GROUND OF THE PRECEDENCEGIVEN TO ROME. 203 of, of Pope Damasus, who writing, not, as he alleges, to the fathers of Constantinople, but to certain eastern bishops, calls them " Most honoured sons."' That whole epistle I fear to be [has been] foisted into Theodoret, for it comes in abruptly, and does not much become such a man: and if it be supposed genuine, I should suspect some corruption in the place; for why, if he wrote to bishops, should he use a style so unsuitable to those times, and so different from that of his predecessors and successors? Why should there be such a dis- parity between his own style now and at other times; for, writing to the bishops of Illyricum, he calls them " Beloved brethren."' Why, then, is he so inconsistent and partial as to yield these oriental bishops less respect? Wherefore, perhaps viol [sons] was thrust in for is is o1 [brethren] ; or perhaps the word Fvt,ox6vrorç was intruded, and he wrote to laymen, "those who governed the east,"' who well might be called " most honoured sons; " otherwise the epithet does not seem well to suit. But a single example of arrogance or stateli- ness (or of what shall I call it ?) is not to be set against so many modest and mannerly ones. In fine; that this salutation does not always imply superiority, we may be assured by that inscription of Alexander bishop of Thessa- lonica, to Athanasius of Alexandria, " To my beloved son and like- minded yoke fellow, Athanasius." IX. The ground of that eminence which the Roman bishop ob- tained in the church, so as in order to precede other bishops, shakes this pretence. The church of Rome was, indeed, allowed to be " the principal church," as St Cyprian calls it;' but why? Was it preferred by divine institution? No, surely; Christianity did not make laws of that nature, or constitute differences of places. Was it in regard to the succession of St Peter? No; that was a slim, upstart device, that did not hold in Antioch nor in other apostolical churches. But it was for amore substantial reason, the very same on which the dignity and pre-eminency of other churches was founded ; that is, the dignity, magnitude, opulency, opportunity of that city in which the bishop of Rome presided, together with the consequent numerousness, quality, and wealth of his flock, which gave him many great advantages above other his fellow-bishops. It was, says Rigal- tius, called by St Cyprian the principal church, "because constituted in the principal city."" a Bell. ii. 14; Theod. v. 10; Vales. in Theod. ib. `rl,; TyarrúTamaa. 2 'Ayaanrroïs äsaapoisSoz. vi. 23. 3 Tois r,, fróav iAúvovva. 4 'Ayaornai viïr zed óaol,úxT evaaaerovpyw 'AAavavtT. ApudAthan., Apol. ii. p. 783. e Ecclesia principalis. Cypr., Ep. 1v. Ecclesiaprincipalis, id est, in urbe principali constituta. Kigali. in Cypr., Ep. iv.
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