DATE DUE ^^ Sifeti^ y w-"^ nny < « 1^7 ■; 'i! mfjr* f* " "TPTStt-!' Dee-c^ i i 1 1 GAYLORD rniNTCO IN U.S.A. Cornell University Library BX1805 .K33 1855 Primacv of the Apostolic see vindicated olin 3 1924 029 391 822 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029391822 C|e ^riniECj; PART I. SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. ^ < ^-^• BaZtimom PiMisKd by John Mur'phy' 7 THE PRIMACY OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE VINDICATED, BY FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, AECHBISHOP OP BALTIMORE. ' Ipsa est petra qnam non Tincunt superbae inferorum portse. AugusUnvs, in Ps. contra partem Donati. FOITETH EEVISED AKD EKIiAEGED EDITION. BALTIMORE: PUBLISHED BY JOHN MUEPHY & CO. 178 MARKET STEEET. LONDON CHARLES DOLMAN. 61 NKTT BOND STEEET. PITTSBURG GEORGE QUIGLEY. Sold hy Booksellers generally. 1855. 'lUioJX^ Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by JOHN MURPHY A COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. TO lis pfllintM, POPE PIUS IX. THE FOLLOWING VINDICATION OF THE EIGHTS OF HIS SEE, AND THE ACTS OF HIS PREDECESSORS, IS INSCRIBED, A3 A TOKEN OF FILIAL SUBMISSION AND DEVOTED ADMIRATION, BY THE AUTHOR. On the presentation of the last edition of this work to His Holiness Pius IX., the author was honored with a letter, of which the following is a translation : — P I U S I X. Venerable Brother, Health and Apostolic Benediction — From your letter of 27tli May of this year, addressed to uSj we clearly perceive the great attachment and reverence -which you, Venerable Brother, cherish for Us and for this Supreme chair of Peter. We cannot find words to express how highly we applaud your pious undertaking in vindication of the rights of this Holy Apostolic See, and of the primacy of the Roman Pontiffs, in the work published by you in the English language. The new edition of this work published this year, and dedicated to Us, in token of your filial attachlnent and devotedness, which, however, we are unable to read, being unacquainted with English, will, we trust, prove highly useful for the defence of our rights, and of those of the Apostolic See against the impious attacks of our enemies. On which account You yourself. Venerable Brother, can conceive and imagine how great consolation We derive from your undertaking, and especially from the zeal with which you cheerfully devote your- self to the discharge of your pastoral office. Continue, then, to pray earnestly to Almighty God, that He may calm the dreadful storm which rages around us, and grant at length that the church may everywhere enjoy peace in His worship. In the mean time, receive, as a token of our favor and grateful feeling for your good offices, the Apostolic Benediction, which, as a pledge of heavenly happiness. We affectionately impart with our whole heart to your- self. Venerable Brother, to be communicated by you to all the clergy and faithful people over whom you preside. Given at Rome, at St. Mary Major's, on the 27th July, in the year 1848, in the third year of our Pontificate. PIUS P. P. IX. To Our Venerable Brother, Francis Patrick, Bishop of Philadelphia. PREFACE. This work first appeared in the year 1837, in the form of let- ters to the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, John Henry Hopkins, in reply to a work on the Church of Rome, addressed by him to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. In 1845 it was enlarged, and took the form of a general treatise on the Primacy ; and in 1848 it was republished, with an improved arrangement of the matters which it embraced. In 1853 a German translation, made by Rev. Nicholas Steinbacher, S. J., was issued, with some altera- tions made by me in the last edition. The present edition contains some further corrections, although of little importance. The sub- mission of Mr. Allies to the authority of the Holy See, of which he has become an able defender, rendered it proper to retrench many observations made in refutation of his positions as an apolo- gist of the Church of England. Mr. Manning also, now recog- nising the centre of unity, no longer deserves the reproach of inconsistency. The many striking avowals made by Dr. J. "W. Nevin, late President of Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pennsyl- vania, are freely quoted in support of the authority of the Catholic Church and of the Holy See, although it may perplex the reader to understand how he should still remain out of our communion. The other alterations in this edition are chiefly verbal. The work now goes before the public in a permanent form, being stereotyped, with the hope that it may serve to dispel those prejudices which withhold so many from union with the See of Peter, of which Augustin has well said that God has established the doctrine of truth in the chair of unity. Baltimore, 1855. CONTENTS. PAKT I. SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. PAGE Chapter I. — Nature of the Primacy 17 Organization of the Churoli by Christ— Necessity of a Central' Power — Pre- sumptive Evidence — Motives of Luther — Henry VIII. — Photius — Prejudices against the Papacy — Federal System — Abuses. Chapter II. — Promise of the Primacy 24 Custom of our Lord — Change of Kame — Concession of Barrow — Promise — , Personal Faith — Admission of the First Converts — Christ the Rock — Difference of Gender — Bloomfield's Admission — Gerard — Thompson — Christ the Founda- tion — St. Leo the Great — Figure of the Keys — Rebuke to Peter — Rivalry of the Apostles — Prayer for Simon. Chapter III. — The Fathers' Exposition of the Promise .34 Authority of the Fathers — TertuUian — Origen — Mystical Fancies — St. Cy- prian — Peter Represents the Church — On him the Church is Built — St. Jaraes of Nisibis — St. Cyril of Jerusalem — St. Basil the Great — St. Gregory of Nazian- zum^St. Chrysostom — Peter is placed over the entire World — St. Epiphanius — St. Cyril of Alexandria — St. Hilary of Poictiers — Faith of Peter — Arian Heresy — St. Optatus — St. Ambrose — Power of Forgiveness — Equality of Paul to Peter ^St. Jerom — Occasion of Schism Removed — On that Rock the Church is Built — St. Augustin — Hesitation — The Church through Peter receives the Keys — St, Leo the Great — Various Interpretations. Chapter IV. — Institution of the Primacy 67 Manifestation of our Lord — Feed Lambs and Sheep — Union of Jews and Gentiles — One Fold, one Shepherd — Barrow's Avowal — St. Francis de Sales — Perpetuity of the Power — Headship of Peter reconciled with that of Christ — Wisdom of Christ — Bossuet. Chapter V. — Exposition of the Commission 64 Origen — Cyprian — Unity of the Church — Barrow's Admission — St. Cyril of Jerusalem — St. Chrysostom — St. Ambrose — St. Augustin — St. Leo— St. Gregory the Great — St. Bernard. Chapter VI. — Exercise of the Primacy Jo Call of Matthias — Remark of Chrysostom — Council of Jerusalem — Result of Peter's Address — TertuUian — St. Jerom — Theodoret — Chrysostom — ^Model of Councils — Bossuet — Potter — To send sometimes implies superiority — Conde- scension of Peter — St. Gregory the Great — Cephas at Antioch — Visit of Paul to Peter — The Jews committed to the charge pf Peter, the Gentiles to Paul- Address of Peter to his Fellow-Bishops. Chapter VII. — Peter Bishop of Rome 79 Admission of Cave — Babylon — Clement — Ignatius — Papias — Irenaus — Dio- nysius of Corinth — Cajus — Origen — Cyprian — Eusebius — Theodoret — Palmer's Admission — Difi&culty of arranging Chronology — Both Apostles Founders of the Roman Church — Apostleship compatible with Episcopacy — Silence of St. Paul — Palmer's Admission. 7 8 CONTENTS. PAGE Chaptee VIII.— Eoman Church. .> ^^ Transmission of the Power of Peter— St. Ignatius M. addresses the Church that Presides— Celebrated Passage of St. Irenaus- Palmer's Admission— Ter- tullian— St. Cyprian— Root and Matrix— Dr. Hopkins— Authority of Roman Clergy — The Emperor Aurelian's Reference to Roman Bishops— St. Augustin — St. Jerom— Bishops everywhere equal in order — Bishops of Province of Aries— Dignity of Imperial City — Concessions of Emperors— Decree of Valen- tinian — Concession of Palmer. Chapter IX. — Centre of Unity. ^ 1. Comvmnion with See of Home "' Remark of Hallam — St. Cyprian — To communicate with the Roman Bishop is to communicate with the Catholic Church — Union of Spirit without identity in Faith is chimerical — Episcopate in solidnm — St. Ambrose— St. Optatus — Evasion of Palmer — St. Augustin — Roman Catholic. ' § 2. Interruptions of Communion '■^^ Meletius — St. Jerom — Liberality of the Holy See — Inconsistency of Palmer — Testimony of John, Bishop of Constantinople — St. Cyprian on Unity. Chapter X. — Ancient Examples of Papal Authority. § 1. Visturhancea at Corinth 1''° Letter of Clement. ^ 2. Paschal Controversy 109 Difference of Discipline — Polycarp and Anicetus — Measures of Victor. § 3. Monianism m Tertullian — Bishop of Bishops — Faber's Admission — Peter's Church. § 4. Controversy Concerning\ Baptism 113 African Decree — Pope Stephen — Asiatic Usage^ — Vincent of Lerins — Papal Authority — St. Cyprian^ — St. Jerom — St. Augustin. ^ 5. Donatism i v... 119 CecUius of Carthage — Decree of Constantine — Sentence of Melchiades — Council of Aries. Chapter XI. — Guardianship of Faith. § 1. Constancy of the Holy See 123 Theophylact — Innocent III. — Early Heresies. § 2. Chief Jlyeteries '. 124 Divinity of Christ — Dionysius of Alexandria accused — Arianism — Liberius Vindicated — Testimony of Sozomen — Heresy of Apollinaris — Edict of Theodo- sius — St. Basil — The East as well as the '\V'est receives the Decrees of Rome — Nestorius — St. Cyril — Decree of Celestine — Council of Ephesus — Eutyches — Flavian writes to the Pope — Letter of Valentinian — Council of Chalcedon — Acknowledgment of Palmer — Blessed Virgin. I 3. Grace 137 African Councils — Innocent I. — Further Examination superfluous — Zosimus —St. Prosper — St. Vincent of Lerins— iPaulinus of Milan — Nestorius — St. Leo. § 4. Testimonies of Fathers 143 St. Jerom — Sti Leo — Acknowledgment of Casaubon. ^ 5. Vindication of Honorins 145 Anathema — Letters of Ilonorius — Agatho — St. Bernard — Bishops of Tar- ragona. Chapter XII.- — Governing Power. g 1. Exercise of Authority ^..... I49 St. Celestine — St. Cyprian — Decree of Siricius — Innocent I. — Zosimus — St. Leo — Just Declaration of Bossuot — Dispensing Power— Boniface I. — Con- sultations. CONTENTS. 9 § 2. Universal Patriarch 15Q John the Faster — Council of Chalcedon^St. Gregory the Great — Byzantium —Acknowledgment of the Eastern Church — Acts of Gregory — Serenus of Mar- seilles admonished — Pati'iarchs address Gregory with reverence — Decree of Phocas. Chapteu XIII. — The Hierarchy. ^ 1. Patriarchal System 161 Extent of Western Patriarchate — Origin of Patriarchal Jurisdiction — Sixth Canon of Nice — Version of Rufl&nus — Suburbicarian Churches — Boniface I. — Council of Chalcedon — St. Leo. 2 2. Western Patriarchate 164 Innocent I. — Pallium — Primates — Guizot — Clinch. ^ 3. Apostolic Vicars 167 Barrow's Avowal — First Instance of Apostolic Vicar for Illyricum — Pontifi- cal Instructions — St. Leo the Great — Modern Vicars Apostolic — Bishops not mere Delegates. ^ 4. Papal Relation to Patriarchs 170 Patriarchal Power — Dependence on the Pontiff — Juvenal of Jerusalem — Bishop of Constantinople — Embassy to Rome — St. Basil. Chapter XIV. — Deposition of Bishops. 175 Occasional Encroachments — Ancient Reservation to the Iloly See — Potter's Testimony — Deposition of Marcian of Aries, solicited by St. Cyprian — Roman Council — Imperial Edict — Mosheim and Maclaine — Zosimus — Celestine — Council of Chalcedon — Ephesus — Bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Constan- tinople Deposed — Anthimus Deposed by Agapitus — Primate of Byzacium. Chapter XV. — Appeals. ^ 1. Ancient Examples 183 Marcion goes to Rome — Basilides — Cyprian's Judgment — Privatus of Lam- besita — Cyprian complains of wanton appeals as calculated to defeat justice — Appeal of Athanasius — Letter of Julius — Custom to write first to Rome — Mar- cellus of Ancyra — Passage of Socrates — Council of Sardica — St. Basil an Illus- trious Witness — Appeal of Chrysostom. ^ 2. African Controversy 195 Council of Carthage — Appeal of Apiarius — Sardican Canons — Misnomer- Appeals of Bishops — Letter to the Pope — Appeal of Celestius — African In- stances of Appeal. g 3. Promiscuous Examples 201 Chelidonius — Flavian — American Editor of Mosheim — Theodoret — John Ta- laja — Enumeration of Appeals by Barrow — Pope Gelasius. Chapter XVI.— The Church of England. J 1. Britom 205 Introduction of Christianity — British Bishops in Councils of Aries and Sar- dica — St. Germanus Legate of Celestine to the Britons — Bishops of Cyprus — Autocephalous Character — Forgery of Address of Abbot Dinoth — Fuller's Quaint Acknowledgment — Gregory gives Authority over British Bishops. I 2. Anglo-Saxon Church 209 Canterbury Founded by Augustin. ^ 3. Paschal Controversy 210 Britons and Irish follow Old Cycle — King Oswiu decides in favor of the Koman usage. ^ 4. Anglo-Saxon Hierarchy 211 Plan Traced by Gregory — Changes made by Vitalian and Agatho — Lichfield raised to Metropolitical Dignity by Adrian — Pallium — Several English Metro- politans go to Rome : some are consecrated by the Pope — Papal Legates. g 5. Acknowledgment of the Primacy 213 Bede — Alcuin — Anglo-Saxon Pontifical — Councils — Deposition of Bishops — Appeal of Wilfrid. 10 CONTENTS. PAGE ^ 6. Modern Church of England 217 Measures of .Henry VIII.— Futile Attempts of Palmer— Female Supremacy. Chapter XVII. — Papal Prerogatives 221 False Decretals — Presidency of the Universal Church— St. Leo— Bight to Judge in Controversies of Faith — Definitions ex cathedra — Assembly of 1682 — Plenitude of Power — New Organization of French Hierarchy — Hypothetical Argument of Bellarmine — Acknowledgment of Voltaire^Belationa of Pope to Councils — Not necessary to define extent of prerogative — Observation of Palmer. Chapter XVIII. — Unbroken Succession of the Bishops of Kome . 232 Invitation of Augustin — Schism of Novatian — Cornelius Bishop of the Catholic Church — St. Cyprian — Felix Intruded — Schisms — Imperial Interfer- ence — Great Schism — Absence from Eome — Simoniacal Elections — Interreg- nums — Fable of Pope Joan — Elizabeth of Bngland-^St. Augustin's Appeal. Chapter XIX. — Papal Election. § 1. Imperial Interposition..^. 24:1 Interference of Odoaoer, King of Italy — Eastern Emperor — Popes Conse- crated without the Imperial Assent — "Western Emperors — Oath required by Otho I. — Amount of Deference to Emperors — St. Gregory VII. — EBcluaiva. g 2. 3Iode of Election 244 Office not to be bequeathed — Popular Influence — St. Celestine — Council of Laodicea — Conclave. Chapter XX. — Ceremonies. ^ 1. Ceremonies after Election 246 Adoration-^Kissing of the foot, Ancient Oriental Bite — Chair of State. § 2. Ceremonies of Coronation 250 Burning of Bunch of Flax — Pallium — Gospel in Latin and Greek — Tiara — Cap of Liberty' — Address of Council of Baltimore. PART II. SECULAR RELATIONS. Chapter I. — Patrimony of St. Peter 255 No Earthly Possessions, or Dominion given by Christ — Wealth of the Bo- man Church — Donation of Constantine — Humane Treatment of Tenants — French Princes — Title of Pati-ician — Acts of Sovereignty — Heroism of Leo IV. — Relation of Pope and Emperor to the Romans — Gibbon's account of the ori- gin of the Papal Dominion — Anticipations of Dr. Jarvis. Chapter II. — Authority over Princes. g 1, In Matters of Faith, and Morals 270 Pontiff superior to all members of the Church — Gelasius explains the rela- tions of the two powers — Means employed against Princes. § 2. In Secular Concerns 275 No Civil Power now claimed^Creation of Emperor by Leo III. — British Critic — Remarkable avowal of Voltaire. Chapter HI. — Peace Tribunal 2S3 Council of Bheims — Louis the Fat — Princes sought the Pope's Mediation — St. Anselm — Genoese and Pisans reconciled — Pope's Power implored by both parties — Federal Union — Decree of Lateran — War Sometimes Necessary — Truce of God— Improvement in the Laws of War. COlNfTENTS. 11 ► Chapter TV. — Deposing Power. p^^^ g 1. Origin of the Power 293 Abdication of Wtiinba — Council of Savonieres — Saxons complain to Alexan- der II. — Threats of Gregory VII. — Henry IV., seeks his influence to suppress Revolt — Crimes of Henry — Compact — Declaration of Independence — Effects of Excommunication — Views of Gregory! g 2. Subsequent Inetances '.. 299 Alexander III. sanctions the Lombard League — Frederick II. deposed In Council of Lyons — Act of the Pope— Impeachment of the President. g 3. Never formally defined., 302 Bull of Boniface VIII. — Definition — Excellence of Sacred Power — Canon of Lateran — Acknowledgment of Monarchs. § 4. Deposition of^ Elizabeth ,, 304 Object of the Sentence — Armada — Conduct of English Catholics, § 5. Disclaimers 306 Erencli Clergy in 1682— Cardinal Antonelli— Bull of Pius VIL Chapter V. — Papal Sanction 308 Transfer of French Crown — Settlement of Succession — Sanction of Treaties — Invasion of Ireland — Grants to Teutonic Knights — Bull of Alexander VI. — BalufB, Wheaton, Prescott. Chapter VI. — Papal Polity 316 Christianity the Supreme Law — Remarks of Arnold — Church and State — Mr. Allies — Ecclesiastical Immunities.; — St. Anselm — St. Thomas of Canterbury — Principles of Government — Liberty — Tuscan League — Elective Principle. Chapter yil. — Crusades 327 Efforts of Sylvester II. — Gregory VI. — State of the Eastern Christians — Peter the Hermit — Councils of Piacenza, Clermont — Discourse of Urban II. — League between Greek Emperor and the Crusaders — Defensive "Wars — St. Ber- nard — ■Indulgences — Alms-r-Results of the Crusades. Chapter VIII. — Coercion. § 1. Pagans and Jews 342 Liberty of Conscience vindicated by TertuUian — Ethelbert — Council of To- ledo — Innocent IV. — Facts regarding the Jews — Rome their Asylum. g 2. Sectaries 345 Conduct of Constantine — Right of Property — Imperial Laws — Anti-social Principles — Outrages of Circumcellions — Council of Carthage. § 3. Crusades against Manicheans 348 Canons of Toulouse and Lateran — Excesses of Sectaries — Assassination of Legate — Instructions of Gregory IX. — Testimony of Voltaire. Chapter IX. — Inquisition. § 1. Ancient Tribunal 353 Council of Verona — Qucesitores fidei sent by Innocent III. — Spirit of' Inqui- sitors — St. Peter de Castelnau — -Civil sanction. g 2. Spanish Inquisition 356 Eerdinand of Spain — Object — Treasonable designs of Moors — Royal tribunal — Opposition of Popes to its establishment in Naples and Milan. § 3. Ifode of P-^oceeding 358 Secrecy — Requisites for arrest — Mode of trial — Torture seldom used: long abandoned — Searching process — Exaggerations of Llorente. g 4. Roman Inquisition 362 Congregation of Cardinals — Temporal attributions — Archives seized by the French — Heresy regarded as a crime against society. 12 CONTENTS. PAKT III. LITERARY AND MORAL INFLUENCE. PAGE Chapter I. — Personal attainments • ^^"^ Gregory the Great misrepresented — Testimony of Agatho — Rome the source of letters to the West — Nicholas Breakspere. Chapter II. — Measures to promote learning. § 1. Libraries.,.., '''^ Popes collectors of books — Vatican library — Nicholas V. §2. Schools 373 Schools in England — Literary accomplishments of ladies — Decrees of Roman Councils — Universities. Chapter III. — Mediaeval Studies 376 Divinity — St. Thomas Aquinas — Aristotle — Modern Spirit — Canon law — Oriental languages. Chapter IV. — Revival of Letters 381 Dante — Petrarch crowned in the Roman capitol — Poets — Historians — Elo- quence — Belles Lettres — Tuscan genius — Testimony of Voltaire — Reformation prejudicial to literature — Greek studies — Ippolita Sforza. Chapter V. — Science. § 1. Medicine 38S Salerno — Montpelier — Anatomy — State Physicians — Professorship of Medi- cine — Natural History — Minerals — Botany. § 2. Astronomy/ ^ 390 Virgil, the Irish missionary — Antipodes — Correction of the calendar by Gre- gory XIII. — Meridians — Earth's motion around tlie sun — Copernicus — Galileo — Decree of Roman Inquisition — Cassini — Benedict ^IV. Chapter VI. — The Arts 395 Rome renders the arts tributary to religion — Temples and statues — Paint- ings — St. Peter's — Landscapes^ — Miniatures — Engraving on diamonds. Chapter VII. — Art of Printing. ^ 1. Encouragement of Printers 399 Printers at Rome in 1467 — Activity of the Roman Press. § 2. Mestriclions on the Press 402 Decree of Alexander VI. — Leo X. — Committee appointed by Council of Trent — List of prohibited books — Freedom of the Press. Chapter VIII. — Moral Influence. § 1. civilization 4()ij Struggle of the Popes against Feudalism — Civilization of the Heathen — Mis- sionaries of Germany — Monastic Institutions — Devotion to the Virgin, g 2. Personal Virtues 4O3 Charity of Roman Bishops — The Martyr Lawrence — Fortitude — Martyrs Pius VI.— Pius VIL— Humility— Celestine V. g 3. Recognised Sanctity 4]^5 Chapter IX. — Charges against the Popes 417 Formosus — Stephen— "Weight of Luitprand's testimony — Boniface VIII. Conduct before receiving orders — Leo X. and Innocent X. vindicated — Alexan- der VI. — Character of Pontiffs as Sovereigns. — Sixtus IV. — Nepotism. Catalogue of the Popes 429 Missing Page Missing Page Missing Page Missing Page THE PEIMACY. CHAPTER I. The first question which presents itself to the mind in reference to the important subject of the Church, is, whether Christ our Lord formed the multitude of His followers into a society, and appointed officers to govern them. There are many at the present day, who confidently answer in the negative, contending that He left it entirely optional with believers in His doctrine, to associate under whatsoever form they pleased for the further- ance of the great objects of His divine mission.* It may appear strange, that this can be maintained by any who admit the Scriptures, which testify, so clearly, the appointment by Christ of teachers and rulers, with a per- petual commission : but it is scarcely so surprising as that some should hold that Christ did organize His Church, and yet deny the main principle of her organization, which is unity, by the government of one man, as the Scriptures no less clearly attest. The fact that Christ appeared on earth as Supreme Teacher, invested with all power and authority, should prepare us for a state of Christian society, in which one should hold His place, exercising, by delegation, those powers which He inherently possessed. That such a social form is best adapted to the great ends of revelation, reason itself must convince us, since in order to difiuse and preserve the revealed doctrines, it must be of the highest importance to have a chief depositary and supreme guardian, from whose chair of instruction the voice of truth may issue to the farthest extremities of the earth. The union of believers can best be promoted by a central authority divinely established and protected; and the perpetuity of the Church, which without unity is impossible, can thus be secured. In every form of civil government, how- ever limited may be its sphere of action, unity is necessarily sought by means of a supreme magistrate, with such limitations of his power as the genius of the people may require. The existence of such an officer in the Church is the more necessary, inasmuch as she is composed of an endless variety o^ nations, who could not unjte in one society, unless by mean 3 c f * See " The Chnroli Member's Manual," by William Crowell. Boston, 1852. 2 ir 18 NATURE OP THE PRIMACY. a general head.* She has been often styled "a masterpiece of human policy/' because she is so constituted as to resist the many assaults made on her from without, and to be uninjured by the conflict of internal ele- ments. Her strength and power must be ascribed to her unity, which conservative and vital principle of her organization she owes to her Divine Pounder. In leaving her a visible head to govern in His Name, He left her the pledge of His own perpetual presence, in virtue of which she repels every attack, and remains secure of victory over all her foes. No greater evidence of His divinity is needed to confound the unbeliever, than the fact that He so framed His Church as to ensure her perpetual duration, whilst every human institution, howsoever wisely planned and powerfully sustained, after temporary prosperity, more or less rapidly dissolves. Apart from positive evidence, we may infer the divine institution of the primacy, from the fact that it effectually tends to unite the followers of Christ in an unbroken and invincible phalanx. That which makes the Church one, and renders her superior to all the efforts of her enemies, is surely not a device of human policy, but the institution of Divine Wisdom. I would not, however, confine the investigation of the primacy to ab- stract reasoning. It is a matter of fact, and therefore to be established by positive evidence. The New Testament, as far as it is a record of the institutions of Christ, and of their practical development, presents histo- rical proof to all who regard it as a purely human composition, and divine testimony to such as recognise its inspiration. In an inquiry like the present, the obvious meaning of the words, as gathered from the context, and illustrated by parallel passages, may be fairly urged in proof j and where discrepancy of sentiment exists in regard to the interpretation, the unbiassed judgment of the ancient Christian writers may be justly ap- pealed fo. The monuments of antiquity, which attest the actual govern- ment of the Church in the early ages, should be examined, in order to ascertain what was believed and acknowledged to be the authority left by Christ for that purpose : since the ancient general and constant persuasion of all Christians, on a matter of public polity, and daily practice, must be held sacred, according to the celebrated axiom of Vincent of Lerins, which is consonant with common sense : Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ah omnibus. Whosoever assails the actual government of the Church must be pre- pared to prove that it is essentially different from the original design, as delineated by its Divine Founder.^ The presumption is in favor of that * The reader will find this, and other arguments, ably presented by the Bishop of Louisville, in his admirable " Lectures on the General Evidences of Catholicity." Lec- ture X. f For the full development of the presumptive argument, and the complete exposure of the fallacies of Anglican and Episcopalian theories on this point, I beg to refer to " Reasons for Acknowledging the Authority of the Holy Roman See, by Henry Major, late a Clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church." Philadelphia, 184:6. KATDRE OF THE PRIMACY. 19 vrbioh is established, because it is reasonable to suppose that its claims had been thoroughly examined before they were acknowledged. If the opponent himself had previously recognised the authority, he is still more evidently bound to show cause, why he now seeks to discard it, his argu- ments being unworthy of attention until all suspicion of improper mo- tives is removed. Luther, after loud protestations of unreserved submis- sion, rose' in revolt against the Papal power, when his resentment had been provoked by the condemnation of his errors. Henry VIII. shook off the Papal yoke, when it galled him ; the Pontiff refusing to minister to his passions, by divorcing his lawful queen, that he might take an adulteress to his bed. Long before the appearance of the apostate monk, or of the licentious despot, Photius, in the ninth century, assailed the Eoman primacy ; but only after the Pontiff had resisted his usurpation of the patri- archal chair, to the injury of the rightful occupant, Ig-natius. The motives of these opponents of Rome were unquestionably suspicious. Hence the arguments, by which they attempted to disprove the divine origin of the primacy, were to be received with caution and distrust. It should be pre- sumed that an authority which existed in ' the ninth, as well as in the six- teenth century, and which was opposed by men under the influence of pas- sion, was still more ancient, nay, coeval with Christianity itself. If, as we go back to the earliest times, we meet instances of its exercise in every age, the presumption is strong that it existed then, substantially the same as when it was afterward assailed by ambitious, restless, or licentious men. In the scarcity of ancient documents, and in the obscurity in which the persecutions of the early ages necessarily involved; the constitution and internal administration of the Church, it is unreasonable to expect the same degree of evidence of the exercise of power by her officers, as in later times, of which fuller records are possessed, and in which her action was less controlled. " So long as the Church," observes Mr. Allies, " was engaged in a fierce and unrelenting conflict with the Paganism and despot- ism of the empire, she could hardly exhibit to the world her complete outward organization."* It is reasonable to infer that her government was in substance the same previously, as in the fifth and fourth ages, unless there be conclusive evidence to the contrary. Those who deny the primacy to be an original principle of Church organization, in vain object the in- sufficiency of the proofs of its operation in the early ages. In order to meet the abundant evidence of its powerful activity at a subsequent period, they should show the time in which it was first established, the means used for its introduction, and explain how it happened that it met with no op- position, or that such opposition was unsuccessful. Some of the Pontifical acts which I shall have occasion to enumerate, might be referred to mere patriarchal jurisdiction; but the attentive reader ■» " xhe Church of England Cleared from the Charge of Schism, by Thomas William Allies, Keotor of Launton, Cxon.," p. 15. 20 NATURE OF THE PRIMACY. will perceive, that they all presuppose the divine institution of the prima- cy, and the authority of the Bishop of Eome as derived from St. Peter. The proofs here furnished cannot then be eluded, merely by saying, that many of them are explicable on the patriarchal theory : for we must exa- mine whether the Pontiffs rested their claims on this ground, or on the divine commission ; and whether the bishops submitted to them on prin- ciples of ecclesiastical economy, or in obedience to a divine mandate, which they believed to be delivered in the Gospel. To invent a theory, is not sufficient; we must inquire into a fact, whether the power exercised by the Bishop of Rome throughout the Western patriarchate, as well as in the East, was professedly grounded on the commission given to the apostle, whose chair he occupied. If continual reference be made to this commis- sion in all the documents which have come down from those times, it is in vain to say that the same acts might have been performed in virtue of conventional arrangements, since they actually proceeded from a higher source. ■ The attempt is vainly made to distinguish the primacy from the supre- macy, and by the admission of the former to elude the evidences by which the claims of the Roman Pontiff are supported. Primacy of jurisdiction implies supremacy, sinte it is a real governing power, extending over the whole Church, as appears from the definition of the Council of Florence : " We define that the holy Apostolic See and Roman Pontiff holds the primacy throughout the entire world, and that the said Roman Pontiif is the successor of the blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, and is the true vicar of Christ, and the head of the whole Church, and father and teacher of all Christians ; and that to him, in the person of blessed Peter, full power was given by our Lord Jesus Christ to feed, rule and govern the Universal Church, as is also contained in the acts of oecumenical councils and in the sacred canons."* Those who live under republican institutions are naturally prejudiced against an authority which resembles a monarchy, inasmuch as one man, as vicegerent of Christ, governs the Universal Church. I will not in- sist here on the fact that he is an elective ruler, chosen from the body of cardinals, whose office is not hereditary, but the reward of distin- guished merit ; neither will I dwell on the limitations of pontifical power arising from the nature of the doctrines and laws of Christ, of which His earthly representative cannot change an iota ; still less will I plead the practical limitations which may arise from canonical enactments, national usages, and established precedents. A power in things spiritual which affiscts conscience alone, 9annot be arbitrary and despotic, being an ema- nation from the power of Christ, and dependent for its successful exercise on the voluntary submission of those whom it regards. It is necessary how- ever, to approach the examination of this subject with a mind prepared * Cone. Flor., coUat. xxii., p. 985. V. is. col. Hard. NATURE OF THE PRIMACY. 21 to embrace the authority which Christ has established, without regard to our political prejudices, or national predilections. We are not allowed to model His Church according to our views ; we must accept her as she was framed by Him, who has done all things well, and whose providence watches over His institutions, that they may be channels of grace and blessing to mankind. I shall not attempt, to present any qualified view of pontifical power calculated to win popular favor, or hesitate to admit the rather invidious terms by which it is commonly designated. Let the con- stitution of the Church be styled monarchical ; provided it be well under- stood that Christ is the sovereign, whose mild authority must be reflected in the government of His earthly representative. Let her aristocratic character be admitted; but with the just observation, that in her, birth or wealth gives no title of nobility, since her princes are chosen indiscrimi- nately from all classes, wherever virtue finds votaries. Even Voltaire remarks, that "the Roman Church has always enjoyed the advantage of rewarding merit with honors which are elsewhere given to birth."* It would be easy to show what elements of democracy are contained within her : but a divine institution needs not be supported by an appeal to popular prejudice. To borrow the words of James Bernard Clinch, a learned member of the Irish bar in the early part of this century : " Whatever be the authority which exists in the Christian system, that authority, in its application, must be as different from the execution of worldly f6rce as it is superior in its origin. To seek for parallels between the genuine idea of Christian polity, and the several species of human organization of force, I consider to be extreme absurdity. To defend the government of the Church as a pure monarchic, or as an aristo- cratic, or as a republican system, or as resulting from any temperament of these three forms, must necessarily lead into error ; and so far, must estrange the mind from the whole of the salutary and everlasting purposes of the Gospel, which, except in the Catholic Church, are not known, or cannot be realized. If it were lawful to circumscribe the Christian state by any general name, it might more aptly be called a federal system, be- cause its essential compact is unity. There is no monarchy in the Chris- tian Church but that of Christ ; there is no aristocracy ; there is no power of the commons. There are ministries and offices distinct, and there are subjects amenable to these offices. But the highest magistrate of spiritual things can only be the next representative of Christ for Christians; and Christ has declared that He came iiot to have servitude performed unto Himself, but to perform it, and to lay down His life as a ransom for multitudes. "f ^ " L'Eglise Romaine a toujours eu cet avantage de pouvoir donner au merite ce qu'ail- leyrs on donne a la naissance." Voltaire, Essai sur rHistoire Gtenerale. Histoire de i'Emfwreur Henri V. f Letters on Chareh GoTernment, by J. B. Clinoh, Barrister at Law, Dublin, 1815. 22 NATURE OF THE PEIMACY. By whatsoever appellation we may designate the constitution of the Church,, our attachment to our country and its institutions will not be affected by it, since there is an immense difference between things human and divine. As we must not suffer our political predilections to prejudice us. against the form of government which Christ our Lord has established in his Church, so we need not seek to assimilate civil to ecclesiastical polity. It has been well observed by Kanke, that "this religious system has no inherent or necessary affinity to one form of government more than to another."* " The .Christian religion," says Count de St. Priest, " which has existed for near , two thousand years, is not indissolubly attached to any political form. Under the shadow of absolute thrones or of limited monarchies — on the borders of the republican lake of William Tell — in America, which is still more republican, it flourishes as an imperishable plant, nourished by the juices of earth, and refreshed by the waters of heaven. It is not a local,. but a universal religion."-j- So far back as the fifth century, St. Augustin declared the support which the Church lends to every lawful authority : " This heavenly society," he says, " does not hesitate to obey the laws of the temporal powers which regulate the things appertaining to our mortal life Whilst sojourning on earth, the Church gathers her citizens from all nations, and forms her pilgrim host of men of every tongue. She cares not for the diversity of laws and usages which are directed to the attainment or maintenance of peace : she annuls or destroys none of them, but, on the contrary, she adopts and observes them ; since although they differ in various nations, they are all directed to one and the same end, namely, public order and tranquillity ; provided they do not clash with religion, which teaches us to worship the one su- preme and true God."J The alleged or real abuses of papal power form no just ground of objec- tion to its admissi6n, since every divine institution is liable to be abused by human frailty. The inquirer after truth should not allow his mind to be pre-occupied with frightful images of excesses committed by popes, either in their public administration or in their private conduct : he should first of all examine, whether their authority is from Christ. On calm in- vestigation, he will find that the grossest exaggerations have been indulged in by their traducers, whilst the benefits which they bestowed on the Chris- tian world have been kept out of view. The contributions, which under the name of Peter's pence, or on any other score, were made for the sup- port of the pontifical government, have been designated extortions, with- out any regard to their justice and necessity; whilst the unbounded charities of the popes, and their immense expenditures for the general interests of Christendom, are forgotten. The civil commotions and wars, which some- -i' History of the Popes, Tol. i. 1. vi. ^ i. p. 407. f Histoire do la Koyaute par le Cto Ale.\is de Saint Priest, 1. ii. p. 92. J Do Civ. Dei, 1. xix. u. xvii. NATURE OF THE PRIMACY. 23 times followed the exercise of papal power, are represented as its necessary re- sults ; whilst the enormity of the evils, which the pontiffs sought to remedy, is lost sight of, and the criminality of the immediate actors who provoked this severity is apparently unnoticed. In investigating the fact, -whether Christ has left in His stead a ruler of His Church on earth, we should con- fine ourselves to scriptural testimonies, and to the monuments of Christian antiquity. Let these be consulted, and there can be no doubt that the result will be entire conviction of the divine institution of the primacy. The importance of the investigation is deeply felt at this day by the many estimable individuals, who, with anxious minds, are struggling to disen- thral themselves from error and schism. Mr. Allies rightly said: The whole question now "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 our salvation, but submit ourselves to the authority of Eome."* * The Church of England Cleared from the Charge of Schism. ' Advertisement. CHAPTER II. '§tmm 0f i\t Irimarg. Our Divine Redeemer was wont to prepare men for His chief institu- tions by a previous declaration of His intentions. Before He made a formal promise to bestow the power of governing His Church, He changed the name of the disciple, who was to esrercise it ; and He subsequently declared the import of the name, and the authority of the office. When Simon was presente(J to him by his brother Andrew, He called him Cephas,* a Syro- ohaldaio term, equivalent to the Greek FkTpog, that is, Peter, which signi- fies EoCK. Andrew " brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looking upon him, said : Thou art Simon the son of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas : which is interpreted Peter."f It does not appear that our Lord atj that time declared the reason why He so called him : which, however. He after- wards most emphatically signified. Although Andrew had the happiness of discovering Christ before him, Peter soon enjoyed a marked precedency, so as to be designated the first by the evangelist St. Matthew, in the enumeration of the apostles. " Now the names of the twelve apostles are these : The first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother."J Then follow the names of the others, with their commission to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is not by mere accident that Peter is here placed first, since he occupies the same place in all the lists given by the sacred writers : which is the more remarkable inasmuch as the order of the names of the other apostles varies, with the exception of Judas, who, on account of his perfidy, is always placed last. St. Matthew, moreover, expressly designates him the first : 6 icpmTot;, which plainly marks him as leader and chief. We cannot suppose that Peter is put first on account of the excellence of his personal qualities, when we remember his weakness in the hour of tempta- tion. Whilst our Lord was on earth, He alone was head of His Church, an^ Peter, although he was leader, had not authority over his brethren. At that time his precedency was rather of order, or rank, than of jurisdic- tion and government ; but it was wisely so ordained, that he might be thus prepared for the high ofBce to which he was to be elevated. In this . sense the observation of Barrow may be admitted : " Constantly in all the catalogues of the apostles, St. Peter's name is set in the front; and when * It is pronounced in Syriac ^V^/ia, or Kiplio: in Chaldaic ^''D, in Hebrew ^^. f John i. 42. % Matt. a. 2. 24 PROMISE OF THE PRIMACY. 25 actions are reported in which he was concerned jointly with others, he is usually mentioned first, which seemeth not done without careful design or special reason. Upon such grounds it may be reasonable to allow St. Peter a primacy of order."* I cannot, however, agree with him, that this primacy was "such a one as the ringleader hath in a dance!" Neither can I admit that primatial authority was not afterwards conferred on him: since this is affirmed, not on the mere ground of this order of names, which, however, furnishes no slight presumptive evidence, but on strong and positive testimonies of Scripture. In the sixteenth chapter of St. Matthew, we learn that " Jesus came into the confines of Cesarea Philippi : and He asked His disciples saying : Who do men say that the Son of Man is ? And they said : Some John the Bap- tist, and others Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets." Our Lord's interrogation was not an idle inquiry, proceeding from curiosity to ascertain the current opinions of men, for Jesus "knew all men," and " He needed not that any man should give testimony of man : for He knew what was in man.""(" He asks, in order to afford an opportunity to Simon to state the various human conjectures, that were prevalent concern- ing His person, and to declare aloud his own faith. On the question being put as to the belief of the apostles themselves, concerning him, Peter answered without hesitation : " Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." This explicit declaration of the divinity of Jesus, was followed by a confirmation, on His part, of the name previously given to Simon, and by the exposition of its mysterious meaning, and of the high office with which it was connected : " Jesus answering said to him : Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : because flesh and blood hath not re- vealed it to thee, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed~also in heaven."J Never was the language of Christ more clear and emphatic. Simon confessed Him to be the Son of God, not in the general sense of this appellation, as given to every just man, for this would have called forth no extraordinary praise, but as the natural and true Son of His Eternal Father, by a communication to Him of the Divine Nature, by an inefiable generation. Jesus declares Simon blessed for this profession of faith in His divinity, since mortal man could not have suggested it, but God alone. Thus endowed by the Father with divine faith in the in- carnate Son of God, Simon becomes a fit instrument in His hands for the building of His Church, a secure foundation whereon it may rest. His name is confirmed : " I say to thee, that thou art Peter." As Jacob was * A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, by Isaac Barrow, D. D., Supposition 1, u. 5. t John ii. 24. J Matt. xvi. 15-20. 26 PROMISE OF THE PRIMACY. called Israel, because in the mysterious conflict lie prevailed over the angel of God ;— as Abram was called Abraham, because chosen to be the father of a countless multitude ;— so Simon is called Cephas, or Peter, because made, by divine grace, a ROCK of faith. Nor is the firmness of his faith a mere personal endowment; he is to become the foundation-stone of the Church of Christ : " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church:" that is: THOU ART A ROCK, AND UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY Church.* The strength of this rock — its immovable firmness — is declared by the impregnable character of the Church which is to be built on it: "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Because Christ builds on a rock, the powers of darkness cannot overcome His Church. He is the wise man, who chooses a solid foundation for His build- ing. " The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock."t The strength of the building is ascribed to the solidity of the foundation. Christ in choosing Simon for the foundation of His Church, gives him strength and firmness, by which the building itself is made secure. Peter becomes the support of the Church, which, like a strong fortress, is in vain assailed by adverse powers. Such is the import of the name given by Christ to Simon ; such is the close and necessary relation of Peter to the Church. Some who seek to elude the obvious force of the language of our Saviour, contend that Peter is called a rock for the firmness of his personal faith, and is spoken of as the foundation of the Church, because he was the first to pro- fess the divinity of Christ, and because all who thenceforward acknowledged the same truth, were added to and built on him as a foundation. This, however, by no means corresponds with the words of our Redeemer. Peter is called a rock, not as a professor of the faith, but to reward its profession. Because he has made this divinely inspired profession, Christ declares that he is a rock, on which He will build His Church. It is fair to give to a figurative expression the force which its use by the same writer, or speaker, authorizes. Our Lord having used the similitude of a house built on a rook, to illustrate the wisdom of the man who builds his hopes of salvation on the practice of the divine lessons, as on a solid foundation, we must regard the rock as the image of the solidity and strength of the founda- tion, rather than as expressive of a mere commencement. The unfailing support of the building is the idea which the rock suggests. This observation equally shows the futility of the attempt to explain this figure as employed merely to mark the instrumentality of Peter in admitting Jews and Gentiles to the Church, by proclaiming the resurrec- * In English, the force of the allusion is not perceived, hut in French it is preserved : <'Tu es Pierre, et sur oette pierre je batirai mon cglise." The Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish, imperfectly exhibit it. Tho Gorman, as well as the English, conceals it. f Matt. vii. 25. PROMISE OF THE PRIMACY. 27 tion ^0 tlie assembled multitude on the day of Pentecost, and exhorting them to receive baptism, and by ordering Cornelius and his family to be baptized.* The figure obviously represents strength, immobility, and con- sequent support afforded to the building. Peter, as a rock of strength, is placed by the Divine Architect in the foundation, in order that the Church may stand for ever, despite of the storms of persecution and temptation, and of all the assaults of the infernal powers. Many, with a triumphant air, aJ5rm that the rock on which Christ pro- mised to build His Church, is no other than Christ Himself, the rook of ages : but they plainly violate all rules of just interpretation. Since Cephas signifies rock, and Christ says to Simon : "Thou art- Cephas, and upon THIS ROCK I will build My Church ;" the relative leaves no room for ambiguity. Besides, there would be a confusion of metaphors and ideas, if Christ should, in the same breath, speak of Himself as builder and foundation. Both figures may be applied to Him separately, under different points of view ; but it would be incongruous, not to say absurd, to apply both at one and the same time. God is frequently called a rock, on account of his insuperable and everlasting power ;- Christ is styled the rock of ages, because He is at all times the strength and refuge of all who flee to Him. He is the spiritual rock, from which the waters of salvation issue, and of which the material rock of the desert was a type. Thus St. Paul, speaking of the Israelites, says, that " they all drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ ■"\ but it is absurd to infer hence that the rock spoken of by Christ, when He said, " upon this rock I will build My Church," is Christ Himself !J The attempt to explain ^Hhii roclc" of Christ is by no means counte- nanced by the (iiiference of gender of the words in the text : ah el IHrpo^, xat M rauTTj rr/ itirpa. Pet«r is called Uirpoq, because the Greeks never apply a feminine noun to a man, except in derision :§ th6 rock is called ■Kir'pa, because this term more properly designates a rock, although the "* Bishop Pearson says : " It will be necessary to take notice, that our Saviour, speaking of it, {the Churchy) mentioneth it as that which then was not, but afterwards was to be ; as when he spake unto the great Apostle : ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rook I will Ijuild my Church ;' but when he ascended into heaven, .a:nd the Holy G-host came down, when Peter had converted three thousand souls, which were added to the hundred and twenty disciples, then was there a Church, (and that built uporr Peter, AccoRbiNS to our Saviour's promise,) for after that we read: 'The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.' " — Bishop Pearson on the Creed, Article IX., p. 506. t 1 Cor. X. 4. ■ t The rule prescribed by the Protestant critic, Gerard, should here be attended to, 456 : " Every term should be considered as it stands, in the proposition of which it makes a part, and explained, not by itself, but so as to bring out the real sense of that whole proposition." He shows the violation of this rule by. an Antinomian, who should understand the rock on which the wise man builds his house. Matt. vii. 24, to be Christ, the rock of ages. The rule is equally violated, when the rock, of which Christ speaks. Matt. xvi. 18, is understood to be Himself. See Gerard's Institutes, p. 134. g Synopsis Critic, in locum. 28 PROMISE OF THE PRIMACY. other term is equivalent. The relative plainly identifies the subject, and excludes all distinction, as the language in which our Saviour spoke has the same word in both places.* Bloomfield, an Anglican commentator, ob- serves that every modern expositor of note has abandoned the distinction between Peter and rock as untenable.f Bishop Marsh, quoted by him, says, that "it would be a desperate undertaking to prove that Christ meant any other person than Peter."| John Greorge Rosenmuller, a German inter- preter, coincides in this critical judgment : " The rock," says he, " is neither the confession of Peter, nor Christ, pointing out Himself by His finger, or by a shake of the head, (which interpretations the context does not admit,) but Peter himself. The Lord, speaking in Syriac, used no diversity of' name, but in both places said Cephas, as the French word pierre is said both of a proper and appellative noun. He pointed out Peter, therefore, either by his finger, or nod ; for that gesture suited His purpose, to ex- plain the reason of giving him this name. So it is said of Abraham : 'Thy name shall be Abraham, because I have made thee father of many nations ;' of Jacob : ' Israel shall be thy name, for thou actest as a prince with angels and men.' So Christ says: 'Thou art called by Me Peter, because thou wilt be as a rook.' And He promises that He will build His Church on Peter. Allusion is made to the custom prevailing in Palestine, of building houses that are exposed to floods and whirlwinds, on a rooky soil, that they may be able to resist the violence of waters and winds. Matt. vii. 24, 25. ' Therefore whosoever thinks of building a durable house, should above all look around for a rock, or firm ground : the rock is the first thing whence the work is to be begun.' "§ In " Gerard's Institutes of Biblical Criticism" is contained the following * The Syriac version of the New Testament is deservedly of high repute, on account of its early date, and of the near afBnity hetween the Syriac language and the Syro- Chaldaic, which our Lord used, and in which, according to the received opinion, St. Matthew wrote his Gospel. In this version, the words " Peter" and " rock" are expressed by the same characters ; Anath Chipha, vehall hada chiplia. A most ancient Chaldee manuscript of St. Matthew's Gospel, in the collection formerly belonging to Cardinal Barberini, written in characters long obsolete, and professing to have been made in Mesopotamia in the year 330, uses but one word to express Peter and the rock, !,c-iii7ia. See the learned treatise of Eccholcnsis, a, JIaronite, de origine nominis Papa, &c. Roma), MDCLX. In the Arabic version, given in the London Polyglot, the same term, Alaaclu-a, is used in both places. Another Arabic version employs a different term, Alsapha, but in both places alike. The Persian version is rendered by Walton: Thou art the rock {i. e. stone) of My reli- gion, and on thee the foundation of My Church shall bo laid. f In locum. J Comparative View. App. p. 217. 2 Scholia in Novum Test, torn. i. p. 336. Norumb. an. 1815. PROMJSE OF THE PRIMACY. 29 just observation — Canon 511 : "The most obvious and natural sense is to be set aside only when it is absolutely contradictory to something plainly taught dn Scripture." He then remarks, that "the opposite way has been taken by all sects;" and quoting the 18th verse of the 16th chapter of St. Matthew, observes : " Building on Peter is explained, by some, as con- trary to the faith that Christ is the only foundation, (1 Cor. iii. 2,) and as favoring the succession of Peter and his successors; but the connection shows that PETER IS HERE PLAINLY MEANT." This avowal loses nothing of its importance from the attempt to confine it to Peter to the exclusion of his successors, in conformity with the prejudices and in- terests of Protestantism. Mr. Thompson, of Glasgow, in his Monafessaron, on this text, gives three interpretations. He thinks the two first unfounded, and thus quotes the third : " The third opinion is, that both the words Tcsrpo^ and Tterpa are here used as appellations of the apostle ; and, consequently, Peter was the rock on which Christ said His Church should be built. To this the con- nection and scope of the passage agree. There seems to be something forced in every other construction, and an inaptitude in the language and figure of the text in every attempt to construct the words otherwise. Pro- testants have betrayed unnecessary fears, and have, therefore, used all the HARDIHOOD of LAWLESS CRITICISM in their attempts to reason away the Catholic interpretation."* This perversion of Scripture, to suit party purposes, is deeply to be deplored. Those who have made the hu- miliating acknowledgments which I have placed under the eyes of the reader, have not failed to torture the text after their own fashion, to eschew the consequences of their involuntary conoesMons. The apostle, addressing the Corinthians whom he had brought to the knowledge of Christian faith says : "You are God's building. According to the grace of God that is given me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. Por no man can lay anpther foundation, but that which is laid — which is Christ Jesus."f These words are often al- leged to show that Christ Himself is the fundamental rook on which the Church is built : but the meaning of the apostle manifestly is, that Christ — His doctrine and law — His atonement and grace — are the only founda- tion on which our hopes for salvation can rest ; nor is there salvation in any other ; for " there is no other name under heaven given to men where- by we must be saved."J This does not exclude the relation of Peter to the Church as established by Christ Himself, since he is the rock placed by the hands of the Divine Architect, from Whom his strength is wholly derived. It would indeed be impious to call Peter the foundation, inde- pendently of Christ ; his office being merely ministerial and instrumental. The faithful are said to be " built upon the foundation of the apostles » Bait. edit. p. 194. 1 1 Cor. iii. 9. t Acts ir. 12. 30 PROMISE OP THE PEIMACr. and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone."* Thus it is clear, that the apostles and prophets may be represented under the image of the foundation, without any disparagement to the authority of Christ, since the preaching of the apostles and the predictions of the prophets lead men to Him. They are ministers, agents, heralds of the Great King. So may the term be applied to Peter in a special sense, as being His chief minister and representative, without detracting from His sovereignty. Bloomfield avows that the expression as applied to Peter is easily reconcilable with the application of it to Christ, "since the two ex- pressions are employed in two very different senses. "f St. Leo the Great, who filled the chair of St. Peter in the middle of the fifth century, beautifully exhibits the harmony of the sacred texts, whilst he paraphrases the address of Christ to Peter : "As my Father has manifested BIy divinity to thee, I make known to thee thy excellency : for thou art Peter, that is, as I am the inviolable rock, the corner-stone, who make both one, the foundation other than which no one can lay — nevertheless, thou also art a ROCK, because thou art strengthened by My power, so that those things which belong to Me by nature, are common to thee with Me by partioipa- tion."J The figure of the keys of the kingdom, which our Lord adds, confirms and develops the idea of power and authority contained in the preceding metaphor : " I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, it shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven." The keys are the known symbol of authority. Of Eliacim, who was to be substituted to Sobna in the high-priesthood, it is said: "I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and none shall open."§ The key was hung on the shoulder, in token of power, on which account it is said of Christ, ^'the government is upon his shoulder." || Potter, Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, says : " Our Lord received from God the keys of heaven ; and by virtue of this grant, had power to remit sins on earth : the same keys, with the power which accompanied them, were first pro- mised to Peter, as the foreman of the apostolic college."^ Since our Lord communicated to Peter the keys which He Himself received from the Fa- ther, supreme power was clearly delegated by Him, as may be gathered from the same writer. " Our blessed Lord, as the king of this household, who has the supreme power to admit and exclude whomsoever He pleaseth, » Eph. ii. 20. t 1° Matt. xvi. IS, 19. J Serm. iv. de assumpt. aua ad Pontijlcatum, § Isaiah xxii. 22. "As to the expression * the keys,' it may also refer to the power and authority for the said work; especially as a key was anciently a usual symholof authority, and presenting with a key was a common form of investing with authority, insomuch that it was afterwards worn as a badge of office." — Bloomfield^ in locum. II Isaiah ix. 6. ^ On Church Government, p. 60. PROMISE OP THE PRIMACY. 3I is said to have the keys of David. The supreme power of the keys, that is, the authority of admitting and excluding, belongs to Christ, the King • but the same is exercised by His apostles and their successors, whom He has appointed to govern the Church, as His stewards, or vicegerents."* The force of the symbol is here admitted, although an attempt is vainly made to render' common to all the apostles the power which was distinctly given to Peter alone : " I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." In the New Testament the kingdom of heaven generally denotes the Church of Christ, which is heavenly in its origin, principles and tend- ency. To give the keys of this kingdom is to communicate supreme power — to make Peter His special vicegerent. To loose and to bind is the exercise of that power, but the keys signify a pre-eminent power of bind- ing and loosing. The remission of sins or their retention may be effected in virtue of it, whilst other acts likewise are included in this broad com- mission. To resolve the difficulties of the law, and decide religious con- troversies, to enact laws binding the members of the Church, and to dis- pense from their observance, to inflict censures on the refractory, and release the penitent from their bonds, may all be signified by these terms. A similar power of binding and loosing was afterwards promised to all the apostles ; but, not without special design, it was promised to Peter first, and alone, that his high authority might be manifested. These sublime promises are not weakened by the rebuke given on the same occasion, to Peter, for opposing the divine counsels. Our Lord charged His disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ ; and in order to check their exultation, He disclosed to them His approaching death : but Peter could not bear the thought of the sufferings of his Divine Master : " Lord, (he said,) be it far from Thee : this shall not be unto Thee. But He, turning, said to Peter : Go after me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me : because thou dost not relish the things that are of God, but the things that are of men."-(- By this severe reproof, our Lord would teach us, that the humiliating mystery of His sufferings must be adored with the same faith wherewith His glory is believed. Simon was blessed in the divinely inspired faith by which he acknowledged Christ to be the Son of God ; but he became a Satan, that is, according to the literal force of the term, an adversary, when he opposed the divine counsel for the redemp- tion of mankind, by the sufferings and death of his Lord. The promise made to him was not recalled, although his earthly views were corrected and reproved. The enemies of the primacy have, however, availed them- selves of the popular acceptation of the term Satan, to obscure the eulogy previously pronounced, and the promise made to Peter. Severe as the re- proof undoubtedly is, it does not suppose any sin on the part of the apostle, but a human error of judgment, proceeding from the ardor of his affection, and his lively faith in the divinity of Christ. * On Church Government, p. 300. f Matt. xvi. 22. 32 PROMISE OF THE PRIMACY. In the solemn circumstance of the approaching passion of Christ, the apostles did not cease to indulge the petty rivalry and jealousy, which, during their attendance on Him, they had often manifested. He had had occasion more than. once to rehuke them for their disputes about supe- riority, and yet they were still contending which of them was the greatest. The many marks of His special favor to Peter, the position of leader which this apostle uniformly occupied, and the promise made to him especially, seemed to leave no room for doubting; but the tender love shown to John, and the kindness and affection exhibited to all, led them to question, whether the actual headship of Peter, or the promised office, rendered him absolutely greater than his brethren. Christ had, on a former occasion, brought forward a child to insinuate humihty, and stimulate the apostles to its exercise, by the hope of heavenly exaltation;* in this instance He contrasts the spirit which should animate them, with the domineering pide of earthly princes, and offers Himself as the model which they should copy. " The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and they that have power over them, are called beneficent. But you not so : but he who is the greatest among you, let him be as the least : and he that is the leader, as he that serveth? For which is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serveth ? Is not he that sitteth at table ? but I am in the midst of you as he that serveth."f He will not have them act in the lordly spirit of the rulers of this world, or content themselves with flattering titles. Plainly recognising the difference of rank among them, He wishes the greatest to sustain his dignity by the humility of his deportment, even as He had condescended to act as their servant. He then proceeds to intimate the high dignity of all, but marks in express terms the special duty and prerogative of Peter : " You are they who have continued with Me in My temptations : And I disposej to you, as My Father hath disposed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table, and may sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Thus, in return for their fidelity and attachment He bestows on them a kingdom, even as His Fa- that had made Him King. His kingdom is not, indeed, of this world, but of an order far more sublime, according to which the apostles are made priests and kings to their God, partaking of the mysterious banquet, and sitting on thrones of judgment. These honors are common to all: to Peter peculiar privileges are promised. Satan sought to overthrow their thrones and altars, to sift them, even as the wheat is winnowed, and to cast them away as chaff to the wind. In the impenetrable but just counsels of the Deity, he is suffered to accomplish his wishes in some degree : but Christ interposes with His Father to rescue the throne of Peter, and through him to secure all from ruin. " And the Lord said : Simon, Simon, \ » Luke ix. i8. f Luke xxii. 25-28. See also Matt. xx. 25. J Assign, or grant. PROMISE OF THE PRIMACY. 33 behold, Satan hath desired to have you,* that he may sift you as wheat : but I HAVE PRAYED FOE THEEf THAT THY FAITH FAIL NOT : AND THOU, BEING ONCE CONVERTED,^ CONFIRM THY BRETHREN. "§ He had juSt spoken of the kingdom and thrones of the apostles : He now discloses the dark designs of hell against them : and addressing Peter especially, em- phatically assures him, that He had prayed for him in particular, that his faith might not fiiil. Against him the powers of hell shall not prevail, since they cannot prevail against the Church founded on him. The prayer of Christ is specially offered up for him, as the head of his brethren, whom He charges him to confirm in that faith which cannot fail. The subsequent fall of Peter is often objected as a proof that he was not the head of the Ciurch ; which is true of that time, since although the promise of Christ had been made, and His prayer offered up, the office of chief pastor had not yet been instituted. It was only after His resur- rection that our Lord, being about to withdraw His visible presence, gave to Peter the charge of His lambs and sheep. The weakness of one chosen for so high an office must teach us, not to regard in the ministers of Chris^, especially in His Vicar, their individual qualities, but the divine authority which they exercise, that our trust may be not in man, but in God. Divine mercy pardoned Peter the base denial of his Master : divine goodness raised him to the highest dignity : divine power was employed to endow him, a frail and sinful man, with an immovable firmness in faith, that, like a rock, he might support the everlasting fabric of the Church. * vjias. The English reader, accustomed to the use of the plural pronoun for the sin- gular, is apt not to advert to its force here as embracing all the apostles. f Uepi ffou. Special prayer was offered for Peter. J This appears to be a Hebraism, denoting the repetition of an action. See Ps. Ixsxvi. 7. As Christ prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail, He willed liliewise that Peter on ?iia part should strengthen his brethren by his exhortations, pra-yers and example. Mal- donat, G-enebrard, and other Catholic interpreters give this moaning, which is strongly supported by G-rotius, who insists that conversion from sin cannot be meant, since Christ had not yet intimated the fall of Peter. Passaglia, and after him Allies, maintain this in- terpretation J which is also set forth by Cornelius a Lapide and Rosenmiiller, although these present at the same time the more common explanation, conformable to the popular ac- ceptation of the phrase. The ancient Syriao version may be rendered : " turn thou in season ;" and may be understood of the act of a superior looking towards those under his charge to direct and animate them. The same verb is used in the Syriao for the turning of Magdalen toward Christ in the garden, (John xx. 14,) and the turning of Peter toward John, (lb. xxi. 20.) g Lulio xxii. 31, 32. CHAPTER III. '^t lairs' «;epMti0n si t\t $xmm. The ancient writers of tlie Churcli, wto are styled I'athers, are de- servedly regarded with veneration for their piety, learning, and zeal. From an early period of the revolutionary career of Luther, he professed an utter disregard for their opinions ; in which he was followed by almost all the sectaries of the sixteenth and succeeding centuries: hut "the Church of England" as the English Establishment is styled, professed a high veneration for them, notwithstanding the efforts of Middleton and others to lessen their authority. At the present day they are, looked up to with increased reverence, especially by those who participate in the senti- ments of Dr. Pusey, whilst they are necessarily depreciated by such Protest- ants as wish to retain an appearance of consistency. In the Catholic Church, the unanimous testimony of the Fathers, in favor of a doctrine, is conclusive evidence of divine tradition ; and their concordant exposition of a text of Scripture is a certain guide to its true meaning : but their in- dividual opinions, however worthy of respectful consideration, impose no restraint on our judgment, unless the Church by adopting them add the seal of her authority. In interpreting the Scripture they frequently turned aside from the literal meaning, especially where this was obvious, and had recourse to moral applications, or allegorical expositions, exercising con- siderable ingenuity in applying the divine words to matters of daily prac- tice, or endeavoring to discover, under the surface of the letter, some re- ference or allusion to the great mysteries which are elsewhere explicitly propounded. This however, should give greater weight to their testimony, when they professedly declare the literal meaning of the sacred text, es- pecially in matters which were exemplified in the government a,nd public usage of the Church. Consequently, their interpretation of the promise recorded in Matthew, cannot fail to arrest the earnest attention of the reader. Terttjllian, a priest of the Church of Carthage, at the close of the second century, is classed among the Fathers, although by his fall into the errors of Blontanus in the latter part of his career, he forfeited the glory which he had acquired by his celebrated plea with the heathen magistrates for the Christians, and by his immortal work on " Prescriptions against Heretics." Whilst refuting the absurd pretension of the Gnostics, who were not ashamed to boast of knowledge superior to that of the apostles, 34 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 05 he indignantly asks : " Was any thing concealed from Peter, who WAS STYLED THE ROCK ON WHICH THE ChURCH WAS TO BE BUILT, WHO RECEIVED THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HeAVEN, AND THE POWER OF LOOSING AND BINDING IN HbAVEN AND ON EaRTH?"* He jUStly judged that Peter, being constituted by Christ the fundamental rock and the ruler of the Church, must have been endowed with the most compre- hensive knowledge of divine things. His exposition is the more forcible, as it is not urged with any effort ; but given as the obvious meaning, which even his adversaries could not question. After his fall, the African doctor continued to acknowledge Peter to be the rock on which the Church was built; but as the Montanists denied that the Church could pardon the more enormous sins, he endeavored to explain the power of binding and loosing, as signifying a disciplinary ex- ercise of authority in external government, or of a judicial decision,"}" or in some other way, so as to elude the proof drawn from it, of the author- ity to impart forgiveness to the most heinous sinners, on due manifestation of repentance. Feeling the insecurity of his position on these points, he boldly maintained that the power — whatever it might be — was promised to Peter personally — and that it did not embrace his successors, or the Church founded by him, much less the Universal Church. It is not ne- cessary to expose the false and frivolous character of these various exposi- tions, which were devised for the support of the severe principles of his sect, especially since they cannot be consistently advocated by those who, with Pearson and Pusey, admit the continuance in the Church of the power of forgiveness ; or indeed by any who will not blindly adopt fanci- ful interpretations. The calm judgment of TertuUian, whilst he remained united with the Church, must not be set aside on account of subsequent aberrations. Early in the third century, Origen, a man of sublime genius and vast erudition, taught with great success in the famous school of Alexandria; but having given loose reins to his imagination, he hazarded many con- jectural expositions of Scripture, which drew on him suspicion and cen- sure. His allegorical interpretations carry with them no weight; but when he explains the letter of the text, or testifies a fact, he is to be list- ened to with attention, especially if he be found to harmonize with the other fathers. Many of his writings have perished ; from one of which Eusebius, who wrote but a century after his time, has preserved a precious extract. The historian being desirous to prove by the testimony of the celebrated catechist, the authenticity of the first epistle of St. Peter, re- cites his words, which imply a commentary on the promise. " Peter," he says, " ON whom the Church of Christ is built, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, left one epistle which is generally admit- * De Prsescr. § xxii. t ^- ^^ Pudioitia, c. xxi. 36 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. ted."* This incidental interpretation is the more forcible, as it must be deemed the unstudied expression of the conviction of the writer. The liberty which Origen elsewhere takes of applying the promise^ to every believer in Christ, cannot lessen the force of this exposition, which is manifestly literal, and used to distinguish Peter from all others ; but hia reasoning to prove that each of the faithftil is insuperable whilst he clings to Christ, may be fairly applied to establish the unfailing character of the authority of Peter : " fob, neither against the rock on which Christ built His Church, nor against the Church, shall the GATES OF HELL PREVAIL."! Heretics in every variety of form assail the truth of Christ as taught in the Church, and endeavor to overthrow her, but in vain : " Every author of a perverse sentiment is a builder of a gate of hell ; but many and numberless as are the gates of hell, no gate of hell shall prevail against the rock, or the Church which Christ builds upon the roclr."! Origen, throughout, insists on the immovable nature of the rock, as well as of the Church, so as inseparably to connect them. His appli- cation of the text to every just man is evidently by the way of accommo- dation ; since he even denies that it can be applied to each act of episco- pal authority, unless the bishop be a Peter, namely, firm in the conscien- tious exercise of the power with which he is clothed. In its literal accept- ation, it must be restricted to Peter himself, on whom the Church was built, and to his, successors in office. St. Cyprian, who filled the see of Carthage in the middle of the third century, is justly classed among the most illustrious of the fathers. § In his letter to those who had fallen in persecution, he rebukes some of them who had presumed to address him, as if they were the Church, and em- ploys for this purpose, the words of the promise, in order to show that without the bishop there can be no Church. " Our Lord," he says, " whose precepts and admonitions we ought to observe, establishing the honor of the bishop, and the order of His Church, speaks in the Gospel, and says to Peter : ' I say to thee that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ; and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven j and whatso- ever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound also in Heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, shail be loosed also in Heaven.' Thence, through the series of times and successions, the order of bishops and the system of the Church flow on ; so that the Church is established upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is governed by the same prelates. Since, then, this is the case, I am surprised that some, with audacious temerity, have ventured to write to me in the name of the * L. vi. Hist. Bool. u. xxi. f In Matt. t. xii. p. 618. J In Matt. t. xii. p. 522. § For a full account of this martyr, and a luminous analysis of his writings, I refer to the articles with his name published in the Mercersburg Review in 1852, over the initials of Dr. J. W. Novin, president of Marshall College. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 37 Churoli, whilst the Church consists of the bishop, clergy, and of all the hearers." * Cyprian considers Peter in this circumstance as the repre- sentative of the Church, through whom she speaks and declares her faith. He was not bishop at the time when our Lord addressed him, but he was destined to be such, as the nature of the episcopal relation was insinuated by the figure of the foundation, as well as by the terms of the promise. In Peter, Bishop of the whole Church, the relation of each bishop to his flock was exemplified. In this sense the remark of Mr. Allies may be admitted. "It is evident," he says, " that if the see of Peter, so often referred to by St. Cyprian, means the local see of Eome, it also means the see of every bishop who holds that office : whereof Peter is the great type, example and source." f Cyprian, taking the sacred text in its ob- vious meaning, pointed to the principle of unity established in Peter, the representative of the whole episcopate, and so applied it to the local bishop. It is altogether inconsistent with its manifest import to exclude its direct application to Peter. Hence he employs this text to show that the pre- varicators, who were separated by their apostasy from himself, could not call themselves the Church, which name belongs only to the bishop, clergy and faithful. This reasoning implies that Peter is as essential to the Church at large, as each local bishop is to his flock ; so that if is ab- surd to apply the term to an acephalous body, from which he is excluded. Frequent reference to the same text occurs throughout the writings of Cyprian. Addressing Cornelius, Bishop of Eome, he adverts to the reply of Peter, to the question put by our Lord, on occasion of promising to give His flesh to eat : "Will you also leave Me?" and remarks, "Peter, ON WHOM THE ChTJRCH HAD BEEN BUILT BY THE LOED, Speaking One for all, and answering in the name of the Church, says, Lord, to whom shall we go ?"J In his letter to Florentius, he says : " Peter, on whom THE Church was to be built, speaks there in the name of the Church. "§ Everywhere Cyprian speaks of Peter as the rock on which the Church is built, the .representative of episcopal power, the organ of the Church, and the living personification of the principle of unity. In attempting to support his error, that the remission of sins could not be efiected by bap- tism administered by heretics, Cyprian observes, that the power of forgiv- ing sin was only granted to the prelates of the Church ; " for to Peter, in the first place, ON WHOM the Lord founded the Church, and whence He instituted and showed the origin of unity. He gave this power, that whatsoever He had loosed on earth, should be loosed also in heaven. And after His resurrection. He speaks likewise to the apostles, saying: 'As the Father hath sent Me,'" &c.|| Although he draws a wrong inference from the premises, in opposition to the decree of the suc- - Ep. de lapsis, xxxiii. f Church of England, &o. p. 31. J Bp. Iv. ad Comelium. ' £p. Ixix. ad Florentium. || Ep. ad Jubajaniim, Ixxiii. 11. 7. 38 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. cesser of Peter, this, far from weakening, strengthens considerably his testimony to the power, as promised first to Peter especially, that the unity of the episcopate and Church might l)e maintained. Cautioning the faithful against the false indulgence of sohismatical priests, who hastily proffered communion to apostates, contrary to the en- actments made by the African bishops, he says : " There is one God AND ONE Christ, and one Church, and one chair, founded by the VOICE OE the Lord upon Peter. That any other altar be erected, or a new priesthood established, besides that one altar and one priesthood, is impossible. Whosoever gathers elsewhere, scatters. "Whatever is devised by human frenzy, in violation of the divine ordinance, is adulterous, im- pious, sacrilegious."* The name of St. James, Bishop of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, is not so well known among us as that of the great bishop of Carthage; but it is illustrious in the annals of the Church of Syria, which venerates him as one of her greatest doctors. He proved the strength of his faith by his fearless confession in the persecution of Maximin, and he was one of the fathers who bore testunony to the divinity of Christ in the great Council of Nice. We have but a small remnant of his works, in which, however, this passage is found : " Simon, who was called the rock on account of his faith, was justly styled rock."f St. Cyril, raised to the see of Jerusalem in the year 340, shed a bright lustre of learning and sanctity around him, which is still reflected in his most precious writings. His discourses delivered to catechumens, and to neophytes, contain numerous passages expressive of the meaning of the texts regarding Peter ; which, as we may infer from the incidental charac- ter of the exposition, were thus generally understood. Speaking of the confession of the divinity of Christ by Peter, and of the keys bestowed in recompense of it, he plainly recognises the high privileges and station of this apostle: "All of them," he says, "remaining silent, for the doctrine was beyond the reach of man, Peter, the prince of the apostles and the supreme herald of the Church, not following his own inven- tions, nor persuaded by human reasoning, but enlightened in his mind by the Father, says to Him : ' Thou art Christ,' not simply this, but the ' Son of the living God.' "J The high prerogatives of Peter are affirmed by Cyril in his comparison of the apostles with the prophets. " Be not ashamed of thy apostles," he says to each Christian; "they are not in- ferior to Moses, nor second to the prophets, but they are as good as the good, and better than the good : for Elias was taken up into heaven, but Peter has the keys of the kingdom of heaven, since he heard : 'whatso- ever thou shalt loose upon earth, shall be loosed in heaven.' "§ He re- * Ad plebem, ep. xliii. f Apud Galland. t. v. p. 3, n, 13. j: Cat. xi. § 1. llerpoff h TrpwrooraTrji T(t)v ajroorAajj', KOi rr]S tKKX,7ffiUi Kopw^alo^ Kripvl. ?j Cat. xiv. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 39 lates the wonderful overthrow of Simon Magus at Kome by Peter, to render which credible, he dwells on the extraordinary powers with which the apostle was clothed : " Let it not appear wonderful," he cries, " how- ever wonderful it be in itself, for Petee was he who carried abound THE KEYS OP HEAVEN." * Again he says elsewhere : " In the same power of the Holy Ghost, Peter, also the prince of the apostles, and THE KEY-BEARER OP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, cured ^neas, a palsied man, in the name of Christ, at Lydda, now called Diospolis.""!" Explain- ing the article of the creed: "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church," he says : " She is also styled a Church, or convocation, on account of the calling and assembling of all in her. The Psalmist says : ' I will confess to Thee in the great Church j I will praise Thee in the numerous people.' Before they sang in the Psalms : ' In the churches bless ye the Lord God from the fountains of Israel :' but after the Jews fell from grace, in con- sequence of the snares laid for the Saviour, He instituted another society, formed of the Gentiles, our holy Christian Church ; of which He said to Peter : ' On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' "J These testimonies to the high prerogatives of Peter, and his relation to the Church, show the ancient faith and tradition of the see of Jerusalem on these important points, as well as the received exposition of the sacred text. St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Cesarea, is another illustrious witness of the faith of the Eastern churches in the fourth century, as handed down from the beginning. He calls Peter the blessed one, WHO WAS PREFERRED TO THE OTHER DISCIPLES, who alone received a testimony above all the others, and who was pronounced blessed, rather than all the others, and TO WHOM the keys of the heavenly kingdom WERE intrusted. "§ He says that "on account. of the excellence of his faith, he received on himself the building of the Church :"|| that is, he was made the foundation on which the Church rests secure. These pas- sages clearly show that he acknowledged Peter to be the foundation of the Church, and its ruler, intrusted by Christ with goveriiing authority. Similar is the language of his brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa, who says : " The memory of Petei*, who is the head of the apostles, is revered, and together with him the other members of the Church are glorified; but the Church of God is solidly established on him; for according to the prerogative granted him by God, he is the firm and most solid rock, on which the Saviour built His Church. "T[ St. Gregory op Nazianzum, the friend of Basil, says : " Do you see that among the disciples of Christ, all of whom were sublime and worthy of their election, one is called a rock, and is intrusted with the f' UcpKJiipw. Cat. vi. f Oat. xvii. J Cat. xviii. f Procem. de judicio Dei. Adv. Bunom., 1. 11. 1[ S. Greg. Fysa. laudatio altera S. Steph., protom. 40 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. FOUNDATIONS OP THE Chuech J another is loved more, and rests on the breast of Jesus; and the others bear patiently the preference?"* He calls him "the support of the Church/'f " ^^e most honored of the dis- ciples."J St. Chrtsostom, who is celebrated for his literal exposition of the Sacred Scriptures, abounds in passages declaratory of the prerogatives of Peter. In reference to the question put by our Saviour to the apostles, whom believed they Him to be, he asks, " How does Peter act, the mouth or ALL THE APOSTLES, THE SUMMIT OF THE WHOLE COLLEGE ? All were interrogated; he alone answers. "What then does Christ say : ' Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas; for since thou hast proclaimed My Father, I also mention him who begot thee.' But since he had said, ' Thou art the Son of God,' in order to show that He was the Son of God as he was son of Jona, namely, of the same substance with His Father, He added, ' and I say to thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church;' that is, upon the faith which thou hast confessed."§ The Church is said to be built on the faith which Peter professed in the divinity of Christ, because this mystery is the foundation of the whole Christian system. As Chrysostom, in the exposition of this text, had specially in view the Arians, whose heresy was so widely spread, he insists particularly on this truth as fundamental and essential. He does not, however, regard this faith as a mere abstraction ; but he con- siders it as professed by Peter, on whom, he repeatedly affirms, that the Church is built ; so that when he says, that the Church is built on the faith which Peter confessed, he plainly means, on Peter confessing this faith. Accordingly, he proceeds to explain the prediction of our Lord as pointing to a numberless multitude of believers, who, under the pastoral government of Peter, profess the same mystery. " Here He manifestly foretold that the multitude of believers would be great, and He elevates the thoughts of Peter, and makes him the pastor. ' And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' If they shall not prevail against it, — much less shall they prevail against Me Then He adds another prerogative : ' And to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.' What means, — ' I will give to thee ?' As the Father has given to thee the knowledge of Me, so I will give to thee. And He did not say : I will ask the Father to give thee : but, though the power was great, and the greatness of the gift ineffable, nevertheless, He says, ' I will give thee.' What, I pray, dost Thou give ? ' The keys,' He says, ' of the kingdom of heaven, that whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.' How then is it not belonging to Him who says — ' I will give to thee,' — to grant also to sit on the right hand, and on the left ? *' Or, xxvi., i> /iCf irirpa KoXcirat, Kal TO'iig SsfitXiovi rrjf EK^Xf/oias vtcTEVCTai. f Apolog. ad Patrem Orat. vii. J Orat. ix. § Tn nurrsi rijs d^oXoyia^. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 41 You perceive how He leads Peter to a sublime idea of Himself, and re- veals, and shows Himself to be the Son of God by these two promises. For what God alone can grant, namely, the power to remit sins, and that the Church should remain immovable amidst the swelling surges, and that a fisherman should be stronger than any rock, whilst the whole world wars against him, He promises that He will grant. Thus the Father also said to Jeremiah : ' I have made thee a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass.' But the Father set him over one nation : HE PLACED THIS MAN OVEK THE ENTIRE WORLD.* Wherefore, I would willingly ask those who say that the dignity of the Son is less than that of the Father, which gifts appear to them greater, those which the Father, or those which the Son granted to Peter ? The Father made to him the revelation of His Son; but the Son spread everywhere throughout the world the revelation both of the Father and of the Son ; and to a mortal man gave the power of all things in heaven, giving him the keys. He spread the Church throughout the entire world, and showed 'that it is stronger than the fir- mament : ' for heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.' How is He inferior, who granted all these things — who ac- complished these things ? I do not speak thus, as if I would separate the works of the Father from those of the Son : ' for all things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing :' but I speak with a view to silence the shameless tongues of those who utter such things. See in all these things, how great is His power. ' I say to thee, thou art Peter ; I will build My Church ; I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven."'f Thus Chrysostom proved that Christ is truly God, equal to the Father, because He gave to Peter powers which God alone could grant, and rendered the Church of which he is pastor, impregnable and indefectible. In answer to an objection against the divinity of Christ, taken from His having, prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail, Chrysostom observes, that as His passion was approaching, it was fit that He should manifest His human nature by the humility of prayer ; but he points to the pro- mise of the keys as made without any previous prayer, which shows that He had all things at His disposal. " As He is going to suffer. He speaks humbly, to show that He was man, for He, who built the Church on the confession of Peter, and so strengthened her that no danger, nor death itself, can vanquish her, — He who gave to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and intrusted him with so great power, without at all needing to pray for this purpose, how much less should He need it in this cir- cumstance ? For He did not say, I have prayed, but He spoke with au- .thority : I WILL BUILD My Church on thee, and give to thee the KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."J ^ [ J * JlavToijipv nis otKOVjiEi'Tis. t S. Chrys. horn. It. in Matt. J Horn. Ixxxii., alias Ixxxiii., in Matt. 42 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. In his panegyric on the martyr Ignatius, who was Bishop of Antiooh, where Peter had resided for a time, Chrysostom dwells on the great honor thus bestowed by God on that city : " for He set over it Peter, the DOCTOR OF THE WHOLE WORLD, TO WHOM He GAVE THE KEYS OP HEAVEN, TO WHOSE WILL AND POWER He INTRUSTED ALL THINGS."* Panegyrizing both the a,postles Peter and Paul, he thus carefully distin- guishes the high p^'erogatives of Peter : — " Peter the leader of the apos- tles, Peter the commencement of the orthodox faith, — the great and illus- trious priest of the Church, — the necessary counsellor of Christians, the depositary of supernal powers, — the apostle honored by the Lord. What shall we say of Peter ? the delightful spectacle of the Church ; the splendor of the entire world, the most chaste dove, the teacher of the apostles, the ardent apostle, fervent in spirit, angel and man, full of grace, the firm rook of faith, the mature wisdom of the Church, who, on account of his purity, from the mouth of the Lord heard himself styled blessed, and son of the dove : who received from the Lord Himself the keys of the king- dom of heaven. Kbjoicb, Peter, rock of faith !"f This is, indeed, the language of panegyric : but it would have been utterly unwarrantable, if Peter were not in fact the necessary counsellor of Christians, the teacher of the apostles, the rock of faith. It is not only when expressly engaged in panegyric, that Chrysostom thus speaks of Peter. They are his favorite expressions, which everywhere occur in his writings : " Peter," says he, " is the foundation of the Church, — the fisherman who cast his net into the sea, and caught in it the whole world. | He left his ship, and under- took the government of the Church ; he was called the key-bearer of the kingdom of heaven. § He was the chief who occupied the first place, and to whom the keys of the kingdom of heaven were intrusted." || He was " the pillar of the Church, the foundation of faith, the head of the apos- tolic choir." Tf "To him the Lord gave the presidency op the Church throughout the whole earth."** St. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamina, in the island of Cyprus, a con- temporary of Chrysostom, calls Peter " the first of the apostles, the solid rock on which the Church was built.""j""j" '* In S. Ignat. M. Barrow admits " the titles and eulogies given to St. Peter by the fathers,' who call him E^apxof, (the prince,) Kopv^aXov, (the ring-leader,) Ksipakriv, (the head,) npdsipopy (the president,) dfixnY^ff (the captain,) irpofiyopovj (the prolocutor,) TrpwTorarfjf, (the foreman,) Trpos'drnVf (the warden,) eKKpnoi/ royv ATroarAoii', (the choice or egregious apostle,) mnjorem, (the greater or grandee among them,)^rimMm, (the first or prime apostle.)" — A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, Sup. i. § vi. f In SS. Petrum et Paulum, torn. v. p. 690. This oration, with another, was first edited, at Rome, hy Gerard Vossius, in the year 1580, in the original Greek, with a Latin translation. I quote from the translation published in Paris in 1687. J De Verbis Isaias, hom. 4, p. 609, tom. i. ' § In duodecim Apost. tom. v. p. 691. II In Ep. ad Corinth, i. c. ix., hom. 21. ^ Hom. 2, de pcen. in Psalm 1. *•' «■ Ad. pop. Antioch. hom. 80, de poenitentia. f f In Anoorato. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 43 St. Cyril op Alexandria observes of our Lord : " He was pleased to call him. Peter, by an apt similitude, as the one on whom He was about to found the Church."* St. Hilary filled the see of Poietiers in Gaul, in the middle of the fourth century. In his treatise On the Trinity, he thus distinguishes the teachers, from whom he derived the knowledge of this mystery : " Mat- thew, from a publican chosen to be an apostle; John, through the fami- liarity of the Lord, made worthy of a revelation of heavenly mysteries, and after his confession of the mystery, blessed Simon, lying beneath the FABRIC OF the CH0IlCH,f AND RECEIVING THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, and all the others preaching by the Holy Spirit."| Although wholly intent on establishing the divinity of Christ, Hilary strongly de- clares the distinguishing attributes of Peter, who supports the Church, as a foundation-stone sustains the building, and who has received the keys of the kingdom, as the symbol of spiritual sovereignty. He elsewhere addresses all the apostles as having received the keys, because all received the power of binding and loosing ;§ but when distinguishing Peter from Matthew, John, and Paul, he puts the keys as his peculiar characteristic. All may be said to have received them, as far as they are symbols of apos- tolic power, but to Peter only they were given expressly by Christ, as the proper token of delegated sovereignty. When speaking of the confession made by Peter, Hilary shows that it was extolled by our Saviour, as divinely revealed, because it was an ac- knowledgment that He is the true and eternal Son of God the Father : " For praise," says he, " was given to Peter, not on account of the con- fession of the honor, but on account of his acknowledgment of the mystery, because he confessed not merely Christ, but Christ the Son of God. The Father saying, ' This is My Son,' revealed to Peter, that he might say, 'Thou art the Son of God.' On this rock of confession,|| therefore, the Church is built. This faith is the foundation of the Church : through this faith the gates of hell are powerless against her. This faith has the keys of the heavenly kingdom. What this faith binds or looses on earth, is bound and loosed in heaven. This faith is the gift of the Father's reve- lation ; not falsely to assert that Christ is a creature, drawn forth from nothing, but to confess Him to be the Son of God, aecordilig to His natural property. Oh ! impious frenzy of wretched folly, that does not understand the martyr of blessed old age and faith, the martyr Peter, for whom He prayed to the Father, that his faith might not fail in temptation — who, having twice repeated the profession of the love which God demanded of him, sighed, on being a third time interrogated, as if his love were doubt- ful and uncertain ; thereby also meriting to hear thrice from the Lord, ® L. ii. in o. xii. Joan. f .ffidiflcationi eeclesise subjaoens. X Ii. vi. de Trinitate, n. 20. j Ibiaem, p. 166. 11 On this ponfeasion, as on a rook. 44 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. after being purified of his weaknesses by this threefold trial: 'Feed My gheep :'— who, whilst all the other apostles remained silent, understanding, in a manner beyond human infirmity, from the revelation of the Father, that He was the Son of God, merited pre-eminent glory by the confession of his faith ! To what necessity of interpreting his words are we now brought ! He confessed Christ to be the Son of God : but you, {Arian,) the lying priesthood of a new apostleship, urge me to believe that Christ is a creature brought forth from nothing. What violence you offer to His glorious words ! He confessed tbe Son of God : for this he is blessed. This is the revelation of the Father, this is the foundation of the Church, this is the security for eternity. Hence he has the keys of the kingdom of heaven — hence his judgments on earth are ratified in heaven. He learned by revelation the mystery hidden from ages— he spoke the faith — he declared the nature— he confessed the Son of God. Whoever, on the contrary, affirming Him to be a creature, denies this, should first deny the apostleship of Peter, his faith, blessedness, priesthood, martyrdom ; and then let him understand that he is estranged from Christ, because Peter, confessing Him to be the Son, merited these things. ... Let there be a differeilt faith, if there be different keys of heaven. Let there be a dif- ferent faith, if there is to be another Church, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. Let there be another faith, if there is to be another apostleship, binding and loosing in heaven what it binds and looses on earth. Let there be another faith, if Christ, shall be proclaimed to be a different Son of God from what He is. But if this faith only that con- fessed Christ to be the Son of God, merited in Peter the glory of all beati- tudes, that which declares Him to be a creature from nothing, must ne- cessarily be not the Church, nor of Christ, since it has not obtained the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and is contrary to the apostolic faith and power."* From these qiiotations the reader has a full and correct view of the sen- timents of Hilary. His object is to show that the Arian heresy had no part or share in the power of the keys, or the privileges granted to Peter, because it had not the faith which obtained for Peter these privileges. There is not the least effort to establish a distinction between Peter and the confession of faith which he made : but the Arians are confounded, by being told, that, as they deny Christ to be the Son of the living God, they have not the power of the keys, and are not inheritors of the pro- mises made to the Church. Peter, then, confessing the divinity of Christ, is the foundation : his is the apostleship, the acts of which are confirmed in heaven : the Church connected with him is that {igainst which the gates of hell cannot prevail : there can be no other faith, no other power, no other Church. In the circumstances in which St. Hilary and other » De Trin. 1. vi. p. 169. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 45 fathers spoke, during the prevalence of Arianism, and at a time when no controversy was agitated concerning the prerogatives of Peter and his suc- cessors, it was natural for them to employ the text against the formidable heresy which they were engaged in refuting. As Peter had made a glorious confession of the divinity of Christ, and had received his name and privileges in reward of it, they rightly insisted that on this confession the whole fabric of Christianity rests ; so that to deny the eternal genera- tion of Christ is to overthrow all revealed religion, and make void all the counsels of God for the salvation of men. The reasoning of Hilary per- fectly harmonizes with the obvious exposition of the text, since the con- fession was the act of Peter under divine illumination ; and to say that the Church was founded on the confession of the divinity of Christ made by Peter, is equivalent to declaring that it was founded on Peter, in con- sequence of his having confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God. In applying the text to the controversy of the day, the fathers did not, even by the remotest implication, deny its direct force for establishing the prerogatives of Peter ; which, on the contrary, on so many occasions, they most unequivocally asserted. In his commentary on the glorious confession of Peter, Hilary observes : " The confession of Peter obtained a suitable reward, because he discerned the Son of God in the man.* Blessed is he, who was praised for observ- ing and seeing beyond what human eyes could see ; not beholding what was of flesh and blood, but discerning the Son of God by the revelation of the heavenly Father; and who was judged worthy to be the first to recognise in Christ His divine nature. ! thou foundation oi' the Church, happy in the netv appellation which thou receivest ! ! ROCK, worthy of that building which is to destroy the INFERNAL POWERS, AND THE GATES OF HELL, AND ALL THE BARS OP death ! ! happy gate-keeper of heaven, to WHOSE DISCRSTION THE KEYS OF THE ETERNAL PORCH ARE DELIVERED, AND WHOSE JUDG- MENT ON EARTH IS AN AUTHORITATIVE ANTICIPATION OF HEAVENLY JUDGMENT, so that those things which are bound or loosed on earth, ob- tain in heaven the same order and determination. "f Any efibrt to illus- trate this passage would be superfluous. After this illustrious doctor of the Church of Gaul, the order of time presents to us Optatus, bishop of Milevis,J in Africa, who was among the most learned, eloquent and saintly prelates in the decline of the fourth century. Of him St. Augustin says, that if the Church depended on the virtue of her ministers, his life might serve as a proof of her authority. He wrote against the Donatists, whom he held to be inexcusable for as- suming the name of Church, while they remained separated from that see, which, in the person of Peter, received the keys : " Christ," he re- -■ He recognised Christ as the eternal Son of God, although veiled in human flesh, f Com. in Matt. 0. xvi. J Mila, near 'Tunis, or Constantina. 46 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PEOMISE. marks, " in the Canticle of Canticles, intimates that His dove is one, that she is a chosen spouse, an enclosed garden, and a sealed fountain ; so that all heretics neither have the keys, which Peter alone keceived, nor the ring with which the fountain is sealed : and the garden, in which God plants the shrubs, belongs to none of them. What can you say to these things, you who secretly cherish and shamelessly defend schism, taking to yourselves the name of the Church ?"* To how many deluded men in our day might not this reproach be addressed ! Let us hear the eloquent bishop of Milan, whose lucid exposition of Catholic truth dissipated the prejudices and errors of Augustin, and pre- pared his heart for the triumph of divine grace over pride and passion. In his commentary on the fortieth Psalm, Ambrose says : " This is that Peter to whom Christ said : ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.' Therefore where Peter is, there is the Church, there death is not, but life eternal : and therefore He added : ' and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it : and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.' Blessed Peter, against whom the gate of hell did not prevail, and the gate of heaven was not closed ! on the contrary, he destroyed the porches of hell, and laid open those of heaven: therefore, while on earth, he opened heaven, and closed _ hell. "f Speaking of the question put by our Kedeemer to His disciples as to the opinions prevailing among men concerning Him, he observes the silence of Peter in this circumstance; but calls our attention to his promptitude in answering the interrogation as to their own belief. " This, therefore, is Peter, who answered rather than the other apostles, yea, for the others, and he is therefore styled the foundation, because he not only fullSlled his duty individually, but acted in behalf of all. Him Christ eulogized : to him the Father made a revelation : for he, who speaks of the true genera- tion of the Eather, learned it not from flesh, but from the Father. J Faith, therefore, is the foundation of the Church : for it was not said of the flesh of Peter, but of his faith, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it : but the confession overcame hell. And this confession does'not ex- clude one heresy only : for since the Church, like a good ship, is lashed oftentimes by many waves, the foundation of the Church ought to prevail against all heresies. The day would close before I should have enumerated the names of the heretics and different sects : but against all of them that faith is available, that Christ is the Son of God, eternally proceeding from th§ Father, born in time of the Virgin. "§ When Ambrose says, that faith is the foundation of the Church, he evidently speaks of faith in the * Opt. Afric. 1. 1. 1 1° Psalm xl. enar. § 30. j Hie est ergo Petrus, qui respondit pree cseteris Apostolis, imo pro cseteris, et ideo fun- damentum dicitur, quia novit non solum proprium, sed etiam commune servare. Huio astipulatns est Christus, revelavit Pater. S De Incarn. c, 4 and 5. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 47 divinity of Christ as professed by Peter, that is, of Peter professing the faith. He is, therefore, styled the foundation, in reward of his prompti- tude to confess Christ, before the others, and in their name. The confes- sion which he made was, indeed, the expression of his individual faith, but it was made by him in reply to a question that regarded all ; nor did he give it in as peculiar to himself. St. Ambrose insists that the Church was not built on the flesh of Peter, but on his faith ; because it was no mere natural quality, but his faith in the divinity of Christ, that gained for him this prerogative ; and this faith is ever to prove the bulwark of the Church against the endless varieties of heresy. He insists on this for the same reason as Hilary and Chrysostom, in order the more eifectually to combat Arianism. In his work on faith, he observes : " That you may know that what He asks as man, He ordains by His divine power, you have in the Grospel what Ho said to Peter : ' I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not fail.' And when Peter said before : ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living Grod,' He answered : ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and to thee I will give the keys of the king- dom of heaven.' Could He not, therefore, strengthen the faith of him to whom, of His own authority. He gave a kingdom, and whom, in calling A ROCK, HE MADE THE STRENGTH OF THE Chdrch ? Consider when it is that He prays — when it is that He commands. He prays when He is about to suffer; He commands when He is believed to be the Son of God."* Peter, then, is the rock of strength on which the Church rests : he has received a kingdom from Christ. St. Augustin testifies that in a hymn composed by St. Ambrose, which was in general use, Peter was styled the rock of the Church. f It is manifest that St. Ambrose interpreted the texts in question pre- cisely as we interpret them, and recognised in Peter special powers and prerogatives not granted to the other apostles of Christ. He was the rock, — the foundation, — the strength and support of the Church, — sus- taining all the parts of the vast fabric, holding them together in unity, and imparting to them strength and durability. He received a kingdom from Christ, — that heavenly kingdom whose keys were intrusted to him. Elsewhere Ambrose says : " Christ is a rock : ' for they drank of that spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.' , He did not deny the favor of this appellation even to His disciple, that he may also be Peter, because from the rock he derives the solidity of constancy, and the firmness of faith. "J Thus far he retains the literal meaning of the text, and often and strongly inculcates it. He then takes occasion from it for exhortation, and passes to a mystical interpretation, similar to * De Fide, 1. iv. This observation coincides admirably with that of St. ChrySostom, ibova cited, p. 46. t Hoc ipso, petra ecclesise, canente, culpam diluit. Aug. Retract. 1. 1. u. xxi. J L. vi. in Luc. u. 97. 48 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. one found in Origen, "Peter," he elsewhere says, "is therefore styled a rock for his devotion, and the Lord is styled a rook for His power, as the apostle says : ' they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.' He justly deserves the communication of the name, who is made worthy to partake of the work, for Peter in the same house laid the foundation. Peter plants, the Lord gives an increase, the Lord waters."* The last verse of'' the thirty-eighth Psalm reads thus, in our Vulgate translation : " Oh forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence and he no more."t On these words St. Ambrose writes : " Forgive me, that is, forgive me here where I have sinned. Unless Thou forgivest me here, I shall not be able to find there the repose consequent on forgive- ness : for what remains bound on earth, shall remain bound in heaven ; what is loosed on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Therefore, the Lord gave to His apostles what previously was reserved to His own judgment, a discretionary power to remit sins,! lest what should be speedily loosed remain bound for a long time. Finally, hear what He says : ' I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.' To thee. He says, I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that thou mayest loose and bind. JSTovatian did not hear , this, but the Church of God heard it : therefore, he is in his fallen state ; we are in the way of forgiveness : he is in a state of impenitence ; we, of grace. What is said to Peter, is said to the apos- tles. We do not usurp the power" but we obey the command, lest, when the Lord shall afterward come, and find those bound who should have been loosed, he be indignant against the dispenser who kept the servants bound, whom the Lord had ordered to be loosed."§ In this beautiful vindication of the power of forgiveness, as exercised by the Catholic Church, there is nothing that militates against t^e distinction which Christ made in ' the powers of the apostles. Ambrose quotes the words addressed to Peter, to prove that the Church founded on Peter has the power of forgiving sins : and observes that this power was not confined to Peter, Christ having spoken in like manner to all the apostles. He does not say that He spoke precisely the same words, or gave to each one the same power to be exercised independently ; much less does He treat here of the governing power of the Church, as represented by the keys of the heavenly kingdom, which were peculiarly given to Peter, but he speaks of the power of forgiveness, which was common to all. The power of the » L. V. § 33. f The Vulgate version of the Psalms was made from the Greek version of the Septua- glnt, which, in some places, presents a reading somewhat different from the actual Hebrew. J Peccata remittendi sequitatem. The Vatican manuscript reads : peocata remittendi ajquitate solvenda. J Enar. in Psalm xxxviii. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OP THE PROMISE. 49 keys, ie elsewhere ascribes to Peter alone : " There went up," he says, " to the mountain, Peter, who keoeived the keys of the kingdom of HEAVEN ; John, to whom His mother is intrusted ; James, also, who first ascended the episcopal throne."* The keys of the heavenly kingdom were consequently the characteristic badge of Peter, as it was the peculiar privilege of John to receive in his charge the Mother of our Lord, and the province of James to govern with episcopal authority the Church of Jeru- salem. "Peter, James, and John, and Barnabas," are styled pillars, but Peter is called " an eternal gate, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail."f The equality of Paul to Peter is asserted by Ambrose, not as to the power of office, but as to the merit of virtue ; and this with a view to prove that the choice of the Holy Spirit was full of wisdom. " Being chosen by the command of the Holy Spirit, which is abundant evidence of the excellence of his merits, he was not unworthy of so great a college. For the same grace shone forth in those whom the same Spirit had chosen. Nor was Paul inferior to Peter, though the one was the foundation of the Church, and the other a wise architect, knowing how to direct the steps of the nations that believe. Paul, I say, was not unworthy of the college of the apostles, since he also may be compared with the first, and was second to none : for he who does not acknowledge himself in- ferior, makes himself equal. "J The meaning is obvious. Ambrose is careful to mark even here the distinguishing characteristic of Peter as the foundation of the Ohurch, and first of the apostles, while he supposes Paul to be equal to him in merit, and on that account to compare even with the first. Some passages of the writings of Ambrose are occasionally abused to obscure his testimony to the primacy of Peter. Any one, however, who considers them in their connection, cannot hesitate as to their meaning. Those places in which he gives interpretations evidently mystical, need not be specially explained, since, as we have already remarked, such ex- positions cannot have weight in doctrinal inquiries. St. Jeeom, the contemporary of Ambrose, is justly esteemed, not only for his excellent translation of the Scriptures, but also for his lucid ex- position of their meaning. In his work against Jovinian, who assailed virginity, and objected that Peter, a married man, was chosen to be prince of the apostles, Jerom replied that his wife was probably deceased ; a conjecture rendered likely by the omission of all mention of her in Scrip- ture, as well as by the circumstance, that his mother-in-law, when relieved from the fever, served at table. He proceeded to show that John, on account of his virginity, enjoyed the special love of Christ, and was ad- * In Lucam, 1. vii. u. 9. SeS also in Psalm cxviii. Senn. 20. t De fide, 1. iv. c. 1, | 25. t L. de Sp. S. J 158. 50 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OP THE PROMISE. mitted to great familiarity. He then objects to himself that Peter was chosen to be the foundation of the Church ; and observes, that the other apostles likewise received similar powers, though he admits that, to pre- vent schism, Peter was chosen to be the head of all. He further inquires, why the virgin apostle, John, did not receive this distinction; and answers that the age of Peter was a reason for preferring him : "But, you say," he remarks, " the Church is founded upon Peter : though the same thing is elsewhere done upon all the apostles, and all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church is consolidated upon them equally: yet one is chosen among the twelve, that a HEAD BEING ESTABLISHED, THE OCCASION OP SCHISM MAY BE REMOVED. But why was not the virgin John chosen ? Eegard was had to age, be- cause Peter was elder, lest a very young man should be preferred to men of advanced age."* It is clear, that while Jerom advocates so strongly the excellence of virginity and its special prerogatives, he is careful to lay down, in clear and precise terms, the primacy of Peter. All the apostles are, indeed, in a certain degree the foundations of the Church, since of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the Church in glory, it is said: "the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb ;"t but Peter is strictly the foundation, since to him only, and not to the others, Christ said : " Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church." All of them have received the keys of the kingdom, inasmuch as all have received the power of binding and loosing, which is sometimes expressed by that symbol : but it was not without special and high design that to Peter alone was said : " To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom." Jerom maintains that similar powers were granted to the others, on which account it may be justly said, that upon aU of them the strength of the Church is consolidated, since all con- cur to the great work of the ministry, in union, however, with Peter, who is the head, invested with all the authority necessary for maintaining order and unity : a head, by the appointment of whom all plausible pre- text for schism is removed. Were not this his peculiar privilege, there was no need of explaining why John was not chosen to be chief. In his commentary upon the similitude of the wise man, who built his house upon a rock, Jerom observes : " On this rock the Lord founded the Church : from this rock Peter the apostle derived his name. The found- ation which the apostolic architect laid, is our Lord Jesus Christ alone : on this stable and firm foundation, and of itself founded with a strong mass, the Church of Christ is built."J This, at first sight, may appear not to harmonize with the general interpretation of the fathers ; but, by attention to the occasion in which it was written, it will be found not to * Adv. Jov. 1. 1, p. 16, torn. iii. t Apoo. xxi. 14. j: Com. Matt. v. viii. f. 12, THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OP THE PROMISE. 51 be at variance. In reference to the similitude used by our Saviour in His sermon on the mount, it was most natural to observe, that He was the wise man who built His Church upon a rock, and that from this cir- cumstance Peter was styled a rock : but it would be a strange phrase to say, that He built His Church upon Himself, thus confounding the archi- tect with the foundation. Hear Jerom elsewhere : Having quoted a pas- sage from the writings of St. Peter, he exclaims : " Oh sentence truly worthy of the apostle and of the rock of Christ !"* by which he plainly means him whom Christ made a rock of faith. " As Plato was the prince of philosophers, so was Peter of the. apostles : on him the Church of THE Lord, an enduring structure, was built."-}- In his letter to Marcellus he says of Peter: "upon whom the Lord built his Church."! The allusion to the text of St. Paul presents a change of metaphor. In the former Christ was the architect, and Peter the foundation : in this Paul is architect, and Christ the foundation. Metaphors . admit of this variety, and it would be unjust to transfer what regards one similitude to another somewhat different. The commentary of Jerom on the promise of our Saviour to Peter, plainly establishes the relation between them. " What means," he asks, " ' I say to thee V Because thou hast said to Me : ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God : I also say to thee ;' not in vain discourse, void of effect, but I say to thee, because My word effects what it expresses : ' that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church.' As He gave light to the apostles, that they might be called the light of the world, and they received other appellations from the Lord : so also He bestowed the name of Peter on Simon, who believed in the rock Christ ; and according to the metaphor of a rock, it is properly said to him : ' I will build My Church upon thee.' ' And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' I think that the gates of hell are the vices and the sins of men; or cer- tainly the doctrines of heretics, by which men are allured and led to hell."§ Here the learned interpreter applies to Peter the term rock, and explains the promise, as if it were said : I will build My Church on thee. Against this Church neither the vices and sins of men, nor the doctrines of heretics, can prevail. Scandals must come, and may obscure the lustre of the Church, but they cannot effect her overthrow : heresies may be broached, even by those who were children of the Church, but they can never receive her sanction, because Christ teaches in her " all days even to the consummation of the world." When commenting on the rebuke of Christ, " Go behind me, Satan," Jerom supposes his reader to inquire, how this is compatible with the sublime address made to Peter, and with the powers conferred on him. * Adv. Jovinian, I. 1, o. iv. f L. 1, adv. Pelag. c. 4. J Class. 2, Ep. 4, u, 2, § Com. in Matt. torn. ix. f. 24, 25. Ed. Bas. an. 1516. 52 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. "If," he answers, "the inquirer reflect, he will perceive that the bene- diction, and beatitude, and power, and the building of the Church upon him, were promised to Peter for a future time, and were not granted at the present time : I will build (he says) on thee My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it : and to thee I loill give the keys of the kingdom of heaven ;'— all in the future tense. Had he given them immediately, the error of a perverse confession* would never have taken place in him."f This enlightened doctor was firmly persuaded that if Peter had been at once constituted primate, the providence of God would have prevented his fall. St. Jerom unhesitatingly explained the rock of Peter and his successors in the see of Eome. Addressing Pope Damasus to obtain his instructions in regard to the use of the term hypostasis, which in the East was under- stood by some of the Divine Nature, while others used it of the Divine Persons, as it is now employed, he says : "Let it not appear invidious : let the pomp of Roman majesty withdraw : I speak with the successor of the fisherman, and a disciple of the cross. I, who follow no one as chief J except Christ, am united in communion with your Holiness, that is, with THE CHAIR OF PeTER : ON THAT ROCK I KNOW THAT THE ChURCH IS BTJiiiT. Whoever eats the lamb out of this house is profane. Whoever was not in the ark of Noe, must perish in the deluge."§ Respectfully approaching the heir of Peter's faith, Jerom begs that his boldness may be excused ; and reminds Damasus, who was encompassed with a splendor like that of imperial majesty, that his greatest dignity is that of successor of the fisherman. This is his imperishable title, his highest glory : as this authority is the fundamental and immovable principle of the Church. We have in this passage the obvious meaning of the text with its applica- tion in the most direct and positive manner. St. Augustin, in several places, gives the common interpretation of the texts regarding the primacy ; but in the revision of his works, he ob- served, that he had likewise explained " the rock" of Christ Himself, and he left the reader to judge which of the two expositions was the more probable. II He was led to doubt by the change of gender observable in the G-reek and Latin : a distinction to which no importance can be at- tached by any one acquainted with the language in which our Lord spoke, which admits of no variation in the term, as we have already seen. His hesitation cannot outweigh the positive judgment of so' many fathers, who concur in recognising Peter as the rock of which Christ spoke ; especially as the context, by the acknowledgment of most learned adversaries, ad- mits of no other interpretation. He did not, however, hesitate as to the meaning of the whole passage of Matthew, or of the other texts, which he uniformly expounded as declaring the governing authority wherewith « Peter's denial of Christ. f Com. in Matt. torn. ix. f. 24, 25. Ed. Bas. an. 1516. X Primum. § Ep. kv. Damaeo. || L. 1, Retract, u. xsi. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 53 Peter was invested. In his discourses on the Gospel of St. John, he ob- serves that our Lord left almsgiving and prayer as remedies for the slighter sins into which even just men fall, and taught us to pray for forgiveness, as we forgive our debtors. " The Church," he says, " happy in hope, does this," (namely, sues for pardon in the name of her frail children,) " in this wretched life : which Church Peter, the apostle, on account op THE PRIMACY OF HIS APOSTLESHIP, represented in a figurative univer- sality," (Peter being addressed as the whole Church, which he represented, as her head.) "For, as to what strictly regards himself, he was by na- ture an individual man, by grace an individual Christian ; but by more abundant grace he was an apostle, and the first : but when it was said to him : 'To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven,' he represented the whole Church, which in this world is agitated by various temptations, as by showers, floods, and tempests, and which does not fall, because it is founded on the rock, whence Peter derived his name."* Here Augustin departs from the general interpretation of the term rock, yet considers Peter as the representative of the whole Church, receiving from Christ a power to be exercised for the benefit of all. He was not a mere actor in the scene, but an official representative, " on account of THE PRIMACY OF HIS APOSTLESHIP," in whioh Capacity he received the promise, and subsequently the power promised, not for his mere personal advantage, but for the benefit of the Church at large. The holy doctor in- sists on this point, because the Montanists and Novatians denied to the Church the power of forgiveness. '\ Therefore," says he, " the Church, which is founded on Christ, received through Peter the keys of the king- dom of heaven, that is, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is reallyf in Christ, Peter is the same mystically in the rock : according to which signification Christ is the rock, Peter the Church. This Church, therefore, which Peter represented, as long as she is in the midst of evils, is freed from evils, by loving and following Christ. And she follows Him especially by means of those who contend unto death for the truth. But to the multitude is said, ' follow Me ;' for which multi- tude Christ suffered."! In pursuing this allegorical explanation, Augus- tin evidently presupposes that the keys were given to Peter, and that in him,§ the Church received them, inasmuch as not for himself only — "an individual man, an individual Christian" — but for all the Church, he, who « Tract, cxxiv. in 0. xxi. Joan. Ev. f Quod est enim per proprietatem in Christo Ecclesia, hoc est per significationem Petrus in petra, qua aignifioatione intelligitur Christus petra, Petrus Ecclesia. lb. J Sed universltati dioitur : sequere me. Tlie command ia directed to all the Church. § Ecclesia ergo, quas fundatur in Christo, claves ah eo regni coelorura accepit in Petro, id est potestatem ligandi solvendique peccata. Tract, cxxiv. in Joan. 54 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. was "an apostle and first of the apostles," received this power* "For the benefit of all the saints/' says he, " inseparably belonging to the body of Christ, Peter, the first oj? the apostles, received the keys of the kingdom, for its- government in this most tempestuous life, to bind and loose .sins,t and with reference to the same saints, John the Evangelist reclined on the bosom of Christ, to express the most tranquil repose of this most secret life." John is said to represent or signify the Church triumphant, inasmuch as, reposing on the bosom of Jesus, he presents an ima^e of the happiness of the saints. The representative character of Peter is clearly marked as official, directed to the government of the Church militant in this stormy life. He is the pilot placed by Christ at the helm ;— he is the ruler, who received from Christ the keys of His kingdom. It is in the same sense that St. Augustin insists that not only Peter, but all the apostles, in his person, since he represented the whole Church, received the keys, because the power of forgiving sins was not limited to him alone, being communicated to all of them for the benefit of the whole Church. "For it is evident," he says, "that Peter in many places of the Scripture represents the Churoh,J 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 and the rest of the apostles not receive them ? Or are not those keys in the Church, where sins are daily remitted ? But since in meaning hinted, but not expressed, § 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.' |1 What Augustin inculcates is plainly that the Church received the power of for- giveness, through Peter, who in his official capacity represented her, on account of the primacy of his apostleship. This does not imply that the keys, as symbols of governing power, were not given to Peter in a more special manner. St. Leo the Great is most eloquent and forcible in the exposition of the sacred text. He observes : " Christ having assumed him to a partici- pation in His indivisible unity, was pleased that he should be styled what He Himself was, saying : ' Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church ;' that the building of the eternal temple, by the wonderful gift of the grace of God, should rest on the solidity of the rock, strength- ening His Church by this firmness, so that neither human temerity could affect it, nor the gates of hell prevail against it. But whosoever attempts '■ Abundantiore gratia unus idemque primus apostolorum. Ibidem. f Ibidem. % Personam gestet ecclesiae. § In significatione. II Serm. oxU.x. de verbis Aetuum Apost. torn. v. 706 B. THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. 55 to infringe on bis power, indulges excessive and impious presumption, in seeking to -violate the most sacred strength of this rock, God, as we have said, being the builder."* This exposition loses nothing of its weight from the fact that St. Leo filled, at the time, the chair of Peter. His learning and sanctity, the high esteem which he enjoyed among his con- temporaries, and the veneration with which his name has been transmitted to us, do not suffer us to consider him as influenced by personal interest, or pride of station, in expounding the sacred text. He spoke the truth in Christ, with no other view than that all should adore the divine wisdom and power manifested in the establishment of the Church. St. Leo freely admits that the power given ta Peter was to be com- municated to the other apostles ; but insists that it was specially lodged in him for the great ends of Christian unity. "The privilege of this power did, indeed, pass to the other apostles, and the order of this decree reached all the rulers of the Church ; but not without purpose what is intended for all, is put into the hands of one."f Elsewhere he says : " The Lord hath willed that the mystery of this gift (of announcing the G-ospel) should belong to the office of all the apostles, on the condition of its being chiefly seated in the most blessed Peter, the 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 recede from the rock of Peter may know that He has no part in the divine mystery." J The quotations hitherto submitted to the reader, show clearly that the promise recorded by St. Matthew, was understood by the fathers of the first five centuries, as implying special relations of Peter to the Church, as its foundation and ruler. It is in vain that Mr. Palmer asserts that some interpret it of the apostles generally ; for it will easily be seen that these fathers, as Ambrose and Augustin, whose words we have quoted, speak of the apostolic powers as declared in other passages, and that they apply and extend to the apostles the text in question, so far only as these powers are implied, without prejudice to the primacy of Peter, which they expressly affirm. The few who speak of Christ as the rook, for the most part use this figure without direct reference to the text of Matthew, for the purpose of declaring the immovable nature of the Church, of which Christ is the support ; and when, like Augustin, they refer to this pas- sage, they otherwise acknowledge in unequivocal terms the high preroga- tive of the prince of the apostles. All who interpret it of the faith as confessed by Peter, perfectly harmonize with those who expound it of Peter himself, so that these two interpretations, which at first sight appear difierent, are in reality identical. It is worthy of remark, that before the rise of Arianism, no father explained the rock of the confession of Peter ; which interpretation was first suggested by the necessity of employing every available weapon against that impiety. It is also to be observed, * T. ii. op. col. 1315. "j" In anniv. su£e consecr. J Ep. 10. 56 THE FATHERS' EXPOSITION OF THE PROMISE. that no father who declares faith to be the rock, expressly excludes Peter, while many positively mention him conjointly with the confession. The moral application and allegorical expositions of some can by no means weaken the literal exposition so forcibly delivered by the great body of the fathers. "We can, therefore, fairly claim their general support in the maintenance of the primacy as divinely promised to Peter. In the words of Dr. Nevin, we may say : " The promise of our Saviour to Peter, is al- ways taken by the fathers in the sense that he was to be the centre of unity for the Church, and in the language of Chrysostom, to have the presidency of it throughout the world. Ambrose and Augustin both re- cognise this distinction over and over again in the clearest and strongest terms."* * Art. Early Christianity, in Meroersburg Review, Sept. 1851. CHAPTER IV. Instittttwn at i\t '§xmq. The promise made by Christ to Peter, that He would make him the fundamental rock of His Church, and give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the solemn charge addressed to him to confirm his' brethren, prepare us for the bestowal of extraordinary power. The denial of his Divine Master, might, however, seem to' be an insuperable obstacle to his elevation to this dimity : but his tears, which were bitter and abundant, washed away his prevarication. Christ, after His resurrection, appearing to him with Thomas, John and James, and two others, besides Nathaniel, of Cana in Galilee, was pleased to fulfil His promise, after He had first elicited from Peter repeated protestations of special love. He presented Himself to them all as they were fishing, and directed them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, assuring them that they should be suc- cessful. The verification of this assurance led John to recognise Him ; and Peter, being made sensible of the presence of his Master, girded his coat about him. Then, as the other disciples came in the ship, drawing the net, and reached the shore, " Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken."* It cannot be doubted, that by this miraculous draught was typified the wonderful conversion of nations by the apostles, with Peter at their head, acting under the com- mand of Jesiis. The occasion was most opportune for declaring the office of Peter. " When, therefore, they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter : Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?" Some have ab- surdly explained this question, as if Peter were asked, whether he loved his Lord more than the fish ; but this cannot be seriously advanced. The comparison is evidently referred to the persons present. Peter declares his affection : " He saith to Him : yea, Lord, Thou knoweat that I love Thee." This declaration was followed by the pastoral commission : " Peed My lambs :"f that is, the tenderest, weakest portion of the flock, the little ones in Christ, the faithful who are as lambs in regard to those who have begotten them, or brought them forth in Christ. The question is renewed : " He saith to hini again, Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ? He saith * John xxi. 11. f P^uKE ra dpi/ia {jlh. 57 58 INSTITUTION OF THE PKIMACY. to Him : yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith to him : feed My lambs."* The commission is repeated, in a new form, as ap- pears from the Greek text. The former injunction regarded feeding, the present comprises the whole pastoral care — to tend, to watch over, to re- strain, to bring back the stray sheep, to remove the contagious, and to do all that a shepherd should do for his flock. " He saith to him the third time : Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ? Peter was grieved, because He saith to him the third time, lovest thou Me ? And he said to Him : Lord, Thou knowest all things : Thou knowest that I love Thee. He said to him : feed My sheep."f Thus, on the manifestation of his tender love and enlightened faith, Peter receives the commission to feed the sheep of Christ, namely, those who are to the faithful as sheep to lambs, their parents in Christ. In the presence of the beloved disciple, and of James, Thomas and others, Peter receives a commission, the highest that could be given, by which he becomes, under Christ, the shepherd of the flock. The declaration of special love, which was demanded of him, shows that special power was to be imparted : the repetition of the injunction in various forms, manifests the intention of our Lord to communicate all ne- cessary power for feeding, tending and governing all His flock. Our Lord had foretold the union of Gentiles and Jews in His Church. " Other sheep I have," said He, " that are not of this fold : them also I must bring ; and they shall hear My voice : and there shall be made one fold and one shepherd. "J This was not to be accomplished by Himself personally, since He was not sent by His Father unless to the sheep that had strayed away of the house of Israel ; but by the ministry of His apos- tles. All His sheep were to be united in one fold, under the charge of Peter. Apart from all tradition, and on the strictest principles of critical exe- gesis, the superior authority of Peter is proved from the Scripture. We cannot suppose the keys of the kingdom, the confirming of the brethren, the feeding of the lambs and sheep, to denote no special authority. We cannot capriciously extend to the other apostles a promise, cl;iarge, and commission, addressed especially to Peter alone. Christ is the Good Shep- herd : He charges Peter to act in His stead. Thus, in withdrawing His sensible presence. He leaves Peter clothed with His authority, and indi- cates its kind and tender character by an image the most affecting. In very many circumstances our Lord by His actions signified the spe- cial power of Peter. From his bark He teaches the multitude : to him He gives the command to let down the net, and rewards his obedience * Yioifiaivs ra irpd^ara fiov. The Vulgate interpreter read dpia. The Greek term is taken for governing, as kings were caDed shepherds of the people : miiens Xaoji'. See Homer, passim. The same verb is constantly used in the Septuagint to express the government of God, and of Christ. Ps. ii. 9; xxii. 2. Ezek. xxiv. 33. Isa. xi. 9. Mich. v. 2. f ^6aK£ Ta npdfiaTa liO'j, ^ John X. 16. INSTITUTION OP THE PRIMACY. 59 by a miraculous draught of fishes : to him He promises that he shall henceforth catch men. He commands him to walk to Him on the waters, and stretches forth His hand to support him, when the weakness of the apostle's faith causes him to sink. He pays tribute for him, as well as for Himself All these facts have forced themselves on the attention of the declared enemies of the primacy. Barrow supposes the excellent qualities of Peter for leadership to have disposed our Lord to grant him the prece- dency. "They,'' he observes, "probably might move our Lord Himself to settle, or at least to insinuate this order ; assigning the first place to him, whom He knew most willing to serve Him, and most able to lead on the rest in His service. It is indeed observable, that upon all occasions our Lord signified a particular respect to him, before the rest of his col- leagues ; for to him more frequently than to any of them He directed His discourse j unto him, by a kind of anticipation, He granted or promised those gifts and privileges, which He meant to confer on them all : him He did assume as spectator and witness of His glorious transfiguration ; him he picked out as companion and attendant on Him in His grievous agony ; his feet He first washed ; to him He did first discover Himself after His resurrection, (as St. Paul implieth,) and with him then He did entertain most discourse ; in especial manner recommending to him the pastoral care of the Church; by which manner of proceeding our Lord may seem to have constituted St. Peter the first in order among the apos- tles, or sufficiently to have hinted His mind for their direction, admonish- ing them by His example to render unto him a special deference."* After such adilaissions, the reader must be surprised to find Barrow denying all authoritative primacy in the apostle. St. Francis de Sales, with his ordinary simplicity and force, exhibits the privileges of the prince of the apostles, as insinuated under various images in the divine writings : "Is the Church likened unto a house ? It is placed on the foundation of a rock, which is Peter. Will you represent it under the figure of a family ? You behold our Redeemer paying the tri- bute as its Master, and after Him comes Peter as His representative. Is the Church a bark ? Peter is its pilot ; and it is our Redeemer who in- structs him. Is the doctrine by which we are drawn from the gulf of sin represented by a fisher's net ? It is Peter who casts it ; it is Peter who draws it ; the other disciples lend their aid ; but it is Peter that presents the fishes to our Redeemer. Is the Church represented by an embassy ? St. Peter is at its head. Do you prefer the figure of a kingdom ? St. Peter carries its keys. In fine, you will have it shadowed under the sym- bol of a flock and a fold ? St. Peter is the shepherd and universal pastor under Jesus Christ."f The occasion of promising this power was the confession which Peter made of the divinity of Christ, and the declaration of greater love than * Barrow on the Supremacy. -f Controverses de S. Franc, de Sales, disc. 42. 60 INSTITUTION OF THE PRIMACY. that of the other apostles was required, before its collation ; yet the office was not merely personal. The reward was the greater, because it was to be perpetuated in his successors. The power promised was directed to the advantage of the Church, which was to last throughout ages : the charge given regarded- all the sheep of Christ, who were to be gathered into His fold at any period of time. The image of a foundation presents the idea of permanent support, since no fabric can subsist if the foundation be re- moved : the kingdom of Christ must always have a ruler, bearing the keys, and exercising sovereign power under Christ ; the brethren must always be confirmed in faith : the lambs and sheep of Christ at all times need the care, guidance, and protection of a shepherd, to keep them all in one sheepfold. Since the powers of hell cannot prevail against the Church, the fundamental authority of Peter can never cease : since the visible kingdom of Christ shall endure to the end of time, there must be always a viceroy governing in His name : since the prayer of Christ is always heard for His reverence, the faith of Peter can never fail : there shall be always one fold, and there shall be likewise one shepherd. If any thing be clear in Scripture, it is the promise of the primacy and its institution. " To THEE," says Christ, " I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." " I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not : and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren." Feed My lambs, feed My sheep." He distinguishes this apostle from the rest : " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona." He addresses him repeatedly and emphatically : " Simon, Simon." He calls on him for special and reiterated declarations of at- tachment : " Dost thou love Me more than these ?" As the powers given to the apostles generally are continued in their successors — as the authority to teach, baptize, and otherwise concur to the salvation of men by minis- terial functions, is perpetual ; so must the peculiar privileges of Peter be recognised in the occupants of his See. If among the ' apostles it was proper that one should preside, for the sake of order and unity, a leader is still more necessary for a body so numerous as their successors. A ruler is indispensable for a kingdom so extensive as the Church actually diffused throughout all nations, lest being divided, it be brought to desolation : a pastor for the whole flock is essential at all times, that the unity of the sheepfold may be maintained. Thus, by the very same line of argument by which we infer the perpetuity of the apostolic ministry, we are led to acknowledge the headship, or primacy, as a permanent institution of Christ. What, then, is the character of this primacy ? Limiting myself for the present to the sacred text, I answer, that it is a fundamental principle of church organization, having the same relation to the universal Church, as the foundation has to the building : it is a central authority uniting all the parts of the sacred edifice, which rest on it necessarily and inseparably. Peter was constituted the vicegerent of Christ, having received from II im the keys of the kingdom, and consequently a plenitude of authority, dele- INSTITUTION OF THE PRIMACY. 61 gated, however, and subordinate, whioli his successor inherits. The pri- mate of the Church is bound to confirm his brethren in the faith, which he must maintain as originally delivered, opposing, by all the weight of his authority, every error adverse to its integrity. He is powerful for the truth : powerless against the iiruth. He must feed the lambs and sheep of Christ with salutary pastures : he must use pastoral vigilance, lest they stray away, and employ due care to reconduct to the fold those that have actually strayed. Since Christ represents Himself under the image of a good shepherd, in giving to Peter the command to feed His lambs and sheep, He imparts the highest authority under the most tender image. It is not difficult to reconcile the headship of Peter with that of Christ. The apostle tells us that Christ instituted the ministry, " tljat performing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in Him who is the head, Christ j from whom the whole body, compacted and fitly joined to- gether, by whatever joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unt6 the edifying of itself in charity."* Christ is clearly styled the head in this place, in a way in which Peter cannot be so designated. Every grace by which the mind is enlightened, the will moved, and the Church built up in faith and charity, is derived from Christ ; not from Peter, whose office is ministerial and external, and totally dependant on the supreme invisible head. " Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Saviour of His body."f Who has ever thought of ascribing to Peter headship of this nature ? Who has ever regarded him as the Saviour of the Church ? God the Father hath made Christ "head over all the Church, which is His body, and the fulness of Him, who is filled all in all."J No one recognises Peter as head in this sense. Christ is *' above all principality, and power, and virtue, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come."§ The like cannot be said of Peter, who, under Christ, was only the visible head of the Church, on earth, governing it according to the principles which He taught, and in virtue of the authority which He vouchsafed to delegate. Whoever deems such authority derogatory to the headship of Christ, must consider the viceroy of a monarch an antagonist of his sovereign. The wisdom of Christ in appointing a ruler and pastor under Himself, to confirm and unite the brethren, is clearly apparent. Order can be maintained in a body of men only by some authority exercised by one, whatever be its origin, or its limits : which authority should be propor- tioned to the importance of the objects to be attained, and the number of persons to be directed or governed. A certain precedency of rank may suffice in a body, where objects dependent on the will of the members are at stake : but where high interests, independent of the fluctuating views of men, are involved, a biilding authority, divinely constituted and » Eph. iv. 15. t Ibid. v. 23. J Eph. i. 22. ? Eph. i. 21. 62 INSTITUTION OF THE PRIMACY. guarded, is necessary. Even among the apostles a certain precedency was enjoyed by Peter, while our Lord was present. When He had withdrawn from the earth, and the apostolic band wag augmented by a large number of bishops, and the Church was spread throughout many nations, every appearance of unity would soon have vanished, had there not been a cen- tral authority, around which all might gather. This became still more necessary, when the apostles closed their career, and their successors were multiplied, and scattered to the utmost bounds of civilization, and beyond them. Confusion of tongues must have ensued, had there not been a divinely constituted leader. The professed subjection of all to Christ could not have restrained the vagaries of human opinion, or preserved the harmony of believers. Without an infinitude of miracles, in proportion to the number of professors, and the diffusion of religion, there would have been no order, no unity, no faith ; and the evidence which our Lord referred to, for convincing the world that He was sent by the Father, namely, the union of His disciples in the profession of revealed truth,* would have been utterly wanting. While Christ, was visibly present, the disciples gathered around Him, and were one family. He being the Head ; when He was about to withdraw His visible presence, He left Peter at the head of his brethren, pastor of the fold, and ruler of the kingdom, and consecrating in his person the principle of unity, He rendered his office perpetual in his successors. To this divine arrangement we owe the preservation of the revealed truths, and the unity of the Church. To all the apostles Christ promised the power of binding and loosing, which He conferred on all, by authorizing them to remit or retain sins. He gave to all a mission like that which He had received from His Father. He sent all of them to preach His G-ospel to every creature, and ordered them to teach all nations all things whatsoever He had de- livered ; promising them His effectual assistance even to the end of time. The apostolic power of each one was, like that of Peter, coextensive with the world : but Peter was pastor, ruler and superior. They were all equal in the episcopal character, and even in apostolic authority, with this dif- ference, that their power was subordinate to his, and to be exercised ne- cessarily in connection and harmony with his, that even in their persons unity might be exhibited. His universal jurisdiction was a permanent attribute of his office, as pastor and ruler, to descend and continue for ever in his successors ; while theirs was a personal prerogative, of which the bishops would partake, without enjoying severally its plenitude. This distinction is gathered from the marked manner in which Christ addressed Peter individually, while He promised and gave authority to the others in common, Peter being necessarily included. Bossuet beautifully ob- serves : " The power divided among many imports its restriction : confer- red on one alone, over all and without exception, it bears the evidence of * John xvii. 21. INSTITUTION OF THE PRIMACY. 63 its plenitude. All receive the same power, but not in the same degree, nor to the same extent. Jesus Christ commences by the chief, and in the person of the chief develops all His power — in order that we should learn that the ecclesiastical authority, being originally centred in one individual, has been diffused only on the condition that it should always be reflected back on the principle of its unity, and that all they who share in it should be inseparably connected with that See, which is the common centre of all churches."* * Disoours sur I'unite de I'Bglise, 1 par. CHAPTER V. (B^mtm ai i\t €mmmm. The charge given by our Lord to Peter, to feed His lambs and sbeep, was understood by tbe early fathers to imply the communication of the high- est authority under Christ Himself Origen, speaking of the excellence of charity, remarks, that our Lord required the profession of it from Peter, as a condition for receiving supreme authority in the Church : " When THE SUPREME POWER TO FEED THE SHEEP WAS GIVEN TO PeTER, AND THE Church was founded on him, as on a rock,* the declaration of no other, virtue than charity was reopiired."f In his admirable treatise on the unity of the Church, Cyprian insists, with great earnestness, on the provision made against heresy and schism by the promise made, and the pastoral power subsequently given to Peter. Deploring the havoc of souls made by the enemy of man, who transforms himself into an angel of light, and puts forward his ministers as ministers of justice, he says : " This comes to pass, beloved brethren, because re- course is not had to the source of truth, and the head is not sought after, and the doctrine of the Heavenly Teacher is not regarded. If any one consider and examine these things, there is no need of a lengthy treatise and of arguments. The proof of faith is easy and compendious, because true. The Lord speaks to Peter : ' I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre- vail against it. And to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.' And again, after His resurrection, He says to him : ' Feed My sheep.' Upon that one individual He builds His Church, and to him He commits His sheep to he fed. And although, after His resurrection. He gives to all the apostles equal power, and says : ' As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you. Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive, they shall be forgiven them ; whose sins you shall retain, they shall be retained ;' yet, in order to manifest unity. He establishes, by His authority, the origin of the same unity, which begins from one. Even the other apostles were certainly what Peter was, being endowed with * Some manuscripts have : super terram — on the earth, f la Bp. ad Rom. i. v. u. 10. 64 EXPOSITION OF THE COMMISSION. (55 equal participation of honor and power ; but the beginning proceeds from unity, and the primaaj is given to Peter, that the Church of Christ may be shown to be one, and the chair one. All are pastors, and the flock is shown to be one, which is fed by the apostles with one accord, that the Church of God may be shown to be one. This one Church the Holy Ghost also designates, speaking in the person of our Lord in the Canticle of Canticles, ' My dove is one. My perfect one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen' one of her who bore her.' Does he who does not hold the unity of the Church, imagine that he holds the faith? Does he who opposes and resists the Church, — who deserts the chair of Peter, on whom the Church was founded, presume that he is in the Church, while the blessed apostle Paul teaches this same thing, and shows the sacrament of unity, saying : ' One body and one Spirit, one hope of your vocation, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God?'"* The words which I have put in italics were omitted by Erasmus in his edition of the works of St. Cyprian, published in 1521 : but restored by Paul Manutius in an edition made from rdanuscripts of great value, in 1563. They are quoted as far back as the year 582, by Pelagius II. in his second epistle to the Bishops of Istria, which forms a strong presump- tion in their favor, and they accord with the scope of the writer, and with his language on several other occasions. " Neander remarks, no less than Mohler," as Dr. Nevin reminds us, that " the clauses contain nothing that is not elsewhere affirmed by Cyprian, even more distinctly than here."f The object of the whole work is to prove the inviolable unity of the Church ; and in the passage just quoted, St. Cyprian shows how the efforts of Satan to estrange men from the Church, by corrupting their faith/ or engaging them in schism, may be promptly and effectually defeated. He refers to the texts in which our Lord addresses Peter, and makes him spe- cial promises. He admits that, in other circumstances, similar promises and equal power were given to all the apostles : " yet to manifest unity He established, by His authority, the origin of the same unity, which be- gins from one." This cannot mean that Christ merely insinuated and recommended unity by thus beginning with Peter ; since Cyprian insists throughout that unity is enjoined, and is essential to the Church : it must mean that Christ established in Peter the principle and means of unity. " The other apostles were certainly what Peter was, being endowed with an equal participation of honor and power :" the apostolic office, dignity, and jurisdiction were the same in all, but there was subordination for the maintenance of unity. The scope and the whole context show, that Cy- prian recognised in Peter a central and connecting power, whereby truth should be preserved and order maintained. Barrow himself admits that the African fathers generally considered St. Peter to have received from Christ a primacy of order, which he styles a * L. de Unit. Bccl. t ■*-'^'- Cyprian, M. R. July, 18ii2. 66 EXPOSITION OF THE COMMISSION. womanish privilege, as in truth it might he styled, -were mere precedence in rank given him ; hut this is to blaspheme Christ, who cannot, without impiety, be supposed to have bestowed an idle distinction. It is strange how this learned opponent of the supremacy, through a desire to weaken the authorities which support it, should have allowed himself to speak dis- respectfully of the luminaries of the African Church. " St. Cyprian," he says, " hath a reason for it somewhat more subtile and mystical, supposing our Lord did confer on him a preference of this kind to his brethren (who otherwise in power and authority were equal to him) that he might inti- mate and recommend unity to us ; and the othei: African doctors (Optatus and St. Austin) do commonly harp on the same notion !"* He adds, that the fathers generally seem to countenance this primacy ! Thus does he virtually abandon the cause which he labors to defend. The same explanation of the texts in question constantly recurs through- out the works of this eloquent prelate. In his book on the virginal state, he observes : " Peter, to whom the Lord recommends the feeding AND PROTECTION OF HiS SHEEP, ON AVHOM He PLACED AND FOUNDED THE Church, denies that he has silver or gold, but says that he is rich in the grace of Christ."f St. Cyril of Jerusalem, speaking of the witnesses of the resurrec- tion, thus distinguishes Peter from the rest : " Peter testifies it, who be- fore indeed denied Him, but who, after having confessed Him thrice, was ordered to feed His spiritual sheep."! It is clear that Cyril considered this command to have been given specially to Peter. In his golden work on the priesthood, by which term he designates the episcopal office, Chrysostom argues from the charge given by Christ to Peter, to feed His sheep, that this is to be the practical evidence of the love which we bear to our Redeemer. " Speaking with the prince of the apostles, He says : ' Peter, lovest thou Me V and Peter answering affirma- tively. He adds : ' If thou lovest Me, feed My sheep.' He designed to teach both Peter, and us all. His great benevolence and love for His Church : that by this means we also might cheerfully assume the care and charge of it. Por why did He shed His blood ? Certainly that He might purchase the sheep, the care of which He committed to Peter, and to his successors. § Justly, therefore, Christ thus spoke : ' Who then is the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord placed over His family ?'"|| The inference which Chrysostom draws from the text does not imply any thing inconsistent with its special application to Peter, whom he recog- nises as "endowed by Christ with special authority far surpassing the other apostles : for He says : ' Peter, dost thou love Me more than all these ?' "1 Again, in his commentary on the Gospel of St. John, when expressly engaged in the exposition of the text, he asks : " Why does He «• A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, Suppos. 1. f L. de habitu virginum, f x. X Cat. xiv. I Toij jitr' hcimti. || L. ii. de sacerdotio. ^ Ibidem. EXPOSITION OF THE COMMISSION. (37 address Peter concerning the sheep, passing by the others ? He was the CHIEF OF THfi APOSTLES, AND MOUTH OF THE DISCIPLES, AND HEAD OF THAT BODY : ON WHICH ACCOUNT PaUL ALSO WENT UP TO SEE HIM, IN PREFERENCE TO THE OTHERS. Showing him at the same time, that he must have confidence hereafter. He cancels the guilt of his denial, and GIVES HIM THE PRESIDENCY OVER THE BRETHREN. . . . And He SayS : ' because thou lovest Ble, preside over the brethren.' "* The pastoral and governing authority of Peter is clearly set forth by St. Ambrose in many places, in which he treats of the commission given to him by Christ, to feed His sheep. In his fortyrsixth sermon he observes, "When he was thrice questioned by the Lord : 'Simon, dost; thou love Me ?' he answered thrice, ' Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.' The Lord says : ' Feed My sheep.' This was said thrice ; the triple repetition serving to compensate for his former fault : for he who had denied the Lord thrice, confesses Him thriccj and as often as he had contracted guilt by his delinquency, he gains favor by his love. See, therefore, how pro- fitable to Peter was his weeping. Before he wept, he fell ; after he wept, he was chosen, and he who had been a prevaricator before, was made a pastor after his tears, and he received the government of others, who be- fore had not governed, himself." In his exposition of the 118th Psalm, he says : " On this account Christ enjoined on Peter to feed His flock, and do the will of his Lord, because He knew his love."f In his com- mentary on Luke, Ambrose says of Peter : " He is afflicted because he is questioned the 'third time. Dost thou love Me? But the Lord does not doubt : He interrogates him, not to ascertain the fact, but to teach him, whom, when He was about to be elevated to heaven. He left to us as THE VICAR OP His LOVE. For thus you have : ' Simon, son of John, dost thou love Me ?' ' Thou knowest. Lord, that I love Thee.' Jesus said to him, ' Feed My lambs.' And because he alone of all professes his love, HE is PREFERRED TO ALL."J Peter, then, was made pastor and governor, and vicar of Jesus Christ, to perform toward men the kind of&ces which divine love inspired, and was preferred to all. The disciple of Ambrose does not difier from his master in the inter- pretation of the sawed text. Augustin writes : " For Peter himself, to whom He intrusted His sheep, as to another self. He willed to make one with Himself, that so He might intrust 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. "§ This gives us the highest idea of the relation of Peter to Christ and to the flock. In intrusting him with the charge of the sheep, Christ made him as another * In c. xxi. Joan. horn. Ixxxvii. t. iii. "On d i\£ls [is npotcratja tuv dtJeX^wi/. Mr. Palmer translates : ' If thou lovest Mo, protect the brethren.* Treatise on the Church, part vii. ch. 1. vol. ii. p. 461. It signifies to preside over 7rpo?rwr£s, qui imperium habent. t Enar. xiii. J In Luc. 1. x. n. 173. J Serpi. xlvi. de past, in Ezek. 34. -torn. v. 240 F. 08 EXPOSITION OF THE COMMISSION. self, putting him in His own place. Peter is said to represent the Church; but evidently in his official character, as pastor of the whole flock, and in this respect he becomes, as it were, one with Christ, as the Church is one with her Divine spouse, by the mysterious union of faith and love. Else- where, Augustin teaches that the other apostles were also commissioned to feed the flock, because all were sent to teach and administer the sacra- ments, but he is careful to mark the prerogative of Peter : " For deserv- edly, after His resurrection, the Lord delivered His sheep to Peter him- self 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."* St. Augustin justly infers the authority which all bishops have received, to feed the sheep of Christ, since the power granted to him was communicable to others : " Therefore hath the Lord com- mended His sheep to us, because He commended them to Peter."f That Peter received charge of the sheep of Christ, in a special manner, is declared by Augustin, when enumerating the motives which retained him in the Church: "I am retained," said he, "by the succession of priests from the very See of the apostle Peter, to whom our Lord, after His resurrection, intrusted the feeding of His sheep, down to the actual bishop."^ St. Leo beautifully expounds the pastoral commission in connection with the charge to confirm the brethren, and the prayer of Christ for its fulfilment : " Since, therefore, beloved, we see such a protection divinely granted to us, reasonably and justly do we rejoice in the merits and dig- nity 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 any thing, even in our time, be rightly done and rightly ordered by us, it is to be ascribed to his working, to his guidance, unto whom it was said : ' And thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren :' and to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, in answer to the triple profession of perpetual 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."§ The great power granted to Peter especially, and to his successors, is strongly declared by the holy pontiff, who justly ascribes the constancy in faith which distinguishes the occupants of the See to the prayer of Christ, that the faith of Peter might not fail. St. Eucherius, who occupied the See of Lyons toward the middle of the * Serm. coxcvi. in nat. Apost. torn. v. 1195 F. t Ibidem. Tom. v. 1199 D, 1202 F. J L. contra epist. Manichasi, quam vocant fundamenti. g In Anniv. Consecr. EXPOSITION OF THE COMMISSION. 69 fifth century, in his discourse on the feast of the apostles, Peter and Paul, observes that " our Lord intrusted to Peter, first the lambs, and then the sheep, because He constituted him not only a shepherd, but the shepherd of shepherds. Peter therefore feeds the lambs : he feeds the sheep like- wise; he feeds the young, and feeds the mothers: he rules both subjects and prelates. He is then shepherd over all, because besides lambs and sheep there is nothing in the Church." St. Gregory the Great writes : " To all who know the Gospel, it is manifest that the charge of the whole Church was intrusted 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."* This com- mission, therefore, implied the charge of the whole Church. Although I have generally confined my quotations to the fathers of the six first ages, I cannot refrain from giving the reader the benefit of the reasoning of St. Bernard, " the last of the fathers in age, but equal to the first in glory," as Mr. Allies describes him. Addressing Pope Euge- nius, he says : " You are he to whom the keys were given ; to whom the sheep were intrusted. There are, indeed, likewise, other gate-keepers of heaven, and shepherds of the fiocks ; but you have inherited both titles in a sense far different and more sublime. They have, each of them, their respective flocks severally assigned to them : all have been intrusted to you, as one flock to one man. Nor are you shepherd of the sheep alone, but of the shepherds also ; the one shepherd of all. Do you ask me how I prove this ? From the word of the Lord. For to which I do not say of the bishops, but of the apostles themselves, were the sheep committed so absolutely and unreservedly ? ' If thou lovest Me, Peter, feed My sheep.' What sheep ? The people of this or that district, city, or kingdom ? ' My sheep,' He says. Who does not manifestly see that He did not particu- larize any, but assigned them all to him ? None are excepted, where no distinction is made. The other disciples were perchance present, when intrusting all to one. He recommended unity to all, in one flock and one shepherd : according to that passage : ' My dove is one, My beautiful one. My perfect one.' "f This exposition, which is strictly literal, is fully sus- tained by the testimonies of the early fathers, which I have already quoted, as well as by the acts of pastoral authority exercised by Peter, and re- corded in the divine writings. * Lib. T. op. XX. t ^' "• ^^ Consider, u. viii. CHAPTER VI. §Bum at t\t IriiEg H ^^' i^^^- It is impossible not to be struck with the prominent part which Peter acted in the establishment of the Church. While the disciples were awaiting the fulfilment of the promise of Christ, and preparing by prayer for the coming of the Paraclete, Peter arose, and proposed to fill the va- cancy which the fall of Judas had occasioned. Under divine illumination he unfolds the meaning of the sacred oracles, which predicted the treach- ery of this apostle, and directed that another should take his bishopric : he determines the qualifications of the successor : and if he does not him- self choose the individual, it is from no want of power, but to give a laud- able example of its moderate exercise. This condescension is justly ad- mired by the eloquent Bishop of Constantinople: "Being fervent and intrusted by Christ with the care of the flock, and being the leader of the band, he is always the first to speak. Why did he not himself alone be- seech Christ to give him some one in the place of Judas ? Why do not the brethren of themselves undertake the election ? See how he does all things with the general consent, nothing arbitrarily, nothing imperiously. Brethren, he says. Since the Lord called his disciples brethren, still more should he style them such. Wherefore he addressed them, all being pre- sent. Behold the dignity of the Church, and its angelic state. Why does he confer with them on this matter ? Lest it become a subject of dispute, and they fall into dissensions. He leaves the choice to the judgment of the multitude, thus securing their regard for the objects of their choice, and freeing himself from jealousy. Could not Petek hijviselp have CHOSEN THE INDIVIDUAL ? Bt ALL MEANS : but he abstains from doing it, lest he should appear to indulge partiality. He is the first to proceed in this affair, because all have been delivered over into his hands : for to him Christ said : Thou being once converted, confirm thy bre- thren."* It is gratifying to be able to show in what light this act was viewed by so bright an ornament of the Greek Church — one of the most illustrious men of antiquity — the occupant of the chair of the imperial city, the new Rome. In the conduct of Peter on this occasion, Chrysos- tom recognises a splendid instance of the moderate use of supreme power. A still more manifest exercise of the high office of Peter, as guardian * Chrysost. hom. iii. in 1 cap. Act. 70 EXERCISE OP THE PRIMACY BY ST. PETER. 7I of tte faith, occurs in the history of the first Council of Jerusalem. Great excitement was caused at Antioch by certain Judaizing Christians, who insisted that the converts from the Gentiles should be subjected to cir- cumcision and the legal observances. " Paul and Barnabas had no small contest with them,"* without being able to induce all to acquiesce in their judgment J wherefore it was determined that they' '.'and certain others of the other side, should go up to the apostles and priests to Jerusalem about this question." " Accordingly the apostles and ancients came together to consider of this matter, and when there was much disputing, Peter rising up said to them : Brethren, you know that in former days God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts, gave them testimony, giving to them the Holy Ghost, as well as to us : and made no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the necks of the dis- ciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear ? But by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, even as they." The result of this address is worthy of attention : " All the multitude held their peace.""}" There was great contention previously at Antioch, notwithstand- ing the reverence due to the apostolic character in Paul and Barnabas ; it is renewed in the Council ; when Peter, rising up, reminds them that he had been chosen to announce the Gospel to the Gentiles, and that God had given evidence of His favor toward them ; he reproaches them for seeking to burden them ubnecessarily with the multifarious observances of the ceremonial law, and declares the great principle of faith in Jesus Christ, as the only foundation of hope, for Jew or Gentile. No sooner has he spoken than all acquiesce : no murmur, no dissenting voice is heard : all opposi- tion ceases : and whoever rises to speak, only confirms, like Paul and Barnabas, by the narrative of miraculous facts, what Peter had declared, of the favor shown by God to the Gentiles ; or, like James, refers to the prophecies, adding the suggestion^ of measures to be decreed, that the principle might be carried into successful execution. I do not see how any man can read the simple history of this controversy, by the inspired writer, without perceiving the great weight of Peter's authority in its ter- mination. The letter qf the Council drawn up in the name of the apos- tles and ancients, which expresses the principle laid down by Peter, and the practical measure suggested by James, is declared to emanate from the Holy Ghost : " it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us."§ The writers of antiquity speak of it as the sentence or decree of Peter. Tek- TULLIAN describes it as the exercise of his power of binding and loosing : • Acts XV.' 2. f Ibid. xy. 2. J Kpivai, " I judge," is the simple expression of sentiment, whether authoritative, or void of authority. See Thucydid. iv. 60. It corresponds to the Latin ceneeo. I Acts XV. 28. 72 EXERCISE OF THE PRIMACY ET ST. PETER. " the decree of Peter loosed suet things of the law as were set aside, and bound fast such as were retained."* St. JeroiM calls Peter the author of this decree ;f and the celebrated Theodoret, Bishop of Cyr, speaks of the controversy as a' matter referred by Paul to Peter, that by his au- thority it might be definitely settled. Writing to Pope Leo, he says : " If Paul, who was the herald of truth, the organ of the Holy Spirit, had re- course to the great Peter, in order to obtain a decision from him concern- ing the observances of the law, for those who disputed at Antioch on this subject; with much greater reason we, who are abject and weak, have recourse to your Apostolic See, that we may receive from you remedies for the wounds of the churches, for it is fit that in all things you should be first, since your throne is adorned with many prerogatives.'"J Cave, the learned Anglican critic, explains the words of Paul, that " he . went to Jerusalem to see Peter," of his going up on this occasion, " Peter being the leading character in the Council. "§ St. Cheysostom calls our attention to the wisdom with which Peter permitted the -discussion, before he interposed Ms authority : " See," says he, "he allows the inquiry and dispute to go on, and then he himself speaks." II' As an evidence of the harmony and condescension which pre- vailed in the Council, he remarks that Paul was allowed to speak after Peter had pronounced judgment : " See, Paul speaks after Peter, and no one closes his mouth. "'^ Even Barrow cannot dissemble the prominent part which St. Peter bore in this Council and in apostolic assemblies generally : " At the consultation," he observes, " about supplying the place of Judas, he rose up, proposed, and pressed the matter. At the convention of the apostles and elders, about resolving the debate concern- ing observance of Mosaioal institutions, he first rose up, and declared his sense. In the promulgation of the Gospel, and defence thereof, before the Jewish rulers, he did assume the conduct, and constantly took upon him to be the speaker ; the rest standing by him, implying assent, and ready to avow his word."** It has pleased the Holy Spirit to leave on record only a few of the cir- cumstances connected with this model of Councils : which, however, suffi- ciently show that Peter either called the Council, or assented to its con- vocation ; that he spoke with authority and effect, silencing all disputation by his discourse ; and that the decree was in strict conformity with his judgment. The forms are of little importance where the authority is fully * L. de pudicitia. f Principem hujus fuisae deoreti. S. Hieron. Aug. Ep. 45, alias xi. inter August. T. 8, col. 172, torn. ii. J Ad Leonem. Ep. cxiii. § Petrum ibi convenit, occasioue, ut videtur concilii apostolici — ciyus Petrus pars magna fuit. Pajc. Ap. p. 6. I S. Chrys. horn. xxii. in c. xv. Act. Ap. p. 269, torn. ili. Edit. Paris, 1637. ^ Horn, xxxiii. p. 260. ** A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy. Supposition 1. EXERCISE OP THE PRIMACY BY ST. PETER. 73 respected and admitted. To be Prince and Primate in the Cliuroli of God, it was not necessary tliat he should stand alone, separated from his colleagues in the apostleship and episcopacy, and resting solely on the prerogative of his station. It is delightful to see him in the Council of his brethren, causing the ardor of disputation to subside by authoritative instruction, and enlightening the minds of his colleagues, and of the faith- ful, by unfolding to them the oracles of God. The decree which expresses his judgment, and that of his colleagues, as well as the faith of the whole Church, is no way derogatory to his high prerogative. The eloquent Bishop of Meaux presents, at one view, the various cir- cumstances in which Peter appears foremost : " Peter,'' says he, " appears the first op all occasions : the first to confess the faith; the first to express lis obligation of love; the first of all the apostles who saw Christ after His resurrection, as he was the first to bear testimony to this fact before all the people. We find him first, when there was question of filling up the number of the apostles; the first .who confirmed the faith by a miracle, the first to convert the Jews, the first to receive the Gentiles ; in short, every thing covurs to establish his supremacy."* Potter remarks : " Our Lord appeared to Peter after His resurrection, before the rest of the apos- tles ; and, before this. He sent the message of His resurrection to him in particular." Having specified the various acts of Peter after the ascension of our Lord, he concludes thus : " From these and other examples which occur in the Scriptures, it is evident that St. Peter acted as chief OF the college of apostles, and so he is constantly described by the primitive writers of the Church, who call him the Head, the President, the Prolocutor, the Chief, the Foreman of the apostles, with several other titles of distinction."^ Even Calvin, in endeavoring to meet the argu- ment in favor of the primacy, drawn from the general visitation of the churchesj by Peter, admits the fact : " Granting that Peter was the chief apostle, as the Scripture often shows, does it follow," he asks, " that he was the head of the world ?"^ Against facts which so strongly mark the superior authority of Peter, a term of equivocal import used by the sacred historian is sometimes ob- jected. " When the apostles who were in Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John."|| To send ordinarily supposes the superiority of him who sends; but the term is often used, where solicitation, counsel, and the expression of desire are only meant. When the- tribes of Euben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses, had erected an altar near the Jordan, the children -* Discours sur Tunit^ de I'Eglise. f On Church Government, p. 72, 74. t ^"^ i^- ^2. j In locum. This qualified concession is very different from that admission which De Maistre most unaccountably ascribes to him, by applying to the Bishop of Rome what Calvin says of the Jewish High- Priest. Du Pape, ch. ix. Calv. Inst. vi. J 111 II Acts viii. 14. 74 EXERCISE OP THE PRIMACY OP ST. PETER. of Israel " sent to them into the land of Galaad, Phinees, the son of Eleazar the priest, and ten princes with him, one of every tribe."* ' This inission derogated in no degree from the high dignity of the priesthood, since it was doubtless a proposal made and accepted, rather than a com- mand given with authority. When the dispute concerning the ceremonial law arose at Antioch, " they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and cer- tain others of the other side, should go up to the apostles and priests to Jerusalem, about this question."-|- This language is certainly as strong, at least, as if it were said : " They sent Paul and Barnabas ;" and yet no one thence infers that these apostles were inferior to the faithful, at whose solicitation they undertook this journey. The apostles at Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria, by urging the expediency of the visit, not by a positive injunction : for no one pretends that these apostles were inferior in authority to the rest, as they certainly would have been, if they had acted under a positive command. The condescension of St. Peter, in explaining the motives of his con- duct to the disciples who murmured against him, on account of his having admitted Cornelius and his family into the Church, is perfectly consistent with his ofl&oial supremacy. Superiors cannot prevent the murmurs of their subjects, or silence them effectually, by an appeal to their own au- thority. Persuasion must often be employed to convince them that the exercise of power is not capricious, or ill-advised. But if the faithful knew Peter to be supreme ruler of the Church on earth, it is said they would not have dared question the wisdom of his acts. It did not, indeed, become them to question it : yet since the Israelites of old murmured against Moses, whose mission was proved by stupendous prodigies, need we wonder that some of the first believers ventured to dispute the pro- priety of the course pursued by Peter ? The prejudices of nations do not always yield instantaneously to religious influences, and the distinction of castes is not easily forgotten. The Jews regarded the heathens with an aversion bordering on abhorrence, so that with the evidence before them of the communication of the gifts of the Holy Ghost to Cornelius and his family, they were filled with amazement. St. Gregory the Great de- rives from the conduct of Peter, on this occasion, a lesson of humility : " When Peter was blamed by the faithful, had he regarded the authority which he had received in the Holy Church, he might have answered, that the sheep should not dare reprove the shepherd, to whom they had been intrusted. But if, on the complaint of the faithful, he had made mention of his own power, he would not truly have been the teacher of meekness. He appeased them, therefore, in an humble manner, and in the case for which they blamed him, he even brought forward witnesses : ' TheSe six brethren came also with me.' Since then the pastor of the Church, the prince of the apostles, he who performed in an extraordinary manner signs * JoBue xxii. 13, 14. -j- Acts xv. 2. > EXERCISE OP THE PRIMACY BY ST. PETER. 75 and miracles, did not disdain humbly to give an explanation of the con- duct for which he was blamed, how much more should we who are sin- ners, when we are blamed for any thing, be ready to appease our censors by humblfe explanations ?"* The strongest objection adduced against the superior authority of Peter is the resistance made to him by Paul, and the rebuke given him on ac- count of his declining familiar intercourse with the c6nverted G-entiles, through fear of offending the Jews who had recently arrived at Antioch. I have elsewhere stated the doubts entertained by some learned men as to the identity of Cephas with the apostle :f but waiving this critical point, I see nothing in bold remonstrance, such as Paul used, inconsistent with the supremacy of him to whom it was addressed. The matter in question was one of mere prudence and expediency, where offence was sure to be given, whichever course might be pursued ; and Cephas having adopted a line of conduct offensive to the Gentiles, and prejudicial to the liberty which we have in Christ, Paul, prompted by zeal for the Gentile converts, remonstrated in strong language, and in a public manner : " When Cephas was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was blame- able — when I saw that they walked not uprightly unto the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas, before them all : If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not of the Jews, how dost thou compel the Gentiles to follow the way of the Jews?" J What the apostle here calls walking not uprightly unto the truth of the Gospel, he terms likewise dissimulation^ meaning plainly a course inconsistent with the in- genuous and independent avowal of the great principle of Gospel liberty : not a betrayal of divine truth, by teaching erroneous doctrine. No one pretends that either apostle deviated from the faith, or that Paul reproved Peter, as a superior checks an inferior. "Paul reproved Peter," says Terttjllian, " for no other reason, however, than the change of his mode of living, which he varied according to the class of persons with whom he associated ; not for any corruption of divine truth."§ Augustin, speak- ing of this fact, admires the intrepidity of Paul and the humility of Peter : " A just liberty," he says, " is to be admired in Paul, and holy humility in Peter."|| Gregory the Great cries out: "Behold, he. is reproved by his inferior, and he does not disdain to receive the reproof : he does not remind him, that he has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven."^ The respect of Paul for Peter is evident from this same epistle ; for, al- though, in order to convince the Galatians of the divine origin of the doc- trine which he delivered, he states that those who appeared to be pillars in the Church, contributed nothing to his instruction, and that on his con- * L. xi. ep. xiv. -\ Letters on the Primacy, p. 51, and Theologia Dogmatica, vol. i. p. 157. See also Dissertazione 32 su Cefa ripreso da S. f aolo, nella raooolta del Padre ]?. A. Zaccaria. J Gal ii. 11, 14. ^ li. v. contra Marcion, c. iii. 11 Ep. Ixxxii. alias xxii, % L. ii. in Ezech. hom. XTiii. 76 EXERCISE OF THE PRIMACY BY ST. PETER. version te had not gone to Jerusalem to the apostles, who preceded him in the profession of the faith, he adds : " Three years after I came to Jerusalem to see Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days."* This visit is justly considered by S*. Chrysostom to he an evidence of the high re- gard of' Paul for the official character of Peter. "Peter," he observes, " was the organ and prince of the apostles : on which account Paul went up to see him, in preference to the rest."t Paul, indeed, did not go with a view to obtain instruction, for having been favored with a divine revela- tion, he entertained no doubt whatever of the correctness of his doctrine : he was equal in the apostolic dignity to Peter : and he may have been greater in personal qualifications and merit ; yet he went to him as to a superior, honoring the office which he held by divine appointment. "After so many illustrious actions, although he stood in no need of Peter, or of his instruction, being equal in dignity to him, J (for I shall say no more,)§ he goes up to him as to a superior and elder, and he had no other motive for the visit, but merely to see Peter. Remark how he pays them (the apostles) due honor, and regards himself not only as no better, but not even as equal to them. This is evident from his journey; for as many of our brethren now travel to visit holy men, so Paul likewise in a similar disposition, went up to Peter. This was even much more humble on his part : for men now travel for their own improvement ; but this blessed apostle went to learn nothing, and to be set right on no point, but for this only motive, to see him, and honor him by his presence. He uses the term tarop^aac, to become acquainted with Peter ; not ISelv, merely to see Peter. He went in order to become fully acquainted with him, as visitors seek to know thoroughly great and splendid cities." 1| St. Paul states, that to himself was committed the Gospel of the unoir- cumcision, as to Peter was that of the circumcision ;^ whence occasion has been taken to deny the general authority of Peter over Gentiles and Jews ; or, in other words, over all the members of the Church. The text, how- ever, cannot be understood of exclusive jurisdiction over either class as belonging to either apostle, since Paul, as occasion presented itself, in- structed Jews as well as Gentiles ; and Peter received the Gentiles, Cor- nelius and his family, into the Church. The apostle speaks manifestly of the chief objects of his zeal, since he was emphatically the teacher of the Gentiles, while Peter labored chiefly among the Jews. " St. Peter," says Bloomfield, " was chiefly, but not entirely, occupied by the Jews, and St. Paul chiefly, but not wholly, with the Gentiles."** The universality of the mission of all the apostles is unquestionable — it was not confined to certain classes of men, or bounded by territorial limits — they were sent * Gal. i. 18. f Horn. Ixxxvii. in Joan. J 'Iconiiot, equally honorable. J He insinuates that Paul may have been greater than Peter in merit, talent, virtue, or other personal qualifications. || Chrysostom, in c. i. ep. ad. Gal. If Gal. ii. 7. ** In locum. EXERCISE OF THE PRIMACY BY ST. PETER. ^^ into the whole world, to preach the Gospel to every creature. St. Paul, being called in an extraordinary manner to the apostleship, participated in the plenitude of ,the original commission, which is not at all inconsistent with the supervision, presidency, and chief government of the whole Church, with which Peter was invested. Although the language of Peter himgelf, addressing his colleagues in the sacred ministry, is objected as excluding all idea of superior control, it is, nevertheless, in perfect harmony with his high prerogatives : " The ancients, therefore, that are amoDg you, I beseech, who am myself also an ancient and a witness of Christ."* The t&cm.' ■r:psaPuTipou<;, presbyters, here rendered ancients, was then applied to bishops, whom St. Peter ad- dressed, declaring himself their fellow-bishop, aufocpea^urepoi;. Perfect equality cannot be meant by this expression, since, as an> apostle, he was certainly superior to a local bishop. The character of bishop is undoubt- edly the same as that of an apostle ; but the jurisdiction of an apostle, being universal, far exceeds that of him who is charged with a special flock. The very fact of the general address of Peter to the bishops, whom he exhorts, and entreats to perform their pastoral duties in an humble, exemplary and disinterested manner, affords no slight presumption of his general superintendence and control. His language is certainly such as the chief pastor might appropriately employ : " Feed the flock of (rod which is among you : taking care not by constraint, but willingly according to God : neither for the sake of filthy lucre, but voluntarily : neither as domineering over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart. And when the Prince of Pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never- fading crown of glory."f Grotius has well remarked, that this epistle has an energy of language characteristic of the prince of the apostles.J Paul instructed Timothy and Titus, his disciples, whom, with his own hands, he had consecrated bishops : at Miletus hc' addressed the bishops whom he had called from Bphesus, and who were in like manner his special disciples. Either apostle might direct his admonitions to any bishop : but it seems not without a special design of the Holy Ghost, to mark the uni- versality of his oflGioia] charge, that Peter, writing to the strangers — prose- lytes to Judaism first, and then to Christianity, dispersed through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia — gave solemn injunctions to all the bishops of those countries, on their sacred duties. The exercise of the most important functions of the primacy is, as we have seen, plainly proved from the sacred Scriptures. To provide pastors for the churches is the right and duty of the pastor of the whole flock, a right, however, which is to be exercised with a sacred regard for the in- terests of the universal Church. This was done by Peter, in supplying « 1 Pet T. 1. t Ibidem, 2-4. J Habet hsec epistola ri cfioifov vehemens dicendi genus conveniens ingenio prinoipis apostolorum. 78 EXERCISE OF THE PRIMACY BY ST. PETER. the place of Judas. To see that the pastors perform their duties to their respective flocks, appertains to the same office. To decide, or take a pro- minent part in deciding doctrinal controversies, is a duty of the chief pastor, which was manifestly performed by Peter, in the Council of Jerusalem. He truly exercised a primatial authority, which shows that the commission given to him imparted power to^maintain unity and faith. It is not necessary to show that Peter actually exercised all and every one of the attributes of spiritual sovereignty, especially since we have no detailed history of the apostolic age ; the Acts of the Apostles being con- fined to a few facts connected with the commencement of the Church, and an account of the conversion and chief labors of St. Paul. Since the promise of Christ, His charge to Peter at the last supper, and His com- mission after His resurrection, convey the idea of a viceroy, superintend- ent and pastor ; and the prominent part taken by Peter corresponds with this idea : we are warranted in believing him to have possessed and exer- cised a true supremacy. I am not now anxious to demonstrate what are his essential rights : I ask only that his primacy, which is so clearly es- tablished, be admitted. I produce his commission with the seal of the Great King, and demand that it be respected. CHAPTER VII. '§dtx, §is|flg 0f 'gam. Having proved from the sacred Scripture, on strict principles of exe- gesis, and according to the general interpretation of the fathers of the first five centuries, that Peter received from Christ an authoritative pri- macy, which must always continue in the Church, to he exercised by his successors, it becomes necessary to show who succeeds to his privileges. The task is an easy one, as the voice of all antiquity proclaims the Bishop of Rome to be the successor of Peter. Some bold men have, indeed, pushed skepticism so far as to deny that St. Peter ever was at Rome, as some un- believers have questioned whether Jesus Christ ever existed ; but even Calvin, with every disposition to deny the fact, blushed to oppose the tes- timony of all the ancients ;* while Cave strongly and fearlessly affirms it : " We intrepidly affirm with all antiquity, that Peter was at Eome, and for some time resided there." He adds : " All, both ancient and modern, will, I think, agree with me that Peter may be called Bishop of Rome, in a less strict sense,"j" inasmuch as he laid the foundations of this Church, and rendered it illustrious by his martyrdom." J Professor SchafF avows, that "it is the unanimous testimony of tradition that Peter suffered mar- tyrdom in Rome under Nero." Babylon, from which the first letter of St. Peter was written, is understood by learned interpreters generally, Protestant as well as Catholic, to mean Rome ; the Christians being ac- customed to designate it in this way, on account of its vices, which resem- bled the corruption of the ancient queen of the East. St. John portrayed the crimes and calamities of pagan Rome under the same name, in the mysterious descriptions of the Apocalypse. Those who assert that Peter visited Babylon on the Euphrates, which was then in ruins, are unsup- ported by history or tradition : and the critical reasons which they ofier for interpreting the name literally, are far outweighed by the arguments in favor of its figurative acceptation. After a review of them. Professor Schaff says : " These difficulties constrain us to return to the earliest and, in ancient times, only prevalent interpretation of Babylon, by which it is taken to mean Rome."§ » Inst. lib. iv. o. vi. | 15. ■j- This qualification is wholly unnecessary. J Saec. Apostol. S. Petrus. ^ See E.xtract from Schaff 's Church History, in Mercersburg Beviow, July, 1851 : also Perrone Tract, de locis Theol. p. 1. | ii. v. ii. u. 560. 79 80 PETE^, BISHOP OF ECME, For a matter of fact human testimony is entirely sufficient, whenever it is clothed with those qualities which remove all just fear of deception. If it were otherwise, Christianity itself .would vanish from our grasp ; for its certain transmission to us implies a number of facts independent of any testimony of Scripture ; and even the authenticity and integrity of the sacred books are dependent on human testimony, at least, for all who deny the authority of the Christian Church. Clement, Bishop of Kome, a contemporary of the apostles, who is mentioned with honor by St. Paul, and who was ordained by Peter, ac- cording to the testimony of Tertullian, in a letter to the Corinthians, men- tions Peter and Paul as having suffered martyrdom at Eome under his eyes.* Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, when led to martyrdom, about the year 107, wrote to the Romans, begging of them to place no obstacle by their prayers to the fulfilment of his ardent desire to die for Christ : " I do not command you,'' he says, " as Peter and Paul : they were apostles : I am a condemned man.""}" This shows that the Piomans had been in- structed by both apostles, and received their commands. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, a disciple of John the apostle, or of another John, a con- temporary of the Apostle, states that Mark related in his Gospel what he heard from Peter , at Rome, and that Peter wrote his first epistle from Rome, calling it Babylon. J Iren^xis declares that Peter and Paul preached the Gospel at Rome, and established the Church, which he calls " greatest and most ancient, known to all, founded and established by the most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul ;" and adds the list of bishops from the, apostles down to his own time.§ Dionysius of Corinth states, that both apostles, Peter and Paul, instructed the Corinthians, and afterward having passed into Italy, planted the faith among the Romans, and con- summated their course by martyrdom in their city.|| Cajus, a Roman priest, who lived at the close of the second and beginning of the third century, says : "I can show you the trophies of the apostles ; for whether .we go to the Vatican, or to the Ostian way, we shall meet with the tro- .phies of the founders of this Church."^ Oeigen also testifies that Peter .suffered martyrdom at Rome.** St. Cyprian says that Cornelius was chosen bishop " when the place of Eabian, that is, the place op Peter, and the rank of the priestly chair was vacant."|f That Paul was not the original founder of the Church at Rome, is evi- dent from his epistle to the Romans, in which he states his earnest desire to see them, which up to that time was out of his power, and praises their faith as celebrated throughout the whole world. We must, then, conclude that Peter had already preached the faith there, since all antiquity reeog- ® Cor. n. 5, 6. f Bp ad Rom. X Apud Euseb. I. ii. u. xv. Hist. Eecl. J L. iii. hsor. c. iii. II Apud Euseb. 1. ii. c xxv. ^ L. odv. Pi'oculum apud Euseb. Hist. Eool. 1. ii. c. xv. «» lb. 1. iii. c. 1. f-f Ep. Iii. AntoDiano. PETER, BTSHOP OF ROME. 81 nises no other founders of the Roman Church hut these two apostles : the conjecture of Dr. Jarvis, that proselytes who were at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, introduced and established the faith at Rome, being wholly unsupported. Eusebiits, who compiled his ecclesiastical history from the most authentic documents of the early ages, states that Simon Magus, after he had been publicly rebuked by Peter, went to Rome, and that to counteract his efforts, " the all-bountiful and kind Providence which watches over all things, conducted thither the most courageous and the greatest of the apostles, Peter, who, on account of his virtue, was leader of all."* Theodoret, commenting on the passage of St. Paul, in which he expresses his desire to confirm the Romans in the faith, observes : " Be- cause the great Peter was the first to instruct them in the evangelical doc- trine, he necessarily said ' to confirm you ;' for he says : I do not mean to propose to you a new doctrine, but to confirm that which has been already delivered, and to water the trees that have been planted."f In a word : " The universal tradition of the Church," by the acknowledgment of Mr. Palmer, " ascribes the foundation or first government of the Roman Church to the apostles Peter and Paulj who were the greatest of the apostles."| It is, nevertheless, no easy matter to fix with certainty the precise date of the visit of the apostle to the capital of the empire, since ancient writers assign different periods, some probably referring to his second visit, while others speak of the former. With the few lights afforded us by Scripture, in regard to his movements and actions, and with the scanty historical ma- terials remaining, it would be unfair to require of us to adjust the chrono- logical order of events, so as to exclude all question. Learned antiquarians have exercised their skill in arranging them, and we are at liberty to adopt the results of their inquiries, or to remain in suspense as to the particular order of the facts, provided we admit that which is established by most unquestionable evidence, that the apostle Peter preached the faith at Rome before St. Paul addressed his letter to the faithful of that city.§ The letter to the Romans is generally assigned to the year of our Lord 58, the fourth year of the reign of Nero. Orosius, a writer of the fifth century, states that St. Peter came to Rome in the commencement of the reign of Clau- dius, who was the predecessor of Nero ; and St. Jerom, as well as Euse- bius, ascribes his visit to the second year of that reign, about the forty- fourth year of our Lord, so that we may consider this fact as attested by three judicious writers, who relied, no doubt, on ancient historical docu- ments. It probably occurred soon after the miraculous deliverance of the apostle from prison, when, rescued by the angel from the power of Herod, he went from Jerusalem " to another place." The See of Antioch had been previously founded by him, as the ancients assure us ; hut his stay * L. ii. Hist. Eccl, c. xW. f Com. in c.'l, ad Rom, J Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. oh. vii. p. 472. § De Romano D. Petri itinera et episcopatu, P. F. Foggini. 6 82 PETEK, BISHOP OF EOME. tliere was short, although he may have retained the special charge of it for seven years, as many aver : its administration, however, being con- fided to Evodius, who is the first on the list of its bishops after the apostle. Twenty-five years are generally assigned to the Eoman episcopate of St. Peter, which period intervened between the second year of Claudius, who reigned fourteen years, and the close of the reign of Nero, which is also believed to have lasted fourteen years.* The apostle nevertheless was not stationary during that whole period, since he must have returned to Judea, where he was present in the Council of Jerusalem, held in the nineteenth year after the resurrection of our Lord, about the fifty-first of the common era. His return may have been spontaneous, or it may have been occa- sioned by the edict published in the ninth year of Claudius,-}" by which all Jews were commanded to quit the imperial city ; J since the natives of Judea, whether practising Jewish rites, or professing Christianity, were included under this general denomination. While Nero occupied the throne, Peter visited Rome, as Lactantius testifies ;§ which must be un- derstood of a second visit, since the authority of Jerom, Eusebius, and Orosius is conclusive as to the visit under Claudius. St. Leo alludes to both, extolling the fortitude of the apostle, who dreaded neither the power of Claudius, nor the cruelty of Nero.|| The concurrence of both apostles in the foundation of the Church of Rome does not at all interfere with the special prerogative of Peter. Both apostles labored successfully in establishing it ; both consecrated it by their martyrdom ; both are even styled its bishops by Epiphanius ; but, in the stricter sense, Peter was peculiarly its founder and its bishop. The Bishops of Rome are wont to unite the invocation of these glorious apos- tles, and to act as by their joint authority, because the apostolic power was possessed by each, and the pre-eminence of Peter was not afi'ected by the joint labors and martyrdom of Paul : yet Peter was specially the Bishop of Rome. Cajus, already quoted, speaks of Victor, Bishop of Rome, as the thir- teenth in succession from Peter :^ and a contemporary writer says that Peter appointed Linus to succeed him in the chair of this great city, " in which he himself had sat." "The Church of Rome," he adds, "organ- ized by Peter, flourished in piety."** Hyginus is mentioned as the ninth occupant of the chair of Peter. Eusebius terms Peter the first Pontiff of the Christians :f f and speaks of Linus as " first Bishop of the Church of the Romans, after the leader Peter."§§ Optatus mentions the establish- *• Acts xii. 17. f Oros. Hist. 1. Tii. c. vi. J Acts xviii. 2. g L. de mortibus pers. c. ii. II Serm. i. in natali ap. Petri et Pauli. ^ Hist. Eccl. 1. v. u. xxviii. -■•■^" Contra Marcion carm. inter opera Tertull. ff Palmer, quoting Chronicle, an. 44. Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. part vii. ch. 1, p. 40.3. ^^ In Chronico : Primus, post coryphseum Petrum, Romanorum ecelesise episcopus. PETER, BISHOP OF ROME. 83 ment of tlie episcopal chair at Rome by Peter, as an unquestionable fact ; and states that Peter, the prince of the apostles, was the first to occupy it.* St. Chrysostom observes, that Linus was accounted the second Bishop of the Roman Church after Peter.""}" St. Jerom says : " Clement was fourth Bishop of Rome after Peter."J Augustin begins the list from Peter, whom Linus succeeded, and continues it down to his own time.§ That Peter was strictly Bishop of Rome, is clearly established by these most ancient and respectable witnesses. That Paul was not united with him in the episcopal office, although he labored with him in his apostolic charac- ter, is plain from the marked distinction observed by all the ancients, who never give Paul alone the appellation of Roman Bishop, which they fre- quently give to Peter, and from the general and ancient tradition, that there cannot be two bishops of one Church ; which was so strongly im- pressed on the minds of the Roman people, that when Constantius pro- posed that Liberius and Felix should jointly govern the Church, the faith- ful protested against the novelty, and cried out : One God, one Christ, ONE Bishop. St. Leo, addressing the Romans, on the anniversary of his own conse- cration, observes : " For the celebration of our solemnity, not only the apostolic, but likewise the episcopal dignity of the most blessed Peter concurs, who does not cease to preside over his own See, and obtains its unfailing union with the Eternal Priest. For that solidity, which he him- self being made a rock, received from Christ, he transmitted to his heirs likewise." II The alleged incompatibility of the apostleship with the episcopal ofSce arises from a confusion of terms. If Peter were said to be Bishop of Rome in such a way as to confine his authority and vigilance to this local church, it would interfere with his apostolic office and primacy, since he was charged with the care of all the churches, and could not divest him- self of this general government : but no one considers him bishop in this sense. He retained the special charge of the Church of Rome, which he founded, without foregoing his general solicitude for the universal Church ; and while he cherished the favored flock with peculiar care, he watched incessantly over all the sheep of Christ, wherever they were found, and urged the local pastors to the fulfilment of- their duties, as appears from his admirable epistle. Most writers have identified James, Bishop of Jerusalem, with the apostle of that name, which ^ows that they did not deem the episcopal charge incompatible with his apostolic character, al- though he would thereby appear exclusively devoted- to a single flock ; while the Roman bishopric of Peter does not imply any restriction of power or authority. Barrow virtually admits that James the apostle was * L. ii. c. iii. f Horn. x. in ii. ad Titum. J Cat. Script. Eccl. de Clemente. g Ep. ad Generos. II Serm, V. in anniversario assumpt. 84 PETER, BISHOP OF ROME. the same as the bishop,* and offers reasons why it was proper to give to him this special jurisdiction over the faithful of Jerusalem ; which, how- ever, can have no weight, if the apostleship and episcopate cannot be united in the same person. The silence of St. Paul concerning St. Peter in his letter to the Romans is no argument against the episcopacy of Peter, much less against the fact of his having been at Rome. The letter was written most probably at a time when Peter wag not in the city, to silence by his authority the dis- putants whom Paul labors to enlighten. Besides, a mere negative argu- ment cannot be admitted against positive testimony of contemporary wit- nesses, sustained by public facts and general tradition. Mr. Palmer says : " Hence we may see the reason for which the Bishops of Rome were styled successors of St. Petee, by some of the fathers. They were bishops of the particular ohurob which St. Peter had assisted in founding, and over which he had presided ; and they were also, as bi- shops of the principal church, the most eminent among the successors of the apostles ; even as St. Peter had possessed the pre-eminence among the apostles themselves."f To express the whole truth unequivocally, he should have stated that, as bishops of that local church, and successors of St. Peter, their pre-eminence was one of jurisdiction and authority extend- ing throughout the whole world. * Treatise on the Supremacy. Snppos. iv. ii. 11, 2. f A Treatise on tlae Cliurch, vol. ii. part "rii. ch. iii. } 1, p. 473. CHAPTER VIII. '§mm ^nu\. From tlie fact that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome at the time of his martyrdom, it follows that his successors in this See are heirs of his apos- tolic authority. The powers given to the apostles collectively are per- petual, but the bishops do not severally inherit their plenitude, since each receives charge of a special flock, as is intimated in the epistle of St. Peter,* with authority subordinate to that of the general ruler of the Church. Although all bishops are, in a qualified sense, successors of, the apostles, no apostle but Peter has a successor in the strictest and fullest acceptation of the term, because he alone was invested with the oflEice of supreme governor, which is essential to the order and existence of the Church in all ages. The primacy being of divine institution, as the words of our Lord plainly prove, it is by divine right vested in Peter, and in his successors : and the fact of his occupancy of the Roman See has deter- mined the succession to the Bishop of Rome. Hence we find all the an- cient writers speaking of the Roman Church as the Apostolic See, the head of all the churches. St. Ignatius, who, in the year 68, succeeded Evodius in the See of Antioch, on his way to martyrdom in 107, addressed a letter to the Church WHICH PRESIDES in the country of the Romans : " Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church that has obtained mercy through the magni- ficence of the most high Father, and of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son; the Church, beloved and enlightened through His will, who wills all things that are according to the charity of Jesus Christ our God ; which PRESIDES in the place of the Roman region, being worthy of G-od, most comely, deservedly blesSed, most celebrated, properly organized, most chaste, and PRESIDING- in charity, having the law of Christ, bearing the name of the Father." This language clearly indicates the pre-emi- nence of the Roman Church. St. lREN.a;us, who passed from the East to Gaul, about the middle of the second century, and became Bishop of Lyons in 177, refuting the Gnos- tics, who boasted of some secret tradition more perfect than the public teaching of the Church, appeals against it to the public tradition of all churches throughout the world, and offers the Roman Church as a compo- *■ 1 Pet. V. 2, r5 Iv iftXv TToi^viov, 85 86 ROMAN CHURCH. tent and authoritative witness of this general tradition. " All," he says, " who wish to see the truth, may see in the entire Church the tradition of the apostles, manifested throughout the whole world : and we can enume- rate the bishops who have been ordained by the apostles, and their succes- sors down to our time, who taught or knew no such doctrine as they madly dream of. But since it would be very tedious to enumerate in this work the succession of all the churches, by pointing to the tradition, of the greatest and most ancient church, known to all, founded and established at Rome by the two most glorious apostles Peter and Paul, and to her faith announced to men, which comes down to us by the succession of bishops, we confound all those who in any improper manner gather together,* either through self-complacency, or vain-glory, or through blindness, or perverse disposition. For with this church, on account of her more pow- erful, principality, it is necessary that every church, that is, the faithful, who are on all sides,f should agree,J in which the apostolic tradition has been always preserved by those who are on all sides."§ A better or more powerful]! principality is ascribed to this church, since heavenly empire surpasses earthly dominion ; and its influence in maintaining the integrity of Christian tradition, is shown by the necessity of harmony between all the local churches and tbis ruling church. The attempt to explain away this splendid testimony, by supposing the civil principality to be meant, is utterly futile : since this could be no reason why the churches and faithful should agree with the Koman Church. Hence it is pretended that agreement in doctrine is not meant, although it is manifest that the professed object of the writer is to prove the general tradition of the churches, of which, he takes the tradition of the Koman Church as evi- dence, the succession of its bishops being well known, and its relations to the other churches implying the harmony of their faith. To suppose that * The Greek term mWcyovai, " coUigunt," is understood, of assembling. f Undique, as it were jcukXw Tvavraxr]. The central character of Rome, and the conver- gency of the local churches, as rays to a centre, or focus, is beautifully insinuated. J Ad banc enim ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem con- venire ecclesiam. The learned Calvinist, Saumaise, admits that this is the force of the phrase, which is Hellenistic. He remarks: Ad Jianc eonvemre eccleaiam is a Grsecism for cum Itae convenire ecclesia. "Necesse esse dicit omnem ecclesiam convenire ad Romanam, id est, ut Griece loquutus fuerat Irenseus, cvfi^aivuv npo^ rifv Twy pwjiaiCiv iKic\rjtjiav, quod sig- nificat conveuire et ooncordare in rebus fidei et doctrinse cum romana ecclesia." Be pri- matu PapK, c.' v. Convenire as signifying motion, cannot be applied to a, church. It could not be said even of the faithful, that it was necessary for them to go to Rome. § MaximsB et antiquissimse et omnibus cognitte, a gloriosissimis duobus apostolis Petro et Paulo Romse fundatse et constitutse ecclesice eam quam habet ah apostolis traditionem, et annuntiatam hominibus (idem per successiones episcoporum pervenientem usque ad nos indicantes, confundimus omnes eos qui quoque modo, vol per sibi placentia, vel vanam gloriam, vel per csecitatem et malam sententiam, prseterquam oportet coUigunt. Ad banc enim ecclesiam, propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire eccle- siam, hoc est eos qui sunt undique fldeles : in qua semper ab his qui sunt undique, con- servata est ea quse est ab apostolis traditio. S. Iron. 1. iii. adv. heer. o. iii. II The reading varies, probably because po«tocem was put by contraction tor potentiorem. ROMAN CHURCH. gy the fortuitous visits to Rome of believers from various parts are referred to as affording evidence of general tradition, is manifestly inconsistent with the principles laid down by Irenjeus, and indicated in the very pas- sage itself; since it is of tradition descending through the succession of bishops that he speaks, and to their testimony and preaching, as divinely guaranteed by the gift, /apfo/ta, inherent in their office, he invariably as- cribes all certain knowledge of revealed truth. Besides, the frequency of the visits of believers to the capital of the empire is a gratuitous supposi- tion, void of probability, when we consider the humble condition of most of the faithful, and their great distance from Rome. Irenasus plainly speaks, not of travellers who happen ta visit the city, but of churches which harmonize with this most glorious and apostolig church, on account of her more powerful principality. By the acknowledgment of Palmer : " Irenseus says, ' the necessity of resorting to the Roman Church arose from the principality or pre-eminence of that church.'"* Dr. Nevin is more explicit : " It is not to be disguised," he says, " that the episcopate is viewed by him (Irenseus) as a general corporation, having its centre of unity in the Church of Rome. Against the novelty of here- tics, he appeals to the clear succession of the Catholic sees generally, from the time of the apostles ; but then sums up all, by singling out the Roman Church, founded by the most glorious apostles Peter and Paul, and having a certain principality for the Church at large, as furnishing in its line of bishops a sure tradition of the faith held by the universal body from the beginning."^ We have already heard TertuUian contesting the power of forgiveness, which the Bishop of Rome exercised; but acknowledging that he was apostolic, and that the Roman Church was the church of Peter, and that Peter was the rock on which the Christian Church is built. We shall now hear him speak reverentially of the authority of the Roman Church, ac- knowledging her to be the depositary and guardian of the apostolic doc- trine, and its incorrupt professor, in harmony with the African churches, as well as with the other churches throughout the world. The fact of the establishment of this church by Peter and Paul, and the consequent au- thority of her teaching, are fully testified by him ; nor is his testimony weakened by his subsequent pleas in support of Montanism, since evidence given before a public tribunal would not be affected by partisan efforts of the witness against those who were benefited by it. In the admirable work on Prescriptions, in which Teetuilian shows that the ancient doctrine alone can be true, because it comes down from the apostles, he ' thus invites the inquirer to pursue the investigation of truth, by listening to the teaching of the churches founded by the apos- tles. " Come, then," says he, " you who wish to exercise your curiosity * A Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. part vii. oh. v. p. 502. f Art. Early Christianity. Mercersburg Review, November, 1851. 88 EOMAN CHURCH. to more advantage in the affair of salvatioDj go through the apostolic churches, in which the very chairs of the apostles continue aloft in their places, in which their very original letters are recited, sounding forth the voice, and representing the countenance of each one. Is Achaia near you ? you have Corinth ? If you are not far from Macedon, you have Philippi, you have Thessalonica. If you can go to Asia, you have Ephesus. If you are near Italy, you have Kome, whence we also derive our origin.* How happy is this church to which the apostles poured forth their whole doctrine with their blood ! where Peter by his martyrdom is made like to the Lord : where Paul is crowned with a death like that of John : where John the apostle, after he had been dipped in boiling oil without suffering injury, is banished to the island : let us see what she learned, what she taught, what she professed in her symbol in common with the African churches."'!' He passes' rapidly over the other churches founded by the apostles, and which even to his day preserved the chairs on which they sat in the performance of their solemn functions, and their original letters. When he has reached the Koman Church, he pauses, exclaiming in rap- ture, how happy is she in possessing the abundant treasure of apostolic doctrine ! He appeals to her tradition, to her teaching, to her solemn pro- fession of faith, in which she was the guide of the Africa'n churches. Could we say more in her praise ? Need we claim for her higher prero- gatives ? She is the church whose symbol is the great watchword of faith, and with which the churches throughout the world harmonize. In urging the character of antiquity as a mark of true doctrine, Tertul- lian says : " Since it is evident, that what is true is first, that what is first is from the beginning, that what is from the beginning is from the apos- tles, it also must be equally manifest, that what is held sacred in the apostolic churches must have been delivered by the apostles. Let us see with what milk the Corinthians were fed by Paul; according to what standard the Galatians were reformed ; and what instructions were given to the Philippians, Thessalonians, and Ephesians ; what also the Romans proclaim in our ears, they to whom Peter and Paul left the Gospel sealed with their blood.";}; The appeal to the other churches chiefly regards the apostolic letters directed to them, while the faith of Home, as loudly pro- claimed within hearing, as it were, of Africa, is specially referred to ; for *■ Unde nobis quoque aitctoritas procsto est. Christianus Lupus shows that such is the force of aucto7'itas, as used by TertuUian. See Scholia. Also Diss. ii. de Afr. Eccl. ProT. c. 1. f Si autem Italise adjaces, habes Romam, unde nobis quoque authoritas prsesto est. Ista quam felix ecclesia, cui totam doctrinam apostoli cum sanguine suo profuderunt ; ubi Petrus passioni Dominicee adeequatur : ubi Paulus Joannis exitu coronatur ; ubi apos- tolus Joannes posteaquam in oleum igneum demersus, nihil passus est, in insulam rele- gatur: videnmus quid didicerit, quid docuerit, cum Africauia quoque ecclesiis contes- serarit. De PrEescr. IIlcf. o. xxxvi. J TertuUian, 1. iv. adv. Marcionem, p. 505. Quid otiam Komani do proximo soneut, quibus evangelium ot Petrus et Paulus sanguine quoque suo signatum reliquerunt. EOMAN CHUECH. 89 by its tradition coming down unchanged, through the succession of bishops, from its glorious founders, all heretics and sectaries are confounded. Tertullian boldly challenged them to exhibit any thing bearing a like weight of authority : " Let them then give us the origin of their churches : let them unfold the series of their bishops, coming down from the begin- ning in succession, so that the first bishop was appointed and preceded by any one of the apostles, or of apostolic men, provided he persevered in communion with the apostles. For in this way the apostolic churches exhibit their origin, as the Church of Smyrna relates that Polycarp was placed there by John ; as the Church of Rome likewise relates that Cle- ment was ordained by Peter ; and in like manner the other churches show those who were constituted bishops by the apostles, and made grafts of the apostolic seed. Let heretics feign any thing like this."* St. Ctpeian, who, in so many passages, recognises Peter as the rock on which the Church is built, and the one apostle in whom unity was established, is loud in his eulogies of the Eoman Church, which he styles THE PLACE OF PeTEK, THE PEINCIPAL ChUECH — THE EOOT AND MATRIX OF THE Catholic Chuech. In a letter to Cornelius, Bishop of Eome, he details the irregular proceedings of the schismatics, who had ordained Fortunatus bishop, and subsequently despatched Felicissimus to Rome, to deceive the Pope by false statements concerning his ordination : " A false bishop having been ordained for them by heretics, they venture to set sail, and carry letters from schismatical and profane men to the chaie op PeTEE, and to the PEINOIPAL CHUECH,f WHENCE SACERDOTAL UNITY AEOSE ; nor do they reflect that they are Romans, whose faith is extolled by the apostle, to whom perfidy can have no aocess."J The strong lan- guage of this passage forced from Dr. Hopkins, the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, this avowal : " Now here we have, certainly, a begin- ning of the doctrine of the Church of Rome, showing to us what we anti- cipated, when examining the evidence of Ireneeus, namely, how early the Bishops of Rome endeavored to secure dominion and supremacy. The influence of their efforts, too, we find first showing itself in the neighbor- hood of Rome, for Carthage, where Cyprian was bishop, lay within a moderate distance from the imperial city. Let it be granted, then, that in the year 250, about a century and a half later than Polycarp, a century later than Iren»us, and fifty years later than Tertullian, the doctrine was partially admitted that Peter had been Bishop of Rome, and that the unity *' Tert. de proRscr. hcer. Edant ergo originem ecclesiarum suarum : evolyant ordinem episcoporum suorum, ita per aucoesaioneg ab initio deourrentem, ut primus ille epiaeopus aliquem ex apostolia — habuerit auctorem et anteceasorem. — Sicut Romanorum (eccleeia) Clemen tern a Petro ordinatum. — Confingant tale aliquid bseretici! f CatKedrdm prijicipalem. Tbe Eoglish term prhieipal doea not fully expreaa the force of the Latin. The edicta of the emperora are often styled jusaionea principales. J- Ep. ad Cornel, lix.' 90 ROMAN CHURCH. of tte Churcli took its rise in the See or diocese of Peter."* An un- biassed mind would have perceived in the words of Cyprian the echo of those of Irenseus, and recognised the powerful principality of the chair of Peter as the principle of unity and the safeguard of faith. Writing to Antonian, an African bishop, to remove some doubts con- cerning the legitimacy of the election of Cornelius, St. Cyprian praises his magnanimity in accepting the pontifical office, which was attended with the manifest danger of martyrdom, since Decius the heathen emperor dreaded more the presidency of the Roman Bishop over the Christian people, than the approach of a powerful enemy : " How great was his vir- tue in the discharge of the episcopal office ! how great his courage ! how strong his faith ! To sit fearlessly at Rome in the priestly chair, at a time when the priests of God were threatened with dire torments by a hostile tyrant, who would hear with less pain of a rival prince rising up against him, than of a priest of God being established at Rome."f The dignity of the Roman Bishop must have been notorious, as well as eminent, to create such jealousy. It is objected, nevertheless, that Cyprian always treats Cornelius as a brother and colleague, and that Cornelius reciprocates, so as to appear on terms of perfect equality. This is easily accounted for by the fact, that all bishops are equal in their sacred character, the difference between them being merely of jurisdiction. Thus a Roman Council, in 378, says of Pope Damasus, that " he is equal in office to the other bishops, and sur- passes them by the prerogative of the Apostolic See."J Even at this day the Pope is wont to address all bishops as " venerable brethren," although at that early period Damasus called them his " most honorable children." We cannot satisfactorily account for the extraordinary authority recog- nised in the Roman clergy, during the vacancy of the See, except inas- much as they were regarded as the depositaries ad interim of the power ordinarily exercised by the Roman Bishop over the whole Church. St. Cyprian communicated to them the rules which he deemed it advisable to adopt in regard to those who had fallen in persecution, with a view to ob- tain their approval : which they gave in terms complimentary to him, and sufficiently expressive of their own authority. Their letter in reply was despatched, as St. Cyprian assures us, not only to himself, but " throughout the whde world, and brought to the knowledge of all the churches and of all the brethren :"§ which shows that the authority of the Roman Church, which they provisionally exercised, extended to aH portions of the uni- versal Church. The eminent dignity of the Roman Bishop, which, as we have seen from *• Lectures on the Reformation, by John Henry Hopkins, &a, p. 127. There are some mistakes in the chronological computation. f Ep. Antonian, Iv. J Ep. V. apud Constant, t. 1, col. 628. g Ep. xxx. Clori Romani ad Cyprian. EOMAN CHURCH. gj the testimony of Cyprian, was viewed with jealousy by Decius, was im- plicitly acknowledged soon afterward by Aurelian. Paul, Bishop of Samosata, had been deposed for heresy by the Council of Antiooh, in the year 268, but under the protection of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, he con- tinued to occupy the episcopal mansion. The Koman army, under the command of the emperor, having defeated the troops of the queen, the conqueror was implored to dispossess the heretical incumbent. Aurelian, feeling himself incompetent to decide a question which involved a point of Christian doctrine, decreed that " the right to the dwelling should be adjudged to him who should receive letters of communion from the Italian bishops of the Christian religion and from the Bishop of Rome."* This reference of a doctrinal dispute between Eastern bishops to the bishops of Italy, and especially to the Eoman Bishop, proves that the emperor knew that he was acknowledged by Christians of the East, as well as of the West, to be the chief judge of doctrine. The mention of the other Italian bishops may have been made, because the matter seemed sufficiently im- portant to be examined, and decided in a meeting, and to take the form of a solemn judgment. Ammian Marcellinus, a pagan writer of the fol- lowing century, is also witness that " the bishops of the eternal city enjoy superior authority ;"f which Barrow vainly attempts to explain of mere influence and reputation AuGUSTiN, speaking of Cecilian, the successor of Cyprian in the See of Carthage, pays a sublime tribute to the Roman Church, as possessing at all times, the apostolic power in all its fulness. Of the Bishop of Car- thage, he remarks, that " he might well disregard the combined multitude of his enemies, while he saw himself united, by letters of communion, with THE Roman Chuech, in which the princedom of the Apostolic Chair aiways flourished, and with other countries, from which the Gospel came to Africa, where he was ready also to plead his cause, if his adversaries should endeavor to estrange these churches from him. "J There is no possibility of mistaking the force of this testimony. The dignity of the Roman Church is ascribed to its apostolic origin. To its authority and unquestionable integrity Augustin appeals, even in the supposition , that the allegations of the Donatists against the African bishops and other bishops in communion with them were true : " If all throughout the world were such as you most wantonly assert, what has been done to you by the chair of the Roman Church, in which Peter sat, and in which Anastasius sits at this day ?"§ St. Jerom, who in his own cutting style so often lashed the vices of Rome, and treated with no indulgence the defects of the clergy, speaks with profound reverence of the Roman Church as the venerable See of the apostles, heiress of their faith, as well as of their relics. In his letter to * Euseb. Hist. Eocl. 1. yii. c. xxx. f L. xv. ^ Ep. xliii. olim clxii. ad Glorium et Eleusium. § K. contra ii. lit. Petiliani, u, 1, 92 KOMAN CHURCH. Marcella, he says : " There indeed is a holy church : there are the trophies of the apostles and martyrs : there is the true confession of Christ : there is that faith which was praised hy the apostle : and Christianity is there making new advances daily over prostrate heathenism."* Yet when cer- tain Koman usages were in question, such as the distinctions which deacons assumed, to the prejudice of the respect due to the priesthood and episco- pacy, Jerom refused to defer to these local customs, and strongly vindi- cated the honor of the higher orders. The pretensions of the deacons show the eminence of the Church, whose oflEicers they were, since other- wise there would have been no pretext for their assumption, while his caustic strictures prove his independent character, which must give in- creased weight to the homage, which he elsewhere renders to the apostolic See. " The Church," he says, " of the Eoman city is not to be thought something different from the Church of the whole world. Gaul, and Bri- tsdn, and Africa, and Persia, and the East, and India, and all the bar- barous nations adore one Christ — observe one rule of truth. If authority is sought for, the world is greater than one city. Wherever a bishop is, whether at Kome, or at Eugubium,-}- or at Constantinople, or Rhegium, or Alexandria, or Tanse, he has the same dignity, the same priesthood. Neither the power of wealth nor the lowliness of poverty makes a bishop more or less exalted :J but all are successors of the apostles. But you say, how is it that at Rome the priest is ordained on the testimony of the deacon ? Why do you offer as an objection the custom of one city ? Why do you allege, as laws of the Church, the insignificant number, from which haughtiness has-sprung ? Every thing that is rare is sought after. Their small number makes deacons respected ; the multitude of priests brings them into contempt. However, even in the Church of Rome, priests sit while the deacons remain standing."§ Jerom asserted the equality of the episcopacy, evidently with a view to embrace even the priests, in defence of whose privileges he was writing. Will any one, in the face of all the monuments of antiquity, maintain, that the Bishops of Rome and Eugu- bium, of Alexandria and of Tanae, were distinguished by no difference of jurisdiction ? The episcopal character is, indeed, alike in all j the Bishop of Eugubium is, in this respect, equal to the Bishop of Rome ; but the governing power, or jurisdiction, widely differs, for to the one the care of a small portion of the flock of Christ — to the other the charge of all the sheep and lambs is committed. Jerom cannot be supposed to depreciate the authority of the Roman Church, merely because he condemns the practice of a few deacons, who took occasion from the eminence of that Church in which they enjoyed special distinction, to treat with less reverence their superiors in the sacred » Ep. ad Marcell. f Gubbio, a small town in the Koman States. J The negation is wanting in some copies. J Hieronym. Evagrio. ROMAN CHUIICH. 93 ministry. Such customs as are peculiar to the local Church of Eome, need not he adopted by the other churches in her communion : and the abuses of individuals among the clergy of that Church, may be condemned, even by those, who, like Jerom, cry aloud that they cling to tht chair of Peter — who receive her faith and tradition with reverence, and who cherish her communion, because they " know that it is the rock on which the Church was built." All the bishops of the province of Aries concurred in a letter to St. Leo, in which, imploring the exercise of his authority in support of the privileges of the See of Aries, they distinctly recognised its apostolic source : " The Holy Roman Church," say they, " through the most blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, has the principality over all the churches of the world."* Leo himself, addressing the clergy and faithful of Eome, dwelt on the favor bestowed on them by the apostles : " They have raised you to such a pitch of glory, that, being made a holy nation, a chosen people, a priestly and royal city, the head of the world, through the sacred See of blessed Peter, you preside over a vaster region by the influence of divine religion, than before by earthly dominion."f Barrow asserts, that the imperial dignity of the city was " the sole ground upon which the greatest of all ancient synods, that of Chalcedon, did affirm the papal eminency to be founded ; for ' to the throne,' say they, ' of ancient Rome, because that was the royal city, the fathers rea- sonably deferred the privileges.' "J This assertion, however, is refuted by the very words of the council addressed to Leo, in regard to Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria : " He has extended his frenzy even against your apostolic Holiness, to whom the care of the vineyard was intrusted by the Saviour."§ When the Council speaks of prerogatives as bestowed by the fathers in consideration of the majesty of the city, they cannot be under- stood of the primacy itself, since this is no other than the care of the Lord's vineyard, which they expressly acknowledge to have been commit- ted by our Saviour Himself to Leo, in the person of Peter. The attempt of Palmer to explain away this solemn recognition of the divine origin of the primacy, as if it meant " by His providence in permitting that bishop to occupy so eminent a position in the Church, "|| is a perversion so un- candid as not to merit refutation. The privileges bestowed on the Roman See were only in recognition of its rights, by enactments tending to facili- tate their exercise, especially by the canons of Sardica, which acknowledged the right of the Roman Bishop to receive appeals, and the propriety of reporting to him from all parts the state of religion, as to one divinely charged with the solicitude of all the churches : " This seems excellent and most suitable, that the priests of the Lord, from the respective pro- * Ep. Ixv. inter Loonis ep. t Senn. Ixxxii. in Natali Apost. t Supp. v. u. ix. ? T. ii. p. 655, coll. Hard. 1] Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. p. vii. ch. iii. p. 476. 94 EOMAN CHURCH. vinces, report to the head, that is, to the See of the apostle Peter."* The imperial majesty of Rome was, indeed, the occasion of its being chosen by the apostle himself for the seat of his authority : if we may not suppose him to have been specially directed by Christ our Lord in a point so im- portant. The chief city of a heathen empire, oo-extensive with the civil- ized world, was peculiarly adapted to become the centre of a religion, which was to spread throughout all nations, making captives to Christ the lords of the earth, as well as their subjects, and extending its mild in- fluence beyond the utmost bounds of civilization. The divinity of Christ was manifested in a manner the most striking, when the fisherman of Galilee planted the cross in the city of the Csesars, and established his chair near the imperial throne, in the confidence that' his empire would far surpass theirs in extent, and that it would endure and flourish for ages after theirs had been broken into fragments by the barbarian. Most pro- bably the traveller would now seek in vain for the ruins of Eome, as for those of the eastern Babylon,| had it not been thus selected for the seat of a peaceful empire, far more glorious than that, which it once acquired by the irresistible valor of its legions. We may safely add, that it is de- stined to continue the fountain of civilization, art, science, and religion : ''Rome dont le destin dans la pais, dans la guerre, Est d'etre en tons les terns maitresse de la terre.";j; Rome, Heaven awards the world for thy domain ; As once in war, in peace is now thy reign. Some are willing to ascribe the origin of pontifical supremacy to the concessions of Christian -emperors, who were pleased that the Bishop of ancient Rome should preside over his colleagues : but it is manifest,, that it is to be traced to no such source. The seat of empire having been re- moved by Constantino to the city which bears his name, the imperial in- fluence was naturally enlisted in favor of its bishop, who, from being a sufiragan of the See of Heraclea, in Thrace, soon sought to become the second dignitary of the Church, to the prejudice of the rights of the Bi- shops of Alexandria and Antioch, and of other prelates. In 421, Theo- dosius the younger, overstepping the limits of the civil power, issued an edict, giving him cognizance of ecclesiastical causes throughout all the provinces of Illyrioum, which belonged to the Western patriarchate. Ho- norius, Emperor of the West, remonstrated with his Eastern colleague on this innovation, as prejudicial to the rights of the " Holy Apostolic See." "Doubtless," he says, "we ought specially to venerate the Church of that city, from which we have received the Roman empire, and the priesthood derives its origin." He begs him to " command the ancient order to be * Bp. Rom. Pont. Constant, t. 1, p. 395. f Mr. Lnyard has been partially suocessfal. See " Discoveries in the Buins of Niniveh and Babylon ; by Austin H. Layard." J Voltaire, La Henriade, ch. iv. EOMAN CHURCH. 95 observed, lest the Roman Church, under the empire of Christian priijces, lose what it retained under other emperors."* Theodosius, yielding to this remonstrance, revoked his former decree. The occupants of the See of Constantinople continued, nevertheless, to aspire after titles and power, with the marked favor of the Eastern em- perors, until at length Pope Boniface III., about the year 606, obtained from Phocas the legal recognition of his title, which some moderns mis- take for an imperial concession. Long before this period, namely, in 455, the Emperor Valentinian issued a decree, in- which he acknowledged the primacy of the Roman Bishop to flow from the princely eminence of St. Peter : " The merit of blessed Petee, who is the prince or the PRIESTLY ORDER, and the dignity of the Roman city, the authority also of the holy synod, strengthened the primacy of the Apostolic See."")" The mention of the dignity of the city cannot detract from the force of the first reason, which of itself is sufficient. The principality of Peter is the real and only source of the dignity of the Roman Church ; but the remembrance of the former civil importance of the city might be a motive in the mind of a •Christian emperor, for viewing with complacency the apostolic prerogatives, with which it was enriched. The authority of the holy synod of Sardica strengthened them, inasmuch as the recognition of them was calculated to increase the reverence of the faithful for this guar- dian power, established by Christ Himself, who constituted Peter " prince of the priestly order." Even Palmer says : " It would be a mistake to contend, that the pre- eminence of the Roman Church was derived altogether from the decrees of emperors, or from the canons of Councils, though it was much increased by such causes. It was founded on the possession of attributes, which collectively belonged to no other Church , whatever." J He might have simply said, that it was founded on the fact, that it was the See of Peter, which, a little before, he himself had acknowledged : " The Roman Church was particularly honored as having been presided over by Peter, the first of the apostles, and was, therefore, by many of the fathers, called the See of Peter."§ With more ingenuousness, Mr. Allies, while still an Anglican, avowed that " the precedency or prerogative of Rome, to whatever extent it reach- ed,- was certainly not either claimed or granted merely because Rome was the imperial city. It was explicitly claimed by the Bishop of Rome, and as freely conceded by others to him, as, in a special sense, successor to St. Peter. From the very first, the Roman Pontiflf seems possessed himself, as from a living tradition, which had thoroughly penetrated the local Ro- man Church, with a consciousness of some peculiar influence he was to •» Bp. ix. X. xi. apud Coustant. t. 1, col. 1029, 1030. f Nov. xxiv. in fine cod. Theod. Vide Hallam, Middle Ages, c. vii. p. 270. ^ A Treatise on the Church of Christ, vol. ii. part vii. ch. iii. p. 473. J Ibidem, p. 472. 96 ROMAN CHURCH. exercise over the whole Church. This consciousness does not show itself here and there in the line of Koman Pontiifs, but one and all seem to have imbibed it from the atmosphere, which they breathed. 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 Constantino, as by those who followed. The feeling of their brother bishops, concerning them, may have been less de- finite, as was natural ; but 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 St. 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 oiie, who is even very slightly acquainted with them, cannot with sincerity dispute it."* * The Church of England Cleared, &c. CHAPTER IX. Centre 0f Initg. 1.— COMMUNION WITH THE SEE OF ROME. The Bishop of Rome, being successor of St. Peter in the pastoral office, all the sheep of Christ are under his charge. All the bishops, with their respective flocks, constitute the one flock of Christ, under the one pastor, who is consequently the centre of general unity. All must communicate with him, since the members must be connected with the head : through whom they communicate with all their colleagues, even should they have no direct personal intercourse. The Church of Christ is essentially one — ^ one body, one sheepfold — a well-constructed house — a united kingdom. It is plain, from all ancient documents, that the Bishop of Rome was re- garded by all antiquity as a necessary bond of the universal Church, and that all bishops who valued Catholic unity, sought it in his communion. It is easy to perceive in Irenaeus the necessity of this union and harmony with the Roman Church.* The members must harmonize and be united with the head; the provinces of this spiritual empire must be subject to the ruling power; the local churches and faithful must agree with the principal and ruling church. Thus had apostolic tradition been preserved in its integrity in the Church of Rome down to the time of Irenseus. The succession of bishops from Peter and Paul, her founders, had transmitted their teaching ; and the whole body of believers, throughout the world, bore witness to it by the assent, which they gave to the doctrine of the Roman Church, whose communion they cherished fs an essential principle of church organization. St. Cyprian is an illustrious witness to the necessity of communion with the See of St. Peter, which is so strongly asserted by him, that Hal- lam deems his language more definite than that of Irenseus : " Irenseus," he remarks, " rather vaguely, and Cyprian more positively admit, or rather assert the primacy of the Church of Rome, which the latter seems to have regarded as a kind of centre of Catholic unity."f Mosheim avows, that the principles laid down by these fathers lead naturally to the admission of a central authority, such as is ascribed to the Bishop of Rome, and alleges that they were too simple and short-sighted * Seo p. 85. t Middle Ages, c. vii. p. 2?0, Amerio. ed. 1 ' 97 98 CENTRE OF UNITY. to understand the consequences ! "Cyprian and the rest cannot have known the corollaries which follow from their precepts about the Church. For no one is so dull as not to see that between a certain unity of the universal Church, terminating in the Roman Pontiff, and such a community as we have described out of Irenseus and Cyprian, there is scarcely so much room as between hall and chamber, or between hand and fingers."* The letter of St. Cyprian to Antonian, whom the representations of Novatian had caused to hesitate in recognising Cornelius as Bishop of Rome, begins thus : " I received your first letter, most beloved brother, which firmly maintains the harmony of the priestly college, and the cdm- munion of the Catholic Church, inasmuch as you intimate, that you hold no communion with Novatian, but that, following our counsel, you are in harmony with Cornelius, our fellow-bishop. You also wrote, that I should forward a copy of the same letter to Cornelius, our colleague, that he might lay aside all anxiety, knowing that yotj communicate with him, THAT IS, WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH."f This will enable us to un- derstand the full force of some other passages in the sequel. The Bishop of Rome, at that early day, was the centre and bond of Catholic commu- nion : through him the bishops of every part of Christendom communicated with each other, and thereby formed that episcopal college, of which Cy- prian so often speaks — as one in its character, tendency, and spirit. Antonian had requested to be informed what heresy Novatian had in- troduced. Cyprian replied, it was a matter of no consequence, as long as he was separated from the Church by his opposition to her lawful bishop : " As to what regards Novatian, concerning whom you have requested me to inform you what heresy he has introduced, know, in the first place, that we should not be curious to know what he teaches, since he teaches with- out. Whoever he is, and whatever qualifications he possesses, HE IS NOT A Christian who is not in the Church op Christ." No one can insist on the necessity of communion with the Apostolic See, in terms stronger than these. Immediately after the words just quoted, Cy- prian continues : " Though he boast of his philosophy, or proclaim his elo- quence in haughty words, he who does not maintain either fraternal charity, or ecclesiastical unity, has lost what he had been before. Unless, indeed, you regard as a bishop, an adulterer and stranger, who ambi- tiously endeavors to be made bishop by deserters, after a bishop has been ordained in the Church by sixteen bishops; and, while there is one Church divided by Christ into many members, throughout the whole world, and one episcopacy spread abroad in the concordant multitude of bishops, in violation of the unity of the Catholic Church, which is connected and joined together everywhere, he endeavors to make a human church, and sends his apostles through many cities, to lay the foundations of his new institution ; and while, long since, throughout all the provinces, and in every city, * Dissertatio de Gallorum appoU. J 13. -j- Ep. ad AntoDian. CENTRE OF UNITY. 99 bishops have been ordained — advanced in age, sound in faith, tried in times of oppression, proscribed in persecution, he dares create mock bishops in their stead." It would be absurd to argue that there is no superior au- thority in the Bishop of Rome above his colleagues, because the episcopate is one ; for surely the context shows, that it is not directed to establish the equality of all bishops, but their union for one great purpose — the govern- ment of the Church ; whence Cyprian concludes, that the refractory in- truder, Novatian, by his opposition to Cornelius, was cut oflF from the communion of all bishops, and of the Church. The very efforts of Nova- tian to secure the support and gain the communion of the African bishops, and to lay the foundations of his new institution, by means of his emis- saries, indicate that the station, which he claimed, was that of a bishop having general authority throughout the Church, on which account he was considered by Cyprian as laboring to establish a new institution, " a human Church," in opposition to the Divine institution of Christ. The language of this illustrious prelate is stronger than the mere usurpa^ tion of an ordinary bishopric, contrary to the rights of the legitimate pas- tor, would warrant. Such an act, however unjustifiable and criminal, is not in itself an attempt to make a new Church. When Fortunatus had been created bishop, by some schismatics, in opposition to Cyprian him- self, this prelate, while strongly reprobating the act, did not look upon it as one involving serious consequences to the universal Church, so that he neglected to inform Cornelius of it, until, on the application of the schis- matics for recognition, the Pope wrote to inquire into the facts, and the causes of his silence.* He complains, that the communications from Poly- carp, Bishop of the colony of Adrumetum,"!" which had been, in the first in- stance, addressed to him by name, had subsequently been directed to the priests and deacons of the Roman Church, which change he traced to a visit which Cyprian and Liberalis had made to the colony. This shows the frequency of the communications with the Roman Church from distant parts, and the right which the Bishop of Rome claimed, that they should be addressed to himself personally. Cyprian, whose mind from the be- ginning had been made up in favor of Cornelius, explains in his reply, the motives of the change, which was the result of a resolution taken by seve- ral bishops, in an assembly held on the subject, to avoid direct communi- cation with either of the claimants, until the return of the ambassadors, whom they had despatched to ascertain the facts. In the mean time they had been careful to cling to the Roman Church : " for," says he, " giving an account (of this reserve) we know that we exhorted all who sailed (hence') to acknowledge and hold fast to THE BOOT AND MATRIX OF the Catholic Chtjech." On the return of the ambassadors, all doubt about * Ep. lix. Cyprianus Cornelio. f Afterward called Heraclea, and recently HerMa, on the eastern coast of Innis. 100 CENTRE OF UNITY. the legitimacy of the election of Cornelius being removed, it was deter- mined, as Cyprian assures him, that letters should be written and ambas- sadors sent to him by all the bishops : " that all our colleagues should strongly approve of you, and hold fast your communion, that is, both the unity and charity of the Catholic Church."* The dignity of the Roman Church as the See of Peter, and the necessity of communion with her, could not be more touchingly expressed. In his admirable treatise on the unity of the Church, St. Cyprian main- tains that martyrdom avails nothing to him who is not in unity. Yet unity is a phantom, unless the central and connecting authority of the Bishop of Rome be admitted. The union of local churches in senti- ment and faith cannot be left to the result of mere chance. There may be, at least, as many creeds as there are bishops, if there be not a chief bishop in whom his colleagues recognise their leader and organ, to declare with authority, in the name of all, the common faith. By this means the general tradition can be collected, preserved, and trans- mitted. The bishops gathering around him may attest the faith of their respective churches, compare it with the unfailing tradition of Peter, and uniting with him in judgment, concur to proscribe all the novel inventions of human pride. Union of charity between churches discordant in faith, is a fond imagination of those, who would cover the shame of disunion, by affecting to cherish, what, at best, is but sympathy for the errors of their fellow-men. The Church is the pillar and the ground of the truth, which must be admitted by her members in all its fulness. She cannot be one without a common principle of government. There can be no permanent order without a controlling power. As in each diocese, the bishop is the ruler, in whom the clergy and faithful unite to form a local church, so all the churches must have a universal bishop, presiding over all, and directing and governing all. As there is one God, one Christ, one Church, one faith, so, according to Cyprian, there is one chair founded by the voice of the Lord on Peter. From him unity be- gan : in his chair the principle of unity is lodged : and the same necessity which obliges us to recognise one Church, leads us to acknowledge one Pastor, one Priest, one Judge in the place of Christ. The plenitude and independence of authority in the several bishops are totally inconsistent with unity. " Would there not have been," asks Mr. Allies, " not only imminent danger, but almost certainty, that a power, unlimited in its na- ture, 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 ?"f St. Cyprian holds the episcopate to be one, as the Church is one : " Does he who opposes and resists the Church — who forsakes the chair of Peter, «■ Ep. xlyiij. •)■ The Church of England Cleared, etc. p. 1?. CENTRE OF UNITY. 101 on whom the Church was founded* — flatter himself that he is in the Church J while the blessed Paul, the apostle, teaches this, and shows the mystery of unity, saying : ' One body, and one spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God V This unity ought to be firmly held and maintained, especially by us bishops, who preside in the Church, that we may show that the episcopate itself is one, and indi- visible. Let no one deceive the brotherhood by falsehood — let no one corrupt the truth of faith by perfidious prevarication. The episcopate is one, the parts of which hold severally from the whole ; the Church ia one, which is extended more widely by the increase of her fecundity. "f The scope of Cyprian is not to prove that one bishop is equal to another, or that each bishop possesses the entire episcopal power in its plenitude; but that the Church is one, and the episcopate one likewise, each bishop exercising his authority for the same general interest, and in inviolable Connection with his brethren. The phrase: cujus pars a singulis in soli- dum tenetur,^ marks the end and manner of the exercise of episcopal power — the unity and connection in which alone it can be enjoyed, since all bishops, according to Cyprian, are a collegium,^ or corporate body, the powers of which are communicated to the individual mem- bers with dependence on the general body, especially on the head. Dr. Nevin remarks, " it is enough for us to know that the unity of the Church was taken to stand in the solidarity of the episcopate, and that the proper radix and matrix of the whole system, as Cyprian has it, was felt to be the cathedra Petri, kept up by regular succession in the Church of Rome." II The book on the unity of the Church, which was addressed to those confessors of the faith, who had tarnished their glory by supporting the schism of Novatian, was, directed to prove, that those, who adhered to a rival of the lawful Bishop of Rome, forfeited all the privileges of the Church, which are only enjoyed in unity, all bishops being necessarily united in communion. As there can be only one bishop in each Church, whoever sets up or supports a rival prelate, by this schismatical act de- prives himself of the communion of the whole Church, which can only be enjoyed through the lawful bishop. This was especially true of the Bi- shop of Rome, the head of all bishops, although the principle may be ap- plied to any diocesan in communion with the chief bishop and the univer- sal Church. The great Archbishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, relates in praise of his brother Satirus, that on reaching shore after shipwreck, he was careful to ^ The words in italics are omitted in the edition of Erasmus, I helieve them to be ge- nuine, for the reasons elsewhere given; but I have no need of laying stress on them. f De unit. Ecol. J I have borrowed the translation of Dr. Nevin. For a full exposition of this text, and of the relations of the Pope to the college of bishops, I refer to a work of great value : " The Unity of the Episcopate Considered, by Edward Healy Thompson, M.A." The author is one of many English converts, ^ Ep. liu II A Word of Explanation, M.'R. March, 1852. 102 CENTRE OF UNITY. inquire, whether the bishop of the place " agreed in faith with the Catholic bishops, that is, with the Roman Church."* Thus communion with Rome was regarded as an evidence of orthodoxy and Catholicity. St. Optatus, arguing against Parmenian the Donatist, insists on the notoriety of the fact, that Peter established the episcopal chair at Rome, whence he infers the necessity of communion with the Bishop of that See. "You cannot affect ignorance of the fact, that the episcopal chair was first established by Peter in the city of Rome, in which Peter sat, the head of all the apostles, for which reason he was called Cephas :f in which one chair unity should be maintained by all ; that the apostles should not each set up a chair for himself, but that he should be at once a sohismaWc and a sinner, who should erect any other against that one chair." He gives the succession of pontiffs from St. Peter to Siricius, " who," says he, " is at this day our colleague, with whom the whole world as well as ourselves, agrees in one society and communion by the intercourse of the usual let- ters."J The chair of Peter is thus plainly recognised as the necessary bond of Catholic communion. ■ Mr. Palmer feebly attempts to elude the force of this remarkable pas- sage, by a qualified concession : " It is not denied that St. Optatus, in arguing against the Donatists as to the ' cathedra,' which they admitted to be one of the gifts of the Church, refers to the chair of Peter at Rome, as constituting the centre of unity in the Catholic Church. It was so in fact, at that time, and had very long been so."§ Truly, very long, even from the time that Peter founded that See : and so necessary was this centre of unity in the mind of Optatus, that whoever erects a rival see is a schis- matic and prevaricator. St. Augustin fully harmonizes with Optatus, in acknowledging the neces- sity of communion with the Roman, See ; and calls on the Donatists to embrace it, if they wish to be ingrafted in the vine.]] St. Jerom identifies the Roman with the Catholic faith, demanding : " What faith does Rufinus call his own ? Is it that which is held by the Roman Church, or that which is found in the writings of Origen ? If he replies : It is the Ro- man : then we are Catholios."T[ In the conflicting claims to the see of Antioch, of three prelates, of which we will speak more fully hereafter, he . manifested the greatest anxiety to discover which of them enjoyed the communion of the Pontiff, that with him only he might communicate. When the intention of St. Fulgentius to visit the monasteries of Egypt, with a view to attain to the perfection of monastic discipline, became known to Eulalius, Bishop of Syracuse, he effectually dissuaded him from putting * De obitu fratris. f Eock. Some pretend that Optatus confounded the Syriao term with the Greek term KE(l>a\Tjj which signifies head : but this is by no means certain, since he might well say that the apostle was called a rock, because he was head of all the apostles. J De Schismat. Donat. 1. ii. ^ A Treatise on the Church, part vii. eh. v. p. 503. [I Ps. contra partem Donati. ^ L. i. in Rufin. n. 4. CKNTRE OF UNITY. 103 it in execution, by remarking that they were separated from the com- munion of Peter, and consequently out of the way of salvation, whatever austerities t-hey might practise : " You are right," said the bishop, " in aspiring to perfection ; but you know that without faith it is impossible to please God. The countries which you desire to visit are separated by dire schism from the communion of Blessed Peter."* All the ancient symbols and fathers speak of unity as an essential attri- bute of the Church, as Mr. Manning has fully shown.f This unity was not realized unless by means of communion with the Eoman See, as Dr. Nevin candidly avows : "To be joined in communion with the See of Rome was in the view of this period to be in the bosom of the true church; to be out of that communion was to be in schism. It was not enough to be in union with any other bishop or body of bishops ; the sacrament of unity was held to be of force only, as having regard to the church in its universal character ; and this involved necessarily the idea of an universal centre, which by general consent was to be found in Kome only, and no where else."J The sophism of some moderns, who, from the popular use of the terms " Roman Catholic," infer that our claims involve contradiction, is easily refuted. The term " Roman" was applied to the Catholic faith by Pela- gius the heretic, who designated in this way the faith of St. Ambrose,§ aud by Theodosius the younger,|| as also by St. Jerom. The union of both appellations is popular, rather than ecclesiastical, for which reason it was objected to in the Congress of Vienna, by Cardinal Consalvi, who pre- ferred that the Church should be styled Roman and Catholic. , The popu- lar usage, however, admits of an easy explanation, since the mention of the seat of power does not necessarily limit the extent of empire ; and the centre can be pointed to without prejudice to the vastness of the circum- ference. The Church is Roman, because her visible head is Bishop of Rome : she is Catholic, because her spiritual dominion extends through- out all nations, even to the extremities of the world.^f g 2.— INTERRUPTIONS OF COMMUNION. Although special facts should never be allowed to militate against prin- ciples -which are certain, it may be useful to consider the particular cases in which prelates or churches are alleged to have been out of the commu- nion of the Roman See, without loss of church-membership or privileges. * B. Fulgentii vita c. xiii, ■f The Unity of the Church, by Henry Edward Manning, M. A., Archdeacon of Chiches- ter, ch. i. ii. ' J Early Christianity. Mercersburg Review, September, 1851. g Apud Aug, 1. de Gratia Christi, c. xlvi. ■ II In Cone. Eph. ^ Anglo-Catholic is a modem phrase, involving a real contradiction, since it unites an insular title, implying independent and separate existence, with a claim to universality. 104 CENTRE OF UNITY. St. MeletiuB, Patriarcb of Antiooh, is given as an instance : but it can never be shown that he was deprived of ecclesiastical communion, although for a time he did not enjoy ofBcial intercourse with the Pontiff. The Arians had concurred in his election, which threw doubt on his orthodoxy, and determined Damasus to recognise Paulinus, who was subsequently or- dained by Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli, at the solicitation of some Catho- lics. The suspicions entertained to his prejudice were known to be un- just by St. Basil and other Eastern prelates, who supported him in conse- quence of the priority of his ordination. Dataasus abstained, in his re- gard, from any positive act of exclusion, or of communion ; and Meletius persisted in maintaining his claims, with avowed reverence for the au- thority of the Pontiff. According to the established discipline of those ages, the patriarch, when duly elected and consecrated, received jurisdic- tion, under the obligation of communicating his election to the Pope, whose letters of communion confirmed him in the possession of his see : but the withholding of official intercourse, when not followed by positive excom- munication, did not strip him of his authority, much less did it place him beyond the pale of the Church. Meletius continued to profess adhesion to the Pontiff, so that when Sapores, the commander of the forces, came to Antioch, by order of the emperor Gratian, to deliver the churches to the bishop in communion with Damasus, Meletius satisfied him that he enjoyed it, and accordingly got possession. Vitalis had been consecrated bishop of the same see, by Apollinaris, and professed the same reverence for the pon- tifical authority. In fact, the three claimants were loud in their declara- tions of attachment to Eome. St. Jerom, who was then in Syria, being perplexed by their conflicting pretensions, tells the Pope that, to avoid mis- take, he held communion with the Egyptian confessor, that is, with Peter, Patriarch of Alexandria, then an exile in Syria, who had assisted at the Koman Council : " I follow here your colleagues, the confessors of Egypt, and amid the merchant vessels, I lie hid in a little boat. I know nothing of Vitalis — I reject Meletius — I care not for Paulinus. Whoever does not gather with you, scatters ; that is, whoever is not of Christ is of Anti- christ.'"^ He looked on Meletius with the suspicion with which he was generally viewed in the West, and therefore declined his communion. To rfelieve himself from perplexity, he addressed , a second letter to Da- masus : " The Church here being split into three parties, each is eager to draw me to itself. The venerable authority of the monks who dwell around, assails me. In the mean time I cry aloud : Whoever is united WITH THE CHAIR OF Peter, IS MINE. Meletius, Vitalis, and Paulinus affirm that they are united with you : if one only made the assertion, I could believe him : but in the present case either two or all of them de- ceive me. Therefore, I beseech you, blessed father — by the cross of the Lord, by the becoming zeal for the faith,"j- by the passion of Christ — as you » Ep. XV. f Necessary regard for the integrity of faith, which is the glory of the Church. CENTRE OF UNITY. 105 succeed the apostles in dignity, so may you rival them in merit — so may you sit on the throne of judgment with the twelve — so may another gird you like, Peter in your old age* — so may you gain the franchise of the heavenly city with Paul — declare to me by your letter, with whom should I hold communion in Syria. Do not disregard a soul for which Christ died."'!" This is the language of a man, who feels that it is the duty of a disciple of Christ, in whatever part of 4fce world he may be, to communi- cate with the Bishop of Rome, through the local prelate enjoying his com- munion. A compromise between Paulinus and Meletius was subsequently effected, as Sozomen and Socrates testify, and both prelates were recognised by the Council of Aquileja, held in 381. Meletius presided in a Council of An- tioch, held in 379, which solemnly embraced the decree of Damasus and the Roman synod against the errors of ApoUinaris, adding anathema to the gainsayers. The acts of this council were accepted at Rome, and placed in the archives of that See, bound up with those of the Roman synod, as appears from ancient manuscripts. The fathers of the Council of Constan- tinople, held in 382, in which Meletius was present, in their letter to the Pope, bore testimony to the integrity of his faith, of which the acts of the Council of Antioch, which they mentioned with praise, were a splendid evidence. His acceptance! of the doctrinal definition of Damasus, and the Pontiff's approval of the proceedings of the Council of Antioch, were solemn acts of direct communion, which show that Meletius did not die separated from unity, from which, in reality, he was never excluded.' It was Worthy of the truly liberal spirit of the Holy See to render homage after death to a bishop, whom, for a considerable period, it treated with distrust, under false impressions, which time has removed. The integrity of the faith of Meletius, the legitimacy of his ordination, and the eminence of his virtues, were generally recognised after his death, when rival pre- tensions and interests could no longer cast a cloud over them. The suc- cessors of Damasus united with the East in the celebration of his virtues, and his name was inscribed on the records of illustrious prelates of the Church, who, in difficult times, preserved the faith, and cultivated piety. His example may serve to show, that a man can attain to sanctity and salvation, although, from misconception and misrepresentation, he be not favored by the chief bishop with special marks of communion ; but it offers no ■ security to such as persevere in sects separated from the Church, con- trary to the divine law, which enjoins submission to our lawful pastors, and contrary to the divine constitution of the Church, of which unity is the distinctive principle. Meletius was neither leader nor member of a sect. He held the truth as it is in Christ ; he received with docility the teaching of the chief bishop ; he professed adhesion to his authority, and it was his misfortune, not his fault, that he could not for a time succeed in dissipating the suspicions that deprived him of official intercourse. * He wishes him the crown of martyrdom. f ^P- ^^'- Damaso. 106 CENTEE OF UNITY. The great solicitude of the Bishops of Antioch to enjoy the communion of the Apostolic See, appears from the efforts made in their behalf by St. John Chrysostom, on his elevation to the See of Constantinople. Having been priest of that Church, he charged the ambassadors whom he sent to Home to announce his own election, to use their influence to procure a formal recognition of the actual bishop of Antioch. Ambassadors also came from Flavian himself, as Innocent I. testifies : " The Church of Antioch, which the blessed apostle Peter, before he came to the city x>{ Rome, illus- trated by his presence, as a sister of the Roman Church, did not suffer herself to be long estranged from her, for, having sent ambassadors, she sought and obtained peace."* The misunderstanding had lasted seventeen years ; but it implied no difference of belief, or breach of unity. It arose from the difficulty of putting facts in their true light, and' dissipating pre- judices honestly entertained against individuals. It is freely admitted, that, in such circumstances, the want of direct communion with the Apos- tolic See may not be fatal to the cla:ims of membership of the Catholic Church : but the nature of unity and catholicity manifestly forbids us to consider as members of the Church, those who positively reject her com- munion. Mr. Palmer, after having assigned unity as a mark of the Church, labors with great industry to prove that it is possible that she may be divided in respect of external communion : thus throwing down with one hand what he builds up with the other. He particularly endeavors to show, that at various times the communion between the Church of Rome and the orien- tal churches was actually interrupted, as after the death of St. Chrysostom, when the Roman Church, followed by all the West, refused to communi- cate with the oriental bishops, especially with Theophilus of Alexandria, as long as they declined to re-establish the memory of the holy Bishop of Constantinople, This, however, was not an absolute excommunication, excluding them from the pale of the Church, but a denial of the usual marks of brotherhood, in order to compel them to do justice to the me- mory of a persecuted prelate. When Acacius, bishop of the same see, was excommunicated by the Pope, he could no longer be a member of the Church, since Christ binds in heaven those whom His vicar binds on earth. The oriental bishops who still adhered to Acacius, violated their duty, and such of them as professed the heresy for which he was con- demned, forfeited thereby the communion of the Church : but those who only indulged partisan attachment, without rejecting the faith and com- munion of the Pontiff, and who were not expressly separated from the Church by his act, might remain included among her members. The period of thirty-five years which elapsed before this dissension was healed, was not one of absolute interruption. The communion between the East and the West was partially suspended, rather than broken off; the Pope refusing to give tokens of his communion to the oriental prelates, as long *■ Ep. xxiii. Bonifacio, col. 852, 1. 1. Coustant. CENTRE OF UNITY. 107 as the name of Acacius remained on the sacred tablets. The condition on which a reconciliation took place, was a solemn engagement on the part of John, Bishop of Constantinople, not to allow to be inscribed on the tablets of the Church, the names of , any who did not in all things har- monize with the Apostolic See : " We promise," said he, writing to Pope Hormisdas, in the year 515, that " hereafter the names of such as are se- parated from the communion of the Catholic Church, that is, such as do not in all things harmonize with the Apostolic See, shall not be recited in the celebration of the sacred mysteries."* Thus harmony with the Holy See was declared to be identical with communion with the Catholic Church. In the great schism between the rival claimants of the papal chair, in the fourteenth century, on which Mr. Palmer lays great stress, there was no rejection of the pontifical authority, which on the contrary all solemnly recognised, although the doubt which existed as to the fact — who was lawful Pontiff — prevented their mutual intercourse. No instance can be produced from the history of the Church to prove, that any one who openly denies the primacy of the Apostolic See, or who is solemnly excommuni- cated by the lawful occupant of the papal chair, can be regarded as a member of the Church : much less can it be shown that any local church, or any collection of churches, absolutely separated by their own act, or by the act of the Pontiff, from his communion, can be considered as portions of the universal Church. The unanimous teaching of the fathers demon- strates that the unity of the Church is indivisible, and that she is one, not only in each place by her local government, but throughout the world, by the compact connection of all her parts ; on which account she is com- pared by St. Cyprian to a tree, whose branches spread all around, to a spring whose waters flow through numberless channels, and to the sun whose rays shed light abroad throughout the entire earth : " The Church is one, which, by the growth of its fruitfulness, is spread widely into a multitude : as there are many rays of the sun, but one light, and many branches of a tree, but one trunk planted in the clinging root : and though from one source many rivers flow, so that there seem to be many several streams, by reason of the fulness of the abundant flood, yet is the oneness maintained in the original spring. Take off a ray from the body of the sun, the unity of light admits no division; cut off a stream from the source — that which is out off dries up ; so the Church, filled throughout with the light of the Lord, spreads its rays through the whole world ; yet ig it only one light which is everywhere diffused ; nor is the unity of the body severed : by reason of its abundant fulness it stretches its rays into all the earthj it pours widely its flowing streams, yet there is one head, and one beginning, and one mother, teeming with continual fruitfulness."f « Cone. t. ii. col. 1077. t Cyprian de Unit, Eeol. CHAPTER X. ^mmt femgUs at fapl |ittt|0ritg. ? 1.— DISTURBANCES AT CORINTH. It is declared by St. Paul that heresies are attended with advantage, inasmuch as they serve to try men, and to distinguish the faithful and stable' from the unsteady and perverse : " there must be also heresies, that they also who are approved, may be made manifest among you."* They serve, at the same time, to mark more clearly the faith of the Church, and to render it more illustrious. In like manner schisms, controversies, and scandals, in the designs of Providence, become instrumental for good, afford us a salutary warning to shun strife and crime, and lead us to respect au- thority. Toward the end of the' first century, before the death of St. John the apostle, violent commotions broke out at Corinth, in which the clergy suf- fered by the opposition of rash and misguided men. The persecutions which, about the same time, raged at Eome, prevented immediate action in the case on the part of the Church of this city ; but as soon as an interval of peace was granted, an effort to restore harmony was made in the name of the Roman Church, and a letter of expostulation and advice was sent, which was so esteemed and venerated, that long afterward it was wont to be read publicly in the Church of Corinth,! and is justly valued among the most precious monuments of Christian antiquity. Messengers were despatched, charged to use every exertion to re-establish order. The terms of the letter may not satisfy a fastidious critic that superior authority was claimed by the writer, because persuasion only is used; but the judicious reader will easily understand, that where passions are excited, they can scarcely be subdued by urging abstract views of power. The interposition of a distant prelate in the internal affairs of the Corinthian Church, cannot be accounted for satisfactorily unless by reference to his universal charge, especially as the apostle John, then residing at Ephesus, was much nearer to the scene of strife, and could hope to exercise greater personal influence, besides the authority of his ofl&ce.J Had not Clement felt it to be his , * 1 Cor. xi. 19. f Dionya. cor. apud Euseb. Hist. Each I. iv. c. xxiii. J This forms a difficulty in the mind of Dr. Sehaff, that an apostle should be in nny ■way subordinate to Clement, the Roman Bishop; but it Is nowise incompatible -n-ith his privileges as an apostle to respect the order established by Christ for tho benefit of the whole Church. 108 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. 109 duty, he scarcely would have ventured, in such circumstances, to address the revolters. That he wrote the letter, although it bears the name of " the Church of God which is at Rome," is attested by Irenaeus, a writer of the next age ;* and the title is sufficiently accounted for, by the ancient custom of assembling the clergy on occasions of great importance, and acting with their advice and concurrence. The bishop and the church were identified in such acts, since, as St. Cyprian remarks, " the church is the people united with the priest and the flock following its pastor ; whence you should know that th(, bishop is in the church, and the church is in the bishop."f § 2.— PASCHAL CONTROVERSY. The second century affords us more decisive proofs of the official inter- ference of the Bishop ot Rome in the affairs of the Eastern churches. A difference of discipline in regard to the time of celebrating Easter existed, from the commencement, between the churches of Asia Minor and the Western churches. The former alleged the authority of St. John the evangelist for celebrating it on the same day as the Jews; thus changing the object of the festival, and commemorating the resurrection of our Lord, while the Jews ate of the paschal lamb. The Western churches, especially the Church of Rome, and also the Church of Alexandria, celebrated it on the Sunday following the Jewish feast; not wishing to appear to retain any thing of the abrogated ceremonial. The matter in itself was indifferent, and the various usages may have been originally sanctioned by the respec- tive apostles, who founded the churches, since variety in discipline may be expedient, according to local circuinstances. In places where the con- verts from Judaism formed the main body of Christians, their transition to Christianity was rendered less difficult by retaining the day of their solemnity ; and thus the usages of the Asiatic churches may have had the sanction of St. John. At Rome, and wherever the churches were chiefly composed of converts from heathenism, the same delicate regard to Jewish feelings not being required, it seemed expedient to leave no occasion for supposing that any legal observance was still in force among Christians. Anicetus, who held the chair of St. Peter about the middle of the second century, endeavored to persuade Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, on occasion of his visit to Rome, to conform to the more general usage ; but the vene- rable prelate pleaded so strongly in- favor of the custom of the Asiatic churches, that Anicetus abstained from any positive prohibition, and treated his illustrious guest with the honor which his virtues and station deserved. Near the close of the same century, Victor, Bishop of Rome, resolved to procure uniformity, even by having recourse to severe measures, if necessary. » L. iii. adr. hser, c. iii. f Bp. Ixix. ad Pupianum. 110 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHOKITT. The Western bishops were unanimous in desiring it, and among others, Ireneeus, Bishop of Lyons, at the head of a synod in Gaul, wrote to the Asiatic churches, strongly recommending it.* A letter to the same efFeot was issued in the name of Victor, by a Eoman synod over which he pre- sided, exhorting the bishops of Asia to hold synods, in order to bring about the change.f At Csesarea of Palestine a numerous Council was held, which enacted that the Paschal festival should thenceforward be celebrated on Sunday : but Polyorates, Bishop of Ephesus, with a synod in which he presided, persisted in defending the ancient usage. Victor resolved on cutting off the refractory from his communion, which so alarmed Iren^us, that he wrote to him an earnest letter of remonstrance, deprecating the loss of so many churches to Catholic unity, for an obser- vance which had been so long tolerated, and reminding him of the wise in- dulgence of Anicetus, who treated Polycarp with marked distinction, not- withstanding the tenacity with which he clung to the Asiatic practice.^ All these facts, which are detailed by Eusebius, are not called in question by any of the learned. It is, however, doubted whether Victor actually pronounced excommunication. Of the justice and wisdom of the course pursued by Victor, different sentiments may be entertained : but it cannot fairly be questioned that he claimed authority over the Asiatic churches, and, at least, threatened to employ it, in the severest manner, to compel them to conform to the more general usage. The pertinacious adherence of Polycrates and other bi- shops to the custom of the East, may be used to show that the ancient rites of local churches should not be hastily proscribed, even by the Bishop of Rome : but it does not prove that his authority was called in question. In the letter of the synod, which maintained the usage, precedents are in- sisted on as justifying it; while the obvious reply is omitted, which would have been at once conclusive, had Victor no right to control the churches of the East. The holding of various local Councils by his orders, the compliance of some of them with his injunction, the plea of ancient pre- cedent strongly urged by others, the remonstrance of Irenseus against pre- cipitate severity, all concur to prove that the authority of Victor was uni- versally admitted, although the justice or expediency of its exercise was questioned by some. This is all that is implied in the words of Poly- crates : " I am not at all moved by the threats held out to me : for greater than I have said : ' It behoveth us to obey God, rather than men."'§ It is plain that he considered Victor as commanding, and menacing; but under the false impression that the festival day prescribed by God to the Jews was still obligatory, he refused obedience to what he deemed an un- * See letter of Irenseus, inter Up. Bom. Pont. Coustant. col. 105. t. i. ■(■ See letter of Polycrates to Victor, ibidem, ool. 100. He states that he had summoned the bishops at his request. J L. T. Hist. Eocl. c. xxiii. xxiy. g Tide inter Kom. Pontif. epist. studio Petri Coustant, t. i. ool. 99. ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. m just precept, and an abuse of authority. Had he recognised in the Roman Bishop no power to command, he would surely at once have repelled the attempt to dictate to him, and boldly denied his right of interference. Whether Victor actually issued an excommunication, or merely threat- ened to issue it, his claim to superior power is manifest. Potter speaks of his act as unjust, but adds : " however, it is a good evidence that excom- munication was used at this time in the Church."* He might have said with equal truth, that it is good evidence that the Bishop of Rome at that early period, claimed power over the bishops of Asia, ordered them to hold synods with a view to put his decree in execution, and threatened them with excommunication, in case of resistance ; and that those who resisted his orders, did not call in question his authority. From the narrative of Eusebius, it is clear that his threat was not looked on as an insolent as- sumption of power, or an idle waste of words, but that every effort was made by argument, remonstrance, and entreaty, to avert its execution. The judgment of the entire episcopal body in the Council of Nice, vindi- cated the wisdom and foresight of the Pontiff, by classing among heretics the Quartodecimans, who, under the false persuasion, that the Mosaic law was still obligatory as far as the day of the paschal solemnity was con- cerned, persisted in celebrating the Christian festival on the same day on which the Jews offered the paschal victim. This is not the only instance in which the Popes have proved their deep discrimination, and enlightened zeal to reform usages pregnant with danger to the integrity of Christian faith, and have received the highest homage that could, be rendered to their wisdom, by the final adhesion of the episcopal body and of the whole Church to their judgment. Like watchful pilots, they were the first to discern the distant speck, which gradually grew into a thunder-cloud, and burst in fury on the vessel of the Church, whose helm, with steady hand, they directed. ? 3.— MONTANISM. The heresy broached by Montanus, of Mysia, in the decline of the second century, prevailed in various parts of Asia Minor and Phrygia. The heresiarch denied the lawfulness of second marriages, and the power of forgiving heinous sins, such as adultery, murder, and apostasy. Every effort was made by his followers to procure from the Bishop of Rome at least an indirect sanction for their errors, by the admission of their abet- tors to communion : and if the testimony of Tertullian, who embraced the sect, can be relied on, they actually succeeded in disposing himf to write to the Asiatic churches to this effect. However, the timely arrival of Praxeas, who himself had been of their number, defeated their artifices.J * On Church Government, p. 335. f Tertullian does not give his name. X TertuU. Lib. ad Praxeam. 112 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OP PAPAL AUTHORITY. The martyrs of Lyons addressed Eleutherius, urging him to oppose the progress of the heresy, by the authority of his office, which he accordingly employed for that purpose.* Of this mission, St. Jerom says : " Irenaeus, a priest of Pothinus, the bishop who then ruled the Church of Lyons, in G-aul, was sent as legate by the martyrs of that place to Kome, concerning certain ecclesiastical questions."f The decree of the Bishop of Rome, by which adulterers, as well as other sinners, were declared admissible to communion, after suitable penance, is mentioned by Tertullian in terms that prove him to be a reluctant witness to the pontifical supremacy : " I hear that an edict has been published, and, indeed, a peremptory one : namely, the bishop of bishops, which is equivalent to the sovereign Pontiff, proclaims : I pardon the sins of adultery and fornication to such as have performed penance. This is read in the Church, and is proclaimed in the Church. "J The authority from which this decree emanated, was manifestly supreme, since it was thus publicly acknowledged by the solemn promulgation of this "peremptory"' edict. The Bishop of Eome, of whom Tertullian confessedly speaks, is styled by him "bishop of bishops,"§ because he acted as having power over other bishops. It is not at all probable, that he employed the lan- guage which the Montanist puts in his mouth, since the Popes have al- ways abstained from the use of pompous and offensive titles : but his acts bespoke him to be the chief bishop, which was tantamount, in the mind of Tertullian, to ' sovereign Pontiff,' a title at that time justly detested, on account of the idolatrous functions which belonged to the office, although after the extirpation of idolatry, it was applied, in an innocuous sense, to the High Priest of Christianity. George Stanley Faber admits that the primacy was already claimed : " In the time of Tertullian, whose life ex- tended into the third century, a considerable advance had plainly been made by the See of Rome, in the claini of the primacy, inasmuch as he calls the Bishop of that Church the supreme Pontiff, and distinguished him with the title of Bishop of bishops."|| In combating this decree, Tertullian maintained that the power given to Peter did not regard the remission of sins, and that, whatever it was, it was conferred on him personally, not communicated to the Church at large, or even to the local Church, of which he was founder. While recognising the Roman Bishop as " Apostolic," that is, successor of the apostle, and the Roman Church as Peter's Church, he insists that the duties of the bishop " are merely disciplinary, to preside, not imperiously, but minis- terially," and denies his right to exercise the power of forgiveness : " I now * Euaeb. 1. v. Hist. Eool. e. iii. "j- Cat. Script. Eccl. t. iv. 113. J L. de pudicitia, c. 1. § Poutifex scilicet Masimus, quod est episcopus episcoporum. There is an inversion in tlie sentence, wliicli is quite familiar to Tertullian. II Difficulties of Romanism, by George Stanley Faber. Note, p. 261. Phil. edit. ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. I13 ask your own sentiment, whence do you claim this power for the Church ? " If, because the Lord said to Peter, ' on this rock I will build My Church,' ' to thee I have given the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' or, ' whatsoever thou shalt bind or loose upon earth, shall be bound or loosed in heaven,' you presume, on that account, that the power of loosing and binding has come down to you, that is, to the whole Church allied to Peter ;* who are you, to overturn and change the manifest intention of the Lord, who con- ferred this on Peter personally ? ' On thee,' he says, ' I will build My Church, AND TO THEE, (not to the Church,) I will give the keys, and whatsoever THOU shalt bind or loose, not what they shall bind or loose !"f This partisan effort to limit the promise to Peter personally, should meet with little sympathy from those who strive to extend it to all the apostles, and to all bishops : yet Faber triumphs in the sophistry of the Montanist, and remarks with complacency : " He flatly denies that it can be construed as belonging to what then began to be esteemed as Petek's Church."J It is unfair to speak of this as a nascent opinion, since Tertullian uses positive language, and elsewhere refers confidently to the succession of the Roman bishops from Peter, and the authority of their teaching. He is an unexceptionable witness of the claims of the Bishop of Rome in his time, and of the authority which he efi'ectually exercised, and which was courted even by opponents, with a view to betray him into some measure favorable to their errors. It was felt in Phrygia, where the sect numbered a multitude of votaries ; and in Africa, where it was assailed by the power- ful logician whose subtilties we have exposed. At the same time it was venerated in Gaul, by the martyrs, who from their dungeons implored its exercise, to preserve the faith in its integrity. ? 4.— CONTROVERSY CONCERNING BAPTISM. The dispute concerning baptism administered by heretics rose to a high pitch of excitement in the middle of the third century. The various sects that denied the mystery of the Trinity, naturally introduced changes into the form of words used in baptizing, by which it was entirely vitiated ; and, of course, no account was had of the act, when converts from them sought to be admitted to the Catholic Church. The custom of baptizing such persons was extended in some parts of Africa to converts from all the sects, even to such as had been baptized with the due form of words ; which usage had received the sanction of Agrippinus,^ Bishop of Carthage, in a Council held early in this century. St. Cyprian, through horror for heresy, and love for Catholic unity, added his approval in several Councils, " reprobating the baptism of heretics, and sent the acts of an African synod held on this subject, to Stephen, who was at that time Bishop of the city of Rome."§ His ambassadors, however, were not received to com- * Ad omnem ecclesiam Petri propinquam. f L. de pudioitia, u. xxi. :|: Difficulties of Romanism, Note, p. 261. J St. Jcrom, Dial. adr. Lucifer. 114 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. munion by tlie Pontiff, wlio was liighly displeased at this attempt to establish a usage different from the general custom of the Church, founded on ancient tradition. In reply, he sent to Cyprian a command in these terms : " Let no change -be made, contrary to what has been handed down." This de- cree was received with murmurs by the bishops of Africa. Cyprian at their head, in a subsequent Council, continued to adhere to the usage which he had previously sanctioned, professing, however, that he did not mean to force others to conform to his practice, since each was responsible to God for the administration of his diocese. " No one of us," he says, " constitutes himself a bishop of bishops, or, by tyrannical terror, compels his colleagues to the necessity of obedience, since every bishop enjoys his own judgment according to the liberty of his power, and can no more be judged by another, than he can judge another. Let us all await the judg- ment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has the power both to place us in the government of His Church, and to judge of our conduct."* Were these words taken as they sound, they would suppose each bishop absolute and independent ; whereas all antiquity attests that the action of individual bishops may be directed and controlled by synodical enactments — not to speak at present of the authority of the Holy See — and that delinquents maybe removed for mal-administration, or misconduct. St. Cyprian, then, cannot be understood in this sense. He himself, as we shall hereafter see, had solicited the Pontiff to remove /Marcian from Aries, and approved of the deposition of Basilides, which had been made in a Spanish Council. The liberty which he claimed was in matters not decided by the supreme authority of the Church, as St. Augustin testifies.^ He stated, with com- placency, that neither he himself, nor any of his African colleagues, acted as " bishop of bishops," because all were willing to allow a difference of sentiment and practice in the matter of baptism ; which not conceiving to interest faith, they referred to the judgment of God ; and he attached the more importance to their harmony in sentiment, as being totally uncon- strained and uninfluenced. If he be supposed to use these terms sarcas- tically, with reference to Stephen, it must be allowed that this Pontiff claimed and exercised the authority of a superior. Such is the tenor of the extant documents, which are considered by most writers as genuine, although their authenticity was questioned by some so far back as the days of St. Augustin.J The practice of baptizing anew converts from heresy had also crept into some provinces of Asia, and " Stephen had written concerning Helenus, and Pirmilian, and all the priests throughout Cilicia, Cappadocia, and all the neighboring provinces, that he would not communicate with them, for this same reason, that they rebaptized heretics."§- Dionysius, Bishop of ■'^ SententiEB episcoporum, Ixxxvii. de hcer. hapi, ■(■ De Bopt. contra Donatistiis, 1. iii. c. iii. f Ep. xciii. ad Vincentium Rogat. ^ 38. J Dionys. Ale-^c. apud Emeb. I, v. Hist. Eccl. ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. II5 Alexandria, who states the fact, wrote to Stephen, deprecating this se- verity. This serious dispute shows the authority which the Bishop of Kome then exercised, and which, even when resisted, on account of its supposed abuse, was, in fact, acknowledged. The transmission of the proceedings of the African synod to Kome, was a marked testimony of the pre-eminence of the Roman Bishop ; whose immediate action in the case proves that he conceived himself authorized to judge of the correctness of the canons, and to rescind them, when found in opposition to the general and ancient usages of the Church. It was viewed in this light by St. Vincent op Lerins, a profound writer of the fifth century, who points to it as an, in- stance in which novelty was successfully opposed by the Successors of Peter. "When, therefore, all cried out from all quarters against the novelty, and all priests, in every place, struggled against it, each according to his zeal, Pope Stephen, of blessed memory, who at that time was pre- late of the Apostolic See, resisted, in conjunction, indeed, with his col- leagues, but yet more than his colleagues, thinking it pit, as I suppose, THAT HE SHOULD SURPASS ALL OTHERS IN THE DEVOTEDNESS OP HIS PAITH, AS MUCH AS HE EXCELLED THEM BY THE AUTHORITY OP HIS STATION. Finally, in the epistle which was then sent to Africa, he de- creed in these words : that ' no innovation should be admitted, but THAT what was HANDED DOWN, SHOULD BE RETAINED.' What force had the African Council or decree ? None, through the mercy of Grod."* The history of this controversy plainly proves; that on both sides it was maintained that Stephen held the place of Peter. We are asked how could Cyprian have dared resist, if he had regarded Stephen as his eccle- siastical superior ? The answer is obvious : He believed that Stephen rashly employed his authority, to proscribe a practice intimately connected with the unity and sanctity of the Church. Respectful remonstrance is permitted, whenever authority is injudiciously exercised. Cyprian felt that to acknowledge the baptism of heretics was virtually to sanction heresy, by communicating to an adulteress the unalienable privileges of the pure Spouse of Christ ; and resting on her acknowledged unity, he rejected the pretensions of every sect. Stephen, relying on ancient usage and tradi- tion, condemned the novel practice, and the decree made in its support ; yet he did not issue a formal definition of faith. St. Augustin confidently says, that Cyprian would have readily acquiesced, had the matter been placed in a clear light by the examination and decision of a general Coun- cil, which does not imply that he would have submitted to no other au- thority, but that by this means the general practice of the Church |nd her ancient tradition would have been clearly proved. In the facts of the case we have evidence of a most unequivocal exercise of superior power on the part of the Pontiif. On the other hand, we behold the advocates of * Commonit. ■•:. viii. 116 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. the novel usage deriving an argument against his conduct from Ms station as successor of St. Peter, and official guardian of Catholic unity. On this point Firmilian of Cappadocia especially relied, in his irreverent invective against the pontifical decree. "I am," said he, "justly indignant at this open and manifest folly of Stephen, who, while he boasts of the rank of his bishopric, and contends that he holds the succession of Peter, upon WHOM THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE ChURCH WERE PLACED, brings in, nevertheless, many other rocks, and builds the new edifices of many churches, defending their baptism by his authority. The greatness of the error, and the strange blindness of him who says, that the remission of sins can be given in the synagogues of heretics, and does not abide on the foundation of the ONE Church, which was originally built by Christ on the rock, may be understood from this, that 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 also in heaven.'"* Had the claims of Stephen to the place and power of Peter been questionable, Firmilian doubtless would have denied them, in order to show that the decree forbidding innovation was void of all autho- rity ; , whereas he contents himself with drawing thence an argument for his error, and accuses Stephen of dishonoring the memory of the apostles Peter and Paul, whose place he occupied, by referring to them the usage of admitting the baptism of heretics. The language which he uses toward Stephen is an evidence of the warmth of feeling with which he defended his favorite practice, in opposition to the high authority which condemned it. Had it been in his power to deny the authority itself, he would surely have done it in no measured terms. Writing to Jubaian, against baptism administered by heretics, St. Cy- prian maintained that the remission of sins cannot be imparted by it, because heretics have no share in the powers of forgiveness granted to Peter, the foundation of the Church, and the source of unity, which power was communicated to the jother apostles likewise : " It is manifest where and through whom the remission of sins, namely, that which is given in baptism, can be given. For the Lord gave this power in the first place to Peter, on whom He built His Church, and whence He established and showed the origin op unity ; that what he would loose on earth, should be loosed also in heaven. And after the resurrec- tion, He speaks to the apostles likewise, saying : ' As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.' "f " The Lord cries out : Let him that thirsteth, come and drink of the streams of living water that flow from Him. Whither shall he who thirsts come ? Is it to heretics, where there is no fountain or river of living water, or to the Church, which is one, and was founded by the voice op the Lord upon one, who also received its keys ?"f Although St. Cyprian, under the erroneous persuasion that * Ep. Firmiliani inter Cyprian. f E,p. Ixxiii. g 7. Jubnjiino. j Ibidem, g 11. ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. II7 baptism administered by heretics is not valid, uses these texts to establish this false position, his acknowledgment of the primacy is in no degree weakened by this circumstance. His admission that Peter was the rock on -which Christ built His Church, and tbSit he is the source of unity, is the more important, inasmuch as it was his interest to call it in question, while he resisted a mandate of the bishop, who, he acknowledged, held the place of Peter. " Custom," he says elsewhere, "must not be allowed to prescribe, but reason must prevail. For Peter, whom the Lord chose TO BE FIRST, AND ON WHOM He BUILT His CeaRCH, when Pawl after- ward disputed with him in regard to circumcision, neither insolently claimed, nor arrogantly assumed any thing, saying that he held the pri- macy, and should be obeyed by those who were recent in the faith and •posterior to him in the order of time.* Nor did he despise Paul, because he had been a persecutor of the Church j but he admitted the counsel of truth, and readily agreed to the just reason which Paul alleged; giving us an example of concord and patience, that we should not obstinately cherish our own sentiments, but rather adopt as our own those which are some- times usefully and wisely suggested by our brethren and colleagues. "f This observation is evidently directed to show that Stephen should not rest on his superior authority ; but rather imitate the condescension of Peter, who, waiving the consideration of his own primacy, yielded to the remon- strance of Paul. Mr. Allies, with his accustomed candor, avowed that St. Cyprian ac- knowledged the primacy, notwithstanding his resistance to the decree of Stephen : " 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."J If any thing occur in his writings apparently de- rogatory to the pontifical authority, we may decline replying to it ih the words of Augustin : " I will not review what he uttered against Stephen in the heat of dispute."§ It is not certain that St. Cyprian finally conformed to the decree of St. Stephen. St. Jerom says : that " his effort (to change the ancient custom) proved vain; and finally those very bishops, who with him had deter- mined that heretics should be rebaptized, turning back to the ancient cus- tom, issued a new decree. "|| St. Vincent of Lerins does not name him as the defender of the African usage. Eusebius does not state any act done by him in support of it, subsequently to the pontifical prohibition.^ St. Augustin supposes him to have retracted, if he at all entertained the er- .* Called after him to the apostolate. t Cypr. ad Quint. Ep. Ixxi. p. 297. Ed. Wiroeb. J Church of England Cleared, Ac. p. 32. § L. V. Contra Donat. c. 25. [I Dial. adv. Lucifer. ^ L. vii. u. iii. Hist. EccL 118 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. roneous views imputed to him, of which he insinuates a doubt, while he strongly insists that he persevered in unity, and atoned for his involuntary error, by the abundance of his charity, and the glory of his martyrdom. In reply to the Donatists, he says : " Cyprian either did not at all think, as you represent him to have thought, or he afterwards corrected the error by the rule of truth ; or he covered this blemish of his fair breast with the abundance of his charity, while he defended most eloquently the unity of the Church spread throughout the whole world, and held most stead- fastly the bond of peace."* "If this glorious branch," (of (lie mystical vine,') he elsewhere says, " had in this respect any need of any purification, it was cleansed by the pruning-knife of martyrdom, not because he was slain for the name of Christ, but because he was slain in the bosom of unity for the name of Christ ; for he himself wrote, and most confidently asserted, that they who are out of unity, though they should die for that name, may be slain, but cannot be crowned. "f " You are, indeed, ac- customed to object to us the letters of Cyprian, the opinion of Cyprian, the Council of Cyprian : why do you take the authority of Cyprian for your schism, and reject his example for the peace of the Church T'\ We shall take leave to add the reflections of Dr. Nevin on this contro- versy. " As it is, the whole case tells strongly in favor of the supremacy of the Roman See, and not against it as is sometimes pretended. How came Stephen to assert such authority, in opposition to whole provinces of the Church east and west, if it were not on the ground of previously ac- knowledged prerogative and right ? Or how could the pretension do more than call forth derision, if no such ground existed for it in fact in the. general mind of the Church ? It is easy to talk of his presumption and pride, and of a regular system of usurpation kept up with success on the part of the Roman pontiffs generally. But that is simply to beg the whole question in dispute. The hypothesis is too violent. It destroys itself. Stephen was neither fool nor knave ; and yet he must have been both on a grand scale, to play the part he did here out of mere wanton ambition, usurping powers to which he himself well knew, as all the world knew besides, he had no lawful claim whatever. Both Cyprian and Firmilian are themselves witnesses, in fact, that a true central authority did belong to the Bishop of Rome. What they complain of is its supposed abuse. They feel the force of it very plainly in spite of themselves. This is just what makes them so restive under its exercise. Had it been mere false pretension, they could have afforded to let it pass by them as the idle wind. They knew it however to be more than that. Then again, it turned out in the end that Stephen was in truth right. His judgment proved to be, with proper distinctions afterwards, the real voice of the Catholic Church, and has remained in full force down to the present time."§ » Ep. Vincent. -I" Ep. cviii. ad Macr. X L. ii. de bapt. contra Donat. i;. iii. p. 98. j " Cyprian," M. K. November, 1852. ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. 119 I 5.— DONATISM. The Donatists were originally engaged in a mere personal contest, in which the disappointed ambition of Majorinus was chiefly interested. They sought to induce the Emperor Constantine to second their efforts against Ceeilian, the Catholic Bishop of Carthage, who had been ordained by Felix of Aptugna, a bishop whom they accused of having delivered the sacred books to the heathens in time of persecution. " Constantine,'' says ' St. Axjgustin, "not daring to judge a bishop, committed to bishops the trial and decision of the case : which took place in the city of Rome, Mel- chiades. Bishop of that Church, presiding, amid many of his colleagues."* The emperor ordered the parties to sail to Rome, and present themselves before the Bishop of that See, with three bishops of Gaul, as was conform- able to the Divine law.f This law required that a bishop should be judged, not by a secular tribunal, but by bishops, in a case where the very title to his office depended on the issue of the trial. The same law constituted the Bishop of Rome chief or supreme judge, whence the sen- tence is ascribed to him by St. Augustin and St. Optatus. The dignity of the See of Carthage, to which the primacy of all the African churches was attached, rendered it fit that the charges against its prelate should, in the first instance, be laid before the highest tribunal. That Melchiades sat in judgment of his own right as the highest ec- clesiastical judge, appears from the freedom with which he acted, in se- lecting a number of Italian bishops to aid him in the trial. The Donatists had sought to induce Constantine to submit the case for examination to the bishops of Gaul, where persecution had not raged under Constantiua Chlorus ; fi'bm which circumstance they affected to hope for a more im- partial investigation of the alleged guilt of the African bishops. The em- peror so far yielded to their importunities as to associate with Melchiades three bishops of that nation ; but the Pontiff feeling tiiat their presence was intended to satisfy the Donatists of the impartiality of the trial, with- out interfering with the rights of his see, summoned fifteen Italian bishops to unite with them in hearing the cause : a liberty which he could not have taken, had he been a mere delegate. He thus plainly showed, that the imperial commission was not designed to add to, or take from his official authority, although it was calculated tq give civil force to his sentence, and secure its execution. The moderation and indulgence of Melchiades in the case of the Dona- tists are justly admired by St. Augustin. A secular judge rigorously de- cides according to the letter of the law, and the merits of the case, having generally no power to qualify or mitigate the sentence. The ecclesiastical judge has truth and justice always in view; but he is empowered to tem- -^ Epist. cv. olLm. xvi. f Vide ep. Constantini Miltiadi. 120 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. per the exercise of justice, so as to procure the salvation of the guilty, and dispose them for submission, not only by remitting the penalty, but even by extending favor. Thus it was that Melchiades, after he had pro- nounced Cecilian innocent, undertook to conciliate his prosecutors. " How admirable," exclaims Augustin, "was the final sentence of Melchiades! how faultless ! how upright ! how provident and peaceful ! By it he did not venture to remove from the college of bishops his colleagues, against whom nothing had been proved; but, having passed special censure on Donatus alone, whom he had found to be the author of the whole disorder, he gave to the others the opportunity of regaining a sound state, being ready to give letters of communion even to such as were known to have been ordained by Majorinus; so that wherever there were two bishops, in consequence of the dissension, he ordered him tvho had been first ordained to be confirmed in the see, and another flock to be committed to the go- vernment of the other. ! excellent man ! ! child of Christian peace, and father of the Christian people !"* The power and authority of Mel- chiades are manifest from this decision. He regulates the claims of the contending parties, and requires from some such sacrifice of rights as is ne- cessary to promote harmony. For the general interests of Christian unity, he removes bishops to other sees, according to the accidental circumstance of priority of ordination. In a word, he arranges the affairs of the distant churches of Africa with entire freedom, but with a strict regard to charity and peace. The complaints of the Donatists to Constantine of the injustice of the Roman sentence appear to some to have assumed the form of an appeal ; which, however, was not strictly the case, since it is not usual forjudges, from whose sentence the appeal is lodged, to sit in the higher court, and revise the cause with their colleagues. f It is certain that Constantine granted a new trial, which may be more properly called a revision of the proceedings, to take place in a numerous assembly at Aries, in which the Roman judges were present, and Melchiades was represented by his le- gates. This was a measure which the emperor declared to be altogether unnecessary ; but he wished to confound the boldness of the Donatists, by the number of their judges, who, he felt confident, would renew the sen- tence already passed on them. The matter as yet was personal, rather than doctrinal : the trial of a bishop was acknowledged to be of ecclesiasti- cal cognizance : Constantine could well have closed their mouths for ever, by insisting on the execution of the Roman sentence ; but he suffered him- self to be importuned, until he granted that which was irregular. The weakness of the prince, who was not yet a Christian, only served to show forth more splendidly the eminent dignity of the Pontiff; who, consenting * Ep. xliii. olim. clxii. n. 16. f This however, takes place in the Supreme Court of the tjnited States. ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY. 121 to the revision of the cause, despatched his legates to preside in his place, being unwilling to leave any thing untried which could place the facts in clearer light, and lead the misguided to the peace and unity of the Church. It is true that St. Augustin does not, in stating these facta, expressly cen- sure the conduct of the emperor in granting a new trial, but no doubt can be entertained that he deemed it irregular, since, when the Pelagians, after their condemnation by Pope Innocent, clamored for a new examina- tion of their doctrines, he cried out : " Why do you still seek an investi- gation, which has already taken place before the Apostolic See ?"* In the Council which was held at Aries in 314, bishops were assembled from Sicily, Campania, Apulia, Dalmatia, Italy, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Mauritania, Sardinia, Africa, and Numidia, who, at the conclusion of their proceedings, addressed " the most beloved, most glorious Pope, Syl- vester,'' in terms of deserved reverence, denoting his apostolic authority : " Would to God, most beloved brother, you had been present at this great spectacle ! we feel convinced that a severer sentence would have been passed on them, (the Donatisisj') and you sitting in judgment with us, our assembly would have experienced greater exultation. But you could not leave those parts where the apostles sit, (in judgment,') and their bloodf incessantly attests the Divine glory."J The fathers made known to the Pontiff their decrees on various points, that through him, who had the great diocese^ § under his charge, they might be communicated to all the churches. The greater power of the Roman Bishop appears from the severity of the sentence which was expected from him ; and his of&ce, as successor of the apostles, is clearly marked as the source of his authority. The Donatists appealed, as in a secular and profane caiise, to the final judgment of the emperor, who, yielding again to their solicitations, took cognizance of it, but confirmed the decision. I am not obliged to prove, that Melchiades, of his own right, could have tried and judged the African bishops, without the aid of any Coun- cil, or the liberty of appeal. It is enough for my present purpose, that the eminent authority of the Eoman Bishop was manifest in the pro- ceedings, and that he exercised a power which the emperor could not delegate, by his enactment in regard to the Donatist bishops returning to unity. Thus it is clear, that in the chief controversies of the second, third, and fourth centuries, the authority of the Roman Bishop was exercised and * Oper. imperf. contra Julianum, 1. ii. o. ciii. ■(■ The memory of their martyrdom. J Ep. ii. Syn. Arelat. Z " Qui majores dioeoeses tones." From the ancient plot of the empire, ( Vetus Notitia Imperii) it appears that the six provinces of the West were so styled, namelx. Africa, Dlyrioum, Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Britain. 122 ANCIENT EXAMPLES OF PAPAL AUTHORITY, admitted. To imagine that lie interfered in Asia and in Africa, and menaced the bishops with excommunication, without having any authority superior to theirs, is to indulge in the speculations of fancy against the evidence ef facts. To ascribe his authority to ecclesiastical arrangement, is td mistalie its character altogether, since it was exercised before any General Council had been convened, and was always referred, not only by its claimants, but even by those who, in particular cases, opposed it, to a divine origin, namely, the privileges bestowed by Christ on Peter. CHAPTER XL g 1.— CONSTANCY OF THE HOLY SEE. As the confession of the divinity of Christ gave occasion to the sublime promise of the primacy, and the prayer of Christ was offered for Peter that his faith might not fail, it is the chief duty of his successors to guard with jealous care the integrity of divine revelation. St. Chrysostom says that " Christ ordained Peter teacher of the world."* Theophylact, a Greek writer of the eleventh century, thus paraphrases the address of our Lord to Peter at the last supper : " Since I regard thee as prince of the dis- ciples, after thou shalt have wept for denying Me, confirm thy brethren, for it behoves thee to do so, since thou, after Me, art the rock and founda- tion of the Church. "f This duty has been strictly discharged by the Bi- shops of Eome, whose primacy has been signally exercised in proclaiming the divine truths without reserve, and proscribing every error opposed to them. In the confidence that the prayer of Christ, was effectual, each Pontiff exercised his high prerogative, giving to Him the glory : " What He asked He obtained," says Innocent III., speaking of the prayer of Christ, " since He was always heard for His reverence : on which account the faith of the Apostolic See has never failed in any difficulty, but has always remained entire and undefiled, that the privilege of Peter might continue inviolate."^ Prom a very early period, heretics sought to corrupt the doctrine of the Roman Church, whose faith, even before St. Paul visited it, was celebrated throughout the whole world; but in nothing has the providence of G-od been more manifest, than in its preservation, and in the energy with which the Roman Bishops have maintained it. They can affirm with propriety that their weapons " are powerful through God to the destruction of forti- fications, subverting of counsels, and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every under- standing to the obedience of Christ, and having in readiness to revenge every disobedience." § In condemning error, the Pope is guided by the tradition of the Roman Church, derived from her founders, as St. Irenseus "^ T% oUovfihris ^EtpoTSfrjaE SiicujKa\ov. Horn. Ixxxviii. in Joan, t. viii. p. 527, edit. Montf. ■f In Luc. xxii. % Serm. ii. in consecr. Pont. Max. g 2 Cor. x. 4, 123 124 GUARDIANSHIP OF FAITH. states, and by the tradition of all the churches, which, being in close com- munion with him, concur in their testimony. The faith of which he is the guardian, is not his mere private sentiment, much less his conjecture; but that which the Father revealed, and which having been once delivered to the Saints, can never be lost, or adiilterated, while the promises of Christ retain their force. It is not any prevailing opinion among the clergy of Kome which he proposes to be believed ; but that doctrine which is contained in the symbols of faith, and in other authoritative documents, which, together with his colleagues throughout the world, he has re- ceived from his predecessors. When Leo sent to Flavian, Bishop of Con- stantinople, the exposition of the mystery of the Incarnation, he only un- dertook to state "what the Catholic Church universally believes and teaches," as he declared in his letter to the emperor Theodosius.* The Pope receives and venerates the doctrinal definitions made in General Councils, even as he venerates the four Gospels jf and he claims no power to take from the original deposit of revelation, or to add to it, or to re- move the limits which the fathers have placed. It is his duty to watch over the entire kingdom of Christ, from the high tower on which he is placed as sentinel, and to sound the alarm when the enemy approaches. Heresy, in every shape and form, instinctively hates him, since, as Bos- suet remarks, he always strikes the first or final blow at every innovation. Before the middle of the second century, Valentine, Cerdon, and Marcion came from the East to Kome, and endeavored ,to spread there, in public and in private, their heresies, which were levelled at the very foundations of Christianity. The integrity of the Roman faith suffered nothing from their attempts; so that Cerdon, despairing of success, dissembled his er- rors, professed repentance, and underwent public humiliation in the Church, in order to obtain her communion : but his hypocrisy being laid open, he was again forced to flee from the assembly of the faithful.J The heresies of Marcion, and his flagitious conduct, prevented his being re- stored to communion. Montanism also, as we have seen, was efiectually opposed by the Bishop of Rome. Sectaries knew him to be the authorized and supreme teacher of the Church, and the faithful revered him as the guardian of revelation against every assailant. I 2.— CHIEF MYSTERIES. The divinity of Christ was triumphantly maintained in all ages, by the successors of, Peter, against the subtle errors by which it was from time to time impugned. At the close of the second century, Theodotus, a currier of Byzantium, during the rage of persecution, had the weakness to deny Christ ; and subsequently, as if to extenuate his crime, he added heresy * Ep. xxix. f St. Gregory M. Ep. xxv. alias xxW. ad Joan. Cp. ."1: IreniEus, 1. iii. c. iv. GUARDIANSHIP OF FAITH. 125 to apostasy, alleging that Christ was but man. The zeal of Pope Victor led him to cut oflf the heresiarch from the communion of the church.* Zephyrinus, who succeeded him, and who was a,n equally strenuous de- fender of the faith, admitted to communion Artemon, a bishop of the sect, after a public abjuration of the profane error. " Clothed with sackcloth, with ashes sprinkled on his head, and with tears in his eyes, he oast him- self at the feet of Bishop Zephyrinus — and with difficulty was received to communion. ""j" Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, fell under suspicion of entertaining erroneous opinions in regard to the same mystery, so that, as St. Athanasius informs us, some of his brethren went to Rome, and accused him before his namesake, the bishop of that city.J The accused prelate, far from denying the competency of the tribunal, sent a satisfactory exposition of his faith. - Such was the acknowledged authority of the Roman Bishop in the middle of the third century. In a Roman synod held on this occasion, the orthodox faith was solemnly defined. During the violent and long struggle with Arianlsm in all its forms, the Holy See was the constant defender of the Nicene faith. To this symbol, as final and essential, reference was always made by the Pontifis and their legates ; by which means the artifices of the Arians and Semiarians were effectually defeated. They spoke of the 318 fathers of the Council of Nice, as of the host of faithful Abraham, by whom the enemies of the di- vinity of Christ were routed ; and they adhered to their definition as made under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. While many bishops proved re- creant to their trust, and either openly abandoned the ancient faith, or exposed it to corruption by the profane novelty of words, the successor of Peter, constantly rejecting every suggestion of expediency, whereby the divine truth might be endangered, held to the form of sound words de- livered by the Nicene fathers, and acknowledged Jesus Christ to be God OF God, ligijt of light, true God op true God, consubstantial WITH THE Father. Amid the perplexity which distressed pious minds on seeing Arians intruded by imperial power into many episcopal sees, it was consolatory to hear the successor of Peter proclaiming, without hesita- tion and without disguise, the divine truth which the apostle learned from the Father. Ursacius and Valens obtained communion from Julius, on renouncing the Arian heresy, embracing the communion of Athanasius, and promising not to be present without permission of the Pope, at any » Irenseus, 1; iii. c. iv. n. 3. Euseb. 1. iv, o. xxviii. Theodor. 1. ii. bar. fab. f Ex antiqui acriptoris libro adrersua Artemonis haor. apud Coustant. Epist. Eom. Pontif. vol. i. col. 110. t "Romamascenderuntj ibique eum apud Dionysium ejusdem nomini? Romanum prsesix- lem accusaverunt." De Sent, Dionys. Alex. p. 345. Also de Syn. Nic. p. ^.71. Bishop BuU makes mention of "the Roman synod held under their Bishop Dionybiiis, in the cause of Dionysius of Alexandria, whoiwas accused by some of the Church of PeDtnp again : ' Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ? Peed My sheep.' " JJ The contest concerning the use of the title "oecumenical" continued until Phooas, the emperor, in 607, forbade the Bishop of Constantinople to usurp it, and commanded the Apostolic See of Blessed Peter, " which is the head of all the churches," to be maintained in the enjoyment of her legitimate honors.§§ The evil broke out anew in the ninth century, when Photius, the intruder into the patriarchate, found it his interest to disregard altogether » Now part of Tunis. -j- lb. op. xxriii. J L. xiii. ep. xxxii. § L. xiii. ep. xii. II L. xi. ep. xlvi. ^ L. i. ep. vii. ~ ** L. i. ep. XXV. j-f This title was not as yet confined to the Pope. JJ L. vii. ep. xl. gj This is attested by Anastasius in Vita Bonifacii III., and by Paulus Diaconus, I. iv. c. xi. de gestia Longobard, Hallam ably shows the absurdity of dating the papal su- premacy from this epoch: "The popes," he avows, "had unquestionably exercised a species of supremacy for more than two centuries before this time, which had lately reached a high point of authority under Gregory I." — Middle Ages, ch. vii. note. 160 GOVERNING POWER. the superior authority of the Roman Bishop. No one was better qualified to exemplify in his own person the results of the false principle, which measured the dignity of the bishop by his proximity to the throne, than the courtier who passed to the patriarchal chair through imperial favor. His revolt against the paternal rule of the successor of Peter, who main- tained the rights of Ignatius, the deposed patriarch, showed that pride and ambition are opposed to the order, which Divine Wisdom has established in the Church. The scandal of this schism was subsequently repaired, and the governing power of the Roman Pontiff fully admitted by the G-reeks ; but the elements of discord still remained, to burst forth anew with increased fury, in the eleventh century. From that time palliatives were in vain applied ; and, after several ineffectual attempts at reunion, the evil became desperate in the fifteenth century, when the sword of the Mussulman was employed by divine justice to punish the obstinacy which no condescension could cure. Thus the vanity of a title and the love of power, gradually brought on calaluities which the weak men who first assumed it did not at all anticipate. But wisdom is justified in her chil- dren — the event having shown how vain it is to lean on the arm of the flesh, when the divine favor is withdrawn. The throne of the imperial favorite has been overturned, whilst the chair of Peter remains where his hand placed it. CHAPTER XIII. ? 1.— PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM. Nothing is clearer in the history of the Church, than the distinction of rank among her prelates. In each province one bishop presided, whose see was generally in the chief city, whence he was called metropolitan and archbishop. In some nations, one was designated primate, whose rank was superior to that of the other metropolitans. There were also exarchs, or privileged bishops, who were exempt from dependence on immediate superiors in the hierarchy, although they did not exercise metropolitical authority. The name of patriarchs was given in the , fifth century to the Bishops of Kome, Alexandria, and Antioch, each of whom from the com- mencement extended his jurisdiction over large provinces, or dioceses, as they were anciently called. The Koman Bishop exercised the power of metropolitan over the provinces styled Suburbioarian, which, within Italy, extended from Liguria to the Ionian Sea, and included Sicily; and he en- joyed patriarchal jurisdiction over the dioceses of the West, namely, be- sides all Italy, Illyricum, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Africa proper. The Bishop of Alexandria was second in rank, governing Egypt, Lybia, and Pentapolis ; and the Bishop of Antiooh exercised . similar authority throughout the East. That the Roman Bishop was first in rank is not seriously questioned by any one who is conversant with ancient docu- ments. " The Bishop of Rome," says Mr. Allies, " as successor of St. Peter, has a decided pre-eminence. It is very apparent, and is acknow- ledged in the East, as well as in the West."* "No student of antiquity can doubt the primacy of the Roman See."f Describing the unquestioned constitution of the Catholic Church, at the time of the Council of Nicea, he states that " 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 tra- dition as the See of Peter."J » Church of England, Ac. p. 18. t Church of England Cleared,. Ac. p. 27. J Ibidem, p. 47. U 161 162 THE HIERARCHY. AltLougli the terms patriarch and arelibishop were occasionally applied to the Pope, they were not used as marking a restriction of power within local limits; on the contrary, the epithet oecumenical* was sometimes added, to denote his universal authority; and, although the Popes did, in fact, exercise throughout the provinces of the West immediate jurisdic- tion and superintendence, such as the Patriarchs of Alexandria and An- tioch had in their respective provinces, yet it was not exercised as merely patriarchal, but as a portion of that apostolical authority which was lodged in Peter, and which embraced in its plenitude the whole flock of Christ. All antiquity shows that the Bishop of Eome, at all times, and every- where, acted as successor of Peter, and pastor of the Universal Church. The patriarchal jurisdiction enjoyed by the Bishops of the other two Sees, was, in truth, originally derived from the will of the apostle, who, as Innocent I. testifies, delegated to his disciple Mark, and to Evodius, a portion of his general solicitude, that they might have a more immediate supervision over their districts ;f whilst he reserved to himself the imme- , diate government of the West, besides his general superintendence over the whole Church. The Council of Nice confirmed the rights and privi- leges of the two Sees of Alexandria and Antioch. The celebrated sixth canon of Nice is couched in these words : "Xet the ancient customs be kept, which are in Egypt, Lybia, and Pentapolis, that the Bishop of Alexandria may have full power over all these places, as this is customary also with the Bishop of Eome. In like manner, also, in Antioch and in the other provinces, let the privileges, dignities, and au- thority of the churches be preserved."! The clause regarding the Koman Bishop, which is used as confirmatory of the Alexandrian usage, marks the similitude of the patriarchal authority as exercised by each, but does not declare that they are in all respects alike. The occasion which gave rise to this enactment shows the object which the fathers had in view. Meletius, a bishop of Egypt, having been deposed by^St. Peter of Alex- andria, formed a schism, and throwing off all dependence on that See, presumed to establish new bishoprics in that province. § " This canon was enacted," as Potter avows, "upon a complaint of Alexander,, the Bishop of Alexandria, that the metropolitioal rights of his See had been invaded by Meletius, the schismatical Bishop of Lycopolis in Thebais, who had taken upon him to ordain bishops without Alexander's con- sent." || The fathers confirmed the usage of the Church of Alexandria by reference to the usage of Eome. The learned Clinch observes, that " from the Greek, it appears first, that no confirmation was given at "^■■" See various documents read in the Council of Clialoedon. f Ep. xxiv. ad Alex. Antioch., to Agapitus, apud Pleury, 1. xxxii. an. 536 i Coll. Hard. p. 432. § Apol. ii. Athanas. II Church Government, p. 188. See also Theodoret Hist. 1. i. c. ix. THE HIERARCHY. 163 Nicea to the usage of the Church of Rome : that on the contrary, the usage of Alexandria was confirmed, because it had the authority of Roman usage. Secondly, it is equally plain, that no boundaries are either marked, or alluded to, within which the Roman Bishop exercised that general authority which the fathers had in view."* The liberty taken by Ruffinus in his version of this canon, seems wholly unwarrantable, so that the investigation of its meaning should not be embarrassed by his interpolation. It becomes necessary, however, to notice it, as it has acquired importance by the pains which the learned have taken to reconcile it with well-known facts. He interprets the canon as meaning, "that the ancient custom be observed in Alexandria and in the city of Rome, so that the former bishop should have charge of Egypt, and the latter of the suburbioarian churches."f Great disputes have been raised as to the territory designated by the term "silburbi- earian," which some have explained of the district of the "praefectus urbis," extending only to the distance of a hundred miles around Rome ; whilst Sirmond has proved that it embraced the ten southern provinces of Italy," together with Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and othet adjacent islands, all of which were subject to the officer styled Vicarius urbis. Mr. Pal- mer asserts that this was the original and legitimate extent of the Roman patriarchate, from which he excludes even the northern provinces of Italy, as well as G-aul, Spain, Britain, and other nations.^ The learned, however, generally admit that the whole West, including Africa proper, was subject to the patriarchal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, since, in fact, he exercised from the earliest period, a special superintendence over all the Western nations. It is not, indeed, our interest to dispute the position of the Anglican divine ; for if the patriarchal power was con- fined within such harrow limits, the numerous instances in which the Ro- man Bishop interposed in the ecclesiastical affairs- of the more distant countries, can only be accounted for by his authority as primate of the entire Church. Boniface I., in the early part of the fifth century, in a letter to the bishops of Thessalia, did not hesitate to affirm, that the Nicene fathers had made no decree in reference to the prerogatives of the Holy See, be- cause they were conscious that these flowed from a higher source than ecclesiastical legislation, namely, the will and act of Christ Himself. "The general institution of the rising Church began," he says, "with the honor of the blessed Peter, in whom its government and highest authority centre ; for from this fountain ecclesiastical discipline has flowed through all the churches, as religion increased. This is obvious from the laws of the Nicene synod, which did not attempt to enact any thing in regard to him, knowing that nothing could be conferred above his merit, and that * Letters on Church Government, p. 271. f Hist. Eccl. 1. i. c. vi. J Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. part vii. p. 507. 164 THE HIEBAKCIIY. all things were granted to him by the voice of the Lord."* The same Pontiff describes the privileges of "the Sees of Alexandria and Antioch aa guarded by ecclesiastical enactments, for the purposes of unity, and with necessary dependence on the apostolic chair. In the great Council of Chaloedon the primacy of the Roman See was solemnly acknowledged and most effectually exercised. " We consider," said the fathers, " that the primacy of all and the chief honor, according to the canons, should be preserved to the most beloved of God, ithe Arch- bishop of ancient Rome."t The details of the proceedings show most plainly the power which the Pontiff exercised through his legates, so that Mr. Allies, speaking of this Council, says : " that (the patriarch) of Rome has the unquestioned primacy, and is seen at the centre, sustaining and animating the whole." J Leo, of whom he speaks, thus explains the whole economy of the Church : " Though priests have a like dignity, yet they have not an equal jurisdiction, since even amongst the most blessed apos- tles, as there was a likeness of honor, 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 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 with its head."§ § 2.— WESTERN PATEIAECHATE. The claims of the Bishop of Rome on the obedience of the Western churches, were not dependent on the mere principle of authority, since he begot them in Christ, by means of apostolic men, whom he sent to evan- gelize them : as Innocent I. affirmed, without fear of contradiction : "It is manifest that no one founded churches throughout all Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Sicily, and the adjacent islands, except those whom the venerable Peter, or his successors, ordained priests."|| The exercise of papal power over the churches of Western Europe is proved by the very ancient practice of sending the pallium, a badge of authority, to bishops of distinguished rank, especially to metropolitans. As early as the year 3.S6, it was used by the Bishop of Ostia, as a mark of his privilege as conseorator of the Bishop of Rome.1[ " It was, about A.D. 500, given by Pope Symmachus to his vicar, or legate, Cesarius of » Ep. xiv. f Act xvi. col. 637. J The Church of England Cleared, Ac. p. 63. , g Ep. xlv. cap. i. xi. II Ep. x.\v. ad Decentlum Eugub. ^ Anastas. in JIarci vita. THE HIERARCHY. 165 Aries. The same Pontiff granted it to Theodore of Laureacum,* in con- formity with the usage of his predecessors."}" It is spoken of as an imme- morial usage by Gregory the Great, in whose letters passages abound re- cording its concession to various prelates. He granted it to Constantius, Bishop of Milan, a metropolitical see ; to Maximus, metropolitan of Dal- matia; to Leander of Seville, metropolitan of the province of Bcetioa, in Spain ; to John of Corinth, metropolitan in the Morea ; to Andrew of Nicopolis, metropolitan in Epirus ; to John of the First Justiniana, or Ocrida, metropolitan of Dardania ; and to the metropolitans of Aquileja, Cagliari, Dyrrachium, Crete, PhilippopoHs, and Saloniqa. He also granted it to Virgil of Aries. He directed the pallium to be given to the Bishop of Autun, in a synod, which he ordered to be held, requiring, however, a promise on his part to remove sinioniaoal abuses. J At the same time he assigned to this bishop the next place after the Bishop of Lyons, by his own indulgence and authority.§ Notwithstanding these facts, Palmer says, that " with two exceptions, none of the Western bishops, except the Vicars of the Apostolic See, received the pallium till the time of Pope Zacharias, about 743." || When Desiderius, a bishop of some place in Gaul, sought to obtain- this badge of authority, Gregory answered, that after diligent search in the Roman archives, he could find no document of such a grant to the predecessors of the petitioner'.^ Sending it to the Bishop of Palermo, he observed : " We admonish you that the reverence due to the Apostolic S^e should be disturbed by the presumption of no one ; for the state of the members is sound, when the head of faith suffers no injury, and the authority of the canons continues always safe and inviolate."** The primacy of the Apostolic See was particularly displayed in the special privileges granted to some bishops, which were modified and changed, according as the interests of religion, in the altered circum- stances of various countries, required. The See of Aries from ancient times was invested with extraordinary authority, recognised and confirmed by Pope Zosimus : " We ordain that the Bishop of the city of Aries shall have, as he always has had, chief authority in ordaining priests. Let him recall to his jurisdiction the provinces of Narbonne the first, and Narbonne the second. Be it known that whosoever hereafter, in opposi- tion to the decrees of the Apostolic See, and to the commands of our pre- decessors, shall presume to ordain any one in the above provinces, without the authority of the metropolitan bishop, or whoever shall suffer himself to be unlawiully ordained, is deprived of the priesthood.""}"")' Not only * The town Enns, in Austria, at the conflux of the river Enns and the Danube, is near the site of Laureacum. ■f Cone. edit. Mansi, t. Tiii. col. 228. J Ep. cvii. J Bp. cviii. II Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. part vii. ch. viii. p. 521. 1[ Ep. cxii. «* L. xiii. ep. xxxvii. f f Ep. i. Coustant, t. i. col. 936. 166 THE HIERARCHY. are the ancient privileges of the See of Aries confirmed, but a most severe penalty is attached to their violation. Bishops who usurp the power of ordaining, in places subject to its jurisdiction, are suspended altogether from the exercise of episcopal functions. This authority, nevertheless, was restricted by St. Leo, who transfeiTed a portion of the province to the See of Vienne,* but it was again enlarged by other Popes, who consti- tuted the Bishop of Aries Apostolic Legate. Guizot attempts to account for these changes, and for the jurisdiction subsequently granted to the Sees of Lyons and Sens, by the jealousy of the Eoman Bishop, lest a Gaulish' prelate, with extensive authority permanently attached to his see, should become a rival in the Western patriarchate :| but facts and docu- ments plainly show that the papal action was in all cases solicited, and that it was grounded on the representations of those concerned, and the change of local relations. The learned Clinch, with more discernment and justice, has observed : " The synod of Turin adjudged a primatial right to Vienne, as being a civil metropolis. The diocese of Aries ap- pealed from this decision to Kome, and by Kome it was annulled. Leo I. took away from St. Hilary a portion of his diocese, and transferred it to Vienne. The See of Aries obtained from after-Popes a compensation for this loss by an apostolical delegation. The Bishop of Lyons next set up for the primacy, as being successor to Irenseus. In the mean time the ancient civil boundaries are shifted by the introduction of foreign princes; and the metropolitan power, which originally had meant primacy, being divided against itself, and undermined by time, required helps from that authority which alone remained confessedly the first."J The terms in which the Bishops of the province of Aries besought Leo to restore the privileges of this see, contain what Mr. Allies designates " this undoubted testimony to the primacy of the Roman Church." " By the priest of this church, (Arks) 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 Aries, (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 the primacy over all the churches of the world, so also within the Gauls the Church of Aries, 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."§ » Bp. Ixvi. t Cours d'Wstoire moderne, t ii. p. 24. X Letters on Church Government, p. 245. § Inter opera Leonia, ep. xlv. TH.E HIERARCHY. 167 ? 3.— APOSTOLIC VICARS. The delegation of authority to bishops as Vicars of the Apostolic See, is among the most splendid evidences of the primacy. Barrow acknow- ledges that in the fourth century the Popes bestowed the title of Vicars on various bishops : " The Popes, indeed, in the fourth century, began to confer on certain bishops, as occasion served, or for continuance, the title of their Vicar, or Lieutenant, thereby pretending to impart authority to them ; whereby they were enabled for performance of divers things, which otherwise, by their own episcopal or metropolitical power, they could not perform. Thus did Pope Celestine constitute Cyril in his room. Pope Leo appointed AnatoliUs of Constantinople. Pope Felix, Acacius of Constantinople. Pope Hormisdas, Epiphanius of Constantinople. Pope Simplicius to Zeno, Bishop of Seville : ' We thought it convenient that you should be held up by the vicariate authority of our see.' So did Si- rioius and his successors constitute the bishops of Thessalonica to be their vicars in the diocese of lUyricum. So did Pope Zosimus bestow a like vicarious power upon the Bishop of Aries. So to the Bishop of Justini- ana prima in Bulgaria, (or Dardania EuropEe,) the like privilege was granted (by procurement of the Emperor Justinian, native of that place.) Afterwards temporary or occasional vicars were appointed (such as Austin, in England, Boniface in Germany."*) When Maximus, a philosopher, had been ordained bishop by some Egyptian prelates, for the See of Constantinople, Damasus addressed a letter to Acholius, Bishop of Thessalonica, and other bishops, reprobating the irregularity of his ordination, and directing them to proceed to the election of a bishop, blameless, orthodox, and peaceful, in a synod to be held in the imperial city. He urged the observance of the ancient canons, which forbade a bishop to be transferred from one gee to another, lest am- bition should be fostered. f By a special letter he instructed Acholius, as his Vicar, to see, that hereafter a Cathdlic bishop should be chosen, with whom peace could be permanently had. J This is the first instance of the appointment of an Apostolic Vicar throughout Illyricum, the reason of which is conjectured by Tillemont to be, that these provinces h'aving been added by Grratian, in the year 379, to the Eastern empire, the Pope could no longer conveniently exercise a direct inspection over them, as he was wont to do over the remainder of the provinces of the West. Siricius addressing Anisius, Bishop of the same See, directed that " no one should presume to ordain bishops in Illyricum without his consent."§ * Treatise on the Supremacy, Sapp. vi. p. 733. f Bp. viii. Damasi ad Acholium et alios, Coustant, t i. col. 535. J Bp. ix. St. Innocent speaks of Acholius as having been Viear Apostolic. J Ep. iv. Syricii, apud Coustant, t. i. col. 642. 168 THE HIERARCHY. Innocent I. constituted Eufus, Bishop of ThessaloDica, Vicar, to de- termine " all cases that might arise throughout the churches of Achaia, Thessalia, Epirus old and new, Crete, Dacia, both mediterranea and ripensis* Moesia, Dardania, and Pxa3valis;"f alleging the examples of his apostolic predecessors, who had given like power to Acholius and Anysius. Boniface, having appointed Kufus, Bishop of Thessalonica, Vicar Apos- tolic, addressed him as charged with the care of all the churches of lUyri- cum : " The blessed apostle Peter has entrusted to, the Church of Thessa- lonica all things, in his own 6tea,d." — "You have for your defence the blessed apostle Peter, who can oppose your enemies, according to that strength which is peculiarly his own. The fisherman does not suffer the privilege of his See to be lost, whilst you are laboring."J Again he says : "The blessed apostle Peter, to vthom the citadel op the PRIESTHOOD WAS GRANTED BY THE VOICE OP THE LoRD, rejoices ex- ceedingly, when he sees that the children of inviolable peace are careful of the, honor granted him by the Lord."§ Some of the bishops having resisted the authority of Kufus, as Vicar Apostolic, Boniface reproaches and threatens them : " The^apostle says : ' What will you ? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in charity and in the spirit of meekness ?' You know that blessed Peter can do both,— treat the mild with meekness — punish the proud with the rod. Therefore give due honor to the head. Certainly if in any respect the reproof (given hy the Vicar to the bishops) appeared excessive, since the Apostolic See holds its principality in order that it may freely receive the complaints of all, we should have been addressed on this point, and an embassy sent to us, whom you see charged with the ultimate settlement of all things. Let there be an end to this novel presumption. Let no one dare hope for what is unlawful. Let no one strive to set aside the regulations of our fathers, which have been so long in force. Whoever considers himself a bishop, let him obey our or- dinance." || Xystus sustained Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, in his privileges as Vicar Apostolic, and reminded Perigenes, Bishop of Corinth, to respect his authority, as he owed his own place to the favor of the Holy See.^ Addressing the synod of Thessalonica, he insisted on the maintenance of the authority of the Vicar.** St. Leo the Great, acting in accordance with the example of his pre- decessors, committed to Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, the authority of Vicar over all the churches of lUyricum, assigning as the reason of this delegation his anxiety to discharge his duty as general pastor. * That part of Dacia which bordered on the Danube was called ripensis; that part which was remote from this river was called mediterraneaf or inland. I Ep. xiii. n. 2. J Constant, t. 1. col. 1035. ? Ep. iv. col. 1019, t. i. Hard. || Ep. xiv. Constant. If Ep. vii. Constant, t. i. col. 1262. »» Ep. ix. col. 1263. THE HIERARCHY. 169 " Since," he says, " our solicitude extends to all the churches, as the. ., Lord requires of us, who entrusted to the most Messed apostle Peter the primacy of the apostolic dignity, as a reward of his faith, establishing the Universal Church in the solidity of the foundation itself, we communicate this necessary solicitude to those who are united with us by the affection of brotherhood. Following, therefore, the example of those whose me- mory we venerate, we have constituted ouri brother and fellow-bishop Anastasius our Vicar, and enjoined on him to see, from his watch-tower, that nothing unlawful be attempted by any one ; and we admonish you, beloved, to obey him in all that regards ecclesiastical discipline : for your obedience will not be rendered to him, but to us, who are known to have entrusted him with this office in those provinces, in consequence of our solicitude."* In this letter Leo decreed that the disputes of bishops should be terminated by his Vicar ; to whom likewise he reserved the con- secration of all metropolitans throughout the province : directing, at the same time, that no bishop should be consecrated by any metropolitan without his knowledge and authority. All these documents plainly prove that the power delegated was founded on the divine commission to Peter, for the government of the whole Church. In his letter to the Vicar, he expressly says that he appoints him to fulfil the duty " which, in virtue of our headship," by divine institution, we owe to all churches.f The term " Vicar Apostolic," in modern usage denotes a bishop whose title is not derived from the see or territory committed to his charge, which he governs rather as the delegate of the Holy See, during the good pleasure of the Pontiff. Some fancy the episcopal tenure to be uni- versally of this precarious character, so that all bishops are but as tenants at will, or officers of the Pope, to be dismissed when he judges proper. This, however, is not the sentiment of the Pontiff himself, who treats all titular bishops as his colleagues, and claims no right to remove them but for canonical causes, unless in extraordinary emergencies in which the highest interests of religion are at stake. The most ardent supporters of the papal privileges give us no other views. "The power of the Pope," says Ballerini, " although supreme, is not the only authority left by Christ in His Church, since bishops are called to share in his' solicitude ; and although in the fulness of his power he can regulate and limit the exercise and use of*their faculties, as he may deem it expedient for the good of the Church, nevertheless he cannot monopolize and assume to himself all their faculties, or make them as his mere vicars, or regard all the dioceses as his own : whence it follows that not the Pope alone throughout the whole Church, but the bishops likewise in their respective dioceses have ordinary jurisdiction, by divine right."| Bolgeni also denies that bishops * Ep. r. ad episoopos mctrop. per Illyrioum. t Ep. x. J VindioisB auct. pontif. contra Just. Fetron. c. iii. n. 12. , 170 THE HIERARCHY. are mere vicars of the Pope.* Their dependence on the Apostolic See is without detriment to their rank in the Church, as is evident from the reservation made in the oath of consecration : salvo meo oedine. They can address the actual Pontiff in the words which St. Augustin addressed to 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."f In truth their submission to the chief bishop is the great guarantee of their true inde- pendence, which they sacrifice to regal or popular caprice, when they attempt to set themselves free from the authoiity which Christ has placed over pastors and people. " In better times," as Mr. Allies ingenuously avows, " doubtless every bishop felt his hand strengthened in his par- ticular diocese, and had an additional security against the 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 Kome.J 4.— PAPAL RELATIONS TO PATRIARCHS. As the exercise of pontifical power throughout the "Western patri- archate, although constantly referred by the Popes themselves to the coni- mission given to Peter, may not appear to all conclusive evidence of su- premacy, it is important to consider the relations of the Bishops of Rome to the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch. These governed their respective provinces with full power, iqouaia: without recourse to the Pope for the appointment of bishops, or other acts of ordinary juris- diction ; whom, however, they notified of their own consecration, to obtain recognition by letters of communion. St. Leo, writing to Timothy Salophaciolus, who had recently succeeded Timothy ^lurus in the see of Alexandria, observes that his messengers, with the testimonials of his ordination, had come to the Apostolic See, "as was necessary and cus- tomary."§ This system having been established from the earliest period, and having been ratified by many acts of the Popes, was altogether sufficient to convey jurisdiction, from whatsoever source it originally flowed. When their own authority was violently assailed, or when faith was endangered, the patriarchs had recourse to the Pontiff'. Athanasius fled to Rome, to obtain pontifical aid against his persecutors, and on his return he was recommended to the confidence of his flock by let- ters of Pope Julius, in which he congratulated them on the success of their ® L'Episcopato, vol. i. art. iii. See also Perrone, vol. viii. Tract, de locis theolog. p. 1, a. ii. c. iii. , t Tom. X. 412 B., apud Allies, p. 76. j Church of England Cleared, &,q. p. 101. J Sicut neoessario et ex more feoistis ut per filios nostros Danielem presbyterum, et Timotheum diaconum ordinationis tuEe ad nos soripta dirigeres. — Ep. ci. ad Tim. Alex. THE HIERARCHY. 171 prayers for the restoration of their bishop. Peter found aid in the same paternal authority, and returned to Alexandria in 378, " bringing with him a letter of the Bishop Damasus, in which he testified his faith in the consubstantiality of the Son, and approved of his ordination."* John Talaja, in the fbllowing century, sought the papal confirmation to occupy the same see, as Simplicius affirms in his letter to Acacius, " that the suc- cession of a Catholic bishop to the ministry of the deceased, might derive strength from the assent of the apostolic authority. "f The dependence of the patriarchates on the Roman Bishop is further evinced from the pontifical interposition in some extraordinary cases. Leo, writing to Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria, to correct some usages which were not in harmony with the traditions of the Roman Church, observed, that the disciple of St. Peter had not certainly departed from the teaching of his master : "for," says he, " since the most blessed Peter received the apostolic principality from the Lord, and the Roman Church perseveres in his traditions, we cannot believe that his holy disciple Mark, who first governed the Church of Alexandria, framed differently the decrees which have come down from him by tradition. "J The energy with which this holy Pontiff' exercised his office throughout the whole Church, is avowed by Mr. Allies : " 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 neglect- ful, 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 he is at hand to repair and restore, to warn, to pro- tect, or to punish."§ The Church of Antioch was avowedly dependent on the See of Peter, as is clear from the testimony of Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, in the Council of Antioch : " It is customary, conformably with apostolic order and tradition, that the See of Antioch should be directed by the See of the great Rome, and should be judged by it."|| When the Bishop of Constantinople acquired importance, and claimed patriarchal authority, it was usual to communicate his ordination to the Holy See by a formal embassy. Nectarius being chosen "Bishop of Con- stantinople, ambassadors were despatched by the Emperor Theodosius to the Roman bishop, with a view to obtain his assent and confirmation, as Boniface testifies : " Theodosius, a prince whose clemency is in sweet remembrance, considering that the ordination of Nectarius was not * Socrat. 1. iv. Hist. c. xxxvii. f Ep. -vii. t Bp. ix. ad Dioscorum ep. Alex. | Church of England Cleared, &e, p. 101. II Cone. Antioch. act. iv. t. iv. Cone. Edit. Mansi, col. 1311. 172 THE HIERARCHY. assured, because it was not known to us, sending courtiers from his side with bishops, asked, in due form, a letter of communion to be addressed to him by this Holy See, to confirm his priesthood."* . This custom was considered obligatory; so that Pope Hormisdas required Epiphanius, Bishop of that See, to comply with it, not being content with a mere letter of information. f A splendid embassy was sent to Kome, in the year 398, with Acacius of Beroea at its head, to notify the election of St. John Chrysostom.J Innocent I. refused to acknowledge Atticus, Bishop of Constantinople, until he should send ambassadors to communicate his election, and prove that he had fulfilled the prescribed conditions of peace. § St. Leo would not hold communion with Anatolius, until he was satisfied of his orthodoxy, and always spoke of his occupancy of that see as a favor which he owed to Pontifical indulgence.|| Cyriacus, Bishop of that city, sent ambassadors to Gregory the Great, with the proceedings of the synod, after hia ordination. The authority of the Pope became particularly manifest, when the patriarchates, in consequence of the incursion of heretics, required his interposition. Boniface states, " that the greatest Oriental churches, in important affairs which needed maturer discussion, always consulted the Roman See, and when the case required it, sought its aid."^ St. Basil, who was metropolitan of Csesarea, writing to Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch, communicated to him the design which he had formed of senjling to Rome, in order to obtain a visit from some of the Italian prelates, to settle the disturbances of the East. The bearer of this letter was a deacon named Dorothee : " This resolution has been formed," he says, " that this same brother of ours, Dorothee, should go to Rome, and press some to visit us from Italy."** He wrote in like manner to St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria : " It has appeared to us advisable to send to the Bishop of Rome, that he may look to our affairs; and to sug- gest to him, that if it be difficult to despatch some persons thence by a general and synodical decree, he himself, by his authority, may act in the case, and choose persons able to bear the journey, and endowed with such meekness and firmness of character as would be likely to recall the per- verse to correct sentiments."-]-}- Addressing Damasus, Bishop of Rome, he styles him, " Most honored Father !" and states that the hope that harmony and truth would prevail, having hitherto proved deceptive, he ■* Vide Bonifacii I. ep. xiv. t. i. Constant. t HormisdEe, ep. Ixviii. alias cxi. J Pallad. de vita Chrysost, c. iv. § Ep. xxii. apud Constant, t. i. col. 848. II " Quod nostro benefieio noscitur consecutus." — Ep. liv. ad Martianum Augustnm. " Mei favoris assensu Constantinopolitanse ecclesise sacerdotium fuerlt consecntus." — Ep. Iv. ad Pulcheriam Augnstam. IT Ep. xvi. apud Constant, t. i. col. 1043. »* Ep. IxViii. ft ^P- ^'^- THE HIERARCHY. I73 has recourse to him, that he may succor the churches of the East, as DionysiuSj Bishop of Rome, had formerly done : " Being disappointed in our expectations, and unable to bear our evils any longer, we have resolved to write, and urge you to come to our relief, and to send to us some men harmonizing in sentiment, who may reconcile those who are at variance, or restore the churches of God to harmony, or, at least, make more manifest to you the authors of disturbance, that you may hereafter plainly know with whom it is proper for you to hold communion. We ask nothing new, but what has been usual' of old with other blessed men beloved of God, especially among yourselves ; for we know by tradition, being instructed by our fathers whom we have questioned, and by docu- ments which are still preserved amongst us, that Dionysius, the most blessed bishop, who was illustrious among you for the integrity of his faith and his other virtues, visited, by letter, our Church of Csesarea, and sent persons to ransom the brethren from captivity. Our affairs are at present in a more difficult and gloomy situation, and need greater care : for we now grieve over, not the razing of our earthly dwellings, but the destruction of our churches — we witness not corporal servitude, but the bondage of our souls, which is daily effected by the abettors of heresy, who have the sway. Wherefore, unless you hasten to our relief, in a little while you will scarcely find any to whom you may reach the hand, since all will be brought under the power of heresy."* The language of this address is that of affectionate appeal to superior authority. Damasus was addressed not merely as a brother, sound in faith, and possessing wide influence, but as one clothed with power, whose messengers might gain to truth and peace the rebellious children of error. Were personal influence alone regarded, Basil might be expected to accomplish much more than the envoys- of the Roman Bishop; whose high authority, however, would be respected by those who would not yield to the per- suasive eloquence of the metropolitan of Csesarea, or to the commands of the Patriarch of Antioch. Thus we have seen that the power of.the Bishop of Rome was im- plored by the patriarchs themselves,^ and was effectually exercised in their behalf, whenever any emergency required his interposition. Mr. Allies asks : " When the ship of the Church was in distress, whom should we expect to see at the rudder but St. Peter ?"-f That he did not ordinarily interfere in the affairs of their patriarchates, arose from a love of order, which prompted him to leave to his colleagues the care of that which was entrusted to their respective charge, and to confine himself to a general superintendence. The occasions of his interference were, how- ever, sufficiently numerous to mark clearly his right, and-the grounds on which he always relied were such as to leave no question as to the divine » Ep. Ixx. t Church of England Cleared, Ac. p. 25. 174 THE HIERARCHY. aource of his authority. He was first among the patriarchs, their superior and judge, not by courtesy, or conventional arrangement, but in virtue of the command of Christ to Peter : "Feed My lambs :" "Feed My sheep :" " Confirm thy brethren." Mr. Allies with great candor said : " 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 honor. The power of the first see was really exerted, in difiioult conjunctures, to keep the whole body together. I am quite aware that the Bishop of Rome could do what the Bishop of Alex- andria, or of Antioch, or of Constantinople, or of Jerusalem, could not do. Even merely as standing at the head of the whole West, he coun- terbalanced all the four."* » Churcli of England Cleared, &o. p. 120. CHAPTER XIV. i^psition at lisfeffjjs. The office of bishop is perpetual, a sacred character, which can never be effaced, being impressed in ordination : yet the exercise of the power may for just causes be inhibited ; nay, the governing authority, or juris- diction may be entirely taken away. The eminence of the dignity, which is no less than that of successor of the apostles, does not secure him who is adorned with it from danger of error, should he listen to the whisper- ings of pride, rather than guard that which is committed to his trust, or of vice, if he be neglectful of the approaches of temptation. For this reason the apostle addressed strong exhortations to Timothy and Titus, to fulfil the duties of their sacred office, and instructed them in what circum- stances they should receive accusations against the bishops* subject to their authority. The power of suspending bishops from the exercise of their functions, or of removing them altogether from the ministry, is among the most awful and sublime functions of the higher ecclesiastical dignitaries. In the early ages it was exercised by metropolitans, or other superiors, especially in Councils, where the assembled bishops judged and deposed the delinquents. Territorial limits were not always accurately observed, especially where one of the patriarchs intervened, whose high rank gave a coloring of authority even to acts performed beyond the province in which he presided.^ Thus Flacillus, Bishop of Antioch, presided at a Council in which Athanasius of Alexandria was condemned ; and Theophilus of Alexandrfa undertook to try and depose Chrysostora of Constantinople, who, however, protested against his competency. The power was at all times exercised by the Bishop of Rome, in a manner to leave no room for doubt, that he claimed authority to judge and punish, by censure, all bishops, even patriarchs themselves, and that he grounded his claims on his office as successor of Peter. These claims were put forward with entire confidence, as admitting of no question ; and the exercise of the power was implored by bishops occupying the highest sees, and submitted to by those against whom it was exercised, or resisted * The Greek term, TpeaPHrcpos, was then applied to bishops. f Cyril acknowledged, that were he himself, or an Egyptian Synod, to pronounce sen- tence on Nestorius, he might be charged with going beyond the limits of his authority. 175 176 DEPOSITION OF BISHOPS. ineffectually. St. Leo, in his instructions to his Vicar in Illyricum, directed that cases of difficulty and importance should be reserved to his own judgment;* whence Bianohi maintainsf that the deposition of bishops was from that time reserved to the Holy See. The reservation was well established in the ninth century, since the Council of Troyes implored Nicholas I. to provide for the dignity of the episcopal office, by restraining metropolitans, who sometimes attempted to depose bishops without the apostolic judgment, contrary to the decrees of his prede- cessors.J The deposition of Kothade, Bishop of Soissons, by Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, gave ' occasion to this complaint; and Nicholas rescinded the act as unjust, and irregular, it having been done without his knowledge. Potter records an early instance of the deposition of bishops by the Eoman Pontiff: "Three bishops, who ordained Novatian, the schismatic bighop, were deposed, and others ordained to succeed them, by Cornelius, Bishop of Rome ; whose proceedings in this matter were generally approved all over the world."§ Cornelius acted as of his own authority, in proceeding to this measure, which met with universal approbatioi ; the crime of the schismatical ordination being deemed by all most enormous, as tending to destroy, or render doubtful, the essentia] au- thority of the Church. Not long afterward another occasion arose for a similar exercise of power, no longer in the neighborhood of Rome, but over a bishop of an illustrious see in Gaul. Marcian, metropolitan of Aries, had openly espoused the cause of Novatian, in consequence of which, the neighboring metropolitan of Lyons, with his suffragans, implored the Roman Pontiff to depose him from the episcopate. This measure having been delayed, they wrote repeatedly to Cyprian, praying him to use his influence for the speedy correction of the scandal : who accordingly addressed a letter to Pope Stephen, urging him to prompt and decisive action : " Paustinus, our colleague at Lyons, has repeatedly written to us, dearest brother, stating what I know has been reported to you also, both by him and by our other fellow-bishops in the same province, that Marciq,n of Aries has joined Novatian, and has departed from the unity of the Catholic Church, and the harmony of our body, and of the priests. — Wherefore it behooves you to write an explicit letter] | to our fellow-bishops in Gaul, that they may no longer suffer Marcian, an obstinate and proud man, and an enemy to Divine Mercy and to the salvation of the brethren, to insult our body, since being an abettor of Novatian, and imitating his obstinacy, he has withdrawn from our communion, whilst Novatian himself, whom he ■^^ Ep. vi. ad Anastasium Thesaalonic. f DelVesterior politia, t. v. p. 1, p. 47S. :{; Ep. synod. Tricassin. ad Nicolaura I. § On Churcli Government, p. 392. II Plenissimaa litteras. DEPOSITION OF BISHOPS. 177 follows, was formerly excommunicated and judged to be an enemy of the Church; and when he had sent ambassadors to us in Africa, wishing to be admitted to our communion, he received for answer from a numerous Council of bishops, who were assembled, that he was without, and that none of us could communicate with him, since, whilst Cornelius was ordained bishop in the Catholic Church, by the judgment of God; and choice of the clergy and people, he was endeavoring to raise a profane altar, and to erect an adulterous see, and to offer sacrilegious sacrifices in opposition to the true priest. — Let your letters be directed throughout the province, and to the people of Aries, in order that Marcian be removed,* and another substituted in his place, and the flock of Christ gathered together, which, hitherto being scattered and wounded by him, is despised. "f It has in vain been attempted to explain this call for the interposition of Stephen, by reference to the fact that Novatianism had sprung up at Rome, on occasion of the opposition to the election of his predecessor. This was no reason why the bishops of Gaul should not, of themselves, proceed to the deposition of the heretical metropolitan, if Stephen were not his lawful and proper judge. They were not wanting in zeal against the heresy, since they had already addressed Stephen and Cyprian, urging the former to come to their aid,, and begging the influence of the latter for the speedy success of their application. Of Stephen it was plainly expected, that he should remove the perverse teacher ; and to him Cyprian looked, for official information of the appointment of his successor. Palmer, taking Du Pin for his guide, says that Cyprian only requested Stephen to write to the people of Aries, and the Galilean bishops to appoint another bishop in his stead :J but it is manifest that the au- thority of the Bishop of Rome was solicited for the deposition of Marcian, abstento Marciano. Were personal influence and persuasion only sought, there would have been no need that the Bishops of the neighboring pro- vince of Lyons should have vpritten so pressingly to Carthage and to Rome, merely to obtain a letter of advice from the Bishop of Rome to the Bishops and faitl^ful of the province of Aries. The power of deposing bishops was recognised in the Pope by a Roman Council, held in the year 378, and by the Emperors Gratian and Valen- tinian. In addressing the emperors, the fathers state that " numberless bishops from various parts of Italy had assembled at the sublime sanc- tuary of the Apostolic See." They compliment the emperors as "observing the precept of the holy apostles," inasmuch as, having * Abstento Marciano. _ The Latin term was used of the deposition of an emperor, after he had been adjudged to be an enemy of the empire. -Cyprian uses it in this letter of Novatian, who was removed from communion of the Church, and condemned as her enemy. f Ep. Ixvii. alias Ixviii. J Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. part vii. p. 489. 12 178 DEPOSITION OF BISHOPS. banished Ursinus, the leader of the schism, and separated his partisans from his society, they had decreed " that the Eoman Bishop should try the other priests of the various churches, so that the Pontiff of religion with his colleagues, should judge of religion ; and the priesthood should not suffer in its honor, by subjecting the priest to the judgment of a secular judge, as might otherwise happen." They complain that some bishops, his partisans, still endeavor to persuade others " not to submit to the judgment of the Koman priest;" and mentioning several instances of deposed bishops, who retain possession of their sees, they ask the aid of the civil authority to give effect to the ecclesiastical sentence. They pray that a bishop, who declines to appear for trial, may be compelled by the governor, or his Vicar, to repair to Kome ; or, if he be far distant, to appear before the metropolitan; and if the metropolitan himself be accused, that he be compelled to come to Kome without delay, or to appear before judges appointed by the Roman Bishop. In cases in which the metropolitan, or other judge, is open to suspicion, they wish an appeal to lie to the Bishop of Eome, or to a council of fifteen neighboring bishops.* The emperors granted their petition, giving civil force to the sentence of the Roman Bishop, passed with the advice of five or seven bishops."}" These documents clearly prove the eminence of the Bishop of Rome, as occupant of the Apostolic See, and his right to judge other bishops, whether he sat alone, or surrounded by his colleagues. The reason of the qualifications prescribed in the imperial edict was, that the sentence should be passed solemnly, maturely, and advisedly: and although it had ecclesiastical force independently of these circumstances, the emperors thought fit to limit the civil sanction to sentences thus pro- nounced. Mosheim, and Maclaine, his translator, refer to these measures as imprudent concessions of the emperors and bishops, which prepared the way for Roman supremacy :| but it is- easy to see, on inspection of the documents themselves, that the belief that Rome was "the sublime sanctuary of the Apostolic See," preceded, and gave rise to them. Those who, in the investigation of ecclesiastical history, set out with the per- suasion, that the papacy is an invention of later ages, engrafted on the original system, can only discover in the many documents of an early date, " steps by which the Roman Bishops mounted afterwards to the summit of ecclesiastical power;" whereas they obviously show the exercise of high authority, derived from a divine source, and recognised alike by bishops and by emperors. So fully acknowledged was the power of the Pope to depose bishops, when false to the faith, or recreant to their duty, that the Eastern pre- lates solicited Damasus to depose Timothy, a bishop infected with the * Ep. vi. apud Coustant, t i. col. 628. Ep. vii. ibidem, ool. 632. t Fourth Century, part ii. oh. ii. p. 108 DEPOSITION OF BISHOPS. 179 heresy of Apollinaris, and received for reply that the sentence of deposi- tion had already been passed by the Apostolic See against the master and the disciple, in a solemn Council at Rome, at which the Bishop of Alex- andria was present : " Why do you ask of me anew," said he, " to depose Timothy, who, together with Apollinaris, was already condemned here, by the judgment of the Apostolic See, in presence even of Peter, Bishop of the city of Alexandria?"* The same zealous Pontiff, in a Roman Synod, deposed Ursacius and Valens; for which act he received the thanks of St: Athanasius, who urged him to proceed to the deposition of Auxentius, the Arian occupant of the See of Milan. Tuentius and Ursus having received episcopal consecration unlawfully, ZosiMUS addressed a letter to the Bishops of Africa, Gaul, and Spain, in which he says: "Dearest brethren, we have sent letters to your holiness, and throughout the whole world, wheresoever and in whatsoever part of the earth the fountain of the Catholic religion flows, that you may not think that Tuentius and Ursus are to be received in any ecclesiastical rank, in the communion of the Church, from which they are wholly cut off by anathema."f Thus did he most effectually depose them from the episcopate. Celestine directed all bishops holding the errors of Nestorius to be separated from the episcopal body, and ordered John of Antioch to be notified, " that unless he hold our sentiments and condemn in writing the new blasphemy, the Church would take such measures in his regard as the interests of faith might demand."| The papal legates in the Council of Chalcedon deposed Dioscorus, Patri- arch of Alexandria, in the name of Leo : " The most holy and blessed Leo, Archbishop of great and elder Rome, by us, and by the present holy synod, together with the most blessed apostle Peter, who is the rock and ground of the Church, and the foundation of the right faith, has stript him of the dignity of the episcopate."§ " The Apostolic See," as Ge- LASius testifies, " by its own authority condemned Dioscorus, the prelate of the second see." Ephesus was an autocej)Jialous\\ see, which Bassian, by the favor of Proclus, of Constantinople, occupied, to the prejudice of that independence which it derived from the apostles Paul and John, its founders. Tie clergy and people seeing that the intruder cared only to secure his own honor, by compromising the privileges of the Church, accused him to Pope Leo, and having exposed the unworthy means by which he had usurped the see, obtained a sentence of deposition, which was acknow- ledged and recorded in the great Council of Chalcedon : " The most holy « Ep. xiv. t. i. col. 514, Constant. ' f Ep. iv. J Bp. xxii. ad Syn. Ephes. Apud Constant, t. i. col. 1202. g Aot lii. II Independent Sees, which were not subject to a metropolitan ; or metropolitan spps exempt from patriarchal authority were so styled. No see was absolutely independent, since all are necessarily subject to the chief Bishop. 180 DEPOSITION OF BISHOPS. Eomau Archbishop Leo deposed him, because he was made bishop con- trary to the canons." Sixtus III. deposed Polychronius, Bishop of Jeru- salem. Peter Mongus, Bishop of . Alexandria, was excommunicated by Simplicius. Peter Cnapheus, Bishop of Antioch, having fallen into various heresies, especially that of Eutyches, was admonished by Felix III., and finally stricken with anathema, and deposed, in this solemn form : " Having written two letters to you, I now proceed to pass sentence against you : yea, rather, he (sentences you) who is' the head of all pastoral sees,' the glorious Peter, truly the, greatest of the apostles."* Acacius, Bishop of Constantinople, who was charged with the execution of this sentence, and of several others, afterwards himself fell under sus- picion, and was summoned to answer in the assembly of bishops to St. Peter, to whom, in the person of Felix, the accusation was made.f 'He was finally cut off utterly from the Catholic Church. " Being separated from the honor of the priesthood, and from Catholic communion, and likewise from the number of the faithful, know that the name and office of the priestly ministry are taken from you, being condemned by the judgment of the Holy Ghost and by apostolic authority."^ Mosheim relates the deposition of Acacius in these terms : " The Koman Pontiff, Felix II., § having assembled an Italian Council, composed of sixty-seven bishops, condemned and deposed Acacius, and excluded him from the communion of the Church, as a perfidious enemy to the truth." The opposition of the Greeks to the execution of this sentence the historian takes as a denial of the right of the Roman See to pronounce censure on the Bishop of the imperial city; but he admits that Rome finally suc- ceeded in exacting its acceptance. " Hence," he says, " arose a new schism and a new contest, which were carried on with great violence, until the following century, when the obstinacy and perseverance of the Latins triumphed over the opposition of the Oriental Christians, and brought about an agreement, in consequence of which, the names of Acacius and FuUo were erased from the diptychs, and sacred registers, and then branded with perpetual infamy."|| This is no equivocal proof that the right of the Roman Bishops to depose even the Bishop of the imperial city, although he was protected and supported by the emperor, was incontrovertible. It is not true that the Orientals generally resisted the ecntence. Acacius, indeed, remained obstinate, but died in a few years. Flavita, his successor, sought the communion of the Holy See, which was denied him, unless he removed the suspicions which fell on Lis faith, and cancelled from the sacred tablets the name of Acacius. Euphemius, who soon succeeded him, a man of sound faith, pleaded in vain that the memory of Acacius might be spared ; alleging, among other things, that he should not have been condemned by a single bishop. * Hard. t. ii. col. 826. "t" I''- "ol- 829. J lb. col. 832. g Others style him Felix III. || Mosheim, Church History, p. 2, oh. v. §xxi. DEPOSITION OP BISHOPS. 181 Gelasius, wto then occupied the chair of St. Peter, answerefd, that Acacius had heen condemned in virtue of the Council of Chalcedon, since he professed heresies which it had proscribed ; but independently of this fact, the Pontiff relied on the supreme authority Of the Holy See, whose judgments are final. He showed that Acacius, previously to his own condemnation, had accepted and executed a commission of the Holy See for the deposition of several bishops : " Timothy of Alexandria, and Peter of Antioch, f'eter, Paul, and John, and others, not one only, but several bearing the priestly title, were cast down by the sole authority of the Apostolic See. Of this fact Acacius himself is witness, since he was charged with the execution of the sentence. In this manner, then, falling into company with those who have be^n condemned, Acacius is condemned."* By embracing their errors, he provoked the like con- demnation. A most splendid instance of the exercise of the papal power occurred on occasion of the visit of Pope Agapetus to Constantinople, at the solicitation of Theodatus, King of the Goths, with a view to persuade the Emperor Justinian to abandon his intended invasion of Italy. His failure in the direct object of his visit made the aqts of spiritual authority which he exercised the more remarkable. Anthimus, Bishop of Tre- bizond, through the favor of the empress, had recently occupied the See of Constantinople, left vacant by the death of Epiphanius. His hos- tility to the Council of Chalcedon, although artfully dissembled, was known to Agapetus, who could not be prevailed on by the emperor or empress, by threats or promises, to admit the heretical usurper to his presence. He. offered, indeed, to allow him to return to his original see, on his unequivocal acceptance of the Council ; but in no case would he suffer him to occupy the see of the imperial city. After some delay, in order to give him time for submission and repentance, the Pope convened a Council of bishops at Constantinople, summoned him to appear for trial, pronounced sentence of deposition against him, absent by default, and consecrated with his own hands Mennas in his stead.f The Emperor of Constantinople solicited Gregory the Great to proceed in the case of the primate of Byzacium ; J but he hesitated to come to a final decision, not feeling assured of the sincerity of the accused in his professions of submission : "As to his saying," observes the Pope, speaking of the Primate, "that he is subject to the Apostolic See, I know not what bishop is not subject to it, when any fault is found in bishops. But when delinquency does not require it, all of us are equal, on the principle of humility."§ » Bp. xiii. t See Fleury, Hist. I. xxxii. a. 536. J In Africa. Adrametum, now Mahumeta, was the chief city. It is in the kingdom of Tunis. I Ep. lix. 182 DEPOSITION OF BISHOPS. It is unnecessary to give further examples, since those already adduced plainly show that the Eoman Bishop, as the superior of all other bishops, Judged and deposed them, either in solemn council, or, with less solem- nity, by his own act. No prelate, however elevated, was exempt from his judgment. Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople, enjoyed privileges; but remained subject to the supervision, correction, and cen- sure of Eome. The imperial favor availed nothing against apostolic prerogative. The successor of Peter did not, howev^, always appear in a menacing attitude. He could heal, as well as strike ; and he was often appealed to, that the wounds inflicted by others might be remedied by his indulgence and authority. CHAPTER XV. §!•— ANCIENT EXAMPLES. . In all governments there is a tribunal of appeal, whose judgment is final. By it the sentences of the inferior judges are confirmed, when found conformable to justice and law; or, if otherwise, reversed and cor- rected. The existence of such a tribunal is an evidence of its supre- macy : the judge must be the sovereign, or his representative, or the depositary of suprerae juridical power, which he, in fact, exercises. The usage of appealing to the Bishop of Komo from the judgment and cen- sures of bishops and Councils, in every part of the Church, which is most ancient, shows that he was believed to possess a power superior to all other bishops. St. Epiphanius relates of Marcion, that having been excommunicated for a grievous sin against, chastity, by his father, the Bishop of Sinope,* he fled to Rome, about the year 141, and sought to be restored to com- munion'; but that the chief clergy, (the see being vacant,) declared, that they could not grant him relief, without the consent of his father, with whom they were united in faith and friendship. f The journey and the application show that he recognised the superior power of Rome; and the refusal which he met with, is an evidence, not of want of authority in the Roman Church, but of discretion and moderation in its exercise. The case may not be strictly styled an appeal, since it does not appear that the injustice of the sentence was complained of; but it implies that even a just penalty inflicted by an Asiatic prelate, could be mitigated by the ruler of that Church. It is evident from the testimony of St. Cyprian, that in his time the Bishop of Rome took upon himself to restore bishops deposed by the Council of their province. Basilides, Bishop of Asturia, in Spain, who - In the earlyages, men who had been married but once, {" the husband of one wife,") were often assumed to the ministry ; it being difBcult, especially on the first preaching of the Gospel, to find persons of mature age who had not been married. The actual discipline of the Church still allows such persons to be ordained after the death of their wires, or on a mutual and voluntary profession of continency. \ Hser. ziii. n. ii, 183 184 APPEALS. Lad been deposed on tte charge of idolatry, and other crimes, having re- paired to Rome to plead his cause, succeeded in inducing Pope Stephen to restore him. In the interval, another bishop, Sabinus, had been con- secrated and placed in the see. St. Cyprian, being consulted by the Spanish prelates, held that Sabinus should not be dispossessed, since the decree for the reinstatement of Basilides had been surreptitiously ob- tained. "His ordination," he remarks, "which has been regularly performed, cannot be rescinded, merely because Basilides, after the dis- covery of his crimes, and his own public confession of guilt, going to Rome, deceived Stephen our colleague, far distant from the scene of ac- tion, and unacquainted with the proceedings and with the facts which were suppressed, in. order to be reinstated in the episcopate, from which he had been justly deposed. This only shows that the crimes, of Basilides are not cancelled, but aggravated by the additional guilt of fraud and cir- cumvention, together with his former sins. Nor is he who has been im- posed on unadvisedly, so blamable, as he who fraudulently practised on his credulity, is deserving of execration. If Basilides has succeeded in deceiving men, he cannot deceive God, since it is written : ' God is not mocked.' "* St. Cyprian opposed the execution of the sentence, not on the ground of a want of authority, which would have been the obvious method, if the power of Stephen admitted of any question; but be- cause he had proceeded on false information. The right to reverse the sentence, if the merits of the case admitted it, not being denied, must be taken as acknowledged. In maintaining the incapacity of Basilides, and also of Martialis, another deposed bishop, to hold the bishopric, St. Cyprian relies on the law regarding persons guilty of idolatry, made by Cornelius, the predecessor of Stephen: "In vain," says he, "such men attempt to usurp the bishopric, whilst it is manifest that they should neither preside over the Church of Christ, nor offer sacrifice to God, especially since long ago, in union with us and with all bishops, without exception, throughout the whole world, even Cornelius our colleague, a pacific and just priest, and through the special favor of God, honored with martyrdom, decreed that such men might indeed be admitted to do penance, but are precluded from clerical ordination and priestly honor.""}" This reference to the decree of Cornelius, to which the whole episcopal body had assented, shows the eminence of his authority. In a letter to Cornelius, St. Cyprian makes mention of Privatus, a heretic, in the province of Lambesita,J who, many years previously, had been condemned by a Council of ninety bishops. He had in vain attempted to have his cause reopened in a Council of Carthage. Disap- pointed in this effort, he had recourse to Rome, and during the vacancy of the see, he urged the Roman clergy to reverse the sentence. The * Ep. Ixviii. f Ep. Ixviii. J Algiers. APPEALS. 185 letter of Cyprian put them on their guard ; but independently of it, they judged unfavorably of the case. In reply, they commend the conduct of Cyprian in giving them, as was customary, full information, that they might better discharge the duty incumbent on them in behalf of all the churches : " As to what concerns Privatus of Lambesita," they observe, " you have, as usual, been careful to call our attention to the case, as one of moment : for it behooves us all to keep guard for the body of the entire Church, whose members are spread throughout the various pro- vinces. But even before the receipt of your letter, the frauds of the crafty man did not escape our notice. For, when one of his impious band, Futurus, an ardent partisan of Privatus, had come, endeavoring to procure letters from us, his true character was not unperceived by us, on which account he did not receive the letter which he desired."* Thus it is clear that Privatus appealed to the Roman Church, whose authority was exercised by the clergy, , during the vacancy of the see, who refused redress, because they knew him to be undeserving. St. Cyprian, ne- vertheless, complained of the appeals of the minor clergy, as derogatory to the judgment of their bishops and of the Councils by which they had been condemned, and as tending to relax discipline and defeat justice. He also stated in strong' terms the artifices of heretics, whereby they sought to abuse the good faith of the Bishop of Rome. Fortunatus had been ordained Bishop in Carthage, in opposition to Cyprian, and had de- spatched to Rome an abettor of his schism, the priest Felicissimus, to pre- occupy the, ears of the Pope. Cyprian expresses his surprise at the audacity of the schismatics. "What cause," he asks, "had they to go (to Rome) and announce the false bishop who was created in opposition to the other bishops? For either they are satisfied with what they have done, and persevere in their wickedness, or, if they are sorry, and abandon it, they know whither they may return. For since it has been determined by us all, it is equally just and proper that the cause of every one should be tried where the crime was committed, and since to each of the pastors a portion of the flock is given, which each one may rule and govern, being to render an account of his, conduct to the Lord, it is certainly meet, that those over whom we preside should not run about, nor, with, crafty and deceitful temerity, destroy the unity and harmony of the bishops, but should plead their cause where the accusers and witnesses of their crinie may be present ; unless, perchance, a few desperate and abandoned men regard as insufficient the authority of the African bishops, who have already pronounced judgment on them, and have recently by their weighty sentence condemned them as guilty of many crimes, of which they them- selves are fully conscious. Their cause has been already tried, sentence has been already passed on them ; and it is not consistent with the gravity * Ep. XXX. 186 APPEALS. of sacerdotal judgment, that it should be rescinded easily and lightly, since the Lord teaches us, saying : ' Let your speech be : yea, yea ; no, no.' "* Cyprian was delighted to find that Cornelius had repelled them. He plainly disapproved such appeals, as calculated to encourage insubordina- tion, and screen the guilty from punishment : yet he does not deny in the abstract the right to make or receive them. The fourth century offers us an illustrious instance of an appeal made by the great champion of the divinity of Christ, the persecuted Bishop of Alexandria. In the year 335, whilst Constantino was still alive, Athanasius had been condemned and deposed by a Council held at Tyre, in which Flaoillus, Patriarch of Antioch, presided. Constantine, under the influence of the Eusebians, banished him; but, towards his death, relented : and after his decease his sons, in compliance with his wishes, permitted him to return to his see. — The Eusebians, mortified at his restoration, and resolved on his ruin, sent legates to Constance and Con- stans, and wrote against him to Pope Julius. Without- awaiting any act of the emperors Or Pontifi", they held a Council at Antioch in 341, and regarding his restoration as irregular, chose Grregory of Cappadocia, an Arian, to be Bishop of Alexandria, and sent him with the prefect Philagrius, and a military escort, to take possession of the see. They had previously sent Martirius and Hesychius, two deacons, as deputies to Rome ; who meeting there the deputies of Athanasius, and failing to sus- tain the charges which they had advanced against him, found themselves under the necessity of calling for a trial, ■[" that they might not appear utterly to abandon their cause. Julius accordingly called a Council, in order to have a full investigation. In the mean time -Athanasius arrived at Home, having fled from the violence of the intruder Gregory, and his partisans. The Pontiff sent legates to summon the accusers ; and de- termined likewise to institute inquiry into the crimes which they them- selves, or their partisans, had committed, and to punish them aocordingly.J Under various pretexts, they detained the messengers, and in the end, wrote an offensive letter, in which they complained of the intended re- opening of the cause of Athanasius, whilst they admitted "the pre- eminer^oe of the Roman Church, as avowed by all, as having been from THE COMMENCEMENT THE SCHOOL OF THE APOSTLES, AND THE ME- * Bp. lix. alias liY. Iv. f "Concilium indici postularunt, literasquo et ad Busebianos, et Athanasium Alexan- driam, quibus convoearentur, mitti, ut coram omnibus juste judicio de causa cognosci posset ; turn enim se de Athanasio probaturos esse, quod jam nequirent." — Epist Julii, p. 391. J " Certe fratres nostri Romfe anno superiori infensi prioribus eorum factis, quum nondum scelera ista acoesserant, pro ultione sumenda concilium indici, celebrarique voluerunt." — S. Athanas. ad Orthodox, p. 338. APPEALS. ■ 187 TEOPOLis OF PIETY."* Notwithstanding their opposition, Julius pro- ceeded to examine the cause, in a Council consisting of fifty prelates. The acts of the Synod of Tyre, and of the committee of bishops who were appointed to inquire into the facts at Mareotis,f where they were said to have occurred, being submitted to examination, were found to be irregular and unjust; and Athanasius was acquitted by the unanimous judgment of the fathers. Julius communicated the result of their in- vestigation, in the admirable letter preserved by Athanasius, which unites mild persuasion with authoritative judgment. The complaint made by the Eusebians,' of the re-opening of the cause, shows that they had not seriously asked for a trial, and that the demand made by their deputies was a last subterfuge, when they had failed to sub- stantiate their charges in the less solemn discussion with the deputies of Athanasius.J It is for this reason that they expressed their willingness to abide by the judgment of Julius, if he would undertake the investiga- tion. They hoped that he would decline ; and when, contrary to their expectations, he consented, those who had sent them shrunk from the trial, and sought by every frivolous pretence to excuse their default. They had applied for a confirmation of their sentence by the only au- thority which could render it final and conclusive ; but as Athanasius sought to be released from their unjust censure, the actual proceedings were in the nature of an appeal. The decision, although made in a synod, and with the assent of all, was emphatically and justly styled the judgment of Julius, even by the Council subsequently held at Sardica. It has all the qualities that constitute a real exercise of judicial authority. Complaints had been lodged against Athanasius with Julius, as with a judge ahd superior ; afterwards, the cause proceeded entirely against the will of the party in whose name the investigation had been demanded. This was manifestly the exercise of a supreme and independent judicial power, not derived from the voluntary act of those concerned. In his letter Julius distinctly claims the right of summoning all the parties to his tribunal. At the head of the accusers was Flaoillus, Patriarch of Antioch; — the accused, Athanasius, was Patriarch of Alexandria, the highest dignitary after the Roman Bishop, within whose jurisdiction both, were embraced. As a proof of the innocence of Athanasius, Julius alleges that he freely presented himself in Eome, and awaited during a year and a half the arrival of his accusers. He adds that " by his pre- sence, he put them all to shame, for he would not have presented himself for trial, had he not been confident of his innocence; nor would he have * ^epciv fitv yap xatrl tptXortixiav Trjv pbijsaibiv tnKXyjaiav hf roij ypaftiiOfflv bifioXiyovVf 0)5 dTT0ffr6\Nevin observes, "we say it plainly, we believe the acknowledgment of the Pope's spiritual primacy is just as little at war' with a true American spirit, and carries in it just as little peril for our American liberties, as the acknowledgment of any like primacy in either of the Presbyterian General Assemblies, or in the American Episcopate, or in the private judgment simply of any true- blooded Puritan Independent, who holds himself at liberty, if need be, to brave on the plea of conscience all human authority besides. "f It is well observed by De Maistre, that whatever may be said in the abstract of the plenitude of pontifical power, any attempt to exercise it wantonly, would provoke general and successful resistance. "What," he asks, " can restrain the Pope ? Every thing — canons, laws, national usages, sovereigns, tribunals, national assemblies, prescription, representations, negociations, duty, fear, prudence, and especially public opinion, the queen of the world."J The providing of pastors necessarily appertains to him to whom the charge of the" whole flock has been entrusted by Christ our Lord : yet the exercise of this power admits of much variety, according to the circum- stances of time and place, as is evident from ecclesiastical history. What- ever, arrangement may be made for the election or appointment of bishops, with the concurrence and approbation of the Holy See, may be deemed just and proper. In the United States they are now appointed by the Pope, on the recommendation of the bishops of each ecclesiastical province, and of all the metropolitans. They are not, as I have already observed, mere deputies or vicars, much less vassals of the Pope ; but successors of the apostles, exercising under him and with him the powers of binding and loosing, and respecting his high rank, without detriment to their own. Their order is perpetual, and their jurisdiction should not * Of Kome, Voltaire has written : " L'univers flechissait sous son aigle terrible ; Elle exerce en nos jours un pouvoir plus paisible Elle a su sous son joug asservir ses vainqueurs, Gouveriier les esprits, et commander aux coeurs ; Bes avis sont ses lois, ses decrets sont ses armes." I La ffenriade, ch. iv. Once her proud eagle hovered o'er the world, But now her peaceful banner is unfurled ! The wild barbarians that o'erspread her lands Yield to her voice — obey her meek commands. Their minds she governs, whilst their hearts she charms; Iler laws her counsels, her decrees her arms, t "The Anglican Crisis," M. K., July, 1851. J Du Pape, ch, xviii. PAPAL PREROGATIVES. 227 be capriciously witlidrawii ; but if tbey abuse their power, they are amenable to his high tribunal. The relations of the Pope to a General Council have been the subject of much discussion. The right of summoning them to meet in solemn consultation for the general interests of the Church manifestly belongs to him, as he is the only one whose authority extends to all ; but his free acquiescence in the act of another who may have called them together, or in a spontaneous convention, is equivalent to his personal summons. The great Council of Nice was convened by Constantine ; yet according to the sixth general Council, Sylvester concurred in the convocation ;* the Em- peror Theodosius, in like manner, at the request of Damasus, assembled the Oriental bishops at Constantinople.f Marcian, at the solicitation of Leo, summoned the Council of Chalcedon. The obvious reason of the interference of the Emperors was because, according to the laws, no pub- lic assembly could then be held without the imperial mandate, which was accompanied with the privilege of the free use of the public vehicles. Since the Christian religion has extended far beyond the limits of the em- pire, and the bishops live under various governments, there is no civil ruler whose mandate could ensure universal attendance ; but the voice of the Chief Pastor reaches to the most distant regions, and is respectfully heard by all his colleagues. The right of the PontiiF to preside in the assembly of his brethren, which results from the eminence of his station, is universally admitted. In the Eastern Councils it was always exercised by legates, who, to what- ever rank they belonged, even if only deacons, obtained precedency of the highest prelates, as representatives of the Chief Bishop. In the Ni- cene Council, Vitus and Vincentius, priests of the Koman Church, legates of Sylvester,J took precedency of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and An- tioch; and Osius, Bishop of Corduba, an obscure diocese in Spain, was honored in like manner, doubtless in his representative capacity, which, although not declared in the acts now extant, is attested by Gelasius of Cyzicum, a Greek writer of the fifth century, and is fairly inferred from the fact, for which no other plausible reason can be assigned. § At Ephesus, Cyril of Alexandria presided, by special delegation of Celestine,|| whose legates, sent directly from his side, came with instruc- tions not to mingle in the discussions, but to pronounce judgment. At Chalcedon, Paschasinus and Lucentius, most reverend bishops, and Boni- face, a most religious priest, presided, "holding the place of the most holy and most beloved of God, Leo, Archbishop of ancient Kome."^ In the synodical letter of the fathers to Leo, they say, that he presided * Act. xviii. t Theod., 1. t. Hist., c. viii. J Theod., 1. i. u. viii. | See Fleury, 1. xi. sect, v., Hist. Bool. II Letter of Celestine to Cyril, e. xiii., Act. cone. Eph., col. 3123, Hard., t. i. i[ T. ii., Hard., p. ii., p. 64. 22R PAPAL PREROGATIVES. over them by his, legates, " as the head over the members." The fathers of the fifth Council earnestly besought Vigilius to preside over them* at their deliberations " on the three chapters," and having failed to induce him to be present, they read his letter^ permitting the examination, as their authority for proceeding in his absence. Two priests and a deacon are mentioned in the sixth Council, at the head of all the bishops, as "holding the place of the most blessed and holy Archbishop of ancient Eome." The like is observable in the acts of the seventh and eighth Councils, in which the legates qualified their assent, by reserving to the Pontifi" final judgment on the decrees. It was customary also to seek from the Roman Bishop the solemn con- firmation of the decrees of the Council. As the Nicene acts are imper- fect, and the first Council of Constantinople was not oecumenical in its original character, and the doctrinal letter of Celestine which preceded the Council of Ephesus was its guide in the proceedings, I shall at once refer to the synodical letter of the fathers of Chalcedon, in which they beseech the Pope to confirm their decree in favor of the Bishop of Con- stantinople,: "We pray you to honor our judgment by your decrees; and as we have added the harmony of our assent to our head in what is good, so may your Holiness vouchsafe to supply what is wanting in your children." The Pope, neverthless, felt it to be his duty to annul this decree, as contrary to the ancient usages and rights of the patriarchs re- cognised at Nice. It is needless to exhibit in detail the proofs of the exercise of those prerogatives in the Western Councils, in several of which the Pope presided in person, and subsequently ratified their decrees by his solemn confirmation. The fathers of Trent acted in conformity with the examples of antiquity, when they gave to the pontifical legates the presidency of their assembly, and at the close of their proceedings sought from the Pope the confirmation of their acts, whereby they might be recommended to the veneration and observance of all the churches. So far back as the fourth century it was an established usage, having the force of law, that no canonical enactment could be made without the sanction of the Roman Bishop. f I deem it unnecessary to pursue the inquiry into papal prerogatives in further detail, or to speculate on possible contingencies. In the convul- sions of the Church at the period of the Council of Constance, when three pretenders claimed the keys, the assembled fathers deemed that they could do all things which might be necessary to restore unity and order. Nearly three centuries have elapsed since the last General Coun- cil, during which time the Church has been governed with wisdom and moderation by a series of holy and enlightened Pontifis. The heresy of * Collat. i, p. 62, col. Hard., t. iii. f Sozomen, Hist., I. iii. c. viii. x. Socrates, Hist, ii., ch. xvii. PAPAL PREROGATIVES. 229 Janseniug, and numberless kindred errors, have been condemned : the purity of Christian morals has been vindicated against relaxed casuists, and the sweetness of the yoke of Christ has been maintained, despite of the repulsive austerity of innovators : discipline has been enforced, or mitigated, as circumstances rendered expedient : and all things appertain- ing to the government of the Universal Church have been regulated by the foresight, discretion, and zeal of the Koman Bishop. He has had the services and aid of enlightened counsellors, composing the various standing committees or congregations of cardinals, to whose examination he commits the different matters on which he is to pronounce judgment ; he has also been seconded and sustained by his colleagues throughout the world : but the Providence of Grod, as if to cut short the disputes of the schools, has suffered this long period to elapse without a General Council, as was also the case in the first three centuries of the Church. The great Leibnitz strongly states the necessity of a permanent authority in the Church, such as is exercised by the Bishop of Rome : " As from the impossibility of the bishops frequently leaving the people over whom they are placed, it is not possible to hold a council continuously, or even frequently, while ' at the same time the person of the Church must always live and subsist, in order that its will may be ascertained, it was a necessary consequence, by the divine law itself, insinuated in Christ's most memorable words to Peter, (when He committed to him specially the keys of the kingdom of heaven, as well as when He thrice emphatically commanded him to feed His sheep,) and uniformly believed in the Church, that one among the apostles, and the successor of this one among the bishops, was invested with pre-eminent power ; in order that by him, as the visible centre of unity, the body of the Church might be bound together ; the common necessities be provided for : a council, if necessary, be convoked, and when convoked, directed ; and that in the interval between councils, pro- vision might be made lest the commonwealth of the faithful sustain any injury. And as the ancients unanimously attest that the apostle Peter governed the Church, suffered martyrdom, and appointed his successor in the city of Eome, the capital of the world ; and as no other bishop has ever been recognised under this relation, we justly acknowledge the Bishops of Rome to be chief of all the rest."* It seems to me super- fluous to discuss what power a Council may exercise in certain extra- ordinary circumstances, since this actual government of the Church is plainly in the hands of the Pontiff. If the abject be to point out the limits of pontifical power, and the remedy for its abuse, I must avow that there is but a faint ground of hope in an assembly, the holding of which is generally of extreme difficulty, if not utterly impracticable. Our true security lies in the nature of the pontifical authority, which, being derived * " Systema Theologicam," translated by Dr. Rnssell. 230 PAPAL PREllOGATIVES. from Christj is essentially just and paternal. Our hope is in the ever- watchful Providence which guards the Church, that the passions of men may not defeat the divine counsels. If in calamitous circumstances an extraordinary remedy be necessary, the same Providence will apply it : but the discussion of the powers of an assembly convened at such a crisis, is, in my opinion, safely left to its members. It is not within my scope to explain in detail the power which the Pope exercises, in pronouncing judgment on the sanctity of deceased servants of God, or in granting indulgences, or in many like ways, as it has not been my intention to write a treatise with the priecision of a canonist or scholastic divine. My object has been to give a just idea of the main exercise of pontifical authority. It is unnecessary to define the extent of papal prerogative, in order to determine the necessity of admitting the primacy. If Christ has es- tablished a general governor of the Church in the person of Peter, his authority must be acknowledged such, as it is exercised and admitted by the Church herself. Divine Providence will not suffer its practical exhibition at any period to differ essentially from its original institution, so that if it be exercised with more or less amplitude in different ages, this must be ascribed to the change of circumstances, rather than to any substantial alteration in its character. The overthrow of the patriarchal thrones by the Mussulman rendered the intervention of the Bishop of Borne in the affairs of the East more direct and frequent than while they subsisted. The encroachments of the civil power in various countries made the Pontiffs more jealous of their prerogatives, and the abuses of privileges 6nce enjoyed by the clergy and people, in the election of the prelates, caused their withdrawal. God has always come to the aid of the Popes in their struggles for truth, and the liberty of the Church, and made their worst enemies instruments for the manifestation of the au- thority divinely entrusted to them. By loosening the ties which con- nected the Church with the State, under the ancient dynasty, her freedom in France has been greatly advanced, and sound views with regard to the papal power have been effectually diffused. Even the overthrow of the ancient French hierarchy, so venerable and illustrious, the closing of the celebrated universities,, and other calamitous events of the revolution, which threatened the extinction of Christianity, resulted in an exercise of pontifical authority, which, by a single act, decided a thousand vain dis- putes, and created a new order of things, in which the Chief Bishop and the French prelates are united by more intimate ties. Setting aside all minor considerations, the reader should fix his whole attention on the main controversy, since, as Mr. Palmer remarks : " The doctrine of the primacy of the Bishop of Kome over the Universal Church, is the point On which all other controversies between the Roman and other churches turn : for if our Lord Jesus Christ instituted any official supremacy of PAPAL PREROGATIVES. ' 231 one bisbop in the Catholic Church to endure always : and if this supre- macy be inherited by the Bishop of Rome, it will, readily follow that the Catholic Church is limited to those of the Roman obedience, so that the Councils, doctrines, and traditions of those churches are invested with the authority of the whole Christian world."* * A Treatise on the Church of Christ, by Rev. William Palmer, M. A., part vii. Tol. ii. p. 451. Amerie. edit. CHAPTEE XVIII. It is important to estaWishj beyond all contradiction, the fact that the present Bishop of Rome, hy uninterrupted succession, holds the place of Peter. We are aided in this undertaking by the labors of the venerable ancients, several of whom gave lists of the Roman Bishops from the apostle down to their own time. St. Irenaeus enumerated them as far as Eleutherius, who was still living when he wrote.* The historian Euse- bius, availing himself of authentic documents, continued the series far on in the fourth century.f St. Optatus closed his list with the name of Sirioius, who, in his day, occupied the apostolic chair.J St. Augustin gave a similar catalogue, and challenged the Donatists to examine closely the order of succession : " Come to us, brethren, if you wish to be en- grafted on the vine. We are afflicted in beholding you lying cut off from it. Count over the bishops from the very See of Peter, and mark in that list of fathers how one succeeded the other. This is the eock AGAINST WHICH THE PROUD GATES OF HELL DO NOT PREVAIL."§ The schism of Novatian, who, after the death of Pope Pabian, in the year 253, set himself up in opposition to Cornelius, his lawful successor, served to mark more clearly the series of Pontiffs, and the authority with which they presided in the Church. In vain did the usurper, send- ing his partisans to Africa, and to the- churches generally, " seek to draw into schism the members of Christ, and to divide and rend asunder the one body of the Catholic Church." They were told by St. Cyprian and his colleagues, that " it was impious to forsake their mother," and that "if they professed themselves followers of the Gospel, and of Christ, they should return to the Church. "|| The letter of Cornelius, announcing his ordination, according to ancient custom, was publicly read in the Church of Carthage, and letters were despatched by Cyprian, as primate of Africa, to the bishops of his province, in which they were admonished to write in reply, and send ambassadors to the Pontiff, as Cyprian himself * L. iii., adv. heer. f Hist. Ecol., 1. iii. o. iv J De Schism, Donat., 1. ii. ^ Ps. contra partem Donat. II Cyprianus Cornolio, ep. i., inter Kom. Pont., ep. i., Coustant, t. i. col. 126. 232 UNBROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME. 233 had done.* The adherents of Novatian are represented by the African primate as "refusing the bosom and embrace of her, who is root and ma- trix," by which terms he designates, not only in this passage, but fre- qilently elsewhere, the local Church of Rome, from which, as from a root, the African churches had grown, and in which, as in the maternal womb, they had been conceived : figurative expressions which he applies to it also in reference to the whole Catholic Church. The creation of a rival bishop, in the person of Novatian, is declared to be " contrary to the mys- tery originally delivered of the divine organization of the Church, f and of Catholic unity."J Although this might be said, in a qualified sense, of any schismatical ordination, it manifestly implies, in the mind of Cyprian, a special divine ordinance in regard to the Bishop of Eome, as centre of Catholic unity. The letter which the zeal of St. Cyprian led him to address to the schis- matics, exhorting them " to return to their mother, that is, the Catholic Church," resulted in the conversion of several of them, who, in the most explicit terms, solemnly recognised the lawful Pontiff. " We know," said they, on occasion of their public reconciliation^ " that Cornelius was chosen by God Almighty and Christ our Lord, Bishop of the most holy Catholic Church. We are not ignorant that there is one God, one Christ the Lord, whom we have confessed,§ one Holy Spirit, and that there should be one bishop in the Catholic Church." || The obvious force of this language is such as to present to us Cornelius as Bishop of the whole Church, since a local bishop could not be styled, without qualification. Bishop of the Catholic Church. St. Cyprian urges strongly the titles of the lawful Pontiff to veneration, and regards his opponents as cut off from the communion of the Church. " Cornelius," he remarks, " was made bishop in accordance with the judgment of God, and of His Christ, with the testimony of almost all the clergy ; and he was selected from the college of aged priests and good men, at a- time when no one had been appointed before him; and when the place of Fabian, that is, the place OF Peter, and the dignity of the priestly chair, was vacant, which place being occupied by him according to the will of God ; and he being sup- ported therein by the consent of us all, whosoever now seeks to become bishop, must necessarily be wiTHOtri, nor . can he who does not hold the unity of the Church have ecclesiastical ordination. Whosoever he te, though he vaunt himself, and put forward great claims, he is a profane man, a stranger, he is without. And since after the first there can be no second, whosoever was made bishop after the one who alone should be * Apud Coustant, ep. ii. t. i. col. 128. ■f- " Divinse dispositionis." J Ibidem, ep. iii, col. 131. § They bad confessed Christ as Lord before the heathen tribunals. II Quoted in letter of Cornelius to Cyprian. 234 UNBROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOrS OE EOME. such, is not the second : he is no bishop."* This may imply a denial of the validity of the ordination, conformably to the opinion of Cyprian, in regard to sacraments administered out of unity : but what now concerns us, is, that Cornelius was believed to hold the place of Peter, and that his opponent was regarde.d as an alien from the Church. Thus, in the Providence of God, this schism served to make more manifest the rela- tion of the Bishop of Rome to the bishops of the Church throughout the world, and to render more evWent his succession to the place of Peter. The intrusion of Felix, in the middle of the fourth century, into the Apostolic See, during a year and three months, by the power of the Arian Emperor Constantius, who caused Liberius, the lawful Pope, to be dragged into exile, made no breach in the series, since the forced suspension of the pontifical administration did not take away the authority. f Vigilius, in like manner, in the sixth century, through the influence of the Em- press Theodora, for two years usurped the place of Sylverius, after whose death he was recognised by the Church at large, having atoned for his unlawful occupancy of the chair by the integrity with which he fulfilled its duties. No doubt as to the succession can be raised in consequence of the schismatic rivalry of the deacon Ursicinus, who, with armed satel- lites, opposed Damasus ; of the archdeacon Eulalius, who set himself up against Boniface ; of Caelius Laurentius, who disputed the election of Symmachus ; of . the priests Theodore and Peter, who resisted the lawful claims of Conon ; of Theophylactus, a layman, who by violence held pos- session of the See for thirteen months, to the prejudice of Paul; or of Zinzinus, the adversary of Eugenius. In all these cases, the lawful Pope prevailed over his opponents, after a short struggle, and his rights were acknowledged by the universal Church. It is not to be wondered that a station so exalted should attract the ambitious, whose elevation was justly resisted by the friends of religion. Hence it should be no matter of sur- prise, that thirty instances of schism, on occasion of papal elections, are enumerated by Church historians : but thanks are due to the Providence which always guards the Church, that, in most instances, they were of short duration, and that eventually no doubt remained as to the legitimate successor of Peter. The fidelity with which they have been recorded, strengthens the evidence that the succession was maintained. The relations subsisting between the Popes and the emperors of the West, afforded a pretext for imperial interference, which often resulted in schisms of a more or less disastrous character; while the national jealousy of the Romans, and the want of any permanent form of civil government at home, led sometimes to results equally to be deplored. In the middle of the ninth century, the Emperor Louis II. lent his authority to the priest Anastasius, in his aggressions on Benedict III., who, how- * Ad Antonian. f Some think that Felix acted as Vicar of Liberius. UNBROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS OF ROIIE. 235 ever, soon recovered his power. The close of the same century was dis- graced by the struggles of Sergius, the deacon, against Pope Formosus, and of the anti-pope, styled Boniface VI., against Stephen VII. The opening of the tenth century witnessed the forced abdication of Leo V. to give place to Christopher, who in his turn was ejected by Sergius. The Emperor Otho I., intruded the anti-pope Leo VIII. to the prejudice of the rights of John XII. and of Benedict V., who, on the death of John, was chosen by the clergy and people of Kome. On the other hand, the imperial authority supported Gregory V., a lawful occupant of the See, whose right was disputed by John of Piacenza, aided by the Roman pre- fect Crescentius. St. Henry, the emperor, lent his aid to expel Gregory, whom the Romans intruded into the place of Benedict VIII. Three pre- tenders to the power of the keys appeared before the middle of the eleventh century ; the right of Benedict IX., who was intruded into the chair by his father, the Count of Tusculum,* being contested by Sylves- ter III. and John XX. A compromise of their claims, brought about by Gregory VI., terminated this unhappy struggle, and the abdication of Gregory himself, whose pecuniary sacrifices to satisfy the contending par- ties, left his own election open to the charge of simony, led to a perma- nent peace. A series of holy Pontiffs, of German origin, elevated to the See of Peter through the influence or with the assent of the emperor, healed the wounds which disorderly intruders had inflicted on the Church ; but after the middle of the eleventh century, Mincius, Count of Tusculum, rose against Nicholas II., the lawful Pontifl"; and again, Cadolaus Pallavicini disputed the right of Alexander II. St. Gregory VII. had the affliction to witness the creation of an anti-pope without living to see his downfall ; yet the Church at large easily distinguished the series of lawful Pontifis from the usurper, who, during twenty-one years, took the title of Bishop of Rome. Aginulph, styling himself Sylvester III., pressed on the footsteps of the anti-pope Clement III., and Gregory VIII. (as Mau- rice Burdin styled himself) followed, supported by the Emperor Henry V. The submission of Victor IV., the successor of the anti-pope Anacletus II., terminated a schism which had lasted eight years, during the pontificate of Innocent II. In a similar way, a schism which broke out under Alexan- der III. was happily extinguished by the submission of Calixtus III., the successor of two anti-popes. Peter de Corbario, whom the Emperor Louis of Bavaria intruded into the Apostolic See, sought and obtained pardon of his usurpation from the lawful Pontiff, John XXII. In the last two schisms which afflicted the Church, the submission of each pretender put an end to all doubt : Clement VIII. having implored^ pardon of Martin V., and Felix V. having yielded to Eugenius IV. During four hundred years, the Church has been free from this awful calamity. In all the in- * Frascati. 236 UNBROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME. stances, which I have rapidly reviewed, the succession was manifestly uninterrupted, because the schisms generally were of very short duration, and the pretensions of the usurpers were, for the most part, destitute of plausibility, resting chiefly on imperial power, or factious violence, while the true Popes were easily discernible by the regularity of their election, and their unswerving devotedness to the great interests of religion. In cases of doubt, the final submission of the claimants to the authority of the PontiiF, recognised by the Church at large, or the extinction of the schism by the demise of the pretender, made manifest, beyond all contra- diction, the true successor of Peter. The only case of apparent difficulty is the schism which began under Urban VI., towards the cloge of the fourteenth century, and continued about thirty-seven years. After the death of Gregory XI., at Kome, to which ,he had returned from Avignon, fear being entertained that the cardinals, who were chiefly natives of France, would elect a French- man, who might establish his residence at Avignon, where a series of French Popes had resided, the Romans surrounded the conclave, and with threats insisted that a Roman, or at least an Italian, should be chosen Pope. Under the apprehension of actual violence, the car- dinals hastened to bring their proceedings to a close, by electing the Archbishop of Bari, who assumed the name of Urban VI. Whatever objection existed to the election, as not having, been made freely, seemed to be removed by the subsequent acquiescence of the cardinals, who, during four months, continued to acknowledge him, in public documents addressed to the bishops throughout the world. However, at the expira- tion of that time, several of them fled from Rome, and under the pretext that the former election was null, chose Robert, Count of G-eneva, who assumed the name, of Clement VII., and abode at Avignon. The opinions of men being divided, the nations supported one or other of the claimants ; France, Castile, and other countries adhering to Clement, as the free choice of the electors; while Germany and England acknow- ledged Urban, on account of the priority of his election, and its free rati- fication by the electors during a considerable time. It soon became difficult for the most conscientious and enlightened men to pronounce with certainty which of the two claimants was entitled to occupy the apostolic chair. The demise of both did not terminate the contest : since a usurper, Benedict XIII., as Peter de Luna, the successor of Clement, was styled, sat at Avignon above twenty years, while Boniface IX., Innocent VII., and Gregory XII., continued the Roman series. To relieve the Church from the scandal of these conflicting pretensions, some cardinals of each obedience, or party, resolved on summoning a Council at Pisa, and requiring the two pretenders to submit their claims to the judgment of the assembled fathers ; but neither would recognise the authority of this tribunal. The assembly, nothing daunted by this denial of its compe- UNBROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME. 237 tcncy, proceeded to depose both as guilty of contumacy, scliism, and heresy, and elected Peter Filargo to the vacant chair, under the title of Alexander V. St. Antonine, and many others, deeming the proceedings utterly void, refused to recognise the new claimant, whose election served only to aggravate the evil. His death, after ten months, gave occasion to the election of Balthassar Cossa, under the name of John XXII. ; who, in order to extinguish this dire schism, summoned aGeneral Council to be held at Constance. In this assembly, he himself, being deposed, by his acquiescence in the sentence put an end to all question as to the com- petency of his judges. Gregory XII. refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Council, regarding it as convened by a usurper of the Apostolic See, but he consented to abdicate, on the observance of some for- malities which served to save his pretensions. Neither threats nor persuasion could influence Peter de Luna, whom the Council at length deposed. The general acquiescence of all Christian nations in the election of Martin V., which ensued, left no room to question the legiti- macy of the proceedings, although the deposed pretender continued to assert his claims, which, at his death, he charged the few cardinals who still adhered to him, to perpetuate. His successor, after four years, re- nounced his empty title, to enjoy the communion of the Pontiff, whom the whole Church recognised. This long schism, however, involves the succession of the Bishops of Kome in no doubt. It may be questioned whether those who sat at Kome, or those who sat at Avignon were the true successors of Peter; although the judgment of the learned generally seems to have decided in favor of the former : but there is no ground for questioning the fact of the succession. One or the other series was certainly legitimate, and both having terminated, in the Council of Constance, in the election of Martin V., he was the undoubted heir of the apostolic authority, through whichsoever channel it flowed.* The long absence of the Popes from Rome, during their stay , at Avig- non, which, like the captivity of Babylon, as the Romans sarcastically designate it, extended to about seventy years, affords no reason for ques- tioning the succession, because the authority of a bishop does not depend ■:■- I may be allowed, by way of illustration, to refer to a collision of claims between two courts in one of the United States, within my own remembrance. The Legislature of Kentucky, being dissatisfied with the proceedings of the Court of Appeals, the Su- preme Judiciary, passed an act for its reorganizationj in order, by this sunimary proceed- ing, to avoid the tardy and uncertain process Of impeaching the judges. Accordingly, a new court was organized, in conformity with this law, and judges were appointed, who proceeded to take cognizance of suits brought before them. The judges of the old court consideredithat the new law was unconstitutional; and, disregarding it, continued in the exercise of their judicial power. For several years these rival tribunals existed, until, at length, a compromise was effected: yet no one will pretend that the conflicting claims destroyed the judiciary of the State, or thespecial court in question. 238 UNBROKEN SUCCESSIpN OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME. on his residence in his see. Those Pontififs who resided at Avignon were truly Bishops of Eome, having been elected under this title by the college of cardinals to fill the place of Peter. They governed that See by means of 9, Cardinal Vicar, whilst they personally applied them- selves to the government of the universal Church. The long vacancies which have Sometimes occurred in the Eoman See, do not interfere with the succession, since, in the general opinion of man- kind, they were not so protracted as to destroy the moral connection between the incumbents. Some interval must necessarily elapse between the demise of one Pontiff and the election of his successor. The longest space which has been assigned to a papal interregnum is three years and eight months, after the death of Marcellinus; which computation, how- ever, is generally denied by the learned. The longest actual vacancy was during two years and nine months, on the demise of Clement IV. Either period was not such an interruption in the long series of Pontiffs as to effect a moral separation in its connecting links. In reality, the interval was much less than it appears, because it was counted up to the day of the consecration of the new Pope, which was often long delayed in order to obtain the assent of the Eastern emperor. The simplicity of some writers once gave currency to a ridiculous fable, which even the Calvinist Blondell, the skeptical Bayle, and the infidel Gibbon, have shown to be inconsistent with well-ascertained facts of his- tory. In Some interpolated copies of Marian Scotus, a writer of the eleventh century, it was stated, that an English female, in male attire, pursued her studies at the schools of Athens, and in process of time suc- ceeded in being elevated to the papal chair, on the death of Leo IV. After two years five months and four days of pontifical administration, her sex is said to have been discovered by her being delivered of a child, in a solemn procession to the church of St. John of Lateran. This ill- concocted tale, which is in itself incredible, concerning Pope Joan, as she is styled, is totally irreconcilable with the statements , of contemporary writers, who assure us that on the death of Leo IV., which took place on the 17th July, 855, Benedict III. "immediately" succeeded, and was consecrated on the 1st September of the same year. Gibbon acknow- ledges that " the contemporary Anastasius indissolubly links the death of Leo and the elevation of Benedict." (lllico, mox.')* A ridiculous precaution is alleged to have been adopted against the re- currence of the imposture : but it is enough for me to explain the real object of the ceremony to which allusion is made. From the year 1191, down to the time of Leo X., on occasion of taking possession of the basilic of St. John of Lateran, it was usual, among other ceremonies, to place the new Pontiff in front of the portico, on a white marble chair, * Decline and Fall, oh. xlix., A.D, 800-1060. XJN-BROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS OP ROME. 239 wliich, from the verse chaunted on the occasion, was popularly styled stercorarig, : "Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill, that He may place him with princes, with the princes of His people." The ohject was evidently to inspire the Pontiff with becoming sentiments of humility, and to give praise to Grod for having raised him to the high dignity of prince and ruler in His Church.* Although the fable of Pope Joan is now utterly exploded, some still refer to it for mere annoyance ; not reflecting that what conld not take place in the Catholic Church, unless by an incredible combination of circumstances favorable to imposture, is really exhibited in the Church of England, by a necessary consequence of the principles broached on its separation from the See of Peter. The Sovereign, for the time being, was proclaimed head of the Church throughout his dominions : but, as if to put to shame the abettors of this system, Grod permitted, on the death of Henry VIII , the boy Edward to succeed him, who was followed by Mary and Elizabeth. The former queen hastened to divest herself of the title and authority which the law ascribed to her in ecclesiastical mat- ters ; whilst Elizabeth unblushingly asserted her supremacy, and struck terror into the bishops of her own creation.^' When she was informed by her prime minister, that the professors at Lambeth had pronounced a theological censure on certain propositions concerning free-will and pre- destination, she called Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, to her presence, and with bitter irony intimated to him the legal penalties, to which his connivance at this encroachment on her royal prerogative subjected him. " Whitgift," said, she, " I hear that you are amassing great wealth for my use." The. archbishop replied; that his wealth was not great, but that all he possessed was at her Majesty's service. She resumed : " You fancy that you speak as a dutiful subject; but I main- tain that all you have is already mine, by the law of the land, since you have incurred prsemunire." The prelate, understanding the drift of her language, pleaded that the Lambeth professors had not meant to pro- nounce a decision, but had merely expressed a theological opinion ; which, however, in order to appease her, he promised to suppress. | She suspended Archbishop Grindall from the exercise of episcopal jurisdic- tion, and threatened to make examples of bishops, in case they neglected '■^'- The whole ceremony is described in verse by Cardinal James, in his second book on the Coronation of Boniface VIII., which is found in the Bollandists, t. iv., Maji, p. 4?1. See also Mabillon, t. i., Mnsaei Italici, p. 1, p. 59. ■j- " Ve aqui una cosa admirabile. Al mismo tiempo que los Protestantes se esforzaban a insultarnps con la disparatada especie do una Papisa, elegida en Kama, ellos erigieron otra Papisa en Inglaterra, constituyendo cabeza de la Iglesia Anglicana a su adorada Reyna." Cartas Eruditas por D. Fr. Benito G-. Feyjoo, t. v. u. iii. p. 146. J Articulorum Lambethoe exhibitorum historia, juxta exemplar Londini editum, A.D. 1601. P. 6, et seq. 240 UNBROKEN SUCCESSION OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME. to suppress certain religious exercises. Such was lier jealousy of any interference with her rights as head of the Church ! The unbroken succession of the Bishops of Eome is a fact the most unquestionable, established by direct and collateral evidence, and manifest from the continued exercise of the pontifical authority. No difficulties that may be raised in regard to interregnums, rival claimants, or intruders, can create a doubt as to the public exercise of power in every age by the Bishop of Eome as successor of Peter. The continu- ance of the succession is a moral miracle, which may well be reckoned among the most splendid evidences of Christianity. " The Papacy itself," says Dr. Nevin, " is a wonder of wonders. There is nothing like it in all history besides."* Dynasties have succeeded one to another; powerful empires and kingdoms have passed away ; republics have been destroyed by the conflicting elements within them ; yet the See of Peter remains, and an heir of his authority is always found, whether taken from low estate, or of noble parentage. The numberless internal causes of dissolution, and violence from without, do not affect its continuance. The city may be trodden down by the barbarian conqueror, and the Pontiff may perish; but there is a vitality in the See that renders its destruction impossible. Those inquirers who now stand at the portals of the Chu;rch, perplexed and embarrassed, should say to themselves with Augustin : " Shall we hesitate to take refuge in the bosom of that Church which from the Apostolic See, through the succession of bishops, even by the acknowledgment of mankind generally, has obtained supreme authority, heretics raging around in vain, condemned as they have been, partly by the judgment of the people themselves, partly by the authority of Councils, partly also by the splendor of miracles ? To reject her authority is truly either the height of impiety, or desperate presump- tion."t * Early Christiaiiity, M. E., Nov., 1851, -f- De util. ored., c. vii. CHAPTER- XIX. g 1.— IMPERIAL INTERPOSITION. No authority in sacred things was ever acknowledged by the Church to reside in emperor, king, or other potentate, even when he was a Christian, although they were sometimes implored to sustain, by the civil arm, the rights of lawful prelates against ambitious and disorderly men, who en- dangered or violated public tranquillity. In this sense, as also in regard to the general support which they owe to religion, the Council of Trent declared that " God wills Catholic princes to be the protectors of our holy faith and of the Church."* The Council of Aquileja besought the Em- perors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, to use their authority, and prevent Ursicinus from disturbing Damasus, the legitimate occupant of the See of Peter.f Eulalius, having ambitiously set himself up in opposition to Boniface, the lawful Pope, the Emperor Honorius, on the report of Sym- machus, ordered Boniface to be banished from the city ; but on receiving from the Roman clergy a correct statement of the facts, and being in- formed of the return of Eulalius, contrary to his command, he supported the rights of Boniface. To provide for public tranquillity, he decreed that, in case of a contested election, both candidates should be banished from the city.J This law is said to have been enacted in consequence of an application made by Boniface himself, for some measure to prevent tumults. Odoacer, King of the Heruli, Laving in 476 established himself King of Italy, on the death of Simplicius in 483, alleged an agreement made with him by the deceased Pontiff that the Prefect, in the name of the king, should be present at the election of his successor ; but the claim was re- sisted by the clergy, and the concession disregarded as a nullity. Sym- machus, chosen Pope in 498, forbade all laymen, even of royal dignity, to interfere in the election ; yet Theodoric, King of Italy, in 526, forced Felix IV. on the Roman clergy and senate, who reluctantly acquiesced, on cou- is. xxvi. 0. XX., d« Ref. f Cono. Aqnil. ep., t. i., oono. Hard., col. 837. t Ibid., coL 123r. 16 241 242 PAPAL ELECTION. dition that the ancient freedom of election should be thenceforward in- violable. The royal assent or confirmation of the election was, however, to be sought, which was to follow as a matter of course, if the proceed- ings were regular. King Athalaric, successor of Theodoric, required the payment of three thousand crowns of gold on the occasion. On the extinction of the Gothic power in Italy in 553, the Emperor Justinian exercised the same prerogative of conflfining the election, in the person of Pelagius I., chosen in 555. The confirmation was not waited for on the election- of Pelagius II. in 578, it being impossible to obtain it, since the city of Rome was actually besieged by the Lombards. It was also neglected in the case of John IV., elected in 640, and of Martin in 649. The tax, which seemed to be the chief object of the im- perial court, was remitted by Constantine Pogonatus in 680 ; who, in 684, coiapletely restored the ancient freedom of election, so as not to require any longer the imperial assent. His successor, Justinian II., renewed the claim in a mitigated form, allowing the exarch of Ravenna to assent in his name, and thus prevent delay. There is no instance of any election having been set aside by the emperor, who regarded the right of confirmation as a mere measure of finance. The Western emperors soon emulated the prerogatives of those of Constantinople. Louis the Pious, in 818, required the Pope to send him an embassy immediately after his consecration. In 824 he sent his son Lothaire to Rome, to terminate the contest which had arisen on the election of Eugenius II., who was opposed by the anti-pope Zinzinus; whence the young prince took occasion to publish an imperial edict, requiring that the consecration of the Pope should take place in presence of the imperial ambassadors, if the emperor himself were not present. This regulation is stated by Pagi to have originated with Eugenius him- self, and to have been confirmed by John IX. in 898, through an anxiety to prevent tumults and irregular promotions. The ambassador of Lo- thaire came to Rome in 827, to examine the election of Gregory IV., and in 855 the report of the election of Benedict III. was forwarded to the imperial court for examination. The canonical freedom of election was vindicated from time to time by decrees of the Pontifi"s. Constantine, an anti-pope, having obtained pos- session of the See, by the aid of armed men, Stephen IV., in 769, forbade any layman, of any rank whatever, to interfere in papal elections.* Adrian III., in 884, decreed that the Pontiff elect might be consecrated without the presence of the king or his ambassadors. It does not appear that the emperors exercised or claimed any right over the election, beyond the mere examination of its regularity, until the middle of the tenth century. After Otho I., in 962, had been * Cono. Rom., act. iii., apud Holstenium, in collect. Rom., par. i. p. 260. PAPAL ELECTION. 243 crowned emperor by John XII., he exacted an oath from the clergy and people, that no Pope should thenceforward be consecrated without pre- viously making, in presence of the imperial ambassadors, or of the sou of the emperor, or of the public, a promise which is not distinctly specified, but is described as intended " for the satisfaction of all and for their future preservation," such as Leo IV. had spontaneously made. This pledge seems to have»been directed to secure the imperial interests in Rome. Otho soon acted as if he could at will create and depose the Pope, having attempted to set aside John, and substitute the anti-pope Leo VIII. In this usurpation he was imitated by two emperors of the same name. Henry I. restored the freedom of papal elections, which his successors Conrad and the second Henry also respected; although the latter required that the imperial ambassadors should be present at the consecration. It must be owned that the disorders of popular elections at Rome, and the violent intrusion of several unworthy men, gave an appearance of ex- pediency to this intervention, which might have been salutary, if it did not prepare the way for unjust influence, amounting to control. Alex- ander II. directed that the imperial authority should be awaited, unless dangerous circumstances forbade delay. The imperial influence was exercised beneficially in several instances. At the solicitation of the clergy and people of Rome, Henry II. recom- mended Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg, for promotion ; who, accordingly, under the name of Clement II., adorned the Apostolic throne by his virtues. Bruno, Bishop of Toul, was recommended by the Council of Worms to the emperor, and by him proposed to the Roman clergy; but the holy bishop entered Rome as a private individual, and refused to exercise any authority until the clergy and people freely elected him. He is known to us as St. Leo IX. Gebhard, Bishop of Aichstat, who was reluctantly yielded by the emperor to the urgent prayers of Hilde- brand, filled the See as Victor II. The deference shown to the emperors did not amount to an acknowledg- ment of any strict right on their part to control the elections, as is evident from the fact that many Popes were consecrated without awaiting the im- perial assent. Leo IV., in 847, was consecrated in the absence of the ambassadors ; and only five out of nineteen Popes who lived in the ninth century waited for the confirmation of their election. Stephen X. was consecrated within a few days after the death of Victor 11., when it was impossible to have received the confirmation. When in the minority of Henry IV. the right was claimed by the Regency, in virtue of an alleged grant of Nicholas II. to the emperor, and complaint was made that Alex- ander II. had been consecrated without the imperial assent, the repre- sentatives of the Holy See strongly denied that even a Pope could give to the emperor a right of peremptory control, since the election of the 244 PAPAL ELECTION. Vicar of Christ must necessarily be free. The concession was shown to be a personal privilege granted in critical times, to be exercised without detriment to the liberty of election. St. Gregory VII., by soliciting the emperor to withhold his assent and defeat his election, seemed to acknow- ledge in him a power of veto ; but he grounded it on usage, or on the concession of his predecessors : while otherwise he is known to have zealously maintained the freedom of the Church, as of divine right. From his time the imperial pretensions were either altogether abandoned, or defeated by the constancy of the clergy. Gibbon remarks : " The removal of a foreign influence restored and endeared the Shepherd to his flock. Instead of the arbitrary or venal nomination of a German court, the Vicar of Christ was freely chosen by the College of Cardinals, most of whom were either natives or inhabitants of the city. The applause of the magistrates and people confirmed his election : and the ecclesiastical power that was obeyed in Sweden and Britain, had been ultimately derived from the suffrage of the Romans."* From a careful consideration of documents and facts, it results that no right of interference in the election of the Head of the Church exists in emperors, or kings, or earthly rulers of any kind, and that an attempt on their part to control it is a violation of the liberty of the Church. The privileges which they once exercised were granted them by the Church herself, as the guardians of public order, in order to secure regularity in the proceedings, and the support of the civil power for the elect. When- ever they were used in an absolute or arbitrary way, or were assumed in- dependently of the concession or assent of the Pontiffs, they were usurpations, which can neither prove nor give any right whatever. In modern times it has been customary for the electors to treat with respect the remonstrances of the chief Catholic powers, Austria, France, and Spain, so as not to urge the promotion of an individual objected to by any of them, provided the objection be made before the election is completed by 'the consent of two-thirds of the electors. Each power can exercise this prerogative only in one instance. No strict right of veto, however, is acknowledged by this deference to the escludva, or ammo- nizione pacifica, as this expression of the wishes of the crowned heads is called. Thus the liberty of the Church remains inviolate, while a just regard is had for the representatives of great national interests. §2.— MODE OF ELECTION. The plenitude of power with which the Pope is clothed, might appear to authorize him to provide a successor, when old age warns him of the approach of death, especially if he has reason to fear that intrigues, dis- » Decline and Fal), ch. Ixix., A.D. 1000-1100. PAPAL ELECTION. 245 orders, and violenoe may occur during the vacancy of the See. The language used by Irengsus in regard to Peter, who is said to have com- mitted to Linus the administration of the Church, may be understood of the appointment of a sxiccessor; but all antiquity teaches that the bishopric should not be as a legacy, dependent on the mere will of the actual incumbent. The elective principle, which was originally common to all episcopal sees, is still held sacred in regard to the Apostolic See, to which it is utterly forbidden to give the appearance of an inheritance. Hilary, in a Roman Council, declared that no Pope should choose his successor; which important declaration was repeated and confirmed by Pius IV. after the lapse of eleven centuries. Pius added that no Pope could, even with the assent of the cardinals, choose a coadjutor, with the right of succeeding him. Boniface II., in 530, designated Vigilius for his successor, with the view of preventing the intrusion of an unworthy incumbent by the King of the Goths ; but on maturer reflection, he com- mitted his decree to the flames, lest his example should give an heredi- tary appearance to the sacred office. When Gregory XIV. lay at the point of death, he exhorted the pardinals to proceed to the election of his successor; which, however, they respectfully declined. Several Popes, on their death-bed, recommended to the cardinals the person whom they deemed most worthy to succeed, as Clement VII., dying, said^ that he would choose Cardinal Farnese, if the office could be bequeathed. His recommendation was adopted, but generally such expressions of desire were neglected. By a decree of Symmachus, in 499, renewed by Paul IV. in 1558, it is forbidden, under pain of excommunication, during the lifetime of the Pope to treat of his successor. It is likewise forbidden, under the same penalty, to make wagers concerning the future PontiflF, when the See is actually Vacant, lest any person should use improper measures to obtain a choice favorable to his interests. It is beyond a doubt that the people, for many ages, had a great share in the election of bishops, although it does not appear that they had at any time a strict right of suffrage. Their favorable testimony had con- siderable weight, their just wishes were respected, and the clergy willingly aided in the promotion of those who were most likely to secure popula,r respect and obedience. In those times, however, the chief pastor did not fail to admonish the clergy, that they must not be driven forward by the popular impulse, which they should rather prudently direct and control. " The people," said St. Celestin, in the fifth century, " should be taught, not followed ; and we should admonish them, if they be ig- norant of what is lawful and what is forbidden, nor should we consent to them."* In the preceding age, the Council of Laodicea had decreed that the " multitude must not be allowed to make the election of those * Ad ep. Apulias. 246 PAPAL ELECTION. who are to be raised to tlie priesthood."* The publicity and popular character of the elections continued at Kome down to the twelfth century. Nicholas II., who in 1058 was elected by the clergy, in presence and with the concurrence of the people, decreed that the right of election belonged, in the first place, to the cardinal bishops, who were to fix upon the candidate, and next to the cardinal priests and deacons, whose cou- currenoe was to be sought; and that the clergy and people should express their assent, following the cardinals as guides. The people continued to be present at the elections, and, by their acclamations, signified their assent to the individual chosen by the cardinal bishops, with the consent of the clergy. Innocent II., in 1130, to remedy the disorders attendant on these popular assemblies, attempted to exclude the people from the election; but they rose in arms, and maintained their immemorial privi- leges, so that Eugene III., in 1145, was elected by the general wish of the clergy and people; and in 1154, the clergy and laity, with acclama- tion, enthroned Adrian IV. In the third Council of Lateran, held in 1179, under Alexander III., it was decreed, that in case of a division at the election, the person having two-thirds of the votes of the cardinals should be acknowledged as true Pontiff. The people, consequently, thenceforward ce£|.sed to have any participation in the choice; and they were effectually excluded from witnessing the election, when it became customary to hold it within an enclosure, called the conclave, which was occasionally done, even before it was specially decreed by Gregory X., in 1274. The exclusion of the laity from the elections was rendered necessary by the tumults and sanguinary scenes that oftentimes attended popular assemblies. It was the wish of Gregory of Nazianzum, so early as the fourth age, that the choice of the prelates of the Church were reserved to a small number of good men."}" This is verified in the body of cardinals, who are never more than seventy in number, as seventy elders aided Moses in the government of the people, and who generally are men of great experience and unblemished morals. Six of them are bishops of the neighboring Sees of Ostia, Porto, Albano, Preneste, Sabina, and Frescati. Fifty belong to the order of priests, and fourteen to that of deacons : all of whom have titles taken from the ancient Churches of Rome, over which they preside ; and consequently they are the chief clergy of the Eoman Church. The election is conducted in a manner best calculated to result in a happy choice. A solemn mass is celebrated each day to implore the light of the Holy Ghost. A sermon is delivered at the opening of the conclave, in which the electors are exhorted to choose a worthy successor of Peter. All external influence is studiously excluded, no person being * Can. xiii., apud Hard., t. i. col. 784. -j- Orat. xix. PAPAL ELECTION. 247 allowed to speak in secret, or to communicate by letter with any cardinal, under penalty of excommunication. Any elector, who, by gifts, promises, or entreaties, attempts to influence the votes of others, incurs the same awful penalty. The election is made by ballot, care being taken, by the ingenious folding of the tickets, that no one can know how another has voted, and that no deception be practised in the counting of the votes. At the close of each ballot all the tickets are burnt. , When the electors please, they make an open election, or without voting, rush, as it were, by general inspiration, to venerate as Pope the individual who is known to be acceptable to all. Each cardinal, when depositing his vote in the chalice, on the altar, solemnly swears that he gives it according to his conscientious judgment : " I call to witness Christ the Lord, who is to judge me, that I choose the person who, before God, I judge ought to be elected." Two-thirds of the electors must concur to a choice. Each morning and evening the ballot takes place ; and in case of no choice being made, a supplementary ballot immediately follows, in order to give the electors an opportunity to supply the number of votes necessary. This is called the accesso. The cardinals continue confined within the 'conclave, like jurors in a jury-room, until the election is made CHAPTER XX. § 1.— CEREMONIES AFTER ELECTION. After the election of the Pope, his consent is demanded, and he is asked by what name he chooses to be thenceforward called. The custom, which was introduced in the tenth century, of assuming a new name, although not originally so designed, corresponds with the example of Simon, who received the name of Peter, on being called by our Lord. The Pope then kneels before the altar in prayer, and retires behind it to lay aside the robes of cardinal and assume those of Pontiff; clothed with which, he seats himself in front of it, on a chair, where he admits the cardinals to kiss his hand and embrace him. Wearing the mantle called the cope, and the episcopal mitre, he is then placed on the altar of the Sixtine chapel, where, as the representative and Vicar of Christ, he receives the homage of the sacred college, in a manner far more solemn and expressive. They kiss his foot, and also his hand covered with the sacred robe, and embrace him, approaching their cheek to his, on each side. The placing of him on the table of the vacant altar, probably arose from considerations of convenience, since the aged cardinals could scarcely perform the obeisance, unless he were in a high position. If, however, we regard it as designed to present him as representative of Him who is our Great High Priest, as well as victim, there is nothing in the rite which should shock our sensibilities or Christian feeling. This ceremony has been popularly styled adoration, in the free sense in which this term, was generally used, corresponding with respect, veneration, or homage. Novaes justly remarks, that it does nol even denote in this place veneration such as is given to the saints, but respect.* The Rubri- cists term it obedience, because used in token of submission to the au- thority of the Pontiff. The kissing of the foot is an ancient Oriental rite, expressive of honor and affection, and is peculiarly suitable to the apostolic office, since the feet are beautiful of him who proclaims to Sion : * " Con questo nome noi qui intendiamo qol Cardinal Bellarmino un atto di rispetto." Introd. alio Vite dei Ss. Pontef., per Giuseppe do Novaes. Roma, 1822. T. i. p. 237. 248 CEREMONIES. 249 " Thy God shall reign."* The penitent kisaed the feet of our Divine Master ; and the devout women, who met Him after His resurrection, held fast His feet, no doubt kissing them affectionately. Cornelius, the centurion, cast himself at the feet of Simon Peter, venerating the mes- senger of God. From the acts of St. Susanna, a virgin who suffered martyrdom about the year 294, it appears that the custom of paying this mark of respect to the successors of the apostle existed at that early period, since Praepedigna is related to have kissed the feet of Pope Cajus, according to custom. The most powerful princes at various times gave this profound honor to the Popes. The Emperor Justin I., in 525, pros- trated himself at the feet of Pope John : Justinian I. honored Agapetus in like manner : Justinian II., with the imperial crown on his head, kissed the feet of Pope Constantine in 710 : Luitprand, King of the Lombards, kissed the feet .of Gregory II. : Rachis honored Zaoharias in the same way : Charlemagne gave the like honor to Adrian I. ; and, to pass over many other examples, the Emperor Charles V. honored Clement VII. and Paul III. with the same mark of veneration. No one who knows t"he war waged by Charles against Clement will ascribe this homage to pusillanimity, or superstition. Since the time of Gregory the Great, as rubricists state, it has been customary with the Popes to wear the cross on their sandals, that the honor might be referred to Christ cru- cified. If, however, it be given directly to the Pope, as His earthly repre- sentative, there is nothing in it which reason may condemn. Besides, the Pope himself every year, on Holy Thursday, kisses the feet of thirteen priests, after having washed them in imitation of our Blessed Redeemer. Can his admission of others to perform in his regard a similar act, be a just cause of scandal ? The splendid chair on which the Pope is borne aloft on the shoulders of twelve men, to the basilic of St. Peter, is used in consideration of his age, which is generally advanced, and in order to render him visible to the faithful, who should, on this solemn occasion, distinctly recognise their chief Pastor. The peacock feathers, which wave on each side of it, are symbolical of his universal inspection, as if he had as many eyes as appear in the plumage of the proud bird. I deem it superfluous to explain in detail the ceremonies practised in the basilic of St. Peter, where, after adoring the Blessed Sacrament, the Pope receives the same homage as had been given him in the chapel. Three cardinal priests are admitted to kiss his mouth and breast on this occasion: in token of the affection which they bear him, and of the reverence with which they will receive the words which he shall utter in the name of Christ. * Isa. lii. 7. 250 CEREMONIES. J 2.— CEREMONIES OF CORONATION. The solemn coronation takes place generally a week after the election. In this ceremony, a long plated cane, surmounted with a bunch of flax, is carried by the master of ceremonies, who lights it, bends the knee, as is usually done toward sovereigns, and says: " Holy Father,. thus passeth away the glory of this world." This ceremony is repeated three times, that the Pontiff may never suffer his mind to be dazzled by the splendor with which he is surrounded. On the altar where Mass is to be celebrated, seven candlesticks are lighted, as is usual whenever any bishop celebrates in his own diocese, in conformity with the vision of the Evangelist, to whom our Lord appeared amid seven candlesticks, symbols of the seven churches of Asia Minor. After the confession in the commencement of Mass, the Pope is placed on the seat on which he was carried to the church ; the pallium is blessed by the three first cardinals, and is then hung on his shoulders, by the first cardinal deacon, who says to him : " Eeceive the holy pallium, the fulness of the pontifical office, for the honor of Almighty G-od, and of the most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the Holy Roman Church." The mention of the Blessed Virgin and the apostles, in conjunction with the Deity, is conformable to scriptural precedent, where the agent of divine power is mentioned conjointly with God himself. Thus Moses* and Gideonf are mentioned with God. The cardinal deacon, accompanied by the judges of the tribunal called Rota, and by the consistorial advocates, goes to the tomb of St. Peter, and thrice invokes Christ in behalf of the Pontiff: " Hear us graciously, Christ," he cries ; and those around him answer, praying : " Long life to the Sovereign Pontiff and Universal Pope destined by God." " Sa- viour of the world," cries the cardinal deacon ; they answering : " do Thou help him." The aid of the prayers of the archangels and saints is then asked in a short litany. The Gospel is sung in Latin and Greek, to represent the union of those two gre^t portions of the Church, whose rite and language are different. After the Mass, the Pontiff, seated in the great balcony in front of the church of St. John of Lateran, in the presence of the whole people, is crowned with the tiara, by the first cardinal deacon, after the choir Las sung the verse of the Psalmist : " A golden crown is on his head !" It is a curious fact that the tiara, in its original form, is no other than the cap used by the ancient Romans as the symbol of liberty, because « Num. xxi. 5. f Judges vii. 20. CEREMONIES. 251 given to liberated slaves. In the ancient images of the Popes, all who preceded the reign of Constantino are represented with the head un- covered; Sylvester, who was contemporary with him, appears with the simple Roman cap. Papebroeok conjectures that the reason of this is that when peace was granted to the Church by Constantine, Sylyester, either of his own accord, or by order of the emperor, took the cap as the symbol of liberty, according to Roman usage.* The Bollandists concur in this view, and explain its signification as relating to the liberation of the Church by Constantine, from heathenish oppression, and the many immunities which he granted to her.f Novaes, a Portuguese, writing at Rome in the beginning of the present century, adopts the same opinion, and expressly says, that the tiara was originally the Roman cap, the sym- bol of liberty.J An ornamental circle, which is called by many a crown, is observable around the lower part, in the ancient pictures of the Popes who succeeded Sylvester ; but there is no evidence of any coronation of a Pope before the time of Nicholas I., in the middle of the ninth cen- tury, or at least before Leo III., in 795. I, therefore, incline to believe, that this ornament was first added when the Popes had acquired a tem- poral principality, and was used as a secular ornament, symbolical of their sovereignty over the Roman States. The circumstance of the tiara being blessed and placed on the Pope in the balcony of the church, and the fact of its never being worn at Mass, favor this view. Innocent in. speaks of it as the symbol of temporal power : but his words seem to regard the power which, as Vicar of Christ, he claimed over sovereigns, ratione peccati, as far as the morality of their actions was concerned. "The Church," he says, "has given me a crown as a symbol of temporalities : she has conferred on me a mitre in token of spiritual power : a mitre for the priesthood — a crown for the kingdom : making me the vicar of Him who bears written on His garment and thigh : ' The King of kings, and Lord of lords.' "§ Some think that Boniface VIII., who began his reign in 1294, added a second circle, or crown, to the cap, to express more forcibly this same power over sove- reigns : but if the testimony of Benzo can be relied on, the two circles were on the cap worn by Nicholas 11., who was chosen Pope in 1053. 1| Innocent III., however, makes no allusion to the second circle. The third circle was added, as many think, by Benedict XII., in 1834, but more probably by Urban VI., chosen in 1362. The ancient images of the Popes preserved at Rome favor this latter opinion. I know of no document which determines the meaning^ of the three circles. They * In conatu ad S. Silvest., n. 5. -f- Acta SS. Maji, 1. iv. die 19. J Diss. T., Delia solenne Coron. del Ponf., p. 87. g Serm. in festo S. Silvest. II De Rebus Henrici III., 1. vii. u. 2. ^ " Qual che siane il slgnificato simbolioo." Lnnadoro. 252 CEREMONIES may have been added for mere ornament, without any special signi- fication. The tiara was generally worn only in the solemn ceremony of the coronation/until the time of Paul 11., chosen Pope in 1464, who used it on many occasions. Some Popes wore it on the chief festivals. The address made to the Pope when the tiara is placed on his head, which mentions the three crowns, must have been composed or amended since they were adopted. The cardinal deacon says ' to him : " Eeceive the tiara adorned with three crowns, and know that thou art the father of princes and kings, the ruler of the world on earth,* the Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory throiighout all ages." This language might be considered as implying all thafwas claimed by Gregory, Innocent, or Boniface ; but it is also capable of an interpre- tation consistent with the more moderate pretensions of the Popes, who, since the days of Sixtus V. or Gregory XIV., during two centuries and a half, have filled the chair of the fisherman. The Pontiff is truly " the father of princes and kings," venerated as such by all the children of the Church, who, in their highest elevation, recognise him as the general head of the whole Christian family. He may be styled " ruler on eartn of the world," because the Church, in which he holds the primacy, is spread throughout the world, and he is charged to promulgate to every creature the law of God, to which every soul must be subject. He holds the place of Christ, being entrusted by Him vrith the care of His sheepfold. - * " Eeotorem orbia in terra." Borne put a comma after orlis, and refer " in terra" to vicarium : but the other punctuation seems correct. " Orbis in urbe" is found in Ovid, and signifies a multitude in a city. C|e ^rimatg. PART II. SECULAK EELATIONS. CHAPTER I. |atrim0D:g at St. |fto. The primacy is essentially a spiritual office, which has not, of divine right, any temporal appendage : yet the Pope is actually sovereign of a small principality in Italy, designated (he patrimony of St. Peter, or the States of the Church. It has been so styled because it has been attached to the pontifical office, through reverence for the prince of the apostles. As it has no necessary connection with the primacy, and as Catholics, not living within the Roman States, are not subject to the civil authority of the Pope, it is not necessary to treat of it : jet it is a matter of no small interest to trace its history, and observe by what a combination of events Providence has annexed it to the Holy See, and most wonderfully maintained it, amid the revolutions of empires and kingdoms. Christ sent forth His disciples without scrip or staff, giving them no dominion over the least spot of earth. In making Peter the ruler of His kingdom, He did not give him dominion, or wealth, or any of the appendages of royalty. The Master had not whereon to lay His head ; and the chief disciple was unprovided with any earthly possession. Gold and silver he had not, but he had powers of a supernatural order, for the government of men in order to salvation. The generous zeal with which the first disciples devoted themselves to the service of God, led many of them to sell their property, and lay the purchase-money at the feet of St. Peter, to form thence a common fund for the general necessities : yet we have no reason to suppose that it rose to any great amount, since the constantly-flowing streams of beneficence left but little in the common reservoir. When the apostle closed his career, he bequeathed to his successors no inheritance but the labors and dangers of his office. For three centuries they continued exposed to the fury of persecution. .Nevertheless, the generosity of the faithful con- secrated to the service of religion, under their direction, a considerable portion of their worldly riches ; so that a public treasure was formed, by means of which the clergy and a large number of indigent persons were supported. In the middle of the third century, Pope Cornelius, in a letter to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, stated that there were then at Rome forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolytes, 255 256 PATRIMONY OP ST. PETER, fifty-two exorcists, lectors, and janitors ; that is, clergymen in minor orders ; and one thousand five hundred widows, with other afflicted and distressed persons, — to all of whom the grace and bounty of the Lord furnished support.* The heathens believed the wealth of the Church to be great, since the deacon Lawrence, in time of persecution, was called on to deliver it up to the public officer. To avoid doing so, he distributed all to the poor, whom he presented at the appointed time, saying : " Here are the treasures of the Church !" It is certain that the Emperor Constantine bestowed large possessions on the Bishop of Rome. Although the document which purports to be the instrument of donation is supposititious, yet, as the acute De Maistre observes, nothing is more certain than the donation of Constantine. Vol- taire avows, that "he gave in reality to the cathedral church of St. John, not to the Bishop of Eome individually, a thousand marks of gold, and thirty thousand marks of silver, with a revenue of fourteen thousand pence, and lands in Calabria. Each emperor successively in- creased this patrimony. The Bishops of Rome stood in need of it. The missionaries whom they soon sent to pagan Europe, the exiled bishops to whom they afibrded a refuge, the poor whom they fed, put them under the necessity of being very wealthy.""|' The palace of Lateran was in possession of the Pope in the early part of the fourth century, since Mel- chiades held there a Council to decide the Donatist controversy, and the church erected beside it still bears the name of the generous emperor. Fleury testifies, that from the ancient monuments of the Roman Church it is apparent that Constantine gave to the baptistery of St. John of La- teran, which is attached to the Constantine basilic, so many houses and farms, not only in Italy, but likewise in Sicily, Africa, and Greece, that the annual revenue amounted to 30,394 marks of gold.J Secular in- fluence naturally followed wealth, and the withdrawal of Constantine from the ancient capital of the empire, left the Bishop of Rome in a position almost independent; the pontifical chair being no longer over- shadowed by the imperial throne. When Pope Leo the Great was in- vited to a general Council by the Emperor Maroian, he pleaded, besides the want of precedent on the part of his predecessors, the danger to the public peace should he absent himself from the city. " The very uncer- tain state of afiairs at present does not allow me to withdraw from the population of this city, since the minds which are agitated would be cast into despair, were I to quit the country and the Apostolic See for a cause of an ecclesiastical nature."§ This shows that his presence was con- nected in the public mind with the peace and safety of the city : on which account he writes to the emperor : " temporal necessity does not * Ad Fabiuni Antioch, col. 150, Constant, t. i. -f Bssai sur rHistoire, t. ii. J Hist., 1. xi., A. C. 320. 2 Ep. xxviii. ad Puloheriam Aug. PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 257 allow me to leave the city."* Necessity forced him to act as protector and father of the Roman people, when his interposition alone could avert the wrath of some fierce barbarian rushing forward to lay the fair city in ruins, and fill her streets with her slaughtered citizens. When Attila, " the scourge of God," at the head of five hundred thousand Huns, advanced to its destruction, the mild eloquence of Leo disarmed' him. Two years afterward, the Pontifi' discharged the same office of mediator with Genseric, who, at the head of Vandals and Moors, came to wreak vengeance on the queen of nations ; but he could only save the lives of the citizens by delivering the city to pillage. Even in times of tran- quillity, Leo exercised some acts of civil authority, since he summoned the Manichees to trial, and, on conviction, banished them from the city.f Although the Bishop of Rome was not as yet a temporal sovereign, yet his spiritual power was surrounded with so great secular influence, that he almost ranked as a prince, and felt that wrongs inflicted on his repre- sentatives in the imperial court were violations of the rights of so- vereignty. In 484, St. Felix complained to the Emperor Zeno, that the laws of nations had been violated by the injurious treatment of' his legates. The moderation and indulgence with which the. Popes treated their dependents, made men desirous to enjoy their protection. St. Gregory the Great exhorted Sabinian, Bishop of Callipolis,J a city dependent on the Roman Church, to see that the citizens should not be overmuch bur- dened. § Pantaleon, the notary of Syracuse, having reported to him that injustice had been practised in the name of the Roman Church on her dependents, he praised him, and directed strict inquiry to be made into the wrongs already committed, that they might be repaired : " for," he says, " like the Teacher of the nations, I have all things, and abound : and I do not seek money, but a heavenly recompense."|| He instructed Peter, his agent in Sicily, to cause restitution to be made, if, as was alleged, the possessions of individuals, or their personal property, or their slaves, had been seized in the name of the Roman Church, within the preceding ten years, and to save the aggrieved the trouble of coming to Rome for redress. Strict impartiality was enjoined by him, as the best evidence which the agent could give of his devotedness to the Apostolic See : " for then," says he, " you will be truly a soldier of St. Peter, if in cases which concern him, you maintain what is right, without regard tc> his interests."^ Guizot, after citing some humane regulations of Gre- gory, observes : " It is easy to understand why people were at that time eager to place themselves under the dominion of the Church : lay pro- * Bp. xxxiT. ad Theodosium Aug. f Ep. ii. ad ep. per Italiam. J A seaport in Otranto, Naples. ? L. ix. ep. e. II L. xUi. ep. xxxiv. f L. i. ep. xxxvi. 17 258' PATRIMONY OP ST. PETER. prietors were certainly far from stowing like solicitude for the well-being of the occupants of their domains."* The possessions of the Eoman Churchf were regarded as a trust for the poor, whose interests St. Gregory felt that he was guarding, while he attended to the collection of the revenues, which he dispensed with liberality and discernment. He directed two thousand bushels of wheat to be given by the deacon Cyprian, his agent in Sicily, to the Bishop Zeno, for the relief of the poor of his city. J Sending the priest Can- didus into G-aul, to manage the small patrimony of the Koman Church in that kingdom, he ordered the revenues to be employed in buying clothes for the poor, and in purchasing English boys of seventeen or eighteen years of age, that they might be rescued from the bondage of error and sin, and instructed in some monastery, where they might serve God.§ He thanked the prefect of Africa for the protection afforded by him in what regarded the interests of the poor of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles. II Talitan, another guardian of the patrimony, was exhorted by him to defend it, as being the portion of the poor. Truly did Gibbon say : " In the use of wealth he acted like a faithful steward of the Church and the poor, and liberally applied to their wants the inexhaustible resources of abstinence and order."^ Property, in those ages, brought with it dominion over the occupants of the soil : whence " the agents of the Church of Kome had acquired a civil and even criminal jurisdiction over their tenants and husband- men."** Although the feudal system was not as yet developed, yet much that characterized the ages strictly designated feudal, was ob- servable in the relations of landlord and tenant ; so that the remarks of Guizot, applied to that period, may help to solve the enigma of the exercise of a power apparently supreme in many respects, and yet con- fessedly subordinate to the imperial authority. " The landed proprietor, as such, exercised in his possessions some of the rights now reserved to the sovereign. He maintained order, administered justice, or caused it to be administered ; led forth, or sent forth to battle the occupants of his lands, not in virtue of a special power styled political, but of his right of property, which included various powers."'j'f In fact, we find Gregory issuing orders to the defender — that is, agent or officer charged with the care of the patrimony — in an authoritative form :JJ * Cours d'Histoire Moderne, t. iv. p. 259. •f These are called "justitice S. Petri " In various documents of the eighth century. The term was probably used for "jura," rights, and borrowed from the Vulgate, which uses it with great latitude. See Dlacorso Storico sopra alcuni punti delta Storia Longo- hardica per Maneoni, § iv, J L. vi. ep. iv, ^ L. v. ep. vii. II L. X., ep. xxxvii. ^ Decline and Fall, &c. ch. -xlv. ** Decline and Pall, Ac. ch. xlv. f f Cours d' Ilistoire Moderne, t, iii, p. 75. X^ Praicepti noatri pagiiia. L. ix., ep. xl., et. 1. ^., ep. a. PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 259 and confirming his acts in the most express inanrier, to prevent their being called in question.* He directed his attention to the case of an injured woman, whose complaints had reached him, and ordered an inquiry to be made into it, by arbitrators to be chosen by the parties.f He prescribed rules to be followed in trials of the right of property, and directed posses- sion during forty years to be taken as a presumptive proof, barring any adverse claim. J He instructed Sergius, the defender at Otranto, to force Fruniscendus to answer a claim made against him, and to pronounce and execute the sentence, without admitting any appeal. § It may be questioned whether G-regory acted as a landed proprietor, in several instances, in which he took upon himself to direct military move- ments for the defence of various parts of Italy. Doubtless he had yast interests at stake ; but zeal for the common safety may have prompted him to give orders, which all were disposed to receive with gratitude and reverence from one whose social position was already so eminent. We find him appointing Constance, the tribune, to guard the city of Naples, and exhorting the soldiers to obey him.|| Maurentius, another officer in command of the troops at Naples, was directed to relieve Theodosius, abbot of a monastery in Campania, from the necessity of guarding the walls.^ Apprehending that Ariulph, the Lombard, might attack Ravenna or Rome, he issued orders for defence to the commanders of the troops.** He apprised Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari, and Genadius, who appears to have been a layman in high office, of the danger of the invasion of Sardinia by the Lombards under Agilulph, that they might prepare to fepel it, declaring that on his part he would neglect nothing in his power in order to be in readiness. The negotiations which Gregory carried on with the Lombard king, show that his own position was equivalent to that of an independent prince. He urged Severus, the assessor of the exarch, to advise him to make peace with Agilulph, intimating that should he decline any arrange- ment, the king had offered to come to an arrangement with himself: this shows that he was in a position nearly equal to that of a sovereign, j-j- He afterward made peace with the Lombards, on terms nowise prejudicial to the commionwealth.JJ He wrote to Agilulph, to thank him for the peace, urged him to see that his officers observe it, and assured him that he received his messengers affectionately, as bearers of good tidings. §§ At the same time he addressed letters of thanks to Theodelinda, the wife of the king, for her kind offices in procuring peace, and begged her to cou- *■ Per hujus tuitiomB paginam conjirmamus. L. ix., ep. Ivii. f Ep. Ixxxiii. t L. i., ep. ii., et. 1. vii., ep. xxxix. § L. ix., ep. ci. {| L. ii., ep. xxxi. ^ L. ix., ep. Ixxiii. *» L. iii., ep. xxix. xxx. f f L. v., ep. XXXV. JJ Ep. xl. ii Ep. xlii. 260 PATRIMONY OF ST. PETEE. tinue them, that Agilulph " may not reject the society of the Christian republic."* "Disappointed," says Gibbon, "in the hopes of a general and lasting treaty, he presumed to save his country without the consent of the emperor or the exarch. The sword of the enemy was suspended over Rome : it was averted by the mild eloquence and seasonable gifts of the Pontiff, who commanded the respect of heretics and barbarians. The merits of Gregory were treated by the Byzantine court with reproach and insult; but in the attachment of a grateful people, he found the purest reward of a citizen, and the best right of a sovereign."f That he had civil authority at Rome, appears from the plea of Boniface of Africa, who offered as an excuse for not presenting himself to give an account of his faith, that his friends feared the employment of force against him : " Those," says the Pontiff, " who partake of your doubts, if they will come to me, have no reason to fear that I will employ my authority against them; for in all causes, but especially in those which regard divine things, we are eager to bind men by reason, ratber than by , force."J His great civil influence is apparent from his observation, wben he was calumniated as having caused the death of the Bishop Malchus : " On this point it suffices for you to remark to our most serene lords, that if I, their servant, had been willing to cause the death of the Lombards, the Lombard nation would, at this day, have neither king, nor dukes, nor counts, but would be in unutterable confusion."§ He was not, however, free from all dependence on the empire, since we find him promulgating a law enacted by Mauritius, although it did not accord with his own judg- ment. The terms of his remonstrance indicate the submission of a subject to his sovereign. 1| At a subsequent period, the fanatic zeal of Justinian to procure the approval of the Trullan Council, and the persecuting measures of the Iconoclasts, caused the Romans and Italians to rally round the Bishop of Rome. When Zacharias, an imperial officer, attempted to execute the order which he had received for the arrest and transportation to Constan- tinople of Pope Sergius, who refused to sanction the innovations of the Trullan prelates, the military of Ravenna, of the dukedom of Pentapolis, and of the neighboring districts, rushed to the defence of the Pontiff, and, but for his interposition, would have torn the officer to pieces. The Lombards vied with the Romans in protecting the person of Gregory II. against the satellites of the Iconoclast emperor, Leo the Isaurian. From that time, the military took a conspicuous part in the election of the Pope, being allowed, on more than one occasion, to 'declare their assent by subscribing the document which certified that he was chosen by the * Bp. xliii. f Decline and Fall, &o. ch. xlv. t L. iv., ep. xliii. g Ep. xlvii.. II " Ego quidem juBsioni suljjectus— imperatori obedientiam prasbui." L. iii. ep. Ixv. PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 261 clergy, soldiery, and people. Notwithstanding this attempt on his own life, Gregory continued to support the imperial authority, forbidding the Italians to revolt, as they had determined, when Leo the Isaurian decreed the destruction of the sacred images. Prompted by humanity and religion, several Popes adopted measures for the protection of the Eomans against the barbarian hordes that overran Italy ; and with this view raised walls around the city, and provided it with means of defence. Through the neglect of the Eastern emperors to succor and protect their Italian subjects, the imperial power soon became extinct, and the Popes, unable to cope with the Lombards, were compelled to seek aid from the Pranks. " Any effectual assistance," as Hallam avows, " from the Emperor Con- stantino Copronymus, would have kept Rome still faithful."* When Rome was besieged by Aristulph, Stephen III. called on Pepin to succor the Roman Church, and "his people, the citizens of the republic of the Eomans." On his victory over the Lombards, in 755, Pepin restored to the Pope twenty cities, which his valor had recovered. This can scarcely be considered a mere donation, since a great portion, if not all, of the territory had already belonged to the Pope : whence Stephen IV., in the year 769, urged the French princes, Charles and Carloman, as a matter of duty which they owed to St. Peter, to see that his property usurped by the Lombards should be fully restored. " If you neglect or delay to enforce his just claims, a thin^ which we cannot believe, know that you shall render a strict account of them to the prince of the apostles himself, before the tribunal of Christ."f Language so strong cannot be applicable to a mere gift of their father. " The Popes," says Hallam, "appear to have possessed some measure of temporal power, even while the city was professedly governed by the exarchs of Ravenna, in the name of the Eastern empire. This power became more extensive on her separation from Constantinople."! It is not easy to define with accuracy the relations of the Romans to the king and the Pontiff; but the latter may be regarded as limiting his sovereignty to the exercise of a protectorate, while the Romans were virtually a republic ; and " the Patrician," as Pepin was styled, was to support the existing order, by his intervention in cases of extraordinary danger from external assaults or domestic dissensions. By his counsels and influence, rather than by the display of power, the Pontiff reigned over his people, who- cheerfully obeyed their father and benefactor, unless wlien excited passion drove them to temporary acts of insubordination and revolt. As it did not become him to use the sword, he called to his aid a temporal prince, to employ that coercion which was necessary to restrain rebellious spirits, reserving to himself the exercise of the milder attributes of sovereignty.§ * Middle Ages, ch.i. f Ep. xlvi. Cod. Carol. J Middle Ages, p. 1, oh. iii. ^ Something like this is seen in the actual relations to the Papal government of the French and Austrian troops now occupying the States of the Church. 262 PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. "When some desperate men, in attempting to assassinate the holy Pontiff Leo lit., mutilated and disfigured him, he became intercessor in their behalf with Charlemagne, as yet only patrician, and obtained their par- don. Yet, on a subsequent occasion, when a similar attempt had been made, and the assassins had been found guilty of a crime punishable with death, according to the laws of the Romans, he suffered the senteiice to be executed, lest extreme lenity should embolden the wicked. " Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so ; Pardon is still the nurse of second wo."* Among the acts of sovereignty which the public danger forced the Pontiffs to exercise, was the repelling of barbarian troops that invaded the Eoman territory. In the reign of Leo IV., the Saracens endeavored to effect a landing at Ostia, in order to advance against Rome. The heroic Pope fulfilled the duties of a sovereign, without prejudice to his spiritual character, as Voltaire acknowledges : " Pope Leo IV., taking upon himself at this crisis an authority which the generals of the Em- peror Lothaire seemed to abandon, showed himself worthy to be the sovereign of Rome, by his successful defence of it. He had employed the riches of the Church in repairing the . walls, raising towers, and extending chains over the Tiber. He armed the troops at his own expense, engaged the inhabitants of Naples and Gaeta to come to the de- fence of the coasts and port of Ostia, without neglecting the wise precau- tion of requiring hostages from them, as he well knew that those who are strong enough to aid us, are equally so to do us injury. He himself visited all the posts, and met the Saracens on their approach, not clad in military attire, as Goslin, the Bishop of Paris, had appeared in a still more critical conjuncture, but as a Pontiff exhorting a Christian people, and a soyereign intent on the safety of his subjects. He was a native of Rome. The courage of the first ages of the republic revived in his per- son, at a period of degeneracy and corruption, like some splendid monu- ment of ancient Rome, now and then discovered among the ruins of the modern city. The attack of the Saracens was bravely met, and half of their vessels having been destroyed by a storm, a portion of the assailants, who escaped shipwreck, were chained, to be employed in public works : the Pope deriving this advantage from his victory, that the very hands which were raised for the destruction of Rome were employed in fortify- ing and adorning it."'j' Similar occasions for the exercise of a protective sovereignty occurred from time to time. In the early part of the tenth century, John X. suc- cessfully repulsed the Saracens, who had attempted to invade the Roman * Measure for Measure. — Shakspeare. f Voltaire, Puissance des Mussulmans, oh. xxiv. PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 263 territory. Benedict VIII., in the following age, drove them from the Italian shores, and compelled the Greeks, who inhabited Apulia, to sue for peace. St. Leo IX. accompanied his troops in their expedition against the Normans, who ravaged the south of Italy, to inspire confidence by his presence; but he took no part in the strife, being content, like another Moses, to uplift his hands in prayer. God, whose counsels are mysterious, suffered the barbarians to prevail, and His servant to become their captive : but such was the influence of his sacred character on their minds, that instead of insulting him in misfortune, they knelt to do him homage. The occasional exercise of supreme power over the Eomans by the em- perors, has led Guizot to observe, that " the sovereignty was not fully ascribed either to the Pope or to the emperor; uncertain and undivided, it floated between them."* It appears, by numberless facts, that the Pope was sovereign, while an efficient protectorate was acknowledged in the emperor, who came, at his solicitation, to support him, and, in that conjuncture, with his assent, exercised some acts of a temporary so- vereignty. " We acknowledge," said Alexander III., " the lord emperor, in virtue of his dignity, advocate and special defender of the Holy Koman Church. "f The prefect of the city took the oath of allegiance to him up to the time of Innocent III., who required the senator and barons of the Roman States to pledge their fealty to himself, and nomi- nated the subordinate magistrates. In the oath taken to the emperor Amulph, a clause saving their fidelity to Pope Pormosus was contained. The municipal government of Rome seems to have been alwayS/ in the hands of popular officers, after the manner of a republic, so that even the power of the Pope was seldom felt in the details of civil administration. He interfered chiefly when the public danger required that the vessel of the State should be guided by a superior mind and firm hand ; and he called for the support of the emperor, when physical force was necessary to subdue the rebellion of his own subjects. "The spirits, and even the institutions of the Romg,ns," as Hallam remarks, "were republican. Amid the darkness of the tenth century, which no contemporary his- torian dissipates, we faintly distinguish the awful names of senate, con- suls, and tribunes, the domestic magistracy of Rome."J The origin of the pontifical sovereignty is traced by Gibbon to the necessity which the Romans felt of superior direction and support, to which we must add the voluntary submission of various cities, anxious to share the blessings of a mild protectorate. " By the necessity of their situation, the inhabitants of Rome were cast into the rough model of a republican government : * Cours d'Histoire Modeme, t. iii. p. 76. f Apud Baron., an. 1169, p. 439. t Middle Ages, vol. i. oh. iii. par. i. p. 23i. 264 PATRIMONY OF ST. PETEK. they were compelled to elect some judges in peace, and some leaders in war : the nobles assembled to deliberate, and their resolves could not be executed without the union and consent of the multitude. The want of laws could only be supplied by the influence of religion, and their foreign and domestic councils were moderated by the authority of the Bishop. His alms, his sermons, his correspondence with the kings and prelates of the West, his recent services, their gratitude and oath, accustomed the Komans to consider him as the first magistrate, or prince, of the city. The Christian humility of the Popes," he adds, in a tone of irony, " was not offended by the name of Dominus, or Lord : and their face and in- scription are still apparent on the most ancient coins. Their temporal dominion is now confirmed by the reverence of a thousand years, and their noblest title is the free choice of a people whom they had redeemed from slavery."* Kome long preserved her republican character. Saint-Priest says : " Rome, from the age of Constantino, under the title of republic, which she never lost, had become a kind of free city, which, for illustration sake, I shall compare to the Hanseatic cities of the north of Germany.""}" The Pope might well be styled the father and protector of the Eoman republic. The desolation of the city, sometimes by famine, and often by hostile armies, imposed on him the necessity of succoring it; and his treasury, containing the revenues arising from the possessions of the Roman Church in other places, was exhausted to furnish provisions to the famishing people, and to protect the remains of the imperial city from the incursions of hostile armies. With paternal solicitude, the third and fourth Leo directed their efforts to secure the church of St. Peter by a wall, enclosing the Vatican mount, or, what was styled from their name, the city of Leo : civitas Leonina. At the entreaty of the nobles, who complained of the Saracen depredations, Leo IV. determined to execute what his predecessor had designed, and accordingly summoned the citizens to council, arranged his plans, ordering the cities dependant on the republic, and the monasteries themselves, to furnish mechanics, and for four years he spared no personal labor or exposure, until the work was completed. There are traces of republican deliberation in this narrative, and every thing warrants us in regarding the Pontiff as the father, rather than lord of his people. Of the temporal monarchy of Rome, Hallam observes : "Her ultimate sovereignty was compatible with the practical independence of the free cities, or of the usurpers who had risen up among them. Bologna, Faenza, Rimini, and Ravenna, with many other less considerable, took an oath, indeed, to the Pope, but continued to regulate both their internal * Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xlix., A.D. 728. f Histoiro de la Royaute, 1. iii. p. 284. PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 265 concerns and foreign relations at their own discretion. The first of these cities was far pre-eminent above the rest for population and renown, and, though not without several interruptions, preserved a republican character till the end of the fourteenth century."* The Roman magistrates often went beyond the limits of a municipal power, and reduced the Papal sovereignty to a protectorate void of all efficiency. They frequently assumed to themselves supreme power, as Hallam again testifies: "In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Senate, and the senator who succeeded them, exercised one distinguishing attribute of sovereignty, that of coining gold and silver money. Some of their coins still exist, with legends in a very republican tone."f For a considerable time the Eomans freely chose their Senator, by which name they designated a ma- gistrate who exercised supremei control during the period of his govern- ment ; and they even gave this title to Martin IV., as a personal privilege, expressly stipulating that it should not be considered as inherent in the pontifical office. Under the influence of the seditious declamations of Arnold of Bres- cia, the Eomans, during a considerable part of the twelfth century, were in revolt. Several Popes were forced to flee from their capital, and erect their chair in Perugia, Viterbo, or some other city of Italy, or to take refuge in France, which gained the glorious title of the asylum of Popes. Sometimes the emperor came to their relief, and replaced them in safety on their throne. On other occasions, Heaven itself seemed to take their cause in hand, and by pestilence brought the disobedient Eomans to a sense of duty. In 1230, after a calamitous visitation of this kind, caused by the inundation of the Tiber, they sent an embassy to Gregory IX., who for two years had been an exile in Perugia, beseeching him to return and bless his penitent children. The venerable Pontiff, on his return, lavished gifts on them, and " built a noble palace for the use of the poor," as his biographer assures us. The character of the pontifical government has been at -all times paternal and protective ; whence, although popular discontent has often manifested itself, especially through the intrigues of schismatical em- perors, many of the surrounding cities sought to enjoy its advantages. In the eighth century, as we learn from Anastasius, f'"Some of those of Spoleto and Eieti came to Eome, entreating to be shaved ' alia manlera de' Romani,' in token of their subjection to the Pope, rather than to the Lombards," and after the defeat of the Lombard king, Desiderius, the entire dukedom eagerly sought the same privilege. The paternal character of the pontifical government is stated in a letter from the Senate and the Eoman people to King Pepin, in the year 763, in the pontificate of Paul I. " They protest that they are firm and faithful * Middle Ages, vol. i. ch. iii. p. 11. f Ibidem. 266 PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. servants of the holy Clmrch of God, and of our most blessed father and lord, Pope Paul, because he is our father and excellent pastor, and labors incessantly for our salvation, as his brother Pope Stephen likewise did, governing us as reasonable sheep committed to him by God, and exhibit- ing clemency always, and imitating St. Peter, whose Vicar he is."* On the elevation of Innocent III., Conrad, Duke of Spoleto and Assisi, seeing the eagerness of his subjects to enjoy pontifical protection, freed them from their oath of allegiance, and surrendered various fortresses into the hands of the PontifF. Kieti, Spoleto, Assisi, Foligno, and Nu- ceria, with their whole districts, thus came into his power. Perugia, like- wise, Eugubium, Todi, and the city of Acquapendente, Montefiascone, and all Tuscany, acknowledged his authority. The pontifical principality was greatly embarrassed by the high preten- sions of the princes or barons within the States of the Church, until the reign of Alexander VI., when they were crushed by the strong arm of Cesar Borgia.f From that time, the papal sovereignty was more ex- tensively felt in the confederacies of princes : but for a long period the Pontifig have maintained a complete neutrality. Although the splendor of a throne may seem to correspond but ill with the lowly beginnings of the Koman Church, when the Syrian fisherman, preaching the folly of the cross, came unnoticed or despised into the city of the Cesars, we cannot doubt that Divine Providence has clothed his successor with this adventitious power, that he might exercise more inde- pendently the attributes of his spiritual office. His civil dominion is large enough to inspire respect, while it is not of such extent as to render him formidable. It enables him to foster many ecclesiastical institutions of vast advantage to the Universal Church, as well as to be a munificent patron of learning, art, and science. Were he the subject of a temporal prince, the exercise of his authority would be always liable to the sus- picion of constraint, or undue influence, and he might become, like the Bishop of Constantinople, " a domestic slave under the eye of his master, at whose nod he alternately passed from the convent to the throne, and * This letter is the " thirty-sixth of the Caroline letters." I quote from "Rome as it was under Paganism, and as it became under the Popes," &c. Vol. ii. p. 317. f Roscoo ohservos : " Alexander might surely think himself justified in suppressing the turbulent barons, who had for ages rent the dominions of the Church with intestine wars, and in subjugating the petty sovereigns of Romagna, over whom he had an ac- knowledged supremacy, and who had in general acquired their dominions by means as unjustifiable as those which he adopted against them." — Life of Leo X., vol. i. ch. vi. He adds in a note : " Oliverotto da Fermo had obtained the chief authority in the city from which he derived his name, by the treacherous murder of his uncle, and several of the principal inhabitants, whom he had invited to an entertainment. This atrocious deed was perpetrated on the same day, in the preceding year, on which he afterward fell into the snare of Cesar Borgia. The other persons put to death by Borgia, had also sup- ported themselves by rapine, and were the terror of all Italy." PATKIMONY OF ST. PETER. 267 from the throne to the convent."* The great Bossuet has well observed; " God wished this Church, which is the common mother of all kingdoms, not to be dependent on any kingdom in temporalities, that the See, in which all the faithful should preserve unity, might be above the par- tialities which the different interests and jealousies of States might occasion. The Church, independent in her head of all temporal power, is thereby able to exercise more freely, for the common benefit, and under the protection of Christian kings, this heavenly power of govern- ing souls ; and holding in her hands the balance, in the midst of so many empires often at enmity, she maintains unity in all bodies, sometimes by inflexible decrees, and sometimes by wise temperaments.""}" In our own Government, we have a striking illustration of the principle on which the patrimony of St. Peter is exempted from any local sovereignty but that of the Pontiff. In order to preserve the inde- pendence and free action of the General Government, it was deemed proper by the sages who planned our constitution, that a small district, of not more than ten miles' circumference, should be free from any State or local authority, and immediately dependent on Congress, with a mu- nicipal administration. To prevent all intrigue and partisan efibrt, by which the Government might be put in jeopardy, the citizens of the dis- trict are denied the right of suffrage in the election of the chief officers of the United States. Thus the District of Columbia is, in regard to the ^tates, what Rome and the patrimony of St. Peter are in reference to the Church. The independence and purity of the General Government being thus provided for, its moral influence extends everywhere, while its physical power is so restricted as to prevent any just apprehension of any exercise of authority to the prejudice of State sovereignty.J It must be acknowledged that there are inconveniences connected with the union of temporal sovereignty and spiritual supremacy in the one person ; yet it should be remembered that the powers are altogether dis- tinct, since the former regards only the inhabitants of the Eoman States, while the latter reaches to the ends of the earth. The Pope is not as the Roman emperor, who in quality of sovereign Pontifi" exercised religious supremacy, controlled by no law but his will, and coextensive with im- perial sway. The civil administration is carried on by tribunals and officers distinct from those that are charged with the general affairs of the Church, so that there is no confusion of powers. The mild government of the Popes, and the light taxation to which the Romans were formerly * Decline and Fall, &c. ch. xlix., A. D. 726. f Discours snr I'Unite de I'Eglise, vol. xv. Op. Bossuet. See also the Bull of excom- munication : Qutmi memoranda, published by Pius VII. on 10 June, 1809. X This analogy is ably developed in an essay entitled : " The Papal States analogous to the District of Columbia," by A. P. Thompson. Galveston, 1849. 268 PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. subjected, provoked the envy of strangers, wto regarded them as the happiest people in the world, but for the sanguinary collisions of the nobles,* which have long since ceased. In truth, the lenity of the administration is its chief defect ; but it still merits the tribute paid to it by the infidel historian : " If we calmly weigh the merits and defects of the ecclesiastical government, it may be praised in its present state as a mild, decent, and tranquil system, exempt from the dangers of a mi- nority, the sallies of youth, the expenses of luxury, and the calamities of war."f Under the present illustrious occupant of the pontifical throne, the paternal character of the government appears with increased lustre. With generous solicitude for the happiness of his subjects, he anticipated their desires, by adopting, of his own accord, measures for the ameliora- tion of their condition. The base ingratitude with which his clemency, which threw open the prison-gates, was repaid, and the revolution efi"ected by his seditious subjects, spurred on and supported by the active enemies of CJiristianity and society, gathered together from various countries, are melancholy facts, which make us blush for our race : but the speedy over- throw of the mock republic, infamous for pillage and assassination, by the arms of republican France, and the triumphant return of the exiled Pontiff to his people and throne, are among the many extraordinary instances of Divine interposition. J However, " the better principality" which the Ko- man Church possessed in the days of Irenseus, is altogether independent of earthly sovereignty; it will survive every change of governors, and modes of government, and will shine forth from a dungeon as well as from a throne. No vicissitudes of the Koman States can aifeot that spiritual authority, which, going forth from the See of the fisherman, is felt even in the midst of its enemies. The death of Pius VI. in exile, and the captivity of his successor, left little human hope that the States of the Church would be restored, or that the See itself would continue : but God, who casts the mighty from their seats, replaced the persecuted Pius YII. on the throne of Peter, amid the boundless acclamations of a devoted people^ while his oppressor was left to perish on a desert island. It is a stale calumny that Catholics are vassals, or subjects of the Pope : although we everywhere profess, with his full knowledge and entire approbation, unqualified allegiance to the respective civil govern- ments under which we live. The fathers of the fifth Council of Balti- more took occasion to state this distinctly in their address to the late » Decline and Fall, eh. Ixx., A. D. 1459. f lb., A. D. 1500. J The Inte Samuel Farmar Jarvis must be added to the list of mistaken interpreters of prophecy, since he ventured to mark the year 184?, in which he wrote his tardy reply to Dr. Milner's End of Religious Controversy, as the period of the overthrow of the Papacy. PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 269 venerable Pontiff, wliich was most graciously received.* At tlie request of the sixtt Council, his present Holiness Las simplified the oath taken by bishops at their consecration, omitting the terms and phrases which savor of feudal times, although they do not anywhere receiye a feudal interpretation. Thus all pretext for questioning our allegiance is re- moved, although our adversaries still object to us the acts of former Popes, who interfered in the civil concerns of Christian nations, and in the controversies of princes. It will not be uninteresting to review, historically, those facts, in order to reconcile our present professions with past events. * See Acts of V. Council of Baltimore. CHAPTER II. |iut|[flrit2 akx '§mm. p.— IN MATTERS OP FAITH AND MORALS. The Roman States form but a small principality, which gives little importance to its ruler, and the Bishop of Rome, of divine right, has no political or civil power; yet, in the things of salvation, he is above all the members of the Church, whatever be their rank — the monarch of vast dominions, as well as the lowliest slave. All men are naturally equal, and all the members of the Church are children of Grod, subject to His authority, which on earth is exercised especially by the Chief Bishop. The divine sovereignty requires that every soul be subject to God, rendering homage to His truth, and obedience to His command- ments. The acts of the Pontiff, in the lawful discharge of his ecclesi- astical supremacy, are to be respected by all who acknowledge him to be, under Christ, the ruler of the Church. Hence, when Pope Felix, in 484, had deprived of communion Acacius, the Bishop of Constantinople, he made known the fact to the Emperor Zeno, urging him to give the support of his authority to this decree, and observing, that it was more for his advantage to obey the Church in this matter, than to attempt to control it, by countenancing the heretical prelate. Yet none were more explicit than the Pontiffs- in avowing the independence of the civil power within its own sphere, and in giving to sovereigns the honor due to their high station. With a jealous regard to the interests of truth, they united an unfeigned deference for civil rulers. The mutual relations of the ec- cksiastical and civil authorities were beautifully expressed by Pope Gelasius, at the close of the fifth century, in a letter of apology written to the Emperor Anastasius, who had complained that the Pontiff had not congratulated him on his accession to the imperial throne. Well- grounded suspicions of heterodoxy had caused this reserve, to which Gelasius alludes : " God forbid that a Roman prince should feel offended at the declaration of the truth ! There are two things, august emperor, whereby this world is governed, namely, the sacred authority of the Pon- tiffs and the royal power, wherein the weight of priestly authority is so much the greater, as in the divine judgment priests must render to the 270 AUT^OKITY OVER PRINCES. 271 Lord an account for kings themselves. For you know, most clement son, that although you preside over men, you devoutly bend the neck to the dispensers of the divine mysteries, and ask from them the means of sal- vation : and in the reception and proper administration of the heavenly sacraments, you know that you should be subject to them according to the religious rule, rather than preside over them. You are aware, then, that as to these things you depend on their judgment, and that they are not to be forced to compliance with your will. For if, as regards public order, the prelates of the Church, knowing that the empire has been con- fided to you by Divine Providence, obey your laws, lest they should appear to oppose your will in things of this world, with what affection should you obey them, who are appointed to dispense the awful mysteries ! Wherefore, as the Pontiffs incur a serious responsibility, if they suppress what they should declare for the honor of the Deity, so the danger is great of others who insolently refuse obedience. And if the hearts of the faithful should be submissive to all priests in general, who treat divine things properly, how much more should assent be yielded to the Prelate of this See, whom the Supreme Lord ordained to preside over all priests, and whom the piety of the Universal Church has always honored! You clearly understand that no one can, by any human device, oppose the prerogative or confession of him, whom the voice of Christ preferred to all others, whom the holy Church has always acknow- ledged, and whom she now devoutly regards as her Primate."* This has been deservedly regarded as an admirable exposition of the relations of Catholic princes to the prelacy. The power of the prince is supreme in the civil order : the power of the Pontiff is supreme in things spiritual. The civil and the ecclesiastical powers arefrom God : the former by His implied sanction of the means for maintaining social order ; the latter by the direct institution of Christ. In both, the sovereignty of God must be honored. The civil power extends to all things necessary for the maintenance and welfare of society ; but it cannot command any thing opposed to the divine law. The ecclesiastical authority is engaged in the promulgation of truth and the maintenance of discipline, with a due respect for public order, as regulated by the civil power. These prin- ciples were not lost sight of in the Middle Ages, since we find them set forth, in the very words of Gelasius, in a Council held at S. Maera in 881,t and in the Council of Trosley, in 909.J Gregory II., in 7.30, ad- dressing Leo the Isaurian, bade him confine himself to the affairs of the empire, as the bishops applied all their solicitude to religious matters. " The bishops," he said, " being set over the churches, abstain from civil * Gelasii, ep. iv., ad Anastasium, col. 893, t. ii., Hard. f Cone. col. Teg,, vol. vi. col. 350. See also the letter of Stephen V. to the Emperor Eiisil, ib., col. 365. J lb., col. 30?, cap. ii. 272 AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. affairs ; so let the emperors abstain in like manner from church matters, and apply to the things which are intrusted to their charge." Catholic sovereigns, as members of the Church, are bound by her laws, and subject to the penalties which are attached to their transgression. The prince and the peasant, the master and the slave, share her privileges on the same conditions, and are liable to be deprived of them in punish- ment of infidelity or disobedience. Her arms are not carnal, but power- ful before Grod — she strikes with the apostolic rod, chastising the children whom she loves with maternal fondness, that they may correct the evil of their ways, and prove themselves worthy of the heavenly inheritance. The Pope, as head on earth of the Church, exercises, by divine right, authority over Catholic princes in the things that are of salvation. When by flagrant crimes they cause the name of God to be blasphemed, he may admonish and reprove them, as Nathan reproved David by the divine command : and, in case of contumacy, he may inflict on them ecclesiastical censures. The exercise of this power peculiarly suits the Chief Bishop, since local prelates could scarcely venture to say to their prince, " Thou art the man !" The majesty of the sovereign is also guarded, by reserving cases in which he is concerned to the mature and unbiassed judgment of the Pontiff. The means which, in the Middle Ages, were employed for the reforma- tion of princes, after admonition and threats, was the actual infliction of ecclesiastical censures. These were of two kinds, interdict and excom- munication. By the former the solemnities of public worship were sus- pended throughout the whole kingdom, the sacred functions of absolute ■necessity being, however, permitted at all times, and the mysteries pri- vately celebrated. This interruption of religious worship, casting a gloom over the whole nation, was a significant, expression of the horror of the Church for the crime of the sovereign, in which respect it served as a reparation of the scandal. It was hoped, also, that by the general affliction which it occasioned, he would be awakened to a sense of his mis- conduct, and that he would, by speedy repentance, ward off any personal censure. The clouds which thickened around the throne foreboded the thunderbolt which was soon to fall on the impenitent monarch. When every other measure had failed to produce amendment, excommunication, the highest penalty which the Church can inflict, followed. By it the transgressor was cut off entirely from the communion of the faithful, and cast forth as a heathen and publican. Even as the incestuous Corinthian was delivered over by St. Paul to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of Christ, the scandalous prince was deprived of all spiritual privileges, separated from the Church of God, and left to perish eternally, unless by repentance he atoned for his transgression. The infliction of this penalty was plainly within the sphere of ecclesiastical power, which can bind as well as loose, with the AUTHORITY OVER rEKCES. 273 assurance that Heaven will ratify the just exercise of this spiritual authority. In the commencement of the sixth century, Pope Symmaohus excommunicated the heretical Emperor Anastasius, whom his predecessor, Gelasius, had addressed in the solemn language of admonition. The suc- cess with which this power was exercised, is attested by Leibnitz : " It is beyond question that the Popes checked many disorders, by their efforts in season and out of season, remonstrating with princes, as their au- thority enabled them to do, and threatening them with ecclesiastical censures."* Instances of this exercise of pontifical zeal abound in the history of the Church. CLEMENT IV., on learning the victory obtained by James, King of Aragon, over the Moors, congratulated with- him, admonishing him at the same time to subdue his own passions, by putting away from him Berengaria, the object of unlawful attachment. The prince pleaded the infirmity of his wife, Therasia, and asked for a divorce, The reply of the Pontiff began with these words : " How shall the Vicar of Grod separate those whom God has tmited?" Subsequently, James, having communicated to Clement his determination to engage in the holy war, was again admonished by him to dismiss his concubine in the first place, since no effort of zeal could otherwise be acceptable to our Lord: "You cannot," he observes, " please our crucified Lord, or avenge His wrongs, if you will not abstain from offending Him. Moreover, we wish you to understand, that unless you obey our admonitions, we shall force you, by ecclesiastical censures, to dismiss her.""j" Ladislaus, King of Pannonia,| giving himself over to unbridled licen- tiousness, after several solemn admonitions, was excommunicated by the legate of Martin IV. The nobles, indignant at his excesses, rose up against him, and drove away his concubines. § In several instances injured queens found succor and protection from the father of the faithful, who, by the threat of ecclesiastical censures, forced their lord to restore to them their rights. Theutberge, the wife of Lothaire I., was divorced from her husband on an allegation of incest, which, although groundless, she was prevailed on to admit, and under this pretext the divorce was approved of in the local Councils of Metz and Aix-Ia-Chapelle. Even the legates of Nicholas I. were induced to sanction it : but the Pope himself nobly vindicated the cause of the calumniated queen ; annulled the decrees of the Councils, and the acts of his legates ; ordered the monarch, under penalty of excommunication, to dismiss Waldrade, his concubine, whom he had taken as a lawful wife ; refused to give any credit to the forced confession of the queen, and suc- cessfully maintained her rights. Guizot remarks, that this exercise of * Dissert, i., de act. publ. usa op. t. iv. p. 299. f Raynald, an. 1267. .J Now Solavonia, and part of Hungary. g lb., an. 1281. 18 274 AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. pontifical supremacy was applauded by the nation generally, because it was well known to be founded on justice. It is no slight eulogium of the Holy See that it successfully supported the cause of an injured woman against a licentious and powerful prince. Celestine III., and his successor. Innocent III., with admirable constancy maintained the cause of Ingelburga, the wife of Philip Augustus.* Friendless in a foreign land, the object of aversion to him to whom she had plighted her affec- tions, the unfortunate Danish princess felt that though France was, false, her voice could reach her spiritual father, at whose rebuke the proudest monarchs trembled. After sixteen years of banishment from the palace, she was reinstated in her rights. Philip I. of France, dismissing his lawful wife, gave to his people the ' enormous scandal of living in open adultery with Bertrade, who had for- saken her husband, Fuloo, Count of Anglers. Urban II., first by his legate, and afterward in person, hurled excommunication against him in two suc- cessive Councils. The licentious prince soon presented himself as a peni- tent in the Council of Nemours, and obtained absolution, on putting away the object of his unlawful attachment. Having subsequently relapsed, he was punished with the same censure, from which he was again released by the authority of Paschal II., on appearing in an assembly of bishops, with bare feet, in the attitude of penance, and swearing on the holy gos- pels that he would shun all criminal intercourse, and all just occasion of suspicion. This was an act of homage to the Christian law — an atone- ment for its violation. It was well that the prince who had caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed, should sue for pardon, by making pub- lic acknowledgment of his sin, and giving satisfactory evidence of amend- ment. Hallam observes : " The submission of such a prince, not feebly superstitious, , like his predecessor Kobert, nor vexed with seditions, like the Emperor Henry IV., but brave, firm, and victorious, is perhaps the proudest trophy in the scutcheon of Rome.""!" In many instandes the Popes inflicted censures on princes who violated the ecclesiastical law, by marrying within the forbidden degrees. The justice of this exercise of authority will strike only those who acknow- ledge the force of those laws. I would merely remark, that the princes were subject to them equally as the humblest of the faithful, and con- sequently liable to be punished by ecclesiastical censures for their violation, One end of these laws is to preserve the purity of morals, by taking away the hope of intermarriage from such as are placed in inti- mate relations in domestic life, by reason of kindred. If their force had not been maintained in regard to princes, as well as their subjects, not only would discipline have suffered, but Christian morals would have been * See Life of Innocent III., by Hurter. While yet a Lutheran, Hurler devoted twenty years of diligent research to the compilation of this splendid biography. f Middle Ages, ch. Tii. AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. 275 deeply injured. Robert, King of France, was commanded by Gregory V. in the Eoman council, in 998, to separate from Berta, his blood- relation, under penalty of anathema. The prince yielded to the threat. " It is known," says Michaud, " that the excommunication fulminated against Philip I., as well as others subsequently hurled against Louis VII. and Philip Augustus, were in a great measure grounded on the violation of the laws of marriage. It may then be observed that the power of the Popes served to maintain the sanctity of an institution which is the first basis of society. In barbarous ages, what other barrier could be opposed to licentiousness in a contract in which the passions have so great a share ?"* §2.— IN SECULAR CONCERNS. Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the Middle Ages, than the interference of the Popes in the controversies of princes and the in- ternal dissensions of kingdoms and republics. To understand this phe- nomenon, we must take into consideration the position which they occu- pied in regard to the temporal powers. The conversion of princes to Christianity disposed them to regard with reverence the teaching of the Church, and to seek counsel and direction in the moral difSculties which occurred in the exercise of the governing power. They felt bound to use it conformably to the laws of God and of His Church, and pledged them- selves to do so by the oath of coronation. When they bowed to receive their diadems from the consecrated hands of the Pontiff, they regarded themselves as exercising, with dependence on the King of kings, a dele- gated sovereignty. The independent action of the Bishop of Rome, freed from the yoke of Eastern emperors, and endowed with a con- siderable principality, was rendered sacred by his spiritual supremacy. The memory of the glories of ancient Rome was almost obliterated, since barbarian hordes had overrun her territories, and all was confusion and disorder, when Leo III., at the opening of the ninth century, felt him- self compelled to call Charlemagne to the imperial throne. At the un- expected salutation given to the prince, amid the solemnities of mass, at the altar of St. Peter's, thousands of Romans and strangers re-echoed with deafening acclamations: "Long live the august emperor of ^he Ro- mans!" All regarded the act. as inspired, and doubted not that order and harmony would arise from chaos, at the bidding of the holy Pontiff. From that time the Bishop of Rome necessarily enjoyed an immense influence ■ over the empire, and the kingdoms which arose under its shadow ; and he was regarded by princes and people as their father and * Histoiie des Croisades, I. L u, 102. 276 AUTHORITY OYER PRINCES. judge.* He created the new order of things, assigning to each potentate his place in the political world, and controlling by laws the movements of each, in order to maintain the general harmony. His relations to the empire were most direct, since he determined who should elect the em- peror, and exercised the right of examining whether the individual chosen was admissible. The power exercised by the Popes in designating the emperor, and giving the royal title to the chiefs of various nations, in a word, regulating the whole political order, cannot fairly be branded as an usurpation, since it was vested in them by the force of circumstances; their spiritual office placing them at the head of the Christian world, and inspiring confidence in the justice and wisdom of their acts.' It was not a result of positive concessions made by the respective nations, although it was acquiesced in and confirmed by the free and frequent acts of people and princes. Neither was it a divine prerogative of their office ; but it naturally grew out of their ecclesiastical relations to the body of Chris- tians, and was strengthened and sustained by their sacred character. The imperfect civilization of the Northern nations converted to the faith, after their invasion of the Southern provinces of Europe, rendered it ne- cessary for them to be guided and directed, and disposed them to regard with reverence the acts of that authority which their Christian teachers had led them to consider as supreme in the things of salvation. Thus, without effort, the Popes found themselves invested with a kind of tem- poral supremacy, and enabled to bestow crowns and sceptres, while they themselves possessed only a small principality, which was embarrassed or controlled by a municipal administration, and often wrested from their hands. It so happened that the authority of the Pope was invoked in support of the reigning princes, or to recall them to duty : and his tri- bunal was regarded as the supreme court of the Christian confederacy. It seemed a common instinct of all Christian nations to appeal to his justice, for the redress of every grievance for which the local authority proved insufficient, and to implore his power for the punishment of those whose station placed them beyond the reach of municipal law. He was, in fact, by common consent, judge, not only in causes strictly ecclesi- astical, or in the private concerns of obscure individuals, but in civil mat- ters, where flagrant wrongs were perpetrated by crowned heads. He was called on to interpose his authority : he was blamed if he hesitated : he was feared by delinquents of every class, by the haughty baron and proud emperor, as well as by the humble vassal ; and when the thunder of his censure rolled, the prison doors flew open, the hand of avarice let fall the wages of injustice, and the knees of the oppressor beat together. It is certainly in the power of nations to constitute a supreme tribunal to adjust their controversies ; and the fact of its establishment is equally * See Manuel d'Histgire du Moyen Age, par J. Moeller. Vol. i. oh. viii. | ii. p. 41S. AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. 277 proved by their acts, as by any formal compact. If tbey thereby parted with any portion of their sovereignty and independence, it was with great advantage to their common interests. Voltaire himself has remarked, that " the interest of mankind requires a restraint on sovereigns, and protection' for their subjects: this power might be in the hands of the Popes, in virtue of a universal compact. The Pontiffs, . interfering in temporal disputes only with a view to settle them, admonishing kings and nations of their duties, reproving their crimes, reserving excommunica- tions for great enormities, would have been always regarded as holding the place of God on earth ; but men now prefer to have the laws and usages of their country as their only protection, although the laws are frequently disregarded, and corrupt usages prevail."* " We must," says Saint- Priest, " agree with the Roman school, that the temporal power of the Holy See was far less the result of usurpation, than a consequence of the policy, or rather of the false position of princes. The secular powers themselves, in their rivalries, wars, remorses, and scruples, invoked pon- tifical intervention, and sought its support sometimes for their inferiority in arms, sometimes for their trepidation and weakness of mind."f We may be allowed to think that the position thus taken was at once natural and advantageous to society, since it was conformable to the relations in which the princes already stood in the spiritual order, and it was calcu- lated to bring about an amicable adjustment of dangerous controversies, and prevent the horrors of war, into which nations are so often plunged by the temerity of their rulers. What diplomacy effects in modern times by management and mutual concession, was accomplished in the Middle Ages by the judgment and persuasion of the father of princes and people. Michaud, the recent historian of the Crusades, says: "Com- plaints were sometimes made of the injustice of the judgment pro- nounced by the head of the Church, but his right to judge Christian princes was scarcely called in question, and the nations almost uniformly received his judgments without a murmur. "J * This extraordinary avowal is made in reference to the penance performed by Henry II. for having given occasion to the assassination of St. Thomas Beofcet. The reader will be pleased to read the original words: "II devait se repentir d'un assassinat ; Fin- teret du genre humain demande un frein qui retienne les souveraius, et qui mette a couvert la vie des peuples. Ce frein de la religion aurait pii etre par une convention universelle dans la main des Papes, comme nous I'avons deja remarque. Oes premiers pontifes en ne se melant des querelles temporelles que pour les appaiser, en avertissant les rois et les peuples de leurs devoirs, en reprenant leurs crimeSj en reservant les excom- munications pour les grands attentats, auraient toujours ete regardes comme .des images de Dieu sur la terre ; mais les hommes sont reduits a n'avoir pour l^ur defense que les loix et les moeurs de leur pays : loix souvent meprisees, et moeurs souvent corrompues." Essai sur I'Histoire Generale, ch. xliv. t. ii. f Histoire de la Eoyaute, vol. ii. Iviii. p. 359. J Hist, des Croisades, t. iv. p. 163 278 AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. It may be proper to give instances of the eagerness witk which princes sought from the Popes the recognition of their royal titles, or to be pro- moted to the royal dignity, and of the submission which they professed to the pontifical authority. John VIII. reminds Michael, King of the Bulgarians, that, on embracing Christianity, he submitted to the govern- ment of Peter the apostle, and of his successors, and promised obedience.* St. Stephen, King of Hungary, acknowledged to have received his crown and title from Sylvester II. Alphonsus, Duke of Portugal, received the royal title from Alexander III., in reward of his exploits against the Arabs. Premislaus was recognised as King of Bohemia by Innocent III., at the solicitation of the Emperor Otho. Calo-Joannes obtained from the same Pontiff the crown and title of King of the Bulgarians. Peter of Aragon was not content with the title which his predecessors had borne, but asked of Innocent to be solemnly crowned, that a religious sanction might be given to his authority. Stephen, on succeeding to the crown of England, swore to preserve the liberty of the Church, and avowed that he had been chosen king with the assent of the clergy and the people, and had been confirmed in the kingdom by Innocent, Pontiff of the Holy Eoman See.f Theobald, King of Navarre, asked of Alex- ander IV. the privilege of being anointed king with tlie solemn rite pre- scribed by the Church; which being granted, he afterward sought per- mission for his successors to use the royal title, when in accordance with the national usage they should be chosen to occupy the throne, being raised on a shield, or on the shoulders of men, befoi'e the unction was performed. The King of Servia, on abandoning schism, sent an embassy to Hono- rius III. to obtain the pontifical recognition of his royal title. This act was intended to secure to the prince his proper place in the great Chris- tian confederacy. Addressing' the Pontiff, he says : " As all Christians love and honor you, and regard you as their father and lord, so we desire to be styled a child of the holy Koman Church, and your child ; being anxious that the blessing and confirmation of God, and yours, should always be manifest on our crown and land.";j; Daniel, Duke of Russia, in 1246, obtained the royal crown and title from the legate of Inno- cent IV. The princes were not insensible of their titles to royal power, as derived from descent, conquest, or popular will ; but they felt the ad- vantage of the Pontiff's sanction and recognition, in reference to other sovereigns and to their own people ; and they sought for a divine blessing through his ministry. Thus Branimer, a Sclavonian prince, having professed fidelity and obedience to blessed Peter, John VIII., on the feast of our Lord'-s Ascension, pronounced a solemn blessing on him and on his people, at the altar of St. Peter.§ * Ep. Ixxv., ad Michaelom regem Bulg. f Baron., an. 11.35, p. 341! J Kaynald, an. 1220. J Ep. lx,K.xii. Ixxxiii. AUTHORITY OYER PRINCES. 279 Many princes, from a feeling of devotion to the Holy See, freely offered themselves as vassals of St. Peter, whicli, according to the notions then prevalent, implied no degradation, but rather independence of the im- perial power, with a nominal subjection to the Pontiff. The Normans manifested a desire to return to the obedience of the Holy See, as a means of securing their independence of the empire. St. Gregory VII. wrote to Wifred of Milan : " Be it known to you, then, that the Normans are making to us overtures of peace, which they would most willingly have concluded ere this, and have given full satisfaction to Blessed Peter, whom alone, after the Lord, they desire to have for their lord and em- peror, had we assented to their petition in certain particulars."* "We suppose that you well know," says he to Grusa, Duke of Hungary, "that the kingdom of Hungary, as also other most noble kingdoms, should enjoy independence, and be subject to the king of no other, realm, but only to the holy and universal Church of Rome, our mother, who does not treat her subjects as slaves, but embraces all as children. "f The apostolic King of Hungary gloried in this vassalage : the King of Por- tugal made his dominions tributary : the King of Aragon swore fealty : the King of Dalmatia paid tribute to the Pope as liege lord : and Ste- phen, and Henry II. of England, before the humiliation of John, ac- knowledged that England was a fief of the Holy See. It is not just to form to ourselves a false idea of this dependence, and thence to take occasion to despise the princes who acknowledged it, and to censure the Popes who enforced it. It consisted chiefly in the payment of a small annual pension toward the general fund, for the most important wants of the Church, and in the manifestation of greater zeal for the defence of the Holy See, when assailed by powerful enemies. It disposed the prince to listen with docility to the admonitions of the Pontiff, in behalf of religion and of the people, and it procured for him pontifical influence and protection, when the royal authority was assailed by rebels, or by rival princes. When Waldemar, King of Denmark, a vassal of the Holy See, was thrown into prison by Henry, Count of Zeverin, Honorius III., at the instance .of the prelates and nobles, interposed , his authority to rescue the king, and urged the emperor, Frederick, to come to his relief, beseeching him, however, to spare the life of the rebel count. J John, of England, got the support of Innocent against the revolted barons : whose just claims the Pontiff, nevertheless, promised to sustain, if they would consent to lay down their arms. In , Sicily, and other original possessions of the Holy See, greater authority was claimed by the Pope, as liege lord ; but in kingdoms voluntarily made feudatory, the dependence was almost nominal. Even Hallam avows the favorable influence of this subjection: "Peter, King of Aragon, received at Rome the belt of knighthood, and the royal crown, from the hands of Innocent III. ; he « Ep. XV. I. iii. •)- Ep. Ixiii. 1. ii. { Kaynald., an. 1223. 280 AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. took an oath of perpetual fealty and obedience to him and his successors; he surrendered his kingdom, and accepted it again to be held by an annual tribute, in return for the protection of the Apostolic See. This strange conversion of kingdoms into spiritual fiefs was intended as the price of security from ambitious neighbors, and may be deemed analogous to the change of allodial into feudal, or more strictly to that of lay into ecclesiastical tenure, which was frequent during the turbulence of the darker ages."* Although the social relations of the Popes to the secular powers gave occasion to their interference in temporal, controversies, yet they did not act as temporal superiors, but they availed themselves of their position to apply the maxims of the Christian law to the subjects in dispute, and used their spiritual authority, by ecclesiastical censures, to enforce their judgment. The principles on which they acted were distinctly stated, by Innocent III., when Philip of Prance resisted his interference, to stop the ravages of war between him and Kichard Coeur de Lion. Disclaiming distinctly all right to judge of the title to the fief in dispute,f he insisted that he was authorized to take away the privileges of ecclesiastical com- munion, from a prince who wantonly shed human blood, while he could ob- tain his just demands by amicable- arbitration : " No one doubts," he says, " that it belongs to our office to judge of the things which appertain to the salvation or damnation of the soul. Is it not deserving of eternal damnation, and of the loss of eternal life, to nourish discord, to attack those who are of the household of the faith, to destroj religious establish- ments, to give over to pillage the property destined for the wants and advantage of religious men, to oppress virgins consecrated to God?" " Hearken, then, dearly beloved son, not to our word, but rather to the word of the Word, which was in the beginning with God, and which finally was made flesh, and 'dwelt among us : ' If thy brother sin against thee, go and reprove him between him and thee alone. If he will not hear thee, take with thee two or three, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. But if he will not hear them, tell the Church ; and if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.' Behold! the King of England, your brother, brother not by carnal kindred, but in the unity of faith, complains that you sin against him, and stretch forth your hands to injure him, as you have already done ; he has rebuked you already between him and you alone, both by letters and by word of mouth, not once, but frequently, and warned you to desist from injuring him. He has taken with him not merely two or three witnesses, but many nobles, to renew the bonds of peace which were broken, and to use their influence to induce you to * Middle Ages, ch. vii. ■(■ " Non ratione foudi, cujus ad eum speotat judicium, sed oocasione pecoati, cujus ad nos pcrtinet sine dubitatione oonsura." Ep. cbivi., apuJ Raynald, au. 1203. AUTHORITY OYER PRINCES. 281 desist from wrong. But inasmucli as hitherto he has not succeeded with your highness, he has denounced you to the Church, as sinning against him : and the Church has chosen to address you with maternal affection, rather than to use her judicial power, and therefore she has not authori- tatively rebuked you — hut mildly admonished you to desist from injuring your brother, and to make with him a lasting peace, or, at least, a truoe. What, then, remains, if you refuse to hear the Church, as hitherto you have refused, but, it pains us to say it, to regard. you as a heathen and a publican, and to shun you after the first and second rebuke ? If we must offend either you or God, we choose rather to appease Him, although we incur your displeasure; than please an earthly king by offending the Divine Ruler. — Shall we hesitate to proceed according to the commandment of the Lord, when we shall have more fully investi- gated the case, and ascertained the truth ? Shall we dissemble the car- nage of bodies and ruin of souls, and not declare to the wicked their im- piety, and restrain the violent from outrage ?"* Honorius III., in 1225, insisted that, as sovereign Pontiff, he had a right to extirpate mortal sin, even when committed by kings. f Even Boniface VIII. rejected, as an absurd calumny, the charge of his having alleged that the King of France held the crown by his concession, or was dependent on him in the civil government, and observed that his studies of jurisprudence during fifty years would not suffer him to entertain so strange a pretension : but he added that the king himself could not deny that he was subject to the high authority of the Pontiff in what regarded sin.J These views were generally entertained, so that sovereigns themselves put them forward with the greatest earnestness, when they foufid it neces- sary to implore pontifical authority against other princes. Richard Coeur de Lion, on his return from Palestine, was treacherously arrested by the Duke of Austria, and thrown into prison. His mother, Queen Eleanor, appealed to Celestine III. to use his spiritual sword, in order to force the duke to relax his grasp. She was confident that her son would be set at liberty, if Celestine menaced to strike with excommunication those who held him a prisoner. Accordingly, Leopold, Duke of Austria, was sub- jected to this penalty, with which even the emperor and King of France were threatened, being understood to have concurred in the arrest. These measures resulted in the liberation of the captive prince. King Richard himself, when set at liberty, implored the pontifical power for the liberation of his hostages, and induced Celestine to issue an excom- munication against the Duke of Austria, and all others who had con- curred in his imprisonment, contrary to the security guaranteed to the Crusaders. § The request was complied with, and the Bishop of Verona was directed by the Pope to issue the sentence, which, however, failed to « Apud Eaynald,- an. 1203. f Ep. 169, Rai., n. 30. J See Pagi, Brer. Gest Rom. Pont., vol. iii. p. 540. g Baron., an. 1195, p. 886. 282 AUTHORITY OVER PRINCES. move the duke, until an accident brouglit him to the verge of eternity, when he humbly submitted to the Papal injunctions. This may imply authority at all times in secular concerns, as far as they involve moral principle, to be enforced by ecclesiastical censures. The divine law, doubtless, embraces, all classes of men, princes and people, and all varieties of human actions, political as well as personal. The chief Pastor of the Church is placed on his high eminence, to pro- claim the command of God, and in His name to instruct in justice those that judge the earth. As expounder of the moral law, he speaks to all with power and authority, condemning all that God has forbidden, and inculcating the observance of each divine commandment. He can oast forth from the Church every one, prince or subject, who is notoriously guilty of flagrant immorality, if he will not yield to paternal admonition. But secular concerns are not, of themselves, subject to his cognizance : and the complicated social relations which arise from the free acts of in- dividuals, or ftom public law, or from the action of the civil authorities, are not the matter of his judgment, unless where they involve a violation of the great principles of Christian morality. In the Middle Ages, kings and nations implored his judgment, and consequently brought within the sphere of his authority those secular transactions and contro- versies, of which otherwise he might have said, in the words of our Redeemer, to those who called for his interference : " Who hath ap- pointed me judge over you?"*- Whenoesoever the conviction of his right to take cognizance of them may be supposed to have arisen, it was universally admitted, and it was consequently a part of the public and common law of nations. Guizot testifies that it was generally believed, in the middle of the ninth century, that he was above temporal govern- ments, even in temporal aifairs, when connected with religion :"{■ he might have qualified it by adding, in their moral aspect, since he ob- serves that; it was by developing the principles of morality ecclesiastics exercised power over governments.. The key to the whole history of the Middle Ages appears to us to be the sentiment then prevailing, that Christian principle should regulate all the departments of government and all the relations of life. We do not think that the authority of the Popes over sovereigns is to be accounted for, merely by reason of the relations in which they actually stood to them, or of the concessions which had been made by former princes. On the contrary, we trace those concessions and relations to the persuasion which was universal, that the head of the Christian Church was the fittest arbiter of the respective obligations of princes and their subjects, and the natural judge of all, in what regarded the application of the Christian maxims to society. «V Luke xii. 14. f Cours d'Histoire Moderne, t. iii. p. 81. CHAPTER III. Philanthropists often speculate on the propriety of establishing a peace tribunal, to settle, without " the proud control of fierce and bloody war," the various controversies which may arise among nations : yet they seldom reflect that such a tribunal existed in the Middle Ages, in the person of the Roman Pontiff. The warlike spirit of the Northern barbarians, which still survived in their descendants, should be under- stood, in order fully to appreciate the services which the Popes, in re- straining it, rendered to society. Their efforts were not always success- ful, but their merit was not on that account the less in endeavoring to stem the torrent of human passion ; and their success was sufficient to entitle them to the praise of having effectually labored to substitute moral and religious influence for brute force. As ministers of the Prince of peace, they often interposed spontaneously, and with arms powerful before God opposed the crowned marauder, who rushed forward to shed human blood. The fathers of the Council of Rheims, in 1119, under the presidency of Calistus II., were engaged in ecclesiastical deliberations, when the Pontiff communicated to them overtures of peace, which had reached him from Henry V. He informed them that he must repair to the place which the emperor had appointed for an interview, promising to return to close the Council : " Afterward," said he, " I shall wait on the King of England, my god-child and relative, and exhort him and Count Theobald, his nephew, and others who are at variance, to come to a reconciliation, that feach, for the love of God, may do justice to the other, and according to the law of God, all of them being pacified, may abandon war, and witb their subjects enjoy the security of perfect peace. But such as obey not our admonitions, and continue to disturb the public peace, I will strike with tbe awful sentence of anathema."* The benevolent intentions of the Pontiff were defeated for a time by the wiles and machinations of the fifth Henry, who, however, after many vain struggles against the authority of the Church, at length renounced his pretensions to the right of investing prelates with their sacred office by delivering to them the ring and crosier, the symbols of ecclesiastical '* Cone. Ehemens. acta, col. 241, t. xxi., coll. Mansi. 283 284 PEACE TRIBUNAL. authority, and was content with giving them the temporal appanage of their office by stretching toward them the royal sceptre. Thus, in the year 1123, was happily terminated the strife between the Popes and em- perors, which had fiercely raged during half a century. In the same venerable assembly appeared Louis the Fat, King of France, surrounded by his nobles; and having advanced forward to the platform on which the Pope was enthroned, he urged his complaint against the English king: "I come," he said, "with my barons, to, this holy assembly to seek counsel, my lord the Pope : and you, reverend pre- lates, hear me. The King of England has violently invaded Normandy, a province of my kingdom : he has treated in a detestable manner Duke Robert, his own brother and my vassal, whom he has seized, and at this time actually holds prisoner. I have frequently demanded his liberation, through bishops and counts, whom I sent to him for this object, but all without effect, William, the son of the .captive duke, stands here before you, despoiled of the inheritance of his father."* This address shows the confidence with which sovereigns themselves appealed to the Pontiff, in the most solemn circumstances, to obtain through his influence what might not be otherwise hoped for, without the shedding of much blood. Long before this period, the mediatorial offices of the Pope were sought by princes unable to resist the superior force which threatened them. In the year 787, Thassilo, Duke of Bavaria, implored Adrian I. to intercede with Charlemagne, and obtain for him equitable terms. The charity of the Pontiff led him to accept the commission ; but when the ambassadors of the duke professed themselves unauthorized to accede to the conditions which were agreed on with the emperor, Adrian judged that he could employ the censures of the Church against him, on account of his bad faith, and declared that the monarch would be guiltless of the blood which might be shed in chastising the perfidious prince. While the im- perial troops beseiged the capital of Hungary, the king, Andrew, sought the mediation of St. Leo IX. The Pontiff willingly undertook the journey to Germany, in order to procure peace, which, however, the jealousy of some courtiers or the fickleness of the king prevented. f Gregory IV., on presenting himself to Louis, against whom Lothaire, his son and colleague in the empire, had revolted, protested that he came only to restore peace, which our Divine Eedeemer wished to be main- tained by all His disciples. . The refusal of the emperor to come to an accommodation, led to the defection of his troops, which forced him to abandon the contest. The Emperor Henry II. complained to the Council of Tours, over which Victor II. presided, that Ferdinand, King of Spain, took on him- » Ibidem, col, 238. f Wibert in vita S. Leonis, 1. ii, o. 8. Herman Contractus throws the blame on the king. PEACE TRIBUNAL. 285 self tlie imperial title. The Council menaced to excommunicate the king, and lay the kingdom under interdict, if he did not abandon his pre- tensions : to which he accordingly consented, declaring his entire sub- mission to the judgment of the Apostolic See. On the death of the emperor, great apprehensions were entertained of disturbances on the part of several princes, to avert which the Pope, to whom the emperor, when dying, had intrusted the charge of his son, a youth, assembled a Council at Cologne, and gained over Baldwin and Godfrey, and effectually prevented civil war. Thus he successfully employed his influence and authority to preserve peace. It was at the instance of Paschal II. that St. Anselm used his best efforts to bring about an amicable settlement between Henry I. of England, and his brother Eobert, who, by right of seniority, claimed the crown. When every overture for peace was rejected, the prelate, on the eve of battle, exhorted the nobles to be true to their allegiance, which they had pledged to Henry, threatening Kobert with excommunication if he continued to disturb the public peace. These measures proved effec- tual, the prince choosing rather to forego his claim than fall under the censures of the Church, by engaging in a bloody contest. On occasion of war between the republics of Genoa and Pisa, Inno- cent II. repaired to the latter city, and summoned thither the reprenta- tives of the Genoese interests, who, together with the Pisans, swore to abide by his commands, and accordingly made peace. Clement III. sent a cardinal legate to Henry II. of England and Louis VI. of France, exhorting them to peace, in order to unite in the effort to liberate the Holy Land. Entreaty, persuasion, and threats were successively em- ployed, until at length the princes consented to abide by the judgment of the legate, and of four archbishops, two on the part of each king. In proceeding to the adjudication of this controversy, the judges threatened to excommunicate any one who should strive to prevent the conclusion of peace. Innocent III., in the Council of Lateran, enjoined a general peace among all Christians, for four years at least.* He fell sick unto death on a journey which he undertook with a view to induce the Pisans, . Genoese, and Lombards, to make peace, and unite in the Crusade. When James, King of Aragon, had made war on Simon, Count of Mont- fort, Honorius III. depatohed ambassadors to enjoin peace, offering to take cognizance of the causes of dispute, if the parties would submit them to the apostolic judgment, and threatening them with anathema in case they persevered in the war. Honorius III. sent a legate to Louis Vni. of France, to induce him to make a truce with Henry, King of England, which, however, he failed to accomplish. He strictly forbade Henry to attack Louis while engaged in the Albigensian war. * Expeditio pro reoup. terra sanota. 286 PEACE TRIBUNAL. John XXI. exerted all his influence with Philip, King of France, and Alphonsus, King of Castile, to produce a reconciliation between them, that both princes might unite in succoring the Eastern Christians. To the former he wrote in these terms : " We admonish, ask, and earnestly exhort and beseech your royal highness, by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, attentively to reflect that the execution of the affairs connected with the divine glory, in which you are to be the chief actor, is impeded by this misunderstanding, and to turn to meekness what seems disposed to anger, and prepare and change your royal mind to the good of peace, and unity of concord." The Pontiff proffered his kind oflSces to settle the matters in dispute : " If any dispute shall remain be- tween you and the aforesaid king, the solicitude of the Apostolic See will not be wanting; she offers herself, without sparing labor, to extin- , guish, to the utmost of her power, all matter of disagreement between you and the aforesaid king, and to procure and maintain unity with great care."* He authorized his legate to restrain by ecclesiastical censures both kings, or whichever should attack the other. Nicholas III. urged Michael Palseologus, the Greek emperor, Charles, King of Sicily, and the Emperor Philip, to submit their disputes to his decision, rather than engage in war.f By his persuasion Eodulph, King of the Komans,J made peace with Charles, King of Sicily, and yielded to him Provence, saving the rights of Margaret, Queen of the French. Edward of England, and Philip the Fair of France, being engaged in war, Boniface VIII. sent ambassadors, most earnestly exhorting them to peace. He authorized the legates to threaten the infliction of censures, should they persist; declaring it to be unworthy of Christian princes to lead their subjects to mutual slaughter. What to us may appear strange, is, that the PontiiF took upon himself to order a truce to be observed for ■ a year between the contending princes, and prolonged it for two years, under penalty of excommunication. § The sittempt to interfere with the military operations of sovereigns, is an extraordinary instance of ecclesi- astical power; but it was then thought that the penalty of exclusion from the Church might be inflicted by her ruler on princes acknowledg- ing her authority, who recklessly sacrificed human life in a contest, which, during the suspension of hostilities, might be amicably adjusted. Both kings, in fact, sent commissioners to Eome to represent their re- spective rights, and the Pontiff pronounced judgment between them, dis- * Apud Eayn., aD. 12?6. t Ibidem, an. 1278. I This titJe was given to the emperor elect, before his coronation. Speaking of the right over Italy acquired by the emperor chosen by the German princes, Hallam says : *'It was an equally fundamental rule, that the elected King of Germany could not assume the title of Eoman emperor until his consecration b^ the Pope. The middle appellation of King of the Komaas, was invented as a sort of approximation to the imperial dig^ nity." Middle Ages, p. i. ch. iii. I Apud Rayn., an. 1296. PEACE TRIBUNAL. 287 pensing, at the same time, in the ecclesiastical laws, that their reconcilia- tion might be insured by intermarriage of the English king and his son with the sister and daughter of the French monarch. With threats of censure, Boniface likewise commanded Adolphus, King of the Komans, to desist from hostilities against Philip, and ijrged the three princes to submit their disputes to the pontifical decision. He was entirely suc- cessful in his efforts to reconcile Charles II., King of Sicily, with James of Aragon. When the Venetians and Genoese threatened each other with war, Boniface enjoined a truce, that their mutual complaints might be heard by him, and adjusted without bloodshed. The Venetians ac- quiesced in the proposal, in despite of which the Genoese made hostile demonstrations, which the Pontiff left the more docile Venetians free to repel. Oftentimes both parties simultaneously invoked the pontifical judgment, making the Pope umpire for the termination of their disputes. Thus Honorius III. was called on to judge between Frederick 11. and various cities of Lombardy, and he succeeded in effecting a reconciliation. When the war had broken out anew, through the perfidy of the emperor, Gre- gory IX., who then occupied the papal chair, acted in the capacity of pacific judge, providing with paternal solicitude for the imperial interests, and for the security of the cities. The Pontiff was sometimes implored by the legitimate claimant of a throne to use his spiritual authority against an unlawful aspirant. At the solicitation of Louis II., the legal heir of the kingdom of his de- ceased brother, Adrian II. threatened the nobles with censure, should they favor the usurpation of Charles, the uncle of the deceased so- vereign.* John VIII., in like manner, came to the aid of Charles the Bald, when his dominions were invaded by his brother Louis, and com- manded the bishops, under pain of anathema, to use their influence to prevent further depredations. This interference was in accordance with the general feeling of the age, which regarded the act of the Pontiff as a declaration of right, by which even a weak prince was supported in his struggle against superior force, and a powerful monarch received moral strength in public opinion, which could not be derived from mere success on the field of battle. When nations were involved in the horrors of civil war, or were threatened with them, the religious influence of the Pontiff was often im- plored by sovereigns and subjects to restore order, and secure the rights of all. King Louis of France complained to the bishops assembled in Council, in the year 948, at Ingilenheim, under the presidency of the Pope's ' legate, of the revolt and usurpation of Hugh, Count of Paris : against whom the fathers, in conformity with the fourth Council of To- ledo, threatened excommunication, if he persisted in his rebellion.f » Fleury, Hist. EocL, 1. li. an. 869. f Cone. ool. reg., vol. vi. ool. 605. 288 PEACE TRIBUNAL. Pope Agapetus, in a Eoman Council, confirmed their sentence. Not long before, Stephen IX. had used his influence and authority success- fully to induce the French nobles to return to the obedience of Louis VI., against whom they had revolted. In this, he followed the maxims of the apostles, who taught men to obey their rulers, even if personally unworthy ; and his remonstrances were listened to the more patiently and respectfully, because he addressed them as the common father of all, not as a royal partisan, and employed^ his influence in their behalf, to obtain for them justice and pardon from the sovereign. Henry II., on the rebellion of his son, sought the interposition of Alexander III., avowing himself a vassal of the Holy See : " Since God has raised you to the eminence of the pastoral office, that you might give the knowledge of salvation to His people, although I be absent in body, yet present ■" in spirit, I prostrate myself at your knees, demanding salutary counsel. The kingdom of England is of your jurisdiction, and to you alone I am responsible, and am bound as to what regards the obligation of feudatory right. Let England see the power of the Roman Pontiff; and since he does not employ material arms, let him defend the patrimony of blessed Peter with the spiritual sword."* The Pope accordingly issued an excommunication against all who should disturb the king's peace. Clement IV. succeeded in bringing to an amicable issue a strife of long continuance between Bela, King of Hun- gary, and his son Stephen, and united them in lasting peace. It is plain that the pontifical interference, when thus invoked by princes or their subjects, was calculated to remedy grievances in a manner most consistent with the general interests. The monarch, how- ever powerful, could not hope to crush by force his subjects, when sustained by the moral influence of the Pontiff; and a feeble prince was protected by the shield of religion, against the violence of a rampant nobility or a restless people. Between sovereigns accustomed to decide their disputes on the battle-field, his interposition, as the common father of princes, was calculated to prevent a recourse to arms. His judgment being regarded as the expression of right, gave a moral support to the just cause : it served. " To give us warrant from the hand of Heaven, And on our actions set the name of right With holy breath."t Leibnitz regarded this mediatorial office of the Pope as one among the most beautiful evidences of Christian influence on society, and expressed the desire, which, however, he did not hope to see realized, that a peace tribunal were established anew at Rome, with the Pontiff as its president, that the controversies of princes and the internal dissensions of nations * Baron., an. 1173, p. 60. f King John. — Shakspeare. PEACE TEIEUNAL. 289 might, under the mild influence of religion, be decided without blood- shed. "Since we are allowed to indulge fancy, why," says he, "should we not cherish an idea that would renew among us the golden age ?"* ^ In order to judge rightly of these a,cts, it should be remembered, that the Christian nations of Europe, in consequence of their common faith, became almost insensibly a great confederacy, bound together by stronger ties than any conventional compact. " The nations belonging to the Roman communion appeared to be one great republic. "f The integrity of Christian faith was its fundamental law, the violation of which was punished with, expulsion from the confederacy. The Pope was charged to watch over its observance, and in case of the apostasy of any inferior lord, to declare the forfeiture which he had incurred, and to proclaim that his territory might be seized by any Catholic potentate. The action of the Pontiff, in such case, was not an exercise of his primatial authority, farther than his sentence determined the guilt of heresy : it proceeded from a power attached to his office by general consent for the interests of the Christian commonwealth. The penalty was specially enacted in reference to the Manichean heresy, which subverted public morals, as well as faith. The fourth Council of Lateran, held in the year 1215, under Innocent III., decreed, that if a secular lord, after request made of him, and admo- nition given him by the Church, should neglect to clear his territory of this heretical filth, he should be excommunicated by the bishops of the province ; and in case he continued contumacious under excommunication during an entire year, the Pope should be informed of it, that he might decfere the vassals thenceforward free from their allegiance, and leave the territory open to be occupied by Catholics, who might drive away the heretics, and hold it by an unquestionable title, without prejudice to the rights of the liege lord. The same was to be observed in regard to such as had no principal lords,J that is, lords paramount. It is clear that the body of the enactment regards inferior and dependent lords. The tenure of their fiefs was thus limited, with the general consent of the secular powers present in the Council, which contained the representatives of the Emperor of Constantinople, and of the Kings of Prance, England, Hun- gary, Jerusalem, Aragon, and of many other sovereigns. The ravages of the Manichees, which are described by the fathers, appeared to require the concerted efforts of all the civil powers to suppress them, so that neglect to do so was deemed treason against the Christian confederacy. On this account it was punished with the forfeiture of feudal rights : and accordingly, in the Council itself, Innocent deprived the Count of Tou- louse of his principality, and transferred it to Simon de Montfort, the * Letire II., a M. Grimaret, op. t. v. p. 65. f Voltaire, Essai sur I'Histoire Generale, t. ii. ch. xlviii. J Can. iii., apud Labbe, cone, t. xi. par. i. p. 147. 19 290 PEACE TRIBUNAL. leader of the crusade against the Albigensians. Honorius III. justified himself by this enactment with Henry, King of England, for having called on Louis, King of France, to occupy the territory of the Count of Toulouse.* The enactment does not regard sovereigns, the clause which is attached to it being only designed to include allodialf proprietors, who were bound to no military service, or other feudal duty. It may be thought that the principle is equally applicable to sovereigns : but where penal laws are in question, it is not allowable to argue from parity of reason, and sovereigns are never understood to be embraced by general enactments, unless they be specially mentioned. The whole enactment is, indeed, founded on the principle that heresy — especially Manicheism — is a crime against Christian society, to te punished and extirpated by the civil authorities, which was undisputed in that age, when the violence and disorders of sectaries gave melancholy evidence of the anti-social character of their tenets. It is undeniable that the Pontiffs sometimes invited sovereigns to aid in executing their sentences against other sovereigns, whose territories they encouraged them to invade. Postponing to another opportunity to explain the grounds on which this was done, I wish, at present,' merely to meet the objection as regards their pacific character. Whenever war is necessary to vindicate the oppressed, and put a stop to outrage, its justice must be the apology of him who lends it his sanction. It is for the interests of peace and of humanity that a powerful monarch should inter- pose for the protection of tke defenceless, and awe, by a formidable dis- play of force, the tyrant who is deaf to paternal remonstrance. Of the Papal authority as exercised by the Gregories and Innocents, a recent writer says: "It bestowed order, civilization, and, as far as was possible in such fierce and warlike times, peace. "J In connection with the ofice of the Pontiffs as pacificators, we may mention the restraints which they imposed on military operations. It would have been vain to enjoin on the nobles of those ages to abstain altogether from the use of arms, since mutual injuries provoked resist- ance and retaliation, and tribunals of justice were not at hand. Each baron exercised the rights of sovereignty, as far as his own interests were at stake, and undertook the redress of wrongs by the sword. The utmost which could be successfully attempted, was to restrain men from violence at certain times, and especially on days consecrated to religious duties : on this account Cardinal Hugo, in a Council held at Gerona in Spain, in the year 1068, by the authority of Alexander II., confirmed " the truce of Grod," as there observed, and extended it from the octave of Easter Sunday to the octave of Whitsuntide, requiring its observance during that period, as well as during Lent, under penalty of excommunication. * Vide Fleui-y, Hist. Eocl., 1. Ixxix. g xxviii. f See Blaokstone, I. ii. o. iv. J London Quarterly, for February, 1836. PEACE TRIBUNAL. ' 291 Urban 11., likewise, in the Councils of Melfi and Clermont, confirmed, by bis authority, the decrees of some bishops, who had enjoined a sus- pension of hostilities from Wednesday evening of each week until Monday morning, and during the whole of Advent and Lent. The wisdom of this ordinance is acknowledged by Mills, who observes : " The clergy did much toward accustoming mankind to prefer the authority of law to the power of the sword. At their instigation private wars ceased for certain periods, and on particular days, and the observance of the Truce of God was guarded by the terrors of excom- munication and anathema. Christianity could not immediately and directly change the face of the world ; but she mitigated the horrors of the times by infusing herself into warlike in.stitutions."* In 1187, during the pontificate of Gregory VIII., which did not last quite two months, the Cardinals, in order to promote the Crusade which was then undertaken, agreed, with the assent of the Pope, to establish a general peace between all Christian princes for seven years, subjecting to excommunication all who should violate it. The assumption of this power was in accordance with the general principles and usages of the Middle Ages, and was certainly favorable to the interests of humanity. Hallam, although he regards the Papal interference as an usurpation, admits that the project of Gerohus, a writer who lived early in the twelfth century, to refer all disputes among princes to the Pope, was cal- culated to find favor with benevolent minds, sickened by the cupidity and oppression of princes. "No control but that of religion appeared sufficient to restrain the abuses of society ; while its salutary influence had already been displayed both in the Truce of God, which put the fii-st check on the custom of private war, and more recently in the protection afforded to Crusaders against all aggression during the continuance of their engagement. There were certainly some instances where the tem- poral supremacy of Innocent III., however usurped, may appear to have been exerted beneficially. He directs one of his legates to compel the observance of peace between the Kings of Castile and Portugal, if neces- sary, by excommunication and interdict.""]' It may surprise the reader to learn that an improvement in the laws of war, which John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, as American commissioners, proposed to the Prussian minister, in the year 1784, was anticipated, more than six hundred years, by Innocent II., in the Council of Lateran. Using the civil influence with which he found himself invested, he decreed that " priests, monks, strangers, merchants, peasants, going or returning, or employed in labors of husbandry, and the animals with which they plough, and which carry the seeds to the field, should be secured from all molestation. "J The proposition of the * History of Crusades, ch. i. p. 22. f Middle Ages, cli. vii. J Cap. Innovamus II., de Treuga et Pace. 292 PEACE TRIBUNAL. commissioners was " to improve the laws of war, by a mutual stipulation not to molest non-combatants, as cultivators of the earth, fishermen, merchants, and traders in unarmed ships, and artists and mechanics, inhabiting and working in open towns."* Another instance may be added, in which the humane and enlightened views of the Popes antici- pated and surpassed some of the modern improvements on the laws of war. Paschal II., in a Council held at Troyes, in 1107, decreed that in war houses should not be set on fire.f It is now deemed unlawful wan- tonly to destroy public buildings. Chancellor Kent truly observes, that " the history of Europe, during the early periods of modern history, abounds with interesting and strong cases, to show the authority of the Church over turbulent princes and fierce warriors, and the effect of that authority in meliorating manners, cheeking violence, and introducing a system of morals which inculcated peace, moderation, and justice."J * Kent's Comm., vol. i. p. 91. Note. f Chronic. Malleaoense. J Commentaries on 4oierican Lavr, by James Kent. Lecture CHAPTER IV. itpsing |0ton. 1 1.— ORIGIN OF THE POWBE. Whoever is at all acquainted with the history of the Middle Ages, cannot be ignorant of the political influence which the bishops exercised, conjointly with the secular nobility. This arose from the religious feeling of the people, which disposed them to respect their judgment, rather than from the temporal possessions attached to the sees.* Be- ' sides, as Hallam avows, "the bishops acquired and, retained a great part of their ascendency by a very respectable instrument of power, intel- lectual superiority."f Their concurrence was sought in every change of rulers, whether the sceptre passed by election to the heir of a deceased monarch, or by some revolution, into the hands of a new dynasty. In the decline of the seventh century, on the resignation of King Wamba, the Spanish bishops assembled at the instance of his successor, Ervigius, who sought at their hands the ratification of his title : and on the depo- sition of Louis by his son Lothaire, a French Council lent its sanction to the measure. In 859, in the Council of Savonikes, Charles the Bald avowed his willingness to submit to the judgment of the bishops, and complained that he had been deposed without their sanction. They, in reality, were the chief nobles, who chiefly constituted the public council and national legislature. The Pope especially possessed im- mense influence in civil affairs. His judgment sealed the deposition of Childeric, and the transfer of the sceptre from the Merovingian to the Carlovingian race. When Eadbert, a clergyman, regardless of his sacred engagements, was chosen by intrigue to occupy the vacant throne of Kent, in 796, Leo III., at the instance of Ethelheard, Archbishop of Canter- bury, struck the ambitious aspirant with excommunication, for the viola- tion of his religious obligations, and threatened to exhort all the in- habitants of Britain to unite in punishing his disobedience, should he refuse to return to the clerical profession.J People and princes alike appealed to the Pope in their controversies, and sought redress at his hands. The Saxons complained to Alexander II. of Henry lY., King of Germany, whose oppression and licentiousness were intolerable. The * Middle Ages, ch. viii. p. HI. -j- lb. ch. vii. t Lingard, Hist. England, 1. i. ch. iii. 293 294 DEPOSING POWER. prince was accordingly summoned to answer at the tribunal of the Pon- tiff, whose death, however, interrupted the proceedings. Two centuries before, Nicholas I. threatened to interdict King Lothaire unless he dis- missed Waldrada : which menace was understood by the Bishop of Metz to involve the throne itself in danger. Although, from these facts, it Is plain that St. Gregory VII. was not the first who claimed or exercised authority over princes, he appears to be the first who actually undertook to depose them. In the year 1074, he wrote to the French bishops, obmplaining of the crimes of Philip I., whom he designated, not a king, but a tyrant, and requiring of them to admonish him, and lay the kingdom under interdict; addibg a solemn threat, that if these measures failed, he would leave no means untried to free the nation from its unworthy ruler, as he could no longer suffer so illustrious a kingdom and its vast population to be ruined by the mis- conduct of one man. This presents to us a principle very popular in our days, that royalty is but a trust for the people, and that when the public interests are trampled under foot by the prince, he is a tyrant, unfit to hold the reins of government, and no longer entitled to the obedience of the people. Similar views had been delivered by Nicholas I. in the ninth century. To propagate this doctrine, leaving to every one to deter- mine for himself when it is that the ruler has forfeited his rights, would be to preach revolution and anarchy. The assumption, however, of the right of judgment between subjects and their sovereign, has been repre- sented as a daring usurpation. But as all the kingdoms of Europe had arisen under the protection of the Holy See, and all by the very pro- fession of Christianity were considered as acknowledging its parental guidance, which by express acts they declared in the most solemn manner, the Pope was expected to interpose in all great controversies, whether domestic or external. His interference was generally sought, even when he seemed to act unsolicited. In the Roman Council of the year 1075, excommunication was de- nounced against Philip, in case he should not yield to the admonitions of the apostolic legate despatched for his correction. The zeal of the Pon- tiff was soon enkindled against a more powerful prince, Henry IV., King of Germany, and emperor elect. In the lifetime of his father, Henry III., he had been chosen, with the assent of the German nobles, to suc- ceed to the imperial throne, on the usual condition that he should govern justly.'* The violation of this pledge had, as we have seen above, pro- voked the complaints of the Saxons, who subsequently revolted ; and having, in an assembly at Gersteng, declared him unworthy to , reign, on the accession of Gregory they most urgently besought him to come to their relief,t while Henry at the same time implored his authority against * " Si rector Justus futurus esset." Herman, contract., ad. an. 1057. f " Quibus ut, vel per se, Tel pur nuntium, genti pene perditse consolator esset, sup- pliciter oravcrunt." Bruno, de bello Saxonioo, apud script, rerum Germ., t. i. p. 133. DEPOSING POWER. 295 the rebels. " When the Saxons revolted," Saint-Priest observes, " the Emperor Henry IV., at the foot of the throne of Gregory VII., accused them of sedition and sacrilege. Thus the King of Germany made the Pope judge of his German subjects."* Gregory, accordingly, expostu- lated with the insurgents, calling on them to desist from violence, and despatched legates to them and to the king, with a view to bring their disputes to a peaceful termination. In the mean time, Henry threatened with death all who had appealed to the tribunal of the PontiiT. It was then that the measure of his iniquities seemed to overflow, so that Gre- gory took upon himself to forbid him to govern the kingdom of the Ger- mans and of Italy, and absolved all Christians from the oath by which they had bound themselves to obey him as king. This extraordinary act naturally leads us to inquire by what authority it was attempted. In a letter to the German bishops, nobles, and people, Gregory states that " Henry was guilty of crimes so enormous, as to de- serve not only to be excommunicated, but, according to all divine and human laws, to be deprived of the royal dignity." The various histori- cal documents specify those crimes, namely, utter disregard of the public interests, the cruel oppression of his subjects, the dishonor of the wives and daughters of the princes, and the butchery of many innocent persons. In the national Council held by the German princes, in 1076, they com- plained that Henry had wantonly shed the blood of his subjects, and laid an intolerable yoke on the necks of a free people. He had, likewise, committed great crimes against religion, by the sale of bishoprics, which he bestowed on unworthy men, and last of all, by the sacrilegious attempt to depose the sovereign Pontifi'. Both classes of crimes, those against society and religion, concurred to provoke his condemnation, because, as king, he had bound himself to protect the Church, and maintain her rights inviolate : but the last act, in that state of society, was justly deemed treason against the head of the Christian commonwealth. Chris- tianity was the basis of society and its supreme law, and the Pontiff was regarded as its guardian and expounder. It was the firm persuasion of the German princes that Henry, by his violation of the compact which, at his coronation, he had sworn to ob- serve, had forfeited his title to the throne. " Freemen," says a writer almost contemporary, "put over themselves Henry as king, on condition that he should judge his constituents with justice, and govern them with royal care : which compact he has constantly broken and disregarded. Therefore, even without the judgment of the Apostolic See, the princes could justly refuse to acknowledge him any longer as king, since he has not fulfilled the pledge which he gave at his election ; the violation of which brings with it the forfeiture of kingly power."']' They sought, * Histoire de la Royaute, par Saint-Priest, 1. i. vol. ii. p. 549. f "Liberi homines Henricum co paoto sibi prseposuerunt in regem, ut electoreB suos juste judicare, et regali providentia gubernare satageret, quod pactum ille postea prse- 296 DEPOSraa POWER. nevertheless, the sanction of the Pope, whose influence on the puhlio conscience was at that period unbounded. The sentence of Gregory was professedly grounded on the power of binding and -loosing which Peter received from Christ : but it presup- posed the radical annulling of the oath of allegiance, by the failure of Henry in the fulfilment of the correlative obligations ; so that, although bearing the form of a sentence, it was in reality an authoritative declara- tion that the oath had ceased to bind. In no circumstance did he assert, or insinuate, that he could loose the bond at will; but he uniformly relied on the fact that the king had violated his own oath, and thus vir- tually released the people from their duty to him. Voltaire has happily expressed the relations which then subsisted between the monarch and the people : " Before this sacred shrine he swora Justly to wield the power he bore ; And such the tie that binds in one The nation's heart and monarch's throne : The day that breaks his oath, annuls our own."*' The feudal principles which prevailed in the Middle Ages, led men to regard the relations of subjects to the sovereign as depending on his fidelity in discharging the duties which he had assumed. The barons owed him no unqualified allegiance, and their liege men felt more strictly bound to their immediate lord than to the king or emperor, to whom they stood in no direct relation. Hallam observes : " The relation established between a lord and his vassal, by the feudal tenure, far from containing principles of any servile and implicit obedience, permitted the compact to be dissolved in case of its violation by either party. This extended as much to the sovereign as to inferior lords."f The judgment of the Pope was awaited, lest the relations of the people to their rulers should be capriciously dissolved. The Saxons had im- plored it most earnestly, and Gregory, after much hesitation, and many efforts for the correction of Henry, issued at length the awful sentence. He did not proceed in this matter from the impulse of his own feelings, but with the advice and at the earnest solicitation of the Council which he assembled to take it into consideration. The prince himself, when he sought and obtained absolution from the censure, accepted with apparent varioari et oontemnere non cessavit, famed professors of that city descant on the sentences of Peter Lombard, or, at a later period, explain the summary of the AngeKc Doctor. Bologna, however, and other universities, were afterward al- lowed to teach the same sublime science, which Clement VI. aptly desig- nates, sf.udium sacrae paginse, the study of sacred Scripture. The holy volume was expounded to eager youth by men, who, although not skilled in the original languages, or familiar with classic lore, were, nevertheless, competent to teach accurately the revealed doctrines, and to guard against theological errors. Whoever will take the pains to peruse the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, who flourished in the middle of the thirteenth cen- tury, will not consider the scholastic study of divinity a mere exercise of vain dialectics. The whole counsel of God, as manifested and developed in the teaching of the Church, is there declared and sustained, chiefly by the authority of sacred Scripture, although occasionally illustrated by some testimony of ancient Christian writers. Keason herself is intro- duced as the handmaid of revelation. The difficulties which the pride of man presents to the belief of divine truth, are dissipated by a powerful logic, grounded on divine authority. The searching mind of the Angelic Doctor ventured far beyond the positive doctrine of the Church, and in- dulged in probable conjectures, which some may brand as idle speculations, but which certainly are not less profitable than many of the disquisitions of men of science in later times. It was his privilege to conceive, almost with the clearness of intuition, the whole revealed doctrine, and to com- prehend and combine the sacred pracles, and the teachings of the ancient fathers,, but especially to fix his gaze on the Divinity with a steadiness scarcely before granted to an uninspired mortal. In the language of the 376 MEDIAEVAL STUDIES. 377 schools, he was as an angel admitted to view the glory of the Deity, and appointed to unfold to men His counsels. Recent Anglican writers have termed him " the great prophet of the Church," since his mind seems to have grasped in its vision the secrets of futurity, namely, the objections which sectaries in after ages would make to the divine doctrines. The Popes, in commending his works, showed not only their zeal for accurate and precise views of doctrine, but their just appreciation of the admirable method and deep reasoning of this most eminent theologian. " The Summa Theologiae," says a writer in the British Critic, " is a mighty syn- thesis, in which Catholic doctrine is bound together in one consistent whole." " It was reserved for St. Thomas Aquinas to survey at one glance the whole of Christian truth as it had been developed in former ages, and to point out the relative bearings of the mighty mysteries to each other."* I cannot vindicate with the same confidence the homage rendered to Aristotle by the schools of the Middle Ages ; yet, although blind defer- ence for the dicta of the Stagyrite may have prevented the advancement of science, it cannot be thought that the study of his works, which are learned and profound, was in itself favorable to mental inertness. Urban IV. deserved well of mankind for laboring to revive philosophy, which for ages had been neglected. He enjoined on St. Thomas Aquinas to write commentaries on Aristotle, that the student of his works might not imbibe any error contrary to the doctrine of the sublime Master of Christians. The schools that admitted his authority, corrected his ethics by the maxims of the Gospel, and failed not to adore the Christian mysteries, notwith- standing the abstruseness or erroneousness of his metaphysical views. His sway, however, was that of an absolute monarch, in the realms of natural science. He was heard as an oracle, when he should only have been looked on as a guide ; and the student, who should have sought to penetrate further into the recesses of nature, fancied he had reached the goal when he had understood what Aristotle had revealed of her secrets. It might be a matter of just exultation, that this excessive regard for individual authority has given place to a spirit, of inquiry, which assumes nothing, and rests only on demonstration and experience, had not skepti- cism succeeded faith; the temerity of man extending the philosophic doubt to the very axioms of natural right, and to mysteries divinely re- vealed. A heathenish system, which abstracts from the fact that God has spoken, and, with the glimmering light of reason, scrutinizes the depths of His nature and works, has taken the place of the old philosophy; and men fancy themselves enlightened and intellectual, in proportion as they are destitute of the certain conviction of revealed truth. The whole structure of religion is placed by many on the sandy foundation of natural reason, unassisted and unenlightened. * Number Ixv., p. 110, 111. 378 MEDLffiVAL STUDIES. Whatever may be thought of the philosophy of the Middle Ages, we should not forget that the great' science of legislation, both ecclesiastical and civil, was then effectually cultivated and promoted. The Popes, by their decrees on various cases submitted to their judgment, and the Coun- cils of Bishops, combining their wisdom to remedy prevailing disorders and promote piety, had gradually formed a vast code of laws, of which collections had been made by various persons in the East and West ; but it was reserved for Gratian, a Benedictine monk, in the middle of the twelfth century, to classify them, and adapt them to the use of students. This decree of Gratian, as the collection of canons has been rather strangely styled, was designed especially for the University of Bologna, to which the Popes likewise were thenceforward accustomed to address the subsequent collections. Those only who are unacquainted with the Canon Law can speak disparagingly of it. The Scripture is its foundation ; the fathers of the Church have furnished many of its axioms; and its rules are the fruits of the experience of ages.' It combines persuasion with au- thority, equity with law, and a due regard for forms with an inviolable respect for justice and right. It throws its shield over the humblest in- dividuals, and bears aloft its mace to awe the proud. It tempers the exercise of power by the spirit of charity, sustains dignity without foster- ing pride; and, in the great variety of orders and offices throughout the Universal Church, presents a compact hierarchy, bound together by mys- terious ties in indivisible unity. By encouraging this study, it is manifest that the Popes proved themselves the friends of order and justice, and took from the exercise of ecclesiastical authority all appearance of arbitrary power. In order to promote true liberty, which needs tbe salutary restraint of law, the Popes promoted the study of civil jurisprudence. The founda- tions of social order were laid in various enactments directed to maintain natural rights, and to restrain violence, by the censures of the Church : but it was their earnest desire to see the social fabric rise in just propor- tions, on the pillars of law; for which end they exerted their utmost influ- ence to introduce everywhere its study. The civil law, as we are wont to designate 'the code used in the Eoman empire, had been neglected arid forgotten during the tumult and wars consequent on its dissolution, and usages derived from barbarian ancestors were the only rules of conduct acknowledged by the races that were spread over the greater part of southern Europe. It was revived in the Italian universities, especially in Bologna, where professors of great celebrity unravelled its intricacies with untiring ingenuity. Hallam observes : " The love of equal liberty and just laws in the Italian cities, rendered the profession of jurisprudence ex- ceedingly honorable ; the doctors of Bologna and other universities were frequently called to the office of podesta, or criminal judge, in those small republics ; in Bologna itself they were officially members of the smaller or secret council ; and their opinions, which they did not render gratuitously. MEDIiEVAL STUDIES. 379 were sought with the respect that had been shown at Eome to their ancient masters of the age of Severus."* Innocent IV., although he discountenanced the study of the civil law by clergymen, as likely to occasion the neglect of the more necessary qualifications for the sacred ministry, directed schools of law to be opened at Kome, and founded at Placentia a university, in which it was specially taught. Padua also was for some time the successful rival of Bologna in this science. The Cesarean code is acknowledged to contain the most just arrangement of the family and social relations ; and if in any case its pro- visions were found severe, the mild spirit of the Church tempered its rigor, in the name of equity. Thus the confusion necessarily arising from the undefined customs of nations emerging from barbarism was remedied; and, instead of a variety of laws, usages, and tribunals, which threatened society with anarchy, the beauty and order of a comprehensive code were exemplified in all the relations of life. It was the wish and endeavor of several Popes to introduce into the universities the study of the Greek and Oriental languages. Long before the establishment of these institutions, they had labored to promote the study of Greek, in order more effectually to knit together the two great portions of the Church. Paul I., about the year 766, erected a monastery for monks of the Greek rite. Stephen IV.', in 816, founded for them the monastery of St. Praxedes ; and Leo IV. introduced them into the monas- tery of St. Stephen. Mills bears testimony to the efforts of Honorius IV., after the example of his predecessors, to promote the study of the Oriental tongues : " In the year 1285, Pope Honorius IV., in his design to convert the Saracens to Christianity, wished to establish schools at Paris, for the tuition of people in the Arabic and other Oriental languages, agreeably to the intentions of his predecessors. The Council of Vienne, in 1312, recommended the conversion of the infidels, and the re-establishment of schools, as the way to recover the Holy Land. It was accordingly ordered that there should be professors of the Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic tongues in Rome, Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca ; and that the learned should translate into Latin the best Arabic books."f Mills, in- deed, states that these measures were not effectually followed up ; but this detracts nothing from the merit of the Popes who devised them, and who, but for the difficulties of the times, would have urged their execution. " The Roman Pontiffs," as Tirabosehi observes, " used every possible means to rescue men from ignoraiice, and probably would have done much more, had the sad state of the times allowed it ; which was the cause of their not deriving that abundant fruit from their efforts which in better times they might have reaped." J *■ Hallam, Literature of Europe, eh. i. u. 68. f History of tlie Crusades, cli. xv. p. 211. Note. J Storia della Letteratura Italiana, t. iv. 1. i. p. 36. 3S0 MEDLEVAL STUDIES. The partial revival of learning, as well as the great advances toward social order, in the eleventh and succeeding centuries, may be traced to the efforts of the Popes, who sought, in every possible way, to establish law and ord.er, and to promote every study that could improve the mind. This is virtually admitted by Hallam, who ascribes to Italy generally this, intellectual and social renovation, which was in reality the work of the Pontiffs. " It may be said with some truth," he remarks, " that Italy supplied the fire, from which other nations in this first, as afterward in the second era of the revival of letters, lighted their own torches. Lanfranc, Anselm, Peter Lombard, the founder of systematic theology, in the twelfth century; Irnerius, the restorer of jurisprudence ; Gratian, the author of the first compilation of canon law ; the school of Salerno, that guided medical art in all countries : the first great work that makes an epoch in anatomy,-^are as truly and exclusively the boast of Italy, as the restora^ tion of Greek literature, and of classical taste in the fifteenth century."* The same writer justly denies that in the thirteenth century learning de- clined : " In a general view," he says, " the thirteenth century was an age of activity and ardor, though not in every respect the best directed. The fertility of the modern languages in versification ; the creation, we may almost say, of Italian and English in this period ; the great concourse of students to the universities ; the acute, and sometimes profound, reasoning of the scholastic philosophy, which was now in its most palmy state ; the accumulation of knowledge, whether derived from original research or from Arabian sources of information, which we find in the geometers, the phy- sicians, the natural philosophers of Europe ; are sufficient to repel the charge of having fallen back, or even remained altogether stationary, in comparison with the preceding century."^ Of the period between 1250 and 1494, he says : " It is an age in many respects highly brilliant ; the age of poetry and letters, of art, and of continual improvement."! " It is a most childish fancy, certainly," observes Dr. Nevin, "to suppose that the revival of learning began properly with the sixteenth century. It dates at least from the eleventh ; and there is abundance of evidence that the progress made between that and the age of the Eeformation was quite as real and important as any that has taken place since. All sorts of learning were in active exercise before Protestantism came in, to share their credit with the Roman Church. So in the case of criticism, contro- versy, and the learned languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew."§ * Literature of Europe, cb. i. n. 81, vol. i. f Literature of Europe, ch. i. n. 86. J Middle Ages, oil. iii. part ii. g " Modern Civilization." M. K., March, 1861. CHAPTER IV. gtljiljal at Idtns. " Dante and Petrarch," Hallam observes, " are, as it were, the morn- ing stars of our modern literature." The taste of the Italians for the su- blime inspirations of poetry was manifested on the appearance of the Divina Commedia, which was soon adopted as a text-book in the Italian universities'; men of station and age, as well as the young, crowding the halls where learned professors revealed the deep thoughts of the divine poet. The same ardor was manifested in the following century. Four hundred hearers, most of them of high station and senatorial rank, at- tended, the class of Francis Filelfo at Florence, where he explained Dante, in the time of Eugene IV., who invited him to his court, to reward his learning and genius. The eagerness of the Pontiff to honor the professor proves his liberal encouragement of the study, although Dante had treated some of his predecessors with severity. Nicholas V., on hearing of the arrival of Filelfo at Kome, on his way to Naples, sent for him, and pressed him to accept a present of five hundred ducats for the expenses of his journey. " Petrarch," says Hallam, " formed a school of poetry, which, though no disciple comparable to himself came out of it, gave a character to the taste of his country. He gave purity, elegance, and even stability to the Italian language — and none have denied him the honor of having restored a true feeling of classical antiquity in Italy, and consequently in Europe."* Such was the man on whom the laurel crown was bestowed in the Roman capitol in the year 1341. Clement VI. and Urban V. gave him marks of their favour, and invited him to Avignon. Gregory XL offered him, in his decKning age, whatever could relieve or solace him. This is the more remarkable, as the poet was known to have satirized the papal court. It proves that genius had charms for the Popes, which made them view its aberrations with indulgence^ The favor shown to poets is manifest from many facts. Nicholas V., with his own hands, placed the poet's crown on Benedict of Cesena ; and Callistus III., in a Brief, designated Nicholas Perotti "poet laureat," and his secretary. The union of the office of papal secretary with the profes- sion of poet became a matter so usual, that poetry seemed to be a title, or qualification, for this honorable employment. Music gained the ear of the * Literature of Europe, ch. i. u. 46. 381 882 REVIVAL OP LETTERS. Popes even in an unrefined age ; since G-uy of Arezzo, in the eleventh century, had scarcely invented the gamut, when John XIX. insisted, that he should come to Eome to teach the clergy. Among the endowments of various Popes their knowledge of sacred music is mentioned, which, whatever may be thought of its imperfection, denotes the taste and dili- gence of those who cultivated it. History was always deemed an important study. It exercised the dili- gence of ecclesiastics, even when^ from the want of documents and critical light, they were unable to perform the task with success. The chroniclers of the Middle Ages are not without their claims on our gratitude, for hav- ing recorded the events of their own times, and preserved much of the history of the past, although sometimes disfigured by fables. As soon as the light of literature beamed anew on the world, the Popes drew around them men of deep research and accurate judgment, who labored to recover the hidden treasures of past ages, and rescue them from the superincum- bent mass of fiction. The libraries were thrown open to their researches ; coins, medals, vases, inscriptions, statues, and other monuments of anti- quity, were dug from the earth, or gathered from remote- regions, at the expense of the Pontifis, and every encouragement was given to the curious and diligent student, in his efforts to retrace the progress of the human race, and to discover the manners and customs, laws and polity of the dif- ferent nations of antiquity. Eugene IV. gave to Cyriacus of Ancona, in his researches, every facility which the most unbounded munificence could afibrd. Biondo Flavio, the historian, was secretary of the same Pontiff, and of three of his successors. " His long residence at Eome inspired him with the desire, and gave him the opportunity of describing her im- perial ruins. In a work, dedicated to Eugenius IV., who died in 1447, but not printed till 1471, entitled ' Romee Instauratx lihri tres,' he de- scribe's, examines, and explains, by the testimony of ancient authors, the numerous monuments of Rome. In another, 'Romee Triumphantis libri decern,' printed about 1472, he treats of the government, laws, religion, ceremonies, military discipline, and other antiquities of the republic."* Annius of Viterbo, who, although charged with literary imposture, must be acknowledged to have shed much light on the Egyptian, Chaldean, and Tuscan antiquities, was made Master of the sacred Palace, by Alexander VI., who, by this and other acts, proved that he was not incapable of ap- preciating literary merit. Pius II. led the way in the reform of historical narrative ; and in the history of his own times gave proof of great discern- ment, deep reflection, and elegant taste. Eloquence and Belles Lettres were cultivated in the fifteenth century, under the patronage of the Popes, who invited to their court the most eminent professors. George of Trebizond was called to Rome by Eugene IV.; and Laurentius Valla received the like honorable invitation from *" Hallam, Literature of Europe, 1471-1480, vol. i, ch. iii. u. 48. REVIVAL OF LETTERS. 383 Nicholas V. Cardinals and other illustrious strangers thronged the halls of the University of Florence, to hear Charles Marsuppini descant on the art of speaking. Hermolaus Barbaro, John Pico de la Mirandola, with others, bright ornaments of this age, prove that the successful cultivation of Belles Lettres was not the peculiar privilege of the sixteenth century. " The Pope nominate4 Hermolaus to the greatest post in the Venetian Church, the patriarchate of Aquileja."* The revival of letters was by more than a hundred years anterior to the so-called Reformation, which was highly injurious to literature. The Tuscans, by their innate genius, had succeeded in cultivating learning long before the Greeks sought refuge in Italy. " Florence was already another Athens, and among the orators that came on the part of the vari- ous cities of Jtaly to address Boniface VIII., on his elevation, eighteen were Florentines. We see, then, that the revival of the arts is not owing to the refugees from Constantinople. The Greeks could teach only Greek to the Italians."! "It is probable," says Hallam, " that both the princi- ples of this great founder of the Reformation, (Luther,) and the natural tendency of so intense an application to theological controversy, checked for a time the progress of philological and philosophical literature on this side of the Alps. "J " Erasmus, after he had become exasperated with the Reformers, repeatedly charges them with ruining literature."! John Malpaghino, who, toward the end of the fourteenth century, taught Latin at Padua and Florence, and G'isparin of Barziza, his disciple, gave the example of a pure and elegant style. "This," says Hallam, "is the proper era of the revival of letters, and nearly coincides with the begin- ning of the fifteenth century."l| "It was from Italy that the light of philological learning spread over Europe."^ Petrarch, who had loved Malpaghino as a son, had applied himself for a time to Greek, but not quite successfully. Boccaccio had succeeded somewhat better in that study, which in the following century became so general, that scarcely an aspirant to the reputation of learning was unacquainted with this language. What- ever may have been the causes which concurred to produce the enthusiasm with which it was pursued, the Popes deserve praise for having encouraged it, by the honors which they bestowed on learned Greeks, and on others who cultivated the language with success. Chrysoloras, after having dis- charged the high office of ambassador from the Greek emperor to the Western powers, yielded to the solicitations of many to become professor of Greek at Florence, and afterward in various other Italian universities. He was chosen by John XXII. as his ambassador to the Council of Con- stance. The elevation of Bessarion to the purple, may be regarded as a reward for his zeal in accomplishing the reunion of the Greeks with the ■* Hallam, Literature of Europe, 1471-1480, vol. i. ct. iii. n. 116. f Bssai sur I'Histoire t. ii. ch. bcxviii. t Hallam, Literature of Europe, 1471-1480, Tol. i. ch. iv. u. 61. ? Ibid. Note. I] Ibid., vol. i. ch. i. n."94. if Ibid., u. 24. 384 REVIVAL OF LETTERS. Latins at Florence; but his solid and elegant learning greatly strength- ened his claims to this honorable distinction. His presence at Rome, where, in 1470, he published a work in defence of the Platonic philosophy, became an incentive to Greek studies. Aurispa, a Sicilian, who was emi- nent in Greek literature, was ma,de secretary of Eugenius IV. ; and Ma- netti, a Florentine, who spoke Greek and Hebrew with almost the same facility as his vernacular tongue, was welcomed to E,ome, raised to high honors, and provided with a pension of five hundred golden crowns. Angelo Puliziano, the successful imitator of the Greek and Latin classics, was honored by Innocent VIII. with a letter full of esteem and affection, and rewarded with a gift of two hundred crowns for his translation of Herodian. Domizio Calderino, when only tweaty-four years of age, was invited by Paul II. to Eome to profess Greek, in which he had already attained eminence ; and was subsequently promoted to the office of secre- tary by Sixtus IV. It were endless to enumerate instances of papal pa- tronage, by which this study was effectually fostered ; but I shall note a fact which shows at once the favor^ of the Popes, and the success with which the study was pursued. , Ippolita Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, and afterward wife of the King of Naples, delivered, in 1456, a Greek oration at Mantua, in the presence of Pius II. This accomplished lady was the representative of a considerable class, who united with the usual graces of the sex a thirst for classic literature, and acquired an astonish- ing familiarity with the works of the Greek authors. The Pontiff was fully capable of appreciatiiig such literary excellence. Hallam, after having traced in outline the form of European literature, as it existed in the Middle Ages, and in the first forty years of the fifteenth century, observes : " The result must be to convince us of our great obli- gations to Italy for her renewal of classical learning. What might have been the intellectual progress of Europe if she never had gone back to the fountains of Greek and Roman genius, it is impossible to determine ; cer- tainly nothing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries gave prospect of a very abundant harvest. It would be difficult to find any man of high re- putation in modern times, who has not reaped benefit, directly or through others, from the revival of ancient learning. We have the greatest reason to doubt whether, without the Italians of these ages, it would ever have occurred."* It cannot be doubted that the Popes eminently deserve this praise. Hallam himself testifies that Eugenius IV. patronized learning ; and he does ample justice to the claims of Nicholas V. on the gratitude of the literary world. " Letters,'' he says, " had no patron so important as Nicholas V., (Thomas of Sarzana,) who became Pope in 1447 ; nor has any later occupant of that chair, without excepting Leo X., deserved equal praise as an encourager of learning. Nicholas founded the Vatican library, '^ Literature of Europe, eh. ii. n. 49. REVIVAL OF LETTERS. 385 and left it, at his death, in 1455, enriched with five thousand volumes ; a treasure far exceeding that of any other collection in Europe. Every scholar who needed maintenance, which was of course the common case, found it at the court of Eome."* The munificence of the Pontiff amply rewarded the literary labors of the many whom he drew around him. Five hundred golden crowns were bestowed by him on Valla for his translation of Thucydides ; fifteen hundred crowns were the recompense of Guarino for his version of the first ten books of the geography of Strabo. Manu- scripts were purchase~d at high prices ; and honor and wealth were held forth to all who chose to enrich the republic of letters, by the contribution of rare books, or successful imitations of the ancients. Alexander VI. deserved well of literature, for establishing, on a large scale, the Koman gymnasium, which Eugene IV. had commenced, and promoting and honoring learned men. Julius II. was an active patron of painting and the fine arts : but the boundless munificence of Leo X. to the lovers of the arts, votaries of the Muses, and cultivators of polite literature, eclipsed all that his predecessors had done, and won- for him the admiration of succeeding ages. I leave to others to describe the reunion of men of genius at the celebrated Papal suppers, where the feast of in- tellect fai'" surpassed the richness-of the banquet, and fancy soared aloft to delight the guests by her sublime inspirations. The academies of literary men, so frequent in " Leo's golden reign," on the banks of the Tiber, in the circus maximus, or in some of the magnificent villas which adorn the eternal city, brought to mind the groves of the G-recian Academus, where Plato descanted on divine and human things, and the Lyceum, where Aristotle perambulated, while delivering his sublime lessons. The illu- minated halls, in which the gravest prelates were seen amid the fascinated crowds, listening to the poet of Arezzo, showed the keen sensibility of the ItaKan mind to the beauties of imagination. Vida, who sang in strains not unlike those of Virgil, and Ariosto, the prince of romantic poets, charmed Leo and the age by the sublime and varied conceptions of their minds. Bembo and Sadolet, his secretaries, in the Papal documents re- vived the chaste elegance of the Augustan age. The artist who dug from the earth some statue, the work of an ancient master,— the humanist Tyho recovered a manuscript of a classic author, — all the literati and virtuosi of every class received from the Pontiff rewards proportioned to their merit and worthy of his munificence. But it were wrong to suppose that the patronage of elegant literature was peculiar to Leo, since the praise must be shared with his predecessors, and with those who succeeded him. " Italy," says Hallam, " the genial soil where the literature of antiquity had been first cultivated, still retained her superiority in the fine percep- tion of its beauties, and in the power of retracing them by spirited imita- tion. It was the land of taste and sensibility ; never, surely, more so ^ Literature of Europe, vol. i. eh. iii. u. 2. 25 386 REVIVAL OF LETTERS. than in the age of Kaffaelle as well as Ariosto. If the successors of Leo X. did not attain so splendid a name, they were, perhaps, after the short reign of Adrian VI.— which, if we may believe the Italian writers, seemed to threaten an absolute return of barbarism — not less munificent or sedu- lous in encouraging polite and useful letters."* Throughout the sixteenth century. Oriental scholars of considerable reputation were found among the Italian clergy. Even high dignitaries assiduously applied to the study of Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldaic, among whom I may mention Frederick Borromeo, who was raised to the dignity of cardinal by Sixtua Y. , Gavanti, the famous rubricist, was familiar with Hebrew, in which language he addressed this cardinal, on occasion of his taking possession of his diocese. Paul V., in 1610, issued a decree re- quiring the religious orders to have a professor of Greek and Hebrew in all their institutions, and a professor of Arabic in the chief schools. Urban VIII., who himself was familiar with Greek and Hebrew, invited several learned Oriental scholars, among whom was Abraham Ecchellensis, to settle at Eome. History continued to receive liberal encouragement from the Popes. Charles Sigonio, the great historian of the Western empire, was highly honored by Piijs V. Onuphrius Panvinio, an Augustinian friar, published at Rome valuable works, in which he re-examined the consulares fasti, already arranged by Sigonio, and otherwise illustrated chronology, as con- nected with history. Possevino, a Jesuit, who added much to the stores of historic knowledge, was made Papal nuncio, by Gregory XIII., to the court of Sweden, and afterward to Russia. Cardinal Bentivoglio, the his- torian of the civil wars of Planders, in the judgment of Hallam, ranks as a writer among the very first of his age. Antiquaries received like pa- tronage. Angeloni, who collected and illustrated ancient medals with great industry, was declared Antiquary of Eome by Clement X. Palco- nieri, who wrote on the antiquities of Anzio, was raised to the episcopacy by Clement XI. Fabretti, the most celebrated of this honorable class, whose constant researches among caverns and ancient monuments are said to have made his horse instinctively stop at the approach to some ruin or cave, was raised to of&ce by Alexander VIII. and Innocent XII. This province, according to the remark of Hallam, is justly claimed by Italy as her own.f Genius instinctively sought Rome, which inspired the poet with his loftiest strains, and was to him a haven, in which he might rest securely from the storms of life. To it Torquatus Tasso, whose muse rivals that of Homer, twice repaired, and there closed his career, leaving the world astounded at the sublimity of his flights, and the illusions of his disordered imagination. Urban VIII. and Alexander VII. were themselves votaries of the muses. * Literature of Europe, vol. i. ch. v. i. f Literature of Europe, vol. iy., from 1650 to 1670, ch. i. u. 21. REVIVAL OF LETTERS. 387 We need not furnish more recent instances of the claims of the Popes . to the gratitude of the learned world for their effectual patronage of helles lettres, and of all those studies which contribute to refinement and intel- lectual enjoyment. It is a mistake to suppose that Italy is not still the land of genius and of learning. Whatever she possesses, she owes to the benign influence of the Pontiffs. Their smiles have cheered the adventu^ reus youth in his struggle to mount the rugged hill of science, their purse has supplied his wants, and they have been ever ready to hestow the most distinguished honors on the successful aspirant. Hallam truly observes, that genius and erudition have always been honored in Italy ; and pays a tribute of praise to the spirit breathed in the works of Italians during the last fifty years, which shows that they are not unworthy of their sires. Byron, in many places, has rendered homage to the ancient glory of Rome, and sometimes avowed her actual literary pre-eminence, notwith- standing the decay of her earthly splendor. " Italia ! too, Italia ! looking on thee, Full flashes on the soul the light of ages ; still The fount at which the panting mind assuages Her thirst of knowledge, quaffing there her fill. Flows from the eternal source of Rome's imperial hill.""^'' ^ Childe Harold canto iii. ex. CHAPTEK V. 1 1.— MEDICINE. The patronage of the Popes was not confined to tie study of lan- guages or of antiquity; it embraced the useful sciences. Even in the Middle Ages these were not wholly neglected in the universities, which must necessarily share with their patrons the praise of whatever was taught within their walls. Medicine, long before it received the necessary attention in most countries, was a favorite' study at Salerno, and was sub- sequently cultivated in the universities generally, among which Montpelier acquired high celebrity. The clergy and monks were among its most dili- gent students, until it became necessary to confine them to the duties more strictly belonging to their state of life. Hallam bears honorable testimony to the successful cultivation of medical science in the Italian universities. " Nicholas Leonicenus, who became professor at Ferrara, before 1470, was the first restorer of the Hippocratio method of practice. He lived to a very advanced age, and was the first translator of Gralen from the Greek."* "In the science of anatomy, an epoch was made by the treatise of Mun- dinus, a professor of Bologna, who died in 1326. It is entitled, 'Anatome Omnium Corporis Interiorum Membrorum.' This book had one great advantage over those of Galen, that it was founded on the actual anatomy of the human body." — " His treatise was long the text-book of the Italian universities."f " The first book upon anatomy, since that of Mundinus, was by Zerbi of Verona, who taught in the University of Padua in 1495. The germ of discoveries that have crowned later anatomists with glory, is sometimes perceptible in Zerbi; among others, that- of the Fallopian tubes."J In the sixteenth century, medical science received still higher encou- ragement. Leo X. rewarded with his usual munificence the translation of the medical works of Hippocrates, by Mark Fabius Calvi, of Eavenna; and in noticing the embassy sent to him by the citizens of Padua, he desig- nated with special honor Jerom Aooorambuoni, as " an excellent physician." The honor of Koman citizenship was bestowed, in 1563, on Mercuriale, a native of Padua, to reward his eminence in the medical science. Beren- * Hallam, literature of Europe, ch. ix. n. 9. •[■ Ibidepi, oh. u. n. 37. X Ibidem, ch. iii. n. 17. SCIENCE. 389 gario de Carpi, the great anatomist, was urged by Clement VII. to fix his residence at Rome. Eustaohius was professor in the Sapienza, which Alexander VII- furnished with ap anatomical theatre. Many moat distin- guished physicians and anatomists filled the chair of that university, while others were employed in the immediate service of the Popes. Vesalius, a Belgian, who wag professor at Padua, bore away the palm in anatomical science, in the sixteenth century ; but Italy, which was the chief theatre of his scientific displays, came well nigh conferring, it on her own sons. " Few sciences," says Hallam " were so successfully pursued in this period as that of anatomy. If it was impossible to snatch from Vesalius the pre-eminent glory that belongs to him as almost its creator, it might still be said, that two men now appeared who, had they lived earlier, would probably have gone as far, and who, by coming later, were enabled to go beyond him. These were Eallopius and Eustaohius."* — " The best phy- sicians of the century were either Italian or French."j" The seventeenth century presents many instances of the encouragement given by the Popes to these studies. Malpighi was invited to Rome by Innocent XII. to be Papal physician. The services rendered by him to science may best be told in the Words of Hallam : " Malpighi was the first who employed good microscopes in anatomy, and thus revealed the secrets, we may say, of an invisible world, which Leuwenhoek afterward, probably using still better instruments, explored with surprising success. To Malpighi anatomists owe their knowledge of the structure of the lungs."J The Medical legal questions, published by Paul Zacohia, physician of Innocent X., is still highly esteemed for the exact specifications in anatomy which it contains. Many other medical works were published under the special patronage of the Popes. Lancisi, a Roman physician, gave his splendid medical library to the hospital of Santo Spirito, on con- dition that it should be for the general use of the, profession. Italy retained her pre-eminence. " The Italians," says Hallam, " were still renowned in medicine."§ In connection with this science, we may be allowed to mention the encouragement given to natural history and hotany. The former was cultivated, under Leo X. and Adrian VI., by Mattioli, who published a work of great celebrity on herbs, plants, flowers, and animals. Aldo- vrandi, professor at Bologna, in a work published in 1574, which has re- ceived praise, although qualified, from Bufibn, an excellent judge, treated at large of birds, insects, fishes, quadrupeds, and all kinds of animals, as also of metals and of trees. The Vatican Museum, in the time of St. Pius V., contained a vast collection of minerals, and of natural curiosities, which were described by Mercati, the guardian of it, in a work styled " Metallotheca," "* Literature of Europe, vol. ii. ch. viii. n. 39. f rbidem, n. 42. J Ibidem, vol. It. oh. viii. n. 37. § Ibidem, n. 22. 890 SCIENCE. which was published long afterward, with splendid engravings, at the expense of Clement XI. Botany, especially in its connection with medi- cine, was a favorite study in Italy. Medical botany was taught in the Roman University under Pius V., and the Sapienza was furnished with a botanic garden by Alexander VII. 1 2.— ASTRONOMY. It is important that the reader should be made sensible how much the science of astronomy owes to the fostering patronage of the Pontiffs, espe- cially as in some instances they may, at first sight, appear to have opposed its progress. I shall at once offer an explanation of the first fact that gives a coloring to this charge. It occurred before the middle of the eighth century. St. Gregory II., on being informed that the priest Virgil, an Irishman, taught the existence of another world, and other men under the earth, another sun, and moon, directed Boniface to ascertain the fact, and, if true, to depose him from the priesthood. It is not clear that the opinion of Virgil was the same as that which has since been found to be correct, namely, that antipodes exist. The Pope seems to have understood him as asserting the existence of a race of men in another world, altogether dis- tinct from this, not derived from Adam, of whom Grod made all mankind, and not redeemed by Christ, who is the Saviour of all men. Of the measures actually adopted by Boniface we are not informed, but it is plain that no doctrinal decree was issued on the occasion. If Virgil be the same individual who was afterward created Bishop of Saltzburg, as is more generally believed, he must have satisfied the archbishop and the Pontiff that his sentiment was innoxious. Granting, what is by no means proved, that Gregory wished deposition to take place for the holding of the opinion concerning the existence of antipodes, it does not show any hostility to science, but a jealous care, lest scientific speculations, not yet confirmed by satisfactory proofs, should weaken the belief in the revealed doctrines. This solicitude may, in some instances, be excessive, without implying any disposition to oppose the progress of science, within its le- gitimate sphere. The Church is not authorized to pronounce on subjects of this nature, unless as far as they manifestly clash with revelation ; but she may adopt precautions, lest natural science be abused to cast discredit on revealed truth. Nicholas V., in 1448, in raising to the dignity of cardinal Nicholas Cusanus, a German, author of a work on statics and a defender of the earth's motion around the sun, gave an unequivocal mark of his regard for science. In Bologna, where astronomy was cultivated with success, this system was probably maintained by Dominic Maria Novara, under whom Copernicus, a native of Thorn on the Vistula, studied at the close SCIENCE. 391 of this century. Laonardo da Vinci, a most illustrious astronomer, mathe- matician, and mechanician, as well as painter, "in a treatise written about the year 1510, speaks of the earth's annual motion as the opinion of many philosophers of his age."* Celio Calcagnini, professor in the Uni- versity of Ferrara, early in the sixteenth century published a work in support of it ; but Copernicus, who, at the commencement of the century, was professor of astronomy at Eome, gave it celebrity, when, after the reflections and observations of thirty-six years, he published his work, under the auspices of Paul III., in 1543. The difficulties in, which Galileo was involved in 1616 and 1633, show that his manner of maintaining it, rather than the theory itself, must have provoked the displeasure of the ecclesiastical tribunal, since the system had been advanced without cen- sure, nearly two hundred years before, by a high dignitary of the Church, and had been expressly maintained, with the implied approbation of a most enligtteued Pontiff, full ninety years before the sentence pronounced against the Florentine astronomer. Had he confined himself, as he was repeatedly warned, to scientific demonstrations, without meddling with Scripture, and proposed his system as probable, rather than as indubitable, he would have excited no opposition. To urge it absolutely, at a time when it was not supported by observations and calculations, was scarcely recon- cilable with the respect due to the sacred text, whose literal meaning should not be easily abandoned. "Mankind," says Hallam, "can in general take these theories of the celestial movements only upon trust from philosophers; and in this instance it required a very general concur- rence of competent judges to overcome the repugnance of what called itself common sense, and was in fact a prejudice as natural, as universal, and as irresistible as could influence human belief. With this was united another, derived from the language of Scripture; and though it might have been sufficient to answer, that phrases implying the rest of the earth and motion of the sun are merely popular, and such as those who are best convinced of the opposite doctrine must employ in ordinary language, this was neither satisfactory to the vulgar nor recognised by the Church."-}- — " It must be confessed that the strongest presumptions in favor of the system of Copernicus were not discovered by himself."^ It may be added, that even Galileo did not furnish the most convincing proofs of the system, and that his chief reliance was on the flux and reflux of the tides, which no one at this day holds to be a satisfactory demonstration of the motion of the earth. Even long after his time eminent astronomers rejected his system. " In the middle of the seventeenth century, and long afterward," says Hallam, " there were mathematicians of no small reputa- tion, who struggled staunchly for the immobility of the earth." In such circumstances it is not to be wondered that an ecclesiastical tribunal, fear- * History of Literature, vol. i. ch. lii. n. 115. f Literature of Europe, vol. ii. ch. viii. u. 10. J Ibidem, vol. iv. oh. viii. n. 32. 392 SCIENCE. ful lest the authority of the sacred Scriptures should suffer in the minds of the multitude, by the bold and unqualified maintenance of a system in apparent opposition to them, enjoined on Galileo, in the year 1616, to observe silence, and when he had violated this order, required him, in 1633, to abjure the theory. It is certain that Urban VIII. did not con- sider the act of the Inquisition as a definitive decree ; and that the theory was publicly taught at the time by two Jesuits in the Roman college. All that has been said concerning the persecution of the astronomer is a tale of fancy. His discoveries gained for him the highest honors from all classes, from the Pontiff to the humblest citizen, in 1615, when he first visited the Eternal city. In 1624 he was again received graciously by the Pope and cardinals ; and in 1633, when his contemptuous violation of the injunction provoked their displeasure, hi§ confinement was but nomi- nal, in the apartments of the Fiscal, that is, prosecuting attorney, of the tribunal. No corporal punishment was inflicted — no dungeon was opened to receive him ; but, in consideration of his scientific merits, his pride and contempt were visited with the slightest expression of displeasure."* The study of astronomy was always encouraged by the Popes, while its abuse, by the superstitions of astrology, was severely prohibited. A splendid evidence of the successful cultivation of astronomical science, under pontifical patronage, was afforded by the correction of the Calendar, by the authority of Gregory XIII. The ancient Calendar, in -use since the time of Julius Cesar, and adopted by the Council of Nice, was formed on the supposition that the annual course of the sun is completed in 365 days and 6 hours, which in reality takes place in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 25 seconds : wheijce, in the lapse of so many ages, a differ- ence of ten days existed in the designation of the vernal equinox; the astronomical being prior to the civil calculation. Even in the eighth cen- tury, in the comparatively low condition of the sciences, the error had been pointed out by Venerable Bede, and subsequently by others. In the decline of the fifteenth century it again awakened attention. Sixtus IV. called to Rome MuUer, the greatest mathematician of his age, to de- vise a remedy ; but the glory of the sublime task of reconciling the calcu- lations of time with the precise motion of the heavenly bodies, was reserved to Gregory XIII. Luigi Lilio, a man of obscure origin in Calabria, pro- posed the subtraction of ten days from the month of October, 1582, and to prevent a recurrence of the error, the omission of the leap-year at the close of each century, with the exception of the four hundreth year, which should be bissextile or leap-year. His suggestions, communicated after his death by his brother, were graciously received by the Pontiff, and ^- The letter of Galileo, published by Tiraboscbi, shows that ho was treated with extra- ordinary kindness, the Pope having changed the sentence of imprisonment into an order to remain, for a time, with the Archbishop of Sienna, his personal friend. SCIENCE. 393 submitted to tte examination of a body of learned astronomers, among wbom was the Jesuit Clavius. Being found just, they were recommended to the whole civilized world by Gregory, who, while acknowledging their source, lost nothing of the glory which the correction imparted. Although the dominion of science belongs not to the Vicar of Christ, it was a sublime spectacle to see him regulating by its aid the calculations of time, and the great festivals of the Church ; and when his authority in the things of sal- vation was proudlyrejectedby many, fixing a standard to which all nations would, sooner or later, conform. "The new calendar," says Hallam, " was immediately received in all countries acknowledging the Pope's su- premacy; not so much on that account, though a discrepancy in the ec- clesiastical reckoning would have been very inconvenient, as of its real superiority over the Julian. The Protestant countries came much more slowly into the alteration, truth being no longer truth, when promulgated by the Pope. It is now admitted that the Gregorian Calendar is very nearly perfect, at least as to the computation of the solar year."* To the learned institutions of Italy this and many other fruits of scien- tific observation may be fairly referred. I have not space to dwell on the many inventions and discoveries which were made by the professors of the various universities, or by those who had been introduced by them into the halls of science. Ignatius Danti, a Dominican, professor of mathema- tics in Bologna, left, as Tiraboschi remarks, an imperishable memorial of his astronomical knowledge, in the great meridian drawn by him in the temple of St. Petronius in that city, in the year 1576 : which, however, was not as great, or as accurate, as that which the immortal Cassini drew in the following age. The PontiiFs in the seventeenth century were true to their character as patrons of science. During the reign of Paul V., " a Jesuit, Grassi, in a treatise (de Tnbus Cometis,) Rome, 1618, had the honor of explaining what had baffled Galileo, and first held them to be planets moving in vast ellipses round the sun." The astronomer Cassini, in 1657, was called to Rome by Alexander VII. ; and while there gained new fame by his observations on the two comets, which appeared in 1664 and 1665. His calculations, confirmed by the event, appeared like the predictions of an inspired man. They were followed by other discoveries, which seemed to mark him as one to whom the secrets of the skies were laid open. It was a glorious homage to science when the monarch of a great kingdom sought from Clement IX., as a special favor, that France should be permitted to profit by the extraordinary science of this illustrious astronomer, and the reluctant Pontiff consented to lend him for a time. After a few years, he pressingly called for his return, but Louis XIV. declined partingtwith a * Hist, of Lit. vol. ii. ch. viii. u. 15. The Grregorian Calendar was finally adopted in Germany in 1777. England introduced the new style in 1752, and Sweden in \7o^. Kussia only retains the old style, which now differs 12 days from the new. — Encyclo- puidla Americana, art. Calendar. 394 SCIENCE. treasure of so much value ; and to bind him to the soil, and identify all his attachments and interests with France, granted him the rights of citi- zenship. In this, and in many other instances, Italy had the glory of giving to other nations the luminaries of science. Castelli, a Benedictine monk, disciple and defender of Galileo, was called by Urban to Eome in 1625, to occupy the post of professor of mathematics in the Sapienza, when in 1628 he published his celebrated works on the measure of running waters, and its geometrical demonstrations, whereby he has acquired the title of creator of this part of hydraulics. Another disciple of Galileo, Cavalieri, of the order of Jeromites, who is generally reputed the father of the new geometry, was professor of Mathematics, about the same time, in Bologna, where he published in 1632 his treatise on continuous indivisibles. Benedict XIV. in the last century, followed in the footsteps of his illus- trious predecessors, and distinguished himself as the patron of astronomical science. By his orders the obelisk, sixty-seven feet high, mentioned by Pliny,* on which was a dial to mark the sun's shadow, and ascertain the length of the day at various seasons, was dug up from the earth in 1748, and its precious fragments rendered accessible to the learned. Even to this day the Jesuit professors of the Koman College, under the fostering patronage of the Pope, continue to enrich astronomical science by their observations and discoveries. To the lamented De Vico and his illustrious assistant Sestini, who is now in our midst, we are indebted for the dis- covery of the satellites of Venus, and of the rotatory motion of this planet on her axis ; while we owe to Secohi the very recent discovery of a new comet. • » Hist. Nat. ch. ix.' x. xi. CHAPTER VI. The Popes have^ at all times, well understood that art may be fostered without detriment to religion : nay, their enlightened zeal found means to make the arts tributary. "If there be a Church," says Saint Priest, " predestined to a social mission, which, far from throwing obstacles in the way of civilization, has developed and fostered its germs in the focus of ardent faith, the Koman Church must be recognized by these features. We shall see her during the first period of her existence, causing the edu- cation of the soul and of the mind to advance with equal pace ; cursing in the name of faith the gods of paganism, and protecting their images in the name of art : afterwards, for the interest of both, which she always happily combined, opposing the force of her word to the blind fury of the Iconoclasts Her true character was always to unite the mainte- nance of faith with the exercise of all the human faculties, to regulate them all without proscribing any of them, thus to devote them, in a puri- fied state, to the service of God. Kome attached to the altars of Christ the imagination itself, the rebellious slave of reason."* The proofs of these enlarged views are found in the acts of the ancient Popes, who, as soon as the danger of idolatry had ceased, availed them- selves of the labors of the artist for the decoration of the churches. Paint- ings, mosaics, and inlaid work of various kinds, were among their ordinary gifts. Paul I. built an oratory of the Blessed Virgin within the precincts of St. Peter's, having a silver statue of a hundred pounds' weight, richly gilded. Leo III. introduced the use of stained glass. Sergius II. raised a vestibule before St. John of Lateran, supported by columns and arches. Silver canopies for the altar, which were then called cihoria, were given by various Popes. These are a few instances of their zeal to adorn the house of God, that the facts of sacred history might be read on its walls, and the mysteries of faith constantly kept in view. The elegance of the execution varied according to the general condition of the times ; but at all times art presented her best offerings on the altars of religion. Blind zeal against paganism would have destroyed the temples and statues of the gods, as so many monuments of idolatry : the Popes pre- served them with care, wisely judging that the temples might be trans- * Historia de la Royaute, vol. ii. 1. v. p. 7. 395 396 THE ARTS. ferred to the worship of the true God.* No glory could redound to the Deity from the destruction of the statues, wherein the skill of man ap- pears, fashioning the lifeless stone to the imitation of the divine work. Paul II. gathered ancient statues from all parts of the city into his own palace, and rewarded with munificence all who brought them from Greece, Asia, or other countries. What Leo X. did for the recovery of the works of art cannot be told. The monuments rescued by the care of the Popes from the destroying arm of the barbarian, or the fragments gathered up by them from the ruins of the desolate city, came down through ages'of tumult as models of perfection, which, in a happier age, were to be rival- led, if not excelled. The Pantheon, the glory of Roman architecture, was to be placed in the clouds by the sublime genius of Michael Angelo ; the wondrous dome crowning a temple which far surpasses, in its vast and just dimensions, all the ancient fanes of false deities, and even the august man- sion which God Himself chose among His favored people. If the Middle Ages produced nothing worthy of the ancient masters, it was a matter of just glory for the age of Julius and of Leo, that genius revisited the earth, and exhibited on the canvas such animated representations as filled the eye with wonder, and stirred the deep fountains of the heart. The Transfiguration and the General Judgment are miracles of genius, which the world might have never seen but for the munificence and refined taste of the calumniated Pontifis. "Rome," says Tirabosehi, "was 'the first theatre in which were collected the most perfect productions of nature and art. Julius II., Leo X., Clement VII., and Paul III., are names of im- mortal renpwn in the annals of the fine arts, for the munificence with which they promoted and cherished them during their pontificates. There were seen re-united, almost all at one time, Raphael of Urbino, Julius of Rome, John of Udine, Perino del Vago, Polidore of Caravaggio, Francis Mazzuoli, Baldassar Peruzzi, Anthony of S. Gallo, and James Sansovino, Alphonsus Lombardi, and Baocio Bandinelli, — names so illustrious in painting, architecture, and sculpture ; and there, finally, was Michelangelo Buonarotti, painter, sculptor, and architect, uniting in himself all the splen- did endowments which were divided among the others. The Vatican basilic would alone be sufficient to render immortal the names of the four Popes above mentioned, to whom its commencement and termination are principally due. In it all the arts seem to vie with one another, which should present the most splendid proofs of the excellence of its pro- fessors."f " Sculpture," says Voltaire, "was the art in which the Greeks excelled ; and the glory of the Italians is, to have approached the perfec- * St. Gregory wrote to St. Augustin to this effect : " Si fana eadem bene constructa sunt, necesse est, ut a cultu dsemonum ad obsequium veri Dei debeant commodari; ut dam gens ipsa eadem fana sua noa videt destrui, de oorde errorem deponat, et Deum vcrum cognoscens ac adorans, ad looa quse consuevit familiarius ooaourrat." Greg., ep. ix. 71. f Storia della Letteratura Italiana, v. vii. p. iii. I. iii. o. vii. THE ARTS. 397 tion of their models. In architecture they far surpassed them ; and all nations acknowledge that nothing was ever comparable to the chief temple of modern Kome, the most beautiful, vast, and bold that ever existed in the universe."* Byron has justly said : — " Majesty, Power, Glory, Strength, and Beauty, all are aisled In this eternal ark of worship nndefiled." The animated portraits of Titian, and his living landscapes, which invite the beholder to walk amid the delightful scenery, found admirers in Leo X. and Paul III. ; and the miniatures of Julius Clovio were rewarded by the munificence of Farnese. Sofonisba Anguisciola, of Cremona, employed her pencil with such success in the portrait of the Queen of Spain, that Pius IV., to whom it was forwarded, honored her with a complimentary letter on the excellence of the painting. Thus did the Popes prove them- selves patrons of the fine arts, lavishing honors and wealth on those who attained to eminence in their cultivation. They made Rome, as Voltaire acknowledges, the most beautiful city in the world. f It would be tedious, although not uninteresting, to enumerate instances of encouragement given to all the arts. Engravers, lapidaries, as well as painters and sculptprs, are indebted tp pontifical munificence for the pro- gress and success of their labors. Martin V. and Paul II. were their special patrons. Clement Birago, a youth of Milan, at the court of Cle- ment VII. first practised the art of engraving on diamonds. -''The fine arts continued to flourish in Italy because the contagion of controversy scarcely reached that country; and while blood flowed in Germany, France, and England, for matters that were not understood, (it is Voltaire that speaks,) Italy, at peace since the astonishing sacking of Rome by the army of Charles V., cultivated the arts with increased ardor. The wars of religion spread ruin elsewhere ; but at Rome, and in several other Italian cities, prodigies of architecture were witnessed. Ten Popes suc- cessively contributed, almost without any interruption, to the completion of the basilic of St. Peter, and encouraged the arts generally. Nothing of the kind was seen throughout the rest of Europe at that period. The glory of genius then belonged to Italy alone, as it had been formerly peculiar to Grreece."J We cannot easily estimate the improvements in church building and decoration which took place in various countries, under the guidance of Christian missionaries, and the influence of Roman models. To be just, we should estimate these things according to the previous state of the re- spective countries. Of England, Dr. Miley observes : " St. Wilfrid and St. Bennet Biscop, the great improvers of Saxon architecture, made several pilgrimages to Rome, (the former three or four, the latter no less * Bssai BUT I'Histoire, t. iii. ch. oxrii. f Essai sur I'Histoire GSnerale, t. ii. ch. xlix. J Ibid., t. iii. ch. cxvii. 398 THE. ARTS. than five ;) and never did they return without a rich importation of manu- scripts, chalices, various utensils, vestments, and ornaments for the altar ; besides statues and pictures to adorn the temples, which their observation of the Eoman and continental structures had enabled them to erect. In these new structures, they exhibited to their admiring countrymen all the wonders of out-stone walls and towers, lead roofs and glass windows, with sundry other astonishing improvements, 'juxta Romanorum morem.' And it may be well imagined, that not the least attractive of these novelties were the creations of the Italian or Grecian pencil."* The glory of Eome, as the seat of the arts, remains undiminished. When, in the conclave of 1829, Chateaubriand, the French ambassador, had expressed the necessity of choosing for Pontiff a man of enlightened views, corresponding with the progress of the age, and Cutzow, the Aus- trian ambassador, had harped on the same subject. Cardinal Castiglioni, in reply, modestly pointed to the Vatican, as an unquestionable evidence of the patronage which the Holy See continues to extend to art and science, and the care with which she fosters mental development. His election to fill the vacant chair was an act of homage to the arts. Byron acknow- ledged that Italy had still illustrious men in every department : "Italy has great names still — Canova, Monti, Ugo Poscolo, Pindemonte, Visconti, Morelli, Cicognara, Albrizzi, Mezzofanti, Mai, Mustoxidi, Aglietti, and Vacca, will secure to the present generation an honorable place in most of the departments of art, science, and belles lettreS; and in some the very highest. Europe — the world — has but one Canova."f We may still address the mother and mistress of churches in the language of this child of genius : — " Mother of arts, as once of arms, Thy hand was then our guardian, and is still our guide." * Eome under Paganism, Ac, vol. ii. p. 243. t Introd. to canto iv., Childe Harold. CHAPTER VII. 1 1.— ENCOURAGEMENT OF PUINTERS. The zeal of the Popes for the promotion of elegant literature and use- ful knowledge was displayed, in the most unequivocal manner, on the discovery of, what Berthold, Archbishop of Mentz, did not hesitate to style the divine art of printing. To G-ermany belongs the glory of this invention ; but only a few years had elapsed when Italy rivalled and sur- passed her. " The whole number of books,'' as Hallam testifies, " printed with dates of time and place, in the German Empire, from 1461 to 1470, according to Panzer, was only twenty-four ; of which five were Latin, and two German Bibles." — "A more splendid scene was revealed in Italy." Sweynheim and Pennartz, two workmen of Fust, set up a press, doubtless with encouragement and patronage, at the monastery of Subiaco, in the Apennines. — In 1467, after printing Augustin De Civitato Dei, and Cicero de Oratore, the two Germans left Subiaco for Kome, where they sent forth not less than twenty-three editions of ancient Latin au- thors before the close of 1470. — The whole number of books that had issued from the press in Italy at the close of that year, amounts, according to Panzer, to eighty-two, exclusive pf those which have no date, some of which may be referrible to this period."* Another German -printer, Udalric Hahn, was patronized at Rome at the same time, and gave to the public the meditations of Cardinal Turrecremata, illustrated with wood- cuts. The bishop John Andrew de Bussi, librarian of the Vatican, aided the printers in their literary labors. The example of Eome was eagerly imitated by no less than fifty cities of Italy. Venice soon surpassed her in the number of works issuing from the press j while Milan strove to excel in the magnificence of the execution. All the works of Cicero were printed in splendid style at Milan, in 1498 and 1499 ; and " an edi- tion of Cicero's epistles appeared also in the town of Fuligno."f " The books printed in Italy during these ten years (from 1470 to 1480) amount, according to Panzer, to 1297; of which 234 ate editions of ancient classical authors. Books without date are, of course, not included ; and the list * Literature of Europe, vol, i. eh. iii. u. 33. t Ibidem. 400 ART OF PRINTING. must not be reckoned complete as to others."* "A translation of the Bible by Malerbi, a Venetian, was published in 1471, and two other edi- tions of that, or a different version, the same year. Eleven editions are enumerated by P.anzer in the fifteenth century."t The books printed at Rome down to 1500 are 935, a far greater number than were issued from any other city but Venice, which counted 2835. " Bluoh more than ten thousand editions of books or pamphlets (a late writer says fifteen thou- sand) were printed from 1470 to 1500. More than half the number appeared in Italy."J " The editions of the Vulgate registered in Panzer are ninety-one."§ An edition of the Vulgate, corrected on the Hebrew and Greek texts, was published at Venice in 1484, a copy of which is still preserved in the library of the Baltimore cathedral. || The activity of the Roman press was considerably lessened by the wars, of which Italy was the theatre in the early part of the sixteenth century ; but was soon restored. "An ^thiopic, that is, Abyssinian grammar, with the Psalms in the same language, was published at Rome by Potken, in 1513."f "The ^thiopic version of the New Testament was printed at Rome in 1548."** A splendid edition of the works of Homer issued from the Roman press in 1549, under the superintendehce of Anthony Bladus. Paul Manutius, the learned Venetian, on the invitation of Pius IV., established a printing office at Rome in 1561, and gave to the public many works, the expenses of which were defrayed by his munificence. Pius appointed two correctors of the press for the Greek language, and ordered diligent search to be made for manuscripts in the Oriental tongufes. When, after an absence for some time, Paul returned to Rome, in the pontificate of Gregory XIII., this enlightened Pope insisted on retaining him there, in his old age, and assigned him a pension, leaving him at liberty to pursue his literary labors as might suit his convenience. " The in- creasing zesl of Rome," Hallam remarks, "for the propagation of its faith, both among infidels and schismatics, gave a larger sweep to the cultivation of Oriental languages." Sixtus V., in order to place the Apostolic print- ing office on a permanent basis, spent 40,000 crowns to provide it with Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic and Servian types, and with excellent paper, and all other requisites for elegant execution ; and assigned pensions to learned men charged with the supervision of the press. During his pontificate, an elegant edition of the Septuagint was issued from it, which is acknowledged to be,the best heretofore anywhere published. If Thence, also, came forth an edition of the Vulgate corrected chiefly by the collation of manuscripts, and published with his solemn sanction, in which, neverthe- * Literature of Europe, vol. i. oh. iii. n. 44. f Ibidem, n. 53. t Ibidem, u. 143. fj Ibidem, u. 141. I] Pontibus ex Grsecis, Hebrgeonim quoque libris Emendata satis et decorata simul. g Literature of Europe, vol. i. oh. v. n. 77. ** Ibidem, ch. ix. n. 25. ft See CyclopEcdia of Bib. Lit., edited by John Kitto, D.D., F.S.A., v. Sejitucufiiit. ART OF PRINTING. 401 less, about forty typographical errors were soon discovered, which deter- mined him to issue a corrected edition. His death having prevented the execution of his design, it was delayed until the pontificate of Clement VIII., who allowed the revisors of it to modify and correct many other readings, by reference to the original texts. The discrepancies thus arising between the two editions being very numerous, although for the most part of little moment, the adversaries of the Holy See have taken thence occasion to ring the changes on Papal infallibility, as if this re- garded the greater or less accuracy of an edition of the Scriptures. The sanction given by Sixtus was directed to assure the faithful that the edi- tion was substantially correct, and to prevent any changes being made in the readings by private authority. Clement, in publishing the corrected edition, renewed the same sanction with the same views, and gave it as the Sixtine edition revised. This explanation seemed called for by the occasion presented to me of mentioning these editions of the Vulgate, both of which attest the zeal of the Popes for the integrity of the Scriptures. The munificence of the Popes was employed in encouraging the printing of books to be circulated in the Eastern nations. The first printing office in Europe for the Arabic tongue was established at Pano, by Gregory Giorgio of Venice, at the expense of Julius II., in which language a book issued from it in 1514. Gregory XIII. declared Cardinal Ferdi- nand de' Medici protector of Ethiopia, and of the patriarchates of Alex- andria and Antioch, in order to stimulate his zeal for the conversion of the inhabitants of those countries : in consequence of which the Cardinal gathered manuscripts from all parts; and at an immense expense, cast Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Armenian types, and employed learned men, especially John Baptist Raimondi, to superintend the press. An Arabic and a Chaldaic grammar issued from it : some works of Avi- cenna and Euclid were published in Arabic, with three thousand copies of the four Gospels in the same language, for distribution in the East. Eaimondi also undertook to publish the whole Bible in ten different tongues. Thus, in the sixteenth century, both before and after the so- called Reformation, the Popes and the cardinals were active patrons of the press, and Bible-distributors 1 " The Persic grammar was given at Rome by Raimondi in 1614." " We find Ferrari, author of a SyriaC lexi- con, published at Rome in 1622." In 1627 there were types of fifteen diiferent languages, and, at a later period, of twenty-three, in the printing establishment of Propaganda. There issued from it, in the decline of that age, a work styled " Bibliotheca magna Rabhinica," composed by Father Bartolocci, a Cistercian monk, who for thirty-six years had been professor of Hebrew. An Arabic grammar, a Syro-Arabic Latin thesau- rus, a Syriac dictionary, a Hebrew dictionary, and other works of a like character, were published there at various times. Three Maronites, namely, Victor Scialac, Abraham Ecchellensis, and Faustus Nairo, were 26 402 ART OF PRINTING. maintained at the expense of the Pope, for the purpose of publishing works in Arabic. In 1621, a great work called '^ Hebrew Concordances," came from that press, and was so highly esteemed as to be reprinted in London. An Arabic Bible, which was in preparation during forty-six years, was published at Eome in 1671, in three fplio volumes. A printing office, furnished with Oriental types, was established in Milan by Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, from which an Arabic dictionary in four volumes issued in 1632. Cardinal Barbarigo established an Oriental printing office at Padua. " A fine edition of the Koran, and still esteemed the best,'' as Hallam observes, " was due to Marracci, professor of Arabic in the Sapienza, or University of Eome, and published at the expense of Cardinal Barbarigo in 1698."* The munificence of Clement XI., enabled Joseph Simon Assemani, a Maronite of Syria, to publish at Rome', in 1719, his learned work on the Vatican manuscripts in the Oriental lan- guages. The publication of the works of St. Ephrem was also begun by him, and continued by his nephew Stephen Evodius. The Acts of the martyrs of the East and of the West were published in Chaldaic, and translated by the latter ; and several other works, composed by others of that family, came from the same press. It is not easy to enumerate all that Rome has done, and is still engaged in doing, to promote Oriental literature. " Who," cries Eanke, " does not know what the Propaganda has done for philological learning ?"f g 2. KBSTRICTIONS ON THE PRESS. The services of the Popes to letters are forgotten, whilst the restrictions imposed by them on the press are made a matter of reproach. Berthold, Archbishop of Mentz, who esteemed so highly the art of printing, deemed it proper to guard against its abuse, by requiring the examination of books by clergymen appointed for the purpose, previous to their publication. Alexander VI. published a similar decree with special reference to Ger- many, and Leo X. renewed and confirmed it as a general law. Yet as bad books were multiplied, Paul IV., in 1539, published a list of prohibited books. A committee of divines was appointed by the Council of Trent to form a list of bad or dangerous books ; who, having failed to complete the task assigned them before the close of the Council, were allowed to con- tinue their labors, and ordered to submit them to the Pope for approval. The list is daily increasing of books, the reading or retention of which is prohibited under ecclesiastical censures : and although this discipline is overruled by contrary usage in most countries, it serves to give coloring to the charge, that the Popes are hostile to the liberty of the press. In justice to them I must observe, that their sole object has been to re- * Literature of Europe, vol. iv. ch. viii. n. 41. f Ranke, Hist. Popes, vol. ii. 1. vii. p. 69. THE ART OF PRINTING. 403 strain the press within the limits of the divine law, and that the licen- tiousness wliich sends forth impious and corrupt books, to poison the minds of youth, is that which our late venerable Pontiff visited with unmitigated censure. Liberty of tlie press, considered as a civil right, does not sup- pose freedom from moral restraint, or impunity from civil penalties for its abuse. Its chief value, in a civil point of view, is to give free expression to public sentiment in regard to the management of public affairs by rulers, and other officers, and thus to prevent oppression, or procure its remedy, by exposing it to general censure. The exercise of such liberty, for the true interests of the country, is nowise opposed to the spirit or discipline of the Church. It is well known that the Popes have permitted the pub- lication at Rome of works on civil polity, which, on account of their liberal and popular principles, were proscribed in several European States ;* and that, at all times, they have shown themselves disposed to favor the op- pressed, rather than stifle their complaints. Incendiary and seditious works could not, of course, be sanctioned by the rulers of the Church, who are bound to sustain established order, and promote peace ; but these are not included in the true notion of liberty of the press; since in France, where this is a constitutional right, they are liable to seizure when dis- covered ; and in this country they expose the authors and publishers to the severity of the law. In all that regards science, literature, and the arts, the utmost freedom of the press may be enjoyed, with no limit but the caution of not advancing on holy ground. The golden age of Spanish literature was precisely that in which the laws of the Index, the tribunal which forms the list of prohibited books, were strictly enforced. How can it be pretended that science is impeded in her legitimate progress, because she is warned not to displace the landmarks of religion ? A vast space lies open to research and improvements, without encroaching on the realms of faith. If Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, and jMilton's Paradise Lost, are found on the list of prohibited books, it is because the philosopher artfully undermined the doctrine of the spiritual nature of the spul, and the poet exhibited Christ according to the fancy of the Arians and made of Lucifer a hero. Lest an incautious reader, misled by a great name, should imbibe fatal error, the books were proscribed ; but even in countries where the discipline prevails, leave to read them is easily obtained. The Popes have at all times respected the meditations of true philosophy, and honored the inspirations of the Muses, always saving the truth of what God has revealed. Freedom of the press, ag a civil right, in this country, extends to the *- The work of Spedalieri, entitled, " I diritti dell' uomo," in which the right of a nation to depose a despot, is supported by the authority of St. Thomas of Aquin, in his letter to the Bishop of Rome, was published at Rome in 1791, dedicated to Cardinal RufTo, Apostolic Treasurer. Pius VI. who encouraged its publication, rewarded the author by appointing him one of the Canons of the Basilic of St. Peter. 404 THE ART OF FEINTING. publication of works on doctrinal subjects, without regard to the faith of the Church : so that all the doctrines which we hold to be divine, may be assailed without incurring any civil penalty, which, however, may be in- flicted, even here, on an open blasphemer of Christ. To the full enjoy- ment of this civil right by our fellow-citizens, we make no objection what- ever. The Constitutions of the various States, and the principles of the country and age, give it, leaving to each one the responsibility of its en- joyment. For ourselves, believing firmly that God has made a revelation, of which the Church is the guardian, we cannot c6nscientiously approve of any thing written or spoken in opposition to her teaching. The decrees of the Pope proscribing certain books as containing false doctrines, are for us the warnings of a father against what might pervert the understanding, and corrupt the hearts of his children. Independently of them, we are naturally bound to shun whatever is dangerous to our faith and morals. The youth who, uninstruCted in the great evidences of revelation, fami- liarizes himself with Paine's Age of Keason, exposes himself to the mani- fest danger of infidelity. The female who, with morbid curiosity, peruses an obscene tale, is liable to .lose that purity of heart which is her greatest treasure. In proportion to our information and moral habits, the dangers may be diminished ; but it is beyond a doubt, that to the reading of bad books may be traced the infidelity and corruption of innumerable indi- viduals. The restrictions which the Popes imposed would be unjust, if arbitrary; and unreasonable, if those for whom they were intended did not already recognise their pastoral authority : but this being recognised, no- thing is more reasonable and just than to turn away the sheep from noxious pastures, fey proscribing whatever is contrary to sound doctrine. At all events, the precedent of the proscription of bad books was given by the Apostles, when the vast collection of works of magic belonging to converts from that superstition, were consigned to the flames.* Will the readers of Scripture charge the Apostles with hostility to knowledge? The moral restraints resulting from our discipline serve to avert many of the evils with which the licentiousness of the press deluges the world. The pangs of the broken heart when its shame has been revealed — the desolation of families, whose sorrows have rung on the public ear — the torture of high- minded patriots, writhing under the calumnies of reckless rivals — the fury of a populace maddened to arson and bloodshed by incendiary publications, and the struggles and convulsions of parties, which almost threaten the dissolution of society, are no imaginary evils. Voltaire did not hesitate to declare that the press had become one of the scourges of society.^ Even here, abolition publications are regarded with horror, as tending to encourage sedition and endangering the lives of the citizens. * Acts xix. 19. f " La presse, 11 lo faut avouor, est devenue un des fl6aux de la society, et un bri- gandage intolerable." Voltaire, fragment d'une lettre & un Aoadeiuioien de Berlin, t. v. CHAPTER VIII. ' ? 1. CIVILIZATION. What we have elsewhere said of the authority exercised over princes for the correction of their morals, must give a high idea of the general in- fluence which the Popes had on morality and order. When the people saw their leaders stricken with the rod of ecglesiastical authority, they were made deeply sensible of the turpitude of crime, which could not escape censure even in the great and powerful. The struggle of the Pon- tiffs with the fierce passions of the feudal nobility, is graphically described by a writer in the British Critic, who thus represents the position of the Church in the Middle Ages: "Just as she had subdued the intelligence and refinement of the old Koman Empire, it was swept away, and she was left alone with its wild destroyers. Her commission was changed : she had now to tame and rule the barbarians. But upon them the voice which had rebuked the heretic, fell powerless. While they pressed into her fold, they overwhelmed all her efforts to reclaim them, and filled her, from east to west, with violence and stunning disorder. When, therefore, she again roused herself to confront the world, her position and difficulties were shifted. Her enemy was no longer heresy, but vice — wickedness which wrought with a high hand, foul and rampant, like that of Sodom, or the men before the flood. It was not the faith, but the first principles of duty^ustice, mercy, and truth, which were directly endangered by the unbridled ambition and licentiousness of the feudal aristocracy, who were then masters of Europe. With this fierce nobility, she had to fight the battle of the poor and weak — to settle the question whether the Christian religion and the offices of the Church were to be any thing more than names, and honors, and endowments, trappings of chivalry and gentle blood ; whether there were yet strength left upon earth to maintain and avenge the laws of God, whoever might break them. She had to stand between the oppressor and his prey — to compel respect for what is pure and sacred from the lawless and powerful."* It is impossible not to admire the unflinching resolution with which the Pontiff's contended -for moral principle against these potentates. The disorders of those ages * British Critic, vol. 33, p. 7. 405 406 MORAL INFLTJENCE. shock US by their enormity and frequency : but they would have been un- mitigated and unrelieved by any exhibition of Christian virtues, had not the Popes fulminated censure against the prevaricators, and proclaimed to the world maxims of purity and holiness. " These ages of darkness, as they are called," says Dr. Nevin, " were still, to an extent now hard to understand, ages also of faith. The church still had, as in earher days her miracles, her martyrdoms, her missionary zeal, her holy bishops and saints, her works of charify and love, her care for sound doctrine, her sense of a heavenly commission, and her more than human power to con- vert and subdue nations. True, the world was dark, very dark and very wild; and its corruptions were powerfully felt at times in her own bosonj; but no one but a simpleton or a knave will pretend to make this barbarism her work, or to lay it as a crime to her charge. She was the rock that beat back its proud waves. She was the power of order and laTr,^the fountain of a new civilization, in the midst of its tumuUuating chaos."t The Popes did not, however, confine their efforts to those who, by the action of Providence, seemed brought within their reach. With unceasing solicitude -they applied themselves to the diffusion of the Gospel, by de- spatching apostolic men, from time to time, to barbarous and savage na- tions, to impart to them the knowledge of salvation. In order to estimate their services, it would be necessary to go over the records of missions in various ages, and to consider the condition of the aborigines, or early settlers of each country. Children of nature, with no rule but impulse, and no restraint but the fear of vengeance — with no affection but for ob- jects of momentary gratification, and no ambition but to slay an enemy — sunk in sensuality, without even the restraint of shame, they scarcely pre- sented any thing to distinguish them from the brute beast. For the salva- tion of such degraded beings, the Popes uniformly sighed, and when oc- casion offered itself, sent forth the heralds of the Gospel to enlighten, hu- manize, and save them. The naked savage and the painted barbarian stood aghast — the huntsman and the warrior tribe were arrested in their course, at the sight of the missionaries of the cross : the tones of sacred music fell on their delighted ears, and they listened to the tale of wonder which the strangers recounted : finally, they clung to them as fathers, and learned from them to control their unruly passions, and worship the Great Spirit. The condescension of the Popes in yielding to these re- claimed children of the forest whatever the divine law did not forbid, and leading them gradually to the perfection of Christian discipline, shows ex- traordinary wisdom and true philanthropy.f With zeal tempered by wisdom, they labored incessantly to form them to arts of peace and in- dustry. " The Gregorian school," says Count St. Priest, speaking of St. » "Early Ohvistlanity," M. R. Nov. 1851. f St. Greogory ivriting to Augustin observes : " Nam duris mentibus simul omnia abscindore impossibile esse non dubium est, quia is, qui locum summum asceudere nititur, gradibus vol passibus, non autem saltibus, elevatur." Grog. ep. ix. 71. MORAL INFLUENCE. 407 Boniface, the apostle of Germany, sent by Gregory II., "although ani- mated chiefly by the sincerest religious zeal, did not limit their views to the salvation of souls. To clear the land, to change a dry soil and thick forests into fertile plains, to build dwellings which might serve as the com- mencement of cities, to accustom men to social life, to bind strongly the family tie, and to form bonds of association, and of mutual wants and suc- cors, to unite, to colonize, such- were the plans that Winfred revolved in his mind."* What Boniface accomplished in Germany, the apostles of other countries effected in their respective missions. The encourage- ment given to monastic institutioijs had this tendency and effect. The tranquility of the cloister had its charms for the warrior, who oftentimes laid aside his armor, to sit at the feet of a holy monk, and learn the science of salvation. The wandering tribes were astonished at the sight of a vast monastery with its gardens and well-cultivated fields, and they learned to imitate the industry which afforded plenty and contentment. Hostile bands trod with reverence on the soil which was sacred to religion and virtue. It is impossible to estimate the effects of these institutions on civilization. Marshes drained, immense wastes reclaimed and fertilized, valleys beautified with varied cultivation, hills crowned with olives, and plains overspread with wheat, are only the immediate fruits of their labors. f The influence of the example of the monks in recommending industry and peace must have been immense. The conversion and civilization of so many barbarous nations are among the most splendid triumphs and evidences of Christianity, no wise inferior to those which marked the first preaching of the gospel. Hence Dr. Nevin points to them as proofs of its enduring power : " Take the conver- sion of Saxon England in the time of Gregory the Great, and the long work of moral organization with which it was followed in succeeding cen- turies. Look at the missionaries that proceeded from this island, apos- tolical bishops and holy mpnks, in the seventh and eight centurieB, ' plant- ing churches successfully in the countries of the Rhine. Consider the en- tire evangelization of the new barbarous Europe. Is it not a work fairly parallel, to say the least, with the conquest of the old Roman Empire in the first ages 1 Is not the argument of ' miraculous success,' quite as strong here as there ?"J The veneration of the Blessed Virgin, which the Popes always cherished, was amongst the most powerful means of civilization. Woman was raised from her degradation, and no longer regarded as the slave of a haughty master. She was respected because of Her who was blessed among women. The mild virtues of the Virgin caught the admira- tion of the fierce sons of Mars, who felt honored in imitating her gentle- * Histoire de la KoyautS par Saint Priest, vol. ii. 1. viii. p. 223. f See Tableau des Institutions et des Mceurs de I'Eglise au Moyen Age par Frederic Hurler vol. ii. oh. vii. p. 152. traduit de TAllemand. J " Early Christianity," M. K. Nov. 1851. 408 MORAL INFLUENCE. ness and sweetness. Holy purity was loved, because it had been honored in her person. Not only vast numbers of her own sex cherished it with jealous care, but thousands of men vowed to preserve it, and sought the aid of her prayers for that purpose. It is manifest that the devotion to her was developed and exercised in those ages in a remarkable degree ; to which we may fairly ascribe all that was bland and meek in manners, all that was pure in morals, all that was tender and affecting in piety. Augustus William Schlegel, although a Protestant, has beautifully ob- served : " With the virtues of chivalry was associated a new and purer spirit of love, an inspired homage for genuine female worth, which was now revered as the pinnacle of humanity, and enjoined by religion itself under the image of a Virgin mother, infused into all hearts a sentiment of unalloyed goodness."* Without entering into further details we may confidently say, that to the Popes, as rulers of the Church, we owe the great principles of order and law on which civilization depends. An anonymous writer in the Mercersburg Review avows that to the Church " we are indebted for our modern civilization ; for whatever influence besides may have contributed to this end, all must have ever remained impotent, without their main- spring, Christianity. This found its exclusive abode in the body of this church.""!" ? 2. PERSONAL VIRTUES. The personal virtues which distinguished the Popes, necessarily had a most happy influence on the whole Christian world. Placed on the highest eminence, they shone, for the most part, with bright effulgence, and gave occasion to all to glorify God for the good works which they performed. Their charity, which embraced all mankind, was experienced far beyond the limits which their means might have marked for its exercise. In the decline of the second century, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, addressed a letter of thanks to the Roman Church, for the relief which Pope Soter had sent to the distressed faithful of the East, conformably to the custom of his predecessors: "From the beginning," he writes, "you were wont to bestow favours on the brethren, and to send means of subsistence to the poor of other churches : here you come to the relief of the indigent faith- ful, especially of those who are at work in the mines ; and as becomes genuine Romans, you maintain the ancient usage of your ancestors. The blessed Bishop Soter was not content with walking in the footsteps of the fathers ; besides taking on himself the charge of sending your generous offerings to the faithful, he comforted the brethren who went to him with pious words, uttered with the tenderest affection of a fond father towards * Lectures on Dramatic Literature, translated by John Black, p. 8, American edition, f Protestantism and Romanism. M. R, March, 1852, S. N. C. Jefferson, Md. MORAL INFLUENCE. 409 his ohildren."* A century afterwards, St. Dionysius, Bishop of Eome, sent alms to Cesarea in Cappadooia, for the ransom of slaves, with letters of condolence to the afflicted Church.f The treasures of the Koman Church were regarded as the common fund of the poor, so that when the deacon Lawrence was called on by the pagan persecutor to deliver them up, he did not hesitate to distribute them among the poor, whom he pre- sented at the appointed time, saying : " These are the treasures of the Church 1" Charity continued to be the distinguishing characteristic of the Pontiffs. With scarcely an exception, they are all described as fathers of the poor, some of them receiving greater praise for more unbounded munificence. Gelasius, who lived at the close of the fifth century, is said to have been the servant of all men, but especially of the poor of Christ. In the seventh century, John IV. sent a large sum of money to Istria, to be employed in the ransom of prisoners ; and John VI. imitated his example, when Qi- sulph, the Lombard duke of Benevento, had led away many captives from Campania. Paul I., in the following century, paid the debts of prisoners out of his own purse. St. Paschal I. built, at his own expense, a house for the reception and entertainment of English pilgrims, in place of another which had been destroyed by fire. Even in the tenth century this attri- bute of the pontifical office did not fail. Among the praises of Marinus II., is recorded his generosity to the poor. Benedict VII. is described as a lover of the poor. In the fifteenth century (not to weary the reader with specifications in each age), Eugenius IV., Nicholas V., Callistus III., are all commended for liberality towards the poor of Christ. Clement VIII., a Pontiif of the sixteenth century, always entertained twelve poor men at his table. Innocent X., in the following age, exercised extraordi- nary generosity to the poor, not confining his alms to the large sum of 100,000 crowns, which his predecessors had been wont to distribute every year, but adding many large donations, especially to families burdened with children. The Eomans asked leave of Alexander VII. to erect a statue, in order to perpetuate the memory bf his charity, which was mani- fested in an extraordinary degree when famine and pestilence prevailed. The Pontiff humbly declined the proflFered honor, telling them with his usual grace and dignity, that he desired no monument but the kind remembrance which they cherished in their hearts. Innocent XII. called the poor his nephews, and bequeathed to them whatever might result from the sale of the furniture of his palace after his death. On his return from Civita- vecchia, he was met by an immense multitude, who insisted on bearing on their shoulders the chair in which he rode. As this triumphal procession advanced to the gates of the eternal city, acclamations rent the air : " Be- hold ! our father comes — the father of the poor !" Clement XII. relieved the distress of four thousand Romans, who by a public conflagration, * Apub Buseb. 1. iv. hist. occl. c. xxiii. I S. Basil, ep. Ixx. alias, ecxx. 410 MORAL INFUENCE. were thrown houseless on the world. Benedict XIV. made a visit to the sick at Civitavecchia, waited on them, and gave each of them a small present. The same was done by his successor, Clement XIII., who also left proofs of his munificence with the prisoners whom he visited at Cor- neto, and devoted ten thousand crowns to the erection of a hospital for women, and a house of education for girls. Clement XIV. called the poor of Christ his family. The charity of Pius VI. was displayed in many instances, especially on occasion of public calamities, as when Bologna and other cities were visited by an earthquake, and the fortress of Civitavecchia was blown up by the accidental explosion of a gunpowder magazine. Leo XII., in our own age, has merited special praises for his solicitude for the poor; but, in truth, it is the general characteristic pf all the Pon- tiflFs, who, in this respect, most certainly have proved themselves worthy representatives of Him who became poor for our sake. The fortitude with which the Popes have struggled for truth and justice, cannot be considered a mere accidental virtue : it was, no doubt, a divine gift, bestowed on them in the person of Him who, from being a shaking reed, was made a rock of strength. The first three centuries saw a suc- cession of martys fill the papal chair: "During the persecutions," says Ranke, " the Bishops of Rome had exhibited extraordinary firmness and courage : their succession had often been rather to martyrdom and death than to ofjce."* The Donatists endeavored to tarnish the lustre of the Holy See, by a groundless report that Marcellinus, whose pontificate closed the third century, had yielded to the persecutors, and ofiered incense to idols. The slander was indignantly rejected by St. Augustin, who saw no need of refuting what was supported by no proof " What need have we," he cried, " to answer the charges brought by Petilian against the bishops of the Roman Church, whom he has attacked with incredible calumnies ? Marcellinus aind his priests are accused by him of having delivered up the divine books into the hands of the pagans, and oifered incense to the idols : but does this prove them to be guilty ? is any authentic document pro- duced to show that they were convicted of the crime ? He declares them wicked and sacrilegious : I pronounce them innocent."f It must appear strange that this calumny, embodied by some unknown writer in the forged acts of a Council supposed to have been held at Si- nuessa,! has crept into the Roman Breviary j but this is accounted for by the want of critical acumen at the time when some of the legends were in- serted. It matters not whether the forger of the acts designed evil or good by his clumsy contrivance. The compilers of the Breviary regarding them as genuine, arid knowing that the personal prevarication of the pon- tiff was possible, recorded it together with his penance and humiliation. The caution which is justly observed by the rulers of the Church, in ad- s' History of the Popes, 1, i. ch. i. p. 29, American edition, f L. de unico bapt. contra Petil. j Kocca di Mondragone, a fortress in the liingdom of Naples, and built on its site. MORAL INFLUENCE. 411 mitting any change in the liturgy and office, has prevented the correction of this and some few other errors, which, although blemishes, detract but little from the general excellence of this beautiful compilation. Even under Christian emperors, the Popes continued to suffer from time to time for the integrity of faith, which they intrepidly maintained. The fortitude of Liberius, in the imperial audience at Milan, has been already described, and his constancy, whilst an exile and a prisoner, vindi- cated. Silverius, in the sixth century, finding himself the object of Calumny and violence, on account of his known orthodoxy, after prayer to God, put himself in the hands of the general Belisarius, who, in compliance with the wishes of the heretical empress, led him into exile, where he died of famine. In the following century, Martin I. gained the martyr's crown by a similar career of suffering. To come to recent times, the fortitude of Pius VI. in the maintenance of the cause of religion, which was assailed by the infidel government of the French Revolution, is worthy of all admiration. When Napoleon, in the name of the French Republic, hovered over the Ecclesiastical States like a bird of prey, seeking to glut himself with human victims, the paternal heart of the Pontiff led him to make every concession. " Had we at- tempted any defence," he observed, >" torrents of blood would have flowed to no purpose." The plate of his palace, with all that could be gathered from others, was sacrificed to pay the immense sum which the general, elate with his many victories, demanded; and every humiliating condition was accepted : but when the infidel Directory insisted on his retracting the condemnation of the civil constitution of the clergy, the heroic Pius was-infiexible : "The crown -of martyrdom," he observed, "is more bril- liant than the tiara." After immense sacrifices on his part the French, in violation of the treaty of /Tolentino, took possession of his capital, and Cervoni, in mockery, presented him with the French cockade, promising him a pension, but he answered with dignity : "I care for no ornaments but those with which the Church has decorated me. You have full power over my body, but not over my soul, which defies your utmost efforts. I want no pension. A staff and the coarsest garment are enough for me, who, for the maintenance of the faith, am soon to expire on ashes." Cer- voni persisting in urging him to resign his temporal principality, and ac- cept a pension, the aged Pontiff replied : " My power comes by free elec- tion from God alone, and not from men, and I cannot and ought not to resign it. I am now near the eightieth year of my life, and have nothing to fear. Whatever violence and indignities may be committed against me by those in whose power I am, my soul is still free, and so resolute and courageous, that 1 am ready to meet death, rather than dishonor myself, or offend God." After separating the Pontiff from all his counsellors and friends, and pillaging his palace, Haller, a Swiss Calvinist, in the nanie of the French, intimated to him that he must quit Rome. Pius pleaded in vain the weight of his years, his infirmities, which at any moment 412 MORAL INFLUENCE. might terminate ia deatli, and his duty, which required him to remain. The brutal messenger told him he should be forced away, unless he con- sented. The afflicted Pontiff, after pouring out his complaints at the foot of the crucifix, bowed in homage to the divine will, and as he rose from prayer, exclaimed : " It is the will of God : His holy will be done : let us bow to His just decrees." As he descended the staircase, he was met by a criminal whom he had pardoned, but who, like Semei, exulting in the misfortunes of his sovereign, taunted him : " See, tyrant, your reign is at an end." Pius replied : " Were I a tyrant, you would not be alive." Thus he was hurried away from his capital. On his journey, he received a message of condolence from Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, on which occasion he observed : " My afflictions encourage me to hope that I am not altogether unworthy of being vicar of Jesus Christ, and successor of St. Peter. The situation in which you behold me, recalls to our minds the early ages of the Church, which were the days of her triumphs." When Charles Emmanuel IV., the exiled King of Turin, with his wife, visited him in his retreat at the Cistercian monastery near Florence, Pius ex- claimed : " All in this world is vanity. No one can say it more truly than we can; Yes : all is vanity, but to love and serve the Giver of every blessing. Let us raise our eyes to heaven, where thrones are prepared for us, of which men cannot deprive us." After a month, Pius was forced from this peaceful asylum, and, notwithstanding the testimony of medical men, given on oath, that travelling would expose his life to imminent danger, he was inhumanly dragged from place to place, without losing his patience, or sweetness of disposition. When he had reached Turin, and found himself obliged to travel still farther, he exclaimed : "The will of God be done. Let us go cheerfully whithersoever they please." As he was carried up the rugged heights of Mount Cenis, he appeared more happy than when borne on a chair of state in the solemn functions of the Vatican. The calm resignation and noble demeanor of the august prisoner struck with admiration a French Calvinist, who witnessed the eagerness with which the Catholics rushed to venerate him, as he was hurried on through France. A few days before his death at Valence, being pre- sented on the balcony of his residence to gratify the devotion of the faith- ful, he recalled to their minds the resemblance which he bore to his in- sulted and suffering Master, and then, for the last time, gave them his blessing. When about to receive the holy Eucharist, as a Viaticum, the officiating prelate having asked him whether he forgave his enemies, the holy Pontiff, raising his eyes to heaven, and then fixing them on a crucifix which he held in his hands, answered: "With all my heart." This was surely a glorious exhibition of fortitude, resignation, and triumphant charity. Pius VII., although he displayed a tenderness tow;ards Napoleon border- ing on indulgence, was, nevertheless, inflexible when faith or principle was in question. No effort could induce him to receive into favour the con- MORAL INFLUENCE. 413 stitutional bishops, intruded into the episcopal Sees, until, by the retrac- tion of their errors, they had disposed themselves for pardon. No impor- tunities could avail to make him annul the marriage of Jerom, brother of the emperor, with a Protestant lady of Baltimore. The splendor of the tiara did not dazzle him. He professed himself ready to retire to a convent, or to seek a hiding-place in the catacombs, if the sacrifice of his personal rights could appease his persecutor. The oifer of pensions and honors had no influence on his conduct : "We want," he said, "no pension — no honors. The alms of the faithful will suffice for our necessities. Other Popes have been as poor as we are." In maintaining the rights of his See, he was influenced by a sacred sense of duty. When the ministers of the emperor addressed him in his own palace, with threats of vengeance on their lips, should he resist the imperial will, he replied : " We have done every thing in our power, and we are still ready to do all things for harmony and peace, provided prin- ciple be safe. Our conscience is at stake, and we cannot sacrifice it, even were we to be flayed alive. Such is our natural disposition, that we become more inflexible when threats are addressed to us. We fear no- thing : we are ready for whatever may befall us." These heroic sentiments lose something of their grandeur, by the momentary weakness into which Pius, when a prisoner at Fontainebleau, was betrayed by the importunities of his advisers, who urged and almost forced him to subscribe the preliminaries of a treaty with Napoleon, which seriously compromised the rights of his office ; but his speedy retraction, and his voluntary humiliation before the cardinals, changed the fault itself into an occasion of new merit. From that time he refused to enter into any terms, until he should be restored to liberty and to his capital. "It may be," he said, " that our sins render us unworthy to see Kome again, but our successors will recover the States which belong to our See. As to the rest, the emperor may be assured that we are not his enemy. Religion forbids it." God soon cast the mighty emperor from his throne, and raised up the humble Pontiff once more to the pinnacle of power. NapoleOn, by a sin- gular disposition of Providence, was compelled to sign his abdication in the very room in which he had treated the venerable prisoner with irreve- rence. Pius entered Eome in triumph, amidst the enthusiastic acclama- tions of his devoted people. The brilliant illumination of the eternal city on the night of his return, rivalling the meridian blaze. In this miracu- lous change the devout Pontiff saw no occasion for self-complacency, and indulged no exultation over his fallen oppressor: on the contrary, he interceded with the British government in his behalf, to obtain the miti- gation of the rigors of his captivity, and sent a pious priest to console and sustain him by the succors of religion. The eagle which rose with so much pride and daring at Austerlitz, perished on the rock of St. Helena. Pius, notwithstanding his great age and sufferings, outlived Napoleon, and 414 MORAL INFLUENCE. received the intellfgenee of his death with the feelings which became the fond father of a wayward child. • Humility, likewise, was a favorite virtue of the Popes. This was specially manifested in the reluctance of many of them to accept the office. Leo IV. and Benedict III. were raised to it entirely against their will. Mar- tin IV., with all his might, resisted the cardinals, who wished to enthrone him, so that his mantle was torn in the struggle. Emilio Altieri, at the age of eighty, was declared cardinal by Clement IX. as he lay on his dying couch, who foretold his elevation to the Popedom in the approach- ing conclave. When elected, he pleaded, with tears, his advanced age, and reluctantly yielded to the wishes of the sacred college. The eleventh Clement, during three days, refused to accept the proffered dignity, and actually fell sick in consequence of the excited state of his feelings. The positive declaration of four eminent divines, that he would sin grievously by continuing to resist the manifest will of God, at length determined his acceptance. Benedict XIII., who had thrice declined the purple, which he finally accepted in obedience to his religious superior, acted under the same orders in yielding to the unanimous vote of the sacred college. Clement XIII. burst into tears when the result of the election was com- municated to him. All of these humble Pontiffs, seem left in the distance by the hermit Peter of Moroni, who reigned as Celestine V., hut finding himself unequal to the government of the Church, descended from the throne, and sought again his loved retreat. ■ Dante, in three words, has immortalized "this great abdication :" FECE IL GRAN RIEITJTO. The humility of manner of Innocent XI. was such, that when he called for any of his servants, it was with the reservation, " if it was convenient to them;"* and Clement IX. would have no inscription on his tomb but the acknowledgment that he was dust : Clementis IX. cineres. Purity of life, which is a necessary ornament of the priesthood, and which should be above all suspicion, especially in the representative of the Great High Priest, has ordinarily been the characteristic of the occupant of St. Peter's chair. To speak only at present of the last three centuries, Paul IV. and Pius V., his successor, were distinguished for the most unblemished virtue. Gregory XIV., according to the testimony of Eanke, was "a soul of virgin innocence. "f Paul V. died with the reputation of having preserved his virginal integrity, saying as he breathed his soul into the hands of his Creator : " I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ." A year after his death, on the opening of his tomb, his body was found entire. Of Clement IX., Eanke says: "all those virtues which consist in an absence of vices, «uch as purity of manners, modesty, temperance, he * Eanke, History of the Popes, 1. viii. J xvi. p. 218. f Ibidem, 1. vi. J iv. p. 429. MORAL INFLUENCE. 415 possessed in an eminent degree."* The same unsuspicious witness testifies of Innofcent XI., that he was " of such purity of heart and life, that his confessor declared that he had never discovered in him any thing which could sever the soul from God."-j" Benedict XIII., heir of the dukedom of Gravina, through love of holy purity, had consecrated himself to G-od in the order of St. Dominic at the early age of eighteen. " Clement (XIII.) was a man of pure soul and pure intentions : he prayed much and fervently."J These are specimens of the general character of the Popes. The good odor of Jesus Christ was spread abroad by most of those who occupied the papal chair. I 3. RECOGNISED SANCTITY. Eminent holiness distinguished most of the incumbents of the Apostolic See, which, on this account, as well as for the purity of its doctrine, may be justly styled Jioly. Besides the martyrs of the first three ages, and some of later times, many others are enrolled in the catalogue of saints. The sanctity of seventy-nine Pontiffs is recognised by the Church, being almost a third of the entire series. They are not confined to the first six ages, although Gib- bon has strangely asserted of the apostle of England, that "Gregory is the last of their own order whom they have presumed to inscribe in the calen- dar of saints."§ The two Gregories, who adorned the eighth century, receive the same honor. The sanctity of the former so impressed Luit- prand, the Lombard king, as he stood in a menacing attitude at the gate of Kome, that he abandoned the siege, and entered to worship at the tomb of St. Peter, as the infidel historian himself testifies: "In arms, at the gate of the Vatican, the conqueror listened to the voice of Gregory the Second, withdrew his troops, resigned his conquests, respectfully visited the Church of St. Peter, and, after performing his devotions, offered his sword and dagger, his cuirass and mantle, his silver cross and his crown of gold, on the tomb of the apostle."l| St. Zachary, the successor of the third Gregory, persuaded Rachis, who occupied the throne of Luitprand, to exchange the battle-field and palace for the cloister. Paschal I. is recognised as a saint. Benedict V., who sat as Pontiff in the decline of the tenth century, and had the gift of prophecy, is mentioned in several martyrologies. In the eleventh century, St. Leo IX. brought to the papal throne great purity of life, with apostolic zeal. Stephen X., Victor III., and Urban II., are named among the blessed in several martyrologies. St. Alexan- der II. labored to raise the clergy to that holiness of life, of which he gave the example; but above all the Pontiffs of that age, St. Gregory VII. shines with bright lustre, for the intrepidity and perseverance with which * History of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 15S. f Ibidem, 1. Tiii. J xvii. p. 225. J Ibidem, | XTiii. p. 236. § History of the Decline and Fall, Ac, ch. xlv. A. D. 590. II Ibidem, ch. xlix., A. D. 730-752. 416 MORAL INFLUENCE. he strove to purify the sanctuary, and revive the apostolic spirit in its ministers. St. Celestine V. adorned the thirteenth century. Benedict XI., who reigned in the early part of the following age, is styled Blessed in the Eottian martyrology. The sixteenth century was edified by the austere virtues of St. Pius V. From earliest youth he was devoted to the service of God, and in the highest station -he " preserved all his austerity, poverty, and humility."* He is the last of the Popes whose names have been enrolled among the Saints, although since his time, as well as before, many not canonized have been eminent for holiness of life. * Banke, History of the Popes, 1. iii. g viii. p. 217. CHAPTER IX. The charges brought against the Popes are, in many instances, totally destitute of foundation. In the fifth century, a sohismatical rival accused Symmaohus of many crimes : of which, however, he was declared innocent by a council, to which he voluntarily submitted the cause for examination. The first serious scandal that occurs in the papal history, took place at the close of the ninth century, when Stephen, who had forcibly taken possession of the See, offered indignities to the corpse of Formosus, the deceased Pontiff, by cutting off the fingers with which he was wont to bless the Roman people. The barbarity of this act, which reflects dis- grace on the age ia which it was perpetrated, cannot be extenuated by the plea then put forward to justify it, namely, that Formosus had violated the canons, through immoderate ambition, by passing from the See of Porto to that of Kome. His promotion appears to have been the just reward of a long life of virginal purity and Apostolic zeal. The outrage offered to his memory was atoned for by the solemn act of a Roman Council under John IX. It may relieve our feelings somewhat from the horror of this outrage, to know that it was committed by an intruder into the See, not by one who entered by canonical election ; and though his name gtill appears on the list of Popes, Graveson, a judicious historian, disputes the propriety of its insertion. In the scarcity of documents of that period, and in the confusion which was caused by the violent struggles of secular nobles for the mastery of the Church, it is in some cases difiicult to dis- tinguish with certainty, whether the intrusion was remedied by the sub- sequent acquiescence of the canonical electors. These may have yielded to the dire necessity of the times, and borne the shame of tolerating an un- worthy incumbent in the apostolic chair, rather than endanger the unity of the Church, by an effort to expel him from a place which he had no right to occupy. We must, in such circumstances, remember, with St. Leo, that the merit of Peter does not totally fail in the unworthy heir of his authority;* and with St. Augustine, that occasion of schism must not be taken from the bad examples of those who are in high station: "of which," he says, " our Heavenly Master so carefully forewarned us, as to give the people an assurance in regard to bad prelates, lest on their account the chair of saving doctrine should be abandoned, in which even bad men * Serm. II. de asaumpt. sua ad pontif. 27 417 418 CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. are forced to utter what is good : for what they say is not their own : it is of Grod, who has placed the doctrine of truth in the chair of unity."* The moral character of Sergius III. is grievously assailed by Luitprand, a contemporary author, whose testimony, however, is weakened by his known adherence to a schismaticar rival of John XII., and his devotedness to the imperial interests. Flodoard, another contemporary writer, repre- sents Sergius as a favorite with the Eoman people, and a kind pastor of the flock. It is doubtful whether Lando, whose character is also traduced, should be ranked among the Popes. John X. is charged with licentious- ness, and with, having been accessary to the death of Benedict VII. : but Baronius, who believed the charges, admits that his administration was better than the means used for his promotion would have led us to expect. Muratori, who with great independence of mind, canvassed facts of his- tory, praises him as a worthy Pontiff, f ' He also provesj that John XI. was son of Albericus, Roman consul, and marquis of Tuscany, although Luitprand brands him as a bastard-son of Sergius. Ratherius of Verona bears testimony to the noble and excellent disposition of John, whom he styles, "gloriosEe indolis." John XII., of the same family, at the age of sixteen or eighteen years, seized on the papal crown, and wore it without shame during seven years, in which he is said to have indulged the worst excesses. The account of his death is marked with the character of fable. The following century witnessed similar scandals in Theophylact, son of Alberic, count of Tusculum, who, whilst yet a youth, was intruded into the chair of St. Peter by bribery and family iniluenoe, and thence ejected several times by the Romans, weary of his disorders, till at length he resigned all pretensions to the See, and passed to the monastery of Grotta Ferrata, to expiate his sins by penance. Benedict IX. is his name among the pontiffs. The struggles for the Papacy in those evil times, were sometimes fierce and sanguinary, the power of the petty potentate, who ruled at Rome as patrician, being often employed in behalf of some member of his family, or some corrupt favorite. The occupant of the chair held it by a very uncertain tenure, and was . not unfrequently cast into a dungeon to make room for a successful rival. If such horrors affright us, we should reflect on the general state of Italy at that period, when Saracens, and other bar- barians spread desolation around, imparting to the oppressed Italians some- thing of th^ir own savage character. The rival princes 'v^hen unrestrained by the imperial power, which during forty years had been suspended, knew no limits to their ambition, and rushed wildly into excesses which make us shudder. We need not be surprised, that daring and licentious men under such circumstances were Sometimes seen to occupy the highest ■■'• Ep. cv., aliaa clxvii., v. v. ii. 16. f Annali d'ltalia, an. 92S. J He quotes : Anonymus Salernitanus, in chron. o. oxUii., et Ostiensis, in cliv. casin,, 1. i. c. Ixi. CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. 419 places in the church : but we must admire the oveiTuling providence of God, which preserved the succession of chief pastors, and gave from time to time bright examples of Christian virtue. The tenth century numbers Theodore, Benedict IV., Anastasius III., and Marin II., among the occu- pants of St. Peter's See, men worthy of their Apostolical calling ; and the eleventh justly boasts of a brighter line of holy pontiffs. The scandals of those ages menaced indeed with destruction the church, which drifted like a shattered vessel, whose pilot had no power or care to direct her course, whilst wave on wave dashed over her, and no light beamed on her but the ligljtning flash, as bolt after bolt struck her masts : but He who controls the tempest slept within her, and in His own good time, He bade the storm be still, and all was calm and sunshine. To the causes which produced conflict and disorder we must add national jealousy and love of independence. " The Germans," says Yoltaire, " held the Romans in subjection, and the Romans sought every oppor- tunity to break their chains. A Pope chosen by the order of the emperor, or named by him, was an object of execration to the Romans. The idea of restoring the republic was cherished by them : but this noble ambition produced only humiliating and frightful results.* The charges of ambition, arrogance, and impetuosity, which have been made against Boniface VIII., do not appear to be well founded. If he advised the holy Pontiff Celestine to abdicate an office to whose duties he was inadequate, it need not be ascribed to secret aspirations after the tiara, for which, however, his eminent knowledge and determination of character qualified him. The imprisonment of the unambitious hermit, which has brought censure on Boniface, may have been necessary to guard against the wiles of bad men, who might abuse his simplicity to cause a schism, by persuading him that he could not lawfully part with the power which God had committed to him. In the proceedings against Philip the Fair, Boniface contended for justice and the immunities of the Church, advancing no claim which his predecessors had not put forward, and proceeding with the deliberation and maturity which always distinguish the Holy See. When the emissaries of the monarch prepared to seize on his person, he acted with composure and dignity, declaring, that like his Divine Master, he was betrayed, but that he would die as a Pope; with which view he robed himself in the ornaments of his ministry, and, wrapped in his pon- tifical mantle, with the tiara on his head, the keys in one hand and the cross in the other, he awaited, with majestic air, the approach of the rebel Colontia, and the daring Nogaret. It is not surprising that the indignities offered to his sacred person should have resulted in his death ; hut the dis- * It must be acknowledged, that the worst scandals of those times were given by Eouians, or other Italians, raised to that high eminence by the prejudices and partiality of their countrymen, or still more by the swords of their kinsfolk : and that the splendor and glory of the pontificate were restored by Popes of German origin, or who rose to office under imperial favor and protection. 420 CHARGES AGAINST THE rOPES. covery of his body entire three centuries afterwards, was a splendid refu- tation of the fable that he had died in the writhings of despair. In the person of this magnanimous Pontiff, God gave us the example of noble demeanor under wrongs, that resemble the insults of the pretorian hall. To hide with direr guilt Past ills and future, lo ! the flower-de-luce Enters Alagna, in His vicar, Christ Himself a captive, and His mockery Acted again. Lo ! to His holy lip The vinegar and gall once more applied j And He twixt living robhers doomed to bleed. — Gary's Translation.* The memory of Clement V. comes down to us charged with having ambitiously intrigued for the tiara, by promising to Philip the Fair to re- scind the acts of Boniface, and to condescend to his will on some important point, not then disclosed. This compact originally rests on the au- thority of Villani, a partisan of the schismatical Louis of Bavaria. On the same Auspicious testimony, his supposed amours with the countess of Perigord have been too lightly credited, notwithstanding the silence of his early biographers, six in number. But the suppression of the Knights Templars, which resulted in the capital punishment of a large number of them, by the authority of Philip, was a measure of fearful responsibility, the justice of which is an historical problem, perhaps never to be solved. His permission for the opening of the process against the memory of Boni- face, which is objected to him as an act of criminal condescension, was probably given in the confidence that it would result, as in fact it did, in his entire acquittal. " All this grand display of Philip the Fair," it is Voltaire who speaks, " resulted in his shame. On the great theatre of the world, you will never see a king of France prevail, in the end, over a Pope."* Villani has attacked the moral character of Clement VI., but I feel dispensed from vindicating it, whilst it is assailed only by the pro- fessed enemy of the lawful Pontiffs. The sudden death of Paul II., who was found dead in his bed, arose from an unwholesome supper on melons ; and was not attended with any disgraceful circumstances. Although his life was not austere, there is not any ground for censuring his conduct, unless, perhaps, his failure to observe the conditions to which, in common with the other cardinals in conclave, he had bound himself. This, however, may be accounted for by the necessity of his situation, in which he deemed it injurious to observe X-- Perch§ men paja il mal future e'l fatto, Veggio in Alagna entrar lo fiordaliso, E nel vicario sue Cristo esser catto. Veggiolo un altra volta esser deriso ; Veggio rinnovelilr I'aceto e'l fele, E tra vivi ladroni 6ssere anciso. Dante, Purrjatorio, c. sx. 85. ^ Essai sur I'Histoire GSn^rale, t. ii. ch. Ixi. CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. 421 restrictions unwisely imposed on an authority which Christ willed to be free. Above a century before, Innocent VL had declared such engage- ments to be radically null. Of two Popes, it is certain that previously to their entrance into orders, they had become fathers, either by secret marriages, as some contend, or out of wedlock. John Baptist Cibo, son of a Roman senator, who was made Viceroy of Naples, had two children by a Neapolitan lady, whilst living in his father's court. Ciaconi affirms that she was his lawful wife. He afterwards entered the ecclesiastical career, in which his conduct won general esteem, and secured his promotion to the episcopacy, and, finally, to the government of the Universal Church. Innocent VIII., as he was thenceforward called, during the first five years of his pontificate, mani- fested no peculiar tenderness to his children, Franceschetto Cibo and Theodorina : which provoked the remonstrances of Lorenzo de Medicis, then esteemed the wisest man in Italy, but whose judgment may have been warped in this instance by the marriage of his son with Theodorina. The Pontiff proved himself thenceforward an indulgent parent, and freely bestowed on his offspring the riches of the Church, for which he has de- served censure. Paul III. owned as his son Pier Luigi Farnese, who was alleged to be the fruit of a secret marriage, before his father entered into orders. His grandson Alexander was promoted, to the purple, which he adorned by his virtues. Paul was truly a great Pontiff, whose administration was most advantageous to the Church : but the lustre of his reign was tarnished by family attachments. Two others are admitted to have fallen into temptation before entering the ecclesiastical state. The ardor of the martial Julius II. betrayed him in youth into excess, of which a daughter was the acknowledged fruit. Her children were promoted to the purple. Since St. Francis de Paula is known to have foretold to him his elevation to the papal throne, we have reason to believe, that after his entrance into orders, his morals were blameless. Ugo Buoncompagno, a jurist of Bologna, who rose into life in the civil service, had a son born out of wedlock. He afterwards entered the sanctuary, in which he acquired esteem for integrity and talent, and, at the age of seventy, he was chosen to fill St. Peter's chair, under the name of Gregory XIII. Eanke acknowledges that " his life and conver- sation were not only blameless, but edifying."* This being the case, it is extreme rigour to make the frailty of his early life a subject of reproach to him as Pontiff, whilst his subsequent course was so exemplary. No one thinks of disparaging the high character of St. Augustin on account of the disorders of his youth. In estimating tlie moral influence of the Popes, we should consider especially their public administration, and their * History of the Popes, 1. iv. § iii. p. 255. 422 CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. personal conduct whilst in office, in connection with their whole ecclesias- tical career. The censures which have been passed on Leo X., have no other founda- tion than the amenity of his manners, his partiality for poets, whose com- positions were not always strictly governed by rules of propriety, his fond- ness for musical entertainments, and other peculiarities, some of which were scarcely consistent with the gravity of a bishop burdened with the solicitude of all the churches. "Leo's gay and graceful court," says Kanke, " was not in itself deserving of censure : yet it were impossible to deny that it was little answerable to the character and position of head of the Church."* Luther and Erasmus both bore testimony to the integrity of his morals. He had his practices of mortification and self-denial, espe- cially the weekly fast of Saturday, and he performed the sacred functions, as Koscoe testifies, with dignity and decorum. John Baptist Pamfili, at the age of seventy-two, was elevated to the popedom under the title of Innocent X., an honor which St. Felix of Cantalicio had predicted. There is no foundation whatever for any charge against his morals, although he entrusted the management of his palace to his aged sister-in-law, and deferred too much to her caprice. " In his earlier career in the Rota, as nuncio, and as cardinal, he had shown him- self industrious, blameless, and upright, and this reputation he still pre- served. "f Such is the impartial testimony of Ranke, who explains the motives which influenced his conduct in regard to Donna Olimpia. " Pope Innocent was under. obligations to his sister-in-law. Donna Olimpia Malda- chini, of Viterbo, especially in consequence of the large fortune she had brought into the house of Pamfili. He also regarded it as a high merit on her part, that after the death of his brother, she had never chosen to marry again. This had been productive of advantage to himself, since he had constantly left the economical affairs of the family to her guidance ; it was, therefore, no wonder if she now acquired great influence in the administration of the papacy.""}" There is one Pope, however, who seems to have no advocate to attempt his justification,J and but few to offer any thing in mitigation of sentence. * History of the Popes, 1. i. eh. ii. p. 61. f Ibidem, vol. ii. I. viii. | v. p. 150. t Audin, in his Life of Leo X., has almost ventured. In the lives of the Popes by Pla- tina, a highly favorable account is given of Alexander VI. and his administration. As the historian died in 1481, this sketch, and the preceding, as also that of Pius III., must have been added to his work, in order to continue it down to the reigning Pontiff. The edition Before me is of Lyons, 1612. The writer charges Alexander with having changed policy in regard to Charles YIII., and mentions Cesar (under the title of Valentinus) as his son: but praises him for industry, ability, and zeal, as also for his patronage of learned men, and aversion to flatterers. " Felix igitur tanto pontifioe Eoma . . . quem oscitan- tem raro comperit quisque, quin aut libris legendis, aut divino oultui, aut rei Christiante semper attentus esset: temporis jactura nihil perniciosius ajstimans." This character is girtn of him at a time when the memory of his reign was frosh and vivid. He died in l.'JOS. Roscoe says mui-h in extenuation of his vices. (Life of Leo, vol. i. ch. vi.) Guic- ciardini and Paolo Giovio, almost contemporary writers, but both of them exceptionable, CI-IAKGES AGAINST THE POPES. 423 Roderioo Letizuoli, nephew by his mother to CalHstus III., was allowed by his too-indulgent uncle to assume the family name of Borgia, only to attach to it indelible disgrace. The levity of his conduct had provoked reproof from Pius II., but his splendid talents and fascinating manners served to conceal, ot partially to redeem his vices. While cardinal, occu- pying offices of the highest confidence, he became the father of four chil- dren, by a Roman lady of noble familyj notwithstanding which enormous scandal, he was chosen, at the age of sixty-one, to occupy the Papal chair. His election js alleged to have been accomplished by bribery. Cesar, his favorite son, was promoted to the office of cardinal deacon, but soon re- leased from his obligations, that he might pursue, unrestrained by con- siderations of decorum, a career better suited to his passions and ambition. His brother, Peter Louis, was assassinated, not without suspicion of the murder being cast on Cesar, although most probably without foundation. The accomplished Lucretia sat for a time in her father's palace, and in- curred the foulest censure, as if living in the habitual indulgence of the most unnatural incest : a stain which Roscoe has generously removed.* As Duchess of Ferrara she was esteemed not only for her pure and refined manners, but her 'literary taste, which was manifested in her patronage of learning, and obtained for her a distinguished place among those who con- tributed to the revival of letters. f The death of Sizim, brother of Baja- zet, the sultan, which occurred shortly after he had been delivered up by Alexander to Charles VIII., was ascribed to slow poison, administered to him by order of the Pontiff: but this most improbable surmise deserves no attention. " Prince Cantemir says that his barber cut his throat. Prince Cantemir and the accusers of Alexander VI. may be mistaken. The hatred entertained for this Pontiff led' men to charge him with every crime which he could commit."J His apologist is Voltaire, who indignantly rejects the tale of his having drunk by mistake poison prepared by his orders for a cardinal, whose wealth he coveted. The journal of the attending physician certifies that he died of fever, after having received the last sacraments. § A Spanish critic observes, that the popular hatred no doubt gave rise to most exaggerated reportsjH which Mariana, the great historian, also remarks, hinting, however, that some things were true, while others were calumnies.^ We must, however, ac- knowledge that his elevation was disgraceful, and his government calami- tous. In several instances he indeed made wise decrees, and patronized load him with obloquy. Chacon, who wrote in the decline of the sixteenth century, thinks the charges doubtful : " lapsus fortasse non veros." ■* Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth, vol. ii. Dissertation on Lucretia' Borgia. See also Life of Leo the Tenth, vol. i. oh. vi. f See Francesco Patrizi, Ded dellamil. rem. Also Roscoo, Diss. :[; Essai sur I'Histoire Generale, t. iii. eh. ciii. g Dissert, sur la mort d'Henri IV., also Essai sur I'Hist., eh. crii. II Teatro Critico por D. Fr. B. G. Fcijoo, t. iv., disc. viii. p. 212. ^ Historia de Espaua, 1. xxvi. o. i. 424 CHAEGES AGAINST THE POPES. learning ; and the military genius of Cesar contributed to the strength of his civil sovereignty : yet it was an enormous scandal to the Christian world that an immoral man should occupy the Holy See, and cherish, with the blindness of parental love, a licentious and daring soldier.* In such circumstances, the faithful understood the force of the warning of Christ, that we should do what we are taught by those who fill the chair of au- thority, but should not imitate their perverse actions. As temporal sovereigns of the Roman States, the Popes have incurred much censure, although they have been truly the fathers of their people. Several of them deserve the praise of great as well as good princes. The clemency of Paul I. toward criminals is marked on the page of history ; and his successor, Hadrian, receives commendation for the exercise of the same most comely attribute of sovereignty. " No ceremony that\ to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword. The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe. Become them with one-half so good a grace As mercy does."f Of Hadrian, Gibbon writes : " He secretly edified the throne of his successors, and displayed in a narrow space the virtues of a great prince."J Of those who seized the pontificate in the tenth century, Voltaire remarks : "Those Popes whom posterity has branded as immoral, were far froin being incapable princes. John X. was a man of genius and courage, and accom- plished what his predecessors had never been able to eifect, having driven the Saracens from that part of Italy called Garillan."§ With better reason he praises Martin V., who combined the high qualities of a prince with the virtues of a bishop. || Paul II. united justice with clemency, not suffering crime to go unpunished, and yet condemning no one to death. Clement VII. was a sovereign worthy of his name. Some Popes are accused of extreme severity in the punishment of crime. The mode of the death of some cardinals convicted of conspiracy against Urban VI., is revolting to our sense of humanity; yet Leo X., a Pontiff of acknowledged humanity, condemned to death some others on a * Koscoe says of Cesar Borgia : " Courageous, munificent, eloquent, and accomplished in all the exercises of arts and arms, he raised an admiration of his endowments, which kept pace with and counterbalanced the abhorrence excited by his crimes. That even these crimes have been exaggerated is highly probable. His enemies were numerous, and the certainty of his guilt in some instances gave credibility to every imputation that could be devised to throw his character into deeper shade. That he retained, even after ho sur- vived his prosperity, no inconsiderable share of public estimation, is evident from the iidelity and attachment shown him on many occasions."' — Life^ of Leo X., vol. ii. ch. vi. The historian hud already stated the attachment of the cities of Komagna to Cesar, whose rule they preferred to that of their former princes, on account of his strict administration of justice, and the repression of banditti. f Measure for Measure. j; Decline and Fall, &o., ch. xlix., A. D. 800. g Eesai sur I'Histoiro Gcncrale, oh. xxxi. || Ibid., oh. Ixviii. CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. 425 similar charge. Treason against the sovereign is everywhere the highest crime against society, and is punished in a manner to strike all with horror. The natural character of Sixtus V. seems to have been humane, since " when his nephew, the husband of Vittoria Accorambuoni, was murdered, he was the first to entreat the Pope to let the investigation drop."* As sovereign of the Roman States, he appeared invested with terrific attri- butes, because the ravages of the banditti that overspread the country required an extraordinary exercise of justice, and the encroachments of the nobles provoked measures of repression. " After chastising the offending feudatories, he sought rather to conciliate and attach the other barons."f Sixtus IV. has been charged with participating in the diabolical con- spiracy of the Pazzi, a noble family of Florence, which resulted in the assassination of Julian de Medicis, at solemn mass in the Dome of Florence. The presence of the nephew of the Pope, Cardinal Eaffaello Kiario, on the occasion, and his known partiality for the Pazzi, are the only grounds for suspecting his concurrence to the nefarious plot; which his general character, as well as the sanctity of his station, forbid us to suppose. Blame is ascribed to him for his solicitude to maintain the tem- poral interests of his See, which, however, as a sovereign, he was bound to guard. In reference to the disputed territory of Rovigno, in Romagna, Eanke observes : " The other powers of Italy were already contending for possession, or for ascendency, in these territories ; and, if there were any question of right, the Pope had manifestly a better right than any other."J The imputation of bad faith toward his allies seems unfounded. He had solicited the aid of the Venetians to repel the attack of the King of Naples, who afterward, by his unconditional submission, took away all legitimate pretext for continuing hostilities. Sixtus then besought the Venetians to desist from the siege of Ferrara, the duke of that place being son-in-law of the king. When his entreaties proved unavailing, he found himself under the necessity of joining the other Italian princes in a league against his former allies ; and, by the advice of a Council held at Cremona, he excommunicated the Venetians for opposing the peace of Italy, whi«h was always dear to his heart. Julius II. incurred censure for similar causes. In maintaining his tem- poral rights, he displayed great determination of character, and military courage, not easily reconcilable with his office as representative of the Prince of Peace. Justice, however, was on his side ; and his patriotism, which never suffered him to falter in his resolution to drive the barbarians beyond the Alps, has gained the admiration of Voltaire himself § His change of policy does not imply a breach of faith. When his French allies seemed disposed to remain as conquerors, where they had appeared » Kanke, History of the Popes, 1. iv. | iv. p. 267. f Ibidem, g vi. p. 271. j- Ibidem, 1. i. ch. ii. p. 47, toI. i. g Lettre a, Mr. Norberg, t. viii. 426 CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. only to aid him in the recovery of his dominions, it was not inconsistent with his engagements, to join the Venetians, after their submission, in order to force back the French to their own territories, since he never meant to sacrifice the independence of Italy. His princely qualities are witnessed by Kanke : " He endeavored everywhere to appear as a libera- tor: he treated his new subjects wisely and well, and secured their attach- ment and fidelity."* It may be difficult to satisfy all readers of the justice of the measures which the Pontifi^s, in their capacity of sovereigns, have from time to time adopted ; nor is it necessary that they should meet our approval. " We must distinguish," as Voltaire well observes, "the PontiiF from the sovereign ."-j- As Catholics, we are not concerned with the temporal ad- ministration of the Eoman States, and need not inquire whether it has been just and paternal, or whether the sovereign has maintained the proper relations to foreign powers. Even the personal character of the Popes no further interests us than as we should naturally desire that the Chief Bishop of the Church should sustain the purity of the Christian law by the influence of his example. Thanks be to Heaven, the general conduct of the successors of Peter has been worthy of their station, and may well be referred to as serving to recommend that authority, which they have exercised for the interests of truth and piety. Partiality for their relatives, whom they employed in offices of high im- portance with great revenues, has brought censure on several of the Popes, whose personal conduct was blameless. Nepotism, as this vice is tech- nically styled, has caused, no doubt, great evils to the Church ; but it is so natural to favor our own kindred, that it should not be condemned too severely, unless the individuals be unworthy. In fact, we owe to the fond affection of Pius IV. for his nephew, Charles Borromeo, the immense ad- vantages which the Church at large derived from his labors and examples, in the high offices which his uncle lavished on him when but scarcely arrived at manhood. Had the holy PontiflF, Benedict XIII., called to his Council his relatives, who were persons of high probity and exemplary piety, the abuse which an upstart favorite made of his confidence, would have been avoided. Nevertheless, it is but rarely that relatives do not avail themselves of their position for self-aggrandizement; and several Pontiffs might say, at the close of a career otherwise illustrious, with Paul III. : "Had not my relatives ruled, I should have been without stain." The austere virtue of Paul IV. was not proof against the blinding influ- ence of kindred ties; and too late he discovered the iniquities and op- pression practised in his name by the Caraffas, whom he at once banished from his court, leaving to his successor, Pius IV., the sad office of con- demning one of them to an ignominious death. Many of the Popes evinced heroic detachment from flesh and blood, not * History of the Popes, 1. ii. oh. ii. p. 52. -(• Ubi supra. CHARGES AGAINST THE POPES. 427 being willing that the natural ties should contract their hearts, which were made to embrace the entire world. Clement IV. and Martin IV. were distinguished for this virtue. When the brother of Martin repaired to court, the Pope dismissed him, with a small gift to meet the expenses of his journey, observing that he could not employ the riches of the Church as if they were his paternal estate. Leo XI., during a short pontificate of seventeen days, gave evidence of an inflexible determination to indulge no human affection with danger to the interests of religion, since he resisted the pressing solicitations of the cardinals to raise his nephew to their rank. The eleventh Innocent, during thirteen years of pontifical administration, kept himself free from all imputation of inordinate attach- ment to his relatives. Innocent XII., who called the poor his nephews, made stringent decrees against nepotism. Clement XI., his successor, who during eleven years deferred the promotion of his relatives, although they were men of distinguished merit, on his deathbed could say with truth, that conscience alone had regulated his course in their regard. When the learned and facetious Lambertini was raised to the pontifical throne, under the name of Benedict XIV., he ordered his nephew, who was a senator of Bologna, not to come to Kome until invited, and he took care never to give the invitation. Clement XIV. could not be prevailed on to send special messengers to apprise his three sisters of his elevation, observing that they were not wont to receive ambassadors, and that the poor of Christ were his family. No one could prevail on him to admit any of his relatives to his presence, or to send them any gift. Pius VII. and Leo XII., among the Pontiffs of our own age, have merited the praise of similar detachment. When Pius VIII. was chosen to fill St. Peter's chair, he wrote affectionate letters to his nephews, warning them, however, not to indulge in any pomp or pride, but to pray to God in his behalf. " Let none of you," said he, " leave his dwelling or post. We love you in God." I shall now relieve the reader from this prolonged investigation, with an appeal to his conscience, whether there ever has existed any series of rulers in the Church or in the State, so illustrious as the succession of Eoman Bishops. They have been the defenders of the faith, the fathers of the poor, the friends of order and virtue, and the benefactors of society. While intent on executing the divine commission to teach all nations, they have not considered it inconsistent with their sublime oflSce to cherish genius and reward industry, fostering art, literature, and science, with a partiality that might appear extreme. If a cloud has sometimes passed over that See, which shines in the Church like the sun in the firmament, it soon passed away, and left the world in admiration of its undiminished splendor. Sooner shall the orb of d^y be extinguished, than the prayer of Christ for Peter fail. CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. FIRST CENTURY. 1. St. Peter from the East, where he founded the See of Antioch, passed to Eome ; returned to the East when the Jews were expelled by Claudius ; returned to Rome, and died a martyr with St. Paul, on 29th June, 66.* 2. St. Linus M.f He died a martyr in 67. Berti says in 76. — Eccl. Hist. Brev. 3. St. Anacletus M.J 4. St. Clement M.§ second century. 5. St. Evaristus M. sat to 108. 6. St. Alexander M. sat from 2 March, 108, to 3 May, 116. 7. St. Sixtus I. M. sat from 116 to 3 July, 126. 8. St. TeLesphorus M. died in 137. 9. St. Hyginus M. died 10 January, 141. 10. St. Pius I. sat ten years, four months, and three days. 11. St. Anicetus M. During his pontificate Polycarp came to Rome, in 158. Anicetus died in 161. ■'* According to Toggini and Tilleinont. Pagi says, 65. The testimony of the ancient writers is unanimous as to the establishment of the Church of Rome by Peter and Paul, and as to their martyrdom at Rome. It is not easy, however, to determine the precise year of the first visit of Peter to Rome, or of the martyrdom of both apostles. f TertuUian (1. de praescript.) says that the Roman Church proves the succession of her bishops by pointing to Clement, ordained by Peter; but this does not necessarily imply that he was the immediate successor of the apostle. Irenseus, who was prior to Tertnl- lian, states distinctly that Linus received from Peter the administration of the Church and immediately succeeded him. J Cletus and Anacletus are found in ancient catalogues, and the learned are not agreed as to their identity. St. Ireneeus makes no mention of Cletus, and styles Sixtus the sixth from the apostles, which excludes Cletus. Berti says that Cletus succeeded Linus, and died in 89. ' g Clement is put before Anacletus in the list of St. Augustin (Bp. 1. iii. alias civ.,) and in the chronicle of Damasus. Berti says that Anacletus sat during the two years of the exile of Clement. I have followed Irenseus. Pagi says that Clement governed from 67 to 77, and then abdicated. Berti says that he sat from 89 to 98, and after two years spent in banishment underwent martyrdom by drowning. His martyrdom is assigned to 23 November, 10 429 430 CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 12. St. Soter M.-sat until 170. 13. St. Eleutheeitis M. sat from 170 until 185.* 14. St. Victor I. M. sat from 12th June, 185, until 28th July, 197. 15. St. Zephyeinus M. sat from 7th August, 197, until 12th .July, 217. THIRD CENTURY. 16. St. Caxlisttjs I. M. sat from 217 until 28th September, 222. 17. St. Urban I. M. sat from 222 until 24th May, 230. 18. St. Pontian M. sat from 280 until 14th March, 235. 19. St. Anteeos M. sat from 21st November, 235, until 3d January, 236. 20. St. Fabian M. elected 11th January, 236, sat until 20th January, 250. 21. St. Coenelius M. died in banishment on 14th September, 252. St. Cyprian styles him martyr, he having been banished for the faith, although his death was not violent. 22. St. Lucius M. died on 4th March, 253. 23. St. Stephen M. elected on 13th May, 253, sat until 2d August, 257. 24. St. Xystus II. M. died on 6th August, 258. 25. St. Dionysius sat from 22d July, 259, until 26th December, 269. 26. St. Felix I. elected on 28th December, 269, died on 22d December, 274. 27. St. Etjtychian elected on 5th January, 275, died on 7th December, 283. 28. St. Cajus elected on 15th December, 283, died on 21st April, 296. 29. St. Marcellinus elected on 30th June, 296, died on 24th October, 304. FOURTH CENTURY. 30. St. Maeceelus I., after an interregnum, sat one year and six months, and died 16th January, 310. 31. St. Edsebius elected 5th February, sat until 21st June. 32. St. Miltiades elected on 2d July, 310, died on 10th January, 314. 33. St. Sylvester I. elected on 30th January, 314, died on 31st Decem- ber, 335. 34. St. Mark created Pope 18th January, 336, died 7th October, 336. 35. St. Julius I. elected on 26th October, 336, (6th February, 337, according to Pagi,) sat until 12th April, 352. * The list of St. IrenaBua closes with Eleutherius. Hegesippus, a convert from Judaism, composed a list at the same time. CATALOGUE OF THfe POPES. 431 36. St. Liberius was elected on 8th May, 352. Felix II. was intruded in 355.* Liberius was restored in 359 : he died on 23d September, 366. 37. St. Damastjs I. sat from 1st October, 366, until 10th December, 384. 38. St. Siricius sat from 22d December, 384, until 26th November, 398. 39. St. Anastasius I.f sat from 5th December, 398, until 14th Decem- ber, 401. FIFTH CENTURY. 40. St. Innocent I. sat from 21st December, 401, until 12th March, 417. 41. St. Zosimus sat from 18th March, 417, until 26th December, 418. 42. St. Boniface I. sat from 29th December, 418, until 4th September, 422. 43. St. Celestine I. sat from ICth September, 422, until 18th July, 432. 44. St. Sixtus III. sat from 24th July, 432, until 11th August, 440. 45.J St. Leo the Great sat from 22d September, 440, until 4th Novem- ber, 461. 46. St. Hilary sat from 12th November, 461, until 21st February, 468. 47. St. SilMPEicius sat from 25th Februrary, 468, until 2d March, 483. 48. St. Felix III. sat from 6th March, 483, until 24th February, 492. 49. St. Gelasius I. sat from 1st March, 492, until 19th November, 496. 50. St. Anastasius II. sat from 24th November, 496, until 17th No- vember, 498. 51. St. Symmachus sat from 22d November, 498, until 19th July, 514. SIXTH CENTURY. 52. St, Hormisdas sat from 27th July, 514, until 6th August, 523. 53. St. John I. sat from 13th August, 523, until 18th May, 526. 54. St. Felix IV. sat from 12th July, 526, until 18th September, 529. 55. Boniface II. sat from 21st September, 529, until 16th October, 532. 56. John IT. sat from 31st December, 532, until 26th May, 535. 57. St. Agapetus I. sat from 3d June, 535, until 22d April, 536. 58. St. Sylverius M. created 8th June, 536, removed 18th November, 537, died on 20th June, 540. , 59. ViGiLius intruded, afterward legitimate, sat until January, 555. * Felix is put in the list of Popes by many : St. Augustin omits him. f The list of St. Augustin ends with Anastasius. j Prosper, a contemporary author, numbers him 47th, as he should be numbered if Ana- cletus and Felix be counted. 432 CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 60. Pelagius I. sat from llth April, 555, until 1st March, 560. 61. John III. sat from IStli July, 560, until 13th July, 573. 62. St. Benedict I. sat from 3d June, 574, until 30th July, 578. 63. Pelagius II. sat from 30th November, 578, until 8th February, 590. 64. St. Gregory the Great sat from 3d September, 590, until 12th March, 604. SEVENTH CENTURY. 65. Sabinian sat from 13th September, 604, to 22d February, 606. 66. Boniface III. sat from 19th February, 607, to 10th November, 607. 67. St. Boniface IV. sat from 25th August, 608, until 7th May, 615. 68. St. Deusdedit sat from 19th October, 615, until 8th November, 618. 69. Boniface V. sat from 23d December, 619, until 22d October, 625. 70. HoNORius I. sat from 27th October, 625, until 12th October, 638. 71. Severinits sat from 28th May, 640, until 1st August, 640. 72. John IV. sat from 24th December, 640, until 11th October, 642. 73. Theodore sat from 24th November, 642, until 13th May, 649. 74. St. Martin I. M. sat from 5th July, 649, until 19th June, 653, when he was carried into banishment. He died on 16th September, '655. 75. St. Eugenius I. was chosen on 8th September, 654, by the clergy, who feared that the emperor would force a heretic into the chair, if they awaited the actual occurrence of a vacancy. The election was approved of by Martin. Eugenius died on 1st June, 657. 76. St. Vitalian sat from 30th July, 657, until 27th January, 672. 77. Adeodatus II. sat from 22d April, 672, until 26th June, 676. 78. DoNUS I. sat from 1st November, 676, until 11th April, 678. 79. St. Agatho sat from 27th June, 678, until 10th January, 682. 80. St. Leo II. sat from 17th August, 682, until 3d July, 683. 81. St. Benedict II. sat from 26th June, 684, until 7th May, 685. 82. John V. sat from 23d July, 685, until 1st August, 686. 83. CONON sat from 21st October, 686, until 21st September, 687. 84. St. Sergius I. sat from 15th December, 687, until 7th September, 701. EIGHTH CENTURY. 85. John VI. sat from 28th October, 701, to 9th January, 705. 86., John VII. sat from 1st March, 705, until 17th October, 707. 87. SisiNNius sat from 18th January, 708, until 6th February, 708. 88. Constantine sat from 25th March, 708, until 8th April, 715. 89. St. Gregory II. sat from 19th May, 715, until 10th February, 731. CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 433 90. St. Gregory III. sat from 18th March, 731, until 27th November, 741. 91. St. Zacharias sat from 30th November, 741, until 14th March, 752. 92. Stephen I.* elected immediately, died in three days. 93. Stephen II. sat from 26th March, 752, until 24th April, 757. 94. St. Paiji, I. sat from 29th May, 757, until 28th June, 767. 95. Stephen III. sat from 7th August, 768, until 2d February, 772. 96. Hadrian I. sat from 9th February, 772, until 25th December, 795. 97. St. Leo III. sat from 25th December, 795, until 11th June, 816. NINTH CENTURY. 98. Stephen IV. sat from 22d June, 816, until 24th January, 817. 99. St. Paschal I. sat from 25th January, 817, until 10th February, 824. 100. Eugene II. sat from 14th February, 824, until August, 827. 101. Valentine sat forty days. 102. Gregory IV. sat over sixteen years, until 25th January, 844. 103. Sergius II. sat from 10th February, 844, until 27th January, 847. 104. St. Leo IV. sat from 11th April, 847, until 17th July, 855. 105. Benedict III. elected immediately, consecrated on 29th September, 855, sat until 8th April, 858. 106. St. Nicholas I. sat from 24th April, 858, until 13th November, 867. 107. Hadrian II. sat from 14th December, 867, until 26th November, 872. 108. John VIII. sat from 14th December, 872, until 15th December, 882 109. Marinus sat from the end of December, 882, until May, 884. 110. Hadrian III. sat from June, 884, until September, 885. 111. Stephen V. elected about the end of September, 885, died in Sep- tember, 891. 112. FoRMOSUS sat from October, 891, until 4th April, 896. Boniface VI. sat only sixteen days. He is not acknowledged by Baronius ; but many number him among the lawful Popes. Stephen VI. in- truded before 20th August, 896, was strangled in prison in 897.t 113. EoMANUS sat from September, 897, until February, 898. 114. Theodore II. lived only twenty days after his election. 115. John IX. elected in July, 898, sat until August, 900. * As he was not consecrated, he is passed over in most of the lists, from which circum- stance a difference arises in numbering the Popes of that name. f Stephen is commonly put in the list of Popes, although Graveson holds him to be an intruder. 28 434 CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. TENTH CBNTTJKY. 116. Benedict IV. elected in August, 900, sat until October, 903. 117. Leo V. elected in October, 903, sat less than two months. Christo- pher, an intruder, occupied the See during six months. 118. Sergius III. was consecrated in June, 804, and sat until August, 911. 119. Anastasius III. sat from the end of August, 911, until October, 913. 120. Lando sat from October, 913, until 26th April, 914. 121. John X. sat from 30th April, 914, was suffocated in prison on 2d July, 928. 122. Leo VI. sat from July, 928, until February, 929. 123. Stephen VII. sat from 3d February, 929, until 15th March, 931. 124. John XL sat from March, 931, until January, 936. 125. Leo VII. sat from 9th January, 936, until 18th July, 939. 126. Stephen VIII. sat from July, 939, until December, 942. 127. Marinus II. sat from December, 942, until June, 946. 128. Agapetds II. sat from June, 946, until August, 956. 129. John XII. Oetavian, the first who changed his name, held the pontificate from 20th August, 956, until 14th May, 964. An anti- pope named Leo VIII. was set up by the Emperor Otto, on 6tli December, 963. He died in March, 965. 130. Benedict V. elected on 19th May, 964, sat until 4th July, 965. 131. John XIII. sat from 1st October, 965, until 6th September, 972. 132. Benedict VI. sat from December, 972, until 974. He was strangled, and Boniface VII. was intruded, who, after a month, was expelled, but again occupied the See during some months, after the death of John XIV. 133. DoNUS II. sat until 975. 134. Benedict VII. sat from March, 975, until 10th July, 984. 135. John XIV. died in 985, after governing during eight months. 136. John XV.* sat from December, 985, until April, 996. 137. Gregory V. sat from May, 996, until 18th February, 999. An antipope named John XVI. was set up in May, 997, by Crescentius of Nomentum, who exercised tyrannical sway at Rome. 138. Sylvester II. elected on 28th February, consecrated on 2d April, 999, sat until 11th May, 1003. * Another John, son of Robert, died without being consecrated, or was not true Pope, wherefore he is not counted. CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 435 ELEVENTH CENTURY. 139. John XVII.,* whose family name was Sieco, sat from 13th June, 1003, until 7th December. 140. John XVIII., named Easanus, consecrated on 26th December, 1003, died in May, 1009. 141. Sergius IV. sat until 18th August, 1012. 142. Benedict VIII. succeeded before 23d November, but was expelled by the antipope Gregory, and restored by St. Henry, King of Germany. He died before October, 1024. 143. John XIX. sat nine years and nine days. 144. Benedict IX. was elected toward the end of 1083. He was deposed by the Komans in a revolt on 29th June, 1037. In May, 1044, he was driven away a second time, when an antipope, styled Sylvester III., was intruded during three months. Benedict abdicated in favor of Gregory VI., but on the death of Clement II. he re- turned, and occupied the See during eight months, until 17th July, 1048. He is said to have died penitent at Grotta Ferrata. 145. Gregory VI. obtained from Benedict the renunciation of his claims in 1044, and sat two years and ei^ht months, but resigned in the Council of Sutri. 146. Clement II. sat from 25th December, 1046, until 9th October, 1047. 147. Damasus II. created on 17th July, 1048, sat twenty-three days. 148. St. Leo IX.f elected on 2d February, 1049, enthroned on 12th, sat until 19th April, 1054. 149. Victor II. elected on 13th April, 1055, enthroned on 16th, sat until 28th July, 1057. 150. Stephen IX. sat from 2d August, 1057, until 29th March, 1058. On the death of Stephen, an antipope styled Benedict X. was set up by the Romans. He sat nine months and twenty days, and afterward submitted to the lawful Pontiff. 151. Nicholas II. sat from 28th December, 1058, until 22d July, 1061. 152. Alexander II. sat from 1st October, 1061, until 21st April, 1073. 153. St. Gb:egory VII. sat from 22d April, 1073, until 25th May, 1085. 154. Victor III. elected, after refusing during a year, on 24th May, 1086, fled after four days, was consecrated 21st March, 1087, and died on 16th September, 1087. 155. Urban II. sat from 12th March, 1088, until 29th July, 1099. * As many documents bore the name of the antipope, John XVL, this Pontiff took the name of John XVIL, to prevent his acts being confounded with those of the antipope. ■[• Leo VIIL was an antipope whom Otho intruded in place of John XII. 436 CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. TWELFTH CENTURY. 156. Pascal II. sat from 13th August, 1099, until 21st January, 1118. 157. Gelasius II. elected 27tli January, 1118, consecrated on 10th March, sat until 29th January, 1119. 158. Callistus II. sat from 1st February, 1119, until 13th December, 1124, 159. HoNORius n. sat from 21st December, 1124, until 14th February, 1130. 160. Innocent II. sat from 15th February, 1130, until 24th September, 1143. 161. Celestine II. sat from 26th September, 1143, to 9th March, 1144. 162. Lucius II. sat from 12th March, 1144, until 25th February, 1145, when he was killed in a sedition by the throw of a stone. 163. Eugene III. sat from 27th February, 1145, until 7th July, 1153. The Arnaldists forced him to flee from the city in 1146, but he re- entered in 1149. 164. Anastasius IV. elected on 9th July, 1153, sat until 2d December, 1154. 165. Hadrian IV. elected on 3d, and consecrated on 5th December, 1154, died on 1st September, 1159. 166. Alexander III. elected on 7th, and consecrated on 20th Septem- ber, 1159, sat until 30th August, 1181. 167. Lucius III. sat from 1st September, 1181, until 24th November, 1185. 168. Urban III. elected 25th November, consecrated 1st December, 1185, sat until 19th October, 1187. 169. GrREGORY VIII. elected 20th, consecrated on 25th October, 1187, sat until 17th December, 1187. 170. Clement III. elected on 19th December, 1187, sat until 27th March, 1191. 171. Celestine III. elected on 30th March, ordained priest on 13th April, 1191, consecrated bishop on 14th, sat until 8th January, 1198. THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 172. Innocent III. sat from 8th January, 1198, until 16th July, 1216. 173. HoNORius III. sat from 18th July, 1216, until 18th March, 1227. 174. Gregory IX. sat from 19th March, 1227, until 21st August, 1241. 175. Celestine IV. elected in October, 1241, sat only seventeen days. 176. Innocent IV. elected on 25th May, and consecrated on 28th June, 1243, sat until 7th December, 1254. CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 437 177. Alexander IV. elected on 12th, crowned on 20tli December, 1254, died on 25tli May, 1261. 178. Urban IV. elected 29th August, consecrated on 4th September, 1261, sat until 2d October, 1264. 179. Clement IV. sat from 22d February, 1265, until 29th November, 1268. 180. Gregory X. elected on 1st September, 1271, crowned on 27th March, 1272, died on 10th January, 1276. 181. Innocent V. elected on 21st January, crowned on 22d February, 1276, died on 22d June, 1276. 182. Hadrian V. sat from 10th July, 1276, only during thirty-nine days. 183. John XXI.* elected on 15th, and crowned on 20th September, 1276, died on 16th May, 1277. 184. Nicholas HI. elected on 25th November, ordained priest on 18th December, consecrated on the 19th, and crowned on 26th Decem- ber, 1277, died on 22d August, 1280. 185. Martin IV.f elected 22d February, crowned on 23d March, 1281, sat until 29th March, 1285. 186. HoNORius IV. sat from 2d April, 1285, until 3d April, 1287. 187. Nicholas IV. sat from 22d February, 1288, until 4th April, 1292. 188. St. Celestine V. elected on 5th July, 1294, crowned on 29th Au- gust, voluntarily abdicated on 13th December, 1294, died on 19th May, 1296. 189. Boniface VIII.J sat from 24th December, 1294, until 11th Octo- ber, 1303. FOURTEENTH CENTUET. 190. B. Benedict XI.§ sat from 22d October, 1308, until 6th July, 1304. 191. Clement V. sat from 5th June, 1305, until 20th April, 1314. He was the first Pope who resided at Avignon. 192. John XXII. sat from 7th August, 1316, until 4th December, 1334. 193. B. Benedict XII. sat from 20th December, 1334, until 25th April, 1342. 194. Clement VI. sat from 7th May, 1342, until 4th December, 1352. 195. Innocent VI. sat from 18th December, 1352, until 12th Septem- ber, 1362. 196. Urban V. sat from 23d September, 1362, until 9th December, 1370. He established his residence at Rome in 1367, but returned to Avignon, and died there. » He was styled XXI., probably because an antipope in the time of Gregory V. had been called John XX. f The Marini have been popularly confounded with those named Martin, and counted with them. He was the second of the name of Martin. J Boniface VII. was an antipope. § An antipope had been called Benedict X. 438 CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 197. Gregory XI. sat from 5th January, 1371, untU 17tli March, 1378. He re-established the Papal residence at Rome. 198. Urban VI. sat from 8th April, 1378, until 15th October, 1389. Several cardinals created an antipope, Clement VII., who resided at Avignon, and was succeeded by Benedict XII. or XIII. 199. Boniface IX.* sat from 2d November, 1389, until 1st October, 1404. FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 200. Innocent VII. sat from 17th October, 1404, until 6th November, 1406. 201. G-REGOEY XII. was chosen on 30th November, 1406. He abdicated on the 14th July, 1415, in the Council of Constance. Alexander V. was chosen in the Council of Pisa, on 26th June, 1409, who dying on 4th May, 1410, was succeeded by John XXIII.f 202. Martin V. sat from 11th November, 1417, until 20th February, 1431. 203. Eugene IV. sat from 3d March, 1431, until 23d February, 1447. 204. Nicholas V. sat from 5th March, 1447, until 24th March, 1455. 205. Callistus HI. sat from 8th April, 1455, until 6th August, 1458. 206. Pius II. sat from 19th August, 1458, until 14th August, 1464. 207. Paul II. sat from 30th August, 1464, until 16th July, 1471. 208. SixTus IV. sat from 9th August, 1471, until 13th August, 1484. 209. Innocent VIII. sat from 29th August, 1484, until 25th July, 1492. 210. AiEXANDEK VI. sat from 11th August, 1492, until 18th August, 1503. SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 211. Pius III. elected on 22d September, 1503, lived only twenty-six days. 212. Julius II. elected on All-hallow-eve, and consecrated on 26th No- vember, 1503, sat until 21st February, 1513. 213. Leo X. elected on 15th March, 1513, died on 1st December, 1521. 214. Adrian VI. elected on 9th January, 1522, sat until 14th September, 1523. 215. Clement VII. sat from 19th November, 1523, until 26th Septem- ber, 1534. 216. Paul III. sat from 13th October, 1534, until 10th November, 1549. * Two antipopes had borne this name. t Alexander V. and John XXIII. are found in most of the lists, even in those published at Rome. CATALOGUE OP THE POPES. 439 217. Julius III. sat from 8th February, 1550, until 23d March, 1555. 218. Maroellus II. sat from 9th April, 1555, only twenty-two days. 219. Paul IV. sat from 23d May, 1555, until 17th August, 1559. 220. Pius IV. sat from 26th December, 1559, until 10th December, 1565. 221. St. Pius V. sat from 7th January, 1566, until 1st May, 1572. 222. Gregory XIII. sat from 13th May, 1572, until 10th April, 1588. 223. SiXTUS V. sat from 24th April, 1588, until 27th August, 1590. 224. Urban VII. elected on 15th September, 1590, died on 27th of the same month. 225. Gregory XIV. sat from 5th December, 1590, until 15th October, 1591. 226. Innocent IX. sat from 29th October, 1591, to 30th December. 227. Clement VIII. sat from 30th January, 1592, until 3d March, 1608. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 228. Leo XI. elected on 2d April, 1605, and crowned on the 10th, died on the 27th of same month. 229. Paul V. sat from 16th May, 1605, until 28th January, 1621. 230. Gregory XV. sat from 9th February, 1621, until 8th July, 1623. 231. Urban VIII. sat from 6th August, 1623, until 29th July, 1644. 232. Innocent X. sat from 15th September, 1644, until 7th January, 1655. 233. Alexander VII. sat from 6th April, 1655, until 22d May, 1667. 234. Clement IX. sat from 20th June, 1667, until 9th December, 1669. 235. Clement X. sat from 29th April, 1670, until 22d July, 1676. 236. Innocent XI. sat from 21st September, 1676, until 31st July, 1689. 237. Alexander VIII. sat from 6th October, 1689, until 1st February, 1691. 238. Innocent XII. sat from 13th July, 1691, until 26th September, 1700. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 239. Clement XI. sat from 23d November, 1700, until 19th March, 1721. 240. Innocent XIII. sat from 8th May, 1721, until 7th March, 1724. 241. Benedict XIII. sat from 29th May, 1724, until 21st February, 1730. 242. Clement XII. sat from 12th July, 1730, until 6th February, 1740. 440 CATALOGUE OF THE POPES. 243. Benedict XIV. sat from 17th August, 1740, until 3d May, 1758. 244. Clement XIII. sat from 6th July, 1758, until 2d February, 1769. 245. Clement XIV. sat from 19th May, 1769, until 22d September, 1774. 246. Pius VI. sat from 15th February, 1775, until 29th August, 1799. NINETEENTH CENTUKT. 247. Pius VII. sat from 14th March, 1800, until 23d August, 1823. 248. Leo XII. sat from 28th September, 1823, until 10th February, 1829. 249. Pius VIII. sat from 31st March, 1829, until 30th November, 1830. 250. Gregory XVI. sat from 2d February, 1831, until 1st June, 1846. 251.* Pius IX. elected 17th June, 1846. * The number varies, according as certain individuals are considered intruders, or law- ful Popes. This is a matter for critical inquiry, and does not-affect the succession. THE END. MUEPHY & CO.'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS. Just published, in 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, 75 cts. A NEW WORK BY ARCHBISHOP KENRICK. A VINDICATION^ OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, in a series of Letters to the Eigjit Eev. John Henet Hopkins, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of ■Vermont. By Feahois Pateiok Keneick, Archbishop of Baltimore. . '.' Tacere ultra non oportet, ne jam non vere cundise, sed diffldenti^ esse iDcipiat quodjtacemus, et dum crimiuationes falsas contemnimus refutare, Tide amurcrimin agnoscere."— ,S. fiyprian L. ad Demetrianum. Just Kblished, in 1 toI. 8to., embellished with a portrait of his Holiness, Pius IX. : price in embossed cloth p)l 50 ; library style, marbled edges, $2. THE PRIMACY OP THE APOSTOLIC SEE VINDICATED. Fourth Re- Tised and Enlarged Edition. By the Most Rev. Feancis Pateiok Keneick, D. D., Archbishop of Baltimore. In announcing a new edition of this highly important work, which is uni- versally acknowledged the best vindication of the Primacy, and the most triumphant answer to the entire Protestant statement ever written in the * English language, the publishers deem it sufficient to state, that three large editions have been sold in a few years, and that the fourth will be carefully f revised and enlarged. BISHOP IJLLATHORNE ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. Just published, ia a neat 18mo. -vol., embellished with a fine engraving ■ of the Immaculate Conception, in cloth, 37 J cents; incloth, gilt • edges, 62 J cents; in cloth extra, gilt edges, 75 cents., THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. An ^position. By the Right Rev. Bishop ULLATnoitNB. This learned treatise is universally conceded to be the best work yet pub- lished on this important subject. The low price at which it is published, will at once place it within the reach of all classes. "This is a beautiful work. In all the copious and exquisite literature of the Immaculate Conception, we have met with nothing more interesting than this brjef treatise, which contains a world of learning and an abundant treasure of the most striking thoughts, conveyed in the most beautiful language," — St. Louis Leader. " We have been very much pleased by the perusal of the work on the Immaculate Concep- tion, by the Right Reverend Bishop Ullathorne, and to all who preserve a proper veneration ^for the Mother of our Blessed Redeemer, this volume will be a precious memorial of one of *;:tjbe most important events of the age." Toronto Cath. Citizen. " This is a most valuable treatise by one of the great and illustrious prelates of England upon one of the most sublime subjects- The matters here treated are of too exalted a nature to be made the subject of newspaper criticism. We can but express our admiration of the work, and recommend it to the perusal of all persons — to Catholics, whom it will be sure to instruct, and, not improbably, if they are sincere searchers afti*r the truth, completely convert." X>vMin lelegraph. Father Faber's Companion to the Devotions for the Month of Mary. Just published, in a neat little Pamphlet, done up in paper covers, price G]4 cts. AN EXPLANATION OF THE DOCTRINE AND DEFINITION OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, WITH A MEDITATION, by the Rev. F. W. Fabek, D. D., author of " All for Jesus," "Growth in Holiness," &c., &c. Published with the approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop of Baltimore. The publishers, having been favored with advance sheets of this little pamphlet, are happy, in being able to place it before the public in time, for the devotions of the Month of May. The name of the Rev. author, and the approbation of the venerable Archbishop of Balti- more, are sufficient evidence of the merits. BIUKPHY & CO., PtJBLisHERS, 178 Market Street, Baltimore. Notices of Florine, Continued. The London Leader gays: — We recommend admirers of stirring descriptions and good love passages to read the work. Those with Hibernian sympathies will be glad to learn that, some centuries back, the kings of Meath were descendants of certain celebrated characters whose fortunes are so skillfully sketched in Flotine. By the way, we never had an Irish friend (if his name commenced with an exclamation) who was not in some manner descended from an Irish king of the Silurian period — it may be permitted to Mr. MacCabe to be national even in Palestine. An Irishman, in fact, had better be national anywhere than in Ireland. As the only controversy in the book is between pure Christianity and pure Mabommedanism, the most Protestant readers need not be afraid of their sympathies being Jesuitically seduced. Only Anglo-Catholics think of luring you to Rome by the novel road." The Liverpool Albion says : — " Judged purely by its merits as a romance of the early ages, Florine is a most attractive tale ; and we cannot but commend Mr. MacCabe's ingenuity as a master of literary artifice, not less than his artistic skill in the management of plot, and delicacy and tact in the elimination of character, and more especially of feminine character, furnished in this very graceful volume." The London Critic says : — From Ireland there comes to us an historical romance, in one volume, by Mr. W. B. MacCabe, called Florine, Princess of Burgundy ; a TaU of the First Cru- saders. It is in the style that S^ott has made so popular, and the author has paid great attention to the details. It is more amusing than nine-tenths of the three-volume novels with which the circulating libraries are burdened." SECOND EDITION IN THREE MONTHS. Just published, in 1 vol. 8vo., clath, ^2 ; library style, $2 50. THE PEOPLE'S EDITION OF LINGARD'S ENGLAND. LINGARD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, abridged, -with a continuation from 1688 to 1854. By Jas. Burke, Esq., Barrister at Law. With a memoir of Dr. Lingard, and Marginal notes, by M. J. Kerney, A. M. EmbelUshed ■with a fine steel portrait of Dr. Lingard. This highly important work is comprised in a beautiful octavo volume of nearly 700 pages; it is printed and bound in the best manner, and may justly be considered one of the cheapest books published. We believe that it will be at once conceded, that at no period has it been of more importance than at the present to place before the American nublic a true and impartial history of England. No apology need therefore be made for the pubhcation of an abridgment of Dr. Lingard'^ History of England, J5^- at a price that will at once place it within the reach of all classes. wJrl^Hnff " ■^™/<^" ^''y?:-"^ jodidous aiid agreeable abridgment was all that was wanting to complete the mission of the great Catholic hiatovian nf If n„l.«H si, ■ ^ abridge ; and while he, of course/SensLrtl,,. ft^tl^nln ■, " ''*T ^'' ""'^'^'^tak'is to he has preserred many desci" pt ™e sCes sketcLfof rS„™.t '^"'"^ """^ unbroken history, in the Tery words of tL origiS Lsto?f ^^he rlult is ^de .r^^ quite unusual in such a comnendium -Lnd wh^nK ;„ , ►i? • of elegance and of animation, some such expedient, uni^T'wSerra'sTn the S^e of w^^^^^ «">™' up by the writer's own hand ' fMSmondi, the compendium is drawn we'd^-rSrt^^irlZ'c^thetTifL'f,^^^^^ 'LlZll' ■="-'"' T" ^"^'"'o-' ^^^ onr literature which we have met wirh fS many year's™ °'°" '"^"*'' '"**'"'"" ^ need^Vrrhe^fl^r£:Btktt?pfepaSfC".f !S *^1 "^'^ °' ^''"' ^^^'^ ™ volume of 0S2 pages. Any man who buys boolit^ ''■ ^^'-'V^'y ^as published it in one abridgment is made with Ereat Jaro .?n «vlt l''?" ?"' ">'" ^""^ '»"'' '■■^'^ "• The noticed. The book is™n Sed o?'Z,I m"™';''°'.°"* '"*■'' ^^'' ^^^^S"* i''^*''"-y « un- hope that he wUl get t^emfn a substaSl ?orm '"^^ *'''""' «""' "''"^"^ ^°' '*'"''» "« The most popular Devotknial Booh of the age : 5,000 copies sold, and the demand increasing. ALL FOR JESUS ; or the Easy Ways of Divine Love, by the Very Eev. Fathek Fabeb, Priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Published with the Approbation of the most Kev. Archbishop Kenrick. 4th Ed. 12mo cloth $1 ; gilt edges $1 50. The publishers have the pleasure to announce that this work meets here with the same unprecedented sale that it does in England, where it has ran through several Large Editions in less than a year. It is, without excep- tion, the most popular Devotional Work published in the present century. It has been translated into several languages of Europe, and has been received with universal favor. With the view of affording our distant friends, and such as may be out of the reach of booksellers, every facility to procure this great work, we will, on the receipt of $1, send a copy by mail, free of postage, to any part of the United States. A NEW AND POPULAR BOOK, SUITED TO THE TIMES, Jiisi published, in one vol. duodecimo, price 38 cents. SHORT AND FAMILIAR ANSWERS to the Objections most commonly- urged against Religion. From the French of L'Abbe de Segub, formerly Chaplain of the Military Prison of Paris. There reigns in all the book a delicioas simplicity of unction; whoever opens it wishes to continue its perusal, and its charming pages ghed a soft light which scatters shadows, causes dilBculties to vanish, destroys prejucUcea, restores rectitude to the judgment, to truth its place, to religion its benefits and its splendor. Nothing can be more simply written, to be sure, but also nothing can he more touching, more natural, more loyal, more straight forward, more persuasive. It is a discourse without pompous preparation, but full of fascination. This booli has had an immense success in Prance, 100,000 copies having been sold in a few months. Just Published, in a neat 16mo. toL with 8 illustrations; cloth 38; cloth, gilt edges and sides, 50. Lawrence, or the Little Sailor. Translated from the French. " We cordially thank the publishers for introducing to our young firiends this cheap interesting, beautifully-illustrated, and true Catholic story. The 'moral which it points' is confidence in God and in his Blessed Mother. Would that we had more such stories to put into the bands of oiu- tittle ones." — Lam^. ^Yill he ready in May, in a beautiful Hvo. Volume, in various Bindings, from $1 to §3 per copy. THE DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE DECREE OF OUR HOLY FATHER ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE EVER BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Embellished with a splendid line engraving, being a copy of the immaculate Conception, struck in Rome by command of the Holy Father, on the occasion of the Definition. The whole to be published with the approbation of THE MOST EET. ARCHBISHOP OP BALTIMOKE. 4S- This work is undertaken at the earnest request of several friends, among the Eev. Clergy and Laity, who wish to possess, in a beautiful form, for preservation, correct and authentic copies of these important Documents. We will simply add, that no expense will be spared to present this publication in a style of elegance and neatness commensurate with the importance of the sulgect, and worthy of those whose encouraging patronage is respect- fully solicited. NEW WORKS IN PEESS. CHEAP AND UNIFORM EDITIONS OF Father Faher's Popular Devotional Iforks. WITH THE APfEOEATION OF THE MOST RET. AEOHBISHOP OP BALTIMORE. The unprecedented popularity of Father Fabee's works both in Englanfl and this country, has induced the undersigned to issue cheap and uniform editions, printed from new type, on fine paper, at such a price as will at once place them within the reach of all classes. Just published, in 1 vol. nearly 400 pages, cap 8vo., neatly bound in Cloth, only 50 cts. in Cloth, gilt edges, 75 cts., in Cloth extra, gilt edges, and aides, $1. GEOWTH IN HOLINESS ; or, the Progress of the Spiritual Life, Will be published early in May, uniform wilk the above. ALL FOR JESUS ; or. The Easy ways of Divine Love. Will be ready in June, uniform with ike other volumes. THE BLESSED SACRAMENT ; or The Works and Ways of God. Compa- nion to "All for Jesus." ' CoNTEWTS. — The Prologue. Triumph. — Book 1. The Blessed Sacrameut the greatest work of Qod —Book 2. The Blessed Sacrament the Devotion of Catholics— Book 8. The Blessed Sacrament a Picture of God. — Book 4. The Blessed Sacrament a Picture of Jesus. The Epilogue. Reparation. ' Will be ready early in May, in a neat 2imo. volume. THE DEVOUT CHILD OF MARY, THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST. A collection of Novennas preparatory to the Festivals of the Blessed Virgin: Meditations, Hymns, and method of hearing Mass in her honor, &o. Will be ready early in May, in a neat and attractive volume. THE DEVOTION TO THE HEART OF JESUS; with an introduction to the History of Jansenism. By the Rev. John Bernaed Dalqairk. Will be ready in June, in a neat 12mo. volume. THE STUDIES AND TEACHINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, at the time of its suppression (1750-1773). Translated from the French of M. L'Abee Maynaed, Honorary Canon of Poitiers — Professor of Rhetoric at Pontlevoy. Will be ready early in May, inaneat\2mo. volume uniform with Fredefs Histories. ABRIDGMENT OF THE HISTORY OF ENG LAND. By John Lingard, D.D With a Continuation from 1688 to the Reign of Queen Victoria. By Jamea Burke, Esq. To which Is added, Marginal Notes and Questions, adapted to the use of Schools ; by M. J. Kerney, A. M. Will be ready in June, in a neat 12mo. volume, price 50 cts. RUDIMENTS OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE, arranged for the students of Loyola College, Baltimore, — upon the basis of Wetenthall. PICTORIAL BIBLE STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. This series will be issued in the most attractive style, at a very low price. The illustrations will be from new designs, from the most eminent artists. No. 1, of this series will be ready at an early day. THE GENIUS OP CHRISTIANITY ; or the Spirit and Beauties of the Christian Religion. By M. De Chateaubriand. A new and beautiful translation, with a Memoir of the Author. To be embellished with fine engravings. MURPHY & CO., PuniJsiiERR, 178 Bliirkct St., Baltimore.