ferred to another see, whether by the authority of the Church or by that of the sovereign Pontiff? Many Catholic divines teach that there is no power upon earth which can effect this removal. They say that St. Peter was at liberty to choose for himself any see which he pleased; but since he chose the see of Rome for his own, and died holding that see, the prerogative of the supreme pontificate became firmly and permanently fixed in that see, and no power under heaven can take it away. In short, they say that the fact of St. Peter choosing for himself the see of Rome, and holding it until his death, has determined once for ever the line of his successors in that see, as well as in the supreme Pontificate, so that whoever succeeds him in the Roman see, by this only fact succeeds him also in the prerogative of supreme pastor of the Church. Other Catholic divines, such as Scotus, Cardinal Cusanus, Cordubensis, Bannez, Dominic Sotus, Paludanus, Armacanus, Mendoza, Thomas Waldensis, and Ballerinus, who are quoted by Perrone in his treatise on the perpetuity of the supremacy of St. Peter,1 maintain the contrary opinion. They teach that, although St. Peter chose the Roman see for his own and held it until death, the supreme Pontificate is not essentially connected with that see, and that by the authority of the Church, or by that of the sovereign Pontiff, it could be tranferred elsewhere. The sovereign Pontiff, they say, as regards his authority over the Church, is by no way inferior to St. Peter, to whom he succeeds in the fulness of his power. Since, therefore, St. Peter, after fixing the supreme Pontificate at Antioch, was able to remove it to Rome, leaving the Bishop of Antioch 1 Part I. sec. ii. chap. 2. to succeed him only in that particular see, so the sovereign Pontiff might transfer the supreme Pontificate from Rome to another see; in which case the Bishop of Rome after him would succeed him only in the Roman see. If the former opinion be true, there is no doubt that the supreme Pontificate will remain firmly established in Rome for ever. But supposing that the second opinion should be true, it is not improbable that when the children of Israel shall be converted to Christ, His vicar upon earth, the sovereign Pontiff, may remove his see to Jerusalem. This probability rests on the following grounds: St. Peter removed his see from Antioch to Rome only after the Jews were found obstinate in rejecting the blessings of the Gospel. Seeing that instead of opening their eyes to the truth of the Gospel, which, according to the instruction of Christ, was first preached to them, they were obstinately blind, and preferred darkness to light, the apostles turned away from them and carried the tidings of salvation to the Gentiles. "To you it behoved us first," said Paul and Barnabas to the incredulous Jews, "to speak the word of God: but because you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles." 1 And as Rome was at that time the capital of the nations, and the centre of the Gentile world, so St. Peter made choice of it as the seat of the Church's primacy, in preference to any other city. The fact that St. Peter left Antioch only when he found the Jews obstinate in rejecting the blessings of the Gospel, and that he chose the see of Rome for his own, because it was the centre of the Gentiles, to whom he was bound 1 Acts xiii. 46. to preach the Gospel rejected by the Jews, makes it probable that when the Gospel shall have been preached through the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and the Jewish people shall have turned sincerely to God, and to Christ their Saviour, the successors of St. Peter may remove from Rome to Jerusalem, and there establish the apostolic chair in the midst of the converted children of Israel. ARTICLE VIII. The voice of Christ inviting the children of Israel to : repentance. "Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth. I have brought up children, and exalted them : but they have despised me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people have not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards." 1 "The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord." 2 "You have done worse than your fathers: for behold every one of you walketh after the perverseness of his evil heart, so as not to hearken to me." 3 "And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard. What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have 2 Jerem. viii. 7. 1 Isa. i. 2-4. 3 Ib. xvi. 12. not done to it? Was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it hath brought forth wild grapes? 1 "O My people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? Answer thou Me." 2 "The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? 3 "What more could I do for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee a most beautiful vine: and thou hast proved exceedingly bitter to me: for in my thirst thou gavest me vinegar to drink: and with a spear thou hast pierced the side of thy Saviour. For thy sake I have scourged Egypt with its first-born: and thou hast delivered me to be scourged. I brought thee out of Egypt, having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea and thou hast delivered me over to the chief priests. I opened the sea before thee: and thou with a spear hast opened my side. I went before thee in a pillar of cloud: and thou hast brought me to the palace of Pilate. I fed thee with manna in the desert: and thou hast beaten me with buffets and scourges. I gave thee wholesome water to drink out of the rock: and thou hast given me gall and vinegar. For thy sake I struck the kings of the Canaanites: and thou hast struck my head with a reed. I gave thee a royal sceptre and thou hast given me a crown of thorns. I have exalted thee with great strength and thou hast hanged me on the gibbet of the cross. "4 "Therefore will I contend in judgment with you, and will plead with your children." 5 "Your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid : 1 Isa. v. 3, 4. 2 Micheas vi. 3. 4 Office of the Church for Good Friday. 3 Malach. i. 6. 5 Jerem. ii. 9. His face from you that He should not hear." 1 "I am, I am the Lord; and there is no Saviour besides me. I am the Lord your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King." 2 "O, if thou hadst known the things that are to thy peace.' "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea. And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: thy name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face." 4 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?" 5 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do you also." 6 "Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit; and why will you die, O house of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth; return ye and live." 7 "If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. 1 Isa. lix. 2. 3 Luke xix. 42. 5 Matt. xxiii. 37. 2 Ib. xliii. 11 and 15. 4 Isa. xlviii. 18, 19. 7 Ezech. xviii. 29-32. N |