interview with him, when Jesus, looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; 'thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted "Feter,' John i. 42; and on the present occasion, he explains the mystery, where he says: Blessed ́art thou Simon, Bar Jona: because flesh and 'blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father, 'who is in heaven: And I say to thee, thou art 'Peter (a Rock,) 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 on earth, shall be 'bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt ' loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.' Mat. xvi. 17, 18, 19. Where now, I ask, is the sincere Christian, and especially the Christianwho professes to make Scripture the sole rule of his faith, who, with these passages of the inspired text before his eyes, will venture, at the risk of his soul, to deny that any special dignity or charge was conferred upon St. Peter, in preference to the other Apostles? I trust no such Christian is to be found in your Society. Now, as it is a point agreed upon, at least in your Church and mine, that Bishops, in general, succeed to the rank and functions of the Apostles; so, by the same Rule, the successor of St. Peter, in the See of Rome, succeeds to his primacy and jurisdiction. This cannot be questioned by any serious Christian, who reflects that, when our Saviour gave his orders about feeding his flock, and made his declaration about building his Church, he was not establishing an order of things to last during the few years that St. Peter had to live, but one that was to last as H long as he should have a flock and a Church on earth, that is, to the end of time: conformably with his promise to the Apostles, and their successors, in the concluding words of St. Matthew: Behold I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Mat. xxviii. 20. That St. Peter, (after governing, for a time, the Patriarchate of Antioch, the capital of the East, and thence sending his disciple, Mark, to establish that of Africa at Alexandria) finally fixed his own See at Rome, the Capital of the World; that his successors there have each of them exercised the power of Supreme Pastor, and have been acknowledged as such by all Christians, except by notorious heretics and schismatics, from the Apostolic age down to the present, the writings of the Fathers, Doctors, and Historians of the Church unanimously testify. St. Paul, having been converted, and raised to the Apostleship in a miraculous manner, thought it necessary to go up to Jerusalem to see Peter, where he abode with him fifteen days. Galat. i. 18. St. Ignatius, who was a disciple of the Apostles, and next snccessor, after Evodius, of St. Peter in the See of Antioch, addresses his most celebrated Epistle to the Church, which he says • PRESIDES in the country of the Romans." (1) About the same time, dissensions taking place in the Church of Corinth, the case was referred to the Church of Rome, to which the Holy Pope Clement, whose name is written in the book of life. Philip. iv. 3, returned an Apostolical answer of exhortation and instruction. (2) In the second (1) Heona@nra Epist. Ignat. Cotelero. (2) Coteler. century, St. Irenæus, who had been instructed by St. Polycarp, the disciple of St. John the Evangelist, referring to the tradition of the Apostles, preserved in the Church of Rome, calls it," the greatest, most ancient, and most universally known, as having been founded by St. Peter and St. Paul: to which (he says) every Church is bound to conform, by reason of its superior authority."(1) Tertullian, a Priest of the Roman Church, who flourished near the same time, calls St. Peter, "the Rock of the Church,' and says, that "the Church was built upon him." (2) Speaking of the Bishop of Rome, he terms him, in different places, "the Blessed Pope, the High Priest, the Apostolic Prelate,” &c. I must add, that at this early period, Pope Victor exerted his superior authority, by threatening the Bishops of Asia with excommunication, for their irregularity in celebrating Easter, and the other moveable feasts; from which rigorous measure he was deterred, chiefly by St. Irenæus. (3) In the third century, we hear Origen (4) and St. Cyprian repeatedly affirming, that the Church was "founded on Peter," that he "fixed his chair at Rome," that this is, "the Mother Church,” and "root of Catholicity." (5) The latter expresses great indignation, that certain African schismatics should dare to approach "the See of Peter, the head Church and source of ecclesiastical unity." (6) It is true, this Father afterwards had a dis(1) Ad hanc ecclesiam convenire, necesse est omnem ecclesiam.' Contra Hæres. 1. iii, c. 3. (2) Prescrip. 1. iii. c. 3. (3) Euseb. His. Eccles. 1. v. c. 24. (4) Hom. 5 in Exodr Hom. 17 in Luc. (5) Ep. ad Cornel. Ep. ad Anton. De Unit, &c. (6) Ep. ad Cornel 55, pute with Pope Stephen, about re-baptising converts from heresy; but this proves nothing more, than that he did not think the Pope's authority superior to general tradition, which, through mistake, he supposed to be on his side. To what degree, however, he did admit this authority, appears by his advising this same Pope to depose Marcian, a schismatical Bishop of Gaul, and to appoint another Bishop in his place (1). At the beginning of the fourth century, we have the learned Greek historian, Eusebius, explaining in clear terms, the ground of the Roman Pontiff's claim to < superior authority, which he derives from St. Feter (2); we have also the great champion of orthodoxy, and the Patriarch of the second See in the world, St. Athanasius, appealing to the Bishop of Rome, which See he terms, the Mother and the Head of all other Churches (3).' In fact, the Pope reversed the sentence of deposition, pronounced by the Saint's enemies, and restored him to his Patriarchal Chair (4). Soon after this, the Council of Sardica confirmed the Bishop of Rome in his right of receiving appeals from all the Churches in the world (5). Even the Pagan Historian, Ammianus, about the same time bears testimony to the superior authority of the Roman Pontiff (6). In the same century, St. Basil, St. Hilary, St. Epiphanius, St. Ambrose, and other Fathers and Doctors, teach the same thing. Let it suffice it to say, that the first named of these scruples not to advise, that the Pope (1) Ep. 29. (2) Euseb. Chron. An. 44. (3) Epist. ad Marc. should send visitors to the Eastern Churches, to correct the disorders, which the Arians had caused in them (7); and that the last mentioned represents communion with the Bishop of Rome, as communion with the Catholic Church (8). I must add, that the great St. Chrysostom, having been, scon after, unjustly deposed from his seat in the Eastern Metropolis, was restored to it by the authority of Pope Innocent; that Pope Leo termed his Church the head of the world,' because its spiritual power, as he alledged, extended farther than the temporal power of Rome had ever extended (9). Finally, the learned St. Jerom, being distracted with the disputes among three parties, which divided the Church of Antioch, to which Church he was then subject, wrote for directions, on this head, to Pope Damasus, as follows: I, who am but a sheep, apply to my shepherd for succour. I am united in communion with your Holiness; that is to say, with the Chair of Peter. I know that Church is built upon that Rock. He who eats the Paschal-lamb out of that house is profane. Whoever is not in Noah's Ark will perish by the deluge. I know nothing of Vitalis, I reject Meletius, I am ignorant of Paulinus: he who does not gather with thee, scatters,' &c. (1). It were useless, after this; to cite the numerous testimonies to the Pope's Supre (7) Epist. 52. (8) Orat. in Obit Satyr. (9) Serm. de Nat. Apos. This sentiment, another Father of the Church, in the following century, St. Prosper, expreɛ. sed in these lines : -6 Sedes Romą Petri, quæ, pastoralis honoris Facta caput mundo, quidquid non possidet armis, (1) Ep. ad Damas. из |