Petre is gateward (porter) of heaven, And they are judges of the world equally, It should be observed, that the MS. from which this extract is made is written without any attention to metrical arrangement. 3" Then shall every one shew what gain he hath made with his Talent. Then does Peter lead forth all the Jewish people, which, by his doctrine, he had brought to the belief. Paul, the doctor of the Gentiles, he leads forth almost all the world." From a Homily on the Talents, (Wheloc. in Bed. 289.) Mrs. Elstob's Transl. (Pref. xli.)' "Peter's ship, which stood near, signified the Jewish folk who turned to Crist, and believed in him although some of them would not. In them was the beginning of the whole Church. That other ship signified the whole heathen folk, who, of all mankind, acknowledged with faith the beloved Jesus: and this is the Church. The Jewish folk was called the Sinagoga: that is, the Gathering, in English speech." Ex Hom. Dom. vi. post Pentec. Wheloc. in Bed. 257. Se halza petɲur pær ahafen on þam daze on hir birceop-stol· on þære byɲiz antiochian⚫ pone stol he zesæt seofon gear fullice. siððan zepende be zodes pissunze to þæɲe mæɲan some bynig þær binnan punode Fif I tpentiz zeaɲa' Fela pundra æteopde þære romanırcan leode of Sæt he hi to zelearan zebizde. He ferde fram antiochian fondan þe he per apostol sceolde ze M hpæn zecuman. 7 cristendom aɲæɲan. Da zeræt he on ɲome oder birceop-retl odpre apleara nepo hine ahencz on ɲode. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. Julius. E. 7. Ex Hom. viii. Kl. Mar. Cathedra S. Pet. f. 53.) The holy Petrus was raised, on this day, to his episcopal seat, in the city of Antiochia: in which see he sat, seven years, fully; and then departed, by God's direction, to the great city, Rome; and there dwelt five and twenty years, and manifested many wonders to the Roman people before that he converted them to the faith. He went from Antiochia, because he was an Apostle, and should go every where, and rear Cristendom. Then sat he in Rome, his other episcopal see, until the wicked Nero hanged him on a cross. After drihtener uprtize pær petrus bodiende zeleafan þam leodfcipum þe rýnd zecpedene zalatia cappadocia bíðinia· asia· italia. Sÿðan ÿmbe týn zeara fýrst he pende to ɲome býɲiz. 7 he ze zerette biscop-setl· 7 þær zesæt v 7 xx zeara· lænende pa ɲomanircan cearten gepaɲon zoder mærða mid micclum tacnum. (Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii, 22. De Passione Beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli.) After the Lord's ascension Petrus was preaching the faith, in the regions which are called Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithinia, Asia, Italia. Then, about ten years from the first, he went to the city of Rome, and he established an episcopal see, and sat there 25 years, teaching the men of the Roman city God's glory, with great signs. Of these "signs" the most eminent was, probably, considered that contest with Simon Magus, (Simon re drỷ.) so famous in legendary lore, and which is detailed at length in this Homily. The same piece contains the following notice of St. Peter's martyrdom, and of that of his apostolical associate. Samod hi feɲdon petɲur paulur on pirum dæge sigefæste to þæɲe heofonlıcan pununze on þam six xxx teozoðan geare æfter xper propunze mid þam hi punia on ecenerre. Together they went, Petrus and Paulus, on this day, victorious to the heavenly abode; in the six and thirtieth year after Crist's passion: with whom they dwell for ever. 6 "Then the Apostles, before they went away, placed James, who was called the Just, in Crist's seat, and all the faithful congregation obeyed him, according to God's teaching. He then sat in that see thirty years; and after him Symeon, a relation of Jesus." Wheloc. in Bed. 397. The synod of Strenæshalch, now Whitby, holden in 664, is pronounced by Baronius rather a conference, or collation, than a synod, or council; inasmuch as it was not attended by a regular assemblage of the provincial bishops. Oswy, king of Northumberland, who presided, was then Bretwalda, or supreme monarch of South Britain. His wife was Eanfleda, a Kentish princess, who brought into the north a priest of the Roman party, and who resolutely maintained the prejudices of her education. It could not be expected that this lady should neglect any opportunities of inculcating her own peculiar notions upon the minds of her offspring. Nor does she seem to have overlooked her advantages in this way. Her son Alchfrid, accordingly, was placed under the tuition of Wilfrid, a zealous admirer of the Roman system; and, as might be supposed, the young prince espoused his mother's principles in preference to his father's. Thus, the Northumbrian monarch, as his family grew up, found his great external prosperity somewhat balanced by domestic dissensions. When a man who has long resisted under such circumstances, at last expresses an intention of solemnly reconsidering the subject of dispute, he has generally made up his mind to seek some plausible pretext for giving way. Oswy, most probably, took his seat at the council or collation of Strenæshalch with a fixed, though unavowed determination of this kind. He seems, accordingly, to have listened in silence during the arguments upon tradition and usage advanced by the respective disputants, and to have taken no notice of Wilfrid's appeal to the decrees of the Roman see. He looked upon all these topics, probably, as rather within the sphere of divines and canonists, than as tangible by ordinary But when Wilfrid asked his adversary, Colman, "Do you mean to give your Columba” (the principal alleged British authority for the national Easter)" a preference over St. Peter, the janitor of heaven?" Oswy saw at once that the opening, for which he had probably watched, was now afforded to him. "Did our Lord," he enquired, reasoners. really promise to St. Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven?" The answer was, "Undoubtedly he did, O king." Oswy then said, " And can you, Colman, bring forward any grant of a similar privilege conferred upon your Columba?" The Northumbrian bishop of course admitted that he could not. "You, both of you, then agree," rejoined the king, "that St. Peter had from our Lord a promise of the heavenly keys?" "Certainly," it was replied on either hand. "Then, I tell you," said Oswy, "I shall not contradict the janitor of heaven; lest when I shall knock at the gate, he should refuse to open it to me." This brief mode of sparing the hearers any trouble of thinking over the learned arguments which they had been compelled to hear, and of casting a ludicrous colouring over the whole transaction, was received with that general applause which rarely fails to reward brevity and humour in eloquence, even where kings are not the speakers. The assembly was pretty unanimous in agreeing to respect that tradition, for which was alleged the heavenly janitor's authority. Colman, however, and many of his friends naturally felt rather illused, than convinced, by a decision so manifestly unfair and absurd. After a short interval, accordingly, the baffled prelate left his diocese, and retired into Scotland, attended by a considerable number of his more devoted admirers. It should perhaps be stated, that Wilfrid, in arguing upon this occasion, not only seems to have mentioned "the decrees of the apostolical see,” merely as one reason for agreeing to his own view of the questions at issue, but that also he makes a distinction between that "see" and "the universal Church." Tu autem, he says, et socii tui, si audita decreta sedis apostolicæ, imo universalis Ecclesiæ, et hæc literis sacris confirmata, sequi contemnitis, absque ulla dubitatione peccatis. It is, in fact, evident that papal decisions were viewed by the parties appealing to them as important, indeed, for ascertaining the sounder side of the question, but not as claiming judicially a right of obedience. |