Page:William John Sparrow-Simpson - Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility (1909).djvu/36

 16 exposition. Cyprian's inference from St Matt. xvi. 18 was that "the Church should be built upon the Bishops, and that every act of the Church should be guided by them as presidents."

And this is the principle upon which Cyprian acts. After assembling the local Bishops and forming their own decision, Cyprian wrote to Stephen, Bishop of Rome, in the following terms:—

Quoting Cyprian's own words St Augustine repeats the passage from a letter:—

"For neither did Peter whom the Lord chose first, and on whom He built His Church, when Paul afterwards disputed with him about circumcision, claim or assume anything and arrogantly to himself, so as to say that he held the primacy, and should rather be obeyed by newcomers. Nor did he despise Paul because he had before been a persecutor of the Church, but he admitted the counsel of truth, and readily assented to the legitimate grounds which Paul maintained; giving us thereby a pattern of concord and patience, that we should not pertinaciously love our own opinions, but should