342 SYNODS CONDEMNED ERRONEOUS POPES. Irenæus, Tertullian, Vincentius Lirinensis, and others, discoursing of the methods to resolve points of controversy, did not reckon the pope's authority for one. Divers of the fathers did not scruple openly to dissent from the opinions of popes; nor were they wondered at or condemned for it. So St Paul withstood St Peter.' So Polycarpus dissented from Pope Eleutherius; so Polycrates from Pope Victor; so St Cyprian from Pope Stephen; so Dionysius Alex. [bishop of Alexandria] from Pope Stephen ;all which persons were renowned for wisdom and piety in their times. Highest controversies were appeased by synods out of the holy Scripture, catholic tradition, the analogy of faith, and common rea- son, without regard to the pope. Divers synods in Africa and Asia defined the point about rebaptization without the pope's leave, and against his opinion. The synod of Antioch condemned the doctrine of Paulus Samosatenus, without interventionof the pope, before they gave him notice. In the synod of Nice the pope had very small stroke. The general synod of Constantinople declared the point of the divinity of the Holy Ghost against Macedonius, without the pope, who did no more than afterward consent. This the synod of Chalcedon, in their compellation to the Emperor Marcian, observed: "The fathers met in Sardica to suppress the relics of Arianism, communicated their decrees to the eastern bishops; and they who here discovered the pestilence of Apollinarius made known theirs to the western."' The synod of Africa defined against Pelagius before their inform- ing Pope Innocentius thereof; not seeking his judgment, but desir- ing his consent to that which they were assured to be truth. Divers popes have been incapable of deciding controversies, them- selves having been erroneous in the questions controverted; as Pope Stephanus (in part), Pope Liberius, Pope Felix, Pope Vigilius, Pope Honorius, &c.; and in our opinion all popes for many ages. It is observable how the synod of Chalcedon, in their allocution to the Emperor Marcian, excuse Pope Leo for expounding the faith in his epistle; which, it seems, some reprehended as a novel method, disagreeable to the canons: "Let not them," say they, "object to us the epistle of the admirable prelate of Rome, as obnoxious to imputation of novelty; but if it be not consonant to the Scriptures, let them confute it, or if it be not consentaneous to the fathers who have preceded, or if it be not apt to confute the irreligious, "3 &c. ' Gal. ii. 11,'AYmam4Y. 2 Kai of /AY [x Meep ixñç xamá mwv 'Ap2íou XSINWvav &VGJVraáfftY01 707ç lev ávamoxñ mY 10,1, igée'[¡4a'oY, 01 ai ivmaûAa mite '.Asroarvapiov xú¡4nv ¢wFkoavmtç 70Ìç b ULIEr mile +,r -iP, iyvá40v.-Cone. Chale. ad Marc. Orat., p. 468. 3 n; g,évnv mrvá xai To7c xavenv ,l v¢voFua¡4svnv mñç i9rrom4x72, lu e, xx, m;v avvma rv.
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