[476:2] Mark x. 14.

[476:3] Compare Mark x. 13-16 with Luke xviii. 15, 16.

[477:1] See Acts xvi. 15.

[477:2] "De Baptismo," c. viii. xvi.

[477:3] "It would be thought by many a cruelty to place a person without his own consent, and in unconscious infancy, in a situation, so far, much more disadvantageous than that of those brought up pagans, that if he did ever—suppose at the age of fifteen or twenty—fall into any sin, he must remain for the rest of his life—perhaps for above half a century—deprived of all hope, or at least of all confident hope, of restoration to the divine favour; shut out from all that cheering prospect which, if his baptism in infancy had been omitted, might have lain before him."—Archbishop Whately's Scripture Doctrine concerning the Sacraments, p. 11, note.

[478:1] Acts ii. 38, 39.

[478:2] Gen. xvii. 12; Lev. xii. 3.

[479:1] Epist. lix. pp. 211, 212.

[479:2] Laurentius, a Roman deacon, who flourished about the middle of the third century, is represented as baptizing one Romanus, a soldier, in a pitcher of water, and another individual, named Lucillus, by pouring water upon his head. See Bingham, iii. 599.

[480:1] Here the validity of the ordinance is made to depend upon the personal character of the administrator.

[480:2] Epist. lxxvi. p. 321.

[480:3] Epist. lxxiv. p. 295.

[480:4] Epist. lxxvi. p. 317. In like manner Clement of Alexandria says—"Our transgressions are remitted by one sovereign medicine, the baptism according to the Word." See Kaye's "Clement," p. 437.

[480:5] Epist. lxx. p. 269.

[480:6] Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 1.

[480:7] Cyprian, "Con. Carthag." pp. 600, 602.

[480:8] See Kaye's "Clement of Alexandria," p. 441, and Tertullian, "De Corona," c. 3.

[480:9] Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 7.

[480:10] Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 8.

[481:1] "De Resurrectione Carnis," c. 8.

[481:2] "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."—Matt, xxviii. 19.

[481:3] Bingham, iii. 377.

[483:1] Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

[484:1] "Apol." ii. Opera, pp. 97, 98.

[485:1] In an article on the Roman Catacombs, in the "Edinburgh Review" for January 1859, the writer observes—"It is apparent from all the paintings of Christian feasts, whether of the Agapae, or the burial feasts of the dead, or the Communion of the Holy Sacrament, that they were celebrated by the early Christians sitting round a table."

[485:2] This calumny created much prejudice against them in the second century. See Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho," Sec. 10; and the "Apology of Athenagoras," Sec. 3. If Pliny refers to the Eucharist when he speaks of the early Christians as partaking of food together, it is obvious that they must then have communicated sitting, or in the posture in which they partook of their ordinary meals.

[485:3] Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14.

[485:4] See Euseb. vii. 9.

[485:5] Justin Martyr, "Apol." ii. 98; and Tertullian's "Apol." c. 39.

[486:1] Epist. lxiii. "To Caecilius," Opera, p. 229.

[486:2] Larroque's "History of the Eucharist," p. 35. London, 1684.

[486:3] Cyprian, "De Lapsis," Opera, pp. 375, 381. This was probably the result of carrying to excess a protest against the Montanist opposition to infant baptism. Such a reaction often occurs. It was now maintained that the Lord's Supper, as well as Baptism, should be administered to infants.

[486:4] At an earlier period it was dispensed in presence of the catechumens. See Bingham, iii. p. 380.

[486:5] "De Oratione Dominica," Opera, p. 421.

[487:1] See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 357.

[487:2] See Gieseler's "Text Book of Ecclesiastical History," by Cunningham ii. 331, note 3.

[487:3] "Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, pp. 296, 297.

[487:4] See Kaye's "Clement of Alexandria," p. 445.

[487:5] [Greek: akeraioteron], Opera, in. p. 498.

[488:1] In Mat. tom. xi. Opera, iii. 499, 500.

[488:2] Epist. lxiii. "To Caecilius," Opera, p. 225.

[488:3] Epist. lxiii. Opera, 228.

[488:4] Matt, xviii. 20.

[489:1] Irenaeus, "Contra Haereses," v. c. 2, Sec. 3. Clement of Alexandria says that "to drink the blood of Jesus is to partake of the incorruption of the Lord."—Paedagogue, book ii.

[489:2] "Contra Haereses," iv. c. 18, Sec. 5.

[489:3] This feeling prevailed in the time of Tertullian. "Calicis aut panis etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram auxie patimur."—De Corona, c. 3.

[489:4] Hom. xiii. in "Exod." Opera, ii. 176.

[489:5] Ps. xii. 6.

[490:1] See Kaye's "Justin Martyr," p. 94. Irenaeus, iv. o. 17, Sec. 5. Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14.

[490:2] "Nonne solemnior erit statio tua, si et ad aram Dei steteris?" Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14, or, according to Oehler, c. 19.

[491:1] Matt. iii. 5, 6.

[491:2] Acts xix. 17, 18.

[493:1] Acts xvi. 33.

[493:2] "Apol." ii. Opera, p. 93, 94.

[493:1] "De Paenitentia," c. ix.

[493:2] Joshua vii. 6; Esther iv. 1; Isaiah lviii. 5; Ezek. xxvii. 30.

[494:1] See a "Memorial concerning Personal and Family Fasting," by the pious Thomas Boston. Edinburgh, 1849.

[494:2] Matt. ix. 15.

[494:3] Lev. xxiii. 27.

[494:4] The text Matt. ix. 15 was urged in support of this observance. See Tertullian, "De Jejun." c. ii.

[494:5] "Wednesday being selected because on that day the Jews took counsel to destroy Christ, and Friday because that was the day of His crucifixion."—Kaye's Tertullian, p. 418. As Wednesday was dedicated to Mercury and Friday to Venus, this fasting, according to Clement, signified to the more advanced disciple, that he was to renounce the love of gain and the love of pleasure. Kaye's "Clement," p. 454.

[495:1] These Xerophagiae, or Dry Food Days, were even now objected to by some of the more enlightened Christians on the ground that they were an import from heathenism. Tertullian, "De Jejun." c. ii.

[495:2] Col. ii. 23.

[495:3] Thus Cyprian, Epist. liii. p. 169, speaks of a penance of three years' duration.

[496:1] Socrates, v. c. 19.

[497:1] See canon xi. of the Council of Nice.

[497:2] See Cyprian, Epist. xl., p. 53, and "ad Demetrianum," p. 442.

[497:3] See p. 419, note Sec..

[497:4] See p. 460.

[498:1] Rom. iii. 28.

[498:2] Matt. iii. 8.

[498:3] Isa. lviii. 6-8.

[499:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. i. pp. 465, 466.

[499:2] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[500:1] Apost. Constit. ii. c. 17.

[500:2] Phil. iv. 3.

[500:3] No less than five persons are mentioned as having preceded Polycarp in the see of Smyrna, viz., Aristo, Strataeas, another Aristo, Apelles, and Bucolus. See Jacobson's "Patres Apostolici," ii. 564, 565, note. It is not at all probable that he became the senior presbyter long before the middle of the second century. Irenaeus, indeed, tells us that he was constituted bishop of Smyrna by the apostles (lib. iii. c. 3, Sec. 4)—a statement which implies that at least two of the inspired heralds of the gospel were concerned in his designation to the ministry; but as he was still only a boy of nineteen when the last survivor of the twelve died in extreme old age, the words cannot mean that he was actually ordained by those to whom our Lord originally entrusted the organization of the Church. The language was probably designed simply to import that John and perhaps Philip had announced his future eminence when he was yet a child, and that thus, like Timothy, he was invested with the pastoral commission "according to the prophecies" which they had previously delivered. See 1 Tim. i. 18; iv. 14.

[501:1] Sec. 74.

[502:1] Sec. 54.

[502:2] Sec. 44.

[502:3] Sec. 44. All these quotations attest the late date of the Epistle. Tillemont places it in A.D. 97. Eusebius had evidently no doubt as to its late date. See his "History," iii. 16.

[502:4] Sec. 57.

[502:5] For many centuries it was considered lost. At length in the reign of Charles I. a copy of it was discovered appended to a very ancient manuscript containing the Septuagint and Greek Testament—the manuscript now known as the Codex Alexandrinus.

[502:6] Euseb. iii. 16; iv. 23.

[503:1] See the Romish Breviary under the 23d of November, where a number of absurd stories are told concerning him.

[503:2] Sec. 42.

[503:3] They continued to be so used when the Peshito version of the New Testament was made. That version is assigned by the best authorities to the former half of the second century. See p. 421, note.

[503:4] It is probably of nearly the same date as the first Apology of Justin Martyr.

[504:1] [Greek: hoi sun autoi presbuteroi]—evidently equivalent to [Greek: sumpresbuteroi]. See 1 Pet. v. i.

[504:2] Phil. i. 1.

[504:3] Sec. 5.

[504:4] Sec. 6.

[504:5] Jerome, "Comment. in Tit."

[504:6] 1 Cor. xiv. 40.

[505:1] As in Acts xiv. 23.

[505:2] I make no apology for employing a word which, even the Benedictine Editor of Origen has adopted. Thus he speaks of the "senatores et moderatores ecclesiae Dei."—Contra Celsum. iii. 30, Opera, i. 466.

[505:3] Such as Acts xxi. 18; Gal. ii. 12.

[506:1] "At Antioch some, as Origen and Eusebius, make Ignatius to succeed Peter. Jerome makes him the third bishop, and placeth Evodius before him. Others, therefore, to solve that, make them contemporary bishops; the one, of the Church of the Jews; the other, of the Gentiles.... Come we to Rome, and here the succession is as muddy as the Tiber itself; for here Tertullian, Rufinus, and several others, place Clement next to Peter. Irenaeus and Eusebius set Anacletus before him; Epiphanius and Optatus both Anacletus and Cletus; Augustinus and Damasus, with others, make Anacletus, Cletus, and Linus all to precede him. What way shall we find to extricate ourselves out of this labyrinth?"—Stillingfleet's Irenicum, part ii. ch. 7. p. 321.

[506:2] "Polycarp, and the elders who are with him, to the Church of God which is at Philippi."

[506:3] A Roman deacon of the fourth century. His works are commonly appended to those of Ambrose.

[507:1] "Primum presbyteri episcopi appellabantur, ut, recedente uno, sequens ei succederet."—Comment. in Eph. iv.

[507:2] "Ut omnis episcopus presbyter sit, non omnis presbyter episcopus; hic enim episcopus est, qui inter presbyteros primus est."—Comment. in 1 Tim. iii. According to a learned writer this arrangement extended farther. "Ita, uti videtur, comparatum fuit, ut defuncto presbytero, primus ordine diaconus locum occuparet ultimum presbyterorum, novusque in locum novissimum substitueretur diaconus; decedente vero episcopo, primus ordine presbyter in ejus locum sufficeretur, et primus in ordine diaconorum novissimam presbyterii sedem capesseret."—Thomae Brunonis Judicium de auctore Can. et Const. quae apost. dicuntur. Cotelerius, ii. Ap. p. 179.

[507:3] 1 Pet. v. 5. It is a curious and striking fact, arguing strongly in favour of the antiquity of their Church polity, that among the Vaudois Barbs of old the claims of seniority were distinctly acknowledged. The following rule of discipline is taken from one of their ancient MSS. "He that is received the last (into the ministry by imposition of hands) ought to do nothing without the permission of him that was received before him."—Moreland, History of the Evang. Ch. of the Valleys of Piedmont, p. 74.

[507:4] He is speaking immediately before of presbyters. See 1 Pet. v. 1-4.

[507:5] Matt. x. 2, "The first, Simon, who is called Peter." Mark iii. 16; Luke vi. 14; Acts i. 13.

[507:6] Jerome in "Jovin," i. 14.

[508:1] Savigny's "History of the Roman Law," by Cathcart, i. pp. 62, 63, 75.

[508:2] Euseb. iii. 23. [Greek: ho presbutes].

[508:3] In Africa the senior bishop or metropolitan was called father. See Bingham, i. 200. In the second century we find the name given to the Roman bishop. See Routh's "Reliquiae," i. 287. According to Eutychius, his predecessor in the see of Alexandria in the early part of the third century was called "Baba (Papa), that is, grandfather."

[509:1] Euseb. v. 1.

[509:2] He was one hundred and sixteen years of age in A.D. 212 (Euseb. vi. 11), so that in A.D. 196, or about the time of the Palestinian Synod at which he presided (Euseb. v. 23), he was a century old.

[509:3] Etheridge's "Syrian Churches," pp. 9, 10.

[509:4] See 1 Tim. iv. 12.

[509:5] That is, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, and Hyginus; but some consider Anacletus the same as Cletus, who is supposed to have died before Clement.

[510:1] Pearson has noticed this fact, and has endeavoured to erect upon it an argument against the current chronology. See his "Minor Works," ii. 527. It would appear that the names of the three bishops of Smyrna next after Polycarp were Thraseas, Papirius, and Camerius. At least two of these had passed away a considerable time before the Paschal controversy. See Greswell's "Dissertations," iv. part ii. p. 600, note.

[510:2] Hist. iv. 5.

[510:3] According to Eusebius his appointment took place after the destruction of Jerusalem, or about A.D. 71. He was, therefore, at the head of the Church forty-five years, as his martyrdom occurred in A.D. 116. According to this reckoning he was in his seventy-fifth year when made president.

[510:4] This explanation of the matter approximates to that given by Tillemont. "Cela peut etre venu de ce qu'on les choisissoit entre les plus agez du Clerge pour les faire Evesques: car on ne voit pas qu'ils ayent este plus persecutez que d'autres."—Mem. pour servir a l'Histoire Ecclesiastique, tom. ii. part ii. p. 40. It would appear from Eusebius (iii. 32), that at the time of the death of Simeon there were still living a number of very old persons who were relatives of our Lord. Some of these were, probably, elders in the Church of Jerusalem.

[511:1] He is said in the "Chronicon" of Eusebius to have presided sixteen years.

[511:2] Euseb. v. 12.

[512:1] In the tenth century, the darkest and most revolting period in the history of the Popedom, there were twenty-four bishops of Rome. Some of these reigned only a few days; at least one of them was strangled; several of them died in prison; and several others were driven from the see or deposed. There have been only twenty-four Popes in the last two hundred and fifty years.

[512:2] There have been only twenty-eight Archbishops of Canterbury since 1454.

[512:3] In the middle of the third century we find Firmilian appealing to it as a witness against the Church of Home. Cyprian, Epist. lxxv. Opera, p. 303.

[512:4] "Hist." vi. 20.

[513:1] "Hist." iv. 5; v. 12.

[513:2] Such as, after the death of the aged Simeon, when Justus, at the age of fivescore and ten, was advanced to the presidential chair.

[514:1] Irenaeus, iii. 2. Tertullian, "De Praescrip. Haeret." Sec. 25.

[514:2] "Ad eam iterum traditionem, quae est ab apostolis, quae per successiones presbyterorum in ecclesiis custoditur, provocamus eos."—Irenaeus, iii. 2.

[514:3] Irenaeus here speaks in the language of his own times, and refers to the presidents, or senior ministers, of the presbyteries. In like manner Hilary says that the change in the mode of appointing the president of the presbytery was made by the decision of many priests (multorum sacerdotum judicio), though the title priest was not given to a Christian minister when the alteration was originally proposed.

[514:4] Irenaeus, iii. 3.

[515:1] Period II. sec. i. chap. iv.; and Period II. sect. iii. chap. vii.

[515:2] According to a very ancient canon, no one under fifty years of age could be made a bishop. See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 56. Even in the time of Cyprian much stress was still laid upon age. See Cyprian, Epist. lii. p. 156.

[515:3] Sec Period II. sect. iii. chap. xi. See also Bingham, i. 198.

[515:4] Muenter's "Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae," p. 49. See also Bingham, vi. 377-379.

[516:1] Bingham, i. 201.

[516:2] Binius, i. 5. Fourth Council of Toledo, canon 4.

[516:3] Bingham, i. 204.

[517:1] Bunsen dates it about A.D. 200. "Hippolytus and his Age," p. 114. The recently discovered treatise of Hippolytus against all heresies shews that Noetus must have appeared much earlier than most modern ecclesiastical historians have reckoned.

[517:2] Routh, "Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Opuscula," tom. i. pp. 49, 50. Oxon, 1858. This extract proves that the Church of Smyrna continued under presbyterial government long after the time of Polycarp. Other Churches about this time were in the same position. See Eusebius, v. 16.

[518:1] During the Paschal controversy the Churches of Jerusalem, Caesarea, and others sided with Rome, and then probably adopted her ecclesiastical regimen. It had, perhaps, been generally adopted in Asia Minor during the Montanist agitation.

[518:2] Chapter vii. of this section.

[519:1] The word catholic came now into use. The minister of the Word was called a priest, and the communion table, an altar.

[519:2] Euseb. v. 12.

[519:3] Euseb. vi. 10. The word [Greek: cheirotonian] here employed is indicative of a popular choice. See also the "Chronicon" of Eusebius.

[519:4] Muenter's "Primordia Eccles. Afric.," pp. 25, 26.

[520:1] Acts x. 1, 45-48; xxi. 8.

[520:2] "Hist." v. 22.

[520:3] "Hist." v. 23; v. 25; vi. 19; vi. 23; vi. 46; vii. 14, &c, &c.

[520:4] "Annal." p. 332.

[520:5] See Lardner's Works, vii. 99. Edit. London, 1838.

[521:1] Eusebius, vi. 26. Towards the close of his episcopate Demetrius held several synods in Alexandria, at which a considerable number of bishops were present.

[523:1] It would appear that the "Ecclesiastical History" of Eusebius was published shortly after Constantine first publicly recognized Christianity. That event took place in A.D. 324, and with that year the history terminates.

[523:2] "Vita Malchi," Opera, iv. pp. 90, 91. Edit. Paris, 1706.

[524:1] "Antequam Diaboli instinctu, studia in religione fierent, et diceretur in populis, Ego sum Pauli, ego Apollo, ego autem Cephae, communi presbyterorum consilio ecclesiae gubernabantur. Postquam vero unusquisque eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse, non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris, electus superponeretur caeteris, ad quem omnis ecclesiae cura pertineret, et schismatum semina tollerentur."—Comment. in Titum. The language here used bears a strong resemblance to that employed by Lactantius long before when treating of the same subject—"Multae haereses extiterunt, et instinctibus daemonum populus Dei scissus est."—Instit. Divin., lib. iv. c. 30.

[525:1] 1 Cor. i. 12.

[525:2] "Hic locus vel maxime adversum Haereticos facit qui pacis vinculo dissipato atque corrupto, putant se tenere Spiritus unitatem; quum unitas Spiritus in pacis vinculo conservetur. Quando enim non idipsum omnes loquimur, et alius dicit Ego sum Pauli, Ego Apollo, Ego Cephae, dividimus Spiritus unitatem, et eam in partes ac membra discerpimus."-Comment, in Ephes., lib. ii. cap. 4. Again, we find him saying-"Neonon et dissensiones opera carnis sunt, quum quis nequaquam perfectus, eodem sensu, et eadem sententia dicit. Ego sum Pauli, et ego Apollo, et ego Cephae, et ego Christi. ...Nonnumquam evenit, ut et in expositionibus Scripturarum oriatur dissensio, e quibus haereses quoque quae nunc in carnis opere ponuntur, ebulliunt."—Comment, in Epist. ad Galat., cap. 5.

[525:3] Philip, i. 1, 2.

[526:1] Acts xx. 17, 28.

[526:2] Our translators, as it would appear acting under instructions from James I., here render the word "overseers."

[526:3] The Church of Rome, of which Jerome was a presbyter, long hesitated to receive the Epistle to the Hebrews. Its opposition to ritualism seems, in the third and fourth centuries, to have been offensive to the ecclesiastical leaders in the Western metropolis. In the first century no such doubts respecting it existed among the Roman Christians. See Period I. sec. ii. chap. i. p. 183.

[526:4] Heb. xiii. 17. The reading of Jerome, here, as well as in the case of other texts quoted, differs somewhat from that of our authorized version. He seems to have often quoted from memory.

[527:1] 1 Pet. v. l, 2.

[527:2] It may suffice to give in the original only the conclusion of this long quotation. "Paulatim vero, ut dissensionum plantaria evellerentur, ad unum omnem solicitudinem esse delatam. Sicut ergo presbyteri sciunt se ex ecclesiae consuetudine ei qui sibi praepositus fuerit esse subjectos; ita episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine quam dispositionis dominicae veritate presbyteris esse majores."—Comment, in Titum.

[527:3] See Period I. sec. i. chap. 10. p. 157.

[527:4] Thus Dr Burton says that "the Epistles of St John were composed in the latter part of Domitian's reign."—Lectures, i. 382. Jerome was evidently of this opinion, for he says that, in his First Epistle, he refers to Cerinthus and Ebion, who appeared towards the close of the first century. "Jam tunc haereticorum semina pullularent Cerinthi, Ebionis, et caeterorum qui negant Christum in carne venisse, quos et ipse in Epistola sua Antichristos vocat."—Proleg. in Comment, super Matthaeum.

[528:1] 2 John 1.

[528:2] 3 John 1.

[528:3] Epist. ci. "Ad Evangelum."

[528:4] Period II. sec. iii. chap. 5. p. 500.

[528:5] Sec. 1.

[528:6] The reader may find the quotations in the preceding chapter, pp. 501, 502.

[528:7] Thus Milner says that "so far as one may judge by Clement's Epistle," the Church of Corinth, when the letter was written, had Church governors "only of two ranks," presbyters and deacons.—Hist. of the Church, cent. ii. chap. 1.

[528:8] As the letter supplies no trace whatever of the existence of a bishop in the Church to which it is addressed, Pearson is sadly puzzled by its testimony, and gravely advances the supposition that the bishop of Philippi must have been dead when Polycarp wrote! "Vindiciae Ignatianae," pars ii. cap. 13. Rothe is equally perplexed by the Epistle of Clement. He says that "in the whole Epistle there is never any reference to a bishop of the Corinthian community," and he admits that, when the letter was written, "the Corinthian community had no bishop at all;" but, to support his favourite theory, he contends, like Pearson, that the bishop of Corinth must also have been dead! "Die Anfange der Christlichen Kirche," pp. 403, 404. Strange that the bishop of Corinth and the bishop of Philippi both happened to be dead at the only time that their existence would have been of any historical value, and that no reference is made either to them or their successors!

[529:1] See Euseb. iv. c. 11.

[529:2] Euseb. in. 32, and iv. 22.

[529:3] Euseb. iii. 32. It was probably immediately after the election of Marcus, as bishop of Jerusalem, that Thebuthis became a heretic. See Euseb. iv. 22. About that time the sect of the Nazarenes originated.

[530:1] Origen, "Contra Celsum," iii. Sec. 10, Opera, i. 453, 454.

[530:2] "Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, p. 253.

[530:3] "Contra Haeres." i. 27, Sec. 1.

[530:4] "Strom." p. 764.

[530:5] Epist. lxxiv. Opera, p. 293. The ancient writers speak of all the early schismatics as heretics. Thus Novatian, though sound in the faith, is so described. Cyprian, Epist. lxxvi. p. 315. When, therefore, Jerome speaks of the early schismatics he obviously refers to the heretics. Irenaeus says of them—"Scindunt et separant unitatem ecclesiae."—Lib. iv. c. xxvi. Sec. 2. In like manner Cyprian represents "heresies and schisms" as making their appearance after the apostolic age, and as inseparably connected. "Cum haereses et schismata postmodum nata sint, dum conventicula sibi diversa constituunt."—De Unitate Eccles., Opera, p. 400.

[531:1] The existence of heresy in Gaul in the second century is established by the fact that Irenaeus spent so much time in its refutation. Had he not been annoyed by it, he never would have thought of writing his treatise "Contra Haereses."

[531:2] Valentine himself seems to have been a presbyter. He at one time expected to be made bishop.

[532:1] Such is the statement of Hilary—"Immutata est ratio, prospiciente concilio, ut non ordo sed meritum crearet episcopum, multorum sacerdotum judicio constitutum, ne indignus temere usurparet, et esset multis scandalum."—Comment. in Eph. iv.

[532:2] See Period II. sec. i. chap. iv. pp. 333, 334, 349.

[533:1] At an early period, out of three elders nominated by the presbytery, one was chosen by lot; subsequently, out of three elders chosen by lot, one was elected by the people. See pp. 333, 349.

[533:2] "Collocatum."

[533:3] Epist. ci. "Ad Evangelum."

[534:1] A few passages of the letter may here be given in the original. "Manifestissime comprobatur eundem esse episcopum atque presbyterum.... Quod autem postea unus electus est, qui cicteris praeponeretur, in schismatic remedium factum est, ne unusquisque ad se trahens Christi ecclesiam rumperet. Nam et Alexandriae a Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam et Dionysium Episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu collocatum episcopum nominabant."-Epist. ci. ad Evangelum.

[535:1] Matt. xx. 26, 27.

[535:2] The view here taken is sustained by the verdict of learned and candid episcopalians. "When elders were ordained by the apostles in every Church, through every city, to feed the flock of Christ, whereof the Holy Ghost had made them overseers: they, to the intent that they might the better do it by common counsel and consent, did use to assemble themselves and meet together. In the which meetings, for the more orderly handling and concluding of things pertaining to their charge, they chose one amongst them to be the president of their company and moderator of their actions."—The Judgment of Doctor Rainoldes touching the Original of Episcopacy more largely confirmed out of Antiquity, by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh. Ussher's Works, vii. p. 75.

[537:1] Pearson has endeavoured to destroy the credit of this chronology, and has urged against it the authority of the "Annals of Eutychius!" "De Successione prim. Rom. Episc." He had before laboured to prove that the testimony of these "Annals" is worthless. "Vindic. Ignat." pars i. c. xi.

[537:2] The chronology of Eusebius, as arranged by Bower in his "Lives of the Popes," stands thus:—

Evaristus, A.D. 100 to A.D. 109. Alexander, A.D. 109 to A.D. 119. Sixtus (or Xystus), A.D. 119 to A.D. 128. Telesphorus, A.D. 128 to A.D. 139. Hyginus, A.D. 139 to A.D. 142. Pius, A.D. 142 to A.D. 157. Anicetus, A.D. 157 to A.D. 168. Soter, A.D. 168 to A.D. 176. Eleutherius, A.D. 176 to A.D. 192. Victor, A.D. 192 to A.D. 201.

[538:1] The following is the chronology of Pearson:—

Clement died A.D. 83. Evaristus, A.D. 83 to A.D. 91. Alexander, A.D. 91 to A.D. 101. Xystus, A.D. 101 to A.D. 111. Telesphorus, A.D. 111 to A.D. 122. Hyginus, A.D. 122 to A.D. 126. Pius, A.D. 127 to A.D. 142. Anicetus, A.D. 142 to A.D. 161. Soter, A.D. 161 to A.D. 170. Eleutherius, A.D. 170 to A.D. 185. Victor, A.D. 185 to A.D. 197.

—"Minor Works," ii. pp. 570; 571.

[539:1] I have endeavoured, from the records of the late Synod of Ulster, to estimate the medium length of the incumbency of a moderator for life, being the senior minister of a presbytery of from ten to fifteen members, and have found that the average of thirty-six successions amounted to between eight and nine years. In these presbyteries young ministers generally constituted a considerable portion of the members. Had they all been persons advanced in life, the average must have been greatly reduced.

[539:2] During that part of the second century which terminated with the death of Hyginus, the average duration of the life of a Roman bishop very little exceeded eight years; whereas, during the remainder of the century, it amounted to nearly twelve years. According to the chronology of Pearson the disproportion is still greater, being as eight years and a fraction to fourteen years. If we insert the episcopate of Anacletus, it will be nearly as seven to fourteen.

[539:3] In the verses erroneously attributed to Tertullian, the Church of Rome is represented as in a flourishing state when visited by Cerdo.

"Advenit Romam Cerdo, nova vulnera gestans Detectus, quoniam voces et verba veneni Spargebat furtim; quapropter ab agmine pulsus, Sacrilegum genus hoc genuit spirante dracone. Constabat pietate vigens Ecclesia Romae Composita a Petro, cujus successor et ipse Jamque loco nono cathedram suscepit Hyginus."

[540:1] Euseb. iv. 11. Irenaeus says that Valentine, the most famous and formidable of the Gnostic teachers, "came to Rome under Hyginus, was in his prime under Pius, and lived until the time of Anicetus."—Contra Haeres., iii. 4. Sec. 3. Cyprian speaks of "the more grievous pestilences of heresy breaking forth when Marcion the Pontian emerged from Pontus, whose master Cerdo came to Rome during the episcopate of Hyginus."—Epist. lxxiv. He adds—"But it is acknowledged that heresies afterwards became more numerous and worse."—Epist. lxxiv. Opera, pp. 293, 294.

[540:2] Euseb. iv. 11. See also a fragment attributed to Irenaeus in Stieren's edition, i. 938.

[540:3] See Mosheim, "Commentaries," by Vidal, ii. 266.

[541:1] Hieronymus, "Comment, in Titum."

[541:2] Ibid.

[541:3] "Tamen postquam in omnibus locis ecclesiae sunt constitutae, et officia ordinata, aliter composita res est, quam coeperat."—Comment. in Epist. ad Ephes. cap. 4.

[541:4] "Ideo non per omnia conveniunt scripta apostoli ordinationi, quae nunc in ecclesia est; quia haec inter ipsa primordia sunt scripta."—Ibid.

[541:5] "Ut non ordo, sed meritum crearet episcopum."—Ibid. Hilary appears to have believed with Jerome that the Church was originally governed "by the common council of the presbyters," but that, meanwhile, with their sanction, or under peculiar circumstances, deacons might preach and even laymen baptize. Such, too, seems to have been the opinion of Tertullian. See Kaye's "Tertullian," pp. 226, 448. Hilary, however, maintained that this arrangement was soon abrogated. "Coepit alio ordine et providentia gubernari ecclesia; quia si omnes eadem possent, irrationabile esset, et vulgaris res, et vilissima videretur."

[543:1] Irenaeus, iii. 3, Sec. 3.

[544:1] See Period II. sec. 1. chap. iv. pp. 334-336.

[544:2] Irenaeus, i. 24, Sec. 1; i. 28, Sec. 1.

[544:3] Thus, Valentine travelled from Alexandria to Rome, and afterwards settled in Cyprus. Marcion, who was originally connected with Pontus, and who taught in Rome, is said to have also travelled in Egypt and the East.

[545:1] "Blondelli Apologia pro Sententia Hieronymi," p. 18. Blondel makes the vacancy of four years' continuance.

[545:2] Pearson's "Minor Works," ii. p. 571.

[546:1] Epiphanius, "Haeres." 42, Opera, tom. i. p. 302.

[546:2] See Burton's "Lectures," ii. 98.

[546:3] "Speraverat episcopatum Valentinus, quia et ingenio poterat et eloquio. Sed alium ex martyrii praerogativa loci potitum indignatus de ecclesia authenticae regulae abrupit."—Adv. Valent. c. iv.

[546:4] Tertullian states that Valentine at first believed the doctrine of the Catholics in the Church of Rome. "Be Praescrip." c. 30. When he came to the city he was admitted to communion. He set up a distinct sect after Pius was made bishop. It is impossible, therefore, to avoid the inference that he was mortified because he was not himself chosen. Tertullian here confounds Eleutherius and Hyginus.

[547:1] The unwillingness even of Tertullian to say anything to its prejudice has been often remarked. See Neander on a passage in the tract "De Virg. Veland." in his "Antignostikos," appended to his "History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church," in Bohn's edition, ii. 420. See also the same, p. 429. See also "De Pudicitia," c. 1.

[547:2] They are quoted as genuine by Binius, Baronius, Bona, Thorndike, Bingham, Salmasius, and many others. Bishop Beveridge speaks of one of them as of undoubted authority. "In indubitata illius epistola."—Annot. in Can. Ap. See Cotelerius, i. 459. Pearson rejects them as spurious, whilst contending so valiantly for the Ignatian Epistles.

[547:3] Such as Missa and Titulus. But that Pastor really did erect a place in which the Christians assembled for worship, as stated in one of these letters, is not improbable. See Routh's "Reliquiae," i. 430. Pearson objects to them on the ground that Eleutherius is spoken of in one of them as a presbyter, whereas Hegesippus describes him as deacon afterwards in the time of Anicetus. See Euseb. iv. 22. But it is not clear that Hegesippus here uses the word deacon in its strictly technical sense. He may mean by it minister or manager, and may design to indicate that Eleutherius was the most prominent official personage under Anicetus, occupying the position afterwards held by the archdeacon.

[548:1] "Presbyteri et Diaconi, non ut majorem, sed ut ministrum Christi te observent."

[549:1] That, in the time of Marcion, there were Roman presbyters who had been disciples of the apostles, see Tillemont, "Memoires," tom. ii. sec. par. p. 215. Edit. Brussels, 1695.

[550:1] "Presbyteri illi qui ab apostolis educati usque ad nos pervenerunt, cum quibus simul verbum fidei partiti sumus, a Domino vocati in cubilibus aeternis clausi tenentur."

[550:2] Pearson ("Vindiciae," par. ii. c. 13) has appealed to a letter from the Emperor Hadrian to the Consul Servianus as a proof that the terms bishop and presbyter had distinctive meanings as early as A.D. 134. The passage is as follows:—"Illi qui Serapim colunt, Christiani sunt; et devoti sunt Serapi, qui se Christi episcopos dicunt. Nemo illic Archisynagogus Judaeorum, nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum Presbyter.... Ipse ille Patriarcha, quum Aegyptum venerit, ab aliis Serapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Christum." Such a testimony only shews that Pearson was sadly in want of evidence. This same letter has in fact often been adduced to prove that the terms bishop and presbyter were still used interchangeably, and such is certainly the more legitimate inference. See Lardner's remarks on this letter, Works, vol. vii. p. 99. Edit. London, 1838.

[550:3] "The Philippians appear to have continued to live under the same aristocratic constitution (of venerable elders) about the middle of the second century, when Polycarp addressed his Epistle to them."—Bunsen's Hippolytus, i. 369.

[551:1] [Greek: proestos], Opera, pp. 97-99.

[551:2] "Episcopi, id est, praesides ecclesiarum."—Lib. iii. simil. ix. c. 27. There is a parallel passage to this in Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 17—"Summus sacerdos, qui est episcopus." This is, perhaps, the first instance on record in which a bishop is called the chief priest. Hence the necessity of the interpretation—"qui est episcopus." Pastor considered an explanation of the title "episcopus" equally necessary.

[551:3] Neander supposes this work to have been written A.D. 156. "General History," ii. 443.

[551:4] See Period II. sec. ii. chap. i. p. 368.

[552:1] So high indeed is its authority that many facts taken from it are recorded in the "Breviary." Even Bunsen appeals to it. See "Analecta Antenicaena," iii. 52, 53.

[552:2] Binius makes the following abortive attempt to explain the statement-"Quod hierarchicus catholicae ecclesiaeae ordo, quo presbyteri episcopis, diaconi presbyteris, populus presbyteris et diaconis subditus est, ab Hygino compositus esse hic dicitur, non aliter intelligi potest, quam quod Hyginus hierarchiae ecclesiasticae jam tempore apostolorum a Christo Domino constitutae, et a sanctis Patribus ipso antiquioribus comprobatae, quaedam duntaxat injuria temporum et scriptorum deperdita addiderit, vel eadem quae Divino jure instituta, et a patribus comprobata sunt, hac constitutione sua illustraverit." —Concilia, i. 65, 66.

[552:3] "Hic clerum composuit, et distribuit gradus."—Binii Concil. i. 65. Baronius, ad annum, 158.

[553:1] When referring to this statement Baronius says—"Porro quod ad gradus cujusque ordinis in Ecclesia, quo ecclesiastica habetur composita hierarchia, jam a temporibus apostolorum haec facta esse, Ignatio auctore et aliis, tomo primo Annalium demonstravimus; verum aliqua antiquae formae ab Hyginio fuisse addita, vel eadem illustrata, aequum est aestimare."

[554:1] See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 414.

[555:1] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[555:2] Euseb. iv. 11; iv. 19. Dr Burton has well observed that Alexandria and Antioch were "the hotbeds from which nearly all the mischief arose, which, under the name of philosophy, inundated the Church in the second century."—Lectures, vol. ii. p. 103.

[556:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. v. pp. 516, 517.

[556:2] "Quanquam sunt inter scriptores ecclesiasticos qui putaverint Polycarpum Romam venisse, ut quaereret de festo paschatis: ex his Irenaei verbis luco clarius elucet, ob alias causas Ioannis apostoli discipulum Romam profectum esse."—Stieren's Irenaeus, i. p. 826, note.

[557:1] Euseb. v. 24.

[557:2] Stieren's "Irenaeus," i. 827.

[557:3] First, as his senior; and secondly, as a disciple of the apostles.

[557:4] It was a standing rule of the Church that a strange bishop should be thus treated. See "Didascalia," by Platt, p. 97.

[559:1] "Paulatim vero, ut dissensionum plantaria evellerentur, ad unum omnem solicitudinem esse delatam."—Comment. in Tit.

[560:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. 5, pp. 510, 512, 516, 520.

[560:2] But the presiding elders now began generally to be called bishops.

[560:3] Thus, though, as we may infer from the testimony of Tertullian, Christianity was planted in North Britain in the second century, the universal tradition is that originally there were no bishops in that country. According to an ancient MS. belonging to the former bishops of St Andrews, and to be found in the "Life of William Wishart," one of their number who lived in the thirteenth century, the first bishop created in Scotland was elected in A.D. 270. See Jamieson's "Culdees," pp. 101, 101.

[561:1] Song of Solomon, vi. 9; Ps. xlv. 9. "Sub Apostolis nemo Catholicus vocabatur.....Cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent, diversisque nominibus columbam Dei atque reginam lacerare per partes et scindere niterentur; nonno cognomen suum ecclesia postulabat, quae incorrupti populi distingueret unitatem?"

[562:1] Pacian, "Epist. to Sympronian," secs. 5 and 8. Pacian is said to have been bishop of Barcelona. He died A.D. 392.

[562:2] Epist. lxix. 265, 266.

[563:1] Justin Martyr, Opera, p. 99.

[563:2] According to the "Apostolic Constitutions" the deacons were not at liberty to baptize. Lib. viii. c. 28.

[563:3] "De Baptismo," c. 17.

[563:4] Tertullian thus corroborates the testimony of Jerome.

[563:5] "In the sixth century the clergy of Italy complained to Justinian that, owing to the vacancy of sees, 'an immense multitude of people died without baptism.' Even so late as the time of Hinemar (the ninth century) baptisms were still performed by the bishop, and they alone were considered canonical."—Palmer's Episcopacy Vindicated, p. 35, note.

[564:1] "It appears to have been the custom at Rome and other places to send from the cathedral church the bread consecrated to the several parish churches."—Stillingfleet's Irenicum, pp. 369, 370. "Thomassinus shown that in the fifth century the presbyters of Rome did not consecrate the Eucharist in their respective churches, but it was sent to them from the principal church."—Palmer, p. 35, note.

[564:2] Thus Rome is called the "principal Church" in regard to Carthage. Cyprian, Epist. lv. p. 183.

[564:3] Tertullian apparently refers to this when he says—"Una omnes probant unitate communicatio pacis et appellatio fraternitatis, et contesseratio hospitalitatis."—De Praescrip. c. 20.

[564:4] "Ecclesiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fidei."

[565:1] "Cathedrae apostolorum suis locis praesident." These words clearly indicate that the Churches founded by the apostles were now recognized as centres of unity for the surrounding Christian communities.

[565:2] It is worthy of note that, in the second canonical epistle ever written by Paul, he warns this Church of the coming of the Man of Sin. (2 Thess. ii. 3.) It appears from the text that thus early it was identified with the system which resulted in the establishment of the Papacy. It is equally remarkable that the bishop of Thessalonica was the first Papal Vicar ever appointed. See Bower's "History of the Popes," Damasus, thirty-sixth bishop; and Gieseler, i. 264.

[565:3] "De Praescrip." xxi., xxxvi.

[565:4] The tendency of "Church principles" to terminate in the recognition of a universal bishop has appeared in modern as well as in ancient times. "What other step," says a noble author, "remains to stand between those who held those principles and Rome? Only one: that the priesthood so constituted, invested with such powers, is organized under one head—a Pope....The space to be traversed in arriving at it is so narrow, and so unimpeded by any positive barrier, either of logic or of feeling, that the slightest influence of sentiment or imagination, of weakness or of superstition, is sufficient to draw men across."—Letter from the Duke of Argyll to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 23. London, Moxon, 1851.

[566:1] Tertullian says that John, as well as Peter and Paul, had been in Rome. "De Praescrip." xxxvi.

[567:1] "Contra Haeres." iii. c. iii. Sec. 2.

[567:2] "Maximae et antiquissimae et omnibus cognitae, a gloriosissimis duobus apostolis Petro et Paulo Romae fundatae et constitutae ecclesiae."—Irenaeus, iii. c. iii. Sec. 2.

[567:3] We find this designation in some of the early canons. See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 50.

[567:4] Euseb. v. 24.

[568:1] See the statement of Cyprian in the Council of Carthage, "Opera," p. 597; and Jerome, in his Epistle to Evangelus, "Opera," iv. secund. pars. p. 803.

[568:2] "Pontifex scilicet Maximus, quod est episcopus episcoporum, edicit: Ego et moechiae et fornicationis delicta poenitentia functis dimitto."—Tertullian, De Pudicitia, c. 1. "Neque enim quisquam nostrum episcopum se esse episcoporum constituit."—Cyprian, Con. Car., Opera, 597.

[569:1] "Ecclesiae catholicae radicem et matricem."—Epist. xlv. p. 133.

[569:2] "Navigare audent et ad Petri cathedram atque ad ecclesiam principalem unde unitas sacerdotalis exorta est."—Epist. lv. p. 183. "Nam Petro primum Dominus, super quem aedificavit ecclesiam, et unde unitatis originem instituit et ostendit, potestatem istam dedit."—Epist. lxxiii. p. 280. See also Epist. lxx.-"Una ecclesia a Christo Domino super Petrum origine unitatis et ratione fundata."

[570:1] The word catholic first occurs in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna giving an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, but that letter was probably not written until at least twenty years after the event which it records. See Period II. sec. i. chap. iv. p. 337. It is remarkable that the word is not found in Irenaeus, or used by his Latin interpreter. The pastor of Lyons, however, recognizes the distinction indicated by the word catholic, for he speaks of the ecclesiastici or churchmen, and of those "qui sunt undique." Stieren's "Irenaeus," i. 430, 502, note. The word catholic was obviously quite current in the time of Tertullian.

[570:2] Particularly Matt. xvi. 18. Clemens Alexandrinus says that our Lord baptized Peter only, and that Peter then baptized other apostles. See Kaye's "Clement," p. 442; and Bunsen's "Analecta Antenic." i. p. 317. See also Origen, "Opera," ii. 245; and Firmilian's "Epistle."

[571:1] Even Polycrates of Ephesus admits that he had been requested by Victor to convene a synod. Euseb. v. 24. About sixty years afterwards Cyprian writes to Stephen of Rome requesting him to send letters into Gaul that Marcianus the bishop, who had sided with Novatian, "being excommunicated, another may be substituted in his room."—Cyprian, Epist. lxvii. pp. 248, 249.

[572:1] Thus he says—"For neither did Peter, whom the Lord chose first, and on whom He built His Church, when Paul afterwards disputed with him about circumcision, claim or assume anything insolently and arrogantly to himself, so as to say that he held the primacy."—Epist. lxxi. p. 273.

[573:1] Gen. xi. 4.

[573:2] Book I. vision iii. Sec. 3, &c.

[574:1] Rev. xiv. 6-8.

[575:1] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[576:1] See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," ii. 305, and iii. 35, 36.

[576:2] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 36.

[576:3] "Apost. Constit." ii. 57.

[576:4] [Greek: kai oute ho panu dunatos en logo ton en tais ekklesiais proestoton, hetera touton erei (oudeis gar huper ton didaskalon) oute ho asthenes en to logo elattosei ten paradosin].—Contra Haereses, i. c. 10. Sec. 2.

[576:5] "Optatus adv. Donat." vii. 6.

[576:6] 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 24, 26, 31.

[577:1] Euseb. vi. 19. It is to be observed that these laymen, having the sanction of the ecclesiastical authorities, were thus virtually licensed to preach.

[577:2] "Apost. Constit." vii. 46. There was a Church at Cenchrea in the time of the apostles. Rom. xvi. 1. Strabo calls Cenchrea a village, lib. viii.

[577:3] See Bingham, iii. 129.

[577:4] Cyprian, "Council of Carthage." Girba, Mileum, Badias, and Carpi, the sees of these bishops, were all small places with, no doubt, a still smaller Christian population.

[578:1] Cyprian, "Council of Carthage."

[578:2] Euseb. vii. 30.

[578:3] See Sage's "Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic Age," p. 348. Edit., London, 1701.

[578:4] See Period II. sec. i. chap. v. pp. 355, 356.

[578:5] See Bingham, i. 41, 43.

[579:1] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," i. 129; and Wordsworth, p. 257. It would appear from Celsus that not a few of the Church teachers in the second century supported themselves by manual labour. See Origen, Opera, i. 484.

[579:2] "Adleguntur in ordinem ecclesiasticum artifices idolorum."—De Idololatria, c. vii. Malchion, one of the presbyters of Antioch in the time of Paul of Samosata, was the head-master of one of the principal schools in the place. Euseb. vii. 29.

[579:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxvi. p. 246. In after times the bishop himself was the grand-executor, having the charge of all the wills of his diocese!

[581:1] Council of Elvira, A.D. 305, 18th canon.

[581:2] Period II. sec. iii. chap. vi. p. 533.

[581:3] "Nam et Alexandria a Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam et Dionysium Episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum, in excelsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant; quomodo si exercitus Imperatorem faciat; aut Diaconi eligant de se quem industrium noverint, et Archidiaconum vocent."—Epist. ad Evangelum.

[581:1] Heraclas now succeeded him. The immediate successor of Heraclas was Dionysius.

[581:2] "Apud nos quoque et fere per provincias universas tenetur."—Cyprian, Epist. lxviii. p. 256. The arrangement of which Cyprian speaks was now, perhaps, pretty generally established in the West, but he may have understood, through his intercourse with Firmilian, that in some parts of the East a different usage still prevailed.

[581:3] "Nam et Alexandriae."

[582:1] Eutychius, the celebrated patriarch of Alexandria who flourished in the beginning of the tenth century, makes this assertion. According to this writer there were originally twelve presbyters connected with the Alexandrian Church; and, when the patriarchate became vacant, they elected "one of the twelve presbyters, on whose head the remaining eleven laid hands, and blessed him and created him patriarch."—See the original passage in Selden's Works, ii. c. 421, 422; London, 1726. This passage furnishes a remarkable confirmation of the testimony of Jerome as to the fact that the Alexandrian presbyters originally made their bishops, but it is probably not very accurate as to the details. As to the laying on of hands it is not supported by Jerome.

[582:2] The case is different with the modern English archdeacon who is a presbyter.

[583:1] "A fratribus constitutus et colobio episcoporum vestitus."

[583:2] "Saluta omne collegium fratrum, qui tecum sunt in Domino."

[583:3] The practice seems to have continued longer at Alexandria than at Rome and various other places.

[583:4] The statement of Jerome is not inconsistent with the fact that the senior elder was originally the president or bishop, for he was recognized as such by mutual agreement. Neither is it at variance with the idea that the elders sometimes made a selection by lot out of three of their number previously put in nomination. There are good grounds for believing that even after bishops begun to be elected by general suffrage, the people were in some places restricted to certain candidates chosen from among the elders by lot. Cyprian apparently refers to this circumstance when he says that he was chosen by "the judgment of God" as well as by the vote of the people. Epist. xl. p. 119. The people of Alexandria, towards the close of the third and beginning of the fourth century, are said to have been restricted to certain candidates. See p. 333, Period II. sec. i. chap. iv. Cornelius of Rome is said to have been made bishop by "the judgment of God and of his Christ" and by the votes of the people. Cyprian, Epist. lii. pp. 150, 151.

[584:1] Euseb. v. 24.

[585:1] "Contra Haereses," iv. c. 26, secs. 2, 4. "Quapropter eis qui in ecclesia sunt, presbyteris obaudire oportet, his qui successionem habent ab apostolis, sicut ostendimus; qui cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt; reliquos vero, qui absistunt a principali successione, et quocunque loco colligunt, suspectos habere vel quasi haereticos et malae sententiae.... Ab omnibus igitur talibus absistere oportet; adhaerere vero his qui et apostolorum, sicut praediximus, doctrinam custodiunt, et cum presbyterii ordine sermonem sanum et conversationem sine offensa praestant."

[585:2] This was long the received doctrine. Thus, the author of the "Questions on the Old and New Testament" says—"Quid est episcopus nisi primus presbyter?"—Aug. Quaest. c. 101.

[585:3] "Onmis potestas et gratia in ecclesia constituta sit, ubi praesident majores natu, qui et baptizandi et manum imponendi et ordinandi possident potestatem."—Firmilian, Epist. Cyprian, Opera, p. 304.

[586:1] See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," ii. 351-357. See also Fabricius, "Biblioth. Graecae," liber v. p. 208. Hamburg, 1723.

[586:2] The earliest of these canons was probably framed only a few years before the middle of the third century. They were called apostolical perhaps because concocted by some of the bishops of the so-called apostolic Churches.

[586:3] The collection to which it belongs bears the designation of the "Canons of Abulides,"—the name of Hippolytus in Abyssinian, as their calendar shews. Bunsen, ii. 352. The canons edited by Hippolytus were, no doubt, at one time acknowledged by the Western Church.

[586:4] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 43, and "Analecta Antenicaena," iii. 415.

[587:1] Eutychius intimates that the Alexandrian presbyters continued to ordain their own bishop until the time of the Council of Nice. It is not improbable that, until then, some of them may have continued to take part in the ordination, and the statement of the Alexandrian patriarch may be so far correct.

[587:2] See Bunsen, iii. 45.

[587:3] Where the bishop, as in the case contemplated in a canon quoted in the text, had to depend for his official income on the contributions of twelve families, it is plain that the elders could expect no remuneration for their services. As the hierarchy advanced these ruling elders disappeared. Hence Hilary says—"The synagogue, and afterwards the Church, had elders, without whose counsel nothing was done in the Church, which, by what negligence it grew into disuse I know not; unless, perhaps, by the sloth, or rather by the pride of the teachers, while they alone wished to appear something."—Comment on 1 Tim. v. 1. Some late writers have contended that these elders (seniores) were not ecclesiastical officers at all, but civil magistrates of municipal corporations peculiar to Africa. It must, however, be recollected that Hilary was a Roman deacon of the fourth century, and that he speaks of them as belonging to the Church before the civil establishment of Christianity.

[590:1] Thus, Firmilian speaks of "seniores et praepositi," and of the Church "ubi praesident majores natu."—Cyprian, Opera, p. 302 and 304.

[590:2] Justin Martyr, Opera, p. 99.

[590:3] In the days of Origen the episcopal office was not unfrequently coveted for its wealth. Origen, Opera, iii. p. 501. See also Cyprian, Epist. lxiv. p. 240.

[591:1] Comment, in Matt., Opera, iii. p. 723.

[591:2] See Period II. sec. i. chap. v. p. 354.

[592:1] Euseb. vi. 43.

[592:2] Tertullian, "Praescrip. Haeret." c. 41. This office, even in the fourth century, was often committed to mere children—a sad proof that the importance of reading the Word effectively was not duly appreciated.

[592:3] Origen makes mention of them, Opera, ii. p. 453; and Firmilian, Cyprian, Epist. 1xxv. p. 306.

[592:4] Cyprian, Epist. lii. p. 150.

[592:5] As in the case of Fabian of Rome. Euseb. vi. 29.

[593:1] Bingham, i. 356, 359.

[593:2] Cyprian, Epist. lv. pp. 177, 178; xl. pp. 119, 120.

[593:3] Epist. xxxiii. p. 105.

[594:1] Epist. xxiv. pp. 79, 80.

[594:2] Epist. xxxiv. pp. 107, 108.

[594:3] Epist. xxxv. p. 111.

[595:1] Bishops and presbyters appear to have continued to ordain bishops in the time of Origen. His "Commentaries on Matthew," written according to his Benedictine editor in A.D. 245 (see Delarue's "Origen," iii. Praef.), speak of bishops and presbyters "committing whole churches to unfit persons and constituting incompetent governors."—Opera, iii. p. 753.

[595:2] It would appear that the five presbyters who opposed Cyprian constituted the majority of the presbytery. Cyprian, Epist. xl. pp. 119, 120. See also Sage's "Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic Age," p. 348.

[595:3] Euseb. vi. 29.

[596:1] Cyprian, Epist. xxxi. pp. 99, 100.

[596:2] Cyprian, Epist. iv. p. 31.

[596:3] Cyprian, Epist. xxxiii. p. 106, xxxiv. p. 107, lviii. p. 207, lxxi. p. 271, lxxvii. p. 327. Euseb. vii. 5.

[596:4] Thus we find him going so far as to complain that his presbyters "with contempt and dishonour of the bishop arrogate sole authority to themselves."—Epist. ix. p. 48.

[596:5] Epist. xlix. p. 143. See Neander's "General History," i. 307, and Burton's "Lectures on the Ecc. Hist, of the First Three Centuries," ii. 331. Burton repudiates the attempts of Bingham and others to explain away this proceeding.

[597:1] They are called so for the first time in the Council of Ancyra. They had before always been called simply bishops. It has been remarked that we never find any chorepiscopi among the African bishops, though many of them occupied as humble a position as those so designated elsewhere.

[597:2] Canon xiii., "Canones Apost. et Concil. Berolini," 1839.

[598:1] In the case of Novatian. Euseb. vi. 43.

[599:1] These presbyters were called Doctores. Cyprian, Epist. xxxiv. p. 80.

[599:2] It would appear that, even at the time of the Council of Carthage held A.D. 397, a bishop had sometimes only one presbyter under his care. See Dupin's account of the Council.

[599:3] Bingham, i. 198; and Beveridge, "Cotelerius," tom. ii. App. p. 17.

[600:1] See Period II. sec. i. chap. ii. p. 302, and p. 355.

[601:1] Euseb. vi. 43.

[601:2] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 50. Another canon says—"He who is worthy out of the bishops ... putteth his hand upon him whom they have made bishop, praying over him."—Bunsen, iii. 42.

[601:3] See chapter viii. of this section, pp. 565, 567.

[602:1] Bunsen, iii. 111.

[602:2] Euseb. viii. 1.

[603:1] The following observation of a distinguished writer of the Church of England is well worthy of consideration. "The remains of ancient ecclesiastical literature, especially those of the Latin Church, teach us that the corruption of Christianity of which Romanism is the full development, manifested itself, in the first instance, not in the doctrines which relate to the spiriting life of the individual, but in those connected with the constitution and authority of the Christian society."—Litton's Church of Christ, p. 12.

[604:1] "Can. Apost." xiv. "Concil. Nic." xv.

[604:2] Euseb. "Martyrs of Palestine," c. 12.

[604:3] Euseb. viii. i.

[605:1] Acts xxvi. 16-18.

[605:2] Such was the case with the churches mentioned Acts xiv. 23, and Titus i. 5.

[606:1] Trajan regarded with great suspicion all associations, even fire brigades and charitable societies. See Pliny's "Letters," book x., letters 43 and 94.

[607:1] Such as Mosheim, "Instit." i. 149, 150; Neander, "General History," i. 281.

[607:2] During the first forty years of the second century Gnosticism did not excite much notice, and as the Church courts must have been occupied chiefly with matters of mere routine, it is not remarkable that their proceedings have not been recorded.

[607:3] We have no contemporary evidence to prove that ordinations took place in the former half of the second century, and yet we cannot doubt their occurrence.

[608:1] Acts xx. 17.

[608:2] "In Mileto enim convocatis episcopis et presbyteris, qui erant ab Epheso et a reliquis proximis civitatibus."—Contra Haeres, iii. c. 14. Sec. 2.

[608:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxviii. Sec. 256.

[608:4] The new bishop was often chosen before the interment of his predecessor; and even when the senior elder was the president, it is probable that the neighbouring pastors assembled to attend the funeral of the deceased pastor, and to be present at the inauguration of his successor.

[609:1] See Chapter vi. of this Section, p. 524.

[609:2] The old writer called Praedestinatus speaks of several synods held in reference to the Gnostics before the middle of the second century. He may have had access to some documents now lost, but the testimony of a witness who lived in the fifth or sixth century is not of much value.

[610:1] "In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris."—Com. in Titum.

[610:2] Euseb. v. 16.

[610:3] See Routh's "Reliquiae," ii. 183, 195.

[611:1] Mosheim ("Commentaries" by Vidal, ii. 105) has made a vain attempt to set aside the Latin translation of this passage by Valesius, as he saw that it completely upsets his favourite theory. But any one who carefully examines the Greek of Eusebius may see that the rendering complained of is quite correct. It cannot be necessary to point out to the intelligent reader the transparent sophistry of nearly all that Mosheim has written on this subject.

[611:2] Euseb. v. 23.

[612:1] See Period II. sec. iii. chap. v. p. 509.

[612:2] Tertullian, "De Jejun," c. xiii.

[613:1] "Aguntur praeterea per Graecias illa certis in locis concilia ex universis ecclesiis."

[613:2] "Ipsa repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani magna veneratione celebratur." Mosheim argues from these words that the bishops attended these assemblies, not by right of office, but as representatives of the people! He might, with more plausibility, have contended that they were held only once a year. "Ista sollemnia quibus tunc praesens patrocinatus est sermo."

[614:1] Euseb. v. 24. Hippolytus complains of a bishop of Rome that he was "ignorant of the ecclesiastical rules,"—a plain proof, not only that synods were in existence in the West, but also that a knowledge of canon law was considered an important accomplishment. See Bunsen, ii. 223.

[614:2] Cyprian (Epist. lxxiii.) speaks of a large council held "many years" before his time "under Agrippinus," one of his predecessors. This bishop appears to have been contemporary with Tertullian.

[614:3] In his book "De Pudicitia," c. 10, he speaks of the "Pastor" of Hermas as classed among apocryphal productions "ab omni concilio ecclesiarum"—implying that it had been condemned by African councils, as well as others.

[614:4] The prevalence of the Montanistic spirit in Asia Minor may account for this.

[615:1] See Potter's "Antiquities of Greece," i. 106.

[615:2] See Mosheim's "Commentaries," cent. ii. sect. 22.

[616:1] "Per singulos annos seniores et praepositi in unum conveniamus."

[616:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxv. pp. 302, 303.

[616:3] In Africa, however, this arrangement was not established even in the fifth century. There, the senior bishop still continued president.

[617:1] This canon somewhat differs from the fifth of the Council of Nice, as the latter requires the first meeting to be held "before Lent." It is somewhat doubtful which canon is of higher antiquity.

[619:1] "Seniores et praepositi."—Epist. Cypriani, Opera, p. 302.

[619:2] "The Councils of the Church," by Rev. E.B. Pusey, D.D., p. 34 Oxford, 1857.

[619:3] Pusey, p. 58.

[619:4] Ibid. p. 66.

[619:5] Ibid. p. 95.

[619:6] As in the case of Athanasius at the Council of Nice.

[619:7] As witnesses and commissioners may still be heard by Church courts.

[619:8] "Graviter commoti sumus ego et collegae mei qui praesentes aderant et compresbyteri nostri qui nobis assidebant"—Cyprian, Epist. lxvi. p. 245. "Residentibus etiam viginti et sex presbyteris, adstantibus diaconibus et omni plebe."—Concil. Illiberit.

[620:1] Euseb. vii. 30.

[621:1] Prov. xi. 14.

[621:2] Mosheim's "Institutes," by Soames, i. 150.

[624:1] See Mosheim's "Commentaries," cent. ii. sec. 39; American edition by Murdock.

[624:2] Acts xxiv. 5.

[624:3] Euseb. iv. 5.

[625:1] The English name Easter is derived from that of a Teutonic goddess whose festival was celebrated by the ancient Saxons in the month of April, and for which the Paschal feast was substituted.

[626:1] Pentecost, called Whitsunday or White-Sunday, on account of the white garments worn by those who then received baptism, was observed as early as the beginning of the third century. Origen, "Contra Celsum," book viii. Tertullian, "De Idololatria," c. 14. We have then no trace of the observation of Christmas. See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 413.

[626:2] See Mosheim's "Commentaries," by Murdock, cent. ii. sec. 71. Dr Schaff seems disposed to deny this, but he assigns no reasons. See his "Hist. of the Christ. Church," p. 374.

[626:3] Even as to this point there is not unanimity—some alleging that our Lord partook of the Paschal lamb on the night preceding that on which it was eaten by the Jews.

[627:1] This is distinctly asserted by Irenaeus. "Anicetus and Pius, Hyginus with Telesphorus and Xystus, neither did themselves observe, nor did they permit those after them to observe it. And yet though they themselves did not keep it, they were not the less at peace with those from churches where it was kept, whenever they came to them, although to keep it then was so much the more in opposition to those who did not."—Euseb. v. 24.

[629:1] It would appear that the Armenians, the Copts, and others, still observe this rite. Mosheim's "Comment." cent. ii. sec. 71. As to the continuance of this custom at Rome, see Bingham, v. 36, 37.

[629:2] Socrates, an ecclesiastical historian of the fifth century, has expressed himself with remarkable candour on this subject. "It appears to me," says he, "that neither the ancients nor moderns who have affected to follow the Jews have had any rational foundation for contending so obstinately about it (Easter). For they have altogether lost sight of the fact that when our religion superseded the Jewish economy, the obligation to observe the Mosaic law and the ceremonial types ceased.... The Saviour and His apostles have enjoined us by no law to keep this feast: nor in the New Testament are we threatened with any penalty, punishment, or curse for the neglect of it, as the Mosaic law does the Jews."—Ecc. Hist. v. c. 22.

[629:3] This system seems to have been in existence in the time of Tertullian. See Tertullian, "Ad. Martyr." c. 1., and "De Pudicitia," c. 22.

[630:1] Cyprian speaks of a confessor spending his time "in drunkenness and revealing," (Epist. vi. p. 37,) and of some guilty of "fraud, fornication, and adultery." (De Unit. Ecc. p. 404.)

[630:2] Thus Cyprian says—"Lucianus, not only while Paulus was still in prison, gave letters in his name indiscriminately written with his own hand, but even after his decease continued to do the same in his name, saying that he had been ordered to do so by Paulus."—Epist. xxii. p. 77.

[630:3] Cyprian, Epist. x. p. 52.

[631:1] Apostasy in time of persecution was considered a mortal sin. Adultery was placed in the same category. Cyprian, Epist. lii. p. 155. At one time Cyprian himself held the sentiments of the stricter party. See his "Scripture Testimonies against the Jews," book iii. Sec. 28, p. 563.

[633:1] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii. p. 279, and lxxiv. p. 295.

[633:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii. p. 277, 278.

[634:1] In Stieren's "Irenaeus," i. 824, there is a different reading of this passage, according to which some continued the fast forty days.

[634:2] Euseb. v. 24.

[636:1] John x. 11, 27, 28.

[636:2] Eph. v. 25-27.

[636:3] Matt, xxviii. 20.

[636:4] 1 Pet. i. 5.

[636:5] Matt. xvi. 18.

[637:1] Eph. iv. 3.

[637:2] Eph. iv. 13.

[637:3] Eph. iv. 13.

[637:4] No writer since the Reformation has discussed the subject of the Church with more learning and ability than the Rev. Dr Hodge of Princeton. Those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with all the bearings of the question should consult his "Essays and Reviews," New York, 1857. Also the "Princeton Review." See also an article of his taken from the "Princeton Review" in the "British and Foreign Evangelical Review" for Sept. 1854.

[637:5] Matt. xiii. 47-50.

[638:1] 1 Cor. i. 11, 12.

[638:2] Gal. i. 6, iii. 1.

[638:3] Rev. iii. 1.

[639:1] Thus, Melito of Sardis is said to have written a work "On the Church." Euseb. iv. 26.

[639:2] Apostles' Creed. For another form see Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 25, 27.

[640:1] 3 John 9, 10.

[640:2] He appears, for certain reasons now unknown, to have been dissatisfied with some disciples who had been engaged in missionary work; and he had influence sufficient to procure the excommunication of the brethren who entertained them.

[640:3] He would be a bold man who would assert that all the pious members of the Society of Friends are in a hopeless condition.

[641:1] Heb. xii. 23.

[641:2] See Rothe's "Anfange der Christlichen Kirche," p. 575.

[641:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxxvi. p. 316.

[641:4] Epist. lxix. p. 265.

[641:5] Epist. lxii. p. 221.

[642:1] "De Unit. Ecc." p. 397. See also Lactantius, "De Vera Sapientia," lib. iv. p. 282.

[642:2] Eph. iv. 12.

[642:3] Acts xx. 32.

[643:1] Rev. i. 6.

[644:1] If our authorized version of the English Bible is to be regarded as a standard of correct usage, the word priest cannot be properly employed to designate a Christian minister. In the New Testament, as stated in the text, a minister of the word is never called a priest ([Greek: hiereus]), and the latter term, when used in reference to an official personage in our English Bible, always denotes an individual who offers sacrifice. To call a gospel minister a priest is, therefore, at once to adopt an incorrect expression and to insinuate a false doctrine. The English word priest is derived, not as some say, from the Greek [Greek: presbuteros] through the French pretre, but from the Greek [Greek: proestos], in Latin praestes, and in Saxon preost. See Webster's "Dictionary of the English Language."

[644:2] Epist. lxix. p. 264.

[644:3] Thus, Tertullian speaks of the "ordo sacerdotalis." "De Exhor. Cast." c. vii.

[645:1] Cyprian, Epist. lxiii. p. 230; lxiv. p. 239.

[645:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxix. p. 264. Cotelerius, i. 442. The Eucharist is called a sacrifice by Justin Martyr (see his Dialogue with Trypho., "Opera," p. 260) apparently in a figurative sense, but when dispensed by a minister called a priest, such language became exceedingly liable to misconception.

[645:3] In proof of this see Cyprian, Epist. lvi. p. 200, and lxiii. p. 231. In the former place Cyprian says—"Mindful of the Eucharist, the hand which has received the Lord's body may embrace the Lord himself."

[645:4] Heb. v. 4; Acts xx. 28, xxvi. 16.

[646:1] Cyprian, Epist. xlvi. p. 136.

[646:2] Epist. lxix. p. 262. See also Epist. lv. p. 177. "If any amount of difference of opinion as to the truth or untruth of the teaching of a geographical priesthood, will justify separation under another Christian ministry, then it at once ceases to be true that there can be but one bishop, or one priest, over any given area in which such differences exist; there then may obviously be as many bishops, or as many priests, as there may be different bodies of men differing from each other's teaching in what they deem sufficiently essential points to justify separation."—Letter from the Duke of Argyll to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 8.

[647:1] Epist. lxix. p. 264.

[647:2] Acts x. 48.

[648:1] Jerome, "Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers."

[648:2] Some of those called heretics had many martyrs. Euseb. v. 16.

[648:3] "De Unit. Ecc." Opera, p. 399.

[648:4] "De Unit. Ecc." p. 401.

[648:5] "De Unit. Ecc." p. 401.

[649:1] Jeremiah xxiii. 21, 22.

[649:2] Phil. i. 15, 18. See also Mark ix. 38, 39.

[649:3] Cyprian himself makes this admission. Epist. lxxvi. p. 319.

[649:4] Epist. lii. p. 156.

[649:5] Epist. lxxvi. p. 319.

[650:1] Rom. x. 13,17.

[650:2] Tertullian did not hold the doctrine of her perpetual virginity. See "De Monog." c. 8, and "De Carne Christi," c. 23. Neither did he believe in her immaculate conception. See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 338.

[652:1] One of the most distinguished and sagacious of modern missionaries has called attention to this fact. See Livingstone's "Missionary Travels in South Africa," p. 107.

[654:1] Maximian, in his famous edict of toleration, lays great stress on this circumstance. "De Mortibus Persecutorum," c. 34.

[654:2] Cornelius to Cyprian, Epist. xlvi. p. 136.

[654:3] "De Unit. Eccles." p. 397.

[654:4] Epist. lii. p. 156.

[654:5] Matt. xvi. 18.

[654:6] Cyprian, Epist. xl. pp. 120, 121.

[656:1] 2 Cor. iii. 17.

[656:2] Isa. xl. 4, 5.

[656:3] Isa. lii. 8.

[656:4] Zech. xiv. 9.

THE END