DEAD SILENCE OF ANTIQUITY ON ST PETER'S PRIMACY. 105 And because St John abode at Ephesus, inspecting that church, and " appointing bishops there," the bishops of that see " referred their origin to him."' So many bishops do claim from St Paul. So St Cyprian and Firmilian assert themselves " successors of the apostles, "a who yet, perhaps, never were at Carthage or Cæsarea. So the church of Constantinople is often, in the Acts of the Sixth General Council, called " This great apostolic church ;" being such churches as those of which Tertulian says, that "although they do not produce any of the apostles or apostolical men for their author, yet, conspiring in the same faith, they are no less, for the consan- guinity of doctrine, reputed apostolical."3 Yea, hence St Jerome asserts a parity of merit and dignity sacer- dotal to all bishops; because, says he, " all of them are successors to the apostles," having all a like power by their ordination conferred on them.Hier. ad Evagr.* 12. Whereas our adversaries pretend that indeéd the other apostles had an extraordinary charge as legates of Christ, which had no suc- cession, but was extinct in their persons, but that St Peter had a peculiar charge, as ordinary pastor of the whole church, which sur- vives (Bell. iv. 25, &c.), To this it is enough to rejoin, that it is a mere figment, devised for a shift, and affirmed precariously, having no ground either in holy Scripture or in ancient tradition ; there being no such distinc- tion in the sacred or ecclesiastical writings, no mention occurring there of any office which he assumed, or which was attributed to him, distinct from that extraordinary one of an apostle; and all the pastoral charge imaginable being ascribed by the ancients to all the apostles in regard to the whole church; as has been sufficiently de- clared. iv. 1. " Primus is the fourth from the apostles who was thebishopof that place, or ob- tained the ministry there." s "Oaou pcév ivrioxóoroue xmraaprvicrov, Yam ós ax; i ),neíaç áPp tecov, &C. Clem. Alex., spud Euseb., iii. 23. Ordo episcoporum ad originem recensus in Joannem stabit auto- rem. Tent. in Marc., iv. 5; Tort. de Præacr., xxxii. z Unitatem a Domino et per apostolis nobis successoribustraditam.Cypr., Ep. xlii. Adversarii nostri qui apostolis successimus.Firmil. in Cypr., Ep. 1xxv. 3 ab illis ecclesiis, quse licet nullum ex apostolis, vel apostolicis auctorem scum proferant, ut multo posteriores, quæ denique quotidie instituuntur, tamen in eadem fide conspirantes, non minus apostolicæ deputantur, pro consanguinitate doctrines. Tert. de Prcescr., xxxii. The reference here is to Jerome's celebrated epistle, Ad Evagrium, in which he asserts the original identity of the presbyterate and the episcopate, and maintains that the churches wereat first governed communipresbyterorumconcilio. Bellarmine and Durand express their indignant surprise at this sentiment of Jerome. "Inde demon- strare nititur," says the former, " dignitatem presbyterorum esse maximam, qubd eadem sit cum episcopali."Bellar. De Cleric., cap. xv. " Magis autem mirandum," writes the latter, " quod Hieronymus, per sua verba, videtur cequare presbyteros epis- copis." Dur. in Sentent. Dist. 24, q. 5. En.
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