It seemed
good unto us being assembled with one accord,' and 'It seemed good to the
Holy Ghost and to us;' there then lies the force, 'to the Holy Ghost and to
us:' not, what seemed good to Peter precisely, but, to us; and led by the
Spirit, not Peter alone, but the unity itself of the holy Council. Whence,
too, Christ said that concerning the Spirit whom he was about to send: 'But
when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall teach you all truth:' you,
saith He, the Pastors of the Churches, and the Masters of the rest. Hence,
the Spirit is always added to the Church and the holy congregation. 'I
believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Church, the Catholic Church:' and with
reason therefore, and carefully was the maxim which we have mentioned laid
down of old by our Doctors: 'The strength of Councils resides not in the
Roman Pontiff alone, but chiefly in the Holy Spirit and in the Catholic
Church.'

"Eleventhly: when the matter had been judged by common sentence, nothing
was afterwards reconsidered, nor any new dissension left to any one; but
the decree was carried to the Churches, and the people are taught to keep
the decrees which were decreed, in the Greek 'judged,' by the Apostles and
Elders which were at Jerusalem.

"This we Catholics urge with common consent against heretics who decline
the commands and authority of Councils: which would have no force, unless
together with the authority we also prove the form, and place the force
itself of the decree, not in Peter alone, but in Unity, and in the Consent
of the Apostles and the Pastors of the Church."[53]

In another place he says, 'In ecclesiastical acts we do indeed find that
the Catholic Church is affirmed by Chief Pontiffs and Councils to be
represented by Ecumenical Synods, which contain all its virtue and power,
which we are wont to mean by the word "represent." But this we do not read
of the Roman Pontiff, as affirmed either by the Pontiffs themselves, or by
Ecumenical Councils, or any where in Ecclesiastical Acts.[54]

I have been unable to find any testimony of St. Chrysostom to the
transmission of St. Peter's primacy over the whole Church to the Bishop of
Rome. He has, however, a passage about Rome which is worth transcribing;
for sometimes, as we have just seen, as much is proved by what is _not_
said, as by what _is_ said. Speaking then of St. Paul, he writes:--"Rather
if we listen to him here, we shall surely see him there; if not standing
near him, y