Now, how was Satan crushed under the feet of the Roman Christians, if it were not when, by the conversion and victory of Constantine, this great capital of the world and seat of idolatry was changed into the capital of Christendom, the heathen temples transformed into Christian churches, and the cross everywhere erected in triumph over this proud and pagan city? There is no event in history better established than the episcopate and martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome. It is admitted by a great number of the most learned Protestants. It is proved by the catalogues of Roman Bishops in ancient writers all tracing back the succession to St. Peter. It is proved by pictures, statues, and other ancient monuments; by the pilgrimages which from ancient times were made to the tomb of the Apostles, of which even Eusebius in the fourth century makes mention. It is proved by the testimony of St. Clement, the immediate successor of St. Peter; St. Ignatius, Papias, St. Dionysius, St. Irenæus, Caius, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, St. Cyprian, Eusebius, Lactantius, St. Athanasius, St. Epiphanius, Julian the Apostate, St. Augustine, Palladius, and others. Indeed, any one who would dispute the fact, that the Bishops of Rome have succeeded each other in that see in a direct line from St. Peter, might as well dispute the succession of the Roman emperors from Julius Cæsar, of the English kings from Alfred, and the kings of France from Charlemagne. {224} The fact that the Bishops of Rome succeeded also to the supremacy of St. Peter over the whole Catholic Church is also proved by a crowd of testimonies in every age. It is, as every one will see, not convenient, in a discourse like the present, to cite and explain at length those passages from the ancient writers, especially after having already taxed your patience so severely. I will therefore cite only a few passages as samples of the manner in which ancient writers have spoken on this subject, and leave it to yourselves to read over the testimonies more carefully in some of the various works where they are collected. St. Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, who conversed with the immediate disciples of the apostles, says: "With this Church, on account of the more powerful principality, it is necessary that every Church, that is, the faithful who are in every direction, should agree." [Footnote 87] [Footnote 87: L. iii. c. 3. Kenrick.]