bilis Papae Urbis
aeternae auctoritate, tentare. Sed illis omnibusque pro lege sit, quicquid
sanxit vel sanxerit Apostolicae Sedis auctoritas: ita ut quisquis
Episcoporum ad judicium Romani Antistitis evocatus venire neglexerit, per
Moderatorem ejusdem Provinciae adesse cogatur, per omnia servatis quae Divi
parentes nostri Romanae Ecclesiae detulerunt, Aeti pater carissime Augusti.
Unde illustris & praeclara magnificentia tua praesentis Edictalis Legis
auctoritate faciet quae sunt superius statuta servari, decem librarum auri
multa protinus exigenda ab unoquoque Judice qui passus fuerit praecepta
nostra violari. Divinitas te servet per multos annos, parens carissime.
Dat. _viii._ Id. Jun. Romae, Valentiniano A. _vi._ Consule_, A.C. 445. By
this Edict the Emperor _Valentinian_ enjoined an absolute obedience to the
will of the Bishop of _Rome_ thro'out all the Churches of his Empire; and
declares, that for the Bishops to attempt any thing without the Pope's
authority is contrary to antient custom, and that the Bishops summoned to
appear before his judicature must be carried thither by the Governor of the
Province; and he ascribes these privileges of the See of _Rome_ to the
concessions of his dead Ancestors, that is, to the Edict of _Gratian_ and
_Valentinian_ II. as above: by which reckoning this dominion of the Church
of _Rome_ was now of 66 years standing: and if in all this time it had not
been sufficiently established, this new Edict was enough to settle it
beyond all question thro'out the _Western Empire_.

Hence all the Bishops of the Province of _Arles_ in their Letter to Pope
_Leo_, A.C. 450, petitioning for a restitution of the privileges of their
Metropolitan, say: _Per beatum Petrum Apostolorum principem, sacrosancta
Ecclesia Romana tenebat supra omnes totius mundi Ecclesias principatum_.
And _Ceratius_, _Salonius_ and _Veranus_, three Bishops of _Gallia_, say,
in their Epistle to the same Pope: _Magna praeterea & ineffabili quadam nos
peculiares tui gratulatione succrescimus, quod illa specialis doctrinae
vestrae pagina ita per omnium Ecclesiarum conventicula celebratur, ut vere
consona omnium sententia declaretur; merito illic principatum Sedis
Apostolicae constitutum, unde adhuc Apostolici spiritus oracula reserentur_.
And _Leo_ himself, in [16] his Epistle to the metropolitan Bishops thro'out
_Illyricum_: _Quia per omnes Ecclesias cura nostra distenditur, exigente
hoc a nobis Domino, qui Apostolicae dignitat