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2. THE PAPAL SYSTEM. 3. THE VICAR OF CHRIST. 95
dom of God, proclaimed by our Lord in the Gospel. The
practical postulate was that it was right for this society to
claim the prerogatives of the city of Rome, and to adopt,
"mutatis mutandis," the methods of government of the
Roman Empire of the West. This adoption of secular
claims and methods was no doubt very effective up to a
certain point. It led, however insensibly, to a claim to
exercise secular authority, which inevitably came into col
lision with the growing power of nationalities.
It followed from this general conception that the Church-
state was held to be a sacred and divine thing, even though
its ministers or its monarchs might from time to time be
very deficient in holiness. Whatever tended to exalt its
power was held to be for the honour and glory of God, even
though much mischief and misery might incidentally ac
company the measures which promoted it. The great
plan was to be pursued without faltering. The weakness
of human nature was regarded as exceptional and unusual,
but the triumph of divine grace in the body was assured.
3. THE POPE AS VICAR OF CHRIST. THE SYSTEM OF
DELEGATION.
The pope, who was the centre of the whole, claimed first
to be the vicar and successor of St. Peter, and then to be
practically the sole vicar of Christ on earth. His supre
macy was considered to be a divinely revealed truth ex
pressed in certain texts of holy Scripture, and especially in
certain sayings of our Lord to St. Peter, to which a very
strained interpretation was given.
1
He was already, in the Middle Age, supreme law-giver of
the Church, as well as the supreme judge of appeal. Just
as the Roman Emperor issued his rescripts to provincial
governors, which became laws of the empire, so the pope s
letters to his representatives became laws of the Church.
He drew all business into his hands, and declared himself
1
1 have tried to elucidate the true meaning of these texts in
a visitation address on The Roman Church, published in a
recent volume, entitled Unity and Fellowship, S.P.C.K., 1909.
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