ect the supremacy of the Pope.

The absence from the Protestant communions of a Divinely appointed,
visible Head is to them an endless source of weakness and dissension. It
is an insuperable barrier against any hope of a permanent reunion among
themselves, because they are left without a common rallying centre or
basis of union and are placed in an unhappy state of schism.

The existence, on the contrary, of a supreme judge of controversy in the
Catholic Church is the secret of her admirable unity. This is the keystone
that binds together and strengthens the imperishable arch of faith.

From the very fact, then, of the existence of a supreme Head in the Jewish
Church; from the fact that a Head is always necessary for civil
government, for families and corporations; from the fact, especially, that
a visible Head is essential to the maintenance of unity in the Church,
while the absence of a Head necessarily leads to anarchy, we are forced to
conclude, even though positive evidence were wanting, that, in the
establishment of His Church, it must have entered into the mind of the
Divine Lawgiver to place over it a primate invested with superior judicial
powers.

But have we any positive proof that Christ did appoint a supreme Ruler
over His Church? To those, indeed, who read the Scriptures with the single
eye of pure intention the most abundant evidence of this fact is
furnished. To my mind the New Testament establishes no doctrine, unless it
satisfies every candid reader that our Lord gave plenipotentiary powers to
Peter to govern the whole Church. In this chapter I shall speak of the
Promise, the Institution, and the exercise of Peter's Primacy, as recorded
in the New Testament. The next chapter shall be devoted to its perpetuity
in the Popes.

_Promise of the Primacy._ Our Saviour, on a certain occasion, asked His
disciples, saying: "Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said:
Some say that Thou art John the Baptist; and others, Elias; and others,
Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets. Jesus saith to them: But whom do ye say
that I am?" Peter, as usual, is the leader and spokesman. "Simon Peter
answering, said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answering said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and
blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is in heaven. And I
say to thee: that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My
Church, and the gates of hell shal