*

Apostles, which should be accounted the greatest, he said unto them, "The Kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority over them are called Benefactors. But it shall not be so with you." Accordingly, no priority, as to rank, appears from Scripture to have been assumed by any one over the other Apostles; and so far were they from taking any share in temporal concerns, that the order of † deacons was originally instituted in order that they might be exempt from any concerns of the kind. If, however, Scripture authority for it was wanting, Heathen authority was full. "There is no one," says Cicero," of the various institutions which have, through the influence of the gods, been planned and established by our ancestors, that does them more honour than their having decreed that you, the self-same persons, Pontifices, should be at the head, both of religion and the state." It is then to the character of the Heathen Pontiffs that we must look for the original of the temporal power of the Christian Pontiffs; and, in the examination of other

* That is, have the title of Euergetes, or Benefactor, annexed to your name, as one of the Ptolemies, and several of the Kings of Syria, had. The inference therefore plainly is, that even the most benevolent motive was not to be an incitement to the followers of our Lord to seek a temporal dominion or superiority. † Acts, chap. 6.

Cum multa divinitus, Pontifices, a majoribus nostris inventa atque instituta sunt; tum nihil præclarius quam quod vos eosdem, et religionibus Deorum immortalium, et summæ reipublicæ præesse voluerunt.-Cic, pro Domo sua.

features of the Pontifical character, the assimilation will probably assert the same origin.

As the only rational ground of adherence to any system of religion is a conviction of its truth, the Heathen priests, conscious that they could offer no rational evidence in favour of their several systems,, substituted the authority of tradition; and whilst they represented each system as given by the gods to their ancestors, they declared themselves to be the only depositaries of all sacred knowledge, and the only interpreters of the Divine will. Their sacred books were in their keeping, and they alone were to consult and expound them.

How widely different this is from the precepts of the Scriptures, both under the Mosaic law and the Gospel, the following passages will show :

"Thou shalt read the law before all Israel, in their hearing that they may hear, and learn, and fear the Lord your God.-Deut. 31. ver. 11, 13.

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"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul-and ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.— Deut. 11. ver. 18, 19.

"Should not a people seek unto their God-to the law and the testimony? If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.-Isaiah 8. ver. 19, 20.

"Search the Scriptures.-John 5. ver. 39.

"These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ.-John 20. ver. 31.

"These were more noble than those in Thessa

lonica, in that they received the word with all gladness, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.-Acts 17. ver. 11.

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.-Rom. 10. ver. 17.

"I will endeavour that you may be able, after my death to have these things all in remembrance..2 Pet. 1. ver. 15.

"Paul also hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles-in which there are some things hard to be understood, which they, who are unlearned, and unstable, wrest, as they also do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.-2 Pet. 3. ver. 15, 16.”

From the above passages it is indisputable, that both by the precepts and practice of the Jewish legislation, and of our Saviour and his Apostles, the Scriptures were to be open to all; and the last of them is by a kind of fatality as it were, which has been already noticed, in direct opposition to the belief of infallibility residing either in the church in general, or in any branch of it.

Let us then look to the Heathen priesthood of Rome, and Cicero as before will furnish us with the authority for the doctrines of infallibility, and keeping the sacred books from the laity, which in the Scrip tures we cannot find. He thus expresses himself in the oration to the Pontiffs above cited.

* "What can be so arrogant as to attempt to inform

* Quid enim est tam arrogans, quam de religione, de rebus divinis, cæremoniis, sacris, Pontificum collegium docere conan; aut tam stultum, quam, si quis in vestris libris invenerit, id narrare vobis, aut tam curiosum, quam ea scire velle, de

the Pontifical college as to religion, or any thing ceremonial or ritual respecting it? What so foolish as to wish to inform you of what is to be found in your books? or so impertinently inquisitive, as to wish to know those things, which it has pleased our ancestors that you alone should be consulted upon, and have the knowledge of?"

*" I said from the first, that I would not speak of that which is your science; of sacred things; or of the secret law of the Pontiffs.-These are kept to yourselves."

In fact, the whole oration shews he durst not.Again, in his oration to the Haruspices, he says,

十 "The decision of three Pontiffs has ever been held as sufficiently sacred, august, and satisfactory as to religion, by the Roman people, the senate, and the immortal gods themselves."

+ "The explanation of a religious difficulty may correctly be given even by one well-informed Pontiff."

To this representation of the power of the Pagan Pontiffs must be added that of the power of the Augurs, in order to complete that which has been

quibus majores nostri vos solos et consuli et scire voluerunt.— Cic. Pro domo sua ad Pontifices.

Dixi a principio, nihil me, de scientiâ vestra,,nihil de sacris, nihil de abscondito jure Pontificum, dicturum.-Illa interiora.— Cic. ubi supra.

+ Quod tres Pontifices statuissent, id semper populo Romano. semper Senatui, semper ipsis Diis immortalibus satis sanctum, satis augustum, satis religiosum esse visum est.-Cic. ad Haruspices.

Religionis explanatio vel ab uno Pontifice perito recte fieri potest.-Ibid.

assumed by the Papal Pontiffs. Cicero thus delineates it :

*"The greatest and most excellent right in the state is that of the Augurs, because it is combined with weighty influence; for what greater right exists than that of the power of depriving the chief rulers, and magistrates of the assemblies of the people; of dismissing councils when opened, or reversing their decrees? What is more dignified than that the prohibition of a single Augur should put a stop to any business entered upon? What more glorious than the power that, at their command, the Consuls shall abdicate their magistracy? What more respectful as to religion, than that the courts of law are open or shut as they decree? Nay, that their power even annuls a law if irregularly passed?—That nothing valid can be done by the magistrates in private, or in public, without their approbation?"

In the above extracts, we do then find a satisfactory origin of the doctrine of the infallibility of a peculiar body of priesthood. It is therefore worth while to

* Maximum autem et præstantissimum in Rep. jus est Augurum, cum sit auctoritati conjunctum.-Quid enim majus est si de jure quærimus, quam posse a summis imperiis, et summis potestatibus Comitia tollere? Concilia vel instituta dimittere, vel habita rescindere? Quid gravius, quam rem susceptam dirimi, si unus Augur aliter dixerit? Quid magnificentius quam posse decernere, ut magistratu se abdicent Consules? Quid religiosius quam cum populo, cum plebe agendi jus aut dare, aut non dare? Quid? Legem, si non jure rogata est, tollet.— Nihil domi, nihil foris per magistratus gestum sine eorum auctoritate posse cuiquam probari.-Cic. De Legibus, lib. 2.