with those from Churches where it was kept, whenever they came to them."1

A little before the conclusion of this (the second) century, Victor, Bishop of Rome, cast Theodotus out of the Church, for denying our Lord's divinity (observes Archbishop Potter). And the same person excommunicated the bishops of Asia and their Churches, for observing Easter at the same time as the Jews, wherein he pretended they deviated from the Apostolic rule. This indeed was an unjust act, and blamed by Irenæus and other bishops of that age, who rightly thought that Churches might differ from one another in things of this kind, without any breach of Catholic communion or charity. However, it is a good evidence, that excommunication was used at this time in the Church.2

Here, the Protestant Archbishop, while blaming the course pursued by Pope Victor, as "unjust," admits that it is good evidence that excommunication prevailed at that time in the Church; and, in this instance, and the others which he alludes to, he bears testimony, at least indirectly, to the authority claimed by the Popes, at that early period, and their vigilance and firmness, not only in defending and preserving the deposit of faith especially entrusted to their guardianship, but in strictly insisting upon uniformity of discipline and ritualistic observance, where they deemed it essential to the welfare of the Church.

The question was finally settled, in accordance with the views of the Popes, at the Council of Nice, A.D. 325, as we shall presently see.3

In an earlier page, has been quoted a passage from

1 Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History," v. 24.

2 "A Discourse of Church Government," by John Potter, D.D., p. 370, London, 1711. John Potter was born at Wakefield in Yorkshire, in 1674. He was an accomplished scholar, and the author of several theological and other learned works. In 1708, he became regius professor of divinity, and canon of Christ's Church, Oxford. In 1715, he was named Bishop of Oxford; and in 1737 he was promoted to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury, by George II. He died in 1747.

The same decision had been arrived at by the Council of Arles, A.D. 314; and confirmed by Pope Sylvester, but failed to secure uniformity.

the works of Saint Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, written about the year 180, in which he alludes to the Roman See, as "the greatest, and most ancient and universally known Church, . . in which the tradition of the Apostles has always been preserved, and with which, on account of its more powerful primacy, it is necessary that every Church, that is, the faithful on every side, should agree." He then enumerates the Popes from Saint Peter down to Eleutherius, who presided over the Church in his day-a succession which, he argues, is a confutation of all heretics, that is, of all those who are not in communion with the successor of Saint Peter.

With the same intent, Saint Optatus, an African bishop, some two centuries later, gives the list, from Peter to Siricius, the Pope of his time;2 and Saint Augustine, writing about the year 400, enumerates all the Roman Pontiffs from Peter to Anastasius, who then governed the Church. "If," says he, "the order of the succession of bishops is to be considered, how much more certainly and how salutarily do we reckon from Peter himself, to whom, bearing the scheme of the whole Church, our Lord says, 'Upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her' (Matt. xvi. 18). For to Peter succeeded Linus. To Siricius succeeded Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found." 8

At the same early period in which Irenæus flourished,

1 "Divi Irenæi Opera," Contra Hæreses, p. 211. Paris, 1545. 2 "Optati Milevitani Opera," lib. ii. contra Parmen, p. 48. Paris, 1631.

36 'Augustini Epistola," 165, alias 53. "Si enim ordo episcoporum sibi succedentium considerandus est, quanto certius et vero salubriter ab ipso Petro numeramus, cui, totius Ecclesiæ figuram gerenti, Dominus ait super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portæ inferorum non vincent eam (Matt. xvi. 18). Petro enim successit Linus. . . . Siricio Anastasius. In hoc ordine successionis nullus Donatista epis. copus invenitur."

we find those who were outside the pale of the Church, and were desirous to become Christians, either visiting Rome, or applying to the Pope for missionaries, to instruct and baptize them. An interesting case in point is that of Lucius, the first Christian British King, called by the Welsh Llewer Mawr, or the Great Light, who, about the year 177, sent an embassy to Rome, to Pope Eleutherius, entreating that, "by his command, he might be made a Christian." The Pope, thereupon, sent missionaries, who baptized the king and great numbers of his subjects; "and the Britons preserved the faith which they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity, until the time of the Emperor Dioclesian." 1

It was in the year 429 that Saint Celestine, who then governed the Church, sent Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, as his Vicar, to Britain, to counteract the diffusion by Pelagius of his heresy among his fellow countrymen.2 Germanus was accompanied by Saint Lupus, Bishop of Troyes; and these two prelates, succeeded by their preaching, prayers, and miracles, in freeing the inhabitants from the taint of false doctrines. Three years later, Celestine ordained Patrick, for the conversion of all Ireland; and in the year 596 Saint Gregory the Great dispatched Augustine and his companions, to confer a similar blessing on England. So also the Gauls, the Germans, and many another race, have reason to look back with joy and gratitude to remote periods, now enveloped in the mists of antiquity, when the light of faith was diffused among their ancestors by devoted missionaries appointed to the work by the successors of Saint Peter. Here, the inhabitants

1 Bede, "Ecclesiastical History," book i. chap. 4; and "AngloSaxon Chronicle."

2 Prosper, "Chronicon," ad ann. 429. "Papa Cœlestinus Germanum, Autissiodorensem Episcopum, vice sua, mittit, et deturbatis hæreticis Britannos ad Catholicam fidem dirigit.'

3

A.D. 432. Long before this, parts of Ireland had been evangelized by missionaries from Rome,

had to be rescued from the darkness of Paganism. Here, the faith, already planted, had to be confirmed and extended. Here, again, the evils of schism and heresy had to be eradicated. Thus, from the Prince of the Apostles down to Leo XIII., might each Pontiff, in his turn, exclaim, in the words in which Pope Celestine commenced his letter to the Bishops of Vienne and Narbonne in Gaul, A.D. 432, “By no limits of place is my pastoral vigilance confined: it extendeth itself to all places where Christ is adored."

In the pages of Bede1 and other early historians, we find accounts of the close connection of our Saxon and Celtic ancestors, in these islands, with the Holy See. Thus, in the year 688, Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons, went to Rome, "at the time that Sergius was Pope," in order to be baptized in the church of the blessed Apostles; and his successor Ina, after a reign of thirty-seven years, "gave up his kingdom in like manner to younger persons, and went away to Rome, A.D. 728, when Gregory was Pope, to visit the blessed Apostles, being desirous to spend some time of his pilgrimage upon earth in the neighbourhood of the holy place, that he might be more easily received by the saints into heaven. The same thing was done, about the same time, by many of the fervent English nation, noble and ignoble, laity and clergy, men and women." The institution of Peter's Pence, or Rome

1 The Venerable Bede was born in 673, in a village in the county of Durham. At seven years old, he was committed to the care of Saint Bennet Biscop, who founded the monastery of Weremouth in 674, and that of Jarrow in 680. Bede was principally educated at Jarrow, where he became a monk. In 702 he was ordained priest. His time was chiefly occupied in study, and in copying and composing books. He died in 735, aged sixty-two. His works were published in Paris, in 1544, in three volumes folio; and again in 1554, in eight volumes; in Basle in 1563, and in Cologne in 1612 and 1688-all in eight volumes folio. His principal work is his "Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation," first separately printed at Esslingen by Conrad Fyner, in 1574.

2 Bede's "Ecclesiastical History," book v. chap. 7.

scot, by Ina is another proof of the intimate relations subsisting at this period between the Saxon princes and the Apostolic See.1

We have seen how, about the year 251, the schismatics at Carthage, endeavouring to intrude a false bishop into that see, sent a messenger to Rome, praying that their candidate Fortunatus might be received into communion by the Pope, Saint Cornelius-a notable proof, that, as early as the middle of the third century, in the remote capital of Africa, communion with the See of Rome was deemed, not only by the faithful, but even by schismatics, an essential condition of the legitimacy

1 Peter's Pence, or Rome-Scot, was a tax instituted, in the early part of the eighth century, by Ina, King of the West Saxons, for the support of the Pope, and, as some writers allege, in return for a house for the reception of English pilgrims, erected in Rome. Ina abdicated in favour of his relative Ethelherd, A.D. 728, and made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he entered a monastery. His wife, Ethelburga, who had accompanied him, took the habit in a house of religious women, at the same time. Offa II., King of the Mercians, who reigned A.D. 755-796, following Ina's example, established Peter's Pence among his subjects; and, in the course of time, the payment became general all over England; so that every family, possessing twenty pence worth of goods of any kind, was liable to this tax of one penny in the year. The payment of Peter's Pence in England continued until the time of Henry VIII., when it was prohibited by statute, 25th Henry VIII., cap. 21 in England, and 28th Henry VIII., cap. 19 in Ireland. Cardinal Garampi, writing towards the end of the last century, alleges that Peter's Pence were originated by Offa, and not by Ina. To this allegation is opposed the evidence of Ranulph Higden, the Monk, of Chester, who writes in his Chronicle, concerning Ina, as follows: "Qui primus omnium regum denarium ex singulis domibus regni sui Beato Petro fertur concessisse, quod diu ab Anglis Romescot, Latine vero Denarius Petri vocabatur." Ranulph Higden was a Benedictine monk of Saint Werberg's, in the county of Chester, and died, close on his hundredth year, A.D. 1363. His Chronicle, written in Latin, was styled "Ranulphi Higdeni Polychronici Libri Septem," and was translated into English, by John of Trevisa, in 1387. This translation was retouched in 1482 by Caxton, who added an eighth book, bringing it down to 1460. Caxton's version of the passage above quoted is: "Ina bytoke his kyngedome of West Saxons to his cosyn ethelardus and wente to rome hyt is sayd that he was the fyrst of kynges that graunted to seynt peter of every hous of his kyngedome a peny that longtime by englysshemen was callyd Rome scott but in Latyn it is callyd petres peny ("Cronica Ranulphi Cestrensis Monachi," lib. v. cap. 24. Westminster, Caxton, 1482).