Thursday, January 31, 2019

Stoutness

....even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. Daniel 7:20

"One element in the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Empire that is impossible to be ignored is
--Theological Controversy;
 and another is
--Episcopal Rivalry and Ambition of Supremacy.
These two elements were easily made to combine: each to promote the other, and both to contribute to the exaltation of the bishop of Rome.

....because in every controversy in theology, each party strained every point to get the bishop of Rome to its side, and commit himself to the phase of doctrine held by that party;


and when the controversy had been decided by a general council, there was, by the defeated party, invariably appeal to the bishop of Rome:

and in every contest of rival bishops, and especially of rival patriarchs, it was the same way. In these rivalries, whether manifested through theological controversy or in episcopal ambition, the appellants, even though they were emperors, were ever ready to employ whatever flattering title, and to concede whatever honor, was most likely to win to their side the bishop of Rome."
A.T. Jones