SENTIMENTSOF THE FATHERS. 125 " Therefore," [says Pope John I.,] "for this cause the holy church is committed to you and to us, that we may labour for all, and not be slack in yielding help and assistance to all."' Hence St Chrysostom said of Eustathius, his bishop, " He was well instructed, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that a president or bishop of a church ought not to take care of that church alone where- with he is intrusted by the Spirit, but also of the whole church dis- persed throughout the world. "' They [the fathers] consequently reputed schism, or ecclesiastical rebellion, to consist in " a departure from the common agreement of the body of the priesthood,' as St Cyprian in divers places expresses it, in his epistles to Pope Stephen and others. They deem all bishops to partake of the apostolical authority, ac- cording to that of St Basil to St Ambrose: " The Lord himself has translated thee from the judges of the earth unto the prelacy of the apostles."4 They took themselves all to be vicars of Christ and judges in his stead, according to that of St Cyprian: "For heresies are sprung up and schisms grown, from no other source than this, because God's priest was not obeyed, nor was there one priest or bishop for a time in the church, nor a judge thought on, for a time, to supply the room of Christ."' Where that by " church" is meant any particular church, and by " priest" a bishop of such church, any one, not be- witched with prejudice, by the tenor of St Cyprian's discourse will easily discern' They conceive that our Saviour promised to St Peter the keys in behalf of the church, and as representing it.Cypr., Ep. xxvii. They suppose the combination of bishops, in peaceable consent and mutual aid, to be the "rock" on which the church is built. They allege the authority granted to St Peter as a ground of claim to the same in all bishops jointly, and in each bishop singly, accord- ing to his " rata pars," or allotted proportion; " which may easily be understood by the words of our Lord, when he says to blessed Hujus ergo rei gratia vobis et nobis sancta commissa est ecclesia, ut pro omnibus laboremus, et cunctis opera ferre non negligamus. P. Jod. I., Ep. i. adZachar., apud Bin., tom. iii. p. 812. 2 Kai yap ,iv ?sralSEep ivo; xaxr eç arapa ma's. 1aû revsÚpaares xápma 1-71; xaxnoier sroasereea z ima m óvns x. haia, 1i, 4 ,-,Ç iyxElp(OAf1onÇ 0úrá, axxá zai aáonç x014 mñv oixoeaévnv ,wpaivnt.Chrys., tom. y. Or. 93. 3 A corpore nostri, et sacerdotii consensione discesserit, &c.Cypr., Ep. lxvii. Qui se ab ecclesim vinculo, atque a sacerdotum collegio separat.Cypr., Ep. lii. 4 Aúmóç es ó Vim; aaró rmv Xpsrvv 4; ys]ç ivri 'AV vrpoESpEav rwv 4'aolóxmv pahri9nxhv. Basil., Ep. lvi. 3 Neque enim aliunde hmreses obortm aunt, aut nata sunt schismata, quam inde quod sacerdoti Dei non obtemperetur, nec nuns in ecclesiaad tempus sacerdos, et ad tempus judex vice Christi cogitatus. Cypr., Ep. lv. 6 Episcopus personam habet Christi, et vicarius Domini est.Ambr. in 1 Cor. xi. " The bishop sustains theperson of Christ, and is the vicar of our Lord."
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