It would be easy to multiply such authorities of a period prior to the formation of all the existing European states. It was the will of God, providing for His Church, that before the old Roman society was utterly upheaved from its foundations by the deluge of the Northern tribes, reverence for S. Peter's throne should be fixed as an immovable rock, on which a new Christian civilization might be founded. Thus Pope Gregory II., writing to the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, about the year 717, only sums up the force and effect of all preceding tradition, when he says: "The whole West turns its eyes upon us, and, unworthy though we be, puts complete trust in us, and in that blessed Peter, whose image you threaten to overturn, but whom all the kingdoms of the West count for a God upon earth."[38] FOOTNOTES: [1] Passaglia, p. 106. [2] Passaglia, p. 109. [3] Matt. x. 2-5; Mark iii. 16-19; Luke vi. 14-17; Acts i. 13. [4] St. Chrysostome on Matt. Hom. 32. [5] Origen on John, Tom. 32, n. 5, T. 4, p. 413. [6] 1 Paral. xxvii. 33; Neh. xii. 45; 2 Paral. xxvi. 20. [7] Matt. xx. 27; Luke xv. 22; 1 Tim. i. 15. [8] Matt. xvii. 1; Mark v. 37; xiii. 3; xiv. 33; Luke viii. 51; xxii. 8; John xxi. 2. [9] De Consensu. Evang. Lib. 2, c. xvii. n. 39. [10] Mark i. 36; Luke viii. 45; Matt. xii. 3; Mark ii. 25; xvi. 10. [11] Luke ix. 32; Matt. xxvi. 40. [12] Matt. xvii. 24. [13] De Praesc. c. 22. [14] John xiv. 8; xi. 16. [15] Matt. xviii. 21; John xiii. 6. [16] Passaglia, p. 134. [17] Matt. xix. 23. [18] John vi. 67. [19] Luke xii. 41. [20] In Matt. Hom. 54. [21] Passaglia, p. 510. [22] Passaglia, p. 518. [23] These testimonies have been set forth at length in another work, "The See of St. Peter, the Rock of the Church," &c. Pp. 97-118. [24] Serm. 4. [25] Matt. xviii. 1; xx. 20; Luke xxii. 24. [26] Bossuet, Sermon on unity. [27] Poimahinein, gubernare, to govern, the particular word which our Lord employs to convey His powers to Peter, is also the particular word which gives such offence to temporal governments, when acted on by Peter: bhoskein, pascere, to feed, they find more endurable, and probably they would all be content, from the heathen Roman emperors to the present day, to allow _the Church_ to _feed_, so long as _they_ are allowed to _govern_ the faithful. The objection on the part of the Church is, that our Lord gave _both_ to Peter. [28] Passaglia, p. 591. [29] Ho katartismos ton hagion. Eph. iv. 12. [30] Petavius, de Ecc. Hier. Lib. 3, c. 14. [31] St. Cyprian de unitate, c. 3. St. Aug. to Pope Innocent, Ep. 177, n. 19. Pope Innocent to the Councils of Carthage and Numidia. [32] Mansi x. 919. [33] St. Aug. Serm. 46. St. Leo, Epistle 10. [34] St. Optatus, cont. Parm. Lib. 2, c. 6. [35] Lib. 3, c. 12. [36] De Petro Apostolo, Hom. 4. [37] Ad Eugenium Toletanum. [38] Mausi, Concil. T. xii. 972. CHAPTER V. S. PETER'S PRIMACY AS EXHIBITED IN THE ACTS.