The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

230 APOSTOLICITY, OR PETER'S PRCIACY.Peter to Samaria, which was a very unmannerly action,if they looked on him as head of the Church.*"* Ministersdo not send their sovereign on embassies. Whatwould be thought should Cardinal Wiseman order PiusIX. on a mission to the United States? Nor, though veryconspicuous, was this apostle the most conspicuous memberin the small but illustrious band to which he belonsred ?Peter was overshadowed by the colossal intellect and prodigiouslabours of the apostle Paul. The great and indisputablesuperiority, in these respects, of this apostle, hasbeen acknowledged by the popes themselves. The followingmay be cited as a curious sample of that unity which Romeclaims as her peculiar attribute :— " He was better than allmen," says Chrysostom, " greater than the apostles, andsurpassing them all." Pope Gregory I. says of the apostlePaul,— " He was made head of the nations, because he obtainedthe principate of the whole Church.""^Nor is it less unaccountable, on the supposition that Peterwas head of the whole Church, that we fail to discover theremotest trace of this sovereignty in his epistles.Addressingthe members of the Church on a variety of subjects, onewould have thought thattimes tohe must needs have occasion atremind them of his jurisdiction, and the duty andallegiance which they in consequence owed. But nothingof this sort occurs. " No critic perusing those epistles,"remarks Barrow, " would smell a pope in them."j Peterdoes not say,— " It is our apostolic will and command," asis now the style of the popes. The highest style he assumesis to speak in the common name of the apostles,— "Bemindful of the words which were spoken before by the holyprophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of theLord and Saviour."§ A pontifical pen employed on these* Rational Account of the Grounds of the Protestant Religion, p. 456.+ See Barrow on the Supremacy, Barrow's Works, vol. i. p. 592.t Barrow's Works, vol. i. p. 6G8. § 2 Peter, iii. 2.