FIFTEENTH ASSUMPTIONSUPERIORITY TO ICINGS. 347 out of his precinct. He had but his vote in them : he had the first vote, as the patriarchof Alexandria the second, of Antioch the third ; but that order neither gave to him nor them any advantage as to decision, but common consent, or the suffrages of the majority, pre- vailed. He was conceived subject to the canons no less than other bishops. Councils examined matters decreed by him, so as to fol- low or forsake them as they saw cause. The popes themselves pro- fessed great veneration and observance of conciliar decrees. Pope Leo I. opposed a canon of the synod of Chalcedon (not pretend- ing his superiority to councils, but the inviolability of the Nicene canons); but it, notwithstanding that opposition, prevailed. Even in the dregs of times, when the pope had clambered so high to the top of power, this question in great numerous synods of bishops was agitated, and positively decided against him, both in doctrine and practice.' The synod of Basil affirms the matter of these decrees to be a "verity of the catholic faith, which whoever pertinaciously resists is to be deemed a heretic."' Those fathers say that "none of the skilful ever doubted of this truth, that the pope, in things belong- ing to faith, was subject to the judgment of the same general coun- cils ;" "that the council has an authority immediately from Christ, which the pope is bound to obey."9 Those synods were confirmed by popes, without exception of those determinations. Great churches, most famous universities, a mighty store of learned doctors of the Roman communion, have reverenced those councils and adhered to their doctrine, insomuch that the cardinal of Lorraine affirmed him to be an heretic in France who held the contrary. These things sufficiently demonstrate that the pope cannot pre- tend to supremacy by universal tradition; and if he cannot prove it by that, how can he prove it? Not surely by Scripture, nor by decrees of ancient synods, nor by any clear and convincing reason. XV. The sovereign ofthe church is by all Christians to be acknow- ledged the chief person in the world, inferior and subject to none, above all commands, the greatestemperor being his sheep and subject. He therefore now doth pretend to be above all princes; as in Israel Saul was the head, 1 Sam. xv. 17. Divers popes have af- firmed this superiority. They are allowed and most favoured by himwho teach this doctrine. In their Missal he is preferred above all kings, being prayed for before them. Conc. Const. secs. iv. p. 1003. 2 Veritascatholicæ fidei, cui pertinaciter repugnans est censendus hæreticus. Cone. Bas. sess. xxxiii. 8 Nec unquam aliquis peritorum dubitavit summum pontificem in his quae fidem concernunt judicio eorundem conciliorum universalium esse subjectum.Conc. Bas. Decret. p. 117. Concilium habet potestatem immediate a Christo, cui papa obedire tenetur, &c.-Conc. Bas., sess. xxxviii. p. 101.
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