270 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. had been needless if his alone dissent had been of so very peculiar force. 4. The emperor, and many other bishops, did not know of any peculiar necessity of his confirmation. Again, it may be objected that popes have voided [made void] the decrees of general synods, as did Pope Leo the decrees of the synod of Chalcedon, concerning the privileges of the Constantinopolitan see, in these blunt words : "But the agreements of bishops repug- nant to the holy canons made at Nice, your faith and piety joining with us, we make void, and by the authority of the blessed apostle St Peter, by a general determination, we disannul."' And in his epistle to those of that synod : " For however vain conceit may arm itself with extorted compliances, and think its wilfulness sufficiently strengthened with the name of councils, yet whatever is contrary to the canons of the above-named fathers will be weak and void."' Lastly, in his epistle to Maximus, bishop of Antioch, he says : "He has such a reverence for the Nicene canons, that he will not permit or endure that what those holy fathers have determined be by any novelty violated. "8 This behaviour of Pope Leo, although applauded and imitated by some of his successors,' I doubt not to except against, in behalf of the synod, that it was disorderly, factious, and arrogant, proceeding indeed from ambition and jealousy, the leading act of high pre- sumption in this kind, and one of the seeds of that exorbitant am- bition which at length overwhelmed the dignity and liberty of the Christian republic; yet, for somewhat qualifying the business, it is ob- servable that he grounded his repugnancy and pretended annulling ofthat decree, or of decrees concerning discipline, not so much upon his authority to cross general synods, as upon the inviolable firmness and everlasting obligation of the Nicene canons, which he (although against the reason of things and rules of government) presumed no synod could abrogate or alter. In fine, this opposition of his proved ineffectual, by the sense and practice of the church maintaining its ground against his pretence. It is an unreasonable thing, that the opinion or humour of one ' Consensionesvero episcoporum, sanctorum canonum apud Niciamconditorumregulis repugnantes, unita nobiscum vestrm fidei pietate, in irrutum mittimus, et per authori- tatem beati Petri apostoli generali prorsus definitione cassamus.P. Leo I., Ep. lv. ad Pulsher. Aug. 2 Quantumlibet enim extortis assentationibussese instruat vanitatis elatio, et appe- titus suos conciliorum sestimet nomine roborandos, infirmum atque irritum erit quia- quid a prsedictorum patrum canonibusdiscrepant.Bp. lxi, adSyn. Chale. ' Tanta apud me est Nicenorum canonum reverentia, ut ea gumaunt a sanctis patri- bus constitutaneepermiserim necpatiar aliqua novitate violari.Leo., Ep. lxii. ad Max. Antioch. 4 P. Gelas. Ep. xiii. ad. Episc. Dard., p. 642, et in Tract. de Anatbem., p. 647 ; P. Pelag. II. Ep. v. ad Eliam., p. 474; Greg. M. Ep.
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