In the New Testament it is impossible to find a trace of either the
primacy of Peter or the supremacy of the Pope; but the facts already
stated throw some light on the history of that great spiritual despotism
whose seat of government has been so long established in the city of the
Caesars. It is obvious that at a very early period various circumstances
contributed to give prominence to the Church of Rome. The epistle
addressed to it contains a more complete exhibition of Christian
doctrine than any other of the apostolical letters; and, in that
remarkable communication, Paul expresses an earnest desire to visit a
community already celebrated all over the world. Five or six of his
letters, now forming part of the inspired canon, were dictated in the
capital of the Empire. The two epistles of the apostle of the
circumcision appear to have emanated from the same metropolis. There is
every reason to believe that the book of the Acts was written at Rome;
and it is highly probable that the great city was also the birthplace of
the Gospels of Mark and Luke. Thus, a large portion of the New Testament
issued from the seat of Empire. Rome could also boast that it was for
some time the residence of two of the most eminent of the apostles. Paul
was there for at least two years as a prisoner; and Peter may have
resided for twelve months within its walls. Some of the most illustrious
of the early converts were members of the Church of Rome; for in the
days of the Apostle of the Gentiles there were disciples in "Caesar's
household." [161:1] And when Nero signalised himself as the first
Imperial persecutor of the Christians, the Church of Rome suffered
terribly from his insane and savage cruelty. Even the historian Tacitus
acknowledges that the tortures to which its adherents were exposed
excited the commiseration of the heathen multitude. Paul and Peter were
cut off in his reign; and the soil of Rome absorbed the blood of these
apostolic martyrs. [161:2] It was not strange, therefore, that the Roman
Church was soon regarded with peculiar respect by all the disciples
throughout the Empire. As time passed on, it increased rapidly in
numbers and in affluence; and circumstances, which properly possessed
nothing more than an historic interest, began to be urged as arguments
in favour of its claims to pre-eminence. At first these claims assumed
no very definite form; and, at the termination of a century after the
days of Paul and Peter, the