4 AUGUST 1894, Page 25

The Primitive Saints and the See of Rome. By F.

W. Puller. With a Preface by Edward, Bishop of Lincoln. (Longmane.)— Father Puller reviews in these seven Lectures—five were actually delivered ad clerum, and two have been subsequently added—the Roman claim to supremacy. The well-known passage in Irenteus, with the critical phrase ad hanc ecclesiam propter potentiorem principatitatem necesse set omens convenire ecelesiam is discussed. Mr. Puller argues with force that convenire must mean "resort to," not "agree with." The action of St. Cyprian is another important subject that is fully dealt with. After this we come to the Council of Nicsea., the proceedings at which certainly justify the remark, as regards the Roman claim, that "if Silvester was the infallible monarch of the Church, he certainly adopted the strangest methods for asserting his infallibility and his sovereign authority." Father Puller has given us, within a moderate com- pass, a very useful rdsund of the controversy. It may profitably serve as a corrective to the plea which Mr. Luke Rivington has lately put forth in support of his new allegiance.