, and much of Italy; but I imagine that the
+worst deeds of the Reformation were at least paralleled by what the Church
+has had to endure there from the hands of her own children. I believe that
+our own most sad corruptions have, too, their counterpart among Churches in
+communion with the Apostolic See.
+
+But to conclude. As our defence against the charge of Schism rests upon the
+witness of the ancient Church, thus fully corroborated by the Eastern
+Communion, so our whole safety lies in maintaining the clear indubitable
+doctrine of that Church. I have avoided the whole question of _doctrine_ in
+these remarks, both as leading me into a wider field than that which I am
+obliged to traverse so cursorily at present, and as distinct from the
+question of Schism, though very closely connected with it. No one can deny
+that it is not sufficient for our safety to repel one single charge: but
+this charge was the most pressing, the most specious, and one which
+requires to be disposed of before the mind can with equanimity enter upon
+any other. My conclusion is, that upon the strictest Church principles,--in
+other words, upon those principles which all Christendom, in its undivided
+state, recognised for six hundred years, which may be seen in the Canons
+and Decrees of Ecumenical Councils, our present position is tenable at
+least till the convocation of a really Ecumenical Council. The Church of
+England has never rejected the communion of the Western, and still less
+that of the Eastern Church: neither has the Eastern Church pronounced
+against her. She has only exercised the right of being governed by her own
+Bishops and Metropolitans. There is, indeed, much peril of her being forced
+from this, her true position,--a peril lately pointed out by the author of
+"The real Danger of the Church of England." I need say little where he has
+said so much, in language so well-timed, so moderate, and from a position
+which cannot be misrepresented. I will only add, that I cannot conceive any
+course which would so thoroughly quench the awakened hopes of the Church's
+most faithful children, as that her rulers, which I am loth even to
+imagine, at a crisis like the present, should seek support, not in the rock
+of the ancient Church, in which Andrewes, Laud, and Ken, took refuge of
+old,--not in the unbroken tradition of the East and West, by which, if at
+all, the Church of Christ must be restored,--not in that great system which
+first subdued and then impregnated with fresh life the old Roman Empire,
+delaying a fall which nothing could avert, and which lastly built up out of
+these misshapen ruins all the Christian polities of Europe,--not in that
+time-honoured and universal fabric of doctrine to which our own Prayer-book
+bears witness, but in the wild, inconsistent, treacherous sympathies of a
+Protestantism, which the history of three hundred years in many various
+countries has proved to be dead to the heart's core. Farewell, indeed, to
+any true defence of the Church of England, any hope of her being built up
+once more to an Apostolical beauty and glory, of recovering her lost
+discipline and intercommunion with Christendom, if she is by any act of her
+rulers, or any decree of her own, to be mixed up with the followers of
+Luther, Calvin, or Zuingle: with those who have neither love, nor unity,
+nor dogmatic truth, nor sacraments, nor a visible Church among themselves:
+who, never consistent but in the depth of error, and the secret instinct of
+heresy, deny regeneration in Baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit in
+Confirmation and Orders, and the power of the keys in absolution, and the
+Lord's Body in the Eucharist. That is the way of death: who is so mad as to
+enter on it? When Protestantism lies throughout Europe and America a great
+disjointed mass, in all the putridity of dissolution,
+
+  "Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, _cui lumen ademptum_,"
+
+judicially blinded, so that it cannot perceive Christ dwelling in his
+Church, while she grows to the measure of the stature of the perfect man,
+and making her members and ministers His organs--who would think of joining
+to it a living Church? Have we gone through so much experience in vain?
+Have we seen it develop into Socinianism at Geneva, and utter unbelief in
+Germany, and a host of sects in England and America, whose name is Legion,
+and who seem to be agreed in nothing else but in the denial of sacramental
+grace, and visible unity; and all this at the last hour, in the very
+turning point of our destiny, to seek alliance with those who have no other
+point of union but common resistance to the tabernacle of God among men? A
+persuasion that nothing short of the very existence of the Church of
+England is at stake, that one step into the wrong will fix her character
+and her prospects for ever, compels one to say that certain acts and
+tendencies of late have struck dismay into those who desire above all
+things to love and respect their spiritual mother. If the Jerusalem
+Bishopric, promoted, (at the instance of a foreign minister, not in
+communion with our Church,[170] and who has recorded in the strongest terms
+his objection to _her_ apostolical episcopacy,) by two Bishops on their
+private responsibility, without any authority from the Church of which they
+are indeed most honoured, but only individual rulers, be the commencement
+of a course of amalgamation with the Lutheran or Calvinistic heresy, who
+that values the authority of the ancient undivided Church, will not feel
+his allegiance to our own branch fearfully shaken? The time for silence is
+past. There is such a thing as "propter vitam vivendi perdere causas." It
+must be said publicly that such a course will lead infallibly to a schism,
+which will bury the Church of England in its ruins. If she is to become a
+mere lurking-place for omnigenous latitudinarianism; if first principles of
+the faith, such as baptismal regeneration, and priestly absolution, may be
+indifferently held or denied within her pale,--though, if not God's very
+truths, they are most fearful blasphemies,--the sooner she is swept away
+the better. There is no mean between her being "a wall daubed with
+untempered mortar," or the city of the living God. I speak as one who has
+every thing commonly valuable to man depending on this decision; moreover,
+as a Priest in that communion, whose constitution, violently suspended by
+an enemy for one hundred and thirty years, yet requires that every one of
+her acts, which bind her as a whole, should be assented to by her
+Priesthood in representation, as well as by her Episcopacy. If the grace of
+the sacraments may be publicly denied by ministers of the Church, nay, by a
+Bishop ex cathedra, with impunity, in direct violation of the most solemn
+forms to which they have sworn obedience, while the assertion of Christ's
+Real Presence in the Eucharist draws down censure on the most devoted head,
+the communion which endures such iniquity requires the constant
+uninterrupted intercession of her worthier children, that she be not
+finally forsaken of God, and perish at the first attack of antichrist.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTES
+
+[1] Bellarmin. de Rom. Pont. Lib. iv. 25; iv. 24; i. 9.
+
+[2] De Maistre, du Pape. Liv. i. ch. i.
+
+[3] S. Cyprian de Unit. Ecc. 12.
+
+[4] "Development," &c. p. 22.
+
+[5] Thomassin, Part i. lib. i. ch. 4. De l'ancienne discipline de l'Eglise.
+
+[6] St. Cypr. de Unit. 4. Oxford Tr.
+
+[7] Quoted by Thomassin, _ut sup._
+
+[8] Ibid.
+
+[9] S. Aug. Tom. v. 706, B.
+
+[10] S. Chrys. Tom. ii. 594, B.
+
+[11] St. Jerome, tom. ii. 279, Vallarsi.
+
+[12] Development, p. 279.
+
+[13] The words in italics are left out by Mr. N.
+
+[14] Thomassin, Part i. liv. i. ch. iii.
+
+[15] Of a passage in this letter, De Maistre says (Du Pape, liv. i. ch. 6):
+"Resuming the order of the most marked testimonies which present themselves
+to me on the general question, I find, first, St. Cyprian declare, in the
+middle of the third century, that heresies and schisms only existed in the
+Church because all eyes were not turned towards the Priest of God, towards
+the Pontiff who judges in the Church _in the place of Jesus Christ_." A
+pretty strong testimony, indeed, and one which would go far to convince me
+of the fact. Pity it is, that when one refers to the original, one finds
+that St. Cyprian is actually speaking of himself, and of the consequences
+of any where setting up in a see a schismatical Bishop against the true
+one. After this, who will trust De Maistre's facts without testing them?
+The truth is, he had taken the quotation at second hand, and never looked
+to see to whom it was applied. It suited the Pope so admirably that it must
+have been meant for him. But I recommend no one to change their faith upon
+the authority of quotations which they do not test.
+
+[16] Epist. 67. De Marciano Arelatensi.
+
+[17] S. Cyp. Ep. 29.
+
+[18] Ep. 73.
+
+[19] Ep. 74.
+
+[20] De Unit. Ecc. Oxf. Tr.
+
+[21] Op. St. Cypr. p. 329. ed. Baluz.
+
+[22] Tom. ix. p. 110.
+
+[23] S. Cyp. Ep. 75.
+
+[24] Liv. VII. sec. 32.
+
+[25] Tom. ix. 97. G.
+
+[26] Tom. ii. 96. F.
+
+[27] Tom. ii. 299. C.
+
+[28] Fleury, liv. vii. 23.
+
+[29] Ep. 68. S. Cypriani.
+
+[30] Liv. i. ch. 2, sect. 5.
+
+[31] Liv. i. ch. 3, sect. 8.
+
+[32] Fleury, Liv. xii. xxix. Conc. Sard. Can. 3, 4, 7.
+
+[33] Thomassin, Part I. liv. i. ch. 40. sect. 2.
+
+[34] Idem, ut supra.
+
+[35] St. Aug. Tom. V. 1097. B.
+
+[36] Tom. IV. 1215. E.
+
+[37] Tom. V. 240. F.
+
+[38] Tom. V. 1194. E.
+
+[39] Tom. V. 1195. E.
+
+[40] Tom. III. Part ii. 800. G.
+
+[41] He allows that Peter _may_ be called the rock. Tom. i. 32, E.
+
+[42] Fleury 23, 30. Oxf. Tr.
+
+[43] St. Aug. Tom. II. 618. B.
+
+[44] St. Aug. Tom. ii. 635. F.
+
+[45] Tom. ii. 639. B.
+
+[46] Quoted by Fleury, 23, 32. Oxford Tr.
+
+[47] Fleury, Liv. 24, 35. Oxf. Tr. See the original: Codex Eccl. Afric.
+138.
+
+[48] Chillingworth, quoted by Mr. Newman, "Developement," p. 4.
+
+[49] Tom. ix. 372. F.
+
+[50] Tom. ix. 340. A.
+
+[51] Tom. v. 1199. D. 1202. F.
+
+[52] Def. Cleri. Gall. Pars ii. lib. xii. ch. 5.
+
+[53] Def. Cleri. Gall. Pars ii. lib. xii. ch. 7.
+
+[54] Ibid. lib. xiii. ch. 19.
+
+[55] St. Chrys. Tom. ix. 757. A.
+
+[56] Lacordaire, Sur le Saint Siege.
+
+[57] St. Aug. Tom. x. 412. B. quoted in Fleury, Oxf. Tr. 3. 93.
+
+[58] Def. Clerc. Gall. Pars ii. lib. xii. c. 10.
+
+[59] Fleury, 25-47. Oxf. Trans.
+
+[60] Ut sup. ch. 14.
+
+[61] Du Pape, Liv. i. ch. 2.
+
+[62] Id. Liv. i. ch. 4.
+
+[63] Hammond's Translation.
+
+[64] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 72.
+
+[65] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 81.
+
+[66] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 83.
+
+[67] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 89.
+
+[68] St. Leo. Ep. 40.
+
+[69] St. Leo. Ep. 10. Edit. Ball.
+
+[70] Ib. Ep. 65.
+
+[71] Ep. 10.
+
+[72] St. Leo. Ep. 14, cap. i. xi.
+
+[73] S. Leon. Ep 6, cap. 2.
+
+[74] St. Jerome, Ep. 146. Vallarsi.
+
+[75] Theodoret, Ep. in Epist. S. Leonis, 52.
+
+[76] Mansi, 6, 817, quoted by Gieseler, tom. i. part ii. p. 192.
+
+[77] Isidorus, Hisp. Etymol. 7, 12, quoted by Gieseler, ut sup. p. 406.
+
+[78] Gieseler, tom. i. part ii. pp. 191, 192.
+
+[79] Gieseler, tom. i. part ii. p. 205.
+
+[80] Theodoret. Hist. Eccl. lib. v. ch. 9.
+
+[81] Observe this Council so called by the Greeks before it was received by
+the West.
+
+[82] It must be remembered that Diocese, in the language of this time,
+means the several provinces comprehended in a Patriarchate. It was the
+civil term.
+
+[83] S. Bas. M. Ep. 239.
+
+[84] Gieseler, tom. i. part ii. p. 202.
+
+[85] Sozomen, Hist. iii. ch. 8.
+
+[86] Ibid. Hist. iii. ch. 10.
+
+[87] Socrates, Hist. ii. ch. 17.
+
+[88] Bossuet, Sermon sur l'Unite de l'Eglise.
+
+[89] Bossuet, Def. Cleri Gall. Pars ii. lib. xii. ch, 15, 16, 17.
+
+[90] S. Leon. Ep. 120.
+
+[91] Ib. c. 4.
+
+[92] S. Leon. Ep. 102.
+
+[93] Ch. 18, ibid.
+
+[94] Fleury, Liv. xxviii. 29. Oxf. Tr.
+
+[95] Theod. lib. v. ch. 28, quoted by Tillemont.
+
+[96] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 711.
+
+[97] The sittings are variously counted.
+
+[98] Fleury, liv. xxviii. xxx. Oxf. Tr.
+
+[99] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 707.
+
+[100] S. Leon. Ep. 104, cap. 3.
+
+[101] S. Leon. Ep. 105.
+
+[102] Ep. 106, cap. 4.
+
+[103] Ep. 105, cap. 2.
+
+[104] Ep. 106, cap. 2-5.
+
+[105] Ep. 107.
+
+[106] Ep. 105, cap. 3.
+
+[107] Tillemont, tom. xv. p. 731.
+
+[108] S. Leon. Ep. 107.
+
+[109] S. Greg. Ep. lib. iii. 10.
+
+[110] On Development, p. 307.
+
+[111] Fleury, liv. xxxii. 54.
+
+[112] Gieseler, vol. i. part. ii. p. 192.
+
+[113] Nov. i. 1-7, quoted by Gieseler.
+
+[114] Fleury, liv. xxxiii. 4, 5, 6.
+
+[115] Nov. vi. Epilogus.
+
+[116] Nov. cxxiii. c. 3.
+
+[117] Ad Valerianum, Mansi, ix. 732.
+
+[118] Contra litt. Petiliani, ii. 51, all quoted by Gieseler.
+
+[119] Bossuet, Def. Cleri Gall. pars ii. lib. xii. cap. 19.
+
+[120] Fleury, liv. xxxiii. 52.
+
+[121] Bossuet, _ut sup._
+
+[122] Du Pape, liv. i. ch. 3.
+
+[123] Fleury, Liv. xxxiii. 52.
+
+[124] Sozomen, lib. iii. ch. 11.
+
+[125] Tom. i. part ii. 410.
+
+[126] Def. Cleri Gall. pars ii. lib. xii. cap. 29.
+
+[127] Id. cap. 31.
+
+[128] Du Pape, liv. iii. ch. 7.
+
+[129] S. Greg. Ep. lib. ii. 52.
+
+[130] Lib. ix. 59, Gieseler.
+
+[131] Lib. xi. 37, Gieseler.
+
+[132] Gieseler, tom. i. part ii. 401.
+
+[133] Liv. xxxiv. 60.
+
+[134] Liv. xxxv. 19.
+
+[135] Ep. S. Greg. lib. v. 43.
+
+[136] Lib. ix. 68.
+
+[137] Lib. v. 19.
+
+[138] Lib. vii. 33.
+
+[139] Lib. v. Ep. 20.
+
+[140] Lib. vii. 27.
+
+[141] I cannot but consider St. Gregory's words to contain one of the most
+remarkable prophecies to be found in history; for this assuming the title
+and exercising the power of universal Pope has actually led not only to the
+concentration of all executive power in the Roman See, but to the
+conviction, among its warmest partisans, that the whole existence of the
+Church depends on the single See of Rome. Take the following from De
+Maistre: "Christianity rests entirely upon the Sovereign
+Pontiff."--"Without the Sovereign Pontiff the whole edifice of Christianity
+is undermined, and only waits, for a complete falling in, the development
+of certain circumstances which shall be put in their full light."--"What
+remains incontestable is, that if the Bishops, assembled without the Pope,
+may call themselves the Church, and claim any other power but that of
+certifying the person of the Pope in those infinitely rare moments when it
+might be doubtful, unity exists no longer, and the visible Church
+disappears."--"The Sovereign Pontiff is the necessary, only, and exclusive
+foundation of Christianity. To him belong the promises, with him disappears
+unity, that is, the Church."--"The supremacy of the Pope being the capital
+dogma without which Christianity cannot subsist, all the Churches, which
+reject this dogma, the importance of which they conceal from themselves,
+are agreed even without knowing it: all the rest is but accessory, and
+thence comes their affinity, of which they know not the cause."--Du Pape,
+Discours Preliminaire; Liv. i. ch. 13; Liv. iv. ch. 5. Could we have any
+stronger witness to the antagonism between the Papal and Patriarchal or
+Episcopal System? Or can any words be spoken more opposed in tone than
+these to the writings of Fathers and decrees of ancient Councils? Or are
+they who say such things wise defenders of the Church or promoters of
+unity?
+
+[142] Lib. viii. 30.
+
+[143] Part i. liv. i. ch. 11.
+
+[144] Mansi, vi. 1006. 1012, quoted by Gieseler.
+
+[145] Lib. v. 18.
+
+[146] Proph. Office, p. 221. Development, p. 10.
+
+[147] Sect. 13. March 28, 681, translated in Landon's Councils.
+
+[148] Bossuet, Def. Cler. Gall. pars ii. lib. xii. cap. 34.
+
+[149] Bellarmin de Pont. Rom. lib. iv. cap. 24, 25.
+
+[150] Bellarmin de Pont. Rom. lib. i. cap. 9.
+
+[151] Def. Cleri. Gall. pars ii. lib. xiii. cap. 11.
+
+[152] Bossuet is very moderate. St. Chrysostom says, (on Acts, Hom. 33,)
+"James was Bishop in Jerusalem, and so speaks last;" and presently, "There
+was no pride in the Church, but much good order. And see, after Peter, Paul
+speaketh, and no one rebukes him: James waits and starts not out of his
+place, for _he was entrusted with the government_." What would St.
+Chrysostom say to Bellarmine's doctrine?
+
+[153] Ep. S. Innoc.; in Op. S. Aug. tom. ii. 618; see above, p. 59.
+
+[154] Ibid, quoted above, p. 60.
+
+[155] St. Leo. Serm. in Anniver. Assumpt. quoted above.
+
+[156] Ep. 10.
+
+[157] Optat. l. ix. contra Parmen.
+
+[158] Greg. Nyss. T. 2. 746.
+
+[159] Caesar. Arel. Epist. ad Symm.
+
+[160] Quoted above, p. 58.
+
+[161] Cap. xiv. lib. xiii. pars 2.
+
+[162] Bossuet, Def. &c. Pars ii. lib. xiii. cap. 20.
+
+[163] De Rom. Pont. lib. iv. cap. 26.
+
+[164] Developement, p. 28.
+
+[165] Du Pape, liv. ii. ch. 6; and Discourse Preliminaire.
+
+[166] See the account of his death in Bowden's Life.
+
+[167] Dante, Paradiso, xii. 55.
+
+[168] Bellarmine, quoted above.
+
+[169] I owe this observation to a friend who has had great opportunities of
+judging about the state of the Russian Church.
+
+[170] "Introduction to Die Zukunft Kirche. The work advocates the
+introduction of Episcopacy into the German Church, but not the Apostolical
+Episcopacy of the English Church, which M. Bunsen condemns in terms as
+strong as any which have been used by any opponent of the Bishopric. 'If
+ever and at any time the Episcopate, in the sense of Anglicanism, should be
+raised into a distinctive mark of Churchdom among us, not constitutionally
+and nationally (?) it would, in my opinion, be striking the death-blow to
+the innermost germ of life in the Church.' He will exert every energy, and
+shed the last drop of his blood in order to preserve the Church of the
+German nation against such an Episcopacy,"--_English Churchman_, April 30,
+1846. There are solemn words, which have found an echo in many hearts, "May
+that measure utterly fail, and come to nought, and be as though it had
+never been!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Church of England cleared from the
+charge of Schism, by Thomas William Allies
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