Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-03-27

tss~'~>~ 49, OO~>
stantin0ple the second rank after that OF Rome;
the legates reserved the decision of this mat
ter to- the Pope, the whole council approving.
We may add that the Pope on receiving the
acts OF the council refused TO allow the canon
foTmulate6in. favor Of Constantinople.
haye placed before you words and facts
from different ages of the early church, from
difierenticountriss, east and west, from indi.
viduals: and general assemblies of the preiates
of the church. Hundreds of similar testi.
monies can be produced; they are easily read
in books bearing on this question of the
supremacy. To my mind they establish to an
evidence that the early church saw in the
Roman bishops the successors of st. Peter,
and as such recognized them as the princes
and rulers of the church.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
Certain facts are. brought forward in
opposition 10 the supremacy of the
Roman church. In number, they are
scarcely as one to hundred, if we put them
side by side with the positive testimonies in
its favor. They are easily explained. When
Pope st. Victor, it is said, decreed that uni
fOrmity should be observed in the time Of
celebrating Easter, the bishops of Asia op-
posed the decree. The fact that authority is
sometimes resisted does not prove against the
existence Of this authority. The important
fact remains that Pope Victor claimed in the
very early days OF the church the right to leg
islate for. other bishops. When St. Ireneus OF
Gaul, demonstrated with Pope Victor, it was
not to deny his right to legislate for distant
provinces and to excommunicate disobedient
bishops, but simply because of what he judged
to be Victor's ver-zeal in matter which
after all concerned only discipline. (:
When Pope Stephen had declared that bap-
tism administered by hereties was valid, Cy-
prian, irritated on finding his teaching con
demned, spoke In the Council OF Carthage these
words: mo one Of us setteth himself up as q
bishop Of bishops, nor by tyrannical terror
forceth his colleagues to necessity of obey
ing, inasmuch as every bishop in the use Of
his free liberty and power has the right OF
forming his own Judgment, and can no more
be judged by another than he can himself
Judge another. But we must all await
The Judgment of our Lord, who alone
has the power both of setting us in the govern
ment of his church and Of judging our acts
decree OF Stephen, are the head and front Of
the Anglican defense. They are constantly
quoted to show. that in the ancient church no
one bishop, whether OF Rome or of another
see, was, allowed TO exercise authority ever
others. Taking the words in the meaning
most opposed to the Roman Catholic teaching,
they are those Of Cyprian, whom on this point
scores Of Fathers contradict. They are words
from Cyprian, contradicting his own words
on other occasions. NO one more Than
Cyprian, in. his book ON "The Unity of the
Church, ;" speaks more clearly of the see OF
Peter as the center of this unity, which he
calls ssThe principal church, The Rank or
Grade Of the SacredotA Chair" "whence the
unity OF the priesthood took its rise-the
mother, the root, the womb of the Catholic
church," When he had found fault, on a
previous occasion, with the bishop Of Aries in
GAuJ, he recognized the right OF the Roman
PontlH TO Interfere IN The affairs OF other
bishops, and vigorously appealed 10 him TO
anus. Now that he is threatened himself with
accommodation, he speaks somewhat differ.
entlyi but he is not In his own case an i'm.
partial judge. The great st. Augustine lived
in Africa in the century following. He un-
derstood well the whole controversy on this
question Of baptism; he knew the relations of
the African church with Rome, and he said OF
Cyprian's words: ~ Will not review what ne
uttered against Stephen in the heatof dispute. :"
Anglicana make much, too, oil 81: Greg.
ory's words to the bishop OF Constantinople..
The latter had taken to himself the title of
universal bishop, and Gregory wrote to him:
elf one bishop be called universal, the univer-
sal church falls, If that universal bishop falls.
Let that blasphemous name be abhorrent 10
the hearts OF all Christians, by which the hon
or Of all bishops is. taken away, while it is
-madly arrogated by one TO himself" AS mat
ter Of fact, there has been scarcely Pope
more jealous of the special prerogatives OF
the see OF Rome, anu VINO exercised over tne
cnuIcn hofs nn ~, aces VI autuuiiSy Suau
S S II =, tho cbnrches.p est Peter said
he, speaks to day in his successor, ssto me
is entrusted the care of the universal church. !"
His words regarding the title OF universal
bishop. whatever be their meaning, did not
mean that he, as successor OF st. Peter, laid
no claim to supremacy. According to two
Protestant wri tiers. Milnan and Neander,