cause some rupture with the Pope Into what confusion and disorder might not so unfortunate an accident cast us †Greg. Naz. Orat. 12. Were we not better to Sacrifice somewhat to the good of our peace which is the greatest Legacy that our Saviour left to his Apostles * Joh. 14.27 Pacem meam do vobis What is there more precious than Union and Concord since that Jesus Christ gave so great a Character of it to his Disciples †Joh. 13.35 In hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei Discipuli estis si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem What is there more prejudicial than disunion and discord which destroy the most flourishing States Omne regnum divisum contra se desolabitur domus divisa contra se non stabit Matt. 12.25 Phila. I agree with you that we ought to do our utmost to obtain Peace that we ought to sacrifice our own Interests nay that for so great a good we ought to relinquish things that seem to us of importance Ipsum enim nomen pacis amabille says St. Austin but you must own too that we ought to do nothing for Peace to the prejudice of Truth St. Paul joyns these one with the other ‖ Eph. 4.15 Veritatem facientes in Charitate And God who calls himself Charity calls himself also Truth I know also that the Fathers of the Church exhort us greatly to avoid Schism as a mortal poison but a Peace made against the interest of Truth is not a real Peace and when we cannot make it and maintain it but at the prejudice of this Trurh it were better that a Scandal should arise than that Truth should be abandoned Satius est says St. Bernard ut scandalum oriatur quam ut veritas disceratur Philér How My dear Philal. Do you think that the Propositions of the Clergies Declaration and of Father Buhi's Thesis contain such essential and such important Truths that it would be a crime not to defend them tho it were to the disturbance of the Publick Peace Phila. Yes Dear Sir I am very well perswaded that all these Propositions are founded upon Texts of Scripture upon the Canons of Councils and upon the perpetual and constant Tradition of the Church principally of the Gallican Church and by consequence I believe that we ought not to depart from them any ways and that we cannot do it without danger But because it will be a matter of long Discourse I shall defer the examining of it to another walk The Second Dialogue PHilalethe and Phileréné who were no less desirous to entertain each other upon the subject whereon they had begun than to enjoy the fine weather of the Spring came the next day to the place appointed for their Conversation Scarce had they walked a turn or two talking of indifferent matters but Philalethe to make good the promise he had made the day before to his dear Friend began thus I told you yesterday says he that the Propositions contained in the Declaration of my Lords the Bishops and in the Thesis maintained by Father Buhi are of greater importance than you thought of and that they contained in them Truths too evident and too necessary to be let go for the motives of a deluding Peace To convince you of it we will make it the subject of our present Discourse I believe that the first and chief of these Questions and which ought to serve as a foundation to all the rest is that which concerns the Authority of Councils which hath ever been most venerable among Christians and which I believe to be of Divine Right and above the Authority of the Pope And in this I rely upon the Scripture and the perpetual and constant Tradition of the Church I believe answered Philéréne as you do That the Authority of Councils is of Divine Right and no Christian that ever I heard of hath yet disputed it But I know not whether you can so clearly prove as you hope for that this Authority of Councils is above that of the Pope for that many Learned men hold the contrary and there seems to be nothing in Antiquity decisive upon this matter The Council of Constance was the first that in this case pronounced in favour of Councils and what that Council declared about it was not in an absolute sence but in some certain respects and for some certain occasions Phila. I acknowledg that there are some famous Doctors who are of this opinion That the Pope is above the Council but it cannot also be denied but that the number of Learned men who hold the contrary Opinion is much the greater and you shall scarce find a Man of Learning in all France but he adheres to their Party Philér I am not for entring upon this particular discourse but you will oblige me to shew me by good Reasons that the Authority of Councils is the supream Authority in the Church and that Believers ought not to acknowledg any other upon Earth in things which relate to Faith and Discipline Phila. To be as good as my word to you then in what I promised you I suppose you know the Original of Councils A Man of your reading in the Divine History cannot be ignorant that God himself established them when he commanded Moses to take to him Seventy Elders for the Government and Conduct of his Ancient people and you know without doubt that the Jews had not only their Council of Twenty three which they called the Lesser House of Judgment but also their Council of Seventy wherein presided their Anaci which Council was composed of Sacrificers Priests and Scribes of the Law and was called the Greater House of Judgmen Our Councils have been formed after this Model and the Apostles began them at Jerusalem But to remove all difficulty our Question seems to be clearly decided by our Saviour in the 18th of St. Matthew when he referreth them who had any difference to the Church if they could not decide it by another way Dic Ecclesiae you see our Saviour referreth his Disciples to the Church without excepting St. Peter himself for which reason St. Augustin says very pertinently * Ep. 112. Tra. 118. in don lib. 1. pebapt con Donat. cap. 51. That the Church is the last and supreme Judgment that St. Peter signified the Church when our Saviour said to him That whatsoever he should bind on Earth should be bound in Heaven and whatsoever he should loose on Earth should be loosed in Heaven that it is the Church which received the power of the Keys and that if any one despiseth her when she correcteth he ought to be looked upon as a Publican and a Sinner It is furthermore the Church which is called the Support and Pillar of Truth * 1 Tim. 3.15 Columna firmamentum veritatis If you take good heed to this expression of St. Paul and to the Reasons whereon he grounds it you will agree that the Church is
of Judging Soveraignly in all Ecclesiastical Affairs they in their 4th Session made this following Canon The General Council lawfully Assembled in the name of the Holy Ghost and representing the Catholick Church militant holdeth immediately its power from Jesus Christ to which Council all manner of Persons of what estate or quality soever nay the Pope himself is bound to obey in things which concern the Faith the extirpation of Schisms and the General Reformation of the Head and Members And for as much as in the 39th Session this Council did ordain that for time to come there should be held a General Council at the end of every Ten years and that the next Council should be called in Five years and the following one in Seven the Council accordingly was called together at Pavia where it began and was afterward continued at Siena and finally in 1431. it was transferred to Basil where it was decided according to the Council of Constance that it was a most Catholick truth that Councils were above Popes and that Popes could not by their own wills either dissolve or prorogue Councils from place to place P. Have you no other proof which justifieth this Opinion And have not there been Popes who have acknowledged the superiority of Councils Phil. There are many other proofs which might be made use of which are even of the same kind as those whereof we have already spoken for we might remember several examples of the Ancient Bishops of Rome who have suffered their judgments to be examined in General Councils and have submitted themselves to their Decrees nay there are some who have desired that the Decrees which they had made might be examined in Council and amongst others Leo the Great who demanded of Theodosius that what he had decreed as well as what had been decreed in the pretended Council of Ephesus should be examin'd in a Gen. Council There have been also many other Popes that have acknowledged the Tribunal of particular Councils and amongst others the Pope Damasus who disputing with Vrsicinus concerning the Pontificate submits himself to the judgment of a Synod which decided this Affair and when this Pope was accused of Adultery by two Deacons Concordius and Castorius he justified himself before a Council of 44 Bps. Assembled at Rome in the year 378. I could add the evidence of several Popes upon this subject and amongst others that of Zozimus who in his 1st Ep. says That the Authority of his See cannot add nor change any thing against the Ordinances of the Holy Fathers which is a mark of subjection and of dependence And also that of Gregory the Great who in some place protested that he reverenced the Authority of the four Great Councils like that of the four Gospels Philér Were I not afraid of trespassing upon your patience I would desire you to give me some particular account of our Gadican Church and to let me know whether she always believed the Superiority of the Councils above the Popes Phila. I will do it my dear Philéréne but it shall be but very short that I may not tire you It cannot be doubted but that in the first Centuries our Churches of France acknowledged the Authority of Councils as superior to all others since that in the question concerning the day of Celebrating Easter our Prelates without the knowledg and participation of the Pope called a Synod wherein St. Irenaeâ—s presided who by order of the Synod wrote a Letter extreamly pressing to Pope Victor about this Affair as may be seen in Eusebius which this Bishop would never dare to have done if the Pope had been considered in the Gallican Church as the Supreme Magistrate of the Church and the Decretal Epistles attributed to the first Bishops of Rome cannot be objected to the contrary because that these Epistles have such visible characters of being counterfeited that it is beyond all doubt And in the Council of Arles above mentioned our Bishops of France shewed sufficiently that the Pope was subject to the Authority of Councils since that they examined an Appeal brought before them from the Popes Sentence Since that time divers Synods have been held in France by the order and permission of our Kings to treat of things concerning the Faith or Discipline of the Church wherein they judged of â—aith by the Oracles of the Scripture and by Tradition and of Discipline by the Canons of the Church that is to say of Councils Such was for example that which was held in the reign of our K Clovis at Orleance c. Also the second Council of Mascon Ordained that Provincial Councils should be called by the Metropolitans and that of the whole Kingdom by the Bishop of Lions with the Kings permission It is true that the Gallican Church received a great abridgment of its Liberties in the year 445 by the Ordinance of Valentinian the 3d who made the judgments of all the French Prelates subject to the Pope But this Ordinance of Valentinian received divers oppositions in France as it were easie to justifie by many famous examples In the 8. Century the Churches of France received another blow by introducing the Code of the Roman Canons which Charlemaign obliged himself to receive in France as well as the Roman Office in acknowledgment of the good turns which Po. Adrian had done him who in an Assembly of 15 Bishops and many Abbots declared Charlemaign Patrician or a Nobleman of Rome and acknowledged that it was in his power to Elect Popes to regulate the Apostolick See to institute through all the Provinces Archbishops and Bishops in a word he invested him with all the Rights which the Roman Emperors enjoyed Nevertheless this great Prince found in the exceution of his promise great opposition from the Clergy whom he forced to receive the Code of these aforesaid Canons by constraint Minis Suppliciis says the Original nor were these Canons received but by the Authority of our Kings having been published but under the name of Charlemaign and as Ordinances made by him His Successors have trod in the same footsteps always ordering that the Laws which they made by the advice of the Prelates of their Kingdoms and which are to be read in their Capitulars should be published under their Majesties Names and that the Popes themselves should be subject to them C. de Capi destin 10. and C. nos de Compet 2. Quest 7. But whatever increase the Authority of the Pope had gained in France by this Ordinance of Valentinian and by this Introduction of Charlemaign this did not hinder our Bishops from shewing upon all occasions a great deal of vigor in maintaining their Privileges and the Authority of the Church It is manifest by divers Examples which History affordeth and chiefly by that of Hincmare B. of Laon this Prelate was censured and condemned for his ill actions by a Synod held at Vervins he would have appealed to Rome but far from having any regard to his appeal
given him Tu es Petrus says he and furthermore super hanc Petram edificabo Ecclesiam meam He makes him understand by this That he shall not bear the name of Peter in vain since he intended to build his Church upon this Foundation-stone and tho the Evangelist St. Matthew changeth the Term yet it cannot be inferred from thence that he changeth the Subject because that Cephas the Syriack term which our Saviour used when he said to Simon the Son of Jona Thou art Peter signifies a Rock so that to translate the Syriack letter which Jesus Christ made use of we must say that our Saviour said to Simon the Son of Jona Thou art a Rock and upon this Rock will I build my Church And it cannot be denied but that St. Peter was a fundamental stone whereon Jesus Christ did build his Church since that in the 21st of the Revelations the Apostles are called (g) V. 14. Fundamenta coelestis Jerusalem You will be fully confirmed in this opinion if you observe that the Church is oftentimes compared in Scripture to a Temple to a House Believers are the living Stones of it Jesus Christ is the Corner-Stone and the Apostles the Foundation-stones And of these St. Peter is to be accounted the first because he laid the first foundation of this mystical building To these two Observations I would add a third drawn from the Hebrew Language amongst whom those who beget Children are called the Foundations of Houses Who then can doubt in either sense but that St. Peter is one of these Foundation-stones nay the very Foundation-stone it self since that by his Preaching full of Faith and of Zeal he laid the first Foundation of the Christian Church and begat Children unto God as well of the Jewish People as of the Gentiles I say the same thing of what our Saviour added That he would give him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven These Keys are Keys of an Authority not of Dominion and of Empire but of Jurisdiction and of Direction such as belong to a Steward and such as God promised to lay upon the Shoulders of Eliakim in the 22d of Isaiah We may also say that Jesus Christ alluded to the Custom of the Jews who invested their Doctors by the ceremony of delivering to them the Keys or to the Custom of the Pharisees who attributed to themselves the power of binding who called every thing bound which was prohibited and that loosed which was allowed of No Man therefore can deny but that St. Peter was established the principal Doctor of the Christian Church and that the Keys of Heavenly Knowledg whereof he just then gave an admirable proof were committed to him He loosed both the Jews and the Gentiles Those from the Observation of the Ceremonies of the Law and the Traditions of their forefathers which was a grievous burthen these from the false Opinions and false Worships wherein they had been bred And he confirmed both the one and the other in the belief of the Mysteries of Salvation and in the practice of the Maxims of the Gospel In all these respects who can doubt but that St. Peter received in a particular manner the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Philér All that you have said seems to me to be very good and very solid but what had St. Peter to his own particular in all this Are not the other Apostles as well as St. Peter these Foundation-stones of the Church in the sense which you have observed Were not the other Apostles as well as St. Peter established the Infallible Doctors of the Church Did not they all make use of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven in binding and loosing upon Earth the sins of Men Phila. I agree with you in all you say But though these Privileges were common to all the Apostles that doth not at all hinder St. Peter's having them after an Eminent manner and in this respect he had certainly some Prerogatives above his Brethren They were all of them Foundation-Stones whereon Jesus Christ built his Church But it may be said that St. Peter laid the Foundation of this mystical building after a most singular manner not only because he set the first hand to it but also because he built this House all the World over by the means of those who having been taught immediately from his mouth and dispersed at length throughout the World Preached the Gospel every where They all received the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven but St. Peter was the first that with his Keys opened the Doors of this Kingdom and made a larger use of it than the others You see also that he was the first called to the Apostleship That he shewed also a particular zeal and love for his Master who distinguished him from the others by his favours and by the name of Peter which he gave him But all these Prerogatives give him only a Primacy of Order and not of Dominion an Authority not of Empire and of Monarchy but of Precedency and of Direction such as that of a first President in a Senate or of a famous Philosopher among those of his Profession for which reason (a) Dial. ◠cap. 4. St. Jerom says of St. Peter that he was the first of the Apostles as Plato was the Prince of the Philosophers Philér I am convinced of the truth of what you say But doth it not appear in the 21st of St. John that Jesus Christ gives even an Authority of Dominion to St. Peter above his Brethren whom he distinguisheth by the name of Sheep as other common believers by the name of Lambs Phila. You can conclude nothing from that Text in favour of the Monarchical authority of St. Peter for in this place according to the opinion of (a) Cyril Alex. lib. 12. in Joh. cap. 64. St. Cyril of Alexandria and of (b) Cyril Hieros Catech. 2. St. Cyril of Jerusalem Jesus Christ did only renew to St. Peter the dignity of his Apostleship which he enjoyed but as the other Apostles did that he might not think he had lost it by his three times denying his Master and for this reason it is that he bids him three times to feed his Sheep It is to no purpose to seek after a Mystery in the terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since that the two first signify at the bottom the same thing and the two last are given indifferently to Believers in the Scripture The holy Fathers do also hold that the Apostles received the same right and the same power as St. Peter when our Saviour said to him Pasce oves meas according to (c) Basil de vit solit cap. 23. consti cap. 42. St. Basil (d) Greg. Naz. in Test Epist St. Greg. Nazianzen (e) Ambrose in pass St. Ambrose and (f) Aug. de Agon Chr. cap. 30. lib. quest vet No.