Popery condemned by scripture and the fathers - End Time Deception

80 POPERY CONDExMNED BY
which this canon has been applied, is yet to be
mentioned. This I will relate with the greatest
satisfaction, because it must please both the
reader and the R. ; the former, by affording
him a just view^ of the supremacy ; the latter,
by showing him a Pope exercising himself in
these upright and pious labours, by which the
Romish Church has been exalted.
The African bishops, having been disgusted
with the arrogance of Pope Zosimus, attempted
to put a stop to his encroachments, by a decree
of Council assembled at Carthage in the year
418. By this it w^as determined, that if any
person presumed to appeal beyond seas, he
should be excluded from the communion of the
church. In a very short time, however, they
found this assertion of their independence insufficient
to prevent Zosimus from, intermeddling
with their affairs. The first appearance of this
was upon the following occasion.
Apiarius, a presbyter of Sicca, having been
convicted of many grievous crimes, was degraded
and exconmiunicated by his own bishop
Urbanus. Notwithstanding the justice of his
sentence, and the prohibition of the Council, he
appealed to the bishop of Rome. Such deference
to the See of St. Peter was too flattering
to pass unrewarded ; and therefore Zosimus,
without even hearing the other party, restored
Apiarius to his dignity, and to the commiunion
of