were not ordinary, but extraordinary,
and, as it were, delegated Pastors, to whom there is no succession.
Bishops, however, are said to succeed the Apostles, not properly in that
manner in which one Bishop succeeds another, and one king another, but in
another way, which is two-fold. First, in respect of the holy Order of the
Episcopate; secondly, from a certain resemblance and proportion: that is,
as when Christ lived on earth, the twelve Apostles were the first under
Christ, then the seventy-two Disciples: so now the Bishops are first under
the Roman Pontiff, after them Priests, then Deacons, &c. But it is proved
that Bishops succeed to the Apostles so, and not otherwise; for they have
no part of the true Apostolic authority. Apostles could preach in the whole
world, and found Churches ... this cannot Bishops." ... "Bishops succeed to
the Apostles in the same manner as Priests to the seventy-two
Disciples."[149] Again: "But, if the Supreme Pontiff be compared with the
rest of the Bishops, he is deservedly said to possess the plenitude of
power, because the rest have fixed regions over which they preside, and
also a fixed power; but he is set over the whole Christian world, and
possesses, in its completeness and plenitude, that power which Christ left
on earth for the good of the Church."[150] He proceeds to prove this by
those passages of Scripture:--'Thou art Peter,' &c.; 'Feed my sheep,' &c.;
which we have seen St. Augustin explaining as said to St. Peter in the
person of the Church, while he expressly denies that they are said to him
merely as an individual. "These keys not one man but the unity of the
Church received:" "he was not the only one among the Disciples who was
thought worthy to feed the Lord's sheep," &c. What Bellarmine here says,
is, assuredly, both the true Roman view, and moreover _absolutely necessary
to justify that Church in the attitude she assumes and the measures she
authorizes towards other parts of the Church. And if it be the ancient
Catholic doctrine, it does justify her_. That it is _not_ the ancient
doctrine, I think I have already shown; but let us hear what Bossuet says
of it. "One objection of theirs remains to be explained, that Bishops
borrow their power and jurisdiction from the Roman Pontiff, and therefore,
although united with him in an Ecumenical Council, can do nothing against
the root and source of their own authority, but are only present as his
Counsellors; and that the force