ST PETER COULD NOT BE BISHOP WITH ANOTHER. 115 bishop of the Roman church by Paul; but Clement, after the death of Linus, by Peter, in the second place." Others between Linus and Clement interposed Cletus, or Ana- cletus (some taking these for one, others for two persons); which does not alter the case.' Now, hence we may infer, both that St Peter never was bishop; and, upon supposition that he was, that hedid not continue so: for, - 2. If he had ever been bishop, he could not well lay down his office, or subrogate another either to preside with him or to succeed him, according to the ancient rules of discipline, and that which passed for right in the primitive church. This practice Pope Innocent I. condemned as irregular, and never known before his time. " We," says he in his epistle to the clergy and people of Constantinople, "never have known these things to have been adventured by our fathers, but rather to have been hin- dered; for none has power given him to ordain another in the place of one living. "' He did not, it seems, consider that St Peter had used such a power. Accordingly, the synod of Antioch, to secure the tradition and practice of the church, which began by some to be infringed, made this sanction, that " it should not be lawful for any bishop to consti- tute another in his room to succeed him, although it should be at the point of death. "4 3. But supposing St Peter were bishop once, yet, by constituting Linus or Clement in his place, he ceased to be so, and divested him- self of that place; for it had been a great irregularity for him to con- tinue bishop together with another. That being [supposed], in St Cyprian's judgment the ordination of Linus had been void and null; for, " Seeing," says that holy martyr, " there cannot after the first be any second, whoever is after one who ought to be sole bishop, he is no longer second, but is nobody."' Upon this ground, when the Emperor Constantius would have procured Felix to sit bishop of Rome together with Pope Liberius, at his return from banishment, after his compliance with the Arians, the people of Rome would not admit it, exclaiming, " One God, one Tñf Ii `Profcaiav iziantrias Aieev,0 ply ó Rxau1'a; rp7rof úaá naúxou, KA, ; róv Aine 9oivarav úa' iu nirpae 1 ' pac us '(ppo?ÓYera,.ConSt. Apost. vii. 46. 'Euseb. iii. 4,13; Aug. Ep. clxv.; Epiph., Heer. xxvii; Opt. ii.; Tertull. poem. in Marc. iii. 9; Phot. Cod. cxii. p. 290. N. Eusebius, iii. 2, says that Linus sat bishop after the martyrdom of St Peter; but this is not so probable as that which the author of the Constitutionsaffirms, which reconciles the dissonancies of writers. ' oúáí yiepcarirort rep yrñ+v aaripmv raga rero7.tcñoAar i ,nee e,, ieJ,J,.á famxaa, ztzor- ) óçter, rry tenoni Cis .Órar yeYT,Ç xsrporoYErY SAXaY ótóáotar illouoiay. P. Inn. I., apud Soz. viii. 26. 4 'Erwxórá fcñ it va( oivf iauraú eoraota( i' -yn, zár rtoi ., r0 .,4 raíi Nov ruy- xárq.Syn. Ant., can. xxiii. Cum post primum secundus esse non possit; quisquis post unum, qui solus esse debeat, non jam secundus ille, sed nullus est._Cypr., Ep. lii,
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