From these Pieces, which are still extant, it is manifest beyond all Dispute, as the Reader must have observed, that, in the Year 378. when this Council was held, no Prerogative was yet discovered in the Pope, peculiar to him, and not common to all Bishops, besides that of Rank, which arose from the Dignity of his See, that is, from his being Bishop of the Metropolis of the Empire; for, in that respect alone, the Bishops, who composed the Council, acknowleged him _to be above them_; nay, by declaring themselves, in express Terms, _equal to him as to the Ministry_, they seem to have taken particular Care, that no Room or Pretence should be left for his claiming a Superiority in any other respect. And how great would their Surprize have been, had _Damasus_, in hearing that Part of their Address to the Emperor, started up, and, protesting against it, as derogatory to his Prerogative, declared, that, _to him all Power was given in Heaven and on Earth_; that, _so far from being equal to him, they, and all other Bishops, were but his Deputies and Delegates_; that _the Power, Authority, and Jurisdiction, which they enjoyed, were derived to them from the Plenitude of his_! Had he talked in this Strain, the whole Council would have concluded him delirious. And yet these are the Sentiments of his Successors; these the very Words, with which they and their Divines have expressed them[1126]; so that it is now reckoned Heresy not to believe what in the Fourth Century it had been deemed Madness to have gravely uttered. [Sidenote: _The Power he now claims unknown in the Time of_ Damasus.] It would perhaps have seemed still more strange and surprising to the Fathers of the Council, however prejudiced in his Favour, if _Damasus_, instead of gratefully acknowleging their Regard for him in petitioning the Emperor, that he might not be judged by the Civil Magistrate, but either by a Council, or the Emperor himself, had severely rebuked them as Strangers to, or Betrayers of, his inherent Right, acquainting them, that, in virtue thereof, _all Men were to be judged by him, but himself by no Man_[1127]; that _the greatest Monarchs were his Slaves and Vassals, and he King of Kings, Monarch of the World, sole Lord and Governor both in Spirituals and Temporals_[1128]; that _he was appointed Prince over all Nations and Kingdoms_[1129]; that _his Power excelled all Powers_[1130]; that _it was necessary to Salvation for every human Creature to be subject to him_[1131]. And yet these are the Notions, that have been uttered by his Successors, and the very Terms in which they were uttered. In the Age I am now writing of, they had been looked upon no otherwise than the Ravings of a distempered Brain; but they are now held by the Church of _Rome_, and her Divines, as Oracles, and inserted as such into her Canons. _Bellarmine_ owns, that, in the Fourth Century, the Pope was still subject to the Emperors, nay, and to the Civil