any of them should receive Letters of Peace and Communion from the Bishops they had condemned[695]. In this Letter the Council says, or rather is made to say, That _it is very meet or reasonable, that all Bishops should acquaint their Head, that is, the See of St._ Peter, _with what passes in their respective Provinces_[696]. I agree with _Blondel_[697], that this Passage is foisted in; but cannot acquiesce to the only Reason he alleges to support his Opinion, _viz._ the Barbarity of the _Latin_ Expression (_valde congruentissimum est_); for such a Slip might easily escape Men wholly bent on defending the Truth, and speaking it; and besides, we are not certain, that this Letter was originally written in _Latin_. The want of Connexion between that Sentence, and what is said both before and after it, is, I think, a more convincing Proof of Forgery. [Sidenote: _Canons of the Council of_ Sardica _relating to the Bishop of_ Rome.] By the Council of _Sardica_ several Canons were made; but I shall only take notice of those that regard the Bishop of _Rome_. By the Third Canon in the _Greek_, or the Fourth in the _Latin_ Translation by _Isidorus_, it is ordered, that if any Bishop shall think himself unjustly condemned, his Judges shall acquaint the Bishop of _Rome_ therewith, who may either confirm the first Judgment, or order his Cause to be re-examined by such of the neighbouring Bishops as he shall think fit to name[698]. _Osius_, who was greatly addicted to the See of _Rome_, begged the Council to grant this Honour to the Memory of St. _Peter_. The Fourth Canon, according to the _Greek_, adds, That the See of the deposed Bishop shall remain vacant till his Cause shall be judged by the Bishop of _Rome_. By the Fifth Canon, which by some Mistake is the Seventh in _Dionysius Exiguus_, it is ordered, that if a Bishop, condemned in his own Province, shall chuse to be judged by the Bishop of _Rome_, and desires him to appoint some of his Presbyters to judge him in his Name, together with the Bishops, the Bishop of _Rome_ may grant him his Request. [Sidenote: _The Practice of appealing to the Pope first introduced._ _Several Circumstances concur in his Favour._] Thus was the pernicious Practice of appealing to the Pope first introduced and authorized. It must be observed, that the Oriental Bishops had all left the Council: those who remained were all zealous Opposers of _Arianism_. At the Head of their Party was the Bishop of _Rome_. In the Heat of their Zeal they thought they could not confer too much Power upon him; and so made a Concession intirely repugnant to the Discipline of the primitive Church, and which he could never have obtained, had not those Dispositions worked strongly in his Favour. This will not be surprising to those, who have attended to History, and seen how much the Ambition of Princes, and Heads of Factions, is often advanced beyond its due Bounds by the indiscreet Fervour of Party-Zeal.