ARGUMENT OF ARCHBISHOP KENRICK. 257 CHAPTER IX. Same Power conferred on all the Apostles.-Roman Church not the First This was to Ir has been already seen that Archbishop Kenrick has treated the question of the pope's temporal power with more fairness than is common among its defenders. have been expected on account of his superior learning, and was alike due to the intelligence of the age and to his own Christian character. He does not grope about like a blind man-as many of the papal writers do-amidst the fabulous obscurity of the early centuries, to hunt for inferences which have nothing but the imagination to support them, and so torture them that they may appear like facts. Nor does he pretendas Pope Pius IX. and the Jesuits do- that the temporal power was divinely conferred on Peter; that it is "of necessity," and, therefore, has always existed since Christ established his Church. Yet even he, with all his acknowledged sagacity, has not entirely escaped the Jesuit snare; for, after telling us that the disciples had "no dominion over the least spot of earth," and that Peter had none "of the appendages of royalty" given him, he proceeds immediately to say that "he had powers of a supernatural order, for the government of men in order to salvation."() The critic might justly say that the distinguished archbishop has here fallen into what the lawyers call a non sequitur; for it is by no means a legitimate inference to say that, because Christ left Peter without temporal dominion, therefore he conferred supernatural powers of government (1)"The Primacy of the Apostolic See," by Kenrick, part ii., ch. i., P. 225. upon him. Our present inquiries, however, are of a more serious and important character. What idea he intended to convey by "powers of a supernatural order" is not clear. Such power must, necessarily, exceed all natural power, and can only exist miraculously. Its possessor must be able to alter the laws of nature. Was it, therefore, given to Peter to be exercised in spirituals alone? or in temporals also? or in spirituals of so comprehensive a nature as to include temporals? In whatsoever degree it was conferred, it was the power to work miracles; and, as such, was possessed by all the other apostles equally with Peter. When Christ or dained the twelve, and sent them forth to preach, he gave them all "power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils."(") And as they went through the towns of Galilee, they perplexed Herod the tetrarch by "healing everywhere."(") And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles" on the day of Pentecost. (*) Peter healed the impotent man in the temple.() And Philip worked miracles in Samaria.() And when Paul and Barnabas went into Iconium, Paul caused the lame man of Lystra to leap up and walk.() "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul" at Ephesus.() And other evidences abundantly show that miraculous gifts were conferred upon all the apostles. Then, if, by the fact of imparting supernatural powers, Christ designed that they should be employed "for the government of men in order to salvation," there was no special designation of Peter for that purpose, any more than the other apostles. They were all equal in the possession of the power; and, as whatever authority they had must have arisen out of it, they were equal in authority also. To select Peter, therefore, as the sole custodian of the supernatural power, in illustration of the authority of the pope over temporals, is, to say the least of it, an evasion of the question. That he had such power is not denied by any except those who reject revelation. But that it was given him for interference with the temporal affairs of government is shown by no part of (3) Mark iii., 15. The Douay and Protestant versions agree in this rendering. (3) Luke ix., 6. (*) Acts viii., 6. (*) Acts ii., 43. (*) Acts iii., 7. () Acts xix., 11. THE ASIATIC CHURCHES. 259 the divine record; nor can it be inferred from what was done by him or any other of the apostles in their ministry. If Christ had designed such interference, he would have indicated it by some example of his own; and if he had intended to establish a Church at Rome, founded alone upon Peter, and with a distinct organization, to be maintained by supernatural power, he would have conferred such power alone upon Peter, and not upon the other apostles also. If the possession of supernatural power gave authority to establish the Church, and this power was possessed by all the apostles alike, then the churches at Jerusalem, at Antioch, and other places in Asia, which preceded that at Rome, antedated the Roman Church in the possession of the power to govern men in order to salvation. And then, also, the churches established by Paul at Corinth, and Ephesus, and other places, stood upon a precise equality, as it regards authority and jurisdiction, with that at Rome, even if it be conceded that the latter was established by Peter. Christ gave to neither of them precedence over the other, nor over any other of the apostles. Whether either of them, in establishing a church, intended to transfer to it the supernatural power which he possessed, to be preserved throughout all time, their records do not instruct us. But that either one transferred more of such power than another, or that Peter was the only one who transferred any at all, is a proposition which may be dogmatically asserted, as it is, but can not be maintained by argument. Therefore, when Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my Church," he meant to declare himself to be the rock upon which each and all the apostolic churches should be founded, with the authority he conferred upon all the apostles as the origin of their unity. The unity designed by him was in the beginning, and "the beginning proceeds from unity" in him, says the eloquent Cyprian, one of the foremost of "the fathers," and a martyr of the third century. Therefore, he continues, "Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honor and power;" and "the episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each for the whole.”(') ("The Writings of Cyprian," vol. i., pp. 280, 281. "Antenicene Christian Library," vol. viii. Archbishop Kenrick does not argue his proposition; he merely states it. But it is easy to see that its logical result is this: that if the supernatural power includes authority over temporals, because they are embraced in spirituals, then the temporal power was conferred in the act of conferring the spiritual, and existed alike, from necessity, in all the apostolic churches. Inasmuch, therefore, as he had just stated that the temporal power of the pope was not divinely conferred, and undoubtedly means that the supernatural was, his consistency can be maintained in no other way than by setting him down as emphatic authority against the whole Jesuit theory of the temporal "patrimony of Peter." It is of no consequence to inquire here how long the supernatural power conferred upon the apostles continued. to be possessed by their successors, in the work of spreading the Gospel-whether it ceased with those who came directly in contact with them, or with John, the last survivor. For if, at the beginning, the power was equally possessed by all the apostles, and not by Peter alone to the exclusion of the others, it would be absurd and illogical to say that it survived to a single church alone, or to the bishop of a single church. That would bring about a unity not founded upon Christ, but upon the supernatural power of one apostle-not a unity of affection, but of compulsion -for none but those who argue falsely will insist that the apostles changed their relations to each other after the Crucifixion, or that they designed that the churches they established upon principles of equality should have that equality either destroyed or disturbed. It is sufficient to know now that even the pope, with infallibility to aid him, has no supernatural power; that he can not set aside a single law of nature, or perform any other miraculous act. Whatever supposed miracles are now attracting the notice and exciting the devotion of the faithful are attributed to the "Mother of God," not to the pope. And therefore, upon the hypothesis of Archbishop Kenrick, if all the right which the papacy has to interfere with temporals arose out of the supernatural power conferred on Peter, and if the pope now possesses no supernatural power, Peter APOSTLES HAD NO TEMPORAL POWER. 261 And is left without a successor in the temporal order! that is the end of the controversy, until that power shall be reconferred. That the world will be better off without conceding it to the pope, is abundantly proven by the fact that the freer the modern nations have been from the papal influences, the more rapidly have they progressed; and still more clearly by the additional fact, that since the load of papal oppression has been removed from the States of the Church, Rome is beginning to assume a dignity and importance which she has not known for centuries. 66 The frank admissions of Archbishop Kenrick in relation to the destitute condition of the Apostle Peter, and his entire want of dominion, leave those who defend the divine foundation of the temporal power without any thing to rest their theory on. They will not pretend that any thing done by Christ was improperly done. The Church would pronounce them heretics if they were not ready to concede that the Christianity he established, and the Church he founded by apostolic agency, were necessarily possessed of the utmost perfection. If, then, Christ established a perfect system of Christianity, and founded a perfect church, and sent forth Peter and the other disciples "without scrip or staff," with no dominion" over any part of earth, and without "wealth, or any of the appendages of royalty," to extend the influence of religion and enlarge the borders of the Church, is it not an impeachment of the Divine plan to say, as they do, that temporal power, and large wealth, and the appendages of royalty are necessary to the propa gation of the Gospel? The apostles, without any power or dominion, did the work of the Master well and faithfully, and sought after neither at the hands of governments or individuals. But when those who ought to have followed in their footsteps turned away after temporal dominion, they set up their wisdom above that of God, they substituted their pride for the apostolic humility, and checked the progress of Christianity by blocking up the avenues to religious truth, and the highways of the world's advancement. Demonstration of this is found in a long array of facts connected with the origin and growth of the temporal power. History abundantly proves that this power has been em |