The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-11

his "Adversus Haereses' he speaks of Hyginus as ninth bishop of Rome, thus employing an enumeration which involves the inclusion of Peter as first blsnop. Irenaeus we know, visited Rome Tn TIT. At that date, scarcely more than cen tury since the death of St. Peter' ne may well have come in contact with men
 whose fathers had themselves spoke to the apostles.
 But did the Roman see claim supreme
 headship in these early days long prior
 to the fifth century? Yes, indeed, history
 bears complete evidence of the fact. We
 have many witnesses. The first witness
 is St. Clement, disciple of the apostles,
 who after Linus and Anacletus succeeded
 St. Peter as the fourth in the list or
 popes In his epistle to the Corinthians,
 written in e5 or 96, he bids them receive
 hack the bishops whom a turbulent fac
 ton among them had expelled. If any
 man." he says ''should be disobedient
 unto the words spoken by God through
 us, let them understand that they will
 entangle themselves in no slight trans
 gression and danger. Moreover ne plos
 them render obedience unto the things
 written by us through the Holy Ghost "
 The tone of authority appears so clearly
 that Lightfoot, a non-Catholic, speaks of
 this letter as ''the first step toward papal
 domination." Thus at the very commence
 ment of church history, before the last
 survivor of the apostles had passed away
 we find bishop of Rome, himself dis
 ciple of St. Peter, intervening in the af-
 fairs of another church, and claiming to
 settle the matter by decision spoken
 under the influence of the Holy Spirit
 Such a fact admits of one explanation
 alone. It is that in the days when the
 apostolic teaching was yet fresh in mems
 minds, the universal church recognized
 i, tl,oI +; I1;c,ov, pf nPf 0f c1-
 preme head
 A few years later (about 10O St. Ig-
 natius of Antioch, in the opening of his
 letter to the Roman church, speaks of it as presiding over the brotherhood of
 love-" The same century gives us St.
 Irenaeus, already mentioned, man who stands in close connection with the age
 Of the apostles, since he was disciple
 of St. Polycarp, who had been appointed
 bishop of Smyrna by St. John. Writing against the heresies of the day, he shows
 that the doctrines taught by the hereticai leaders had no support in apostolic tra- dition, faithfully preserved by the churches, which could trace the success sion of their bishops back to the 12 He writes, Because it would be too long in such volume as this, to enumerate the successions of all the churches we point to the tradition of that very great and very ancient and universally known church, which was founded and estab- lished at Rome, by the two most glor- ious apostles, Peter and Paul. We point l may say, to the tradition which this church has from the apostles and to her faith proclaimed to men, which, coming down to our times through the succession of her bishops, and we put to shame all who assemble in unauthorized meet ings. For with this church, because of it's superior authority, every church must o thaf tC fha Faif 1, frr1 rt,0v,~ in communion with which church the tra- dition of the apostles has been alway1 preserved by those who are everywhere" |"
 He then proceeds to enumerate the Roman | successors from Linus to Eleutherius, the twelfth after the apostles, who then oc- cupied the see.
 Many quotations could be given from the writers of that period, but enough is as good as feast I cannot, however refrain from mentioning Pope St. Victor 1 QSS-lSs). who proclaimed that the oriental 1 Christians who. claiming the traditions 1 of St. John, kept Easter at a different | date from Rome, must conform to the threatened with accommodation from the common unity
 ST. Cyprian, l may remark, who did not always see eye to eye with the bishops 1 of Rome. indeed, who in nonessentials stoutly upheld his own peculiar views, yet says, On him (St. Peter) alone does I Christ build His church and to him does He intrust His flock. He who deserts the see of Rome does he think he is in the church. Elsewhere in his epistle to Jubaian this same great writer speaks of /, the church which lis one and was by the voice of the Lord founded upon one who also received the keys thereof" 1 From the testimony brought forward, | it is evident that papal supremacy was
 exercised from the days of the apostles. l It was not, of course, exercised in the | same way as in later times. The church
 was yet in her infancy and it would be | irrationa, to look for a fully developed
 procedure governing the relations of the l supreme pontiff to the bishops of other sees To establish such a system was
 the work of time, and it was only grad
 ually embodied in the canon. The papal prerogatives came into play but rarely.
 and then only when the faith was threat
 ened or the vital welfare of souls de-
 manded action.
 | I presume the Rev. Mir. Lewis in men, tioning the first general council refers to | the famous sixth canon, which without :, doubt does lay down a certain comparison | between the churches of Rome and Alex andria. What are the facts of the case? 1 Meletus Bishop of Alexandria,. com plained to the council The fathers framed canon in which, though incl
 dental'y legislating upon the appointing