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THE 
 
 BAMPTO]^ LECTURES 
 
 FOR M.DCCCLXXX. 
 
OXFORD: 
 
 BY E. PICKAED HALL, M.A., AND J. H. STACY, 
 
 PKINTERS TO THE UNIVEBSITY. 
 
 [C-I33.] 
 
The Organization 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ®arl5 Cljnstiatt €ljnxt)^n 
 
 EIGHT LECTURES 
 
 'Delivered before the University of Oxford, in the Year 1880 
 
 Ou the Foundation of the late Kev. John Bampton, M.A. 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY 
 
 EDWIN HATCH, M.A. 
 
 VICE-PRINCIPAL OF ST. MARY HALL, 
 AND GRINFIELD LECTL/RER IN THE SEPTUAGINT, OXFORD 
 
 RIVINGTONS 
 
 WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON 
 
 ©xfortf anir ©amftvitrge 
 
 MDCCCLXXXI 
 
A.^^SiH-5^ 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the 
 
 ' Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of 
 ' Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the 
 ' said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and 
 ' purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and 
 ' appoint that the Viee-Chancellor of the University of Ox- 
 ' ford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, 
 ' issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, 
 ' and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the re- 
 ' mainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser- 
 ' mons, to be established for ever in the said University, and 
 ■■ to be performed in the manner following : 
 
 " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in 
 " Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads 
 " of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining 
 " to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the 
 " morning aad two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity 
 " Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Ox- 
 '• ford, between the commencement of the last month in Lent 
 " Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. 
 
VI EXTRACT FEOM CANON BAMPTON S WILL. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture 
 ' Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following Sub- 
 
 ■ jects — to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and to 
 ' confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the divine au- 
 
 ■ thority of the holy Scriptures — upon the authority of the 
 ' writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and prac- 
 
 ■ tice of the primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord 
 
 ■ and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the Holy 
 
 ■ Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as compre- 
 ' hended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. 
 
 " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- 
 
 ■ tare Sermons shall be always printed, within two months 
 ' after they are preached ; and one copy shall be given to the 
 
 Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of 
 every CollegCj and one copy to the Mayor of the city of 
 Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; 
 
 ' and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the 
 revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the 
 
 ' Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be 
 
 ■ paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are 
 ' printed. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali- 
 ' fied to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath 
 ' taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the 
 
 ■ two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that the 
 
 ■ same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- 
 • mons twice." 
 
PEEFACE, 
 
 The author of the following Lectures is very sensible of 
 the complexity of the facts with which he has had to deal, 
 and of the importa.nce of the issues which he has raised. 
 Nor is he so confident in his own powers of historical analj^sis 
 as to think that the conclusions a.t which he has arrived 
 will be in every case the ultimate verdict of those who are 
 competent to decide upon the evidence. The only title to 
 attention which he ventures to urge is that he has en- 
 deavoured faithfully to collect, sift, and compare the available 
 evidence, and to dra.w the conclusions to which that evidence 
 seems to point, without reference to other hypotheses, however 
 venerable from their antiquity, or however widely diffused in 
 the Christian world. And the only claim which he makes 
 from those who pass judgment upon his conclusions is, that 
 which is in fact the postulate of all historical enquiry, that 
 such judgments shall be formed with reference to the evidence, 
 and not with reference to current or counter hypotheses. 
 
 Of that evidence only a small portion could, in most cases, 
 be given in the notes. The author has for the most part 
 confined himself, in those notes, to mentioning facts which, 
 as far as he is aware, have not hitherto been collected, or the 
 bearings of which upon ecclesiastical history have not been 
 appreciated, and to stating the patristic or other authorities 
 for facts which are likely to be unfamiliar to those who have 
 not made ecclesiastical history their study. Where the evi- 
 dence is fully and accurately stated in other works, he has 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 thought it sufficient to refer to those works; in the notes to 
 the last lecture he has been indebted for some facts of me- 
 diaeval history to the valuable, but as yet unfinished, work 
 of Professor Hinschius, Bas Kirchenrecht der Katholiken und 
 Protestanten in Deutschland ; and in some cases he has 
 thought it sufficient to refer to, instead of partially reprinting, 
 his own contributions to the second volume of the Dictionary 
 of Christian Antiquities. But he has not attempted to give 
 the bibliography of any portion of the subject, partly because 
 to have done so completely would have extended the volume 
 to an inconvenient length, and partly also because he wishes 
 to avoid even the semblance of sharing in the prevalent con- 
 fusion of idea between the knowledge of a subject in itself 
 and an acquaintance with the books which have been written 
 about it. 
 
 The author takes this opportunity of expressing his obli- 
 gations to the friends who on one or two points outside the 
 range of his own studies have corrected his imperfect in- 
 formation, and to the officers of the Bodleian Library for 
 their special and courteous attention. 
 
 Oxford, 
 January 26, 1881. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 THE METHOD OP STUDY. 
 
 The present Lectures are an attempt to apply to a particular group 
 of historical phenomena the methods which have been fruitful of 
 results in other fields of history : the preliminary assumption being 
 made that, as matter of historical research, the facts of ecclesiastical 
 history do not differ in kind from the facts of civil history, pp. 1-3 
 
 But it will be fitting, before applying those methods to new subject- 
 matter, to consider the special diflBoulties of that subject-matter, and 
 thereby, incidentally, to ascertain some of the causes which have led 
 to existing divergences of opinion. . . . . • P- 3 
 
 I. The first step in all historical enquiries is to test the documents I 
 which contain the evidence, with the view of ascertaining whether 
 they are what they profess to be, and if they are not, what is their 
 probable origin and their date. In the present enquiry the difficulty 
 arises both from the great extent of the documents, and from the 
 fact that the best literary criticism has not yet been applied to 
 more than a few groups of them. . . . . • PP- 3-5 
 
 II. The second step in such enquiries is to weigh the value of the 
 evidence. In the present enquiry the difficulties vary with the 
 nature of the documents : 
 
 b 
 
X Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 (i) In patristic literature there is (i) the difficulty which arises 
 from the fact that late Latin and Greek are very imperfectly 
 known, (ii) that which arises (a) from the tendency to con- 
 found the theological or homiletic value of a Father with his 
 value as a witness to fact, (6) from the tendency to ignore the 
 question of his probahle means of observation. . . pp. 5-7 
 
 (2) In conciliar literature there is the difficulty which arises, in 
 all but the (Ecumenical Councils, from the question of the 
 extent to which a canon of a local council proves the existence 
 of a general rule. This difficulty is increased by the fact of 
 the distinctions between the various local councils having been 
 to a great extent obliterated by their incorporation in the code 
 of Canon Law. ....... pp. 7-9 
 
 And in regard to all the evidence, whether patristic, or conciliar, or 
 otherwise, there are two primary distinctions the ignoring of which 
 has contributed more than any other single cause to the existing 
 divergences of opinion : these are 
 
 (i) The distinction of time,. The period which Christian history 
 covers is so large a portion of the whole field of recorded 
 history that in a survey of it the wide diiferences between 
 one century and another are apt to be overlooked : and yet 
 until the exact historical surroundings of a given fact are 
 known, its significance cannot be known. . . pp. 9-1 1 
 
 (2) The distinction of locality. The space over which Christianity 
 has extended has been the whole civilized world, with its great 
 varieties of race and national character : the significance of 
 a fact varies widely according as it belongs to one country 
 or another. ....... pp. 11-12 
 
 III. These are the preliminary steps : they are followed by the com- 
 parison of the facts, so ascertained" and so localized, wth other facts, 
 with the view of ascertaining their causes : nor is such an enquiry 
 
 barred. • PP- 12-14 
 
 This comparison is made on two principles : 
 
 (i) Any given group of facts has to be compared with preceding 
 and succeeding facts of the same kind, with the view of finding 
 out the law of their sequence. The main difficulty of that 
 process in the present enquiry arises from the fact of the per- 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xi 
 
 manence of words, and the more or less unconscious assumption 
 that their connotation has also been constant. . pp. 15-16 
 (2) Any given group of facts has to be compared with the sum of 
 contemporary facts, with the view of finding out resemblances, 
 and then proceeding to the enquiry how far similar facts are 
 the result of the same causes. .... pp. 16-17 
 
 In regard to this last point the contention may be made that such 
 a comparison will not hold, because the phenomena of Christian 
 history are unique . . . . . . . . p. 17 
 
 It is true that they are of transcendent interest and importance : but 
 if they, or fny part of them, can be accounted for by causes which 
 are known to have operated in the production of similar phenomena, 
 under similar conditions of society, the presumption, in the absence 
 of positive evidence to the contrary, will be in favour of those who 
 infer an identity of cause. ...... pp. 17-19 
 
 It may be contended, again, that such an explanation of the phenomena 
 of Christian history, or any part of them, is inconsistent with a belief 
 in their divine origin. . . . , . . . . p. 1 9 
 
 On the other hand, in the greatest things as in the least God works by 
 an economy of causes : and the belief that existing forces of society 
 operated in the organization of the Church, so far from being incon- 
 sistent with, is rather confirmatory of, the belief that that organiza- 
 tion was of His ordering. ...... pp. 19-20 
 
 Such are the methods of the enquiry. In applying them it is proposed 
 to begin at the beginning and to investigate each group of facts in 
 the order of time. It is not proposed to discuss the ecclesiastical 
 polity of the New Testament, (i) because that polity seems, merely 
 as a question of exegesis, to admit of various constructions, (2) be- 
 cause the purpose of God will be more certainly gathered from 
 the investigation of what He has caused to be. But commencing 
 where the New Testament ends, the steps in the formation of that 
 great confederation of Christian societies which is found in exist- 
 ence in the ^Middle Ages will be successively traced and accounted 
 for pp. 20-23 
 
 (In all this, it must be carefully borne in mind, the subject-matter 
 under consideration will be not Christian doctrine, but only the 
 framework of the Christian societies.) .... pp. 23-25 
 
 b 2 
 
xii Synopsis of Contetiis. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 BISHOPS AND DEACONS. 
 
 There was a general tendency in the early centuries of the Christian 
 era towards the formation of associations, and especially of religious 
 associations. ........ pp. 26-28 
 
 It was consequently natural that the early converts to Christianity 
 should combine together : the tendency to do so was fostered by 
 the Apostles and their successors, and at last, though not at first, 
 became universal. ....... pp. 29-30 
 
 There were many points in which these Christian communities re- 
 sembled contemporary associations : outward observers sometimes 
 placed them in the same category : the question arises, What, qua 
 associations, was their point of difference ? . . . pp. 30-32 
 
 The answer will be found in a consideration of the circumstances of 
 the times : they were times of gi'eat social strain : almost all the 
 elements of an unsound state of society were present : the final 
 decay was later ; but in the meantime the pressure of poverty was 
 severe. Societies like the Christian societies, in which almsgiving 
 was a primary duty, and which brought into the Graeoo-Eoman 
 world that regard for the poor which had been prominent in 
 Judaism, were thus at once difierentiated by the element of philan- 
 thropy pp. 32-36 
 
 The importance of the philanthropic element in the Christian societies 
 gave a corresponding importance to the administrative officers, by 
 whom funds were received and alms dispensed : in other associations 
 such officers were called iintiiKr]Tai, or inta-Konoi : it is therefore 
 natural to find that one of these names was adopted for the corre- 
 sponding officers of the Christian societies. . . pjj. 36-39 
 
 But how was it that this came to be the name not of a body of officers, 
 but of a single officer 1 The question is a double one : it resolves 
 itself into the questions (1) How was it that a single officer came to 
 exist ? (2) How was it that when such an officer came to exist the 
 special name which clung to him was that of imaKOTtos ? . p. 39 
 
 The first of these questions will be answered in Lecture IV : the 
 second is answered here. 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xiii 
 
 The answer seems to lie in the fact that the offerings of the early 
 Christians were made publicly to the president in the assembly, who 
 was also primarily responsible for their distribution. The place 
 which the president occupied in the eye of the assembly was chiefly 
 that of an administrator : and the name which was chiefly applied 
 to him was relative thereto. ..... pp. 39-41 
 
 This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that the importance of the 
 functions of the president as chief administrator increased largely as 
 the Christian societies grew. In an age of poverty Christians were 
 exceptionally poor : and not only the numbers but the kinds of 
 persons for whom the Christian societies undertook to provide mul- 
 tiplied as years went on. The bishop had to provide not only for' 
 the destitute, but also for the confessors in prison, for v^idows and 
 virgins, for the church ofiicers, and above all for strangers on their 
 travels. ......... pp. 42-46 
 
 It is further confirmed 
 
 (i) By the fact that so many of the abuses of the episcopal office 
 against which provision is made in civil and canon law are 
 relative to his administration of church funds. 
 
 (2) By the fact that the current conceptions of the ofiice which 
 are expressed in literature are also in no small degree relative 
 to administration. ...... pp. 46-48 
 
 It is probable that in the first instance the administrative officers of 
 the Christian societies constituted a single class. But very early in 
 Christian history a division. of labour became necessary, pp. 48-49 
 
 The nature of this division is shown by the testimony of Justin Martyr, 
 Polycarp, and the Clementines : the bishops were assisted by officers 
 entitled ' deacons,' who were in regard to almsgiving the actual 
 ofiicers of distribution, and in regard to discipline the officers of 
 enquiry. ......-■. pp. 49~5o 
 
 In course of time the functions of the deacons were altered by the 
 
 operation of two causes — 
 
 . (i) The rise of the conception of an analogy between the Christian 
 
 and the Mosaic dispensations, in which the deacons were regarded 
 
 as corresponding to the Levites, and in which consequently their 
 
 subordination to presbyters was accentuated. . . p. 51 
 
 (2) The larger scale on which the Christian societies came to 
 
xiv Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 exist, and the consequent substitution of institutions for per- 
 sonal relief by a church officer. . . . . . p. 52 
 
 But the primitive theory of their close relation to the bishop survives 
 in the position of the arcAdeaoon. . . . • • P- 54- 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 PEESBYTEES. 
 
 The system of government by heads of families, or the seniors of a 
 tribe, is found to have been in existence in many parts of the world, 
 and especially in Palestine. ..... pp. 55—56 
 
 The administration of justice and of local affairs was there in the hands 
 of the ' elders ' of the several localities, who formed a ' synedrion ' or 
 local court. ........ pp. 56-57 
 
 The institution of these local courts was so intimately interwoven with 
 Jewish life, that the Jews carried it with them into the countries of 
 the dispersion, where the Roman government allowed them to retain, 
 to a great extent, their own internal administration. . pp. 57-59 
 
 There was thus in the Jewish communities, not only in Palestine but 
 outside it, to which in the first instance the Apostles addressed them- 
 selves, a council of elders. And since the several communities were 
 independent of each other, there was no reason why, when a com- 
 munity had as a whole accepted Christianity, its internal organiz- 
 ation should be changed : there is consequently a presumption that 
 the Judaeo-Christian communities continued to be governed by 
 councils of elders. ....... pp. 59-61 
 
 But assuming this to be true of Christian communities which had 
 originally been Jewish, or in which Jewish influence predominated, 
 how are we to account for the existence of a similar institution in 
 communities which were wholly or chiefly Gentile 1 . . p. 6 1 
 
 The answer is that such an institution was in entire harmony with 
 
 contemporary circumstances ; government by a council, and that a 
 
 council of elders, is found also in the contemporary Gentile world. 
 
 (i) Government by a senate or council was universal in the 
 
 Roman municipalities, and in the associations with which the 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xv 
 
 Christian churches have, in other respects, so many points of 
 
 contact pp. 61-62 
 
 (2) The respect for seniority was great, and in some cases out of 
 the larger body of a senate or council special powers were given 
 to a committee of seniors, whose members bore the same name 
 as the Jewish ' elders.' ..... pp. 62-65 
 
 The elements of the institution of a council of elders being thus found 
 in the Gentile world, it is not necessary to account for the existence 
 of the presbyterate in Gentile Churches by the hypothesis of a direct 
 transfer from Jewish Churches. ..... pp. 65-66 
 
 At the same time the influence of the Jewish Churches was stroner 
 enough to cause that out of the various names which originally 
 attached to the governing council that of ' presbyter ' alone survived, 
 and that out of the various functions which they originally dis- 
 charged those which survived were those which had been the chief 
 functions of the Jewish ' synedria.' . . . • PP' 66-67 
 
 For the Christian councils 
 
 (i) Exercised discipline, and that in a stricter way than the 
 Jewish councils had done, inasmuch as the Christian standard 
 of morality was higher. . . . . • PP- 68-71 
 
 (2) Exercised consensual jurisdiction between Christian and 
 Christian, as the Jewish councils had done between Jew and 
 Jew. And to this jurisdiction the members of the Churches 
 were urged to submit on the authority of our Lord Him- 
 self. pp. 71-72 
 
 These functions of the primitive council of presbyters have necessarily 
 been modified in the lapse of time, and chiefly by two circum- 
 stances : 
 
 (i) The discipline which was possible in a small community was 
 impossible in a larger : and in the stern fight for Christian 
 doctrine a lessening stress came to be laid upon Christian 
 
 morality. pp. 7^-74 
 
 (2) The recognition of Christianity by the State (a) narrowed 
 the border-line between the Church and the world, (6) tended 
 to limit ecclesiastical jurisdiction. . . . pp. 74-76 
 
 In the meantirpe other functions which were once in the background 
 have become prominent : they owe that prominence to the fact that 
 
xvi Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 whereas in primitive times a presbyter was a member of a council, 
 acting with others, he has come, as a rule, to act alone. These 
 functions are 
 
 (i) 'The ministry of the word,' which in early days was not neces- 
 sarily the function of a presbyter at all. . . pp. 76-77 
 (2) ' The ministry of the sacraments,' which has arisen from the 
 disappearance of the primitive theory that each community 
 should be complete in itself, and the consequent practice of 
 placing a single presbyter, rather than a bishop with his council 
 of presbyters, at the head of a detached community, pii. 7 7-80 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE S0PKEMACY OF THE BISHOP. 
 
 The earliest references to church officers speak of them in the plural : 
 in the course of the second century one of them is mentioned 
 separately, and evidently stands to the rest in a relation of priority 
 of rank. . . . . . . . . . . p. 82 
 
 I. How is this fact to be accounted for % 
 There are two antecedent probabilities : 
 
 (i) In contemporary associations, both public and private, the 
 institution of a president was universal : it is therefore ante- 
 cedently probable that the Christian societies, which in their 
 organization had so many features in common with those associa- 
 tions, would be borne along with this general drift, pp. 83-85 
 
 (2) In the Christian societies themselves the institution of a 
 president or chairman of the administrative body tended, as 
 time went on, to become a practical necessity. . pp. 85-86 
 
 There are also two groujas of known causes : 
 
 (i) In some cases a single officer had been designated by the Apo- 
 stles, in others the personal influence of an officer had procured 
 for him a position of exceptional predominance. . pj). 86-87 
 
 (2) The theory of the nature of church government which pre- 
 vailed in the second century was that it was a temporary ex- 
 pression of the government which would exist when the Lord 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xvii 
 
 returned : on this theory a president, who should sit in the 
 place of the absent Lord, was an indispensable element in the 
 constitution of a Christian society. . . . pp. 87-89 
 
 II. These probabilities and facts seem adequate to account for the 
 institution of a president : but they are not adequate to account for 
 the special relation of supremacy in which the president ultimately 
 came to stand to the rest of the body of officers. . . pjj. 89-90 
 
 The causes of that supremacy will be found in the relations of Chris- 
 tianity to contemporary thought. The contact of Christianity with 
 the Jewish school of philosophy which had its chief centre at Alex- 
 andria had created, within Christianity itself, a school of thinkers 
 which claimed the right to almost unlimited speculation, pp. 90-92 
 
 This forced the consideration of the problem, What was the intellectual 
 basis upon which those communities should exist % . pp. 93-94 
 
 The solution of this problem was found in the theory that Apostolic 
 doctrine, which, though in different senses, all sections of Christians 
 accepted as the basis of union, was neither vague nor esoteric, that 
 it had been definitely preserved in the churches which the Apostles 
 had founded, and that in those churches there was no important 
 variety of opinion respecting it. .... jjp. 94-96 
 
 Of this ' fides apostolica ' the bishops of the Apostolic Churches, like 
 the heads of the Rabbinical schools, were the especial conservators : 
 hence they had an exceptional position of supremacy as being the 
 centres at once of Christian truth and of Christian unity, pp. 96-98 
 
 (This is substantially the view of St. Jerome). . . . p. 98 
 
 III. The position which the president thus acquired through the 
 necessity for unity of doctrine was consolidated by the necessity for 
 unity of discipline. The question of the readmission of the ' lapsed,' 
 and the laxity and variety of the modes in which, at first, they were 
 readmitted, forced upon the churches the recognition of a uniform 
 rule. This uniformity was secured by requiring all readmissions to 
 have the approval of the president pp. 99-102 
 
 Two results flowed from the recognition of the bishop's supremacy : 
 (i) It became a rule that there should be only one bishop in a 
 city. The recognition of the rule dates from the third century, 
 and was a result of the controversy between the two parties in 
 
xviii Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 the Church of Eome, each of which elected its own bishop. 
 Cyprian's opposition was successful : he contended that after the 
 legitimate election of one bishop, the election of another bishop 
 by another section of the community was void. pp. 102-104 
 (2) The earlier conception of the bishop as occupying the place of 
 Christ gave place to the conception that he occupied the place 
 of an Apostle : and stress came to be laid upon the fact that in 
 some churches successive bishops had occupied in unbroken 
 continuity the seat which once an Apostle had filled. A later 
 expansion of the conception, which has survived until modern 
 times, regarded such bishops as having succeeded not only to 
 the seat which an Apostle filled, but also to the powers which 
 an Apostle possessed. ..... pp. 104-107 
 
 But in spite of the gi'eat development of the supremacy of the bishop, 
 the original theory of his relation to the council of presbyters did 
 not wholly pass away. It was the theory of church writers that 
 he had only priority of rank : it was the rule of Councils that he 
 must not act without his clergy : and it was in accordance with 
 these views that the early churches were constructed, pp. 107-109 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 CLBEGY AND LAITY. 
 
 What was, in primitive times, the relation between church officers 
 and ordinary members ? The answer to this question may be 
 gathered from two groups of facts : 
 
 (i) (a) The collective terms for church officers, (6) the abstract 
 terms for their office, (c) the extant testimony as to the relations 
 between the two classes, 
 (2) The fact that all the particular designations of church officers 
 were in use in contemporary organizations, 
 lead to the inference that not only was the relation one of presi- 
 dency or leadership, but also that the presidency or leadership was 
 the same in kind as that of non-Christian associations, pp. 1 1 i-i 1 2 
 
 But may there not have been other relations, and had not the officers 
 
Synopsis of Conte7its. xix 
 
 certain functions which an ordinary member could in no case 
 discharged pp. 113-114 
 
 On the contrary, the existing evidence tends to show that laymen, no 
 less than officers, could, upon occasion, 
 
 (i) teach or preach . . . . . . . p. 114 
 
 (2) baptize . . . . . . . . p. 115 
 
 (3) celebrate the Eucharist . . . . . p. 116 
 
 (4) exercise discipline. . . . . . . p. 1 1 7 
 
 The inference is that although the officers had, as such, a prior right, 
 they had not an exclusive right, to the performance of any ecclesi- 
 astical function. . . . . . . . . p. 1 1 8 
 
 This inference is in harmony (i) with the fact that in these early days 
 the standard of membership of a Christian community was higher 
 than it has since been, (2) with the wider and perhaps exceptional 
 diffusion of ' spiritual gifts.' It was not until the communities grew 
 in size that the position of their officers began to acquire its subse- 
 quent importance, or that the idea arose of their possessing exclusive 
 powers. ........ pp. 1 19-120 
 
 Against this increase in their importance and this claim to exclusive 
 powers, there came a great reaction. The Montanists reasserted the 
 pre-eminence of spiritual gifts over official rule, and the equality of 
 all Christians, except so far as the well-ordering of the community 
 required a division of functions. .... pp. 120-122 
 
 The reaction failed : but the fact of its existence is an important cor- 
 roboration of the inference which is drawn from more direct evidence 
 that the original conception of ecclesiastical office was that only of 
 priority of order, and that its most exact metaphorical expression 
 is that which underlies the word ' Pastor.' . . pp. 123-124 
 
 Nor did that oi-iginal conception pass away all at once : the final 
 exclusion of ordinary members from those functions which have 
 in later times been exclusively claimed by church officers was 
 gradual PP- 124-126 
 
 But, if all this be true, what was meant by ' ordination ' % The answer 
 to this question may be gathered from several kinds of evidence : 
 (i) All the words which are used for ordination connote either 
 simple appointment or accession to rank. . . . ' p. 126 
 
XX Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 (2) They are all in use to express appointment to civil 
 office p. 126 
 
 (3) The elements of appointment to ecclesiastical office are also 
 the elements of appointment to civil office. . ■ P- 127 
 
 (4) The modes of the one varied concomitantly with the modes of 
 the other p. 128 
 
 (5) The modes of admission to ecclesiastical office were also the 
 modes of admission to civil office. . . . pp. 128-129 
 
 The inference is that ordination meant appointment and admission to 
 office, and that it was conceived as being of the same nature with 
 appointment and admission to civil office. . . pp. 129-130 
 
 But if this was the meaning of ordination in general, what was the 
 
 meaning of the rite of imposition of hands 1 
 Two kinds of considerations must be taken into account : 
 
 (i) The fact that the rite was not a universal, and that con- 
 sequently it could not have been a necessary, element in 
 ordination. ..... . . pp. 130-131 
 
 (2) The facts (a) that it was in use among the Jews on various 
 occasions, some of which were more secular than sacred, 
 (6) that early writers regard the rite, not as being in itself a 
 means of the communication of special powers, but as a symbol 
 or accompaniment of prayer. .... pp. 131-132 
 
 The inference is that the existence of this rite does not establish a 
 presumption that ordination was conceived to confer exclusive 
 spiritual powers. . . . . . . . . p. 132 
 
 But it may be urged that nothing has been adduced which is incon- 
 sistent with such a presumption. On the other hand, such a pre- 
 sumption seems to be excluded by two considerations : 
 
 (i) The fact of silence: no writer of the first two centuries, in 
 writing of church officers, either states or implies that they had 
 such exclusive powers. . . . . . • P- 133 
 
 (2) The facility with which ordinations were made and un- 
 made pp. 133-135 
 
 The result of the enquiry into the nature of ordination thus confirms 
 the inference which was drawn from the enquiry into the nature of 
 ecclesiastical office in itself. . . . . . • P- '35 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xxi 
 
 But in course of time various causes operated to produce a change in 
 the conception of ecclesiastical office : these causes were, mainly, 
 
 (i) The prevalence of infant baptism, which opened the doors of 
 the Church to those who were not Christians by conviction, and 
 introduced a difference between the moral standard of ordinary 
 members and that of church officers, . . . p. 136 
 
 (2) The intensity of the sentiment of order, which, especially in 
 the decay of the Empire, tended to exaggerate the importance 
 of all office, whether ecclesiastical or civil. . pp. 136-137 
 
 (3) The growth of a belief that the Christian ministry had suc- 
 ceeded to the place, and revived the attributes, of the Levitical 
 priesthood. ....... pp. 137-138 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE CLEEGY AS A SEPARATE CLASS. 
 
 The fourth century is important in the history of Christian organiza- 
 tion as being the period in which church officers lost their primitive 
 character and became a separate class. . . . pp. 1 40-1 41 
 
 For this change there were two chief causes, (i) the recognition of 
 Christianity by the State, (2) the influence of Monasticism. 
 
 I, The, recognition of Christianity hy the State. 
 
 This affected Church officers chiefly in two ways : 
 
 ( 1 ) The State gave them a distinct civil status : since 
 
 (a) It gave them an immunity from ordinary public burdens, 
 especially from the discharge of those municipal duties 
 which formed an oppressive and unequal tax upon all who 
 were possessed of real property : the considerable effect of 
 this immunity is shown by the measures which were taken 
 to limit the extent of its operation : . pp. 1 41-145 
 
 (6) It gave them an exemption from the ordinary jurisdic- 
 tion of the civil courts pp. 145-147 
 
 (2) The State tended to give them social independence, by alter-' 
 ing their original dependence upon voluntary offerings or upon 
 
xxii Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 their own exertions as traders or artisans : it affected this by 
 two means: ....... pp. 147-149 
 
 (a) It allowed the Churches to acquire and hold property : 
 
 and the extent to which this operated is shown by the 
 
 existence of restraining enactments. . pp. 149-150 
 
 (5) It endowed church officers with money, and the Churches 
 
 themselves with buildings and lands. . pjs. 150-15 1 
 
 II. The influence of Monasticism. 
 
 Monastioism is the combination of two elements, (i) asceticism, (2) 
 
 total or partial isolation from the world. . . . . p. 151 
 
 (i) Asceticism belongs to the beginnings of Christianity: but 
 
 for three centuries it was exceptional and for the most part 
 
 dormant pp. 152-153 
 
 1 {2) Isolation, whether total or partial, from society, was already 
 I a prevailing tendency in the non-Christian religions of Egypt and 
 India, and its jarevalence in the Church has sometimes been as- 
 cribed to a direct influence of one or other of them. pp. 153-155 
 But it is more natural to ascribe that prevalence to causes 
 within Christianity itself which were especially operative in the 
 fourth century. ...... pp. 155-158 
 
 The effect of Monasticism upon church officers was to compel them to 
 live a more or less ascetic life, and thereby to create for them a 
 code of morals different from that which was allowable to ordinary 
 members. ......... p. 158 
 
 They soon became the objects of exceptional legislation, especially in 
 regard to (i) marriage, (2) social hfe. . . . • P- I59 
 
 These two groups of concurrent causes, the influence of the State and 
 of Monasticism, seem adequate to account for the change which 
 passed over the relations of Church officers to the rest of the coni- 
 nmnity : and the operation of these causes was intensified by the 
 decay and fall of the Roman Empire. . . . pp. 160-16 1 
 
 In some parts of the West the primitive church officers had never 
 been known : and the separation of officers of the later type from 
 the rest of the community was further marked by two cirum- 
 stunces. p. 161 
 
Synopsis of Contenis. xxiii 
 
 (i ) The tonsure, the importance of which is shown ia the early dis- 
 putes between the Eoman and the British Churches, pp. 1 6 i-i 62 
 
 (2) The practice of living together in clergy-houses, which tended 
 still more to isolate them from ordinary society. . pp. 162-163 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 COUNCILS AND THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The practice of meeting in representative assemblies which had 
 a semi-religious character, prevailed in most provinces of the 
 Empire. p. 165 
 
 In the course of the second century a similar practice began to prevail 
 among the Christian communities. . . . . . p. 166 
 
 At first the meetings were held irregularly and informally : the results 
 of their deliberations were expressed in a resolution, or in a letter 
 to another church, but they had no binding force upon a dissentient 
 minority pp. 166-168 
 
 But when Christianity was recognized by the State, it being obviously 
 to the advantage of the State that the Christian societies should be 
 homogeneous, the principle of meeting in common assembly for the 
 framing of common rules was adopted by Constantine, who sum- 
 moned representatives of all the Churches of Christendom to a meet- 
 ing at Aries. pp. 168-169 
 
 The resolutions of this meeting, being accepted by the great majority 
 of churches, became the basis of a co)i/bcZera<io?i. . . p. 169 
 
 The organization of the confederation followed strictly the organization 
 of the Empire : the churches of each province formed a unity, with 
 its provincial officers and its regular provincial assemblies : and 
 when from time to time questions were raised which affected the 
 whole body of churches, there were representative assemblies of the 
 whole body of churches, whose resolutions affected the entire con- 
 federation. ........ pp. 169-170 
 
 So far, the confederation was the voluntary act of the churches which 
 composed it : its existence strengthened not only the power of the 
 majority of churches over a minority, but also the power of single 
 
xxiv Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 churches over recalcitrant members : for it enforced a rule that 
 exclusion from one church should imply exclusion from all the 
 confederate churches, and ultimately from all Christian society. 
 
 pp. 171-173 
 But though this rule was a powerful instrument, it would probably 
 not have been sufficient to ensure uniformity, unless the State had 
 interfered, because the dissentient minorities of single churches, or 
 a dissentient minority of the churches of a province, might have 
 formed fresh combinations. In one case this was actually done : 
 the puritan party in Africa, differing from the majority on a 
 point not of belief but of practice, formed an association of their 
 own pp. 173-175 
 
 But the State interposed : three measures were sufficient to render the 
 independent existence of minorities impossible : 
 
 (i) The State recognized the decisions of the representative 
 assemblies of the confederated churches. . . • P- i75 
 
 (2) It recognized the validity of deposition from office, or exclu- 
 sion from membership of the confederated churches. . p. 176 
 
 (3) It prohibited the formation of new associations outside the 
 confederated churches . . . . . . p. 176 
 
 In this way, by the help of the State, the confederation became a great 
 unity, which survived the power that had welded it together, and 
 which was conceived as being the visible realization of the ideal 
 Church : and to it, accordingly, were applied the metaphors in which 
 the Church of Christ had been pictured. . . pp. 177-179 
 
 But it is doubtful whether this assumption of the identity of the con- 
 federation with the Church of which the New Testament had spoken 
 can be justified : 
 
 (i) From the absence of proof that the unity of organization was 
 ever in fact realized, and from the presumption to the contrary 
 which is afforded by the acknowledged independence of certain 
 churches. ....... pp. 1 80-1 81 
 
 (2) From the absence of proof that the terms of the confederation 
 were ever settled, and that intercommunion ever changed its 
 character of a voluntary and revocable agreement, pp. 1 8 i-i 8 2 
 
 (3) From the absence of proof that the unity of the Church was 
 ever meant to be a unity of organization, and from the pre- 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xxv 
 
 sumption to the contrary which is afforded by the fact that the 
 primitive conceptions of unity were different. . . p. 182 
 
 (a) In the first period the basis of Christian union was a 
 changed life. ...... pp. 182-183 
 
 (&) In the second period the basis of Christian union was 
 the acceptance of the Catholic tradition of Apostolic 
 teaching. pp. 183-184 
 
 (c) In the third period the two former bases were held to be 
 insufficient : a Christian must be a member of one of the 
 confederated societies. . . . . . p. 184 
 
 The ultimate prevalence of the conception of the identity of the mass 
 of confederated churches with the Church of Christ was in fact the 
 result of a long struggle, in which the State took part and in which 
 also the defeated party were crushed less by argument than by the 
 operation of penal laws. ..... pp. 185-187 
 
 The question must be considered to be still open, At what point, if 
 any, did the original voluntary intercommunion become an indis- 
 soluble bond ? . . . . . . . . p. 187 
 
 And beyond it is the still wider question. How far is external associa- 
 tion necessary ? ....... pp. 187-188 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 THE PAEISH AND THE CATHEDEAL. 
 
 The links which connect the primitive with the modem organization 
 of the Christian Churches are mainly the Parish and the Cathedral. 
 
 p. 189 
 
 I. The Parish. 
 
 The theory of the primitive organization was that each community 
 
 was complete in itself: but this theory was modified in various 
 
 ways by various groups of circumstances. . . . p. 190 
 
 (i) In the great cities where a single building was not large 
 
 enough for the whole community, instead of multiplying 
 
 organizations, one or more presbyters were detached from the 
 
 central organization to preside over congregations, meeting 
 
 separately for purposes of worship. At Kome the theoretical 
 
xxvi Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 unity of organization was still further preserved by having only 
 one consecration of the Eucharistic elements. . pp. 190-19 1 
 
 (2) In suburban or rural districts there was the same variety in 
 the ecclesiastical as in the civil organization, {a) Sometimes 
 the communities of such districts had a complete and inde- 
 pendent organization : but the officers of such organizations 
 were regarded as being of lower rank than corresponding 
 officers in the cities. (There was an attempt in the eighth 
 century to revive this system in the West, but it did not long 
 succeed.) (J) Sometimes such communities were regai'ded as 
 being under the direct control of a city community : an 
 example of this is Alexandria and its dependent district of 
 Mareotis. ....... pp. 191-194 
 
 (3) In some parts of the East the communities were so small and 
 scattered that, although they had presbyters and deacons of 
 their owii, their bishop was itinerant. . . . p. 1 94 
 
 (4) In the great estates the free coalescence of Christians into 
 communities was probably rendered difficult by the nature of 
 the relation of the coloni to the owner. The owners probably 
 appointed officers at their own discretion : but the State inter- 
 fered to compel them to require the approval of a neighbouring 
 bishop. ........ pp. 195-196 
 
 (5) In Spain and Gaul the original Chuixhes were probably con- 
 fined to the Roman municipalities : the greater part of the 
 country was divided into districts of which those municipalities 
 were the administrative centres. "When the Celts who occu- 
 pied these districts began to be converted, the primitive or- 
 ganization was not altered : the newly-formed communities 
 were for ecclesiastical pui'poses, as the districts in which 
 they were formed had been for judicial purposes, regarded 
 as being under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the central 
 municipality. ...... pp. 196-197 
 
 It is mainly to this last system that the modem parish owes its origin. 
 At first the officers of these outlying communities were only tem- 
 porarily detached, and were liable to recall. Endowments not only 
 made them permanent but also threatened to make them inde- 
 pendent. But the Carolingian legislation restored the jurisdiction 
 and authority of the bishop pp. 197-200 
 
Synopsis of Contents. xxvii 
 
 II. The Cathedral. 
 
 The bishop's church long preserved its original constitution. Its 
 worship was conducted, and its affairs administered, by the bishop, 
 advised by his council of presbyters and assisted by the deacons. 
 This type is still preserved at Rome, although the proper places 
 of the city clergy are occupied by dignitaries from all parts of 
 Christendom. ....... pp. 200-201 
 
 But the original constitution of the bishop's church was modified by 
 the practice of the clergy Uviug together in the bishop's house. In 
 course of time, (o) the clergy so living together, who had been 
 originally dependent on allowances made by the bishop from the 
 ordinary church offerings, came to have funds of their own, and 
 ultimately to form an independent corporation : (6) they came to 
 live under a semi-monastic rule of life. . . . pp. 201-204 
 
 The theoiy that all the presbyters under the bishop's control, whether 
 they ministered in the bishojj's church or in detached churches, 
 formed part of his council, still remained : but although the de- 
 tached clergy were still bound at certain periods to take their 
 places in that council, the detachment became so great that at last • 
 the ' chapter ' of the cathedral took the place and functions of the 
 original council. ....... pp. 205-206 
 
 The difference between the parochial and cathedral clergy was still 
 further widened by the separate organization of the former under 
 their own archpresbyters and archdeacons : and the organization 
 which was so formed has lasted until modern times. pp. 206-207 
 
 The main propositions in which the foregoing Lectures may be 
 summed up are 
 
 (i) That the development of the organization of the Christian 
 
 Churches was gradual, 
 (2) That the elements of which that organization was composed 
 were already existing in human society. . . ■ P- 108 
 
 In other words, the Lectures tend to establish the view that in the 
 organization of the Christian Church, as in the formation of the 
 natural woi'ld, God has been pleased to act by an economy of slowly- 
 operating causes. Nor is it legitimate to allow an a priori theory 
 
xxviii Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 of what He was likely to do override the conclusions which follow 
 from an examination of what He has actually done. pp. 208-210 
 
 The establishment of this view would diminish the importance of some 
 past and existing controversies respecting ecclesiastical organization. 
 Those controversies have usually turned on the minor premiss of 
 the main argument, i.e. on the question whether this or that insti- 
 tution is or is not primitive. But the point at issue is rather the 
 major premiss, i.e. the question whether all that was primitive 
 was intended to be permanent. .... pp. 2 10-2 11 
 
 To this latter question the probable answer is negative : in ecclesi- 
 astical, as in all organizations whether natural or social, though the 
 type remains, the form changes : fixity of form from age to age is 
 impossible. Form there must be ; but the Christian Church has 
 shown at once its vitality and its divinity by readjusting its form 
 in successive ages. ...... pp. 21 1-2 15 
 
 That form was originally a democracy : circumstances compelled it to 
 become a monarchy : and possibly the limit of its modification is not 
 yet reached : the circumstances of the present time differ so widely 
 from all that have preceded as to suggest the question whether the 
 constitution which was good for the past will be, without modifica- 
 tion, good also for the future. .... pp. 214-216 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY : THE METHOD OF STUDY. 
 
 I PROPOSE in these Lectures to examine the history 
 of the organization of the Christian Churches from the 
 times of the Apostles untU the fall of the Western 
 Empire. How that organization began, and what 
 causes gave it shape, are questions of extreme ob- 
 scurity: and in the uncertainty of many of the data 
 upon which the answers have to be based, some of the 
 answers themselves must be more or less problematical. 
 Nor is it easy to enter upon the consideration of these 
 questions with an unbiassed judgment, because the fierce 
 heats of the controversies which once raged round them 
 have not even now sufficiently cooled down to enable 
 the data to be dealt with, as we should deal with data 
 that were wholly new, by the simple canons of either 
 logical inference or literary criticism. Nor should I 
 feel justified in approaching a subject which is in itself 
 so complicated, and which before now has divided 
 kingdoms, and overthrown dynasties, and sent theo- 
 logians to the stake, if it were not for the strong 
 conviction that the time has come at which the area 
 
 B 
 
2 Introductory : [lect. 
 
 of disputable points may be lessened by the discovery 
 of new facts and the use of a more certain method of 
 enquiry. 
 
 For we have seen the growth in our own day, and to 
 no slight extent in oiu' own community, of a method of 
 treating historical questions which, if it does not abolish 
 controversy, at least limits it. We have seen the growth 
 of a method which deals with the facts of history by 
 processes analogous to those which have been applied 
 with surpassing success to the phenomena of the phy- 
 sical world, and which have there vindicated their 
 accuracy as methods of research by proving to be 
 methods of discovery. We have seen the growth, in 
 short, of historical science. We have seen the growth, 
 as the result of the pursuit and application of that 
 science, of a habit of mind which stands in the same 
 kind of relation to the facts of history as the habit of 
 mind of a practised jvidge in relation to evidence in a 
 court of law, and which estimates the several items not 
 by some roughly generalized rule, but in the subtle 
 balances of a matured experience. We have seen the 
 growth, in short, not only of liistorical science, but also 
 of the historical temper. 
 
 Hitherto that method and that temper have been 
 applied almost exclusively, in this country at least, to 
 the facts of civil history : but if we assume, as I pro- 
 pose to assume, that — at least for purposes of study — 
 the facts of ecclesiastical history, being recorded in the 
 same language, and in similar documents, and under 
 the same general conditions of authorship, belong to 
 the same category as the facts of civil history, it is 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 3 
 
 not too much to maintain the existence of a pre- 
 sumption that the application of historical science and 
 the historical temper to a field of historical phenomena 
 which they have hitherto left comparatively unexplored, 
 may be followed by new results. 
 
 I propose therefore, in dealing with the great ques- 
 tions which I have indicated, to deal with them by the 
 help of modern methods. It is not necessary for me to 
 vindicate those methods. On the comparatively neutral 
 ground of civil history scholars are virtually agreed as 
 to the kind of evidence for which they should look, and 
 as to the manner in which they should deal with it. 
 On the assumption which I have made that the phe- 
 nomena are cognate the methods will presumably be 
 cognate also. 
 
 But since every field of research has its special dif- 
 ficulties, and since this particular field has been often 
 traversed, and since, moreover, the chief ground for 
 challenging the verdict which more than one generation 
 has passed upon the facts, is that the method of study 
 has been imperfect, it seems appropriate, before we 
 begin the detailed consideration of the subject, to 
 consider what are the special difficulties which we 
 must expect to encounter, and what have been the 
 chief causes which have led to the existing divergences 
 of opinion. 
 
 The first step in historical science is the testing of 
 the documents which contain the evidence. In some 
 fields of historical enquiry the difficulty of that step 
 
 B 2 
 
4 Introditctory : [lect. 
 
 lies in the scantiness of the evidence : in the present 
 enquiry, on the other hand, the difficulty arises from 
 its extent. We find ourselves at the outset face to 
 face with a mass of literature which has come to us 
 in many forms and through many channels, under 
 varying conditions of authentication, and with varying 
 claims to attention. It is as impossible to accept each 
 document for what it purports to be, as it would be 
 impossible to accept en hloc the historical literature of 
 England. There are forgeries and counter-forgeries : 
 there are documents of great value which we can only 
 put together from the chance quotations of an oppo- 
 nent : there are anonymous works which the enthusiasm 
 of a later age has fastened upon some great name : 
 there are books which were the growth of successive 
 generations, and which the last reviser recast and 
 unified, so that the separation of the new from the 
 old is as diflicult as it would be to rebuild an ancient 
 tower from its chipped and battered stones after they 
 have been worked into the structure of a modern 
 wall. Upon this vast accumulation of centuries of 
 busy thought and changing circumstance, of vigorous 
 polemic and sometimes blind belief, literary criticism 
 has barely begun its work. There are vast tracts of 
 ecclesiastical literature which are like vast tracts of 
 unexplored morass : because although patches of solid 
 ground exist here and there, there is hardly a moment 
 of our passage through them at which we may not 
 find ourselves sinking in the mire. And yet there 
 is scarcely a single item in the whole complex mass 
 wliich we can afibrd to lose. A document which is 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 5 
 
 proved to be spurious is not thereby proved to be 
 valueless. That at -which a historian has to look is 
 not so much authorship as date. The Apostolical 
 Constitutions, for example, are no more the work of 
 the Apostles than is the Apostles' Creed, and yet they 
 are the most valuable evidence that we possess of the 
 internal life of the Eastern Churches from the third 
 century to the fifth. The Isidorian Decretals are known 
 to be mostly forgeries, and yet they throw a flood of 
 light upon the state of the Church in the Frankish 
 domain in the middle of the ninth century. 
 
 This testing of evidence is followed by the weighing 
 of evidence : in other words, assuming that we have 
 found out who the witnesses are, the next point is to 
 estimate the value of what they say. And here we 
 are encircled by a new class of difficulties. The in- 
 ternal evidence for the history of the organization of 
 Christianity ranges itself into two classes — patristic 
 literature and conciliar literature. For some periods, 
 and in some cases, patristic literature is our only guide. 
 The interest of that literature is so great as almost to 
 fascinate us. Much of it was written by men whose 
 saintly lives and spiritual insight seem to place them 
 upon a higher level than that upon which we ordinarily 
 move. We listen to them, as it were, with bated 
 breath, and their words seem almost to fall from the 
 lips of inspired evangelists. But for the purposes of 
 constitutional history, and when investigating ques- 
 tions not of doctrine but of fact, we have to make a 
 clear distinction between their value as theologians 
 and their value as witnesses. We have to scan what 
 
6 Introductory : [lect. 
 
 they say witli a close scrutiny. There is the iiaitial 
 and preliminary difficulty of finding out exactly what 
 they mean. The science of patristic philology has 
 hardly yet begun to exist. The words are for the 
 most part familiar enough to a Greek or Latin 
 student ; but the meaning which attaches to those 
 words is often very remote from that which seems to 
 lie on the surface. And assuming that we understand 
 their meaning, we have to make what scientific ob- 
 servers call the ' personal equation.' We have to 
 realize to ourselves their personal character, their 
 varying natures — passionate and impressionable, ima- 
 ginative and mystical, cool-headed and practical. We 
 liave to place ourselves in the midst of the circum- 
 stances which surrounded them — their struggles for 
 existence or for independence, the rush and storm of 
 their controversies, the flatteries of their friends, and 
 the calumnies of their opponents. We have to re- 
 member that they were all of them advocates, and 
 many of them partizans. And even when, after sub- 
 tracting from what they say that which belongs not 
 to the witness but to the advocate or the partizan, we 
 come upon a statement which cannot reasonably be 
 questioned, we have to consider their nearness in time 
 to the fact which they attest. In ecclesiastical as in 
 civil history the lapse of a generation, though it does 
 not invalidate testimony, compels us to distinguish 
 carefully between what the witnesses know of their 
 own knowledge and what they know only at second- 
 hand. When they state what is clearly not of their 
 own knowledge we have to consider what were their 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 7 
 
 probable sources of information, or whether what they 
 state is a conjecture. 
 
 But wherever it is possible, we have to base our 
 inferences not upon the Fathers, but upon the Councils. 
 Just as the historian of the constitution of our own 
 country looks primarily to the Statute-book, so the his- 
 torian of the constitution of the Church looks primarily 
 to the decrees of Councils. But though in passing 
 from patristic to conciliar literature, we pass to firmer 
 ground, we by no means emerge from cloudland into 
 light. We are confronted at the outset by a difficulty 
 which has probably done more to produce erroneous 
 views as to the history of ecclesiastical organization 
 than all other causes put together. Comparatively early 
 in the history of the Church the decrees of Councils 
 were gathered together into collections. Almost every 
 great group of Churches had its own collection of rules. 
 About the beginning of the fifth century in the East, 
 and about the end of the same century in the West, the 
 provincial collections were merged into general codes. 
 In these general codes the decrees of local as well as 
 of oecumenical councils had a place. Side by side with 
 the decrees of the great parliaments of Nicaea and 
 Chalcedon were placed the resolutions of obscure pro- 
 vincial assemblies, which were essentially local and 
 temporary, which had originally no vahdity outside 
 the limits of their provinces, and which until exhumed 
 by the care of the antiquary were unknown to the 
 greater part of Christendom. In addition to this, 
 almost all the collections were singularly imperfect. 
 From at least the beginning of the fourth century 
 
8 Introductory: [lect. 
 
 provincial assemblies were held, often year by year, 
 over a large part of tbe Christian world. A complete 
 collection of the resolutions of such assemblies would 
 have enabled us to frame a complete history of the 
 organization of the several provinces. But when only 
 one assembly in fifty has left a record, a factitious im- 
 portance attaches to those which remain. The pre- 
 valence of the ideas or usages which they adopted 
 tends to be greatly exaggerated. It is as though only 
 a few fossUs remained of a great geological epoch : 
 valuable as such fossils would be, they would yet be 
 misleading, because they would tend to be regarded 
 as typical, whereas they might be only unimportant 
 specimens of the fauna and flora of their time. 
 
 This difficulty of the heterogeneity and imperfection 
 of the collections has been increased to an almost in- 
 calculable degree by the fact that these collections 
 came in time to be regarded as a legal code, and to 
 have the authority of legislative enactments. They 
 constitute the nucleus of what is known as Canon 
 Law. The various items of which they were com- 
 posed were regarded as standing upon the same level. 
 The distinctions of place and time which existed 
 between those items was practically ignored. For 
 having, as they had, the force of law, the duty of a 
 canonist was not to investigate their origin, but to 
 interpret their meaning. And consequently since 
 Canon Law has had, and has still, an important and 
 recognized place in European jurisprudence, there has 
 been a tendency on the part of ecclesiastical historians 
 to regard conciliar enactments as a canonist would 
 
I.] The Method of Shidy. 9 
 
 regard them. Since the clauses of the code were of 
 equal, or nearly equal, value as laws, they came to be 
 regarded as beuag of equal, or nearly equal, value as 
 facts : and hence it has come to pass that over the 
 enormous varieties of constitution which have prevailed 
 in different ages, and in different parts of Christendom, 
 there has been spread the hypothesis of an ideal uni- 
 formity, which covers them as the whitewash covers 
 frescoes of various ages and by various masters upon 
 a cathedral wall. 
 
 But the virtue of a canonist is the vice of a 
 historian. Historical science, like all science, is the 
 making of distinctions ; and its primary distinctions 
 are those of time and space. 
 
 These distinctions are even more important in the 
 subject which lies before us than they are in the 
 secular history of either mediaeval or modern times, 
 on account of the magnitude of the scale upon which 
 Christianity has existed. For the history of Chris- 
 tianity covers more than three-fourths of the whole 
 period of the recorded history of the Western world. 
 It goes back year by year, decade by decade, century 
 by century, for more than fifty generations. If we 
 compare what we are and what we believe, the in- 
 stitutions under which we hve, the literature which 
 we prize, the ideas for which we contend, in this 
 present year, with the beliefs, the institutions, the 
 literature, the prevalent ideas, of a hundred years ago, 
 we shall begin to realize the difference between one 
 century and another of these eighteen centuries of 
 Christian history. The special difficulty of stixdying 
 
lo Litrodtictory: [lect. 
 
 any such period of history arises from the fact that 
 the centuries which are remote from our own seem, 
 in the long perspective, to be almost indistinguishable. 
 It is as though we stood upon some commanding 
 height in a country of mountains and valleys, and as 
 we saw fold over fold of the purple hills recede farther 
 and fainter into the distant haze, failed to realize that 
 between each of those far faint lines were valleys filled 
 with busy industries, or, it might be, breadths of pas- 
 ture land, or, it might be, only the torrent-sounding 
 depths of deep ravines. So the far centuries of Chris- 
 tian history recede until they are lost in the sun-lit 
 haze of its dawn. Between the third century and the 
 foiu-th, for example, or between the fourth and the 
 fifth, there seems to all but the scholars who have 
 trod the ground to be an hardly appreciable difference. 
 If a wTiter quotes in the same breath Eusebius and 
 Sozomen, or St. Hilary of Poitiers and St. Leo the 
 Great, he seems to many persons to be quoting coeval 
 or nearly coeval authorities. And yet in fact between 
 each of these authorities there is an interval of a 
 hundred years of life and movement, of great religious 
 controversies, of important ecclesiastical changes. The 
 point is not merely one of accuracy of date ; it is 
 rather that usages and events have at one time as 
 compared with another a widely varying significance. 
 For different centuries have been marked in eccle- 
 siastical as in social history by great differences in 
 the drift and tendency of ideas. Our many-sided 
 human nature tends to develop itself by the exag- 
 gerated growth of one side at a time: and this ten- 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 1 1 
 
 dency exhibits itself in great secular movements — such 
 as were, for example, the great movement of the fourth 
 century in the direction of monasticism, or the great 
 movement of the sixteenth century in the direction 
 of simplicity of worship. Now a usage or an event 
 which is of great significance at one stage of such 
 a movement may be of slight importance at another. 
 In the constitutional history of our own country, for 
 example, no one would fail to see the importance of 
 noting whether the Toleration Act was passed in the 
 reign of William and Mary, or in the reign of Elizabeth: 
 and similarly, in the constitutional history of Chris- 
 tianity, until we are able to see the surroundings of 
 any given fact we may wholly mistake its value. 
 
 Nor are these distinctions of time the only ones of 
 which we have to take accurate note. We have also 
 to recognize distinctions of place. In the constitu- 
 tional history of our own country we at once recognize 
 the importance of distinguishing between the local 
 usages, for example, of Wales and those of the Scotch 
 Lowlands ; and we should at once reject as absurd any 
 attempt to erect such usages into universal rules of 
 the British constitution. But in the case of the Chris- 
 tian Church, the magnitude of the scale upon which 
 it has existed makes the adequate recognition of the 
 distinction vastly more important. The Church has 
 been spread not only over eighteen centuries of time, 
 but over the greater part of the civilized world, — over 
 countries peopled by different races, with different 
 institutions, varying widely in intellectual and moral 
 force, in the arts of civilized life, and in the institutions 
 
1 2 Introductory : [lect. 
 
 of social order. Even in those early centuries with 
 which alone I propose to deal it existed among a 
 placid peasantry on the grey slopes of the Batanean 
 hills, in villages which Avere always scattered, and 
 which, as the great highways of Roman commerce 
 closed, gradually decayed into a silent death. It 
 existed in the thriving municipalities of Gaul, where 
 rhetoric and philosophy flourished, where the civil law 
 was studied and practised by skilled jurists, and where 
 the elaborate framework of the municipal institutions 
 of the Empire was strong enough to withstand the 
 tempest of Teutonic invasion. It existed in the rude 
 septs of Ireland, where Eoman organization was prac- 
 tically unknown, It existed also in the busy com- 
 mercial centres of Africa, where the competition of life 
 was keen and the sense of individuality strong. It 
 is obvious that we cannot ignore these distinctions, 
 and regard a rule which was good for and valid in 
 one country as having been equally good for and valid 
 in another country. In other words, what is true of 
 distinctions of time is true also of distinctions of place ; 
 we cannot determine the value of any item of evidence 
 until we have localized it. 
 
 I have dwelt upon these distinctions at what may 
 have seemed an unnecessary length because, as I 
 ventured to indicate at the outset, no small part of 
 the differences of opinion which have arisen respecting 
 the course of Christian history may be traced to an 
 inadequate appreciation of their importance. There is 
 a kind of glamour attaching to ecclesiastical literature 
 
I.] The Method of Shidy. 13 
 
 from the spell of which few of us are wholly eman- 
 cipated. A quotation from an ancient Father, or from 
 an early Council, is to many persons an end of all 
 controversy. But it is a primary duty of the historian 
 to go behind the quotation, to enquire into its precise 
 meaning and its precise value, and to endeavour to 
 fit it into its exact place in the vast mosaic of Chris- 
 tian history. 
 
 So far as we have yet gone, so far, that is to say, 
 as in any particular case we have tested the evidence 
 and estimated its value, and assigned it to its proper 
 country and its proper time, we are in the position 
 of a palaeontologist who, wishing to study certain 
 fossils, ascertains — which is a comparatively easy task 
 — that they are fossils and not forgeries, and then 
 proceeds to ascertain the precise strata and the precise 
 locality of each of them. 
 
 But just as neither a palaeontologist nor any one 
 else who applies himself to the systematic study of 
 any phenomena, is content with however precise a 
 verification and localization of facts, but is led on by 
 an inevitable bent of his nature to compare one group 
 of facts with another, to find out the law of their 
 sequence, and to reach at length, if he can, the common 
 causes of all of them, so our work is only begun when 
 we have ascertained what the facts are and what is 
 the precise place of each of them in the strata of 
 Christian history. We are impelled to proceed to 
 enquire into probable causes of these phenomena. 
 There may be those to whom the answer to any such 
 enquiry seems easy and obvious. Just as in the early 
 
14 Lih-oduciory : [lect. 
 
 days of the physical science to which I have alluded, 
 there were some pious persons who, not being yet 
 ripe for that larger conception of creation which is 
 gradually opening up to us, explained the appearance 
 of fossUs in this place or in that by an inscrutable fiat 
 of the divine will, which had determined that fossils 
 should be and fossUs were : so it is possible that 
 there may be persons still living to whom it is a 
 SLiiificient explanation of the facts of Christian organiza- 
 tion to say that God so willed them. 
 
 But most of us cannot be so easily satisfied, nor 
 can we believe that enquiry is barred. In this, as in 
 other fields which lie open to our view, we cannot 
 resist, nor do we see any ground of either reason or 
 revelation for attempting to resist, the enquiry into 
 sequences and causes. We go on from the ascertain- 
 ment of facts to the framing of inductions in reference 
 to those facts. 
 
 Now there are two, and onl}^ two, ways in which 
 any phenomena, which have existed through successive 
 periods of time, can be legitimately viewed for the 
 purposes of such inductions. They may be treated 
 by comparison of the whole of the phenomena which 
 coexist at any one time : and they may be treated 
 by tracing each group through its successive periods 
 of existence. The palaeontologist, for example, makes 
 his inferences partly by putting together all that he 
 can find about the fauna and flora of each stratum, and 
 partly by tracing each type of animal or plant through 
 successive strata, so as to arrive at a conclusion re- 
 specting the order and succession of life upon the earth. 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 1 5 
 
 It is so in the enquiry which lies before us. 
 
 In the first place, we have to view the facts in their 
 relation to preceding and svicceediug facts of the same 
 kind ; in other woi'ds, as constituting a series. We 
 cannot, of course, assume at the outset that that series 
 is progressive : but neither on the other hand can we 
 assume that the links which compose it are of precisely 
 the same kind throughout. The danger to which in- 
 ferences of tliis kind are exposed arises more from the 
 latter assumption than from the former. If we deal 
 with an institution or an oiEce which has wholly passed 
 away — like the Athenian ^ovkn or the Eoman praetor- 
 ship — we endeavour to form an idea of the functions 
 of that institution or of that office simply by putting 
 together whatever we can find out from contemporary 
 evidence. But if we are dealing with an institution 
 which, under whatever modifications, has remained to 
 the present day, we tend almost inevitably to carry 
 back with us into past times those conceptions of it 
 which we have derived from our modern experience. 
 The tendency is assisted by a fact of language which 
 cannot be too steadily borne in mind. By the slow 
 and silent alchemy of time institutions change : but, 
 while they change, the words which designate those 
 institutions frequently remain permanent. We con- 
 sequently tend to make the more or less unconscioias 
 assumption that the same word designated in past 
 times what it designates now. Whereas what we have 
 in fact to do with every name wliich we meet with in 
 ancient records, is to treat it altogether independently 
 of the accident that it has remained to our own times. 
 
1 6 Introductory : [lbct. 
 
 In other words, instead of reading the series of his- 
 torical facts reversely, and interpreting each factor of 
 the series as we go backwards by what we know of its 
 modern use, Ave have to begin at the beginning, and 
 find out by careful induction what the function of the 
 institution or the ofiice was at the earliest period at 
 which we find it, and, as we trace it through suc- 
 ceeding centuries, add on step by step the new elements 
 which attached themselves to it, until we reach, and so 
 account for, the meaning which it bears now. 
 
 In the second place, we have to view the facts of 
 ecclesiastical organization at any given time in their 
 relation to all the other ascertainable facts of that 
 time. To a certain extent that comparison is so in- 
 evitable that all writers on the subject of Christian 
 organization have made it. It is inevitable for the 
 reason that, with probably no single exception, the 
 names of Christian institutions and Christian officers 
 are shared by them in common with institutions and 
 officers outside Christianity. It follows, from the mere 
 conditions of the case, that those names were given by 
 virtue of some resemblance in the Christian institutions 
 and officers to institutions and officers which bore the 
 same names already. These resemblances have always 
 been admitted, and have to some extent long been in- 
 vestigated. But evidence which has not been thoroughly 
 investigated until recent years, and evidence which has 
 only within recent years come to light — especially in 
 the unimpeachable form of inscriptions — has shown 
 that the resemblances are not merely general but 
 minute. The points of comparison which have been 
 
I.] The Method of Shidy. 17 
 
 hitherto known have to be supplemented by a large 
 numbei' of other points, in which the close relation 
 between Christian and non-Christian organizations has 
 hitherto been hardly suspected. The importance of 
 such a comparison lies in the fact that we cannot avoid 
 going on to the further question, how far the similar 
 phenomena are the product of the same causes. If we 
 find in the Roman Empire civU societies with organiza- 
 tions analogous to those of the Christian societies, civil 
 officers with the same names and similar functions to 
 those of ecclesiastical officers, the question arises and 
 must be answered, whether the causes which are suf- 
 ficient to account for them in the one case are not 
 equally sufficient to account for them in the other. 
 
 It has been contended, and it will no doubt continue 
 to be contended, that the phenomena of ecclesiastical 
 history are unique, and that an attempted comparison 
 between them and the phenomena of civil history is 
 vitiated at the outset by the fact that the resemblances 
 are accidental and superficial, and that the two groups 
 of phenomena are in reality incommensurable. 
 
 And no doubt those phenomena are so transcendent 
 in their interest, and so stupendous in their importance, 
 that few of us can fail to have a profound, if not an 
 absorbing, sympathy with the sublime exaggeration 
 which characterizes many descriptions of them. We, 
 like the inspired dreamer of earlier days, can see the 
 new City of God coming down bodily from the sky, 
 invisible to the carnal sight, but to the eye of faith the 
 only reality in a world of shadows. We can conceive. 
 
1 8 Introductory: [lect. 
 
 as ancient lovers of symbols often conceived, that no 
 earthly mother gave birth to the spouse of Christ, but 
 that, as Eve was taken from the side of the First Adam, 
 so from the side of the Second Adam there sprang into 
 instantaneous and immortal life the Virgin 'without 
 spot or blemish ' who should be His mystic Bride ^. 
 
 But when we descend from poetry to fact, from the 
 dreams of inspired and saintly dreamers to the life of 
 incident and circumstance which history records, and in 
 which we ordinarily dwell, then, if the evidence shows, 
 as I believe it to show, that not only did the elements 
 of the Christian societies exist, but that also the forces 
 which welded them together and gave them shape are 
 adequately explained by existing forces of human 
 society, the argument from analogy becomes so strong 
 that, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary, it 
 is impossible to resist the inference that in the divine 
 economy which governs human life, as it governs the 
 courses of the stars, by the fewest causes and the 
 simplest means, the Christian societies, and the con- 
 federation of those societies which we commonly speak 
 of in a single phrase as " the visible Church of Christ," 
 were formed without any special interposition of that 
 mysterious and extraordinary action of the divine voli- 
 tion, which, for want of a better term, we speak of as 
 'supernatural.' The inference is a presumption and 
 not a demonstration. It is of the same kind as all 
 inferences except those of the purely ideal sciences. 
 
 ' e.g. TertuU. De Aaima, 43: Acta Petri et Pauli, 29 ap. Tischendorf, Acta 
 Apostolorum Apocrypha, p. 12. The symbolism probably accounts for the frequency 
 with which the creation of Eve is represented in early Christian art. 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 19 
 
 But it is strong enough to throw the onus of proof not 
 iipon those who make, but upon those who deny it. 
 For those who infer from a group of resembhng facts a 
 relation of identity in kind, have a presumption in their 
 favour which is not enjoyed by those who infer from 
 those facts a relation of difference. 
 
 There are some, no doubt, who will think that to 
 account for the organization of the Church in this way 
 is to detract from the nobility of its birth, or from the 
 divinity of its life. There are some who can see a 
 divinity in the thunder-peal, which they cannot see in 
 the serenity of a summer noon, or in the growth of the 
 flowers of spring. But I would ask those who think 
 so to look for a moment at that other monument of 
 divine power, and manifestation of divine life, which 
 we bear about with us at every moment. Out of the 
 dust of the earth, if we listen to the Hebrew poet who 
 first sang the inspired song of Genesis ; out of earlier 
 types of organized beings, if we listen to those who 
 tell us — or think that they tell us — the story of the 
 earth from the records which the earth contains : but, 
 in either view, from antecedent and lower forms, came 
 into being these human bodies with their marvellous 
 complexity of structure, with their almost boundless 
 capacity of various effort, with their almost infinitely 
 far-reaching faculty of observation. And so, it may 
 be — nor is it a derogation from its grandeur to say 
 that it %vas — out of antecedent and, if you will, lower 
 forms, out of existing elements of human institutions, 
 by the action of existing forces of human society, 
 swayed as you will by the breathing of the Divine 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 IiUrodudory : [lect. 
 
 Breath, controlled as you will by the Providence which 
 holds in its hand the wayward wills of naen no less 
 than the courses of the stars, but still out of elements, 
 and by the action of forces, analogous to those which 
 have resulted in other institutions of society, and other 
 forms of government, came into being that widest and 
 strongest and most enduring of institutions which bears 
 the sacred name of the Holy Catholic Church. The 
 divinity which clings to it is the divinity of order. It 
 takes its place in that infinite series of phenomena of 
 which we ourselves are part. It is not outside the 
 universe of Law, but within it. It is divine, as the 
 solar system is divine, because both the one and the 
 other are expressions and results of those vast laws 
 of the divine economy by which the physical and the 
 moral world alike move their movement and live their 
 life. 
 
 It is by these methods, and with, as I believe, these 
 general results, that I propose to consider the early 
 organization of the visible Church of Christ. 
 
 I propose to begin at the beginning, and to take into 
 consideration as we go on the conditions of the society 
 in which the Christian communities grew as well as the 
 facts of their growth. 
 
 But I do not propose to occupy your time by a 
 preliminary discussion of the ecclesiastical polity of the 
 New Testament, because I believe that that polity will 
 be best understood by the light of subsequent history. 
 At the time when the majority of the sacred books 
 were written that polity was in a fluid state. It had 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 21 
 
 not yet congealed into a fixed form. It seems, as far 
 as can be gathered from the simple interpretation of the 
 text, without the interpretation which history has given 
 it, to have been capable of taking several other forms than 
 that which, in the divine economy, tiltimately established 
 itself. It has the elements of an ecclesiastical monarchy 
 in the position which is assigned to the Apostles. It 
 has the elements of an ecclesiastical oligarchy in the 
 fact that the rulers of the Church are almost always 
 spoken of in the plural. It has the elements of an 
 ecclesiastical democracy in the fact, among others, that 
 the appeal which St. Paul makes to the Corinthians on 
 a question of ecclesiastical discij)line is made neither to 
 bishops nor to presbyters, but to the community at 
 large. It offers a sanction to episcopacy in the fact 
 that bishops are expressly mentioned and their qualifi- 
 cations described : it offers a sanction to presbyterianism 
 in the fact that the mention of bishops is excluded from 
 all but one group of Epistles. It supports the proposi- 
 tion that the Church should have a government in the 
 injunctions which it gives to obey those who rule. It 
 supports on the other hand the claim of the Montanists 
 of early days, and the Puritans of later days, in the 
 preeminence which it assigns to spiritual gifts. 
 
 Which of these many elements, and what fusion 
 of them, was destined in the divine order to prevail, 
 must be determined, not by exegesis, but by history. 
 That history will unfold itself before us in subsequent 
 lecttires. We shall see those to whom the Word of 
 Life was preached gradually coalescing into societies. 
 We shall see those societies organizing themselves as 
 
2 2 Introductory : [lect. 
 
 charitable associations in the midst of great poverty and 
 depression I We shall see them organizing themselves 
 as disciplinary associations, held together by the force 
 of a strong moral law, in the midst of social disorder 
 and laxity ='. We shall see them passing from a con- 
 dition of oligarchy or democracy to that of virtual 
 monarchy*. We shall see the individual communities 
 ultimately confederated together into a world-wide as- 
 sociation^. We shall see that world-wide association 
 and its separate components recognized by the State, 
 and trace the effect upon it of the close neighbourhood 
 and the supporting arm of the civil power ". We shall 
 see its officers gradually formed into a class standing 
 apart from the mass of the Christian community, 
 invested with attributes of special sanctity, and living, 
 or supposed to live, by a higher rule of life than that 
 of those to whom they ministered ''. We shall see the 
 heads of the separate organizations exercising juris- 
 diction outside their proper communities over adjacent 
 and outlying communities, so as to establish a relation 
 of subordination between the latter and the former ^. 
 We shall pause at length upon the threshold of that 
 period, alike of glory and of shame, when this grand 
 confederation of Christian societies, arrogating to itself 
 the name of that Catholic Church the belief in which 
 is part of all Christian creeds, became the greatest 
 corporation upon earth, stronger than the Eoman Em- 
 pire itself in its moral influence upon civilized society 
 and hardly inferior to it in political power, sitting like 
 
 ^ Lecture II. ^ Lecture III. ' Lecture IV. * Lecture VII, 
 
 » Lecture VI. ' Lectures V and VI. » Lecture VIII. 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 23 
 
 a queen upon her throne, with her feet upon the necks 
 of kings, and using the majesty of her sublime con- 
 solations, and the prestige of her long traditions, and 
 the wealth of her splendid charities, to enslave rather 
 than to free the world. 
 
 But upon a subject on which misconception is so 
 easy and so prevalent, it seems necessary to add one 
 word more, and to draw your attention explicitly and 
 once for all to that which I have implied throughout, 
 that the subject which lies before us is not the' 
 Christian faith, but the organization of the Christian 
 Churches. In whatever I may have to say about the 
 latter, I do not propose to touch the former. With 
 doctrine, and with the beliefs which underlie doctrine, 
 we shall have in these lectures no direct concern. 
 Out of the tangled mass of truths and tendencies, of 
 institutions and practices, which make up what we 
 sometimes speak of collectively as Christianity, I shall 
 endeavour to extricate a single thread, and to deal 
 with it as far as possible in isolation. It is true that, 
 except in the purely ideal sciences of metaphysics 
 and geometry, the perfect isolation of any subject is 
 impossible. It is true that there are many points at 
 which the history of organization links itself almost 
 inextricably with the history of doctrine. But T will 
 ask those who listen to me to put upon themselves 
 the same intellectual self-restraint which I endeavour 
 to put upon myself, and to keep a fixed attention 
 upon the immediate point in hand, apart from its 
 innumerable side-issues and its far-reaching relations. 
 
24 Introdtictoiy : [lect. 
 
 No doubt for all our self-restraint there will loom out 
 before us continually as we go on tlie majestic vision 
 of that stupendous work which these organizations 
 have effected, and are effecting, in the midst of human 
 society. We shall be like a student who makes it 
 his temporary task to explore some great historic 
 cathedral with a view only to its architecture. At 
 every step he treads on hallowed ground. On every 
 side are the memorials of saintly lives, and heroic deeds, 
 and immortal genius. From their silent tombs there 
 seem to rise wp the shadows of the holy dead, gazing 
 at him with their beatified faces, and stretching oiit 
 hands of ghostly fellowship. He is tempted at every 
 moment to throw aside his study, and to yield to 
 the fascination of the place, and to gain some new 
 hope for his own sad life from the weird and whis- 
 pered tale of what they did and suffered for Christ 
 and for the world. But his present concern is with 
 the architecture, and the soft and solemn voices that 
 bid him linger in sympathy or in dream fall upon 
 deafened ears. 
 
 And so, in the lectures that will follow, it will not 
 be in forgetfulness, but only because their limits are 
 too brief for even the single subject which they pro- 
 pose to compass, that we shall turn our eyes from 
 the saintly souls of these early centuries, and from 
 the sublime truths they taught, to consider only the 
 framework of that vast society to which they and 
 we alike belong, — that society into which for eighteen 
 centuries have been gathered the holiest and the 
 iioblest of our race, — that society which links together 
 
I.] The Method of Study. 25 
 
 the ages by the mystic tie of spiritual communion, — 
 that society which, though to some men it has seemed 
 a crushing despotism, has been to you and me and 
 the world at large a beneficence and a salvation. 
 
LECTURE 11. 
 
 BISHOPS AND DEACONS. 
 
 Among tlie many parallels which can be drawn 
 between the first centuries of the Christian era and 
 our own times, there is probably none more striking 
 than that of their common tendency towards the forma- 
 tion of associations. There were then, as now, associa- 
 tions for almost innumerable purposes in almost all 
 parts of the Empire. There were trade guilds and 
 dramatic guilds ; there were athletic clubs, and burial 
 clubs, and dining clubs ; there were friendly societies, 
 and literary societies, and financial societies: if we 
 omit those special products of our own time, natural 
 science and social science, there was scarcely an object 
 for which men combine now for which they did not 
 combine then^. 
 
 ' Associations occupy a much larger place in epigraphical monuments than in 
 literary history : of the kinds mentioned above, i. trade-guUds are found among 
 almost every kind of workmen and in almost every town of the Empire of which 
 inscriptions remain ; e.g. among the raftsmen at Geneva (Mommsen, Inscriptioncs 
 Confoederationis Helveticae, No. 75), among the wool-carders of Ephesus (Wood, 
 Discoveries at Ephesus, Append, viii. No. 4), among the litter-bearers of a remote 
 colony in Wallachia {Corpus Inscr. Lat. vol. iii. No. 1438), and among the shoe- 
 makers of a market-town in Spain {ibid. vol. ii. No. 2818): ii. dramatic guilds, in 
 
LECT, II.] Bishops and Deacons. 27 
 
 There was more than one attempt at repression. The 
 State feared lest the honeycombing of the Empire by 
 organizations which in their nature were private, and 
 so tended to be secret, might be a source of political 
 danger : but the drift of the great currents of society 
 towards association was too strong for even the Empire 
 to resist I 
 
 The most important among them were the religious 
 associations. Almost all associations seem to have had 
 a religious element : they were under the protection of 
 
 e.g. Le Bas et W.tddington, Znso'ipiions Grccfpies et Latinea, vol. iii. Nos. 1336, 
 1619 (cf. Foueart, De Collegiis scenicorum artificum apud Graecos, Paris, 1873; 
 Luders, Die dionysischen Kunstler, Berlin, 1873): iii. athletic clubs, in e.g. Corpus 
 Inscr. Graec. Nos. 349, 5804, Wilnianns, No. 2202 (cf. Herzog, Gallia Narhonensis, 
 p. 247) ; iv. burial clubs, in e.g. Orelli-Henzen, No. 6086 = Wilmanns, No. 319 (cf. 
 Eoissier, Etudes sur quelqnea colleges fumraires romains in the Revue ArcMoloyique, 
 1872, vol. xxiii, p. 82; De Eossi, I collegii funeratieii famigliari e loro denomina- 
 zioni in the Commentationes philologicae in, honorem Tli. Mommsenii, p. 705) : v. 
 dining clubs, in e.g. Orelli, No. 4073 ; TertuUian, Apol. 39 : vi. friendly societies, in 
 e.g. Le Bas et Waddington, vol. iii. No. 1687; Plin. Epist. 10. 94; Kenier, Inscrip- 
 tions (fAlgerie, No. 60, 70 = Wilmanns, Exempla Inscr. Lat., Nos. 1481, 1482 : vii. 
 literary societies, in e.g. Orelli, No. 4069= Wilmanns, No. 211 2: viii. financial 
 societies, in e.g. Wilmanns, No. 2181 (cp. the well-known 'societates publicano- 
 rum'), the 'Ambubaiarum collegia' of Hor. Serin. I. 2. i, and the ' latronia colle- 
 gium' of Apul. Metam. 7. 137 may be caricatures : but the extent of the tendency 
 is shown by the fact that sometimes the slaves on an estate (Corpus Inscr. 
 Lat. vol. vi. No. 404), or even in a household (Orelli, No. 2414), formed an asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 ^ The repression began under the Eepublic, Cio. in Pison. 4 (cf Asconius ad 
 he. ap. M. T. Cic. Seliol. ed. Orelli, p. 7); Jos. Ant. 14. 10. 8 ; Suet. Gaes. 42, and 
 was continued by Augustus, Suet. Octav. 32, and others, eg. by Trajan, Phn. 
 Epist. 10. 34 (43). The allegation that they tended to become political clubs is 
 supported by the inscriptions on the walls of Pompeii, Cm-pus Inscr. Lat. vol. iv. 
 Nos. 202, 710, 787. For the question of the precise amount of legality which they 
 had under the Empire, see Husohke in the Zeitschrift f. geschicht. Sechtsiaissen- 
 schafi, Bd. xii, pp. 207, sqq. ; Mommsen, ibid. Bd. xv, p. 353 sqq. ; Walter, 
 Geschichte des romischen Rcclits, 3'" Aufl. § 348, and especially Cohn, Zum romischen 
 Vereinsrecht, Berlin 1873. Alexander Severus seems to have been the first Em- 
 peror who saw in them a conservative rather tlian a revolutionary force, and 
 encouraged instead of repressing them, Lamprid. Alex. Sev. c. 33, 
 
28 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 a tutelary divinity, in the same way as at the present 
 day similar associations on the continent of Europe 
 invoke the name of a patron saint ^ : and their meetings 
 were sometimes called by a name which was afterwards 
 consecrated to Christian uses — that of a 'gacred synod*.' 
 But in a considerable proportion of them religion was, 
 beyond this, the basis and bond of union. Inside the 
 religion of the State, and tolerated by it, were many 
 forms of religion and many modes of worship. Then, 
 as now, many men had two religions, that which they 
 professed and that which they believed : for the former 
 there were temples and State officials and public sacri- 
 fices ; for the latter there were associations : and in 
 these associations, as is shown from extant inscriptions, 
 divinities whom the State ignored had their priests, 
 their chapels, and their ritual''. 
 
 ^ of the Latin associations some were under the protection of one or more of 
 the greater gods: e.g. most of the trades-unions at Eome claimed the patronage 
 of Minerva, Ovid, Fait. iii. 819-832, the physicians of Turin that of Aesculapius 
 and Hygia, Corpus Inscr, Lat. vol. v. No. 6970; others had a 'genius' of their 
 own, e.g. ihid. vol. iii. 1424, vol. v. No. 7595- Some associations, in even closer 
 correspondence with modern confraternities, had their banners for fete-days and 
 processions, ' Vexilla coUegiorum,' Vopisc. Aurd. 36; Gallien. 3; Eumen. in Grat. 
 Act. 8 : and the lodge-room or guild-hall, schola, of almost all associations seems to 
 have had a chapel, templum, or at least an altar, ara, e.g. Corp. Inscr. Lat. vol. iii. 
 No- 633. '^'ol. V. No. 7906 : the fact is the more noteworthy because De Kossi (Bui- 
 Utino di Arch,. Christ. 1864, ann. ii. p. 60, Roma Sotteranea, vol. iii. p. 475), main- 
 tains that some of the primitive churches were scholae. For the Greek associ- 
 ations see e.g. Schomann, Griech. Alterthumer, Bd. i. 3** Aufl. pp. 541-6, who 
 rightly says that the religious element was invariable. 
 
 * The expression tepA aiivoSos for an association, or its meeting, is found, e.g. in 
 Le Bas et Waddington, vol. iii. No. 1336, 1619; Corpus Inscr. Graec. No. 4315 n. 
 
 ^ The data for the above statements will be found, for the Greek religious asso- 
 ciations in the inscriptions collected by Foucart, Ses Associations religieuses chez 
 les Grecs, Paris, 1873: for the Latin associations in Wihnanns, Exempla Inscrip- 
 tionum Latinarum (see the Index in vol. ii. pp. 631 sqq.). Other inscriptions, 
 and further details, will be found in Mommsen, Be Oollegiis et Sodaliciis Mo- 
 manorum, Kiel, 1843; We.scher, Berue Archdologique, vol. x, 1864, p. 160, vol. 
 
II-] Bishops and Deacons. 29 
 
 When the truths of Christianity were first preached, 
 especially in the larger towns of the Eoman Empire, 
 the aggregation of those who accepted those truths 
 into societies was thus not an isolated phenomenon. 
 Such an aggregation does not appear to have invariably 
 followed belief. There were many who stood apart : 
 and there were many reasons for their doing so. The 
 rule of Christian life was severe. It involved a sharp se- 
 paration from the common pursuits of ordinary society; 
 it sometimes involved also a snapping asunder of the 
 ties of family and, home. A man might wish to be 
 Christ's disciple, and yet shrink from 'hating father 
 and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and 
 sisters, yea and his own life also.' We consequently 
 find that the union of believers in associations had to 
 be preached, if not as an article of the Christian faith, 
 at least as an element of Christian practice. The Epistle 
 to the Hebrews urges this especially on the ground 
 that the ' day ' was approaching ^. The Epistle of St. 
 Jude condemns those ' who separate themselves,' and 
 charges them with walking 'after their own ungodly 
 lusts ^.' The Shepherd of Hermas speaks of those who 
 were sound in the faith and yet ' lived with the Gentiles 
 and did not cleave to the saints ^' The Epistle of 
 Barnabas exhorts Christians not to withdraw them- 
 selves and live lives apart, but to meet together and 
 
 xii, 1865, p. 214, vol. xiii, 1866, p. 345; Boiasieu, In&crijitions antiques de Lyon, 
 pp. 373 sqq. ; Boisaier, La Eeliijion Soiiiaiue, vol. ii. pp. 267 aqq. ; Duruy, Ilis- 
 toire des liomains, vol. v. pp. 149 sqq. ; Marquardt, BSmische Staatsvenoaltimg, 
 Bd. iii. pp. 76, 131 sqq. 
 
 « Heb. X. 25. ' St. Jude 19. 
 
 » Herm. Sim. 9. 26. 3 : so in effect 8. 8. i ; 8, 9, i ; 9. 20. 2 ; Via. 3. 6. 2. 
 
30 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 consult about common interests ^ The Epistles of Igna- 
 tius make the exhortation to association especially 
 prominent. The chief purpose of those much con- 
 troverted, and most valuable, monuments of early 
 Christianity seems to be not, as has sometimes been 
 supposed, to exalt the episcopate at the expense of the 
 presbyterate, but, accepting the episcopate as an estab- 
 lished institution in the Asiatic Churches, to urge those 
 who called themselves Christians to become, or to con- 
 tinue to be, or to be more zealously than before, mem- 
 bers of the associations of which the bishops were the 
 head". After the sub-apostolic age these exhortations 
 cease. The tendency to association had become a fixed 
 habit. The Christian communities multiplied, and per- 
 secution forged for them a stronger bond of unity. But 
 to the eye of the outside observer they were in the same 
 category as the associations which already existed. They 
 had the same names for their meetings, and some of the 
 same names for their oiEcers". The basis of association, 
 in the one case as the other, was the profession of a com- 
 
 " Earn. 4. 10. 
 
 '" It is clear from the letters to the communities at Ephesus (0. 5, 3), at Magnesia 
 (cc. 4. 7, i), at Tralles (cc. 2. 7), at Philadelphia (cc, 3. 7), and at Smyrna (c. 7, 2), 
 that there were Christians in those cities who did not come to the general assembly 
 or recognize the authority of the bishop, presbyters, and deacons ; it is also clear 
 from Ephes. 20. 2, Philad. 4, Smyrn. 7. 2, that this separation from the assembly 
 and its officers went to the extent of having separate eucharists : it is consequently 
 clear that attachment to the organization of which the bishop was the head was 
 not yet universally recognized as a primary duty of the Christian life. 
 
 " iicKX-qaia is used of the meeting of an association in e.g. Le Bas et Waddington, 
 vol. viii. No. 1 38 1, 1382; Le Bas, vol. iv. No. 191 5 = Cocp. Inscr. Graec. No. 2271: 
 so avvayiiyrj, Corp. Inscr. Graec. No. 244S, 3069 ; Wescher, Revae Archeologique, 
 1865, vol. xii. p. 216: BO ativoSos, Corpus. Inscr. Graec. Nos. 126, 3067, 3069; 
 Le Bas et Waddington, Nos. 1143, 1336, 1619 : so rd icoiv6v, which is in ordinary 
 use for the general body of an association, is used, e.g in Euseb. H. E. 6. 19. 16; 
 7. 32. 27, for the general body of a church. 
 
n.] Bishops and Deacons. 31 
 
 mon religion. The members, in the one case as in the 
 other, contributed to or received from a common fund '2, 
 and in many cases, if not universally, shared in a com- 
 mon meal ". Admission vs^as open, in the one case as in 
 the other, not only to free-born citizens, but to women 
 and strangers, to freedmen and slaves ". Consequently 
 when a Koman governor found the Christian communi- 
 ties existing in his province he brought them under 
 the general law which was applicable to such associa- 
 tions^'; and the Greek satirist of the second century 
 
 " The contribution to a common fund was of the essence of a Greek tpavos (of. 
 Harpocrat. s. v. ipaviarris) : it was payable every month, and was strictly exacted 
 {Corpus Insor. Attic, vol. ii. Nos. 6io, 630; cf. Fouoart, pp. 42, 599). In the 
 Roman ' collegia tenuiorum ' monthly contributions were also of the essence (' sti- 
 pem meustruam conferre,' Digest, xlvii. 22. i ; cf. Mommsen, De CoUegiis, p. 87 ; 
 Marquardt, Eom. Staalsverm. Bd. iii. 139). The fund so formed was the common 
 property of the association, and a member who left under compulsion could claim 
 his share (Digest, ibid.). The funds of both Greek and Roman associations were 
 frequently increased by benefactions. 
 
 '' The institution of a common meal seems also to have been general : in the 
 Greek associations it is implied in the constant provision for a sacrifice at the stated 
 meetings : in the Latin associations regulations respecting it are given at length 
 in the extant bylaws (which are printed, e.g. Orelli-Henzen, Noa. 4947, 6086; Wil- 
 manns, Nos. 318, 319). Philo says that at Alexandria the associations, under the 
 pretext of religion, were merely convivial meetings (in Flaccum, ii. pp. 518, 537): and 
 Varro complains that college-dinners sent up the prices of provisions at Rome (De 
 Re Rastica, iii. 2-16). Josephus, Ant. 14. 10. 8, describes the exemption of the 
 Jewish communities at Rome from the general suppression of unauthorized societies 
 by Julius Caesar, by saying ii6vovs tovtovs ovk ktcajKuffey ovt€ ■)(p7i}KiTa dufpipetv 
 ovTe ffvvSetiTva iroLeTv. 
 
 " The evidence for the admission of these classes into the Greek associations is 
 collected by Foucart, pp. 6 sqq. For the Latin associations the proofs are, e.g. i. 
 that in the album of a college of the CuUores Silvani at Philippi, almost all the 
 names are those of freedmen or slaves {Corpus Inscr. Lat. vol. iii. No. 633) : ii. 
 the dictum of the jurist Marcian ' servos quoque licet in oollegio tenuiorum recipi 
 volentibus dominis' (Digest, xlvii. 22. 3, § 2). On one other important point the 
 evidence is too scanty to enable a general statement to be made : but in one of the 
 few extant codes of bylaws, the association requires its officers to test a candidate 
 for admission as to whether he is 'chaste, and pious, and good' (Corp. laser. Graec. 
 No. I26 = Foucart, No. 20, who reads ayvbs for ayios). 
 " Plin. Epist. 10. 96 (97). 7. 
 
32 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 invented for their bishop that which would have been 
 an appropriate title for their head ^^ 
 
 What then, if we look at these Christian communities 
 simply on their human side as organizations in the 
 midst of human society, was their point of peculiarity 
 and difference % 
 
 Before I attempt to answer this question I will ask 
 you to consider briefly the circumstances of the society 
 in which those communities existed. 
 
 The economical condition of the Eoman Empire 
 during; the earlv centuries of the Christian era was 
 for the most part one of intense strain i'^. The great 
 political disruptions which preceded the creation of the 
 Empire, and the great political dissensions which ac- 
 companied its consolidation, left their inevitable result 
 in a disturbance, which proved to be permanent, of the 
 social equilibrium. Hardly any of the elements of an 
 unsound state of society were absent. Large tracts of 
 
 "^ Lucian, T)e Moi-te Peregrini, iij_ referring expressly to Christians, though per- 
 haps, not expressly to either Ignatius or Polyoarp (cf. Keini, CeUus, p. 145 ; Zahn, 
 Iijuatias von Autiochien,^!. 517), speaks of the head of the coinmunity as Biaaapxqs 
 Kai (vva'fafivs (the former of these words is a substitute, which does not occur 
 elsewhere, for d/)x<6iac'''i;s, Corpus Inscr. Graec. No. 2271, standing to it in the 
 relation of tricliniarchus, Petron. Satyr. 22, to dpx^TpMKij'os S. John 2.8: it implies 
 that the Chiistian communities, like those of the Jews at Rome, Jos. Ant. 14. 10. 
 8, and of the Essenes, Philo, ii. 458 ed. Mang, were regarded as Biacroi). 
 
 ^^ The evidence as to the internal state of the Roman Empire during the second 
 and tliird centuries has not hitherto been collected, and is too extensive to be com- 
 pressed into a note : some of it, and sufficient to corroborate the statements made 
 above, will be found in Herzberg, Die Geschichte Griechcnland unter der Herr&clmft 
 der Rymer, Bd. ii. 189-210; Einlay, History of Greece, ed. Tozer, vol. i. chap, i ; 
 Mommsen, Tidier den Yerfull des romuchen Miinzwesens in der Kaiserzeit, in the 
 Beriehte der Jconigl. sdchsischen Gesellsch. der Wiseensekaft, phil-hist. Clasae, 1850, 
 Bd. ii., esp. pp. 229, sqq. ; Burckhardt, Die Zeit Coristanlins des Grossen, Abschn. 
 iii, V, vii ; Duruy, Histoire des Romains, vol. vi. pp. 284-317. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 33 
 
 country had gone out of cultivation. The capital which 
 should have rendered them productive was employed 
 to a great extent not in agriculture but in luxury. 
 The absentee landlords of the great estates wasted their 
 substance in the encouragement of a debased Art, in 
 demoralizing largesses, and in the vanishing parade of 
 official rank. The smaller landowners were crushed by 
 the weight of an unequal and oppressive taxation. 
 Wealth tended to accumulate in fewer hands, and the 
 lines which separated the poor from the rich became 
 more and more sharply defined, until the old distinction 
 between citizen and foreigner, or citizen and freedman, 
 was merged in a new distinction between the better 
 classes and the lower classes ^^. The municipalities vied 
 with one another in the erection of the massive build- 
 ings whose ruins survive not only to tell the traveller or 
 the historian of a departed greatness, but also to point 
 the moral of the economist as to the results of wasteful 
 expenditure. In order to pay for them they sometimes 
 ran heavily into debt : sometimes they endeavoured to 
 make the future pay for the present by borrowing at 
 usurious interest : sometimes they debased the coinage. 
 So great was the mischief that the emperors were often 
 obliged to send commissioners with extraordinary 
 powers to rearrange municipal finances, and that at last 
 they asserted the right of veto upon projected public 
 works, and took the coinage into their own hands". 
 
 " On this distinction see Duruy, Jlfemciires de I'Academie d'Inseriptions, Tom. 
 xxix. pp. 253, sqq. (reprinted as an appendix to vol. v. of his Sistoire des 
 
 " For the curatores or XoyiffTat see Marquardt, Mm. Staatsveno. Bd. i. 358, 
 487 : for the veto on public works see Macer in the Digest. L. 10. 3, § I, and 
 
 D 
 
34 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 But this action on the part of the emperors was 
 palliative and not remedial. It may have postponed, 
 but it did not avert, the final decay. In the meantime, 
 in the age which preceded the final decay, the pressure 
 of poverty was severely felt. There was not that kind 
 of distress which is caused by a great famine or a great 
 pestilence : but there was that terrible tension of the 
 fibres of the social organism which many of us can see 
 in our own society. It was the crisis of the economical 
 history of the Western world. There grew and multi- 
 plied a new class in G-raeco-Eoman society — the class 
 of paupers. And out of the growth of a new class 
 was developed a new virtue — -the virtue of active 
 philanthropy, the tendency to help the poor. Large 
 sums were bequeathed to be expended in annual doles 
 of food. The emperor Trajan had established in Italy a 
 great system for the maintenance and education of 
 children 2°. Rich men and municipalities and succeeding 
 emperors followed his example. The instinct of benevo- 
 lence was fairly roused -^ And yet to the mass of men 
 
 TJlpian, ibid. I. i6. 7 § i : for the abolition of the local mint8, see Mommsen, 
 Geschichte des r'om. Mi'mzwesens, pp. 728, 831. 
 
 ^° The institution of ' alimenta,' which was begun by Nerva (Aurel. Vict. Epit. 
 12), was extended and organized by Trajan. The bronze tablets containing the 
 regulations, and a list of the inve-stments, for two districts of Italy, which were 
 discovered near Piacenza in i747> and near Benevento in 1831, have been printed, 
 e.g. by Mommsen, Inscr. Begn. Neap. No. 1354; Wilmanns, No. 2844, 2845; 
 Haenel, Corpus Legiim, pp. 69-70. (cf. Desjardins, De Tahulis alimentariis, Paris, 
 1S54; Henzen Tabula alimentana Baebianorum, Hoiae, 1845; Eorghesi, Oenvres, 
 vol. iv. 119, 269). The extent to which the example of the Emperors was followed 
 by private persona is shown, not only by numerous extant inscriptions, but also by 
 the fact that Severus and Caracalla discontinued the exemption of such endow- 
 ments from the operations of the Zex Falcidia, and required them to be adminis- 
 tered by the provincial governor (Marcian in Digest. Lib. xxxv. 2, 89). 
 
 ^' Cf. Corpus Tnscr. Grace. No. 3545, for the almost Christian sentiment ev fficfi 
 KaXbv tpyov ^v ix6vov iviroita. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 35 
 
 life was hardly worth liviDg. It tended to become a 
 despair. 
 
 Such was the state of society when those who ac- 
 cepted Christian teaching began to be drawn together 
 into communities. They were so drawn together in 
 the first instance, no doubt, by the force of a great 
 spiritual emotion, the sense of sin, the belief in a 
 Redeemer, the hope of the life to come. But when 
 drawn together they 'had all things common.' The 
 world and all that was in it were destined soon to pass 
 away. ' The Lord was at hand.' In the meantime 
 they were 'members one of another.' The duty of 
 those who had ' this world's goods ' to help those who 
 were in need was primary, absolute, incontrovertible. 
 The teaching of our Lord Himself had been a teach- 
 ing of entire self-sacrifice. ' Sell that thou hast and 
 give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
 heaven 2^.' And the teaching of the earliest Christian 
 homily which has come down to us elevates almsgiving 
 to the chief place in Christian practice : ' Fasting is 
 better than prayer, almsgiving is better than fasting : 
 blessed is the man who is found perfect therein, for 
 almsgiving lightens the weight of sin ^^.' 
 
 It was in this point that the Christian communities 
 were unlike the other associations which surrounded 
 them. Other associations were charitable : but whereas 
 
 =2 S. Matt. 19. 21. 
 
 °' 2 Clem. Eom. 1 6, apparently following Tobit xii. 8, 9. Similar sentiments are 
 not infrequent in patristic literature ; e.g. Lactant. Intt. 6. 12, 'magna est miseri- 
 cordiae merces cui Deus poUicetur peocata se omnia remissurum'; S. Chrys. Mom. 
 6 in Tit. 0. 3, Opp. ed. Migne xi. 698, mm) tpkfijiaicljv ian tuiv ^fUTepaiv aiiapTiwv. 
 Const. Apost. 7, 12, iav txV^ ^^^ '^^^ x^^P^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^'^" ^P'/f^'^V ^^^ \iJTpojoiv cif^apTtSjy 
 aov iXerjfioavi^ais yd.p /cat -niffTifJiv airo/caSaipovTai afxapriai. 
 
 T> 2 
 
36 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 in them charity was an accident, in the Christian associa- 
 tions it was of the essence 2*. They gave to the rehgious 
 revival which almost always accompanies a period of 
 social strain the special direction of philanthropy. They 
 brought into the European world that regard for the 
 poor which had been for several centuries the burden 
 of Jewish hymns. They fused the Ebionism of Palestine 
 with the practical organization of Graeco-Roman civili- 
 zation. 
 
 I have dwelt at length upon the circumstances under 
 which the early Christian communities grew, because 
 those circumstances seem to account for, and to exj)lain, 
 that which it is our more immediate task to examine — 
 the form which the organization of those communities 
 took, and the titles which their officers bore. 
 
 It is clear from the nature of the case that in com- 
 munities which grew up under such circumstances, and 
 in which the eleemosynary element was so prominent, 
 the officers of administration and finance must have had 
 an important place. 
 
 If we turn to the contemporary non-Christian as- 
 sociations of Asia Minor and Syria — to the nearest 
 neighbours, that is to say, of the Christian organizations 
 — we find that the officers of administration and finance 
 were chiefly known by one or other of two names, not 
 far distant from one another in either form or meaning. 
 The one of these was einfxeXrirrii — which has this ad- 
 ditional interest, that it was the designation of the 
 
 ^' Cf. St. Chrys. Soin.'z2 in Hebr. c. xii. Opp. ed. Migne, vol. xii. 224 ovhiv 
 ouToi x«/>aKT»)pi<r7i/to;' XpidTiavov ws iXf-qfoaiv-q. 
 
II- J Bishops and Deacons. 37 
 
 chief officers of the Essenes ^^ : the other was the name 
 which became so strongly impressed on the officers of 
 the Christian societies as to have held its place until 
 modern times, and which in almost all countries of both 
 East and West has preserved its form through all the 
 vicissitudes of its meaning — the Greek eTr/cr/coTro?, the 
 English hishof 2«. There is this further point to be noted 
 in reference to these names, that they were used not 
 only in private associations, but also in municipalities " : 
 and that they were there applied not only to permanent 
 or quasi-permanent officers, but also to the governing 
 body, or a committee of the governing body, when 
 
 ^' 'Em/icXjjTTjs, which has undoubtedly a large contemporary use in the general 
 sense of ' commissioner ' or ' superintendent,' is used specially of the administra- 
 tive officers of a religious association; in e.g. Corpus Inscr. Graec. No. 119, 120 
 ( = Hicks, Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, Part i. No. 21), 3438, 5892 : 
 and of the ofBcers of the Essenes, Josephus, B. J. 2. 8. 5, 6. It is also used of the 
 officer of a temple, Le Bas et Waddington, Nos. 4596a, 5892 (of the temple of 
 the colony of Gazaeans at Portus Trajani) : and of the financial officer of the 
 mysteries at Audania in Messenia, Le Bas, Voyage Archeologique, vol. ii. ed. 
 Foucart, No. 326 a. 
 
 ^' 'EmV/coTios is used of the financial officer of an association in the Theran in- 
 scription published by Wescher, Bevue Archeologique, 1866, vol. 13, p. 246 
 a.[Trode']^afihos Tav kirayyekiav rh ix\\v d.p\yvpLov l^^aveTaaL rbs kTnUK6\_-nos] Aioji/a Kai 
 MeXeiTTTToj/. * It is resolved that the kmOKo-noL Dion and Meleippus shall accept the 
 offer and invest the money.' It is used of the financial ofiicers of a temple in 
 several inscriptions which have been found in the Haur4n, e. g. in that which was 
 first printed by Mr. Porter in the Transactions of the Boyal Society of Literature, 
 2nd Ser. vol. v. p. 248, and afterwards by Wetzstein in the Abhandlungen der 
 Berlin. Alcademie, 1863, No. 47, and Le Bag et Waddington, No. 1990 (the in- 
 scription belongs to Christian times, but its Pagan character is shown by the 
 preliminary formula 'AyaBfj Tvx^). 
 
 ^^ ^EirifieXrjTfjs is used of a municipal officer, e. g. at Sparta (in the time of 
 Hadrian), Corpus Inscr. Graec. No. 1241, at Amyclae, Hid. No. 1338, at Coronea, 
 No. 1258 : emaKOTTOs at Erythrae, ibid. No. 73 ; Kirchhoff, Corpus Inscr. Att. vol. i. 
 No. 10. The former was the title of the special ofiicer who was sent by the 
 Spartans to subject states, the latter that of the officer so sent by the Athenians : 
 of. Boeckh, CI. (?., vol. i. p. 611 b. ; Hicks, Greelc Inscriptions in the British 
 Museum, Part i. No. 3, 
 
jS Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 entrusted with the administration of funds for any 
 special purpose. The ^ov\evTa\ of a city or a division, 
 or a committee of them, were for the time being, in 
 relation to such administration, e-Trifj.e'KtjTa'i or e-n-la-KoiroL ^^. 
 Now in the Christian communities there appears to 
 have been from very early times a body of oiBcers : 
 it must be inferred from the identity of the names 
 which were employed that those officers were in relation 
 to the Christian communities what the senate was in 
 relation to a municipality, and what the committee was 
 in reference to an association. They were known collec- 
 tively by a name which is common in both relations — ■ 
 that of ordo ^^ : they were known individually as well 
 as collectively by a name which was common to the 
 members of the Jewish a-weSpia and to the members 
 of the Greek yepovmai of Asia Minor — that of Trpea-- 
 jSurepoi 3" : they were also known — for I shall here 
 assume what the weight of evidence has rendered 
 practically indisputable — by the name eirla-Koiroi ^^. In 
 
 "' E.g. Le Bas et Waddington, No. 2309, 2310, at Soada in Batanea emtrm- 
 iroivrmv 0ov\evTSiv (pvXrjs BiraiTjvav ' the councillors of the tribe of the Bitaeeni 
 acting as eiriffKo-noi' : ihvl. No. 2412 e = Wetzstein, No. 184, at Kanata in the 
 Hauran, i-niaicoiTovvTos liovXivTov 'the councillor acting as eniaaoTros' : similarly 
 ihid. No. 2072 at PhUippopolis in Batanea iirijiO^ovnivaiv . . . HovXevrSiv, 'the 
 councillors acting as Im/jeXTjTai.' (A third word of equivalent meaning is some- 
 times found, irpoi'oTjTijs, e.g. ibid. No. 2413 c = Wetzstein, No. 177, at Agrabain the 
 HaurSn: ibid. No. i984(Z = Wetzstein No. 53, at Ayoun.) 
 
 ^° Ordo is of frequent occurrence in inscriptions: (i) for a municipal senate, e. g. 
 Momniseu, Inscr. Eeffn. Neap. No. 1115 ; Corpus Inscr. Lat. vol. ii. No. 1956: (2) 
 for the committee of an association, e.g. Orelli, No. 2417, 4io4 = Wilmanns, Nos. 
 320, 1743. In relation to the Christian communities it is sometimes used by itself 
 in contrast, as in the Latin collegia, with pk-bs, i. e. the mass of ordinary members, 
 Tertull. Be Exhort. Castit. 0. 7, sometimes with a defining epithet 'ordo ecclesiaa- 
 ticus,' id. De Mrmog. c. 11. 
 
 ™ See below, Lecture III, Note 25. 
 
 " For a clear summary of the evidence on this point see Bishop Lightfoot, 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons, 39 
 
 their general capacity as a governing body they were 
 known by names which were in current use for a 
 governing body : in their special capacity as adminis- 
 trators of Church funds they were known by a name 
 which was in current use for such administrators. 
 
 I propose in a future lecture to enter into the 
 question of the causes which led to that great change 
 in Christian organization by which the functions of 
 this original plurality of probably coordinate officers 
 came practically to pass into the hands of a single 
 officer. I propose now to suggest reasons for the fact 
 that this single officer came in time to monopolize 
 the name which had hitherto been shared by the 
 members of the governing body in common, and which 
 had reference to financial and administrative functions 
 rather than to his position as president : in other 
 words, to answer the question, why was the single 
 head of the Christian communities called, at first com- 
 monly and at last exclusively, by the name hishop ? 
 
 The key to the answer to this question seems to 
 be furnished by the fact, which we learn first from 
 Justin Martyr, that the offerings of Christians were 
 made, not privately but publicly, and not directly to 
 those who had need, but to the presiding officer in the 
 general assembly ^^. The presiding officer who received 
 
 St. Paul's Epistle to the PMUppians, ed. 3, pp. 93 sqq., and Gebhardt and Har- 
 naoli s note to i Clem. Rom. i. 3, in their Patriim Apostolicormn Opera, ed. alt. 
 faso. I. p. 5. The admissions of both mediaeval and modern writers of almost all 
 schools of theological opinion have practically removed this from this list of disputed 
 questions. 
 
 ^' The offerings were of two kinds, but both were made to the presiding; officer, 
 and both solemnly dedicated, i . The offerings which were made by those who 
 
40 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 them solemnly dedicated tliem to God, and uttered 
 OA^er tliem, in the name of the assembly, words of 
 thanksgiving and benediction. Part of them were at 
 once distributed among those who were present, part 
 of them were reserved for distribution afterwards, 
 whether to the Church officers or to the poor. In 
 a significant and graphic phrase some of the sub- 
 apostolic writers call the widows and orphans and 
 poor of the Christian communities a Qvo-iacrTTjpiov — an 
 altar of sacrifice ^^ They were in the new economy 
 what the great altar of the Temple Court had been 
 in the older economy. Just as the new Temple of 
 God was the temple of the regenerate soul, so the 
 new altar of God was the altar of human need. That 
 
 were present at the eucharistic service, some of which were consumed at the time, 
 others carried home, others taken to those who were absent, and others sent in 
 token of goodwill to foreign churches (S. Justia M. Apol. i. 65. 67; S. Iren. ap. 
 Euseb. H. E. 5. 24. 17, cf. Vales, ad loo.; Tertull. Apol. 30, ad Uxor. 2. 5, de 
 Orat. 19; S. Cyprian, De Lapsis, 26, p. 256; Cone. Laod. c. 14). At first these 
 offerings seem to have been of various kinds : but afterwards a rule was made 
 limiting them to bread and vnne, or corn and grapes {Can.. Apost. 3) ; and, still 
 later, those which were not consumed at the time were divided in fixed proportions 
 among the clergy (Const. Apost. 8. 30). The practice of making them personally to 
 the president or bishop lingered longer in the West than in the East as is shown 
 by the earliest form of the Oido Bomanus (printed in Hittorp, De diviiiis Catholicae 
 Ecclesiae Offieiis, Cologne, 1568, p. 17 ; Mabillon, Mus. Ital. vol. ii. p. 10, cf. ihid. 
 Comm. Praev. pp. xliv-xlvii., and for the probable date, Merkel in the Theolo- 
 gische QuaHalschHft, 1862, vol. xliv. p. 59), in which the bishop goes round the 
 church to receive the offerings, followed by acolytes with a linen sheet for carrying 
 the collected loaves, and by a deacon with a bowl, into which the flasks of wine 
 were emptied. 2. The freewill offerings for the clergy and the poor were, first as 
 a matter of practice (S. Justin. M. A2wl. i. 67), and afterwards as a matter of rule, 
 (Const. Apost. 2. 25), made not directly to the intended recipients but to the bisliop, 
 and by him solemnly offered to God (ihid. 2. 25. 34 ; cf. Cone. Gaucjr. c. 7, 8, which 
 anathematizes any one who makes his offerings to any one but the bishop or his 
 commissary). 
 
 ^^ S. Polycarp, ad Phil. 4 ; Const. Apost. 2. 26; 4. 3 ; pseudo-Ignat. ad Tars. 
 9; cf. Tertull. ad Uxor. i. 7. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 41 
 
 which was giTOn to ' the least of the little ones ' was 
 given also to God. 
 
 When the president became a single permanent 
 officer he was, as before, the person into whose hands 
 the offerings were committed and who was primarily 
 responsible for their distribution. He thus became 
 the centre round whom the vast system of Christian 
 charity revolved. His functions as supreme almoner 
 tended to overshadow his functions as president of the 
 council. The names which were relative to his func- 
 tions as president, though they never completely passed 
 away, fell gradually into disuse. The title which 
 clung to him was that which was relative to his 
 administration of the funds, 67rio-/co7ro? or bishop. In 
 the same way his functions were chiefly known by 
 names which were relative to his administration — 
 oiKovofjLta, StaKovla 3*. They were the analogue in the 
 Church of the administrative services which citizens 
 rendered to the State, and were called by the same 
 name, XeiTovpyla ^^. And sometimes by a metaphor 
 which almost startles us by its boldness the bishop is 
 compared to Cod — the Supreme Administrator, 6 irdvTwv 
 €Trl(TKOTro9, who gives to every man severally as he has 
 need ^^ 
 
 '* OlKovo/xia is used of a bishop's administration, e. g. Euseb. S. £. 4. 4 ; 5io- 
 Kovia, S. Ignat. ad Philad. i,Epist. Eceles. Yienn. el Lugd. ap. Euseb., H. £.5.1. 
 29. 
 
 == AiiTovpjia of a bishop's administration, e.g. Euseb. H. E. 3. 22 ; 5. 28. 7 ; 6. 
 II. I; 6. 29. I. It was the common word for public duties; e.g. for the duty 
 which at Rhodes the citizens discharged at their own cost, rather than at the cost 
 of the state, of providing for the needy poor, Strab. 2. 14. 5. 
 
 '° S. Ignat. ad Magnes. 3; cf. Philo. i. 449, 454, 457, Trartpa tZv o\aiv Kal 
 kniaKOTOv, and the frequent stoical phrased SwikSiv rd oAa, e.g. Epict. Diss. I. 12. 
 7 ; 2. 16. 33. M. Anton. 6. 42 ; 10. 25. 
 
42 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 If we look at the internal economy of the Christian 
 communities during the earlier centuries of their 
 existence, we shall see that the functions of an ad- 
 ministrator were so various in kind and so considerable 
 in amount as to be not inadequate to account for the 
 importance whicli was attached to them, and that, as 
 years went on that importance rather increased than 
 diminished. 
 
 The Christian communities grew up, as we have 
 seen, in the midst of poverty. They had a special 
 message to the poor, and the poor naturally flowed 
 into them. And the poverty in the midst of which 
 they grew was intensified by the conditions of their 
 existence. Some of their members were outcasts from 
 their homes : others had been compelled by the stern 
 rules of Christian disciphne to abandon employments 
 which that discipline forbad ^^. In times of persecution 
 the confessors in prison had to be fed : those whose 
 property had been confiscated had to be supported : 
 those who had been sold into captivity had to be 
 ransomed ^l Above all there were the widows and 
 orphans ^^ In such times as those which we are con- 
 
 '' Cyprian, Epist. 2. (6i) p. 467, ed. Hartel, saya that an actor who has been 
 forced to abandon his profession is to be placed * inter ceteros qui ecclesiae alimen- 
 tis sustinentur." 
 
 ^' I Clem. Eom. 55. 1; Herm. Mand. 8. 10, Sim. i. 8; Dionys. Corinth, ap. 
 Euseb. H. E. 4. 23. 10 ; Clement. Epist. ad Jacob. 9 ; TertuU. ad Alartyr. i ; 
 S. Cyprian, Epist. 7 (36), p. 485, 62 (60), 0. 4, p. 700. Const, Apost. 4. 9. 5. i. 
 Luci.an, De Morte PeregrJni, 12, caricatures the practice : cf. Libanius, Oral. 16 in 
 Tisam. Oral, de Vinotis, ii. 258, 445. So much stress was laid upon it that 
 Ambrose (De Offic. 2. 28) defended, and Justinian (Cod. i. 2. 22) legalized, the 
 sale of the eucharistic vessels in order to obtain the necessary funds. 
 
 '" Herm. Mand. 8. 10, Sim. 1, 8 : 5. 3 : 9. 26, 27 ; S. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 6, ad 
 I'ohjr. 4 ,■ S, Polycarp. ad riiilipp. 4 ; S. Justin M. Apol. i. 6'j ; Clement. Epist. 
 ad Jacob, 8; TertuU. ad Uxor. 1.8; S. Cyprian, Ejiist. 7 (36), p. 485; Const. Apost. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 43 
 
 sidering the poverty of widows and orphans is ne- 
 cessarily great, because men have in their hfetime 
 a less than ordinary chance of saving, and after their 
 death their children have a less than ordinary chance 
 of success in the social struggle. But in this respect 
 again the Christian communities tended to intensify 
 the evils which they cured. In the ordinary coiu-se 
 of society orphan girls would have married, and many 
 widows would have found for themselves a second home. 
 But there grew up in the Christian communities a 
 tendency, which many of the great preachers fostered, 
 towards perpetual virginity and perpetual widowhood. 
 To marry was indeed not a sin, but it was a confession 
 of weakness : to marry a second time was almost to 
 lajose from grace *". The numbers of virgins and widows 
 for whom the Church had to provide consequently 
 multiplied in an increasing ratio *\ In addition to these 
 were the strangers who passed in a constant stream 
 through the cities of all the great routes of commerce 
 in both East and West. Every one of those strangers 
 who bore the Christian name had therein a claim 
 
 frequently, e.g. 2. 26 : 3, 4, 6, 7, 14 : 4' 2, 3, 8 ; 8. 29. The claims of women to 
 special provision had been acknowledged by non -Christian communities: e.g. Le 
 Bas et Waddington, Nos. 226, 227, 22S = Corpus Insci: Graec. Nos. 2886, 2883c, 
 2885 d, are inscriptions in honour of those who had made distributions rais ix vaol 
 ywai^l Kat rats napd^vots. 
 
 ^ A.thenag. Deprec. 28 6 SfvTfpo^ [y&fxos] eiiirpeTr-qs effrt pLoixeia : so in eifuct 
 Origen, Horn. xvii. in Luc. Tom. iii. p. 953 ed. De la Eue. 
 
 " In addition to providing for widows who were in need, the Church officers 
 had frequently to take charge of the property of those who had it (e.g. S. Ambros. 
 De officiis Ministr. ii. 29 ; cf. 2 Mace. 3. 10, which shows that Jewish widows had 
 been in the habit of taking their money to the Temple), or to defend them in the 
 civil courts (e.g. Cone. Sardic. c. 1). The civil and the canon law combine<l 
 to make the functions which grew out of this an important part of a bishop's duties 
 in later times. 
 
44 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 to hospitality. For Christianity was, and grew because 
 it was, a great fraternity. The name 'brother,' by 
 which a Jew addressed his fellow-Jew, came to be 
 the ordinary designation by which a Christian ad- 
 dressed his fellow-Christian ^^ It vividly expressed a 
 real fact. For driven from city to city by persecution, 
 or wandering from country to country an outcast or 
 a refugee, a Christian found, wherever he went, in the 
 community of his fellow- Christians a welcome and 
 hospitality. The practice of hospitality was enjoined 
 as the common virtue of all Christians : in the New 
 Testament itself stress is laid upon it by St. Paul, 
 St. Peter, and St. John *^. But it was a special virtue 
 of the eTTia-KOTTo?. It was for him not so much a 
 merit as a duty**. Travelling brethren, no less than 
 the poor of his own community, were entitled to a 
 
 ^^ ' Brother/ of one Jew in relation to another, frequently in the Old Testament; 
 e.g. Deut. 15. 12: 17. 15; of. Philo, ii. 285, dSeXf^v tov ofxofjwKov e?7rei/, and Clem. 
 Alex. Strom. 2. 18, p. 473, ed. Pott.: bo also in the New Testament, e.g. S. Matth. 
 5. 47 : 18. 15. For its use of Christians, see e.g. S. Justin M. Apol. 1.65; TertuU. 
 Aiiol. 30, Iren. 2-31. 2; Clem. Alex. Strom. 2-9, p. 450 : of Lucian, De Morte 
 Verrijrini. 13. The word was also iised of the fellow-members of non-Christian as- 
 sociations, e.g. Corpus Tiiscr. Lat. vol. iii. No. 2509. (But after the Arian contro- 
 versy it was superseded in general use by the word ' fidelis,' which, according to 
 Mone, LaU'inuche u. Griechische Messen, p. 89, is invariable in St. Augustine.) 
 
 ^ Rom. 12. 13, ' given to hospitality' : Heb. 13. 2, 'Be not forgetful to entertain 
 strangers': I Pet. 4. 9, 'Use hospitality one to another without grudging:' 3 John 
 5-7, commends Gains for his charity to strangers which went forth for His name's 
 sake, ' taking nothing of the Gentiles.' It was a special qualification of a widow, 
 'if she have lodged strangers,' i Tim. 5. 10. So in sub-ApostoUc literature: 
 Clement of Rome, i.e. 2, speaks of the splendid hospitality of the Corinthians, and 
 holds up before them, c. 10-12, for their encouragement the examples of the hospi- 
 tality of the patriarchs. 
 
 " I Tim. 3. 2 : Titus 1.8: ef. the description of a good bishop in Herm. Sim, 
 9. 27 : so e.g. S. August. Serm. 355 {I)e Dicers. 49), Opp. ed. Migue, voh v. 1570, 
 ' vidi necesse esse habere episcopum exhibere humanitatem quiscunque venientibus 
 sive transeuntibus.' 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 45 
 
 share in his distribution of the Church funds *^ It is 
 natural to find that such a system was abused. The 
 common weaknesses of human nature asserted them- 
 selves. Even in Apostolic days there were ' false 
 brethren : ' and later on the Apostolical Canons say in 
 reference to the practice that ' many things are done 
 in a spirit of plunder*".' But the abuses increased 
 the responsibility and the importance of the bishop. 
 A rule was adopted that although the bodily necessities 
 of travellers might continue to be relieved, no one 
 should be admitted to hospitality, in the fuller sense 
 of earlier times, without a certificate of membership 
 from his own community *''. The officer who gave this 
 certificate was the eV/cr/coTro? — who in all probability 
 also kept the roll : and his responsibility in relation 
 to it became greater when in course of time it became 
 necessary to draw sharper lines of definition round the 
 circle of admissible beliefs. 
 
 In addition to the poor, the widows and orphans, and 
 the travelling brethren, there was the care of such of the 
 church officers as, not having means of their own, were 
 
 '' Can. Apost. 41. Conversely, when one church differed with another, its 
 bishop refused to admit the travelling members of that church to communion, and 
 if the difference were considerable he denied them even * board and lodging' ('tec- 
 tum et hospitium,') as in the case of the difference between the Afi'ican churches 
 and Stephen of Rome, Epist. Firmil. ap. S. Cyprian, Op. Epist. 75. 25, p. 826. 
 
 *^ Gal. 2. 4; Can. Apost. 33 ttoXXcl yap KaTci avvap-nay-^v yivcTai. 
 
 " The system of giving such letters, which seems to have also prevailed in the 
 philosophical Schools, Epict. Diss. 2. 3. i ; Diog. Laert. 8. 87, dates from Apostolic 
 times ; Acts 18.27: 2 Cor. 3. i : but it does not seem to have been obligatory earlier 
 than the Council of Antioch, a.d. 341, 0. 'J, afterwards incorporated in Can. Apost. 
 12. 33. The Apostolical Constitutions, 2. 58, require the deacon to question even 
 those who bring commendatory letters as to their soundness in the faith, before 
 assigning them a place in the church, and so admitting them to communion. 
 
46 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 dependent on the Cliurcli ' funds for their subsistence *l 
 The roll of these, as of others, was probably kept by 
 the bishop : and in the great cities the number of those 
 who were entered upon it was large even when mea- 
 sured by a modern standard. We have some indication, 
 though a late one, of those numbers in the regulation 
 of the Emperor Justinian which limited the number of 
 officers for the four great churches of Constantinople 
 to 525, and enacted that if the bishop ordained more he 
 should provide for them at his own expense *^. 
 
 Of this vast system of ecclesiastical administration 
 the eirla-KOTTOi was the pivot and the centre. His func- 
 tions in reference to it were of primary importance. 
 He had no doubt other important functions, of which I 
 propose to speak on a future occasion : he was the 
 depositary of doctrine, and he was the president of 
 the courts of discipline. But the primary character 
 of these functions of administration is shown by the fact 
 that the name which was relative to them thrust out all 
 the other names of his office, and that most of the 
 abstract names for his office are names which directly 
 connote administration. 
 
 There are two other considerations which so strongly 
 confirm this view that I regret that the necessary limits 
 of a lecture prevent me from doing more than indicating 
 them. 
 
 I. In the first place, there is the argument from the 
 abuses of the office. Just as in the science of physiology 
 
 " E.g. S. Cypr. Ejrlst. 41 (108), p. 588; Can. Apost. 4, Const. Apost. 2. 28. 
 
 ■" Justin. Nordl. 3 0. i, 2 : the numbers were to be sixty presbyters, a hundred 
 deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety sub-deacons, a hundred and ten readers, twenty- 
 four singers, a hundred doorlieepers. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 47 
 
 the nature of the functions of an organ is often shown 
 by its lesions, so the nature of the functions of an 
 office is often shown by its abuses. But the larger 
 proportion of all the abuses of the episcopal office which 
 are provided against in both civU and canon law are 
 relative to the administration of the Church funds ^^. 
 
 2. In the second place, there is the argument from 
 current conceptions of the nature of the office. No 
 small part of the eulogies upon bishops, whether by 
 contemporary writers, or by their biographers, or upon 
 their epitaphs, are relative to their care of the distressed, 
 and to their protectorate of the widow and orphan ''^ 
 
 ^^ The offerings were in early times at the free disposal of the church officers : 
 and scandals appear very early, e. g. in the case of the presbyter Valens, at 
 Philippi (Polycarp, ad Phil. 1 1), and of tlie deacons mentioned by Hermas (Sim. g. 
 26) : cf. Origen, Horn. i6 in Matth. c. 22, vol. iii. p. 752. In the fourth century, when 
 administration had come to be centred in the bishops, the Apostolical Constitutions 
 remind them that though there is no human checli, they are responsible to God, 
 {Const. Apost. 2. 24): the Council of Antioch, c. 25, the Apostolical Canons, 0. 38- 
 41, the African Code, c. 33, the code known as ' Statuta Ecclesiae Autiqua' ( = 4 
 Cone. Garth.) c. 31, 32, all find it necessary to remind the bishop that he is a 
 trustee for the poor, and that he is not at liberty to enrich himself or his family 
 out of the church funds. In time two checks were devised : (i) the bishop was 
 compelled to appoint a steward (olKovi^o^), Gone. Chalc. c. 26, so that the admin- 
 istration of the funds should not be without a witness, and the property of the 
 church be scattered : (2) the offerings were divided in the West according 
 to a recognized scale, which, however, varied in different churches and at dif- 
 ferent times; Cone. Aurel. A.D. 511, c. 14, 15; 3 Gone. Brae. a.d. 563, c. 7 ; S. 
 Greg. M. Epist. 4. 12 ; 12. 31 ; Cone. Emerit. a.u. 666, c. 14 ; ps.-Gelas. Epist. ad 
 Episc. Lucan. c. 27, ap. Hinscliius, Decrefales pseiido-Isidorianae, p. 650, which 
 embodied the ultimate rule of the canon law. In the civil law, the chief enact- 
 ments are those of Justinian, Cod. i. 2. 14 ; i. 3. 4 ; 2. 8. 7, and especially Novell. 3. 
 69, which requires that none but childless persons shall be appointed, to prevent 
 the alienation of church property in favour of a bishop's children. 
 
 '^ In lives of bishops, e.g. S. Pontii Vita S. Cyprian, c. 6; Hymnus in Naiale 
 S. Zenon., Op. ed. Ballerini, p. cxoiv ; S. Paulin. Vita S. Amhro3,c. 30; Possid. 
 Vita S. Augustin, c. 23: Uranii Epist. de dbitii S. Paulin. Nolan, c. 6, 7 I te- 
 nant. Fortun. Vit. S. German. Paris, c. 74; Joann. Diac. Vita S. Grrg. M., ii. 55, 
 57 ; Pauli Emerit. Be Vita patrum Emerit, c. 8 (ap. Migne, Patr. Lat., vol. Ixxx. 
 135) ; Anon. Vita S. Decider. Cadurc. c. 9 (ap. Migne, vol. Ixxxvii. 227) ; Anon. 
 
48 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 They are summed up in the emphatic declaration of 
 St. Jerome : ' The glory of a bishop is to relieve the 
 poverty of the poor ^-.' 
 
 There was probably a time in the history of the 
 Christian Church at which these functions of admin- 
 istration were the functions of a single class of ofScers. 
 The conception of the nature of Church office which is 
 found in the New Testament divides itself into two 
 jDarts— that of presidency and that of ministry. But 
 the two parts are not yet divided : the favourite terms 
 by which St. Paul designates himself and his work 
 are those of ' mmister ' and ' ministry ^^.' But very soon 
 a division of labour became imperative. Early in the 
 history of the community at Jerusalem ' seven men of 
 honest report' were aj^pointed to relieve the Apostles 
 of the ' business ' of serving tables. No title is given 
 
 Vita S. Elig., ii. 25 (ap. Dachery, Spicileriiam, vol. ii. 113), where the people are 
 represented as crying out at his funeral ' O Eligi, dulcedo tu pauperum, fortitudo 
 debilium, tu protector et impar egentium consolator : quis post te eleemosynam 
 sicut tu dabit largam : vel quis nostri erit protector sicut tu, bone pastor ?' On 
 epitaphs, e.g. ap. De Rossi, J^ullfdlno di Arch. Christiana, 1864, p. 55 'Haec mihi 
 cura fuit nudos vestire petentes, Fundere pauperibus quidquid concesserat annus ; ' 
 S. Tetricus of Dijon, ap. Le Blant, Inscriptions Chretienncs de la Gaule, No. 3, 
 ' Esca inopum, tutor viduarum, cura minorum, Omnibus ofEciis omnia pastor eras : ' 
 a bishop of Gaeta, circ. a.d. 529, ap. Mommsen, Inscr. Regni Neapolitaiii, No. 
 4138, ' Hospitibus gratus se ipsum donavit egenis, lUosque eloquio hos satiavit 
 ope.' 
 
 5^ S. Hieron. Epist. 52 (2) ad Nepot. c. 6. vol. i. p. 261, ed. Vail. A third con- 
 sideration may probably be added to the above, viz. that the Gnostics seem to have 
 had no organized system of philanthropy, and, as a corollary of this, they, witli the 
 exception of the Marcionites, had neither bishops nor deacons : cf. (Munter) V&r- 
 such lifter die Icirchl. AUerthumer der Gnostilter, p. 1 2 ; nor did they recognize the 
 Pastoral Epistles, S. Hieron. Prol. in Comm. in Mp. ad Titum, Opp. vol. vii. 685, 
 ed. Vail. The contrast between orthodox and heterodox teachers in this respect is 
 probably made first by S. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 6. 2. 
 
 =' Sid/coroj, tiaKovia, Rom. xi. 13 ; 1 Cor. iii. 5 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; iv. I ; vi. 3, 4 ; xi. 
 8, 23; Ephes. iii. 7 ; Col. i. 23, 25. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 49 
 
 to these men : their work, like the work of Matthias, 
 or the work of Archippus, is spoken of as a ' ministry:' 
 but they themselves are only ' the seven ^*.' But they 
 served as the prototype of a class of officers who were 
 soon forced into existence, and who have since been 
 permanent in the Christian Churches. Before the 
 Apostolic age had passed we find not one class of 
 officers but two. The one was that of those of whom 
 I have spoken — the k-KLUKoiroi : the other was that of 
 the ministers — or SiaKovot. The two classes are in 
 close relation : they are for the most part spoken of 
 together : they are so much alike that in the Pas- 
 toral Epistles the qualifications of the one are difficult 
 to distinguish from the qualifications of the other. 
 
 If we pass from the Apostolic age to that which 
 succeeded it, the nature of the division of labour 
 between these two classes of officers becomes clearly 
 defined. 
 
 The landmarks amid a sea of floating evidence are 
 Justin Martyr and Polycarp in the middle of the second 
 century, and the Clementines at the beginnmg of the 
 third. 
 
 I. In the general meetings of the community, as 
 they are described by Justin Martyr, the offerings 
 were received and blessed by one officer, but they 
 were distributed among the people by others ^'^. The 
 name which those who distributed bore (Smkovoi) was 
 
 ^* Acts vi. 3, 'seven men of honest report,' ih. 21. 8, 'one of the seven:' Siauovia 
 is used of 'the daily ministration;' ib. vi. i, and of 'the ministry of the word:' 
 ih. vi. 4, cf. SiaKovitv rpane^ais, ' to serve tables,' ih. 6. 2 : it is also used, with 
 dTo(TTo\Ti, of the oflioe of Matthias, ib. 2. 25, and of Archippus, Col. 4. 17. 
 
 == Justin M. Apol. i. 55, 57. 
 
 E 
 
50 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 not only a common name for those who served at table, 
 but seems to have been specially applied to those 
 who at a rehgious festival distributed the meat of the 
 sacrifice among the festival company «». In this respect 
 the deacons held a place which they have never lost : 
 in all Churches which have been conservative of ritual, 
 those who assist the presiding officer at the Eucharist 
 are known — whatever be their actual status, archbishop, 
 bishop, or presbyter — as deacon and subdeacon. 
 
 2. Outside the general meetings, as we gather from 
 clear statements of the Clementines, the division of 
 labour was closely analogous. The alms for the relief 
 of those who were in distress were in the hands of the 
 bishop : but the officers who actually sought them out 
 and relieved their necessities were the deacons ^''. 
 
 3. But both the Clementines and the letter of Poly- 
 carp show, what must also be inferred from the Pastoral 
 Epistles, that the deacons shared with the bishop and 
 his councU the duties not only of administration but of 
 discipline. Of the nature of that discipline something 
 will be said in the succeeding Lecture : the relation of 
 the deacons to it was analogous to their relation to ad- 
 ministration : in the latter sphere of action the bishop 
 was in the position of a chairman and treasurer, the 
 deacons in that of outdoor relieving officers : in the 
 former the bishop and his council were in the position 
 
 ^ An inscription at Anactorium (Corpus Inscr. Gmec, No. 1793 &• add.} gives a 
 list of the officers of the festival : they are the Upodvrrjs, who sacrificed the victims, 
 the /iiyfipos, who cooked or carried the portions that were to be eaten, the SiAkovos, 
 who distributed the flesh, the dpxtotv6xoos, who distributed the wine. Deacons and 
 deaconesses are also found as ofBcers of a temple at Metropolis, in Lydia, 0. /. 6., 
 No. 3037. 
 
 " Clement, Epist. ad Jaco'i. 5, Horn. 3. 67 ; cf. Const. Apnst. 3. 19. 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 51 
 
 of superintendents and judges, the deacons in that of 
 officers of enquiry ^^. 
 
 Between these two classes of officers the relation waa 
 necessarily one of subordination : though the subordina- 
 tion was by no means so great as it afterwards became ^'^. 
 The status of the deacons came to be affected by two 
 circumstances : in the first place, when the analogy 
 between the Christian ministry and the Mosaic priest- 
 hood asserted itself, the deacons were regarded as 
 corresponding to the Levites, and as being thereby 
 subordinate to presbyters, in the same way as Levites 
 
 ^^ S. Polycarp. ad Philipp. 5, ofxoicos Stii/iovot dfj.€fMiTTOi KaTcvwiriov ainov rrj^ 
 SifcaioavvTjs, djs 0eoC tcai XpicrTou Si&Kovot Kal ova dv6pajirajv' /^^ Sidl3o\ot, fxi^ diKoyoiy 
 a(piX6,pyvpoi, ey/cpaTels trfpl iravra, iiKXirXayxyoi, ^mf^eXfh, •nopiv6fiiVOi KarcL rr)V 
 a\fj9etav rov Kvpiov bs €yiv€To SLdicovos iravTuv. These characteristics, which 
 closely resemble those given in 1 Tim. 3. S-12, clearly imply disciplinary duties : 
 the deacons are to be * blameless,' in order that they may be themselves, like the 
 bishops, free from the faults vphich they are to note in others ; they are to be ' not 
 slanderers, nor double-tongued,' because they stood in the relation of accusers. 
 Their functions in this respect are clearly stated in the Clementines, E-pist. ad 
 Jacob. 12 : they are to be the bishop's 'eyes,' reporting to him any one who seems 
 to be in danger of sinning, ' in order that being admonished by the president he 
 may perhaps not accomplish hia sin' : ibid. Som. 3. 67, they are to go about 
 among the brethren and report to the bishop about the souls as well as the bodies 
 of the brethren. Similarly in the Apostolical Constitutions, e.g. 3. 19, 'you 
 deacons ought to keep watch over aU who require watching, and also in the case 
 of those who are in distress, and to report to your bishop': the lighter cases the 
 deacon might, on the deputation of the bishop, decide by himself, ibid. 2. 44. 
 The existence of disciplinary powers on the part of the deacons is also clearly im- 
 plied in S. Cyprian, Epist. 14 (5), p. 512, ed. Hartel, i6 (9), p. 520 ; 17 (11), p. 
 522: they might in certain cases readmit penitents, ibid. 18 (12)^ p. 524. There 
 is the same combination of functions in the Damasine inscription on a Roman 
 archdeacon, ' primus levitarum,' which has recently been brought to light again by 
 De Rossi {Roma Sotteranea, vol. iii. p. 242) : 
 
 'Non ilium sublimis honor non extulit ordo 
 
 Edomuit rigidos plus pietate magis, 
 Justiciae cultor, vitae servator honestae, 
 Pauperibus dives, sed sibi pauper erat.' 
 
 '^' The Apostolical Constitutions, 2. 30, compare the relation to that which 
 existed between Moses and Aaron. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 Bishops and Deacons. [lect. 
 
 had been to priests : in the second place, the increase 
 of the scale upon which the Christian Churches existed, 
 and the increase, which was in a still greater pro- 
 portion, of the number of those for whom the Christian 
 Churches undertook to provide, brought about a change, 
 which has since become permanent, in the mode of re- 
 lieving the distressed. In primitive times every case 
 of poverty or suffering had been separately known to 
 the bishop, and personally relieved by the deacon ; in 
 later times grew up the system of institutions. The 
 sick Christian, at least in the great cities, was no 
 longer visited by the deacon bringing him from the, 
 church his share in the church offerings : the whole 
 body of the sick poor were gathered together into 
 hospitals : orphans were gathered into orphan-homes : 
 infants hito infant-asylums ; the aged into almshouses : 
 the poor into poor-houses : and strangers into guest- 
 houses •*". Each of these institutions was managed by 
 its appropriate officers "^ . The deacons do not appear to 
 
 ^ No(rotfo/iera are mentioned in Pallad., Yit. S. CTiry&o&t., c. 5, Justin. Cod. i. 2. 
 15 : first established in the West by Fabiola according to S. Hieron. Epist. 77 (30) 
 ad Ocean, vol. i. 461, ed. Vail. : 6p<pavoTpo<p(ia, Cod. Justin. Cod., i. 2. 19 ; Novell, 
 7. i: Leo, Novell. 84: 0p«t>oTpo<pem, Justin. Cod. 1. 2. 19, 22 ; Novell. 7. i; yepov- 
 ToKofiita, Justin. Cod. i. 2. 19: NovtU. 7. i; TTToj^oTpotpHa, TTTux^ta, S. Basil. 
 Epist. 142 (,^74), 0. 8, p. 235 ; S. Greg. Naz., Epist. 211, vol. 11, p 176, ed. Ben. ; 
 Sozom. //. E. 4. 20; Cone. Chalo. 0. 8 ; Justin. Cod. i. 2. 15, i. 2. 19, i. 2. 33, 5 7 ; 
 (evoSoxfia S. Chrys. Som. 45 in Act. Apoxt. c. 4: Op. ed. Migne, vol. ix. 319; 
 Epiph. Haeres. 75, p. 905 ; Justin. Cod. i. 2. 15, 19, 22, 33 ; Novell. 59. 3 ; 131. 
 10 ; Theodoret. S. E. 5. 19 ; S. Augustin, Tract. 97 in Joann. c. 4 ; Op. ed. 
 Migne, vol. iii. 1879; S. Hieron. Epist. 66 (26) in Pammach. 0. 11, Op. vol. i. 401. 
 Eor the splendid foundation of Basil, see S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 43 in laudem Basil. M. 
 0. 63, Op. vol. i. 816, Sozom. H. E. 6. 34 ; and for the imitation of the Christian 
 practice by Julian, see his Epist. 49 : Sozom. 5. 16. 
 
 ^^ We find mention of voao/cup-oi, 6ptpavorp6<poi, Pp€(poTp6(poi, yepovroKopLOi. 
 TrTaixoTp6<poi, and ^evoS6xoi in connexion with the several institutions mentioned 
 in the preceding note : some of the.se officers were bishops (Sozom. H. E. 6. 34), 
 
II.] Bishops and Deacons. 53 
 
 have had any special relations to them in the East, 
 nor permanently in the West. Their outdoor work 
 was narrowed ; they gradually lost their ancient 
 share in discipline ; and the main conception of their 
 functions which came to exist was that they were 
 subordinate officers of public worship. But they were 
 still conceived, as they had been conceived in primitive 
 times, to be in a closer relation to bishops than to 
 presbyters : and when, like each of the other grades of 
 officers, they came to form a college, with a president, 
 or arc/i deacon, at its head, that officer was conceived 
 to be, in an especial sense, the bishop's assistant in 
 ecclesiastical administration, and, sometimes, to be next 
 to him in rank. These functions and this status were 
 so important that in time, though probably not until the 
 ninth century, it was found inconvenient to limit them to 
 deacons, and the earlier rule which enacted that an arch- 
 deacon on becoming a presbyter ceased to be an arch- 
 deacon fetl into disuse. But the presbyter-archdeacon 
 of later times has preserved in some important respects 
 the original conception of the deacon's office, and is still, 
 as in primitive days, the bishop's ' eye ' and ' heart.' 
 
 some presbyters (S. Greg. Naz. Epht. 211: it is probable from Pallad. Zausi'ao. c. 
 I, that at Alexandria this was always the case), some monks or laymen (Justin. 
 Cod. I. 3. 33, § 7). There is no trace in the East of any special connexion with 
 the diaconate. In Italy, on the contrary, similar institutions were originally called 
 diaconiae, which are found not only at Rome, but also at Pesaro (S. Greg. Max. 
 Epist. 6- 28, ¥ol. ii. 756), and at Naples {ihid. 10. 21, vol. ii. p. 1054). Mabillon 
 {Mas. Ital. vol. ii. Comm. praev. p. xvii), advances the probable view that at Rome 
 there was one of these dlacoruae in each of the seven ecclesiastical districts, and 
 that it was originally under the charge of the deacon of that district (see infra, 
 Lect. VIII): but it is clear from the Liher Pontijicalis (Fit. Greg. TV, p. 464, 
 Vil, Steph. II, p. 229), that by that time the diaconiae were rather churches than 
 poor-houses : and it also appears from the Ordo Eomaniis I (ap. Mabillon, Mas. 
 Ital. vol. ii. p. 7), that the ' pater diaconiae ' might be not even a clerk. 
 
54 Bishops and Deacons. 
 
 Such, in respect of their primary functions, were the 
 bishops and deacons of the early Churches, and such, 
 in outline, were the relations of the early Churches 
 to the social strain in the midst of which they grew. 
 It is the task rather of the economist than of the 
 historian to enquire how far the Christian Churches 
 themselves increased the evils which they tended to 
 cure, and how far the vast system of organized men- 
 dicity which they fostered was an inevitable result 
 of the conditions of society, or the spurious offspring 
 of a deceived philanthroj)y. This enquiry has not yet 
 been made by scientific investigators. But it may he 
 permitted so far to anticipate their verdict as to advance 
 the assertion that the apparent and admitted evils 
 which were wrought were counterbalanced, even from 
 the economical point of view, by the forces which 
 Christian organization kept in motion. Those forces 
 have been among the strongest conservative forces of 
 society. They have arrested decay. They 'have pre- 
 vented the disintegration, and possibly the disin- 
 tegration by a vast and ruinous convulsion, of the 
 social fabric. Of those forces the primitive bishops 
 and deacons were the channels and the ministers. 
 They shone through the darkness of social distress as 
 lights of solace and of sympathy. They bridged over 
 the widening interval between class and class. They 
 lessened to the individual soul the weight of that awful 
 sadness of which, then as now, to the mass of men, life 
 was the synonym and the sum. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 PRESBYTERS. 
 
 The patriarchal state of society, in which families 
 Kved apart, and the head of the family was its ad- 
 ministrator and judge, was succeeded in many parts of 
 the world hy the communal system, in which the 
 government of an aggregation of families was in the 
 hands of a council of heads of families — the elders of 
 the commune. And just as the patriarchal system 
 survived through many modifications of social circum- 
 stances, as an underlying theory of domestic govern- 
 ment which has not wholly passed away even from 
 modern society, so the communal system survived 
 through many varieties of political organization as a 
 system of local administration. 
 
 It is found, for example, on the banks of the Nile : 
 long after Egypt had been so far Hellenized that 
 official documents were drawn up in Greek, we find 
 from an extant papyrus that the presence of the elder 
 of a village is necessary to the validity of an adminis- 
 trative act^. It is found also in Palestine, and its 
 
 ' Leemans, Papyri Graeci Mus. Ant. ptM, Lugduni-Batavi, Leyden 1843, p. 3: 
 Corpus Inscr. Graec. vol. iii. p. 294: possibly the same officers may be intended in 
 the Theban inscription, C. I. G. No. 4717. 
 
56 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 presence there liad so important a bearing upon the 
 early organization of the Christian Churches as to 
 render some account of it a necessary preliminary to 
 the further consideration of that organization. 
 
 It is recognized both in the Mosaic legislation and 
 throughout the Old Testament history. It is the elders 
 of a city who are to deliver up a wilful murderer to the 
 avenger of blood : and it is into their ears that an un- 
 witting homicide is to declare his cause ^. It was the 
 elders of the city \\\iO thrust out Jephthah as the son 
 of a strange woman from his father's house ^. It was 
 before the elders of the city sitting in the city gate 
 that the kinsman refused, and Boaz took, the redemp- 
 tion of Elimelech's inheritance *. It was to the elders of 
 Jezreel that Jezebel wrote and procured the condemna- 
 tion of Naboth for blasphemy ^. It was also to the 
 elders of Jezreel that Jehu wrote to cause the slaying 
 of Ahab's sons^. The elders of those early times were 
 probably like the sheykhs who have continued to the 
 present day both among the Bedouins of the desert and 
 in the settled villages of the Arabian peninsula. Their 
 tenure of office rested rather upon general consent than 
 upon formal appointment, and the limits of their 
 authority were but loosely defined. But in the interval 
 between the close of tiie Old Testament and the be- 
 ginning of the New, a more definite form seems to have 
 been given to this primitive institution. It may be 
 gathered from the Talmud that out of the elders or 
 chief men of every community a certain number had 
 
 ^ Deut. 19. 12; Jos. 20. 4. ^ Judges 11. 5, 7. 
 
 ' Ruth 4. 2, '•'I Kings 21. 8. ' 2 Kings 10. i. 
 
III.] Presbyters. 5 7 
 
 come to be officially recognized, and that definite rules 
 were laid down for their action. Side by side with the 
 synagogue of a town, but distinct from it, was the 
 cTui'sSpiov or local court. The former was the general 
 assembly or ' congregation ' of the people : the latter 
 was the ' seat ' of the elders. The two institutions were 
 so far in harmony with one another that the meetings 
 of the local court were held in the synagogue, and that 
 in the meetings of the synagogue for its own proper 
 purposes the elders of the local court had seats of 
 honour — the TrpcaroKadeSpLai which our Lord describes the 
 Pharisees as coveting '' : and hence the word synagogue 
 is sometimes used where the word synedrion would be 
 more exact : but the distinction between the two is 
 clearly established and is of great importance '. 
 
 So firm was the hold which this system obtained 
 upon the Jews that they carried it with them into the 
 countries of the dispersion. In those cormtries they 
 lived apart from the rest of the community. Then, 
 as now, they were a separate class. They preserved, 
 and were so far pri%Tleged as to be allowed to 
 preserve, not only their own usages and their own 
 forms of worship, but also their own administration ^. 
 
 ' S. JIatth. 23. 6 ; S. Mark 12. 39 ; S, Luke 11. 43 ; 20. 46, 
 ^ r^r tlie Kabbinical and other authorities for the above statements, see Herzfeld, 
 G'sddcliM dee Voiles Jisrael, 2" Aufl. Bd. ii. pp. 391 sqq. ; Le\Ter inHerzog, Beal- 
 Encyrlopddie, s, vv. Synogogen der Jndta and Synedriam ; D^renb'jur^, L'^-'iai sur 
 Thinioire et gi-ographie d^ la Palestine, c. 6; Jost, Gesdudde des Judt/ilhums, er,-ite 
 Abth. pp. 270-2S7; Schurer, L'^hrhuch der neut'-stamentHcheii Zeityeschichtc, pp. 
 402-418, 468-471; Hausrath, Xeutestaiiientliche Ze'ttgeschicfde (Eng. Trans, vol. 
 i. pp. 83 sqq.). 
 
 ' Strabo ap. Joseph. Ant. 14. 7. 2, says that at C'jTene there were four divisions 
 of the pjopulation, citiz-ns, farmers, metoeci, and Jews : Philo ii. 568 speaks of the 
 Jews as forming a separate colony in the Trastevere at Rome. In each colony they 
 
58 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 At Alexandria, for example, they had their own governor 
 and council'" : and at Eome the recent discovery of the 
 Jewish cemeteries on the Appian Way enables us to 
 gather from the unimpeachable records of inscriptions 
 a detailed account — which singularly confirms what is 
 more vaguely known from other sources — of their in- 
 ternal organization^^. 
 
 It seems certain upon the evidence that in these 
 Jewish communities, to which in the first instance the 
 Apostles naturally addressed themselves, there existed 
 a governing body of elders whose functions were j^artly 
 administrative and partly disciplinary. With worship 
 and with teaching they appear to have had no direct 
 concern. For those purposes, so far as they required 
 ofiicers, another set of officers existed. In other words, 
 the same community met, probably in the same place, 
 
 were subdivided into smaller communities, 'synagogues,' which were recognized by 
 the State under the ordinary designation of Olacroi, or religious associations, and 
 allowed by Julius Ceesar to exist when similar associations were dissolved (Jos. Ant. 
 14. 10. 8). In the same way other Semitic settlers preserved their nationality and 
 their religion by forming associations : the Syrians at Puteoli had a subvention from 
 Tyre, lilie an English chaplaincy abroad. Corpus Inscr. Graec. No. 5853, cf. Momm- 
 sen in the Bericlite der JcSnigl. sacks. Gesellschaft der Wissensch. phil. hist. Klasse, 
 1850, Bd. ii. p. 57 : so, also at Puteoli, the settlers from Berytus, Mommsen, Inscr. 
 Btgri. Neap. 248S, 2476, Wilmanns, 2002, 2003: so the Syrians at Malaga, Corpus 
 Itiscr. Lat. vol. ii. p. 252 : so the Gazaeans at Portus Trajani, C. I. G. No. 5892 : 
 so the Tyrians at Delos, ibid. No, 2271. 
 
 '° Strabo ap. Joseph. Ant. 14. 7. 2 (writing of the Jews of Alexandria), uaBldTaTai 
 di Kal IBvapxris aiiTwy 6? SioifCfT t6 tOvo^ icai BtaiTa icpifffts leal avfx^oXaiojy kirLpeXuTCU 
 Hal TTpoaTayfiaToiu oi? af iroXirdas dpxojv avTOTiKovs, (On the title Alaharch, which 
 is sometimes, erroneously, given to the Jewish- ethnarch, see Schiirer, Die Ala- 
 harclirn in Aegypten in the Zeitschrift f. vnssenschaftl. Theologie, 1875, Bd. xviii. 
 pp. 13 sqq.) 
 
 " These inscriptions, with some others, have been collected and published (chiefly 
 after Garrucci) by Schiirer, Vie Gemeindeverfassunrj der Juden in Bom in der 
 Kaiserzeit, Leipsig, 1879. Some of them will also be found in the Corpus Inscr. 
 Graec. Nos. 9902-9910. 
 
111.] Presbyters. 59 
 
 in two capacities and with a double organization. On 
 the sabbatli there was an assembly presided over by 
 the apyj.^vva'ywyo'i or apyicxvva.'ywyoi for the purpose of 
 prayer and the reading of the Scriptures and exhorta- 
 tion: on two other days of the week there was an 
 assembly presided over by the yepov(Ttdp-)(^t]g or ap^ovTeg or 
 ■yrpea-^vTepoi for the ordinary purposes of a local court ^2. 
 Each community, whether assembling for the one class 
 of purposes or the other, appears to have been in most 
 cases independent. At Alexandria, where the State 
 gave the Jewish colony exceptional privileges, the 
 separate synagogues seem to have been all subject to 
 the ethnarch : but at Eome and elsewhere there are no 
 signs of their having been linked together by any 
 stronger tie than the fellowship of a common creed and 
 a common isolation from the Gentiles ^l 
 
 Consequently, when the majority of the members of 
 a Jewish community were convinced that Jesus was 
 the Christ, there was nothing to interrupt the current 
 of their former common life. There was no need for 
 secession, for schism, for a change in the organization. 
 The old form of worship and the old modes of govern- 
 ment could still go on. The weekly commemoration 
 of the Resurrection supplemented, but did not supersede, 
 the ancient sabbath. The reading of the life of Christ 
 and of the letters of Apostles supplemented, but did 
 
 ^^ apx^(jvv6.yu)yos (Jipxoiv Trjs ffvvayojyTJ? S. Luke 8. 41) in the singular, S. Marit 
 6- 35) 36, 38 ; S. Luke 8. 49 ; 13. 14 ; Acts 18. 8, 17 : in the plural, S. Mark 5. 
 22 ; Acts 13. IS ; Mischna Joma 7. i, Sota 7. 7 ; S. Justin M. Dial. c. Tryph. 
 137 ; Acta Pilati I. ap. Tischendorf, Evang. Apocryph. p. 221, 270; S. Epiphan. 
 Haeres. 30. 11. 18 ; Cod. Theodos. 16. 8. 4, 13, 14. 
 
 '' See Schlirer, Die Gemeindeverfassung, &c. pp. 18-24. 
 
6o Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 not supersede, tlie ancient lessons from the prophets, 
 and the ancient singing of the psalms i*. The community 
 as a whole was known by the same name which had 
 designated the purely Jewish community. It was still 
 a TrapotKia — a colony living as strangers and ]3ilgrims 
 in the midst of an alien society: and even when the 
 sense of alienation lessened, the word was retained, 
 though it was used in a new relation to signify that 
 upon earth none of us has an abiding city ^^. The same 
 names were in use for the court of administration and 
 for the members of that court ^^ : and even the weekly 
 
 " The Apostolical Constitutions (2. 57) direct the reading of two lessons from the 
 historical books of the 0. T. and from the prophets, the antiphonal singing of the 
 Psalms of David, and the reading of the Acts, the Epistles of Paul, and the 
 Gospels : cf. Justin. M. Apol. i. 67. 
 
 ^■^ TrapotKia, irapottcos, and irapot/ceiv are used in the sense of 'sojourning,' or 'a 
 colony of sojourners' in the LXX. : e.g. Gen. 37. i KarwKei b\ 'laicai^ iv rfi 7^ ov 
 Trafrnfcrjaev 6 TjaTTjp avTov 'Jacob dwelt as an inhabitant in the land where his 
 father had dwelt as a sojourner : ' Ezra 8. 35 viol t^s Trapoiidas, of those who had 
 returned from the captivity. So in the N. T. Acts 7. 29 ; Ephes. 2. 19 ; Heb. it. 
 9, and in early patristic Greelf, e.g. i Clem. Rom, inscr. ; Polycarp, Epist. ad Phil. 
 inscr., Epist. Eccles. Smyrn. ap Euseb. B. E. 4. 15 3. The relation to contem- 
 porary and civil society which this implies is important : cf Origen, g. Cels. 8 ^fxeis 
 Iv kfcdffTT] TToXu dWo avarrj^a varpldo^ KTiadev kSyqj Qfov ennTTdixcvot : and Le 
 Blant, Le detachment de la potrie in the Comptes rendus de TAcademie d'liiscrip- 
 t/'ons, 1S72, Tom. i. p. 3S8. In the other sense mentioned above the words are 
 also found in early times, e.g. 2 Clem. R. 5. I ; Testam xii. Patr. L'ri 11, and in 
 later times they are sometimes found on tombstones, C. I. G. 9474, 9683. 
 
 '' avvihpiov is used, i. of the Jewish local councils and of the chief council at 
 Jerusalem, S. Matt. 10. 17; 26. 59; S. Mark 13. 9; Joseph. Ant. 14. 9. 3; 15. 
 6. 2 ; 20. 9. 6 ; Mischna Sanhedrim, i : ii. of the Christian councils, S. Ignat. 
 ad Philad. 8. I ; ad Magnes. 6. I ; ad Trail. 3. i, and by the Fathers of the 
 fifth and sixth centuries, e.g. S. Greg. Naz. Oral. 42. 11. vol. I. p. 756; S. Basil. 
 M. Epiyt. 28, vol. iv. p. 107, ed. Ben. Tlpea^vTepiov is similarly used, i. of the Jewish 
 councils. S Luke 22. 26; Acts 22. 5: ii. of the Christian councils, I Tim. 4. 14, 
 and frequently in Ignatius and later writers. np(a(lvT(poi is used of the members 
 of the Jewish councils in e.g. Judith 6. 16, 21; 7. 23; i Maco. I. 26: it is not 
 found in the Jewish inscriptions which are collected by Schiirer : but it occurs 
 in those of the catacombs at Venosa which are pnnted by Ascoli, Iscr/zioni di 
 antiehixepiilcri Giadaici, IV. A. No. 17 in the Atti del TV congresso internazionale 
 degli Orieulallsti, vol. i. p. 292, Florence, 1S80. 
 
III.] Presbyters. 6 1 
 
 court-days remained tlie same ". There is no trace of 
 a break in the continuity : and there is consequently a 
 strong presumption, which subsequent history confirms, 
 that the officers who continued to bear the same names 
 in the same community exercised functions closely 
 analogous to those which they had exercised before ; 
 in other words, that the elders of the Jewish commu- 
 nities which had become Christian were, like tbe elders 
 of the Jewish communities which remained Jewish, 
 officers of administration and of discipline. 
 
 The origin of the presbyterate in those Christian com- 
 munities which had been Jewish is thus at once natural 
 and simple : its origin in those communities of whicb 
 the members or a majority of the members were Gentiles 
 is equally natural, though rather more complex. Two 
 elements have to be accounted for : (i) the fact of 
 government by a council or committee, (2) the fact 
 that the members of such council or committee were 
 known by a name which implies seniority. 
 
 (i) In regard to the first of these elements, the 
 evidence shows that government by a council or com- 
 mittee was all but universal in the organizations with 
 which Christianity came into contact. The communal 
 idea which underlay the local government of Palestine 
 
 " The weekly court-days of the local synedria were Monday and Thursday (Bab. 
 Talmud, Baha Kamma, 82 a Misohna Kelhubotk i. i (Jerus. Talmud, Megilla, 
 iv. l), which were perhaps chosen as being also the usual market-days. There is 
 a further point of similarity in the fact that the minimum number of presby- 
 ters in a church was originally two, forming with the bishop a court of three: 
 Ambrosiast. in Epid. i ad Timoth. vv. 12, 13, vol. ii. p. 295 : ' aliquantos presbyteros 
 (esse oportet) ut bini sint per ecclesias et unus in civitate episcopus.' So also the 
 minimum number of the members of a local synedrium was three, of whom one 
 was the president (Bab. Talmud, Sanhedrin i). 
 
62 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 had in fact survived in tlie Graeco-Eoman world. Every 
 municipality of the Empire vs^as managed by its curia 
 or senate ^^ Every one of the associations, political or 
 religious, with which the Empire swarmed had its 
 committee of officers ^^ It was therefore antecedently 
 probable, even apart from Jewish influence, that when 
 the Gentiles who had embraced Christianity began to 
 be sufficiently numerous in a city to require some kind 
 of organization, that organization should take the pre- 
 vailing form ; that it should be not wholly, if at all, 
 monarchical, not wholly, though essentially, demo- 
 cratical, but that there should be a permanent executive 
 consisting of a plurahty of persons. It was as natural 
 that this should be so as that the management of a 
 new society in our own day should be entrusted not 
 wholly to an irresponsible chairman or president, nor 
 on the other hand to periodical meetings of the whole 
 body of members, but to a council or committee. And 
 this we find to have been the case. The names of the 
 governing body varied : but they all imply presidency 
 or government, and they are always used m the 
 plural 2°. 
 
 (2) In regard to the second element, we find the idea 
 of respect for seniority in many places and in many 
 forms. So strong was this idea that the terms which 
 
 ^' i.e. all provincial municipalities in the West were organized on the model of 
 Eome, and those of the East on that, which in this respect did not differ from 
 Rome, of Athens or of Sparta : for the details see Marquardt, Romisahe Staats- 
 wirwaltuiig, Bd. i. pp. 501, 518. 
 
 " This statement is in fact a corollary from the preceding one : the associations 
 were organized on the model of the states within which they existed. 
 
 ''" See below, Lecture V. 
 
III.] Presbyters. 63 
 
 were relative to it were often used as terms of respect 
 without reference to age. In the philosophical schools 
 the professor was sometimes called 6 TrpecrlSvTepos ^^. In 
 the ascetic communities of Egypt and Palestine respect 
 for seniority was strongly marked, not only in the 
 common usages of life, but also and especially in the 
 assemblies — where the members sat in ranks, the 
 younger beneath the elder, and where it was the task 
 of the eldest and most experienced to discourse about 
 divine things ^-. Within the Christian communities 
 themselves respect for seniority was preached from the 
 first as an element of Christian order ^^. Both in the 
 Epistles of the New Testament, and in the extra- 
 canonical Epistle of Clement of Rome, the submission 
 of the younger to the elder is enjoined, and the idea of 
 age and the idea of rank so pass into one another as to 
 make it sometimes difficult to determine which of the 
 two was the more prominent in the writer's mind '^*. 
 
 '^ Schweighaiiaer ad Epictet. Diss. i. 9. 10. 
 
 ^^ Philo, ii. 458, says of the Easenea that at their weekly meetings they sat 
 according to age, the younger below the elder, and, ii. 476, that the eldest and 
 most experienced discoursed : elsewhere, ii. 481, he explains that the word ' elder' 
 was used in reference not to length of years, but to mental and moral develop- 
 ment. 
 
 ^' It seems probable that, in at least some Christian communities in the earliest 
 stages of their existence, the word elder was used in its proper rather th;in in its 
 acquired meaning, and that the governing body, i.e. the elders in the official sense, 
 consisted of a section of the elders in the natural sense. Hence the defining 
 phrases in i Tim. 5. 17, 'that rule well,' and in Herm. Tis. 2. 4, 'that preside 
 over the Church,' mark off not so much senior from junior members of the com- 
 munity, but those elders who formed part of the governing body from those who 
 did not. 
 
 ^' See e.g. i Pet. 5. 1-4 : i Clem. Eom. 1.3: 3. 3 ; 21.6: so in Clem. Alex. ii. 
 p. 958, ed. Pott, (quoted by Euseb. S. E. 3. 23), Trpta^vrepos at the beginning of 
 the narrative is equivalent to wpia^vTijs later on, and both are interchanged with 
 emaiionos. The MSS. sometimes interchange 7rpe(r^i!T«/)0! and rrpialiiiTrjs, e.g. in 
 Theodotion's text of the story of Susanna. 
 
64 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 There was tlius an antecedent probability, apart from 
 Jewish influence, not only that the Christian com- 
 munities, when organized, would be governed by a 
 council, but also that in the appointment of the 
 members of such a council seniority would be a prime 
 qualification. And this we find to have been in fact 
 the case. Ovit of the several names which the members 
 of the Christian councils bore one ultimately survived 
 the rest : they continue to be known to modern times 
 as presbyters. 
 
 There is a remarkable contemporary parallel to this 
 drift of Christian organization, which both confirms the 
 antecedent probability and illustrates the fact. It is 
 well kno\vn that the councils or senates of the Greek 
 cities, though they sometimes still retained the name 
 yepovcrla, had come, like other senates, to be councils of 
 ' old men ' only in name. But it appears from some in- 
 scriptions which have been found within recent years 
 that there was in some states of Asia Minor a tendency 
 to revert to the original theory of a senate. Tlie yepovala 
 was distinct from the /^onXiy -"' : the evidence points to 
 the inference tliat the yepova-la was the committee of 
 the ^ovXlj, standing to it in something like the same 
 relation as that in which the Cabinet stands to the 
 Privy Council in England ^°, and that the members of 
 
 ^' This is proved by the fact of their being mentioned separately, e.g. nt Strato- 
 nicea in Caria, u Srj^os ical ^ ^ovK-f} ttal rf •yepov(XLa, (Jtirpus I'nacr. Graec. No. 2724, 
 at Aphrodisias, ibid. No. 2775, at Nysa, ibid. No. 2944, at Ephe.sus, Wood, iJis- 
 coverii'S at Ephcsus, Append, vi. p. 36. The presiding officers are also mentioned 
 separately, e.g. at Branchidae, povkapxos fcal irpoaT&TTjs yepovffiaSf C. I. (J. No. 2881. 
 
 "" This is an inference from the fact that at Ephesus the tprj^jna pia of the yepotiaia 
 and IttikXtjtol was laid before the 0ov\r] and passed, in the same way as at Athens 
 the Trpo0ovK(vim of the 0ov\t) itself was laid before the ficii\rjaia : irepl wv oi vionroTai 
 
III.] Presbyters. 65 
 
 the yepova-la bore the same name as the members of 
 the committee of the Christian Churches • — that of 
 
 Trpecr^iJTepoi "'. 
 
 If we put the evidence together, it will appear 
 probable that the presbyterate in the Gentile Churches 
 had a spontaneous and independent origin. This hypo- 
 thesis accounts for the fact which is not easily ex- 
 plained on tlie hypothesis of the du-ect transference 
 of the Jewish office to the Gentile communities, uamely, 
 that the members of the governing council were known 
 by various names, and that the names which were 
 in use for the Jewish officers did not at once uniformly 
 
 hai olnovpiJTes KaTaaraOiVTiS 5ieXt\f??;tTai' Tjj $ovKr} kol T(^ Jprj(piafia i]vi^Kav TTji 
 y€pov(Tias Kat rwv emK^-qTcuv unifi Ei'ippoviou TroAire/ay, SfduxOat t|} ^SouXjj . . . Wood, 
 Vi^covi rits at Eplw^n.^, Apptnd. ii. p. 29. The existence of siicli a committee is 
 rendered probable by the unwieldy size of most Eastern councils ; e.g. Joseplius, 
 Aiit. 13. 13. 3, mentiont^ 500 0ov\€VTai at Gaza, and, 11. J. 2. 21. 9, 600 at Tibe- 
 rias : Libanius, in the fourth century, speaks of the municipal council of Antioch 
 in times before his n\\n as liavim; consisted of 600 members (Op. vol. i. p. 182, ii. 
 rp .^-7' 5-^ ^^' l^ei^k.), and this was also the normal number at Oyzicus (Boclih 
 in Corpus liiSiT. Oraiv. vol. ii. p. 920). But whether the precise relation of the 
 yepovaia to the Pov\^ be that wliiiih is stated above, or not, the general propo- 
 sition, that there was a tendency to gi\^e the elder members of a community or 
 municipality a separate and integral share in its aJministration, is sufficiently 
 shown by the fact, which is stated in the preceding note, that the yfpovata is co- 
 ordinated with the ^ov\^ and the 5^/ioy, in certain municipal acts, e.g. C. I. 0. 
 Nos. 2S14, :S20, 341 7. 3462, and also by the distinction which is made between oi 
 y^pci'Tis (7) ytpovaia) and oi vioi, e.g. Dio Chrys. (>r<it. 34, vol. ii. p. 27, ed. Dind., 
 C. I. 0. Nos. 2;Si, 2930. So in Africa the old Roman distinction between 
 'seniores' and 'juniores ' was retained or revived, Renier, liiscr, liuiiiaiiis d'Alg<^rie^ 
 Nos. 91, 1525, 3096, AVilmanns, Nos. 139, I401. 
 
 -^ This is an inference from the fact that )) yepovala and oi np(a0VTfpoi are evi- 
 dently n.sed as interchangeable terms, and both distinguished from i) ISovXr}, at Phil- 
 adelphia, Corpus Inser. Ormc. Nos. 3417, 3422, and at Ephesus, Wood, Dis- 
 an-criis al L'p/ufiis, Append, vi. pp. to, 24, 66, Append, vii, p. 6. But oi irpecr- 
 l^vTfpoi is sometimes used to designate the mend)ers of a yepovaia even when there 
 is no evidence of a distinction between it and the ^ovKrj : e.g. of the members of 
 the senate .at Koine. Sozonien, H. E. 2. 3, and of the TTpid^vTLKov at Chios, 
 C. I. (•'. Nos. 2220, 2221. 
 
 F 
 
66 Presbyters. [lbct. 
 
 prevail. But when, in the course of the second cen- 
 tury, the distinction between the Christian communities 
 which had once been Jewish and those which were 
 originally Gentile tended to pass away, the Jewish 
 conception of the nature of the governing council un- 
 doubtedly became dominant. 
 
 It is clear from the exhortation of Polycarp to the 
 presbyters of Philippi that those presbyters had the 
 supreme oversight of all matters of administration ^*. 
 It was their duty to visit the sick, to provide for 
 the widows and orphans and poor, to turn back those 
 who had gone astray from the error of their ways, 
 to sit in merciful judgment upon those who had com- 
 mitted wrong. Nor does it appear that any of these 
 duties ever wholly ceased to be the duties of the 
 presbyterate. The presbyters were, in theory, the 
 council of the bishop, even after the bishop had as- 
 serted a virtual autocracy ^^ 
 
 But it is equally clear that out of these varied 
 duties those which came to be in practice the chief 
 or only duties of the Christian councils were those 
 which had been the chief duties of the Jewish synedria. 
 The building in which they assembled came to be 
 called a basilica or court-house : the part of it in which 
 they sat was a tribunal or judgment-seat^" : they were 
 chiefly courts of discipline. 
 
 '' S. Polycarp. ad. Philipp. 6 : khX oi Trptafivrepoi ii iia-nXayxvoi, us irivTis 
 i\€^fiov(s, iTn(TTp4(povT€S rd. dTroirfirKavT] fiiva, kiriaKiTTT Ofifvoi Trdvras daOivets, /i^ 
 d/xeKovvTes xhp°-^ V optpavov ij ireVjjTos .... aTrfxififyoi waaijs opyijs, TTpoaanoXril//ias, 
 fiptafws ddUov, fxaupdv ovTts irdcrjs (piKapyv pias , p.7) raxioJS ni(7T(vovTes Kara tlvos, fiij 
 dtrSTOfioi €v fipiffft, flSores on irdvTis d(pu\t'rai kap^v dpaprias. 
 
 ^ See below, Lecture IV. p. 107, 
 
 ^° For the use of basilica in relation to the early Ghri.stian churches see De Rossi, 
 
III.] Presbyters. 67 
 
 Now there were two ways in which the Jewish 
 synedria exercised authority. They had jurisdiction, 
 on the one hand, in breaches of the ecclesiastical law, 
 and on the other hand between man and man in cases 
 of wrong. They had in their several localities the 
 same powers which for graver cases and for national 
 rather than local questions were possessed by the 
 central court — the great Sanhedrin — at Jerusalem ^1. 
 They could enforce their decisions by the moral 
 punishment of excommunication, and by the physical 
 coercion of scourging and imprisonment. Outside 
 Palestine the same kinds of authority remained ^^ : al- 
 though as their jurisdiction was consensual and not 
 of legal force the ultima ratio was exclusion from the 
 community or excommunication. But it is remarkable 
 as a proof not only of the existence of these courts 
 but of their permanence, that at the end of the fourth 
 century the Christian emperors Arcadius and Hono- 
 rius, following the general tradition of imperial policy, 
 gave to the synedria the protection of the state, and 
 required provincial judges to carry out their de- 
 cisions ^^. 
 
 Roma sotteranea, Tom, iii. p. 461 : for the use of jS^^a or 'tribunal' iu the same 
 relation, see De Rossi, ibid. iii. 486. The facts of the case are by no means suffi- 
 ciently explained by the hypothesis tliat the use of the terms arose from the transfer 
 of some civil hasilicae by Constantino to the Church. 
 
 ^^ The respective jurisdictions of the local councils and of the central council 
 at Jerusalem are defined in Mischna Sanhedrin i, 2 (translated into Latin in 
 Ugolini, Thesaurus, vol. xxv). 
 
 ^^ The existence of Jewish courts in the midst of Gentile communities is shown, 
 e.g. at Sardis, Jos. Ant. 14. 10. 7, at Alexandria, Strab. ap. Jos. Ant. 14. 7. 2, and 
 is probably implied at Corinth in the expression o\pea6( avToi, Acts 18. 15 : that 
 they had a certain power of coercion is implied in Acts 9.22: 22.19: 26. 1 1 . Cf. 
 Origen, ad African. 14. vol. i. p. 28. ed. De la Rue. 
 
 " Cod. Theodos. 2. i. 10, which however shows not only that the jurisdiction 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 The main functions of the Christian council of pres- 
 byters were closely analogous. 
 
 I. They exercised discipline. There was indeed this 
 difference between Christian and Jewish discipline that 
 it was of a severer kind. It is difficult for us in 
 modern times, with the widely different views which we 
 have come to hold as to the relation of Church govern- 
 ment to social life, to understand how large a part 
 discipline filled in the communities of primitive times. 
 Those communities were what they were mainly by 
 the strictness of their discipline. The tie of a common 
 belief was looser than the tie of a common ideal and 
 a common practice. The creed was as yet vague : 
 the moral code was clear. For the kingdom of Grod 
 was come which was a kingdom of righteousness. 
 Each organized gathering of believers seemed to itself 
 to be the visible realization of that Holy City of 
 which the greatest of Hebrew poets had sung and which 
 the divinest of Christian seers had seen. Between 
 that City of God, and the diseased and decaying 
 society which surrounded it, there was a perpetual 
 and sharp antithesis ^*. And that aDtithesis was the 
 sharper because the one and the other were in close 
 and daily contact. The profound moral reaction which 
 had set in was in itself not confined to Christianity. 
 
 was consensual, but also that it had come to be confined, if not originally confined, 
 to civil matters : ' si qui per compromissum ad similitudinem arbitroruin apud 
 Judaeos vel patriarchas ex consenyu partium in civili duntaxat negotio putaverint 
 litigandum, sortiri eorum judicium judicio publico non vetentur : eorum etiani 
 sententias provinciaruni judices exsequantur tanquam ex aententia cognitoris arbi- 
 tri fuerinfc attributi.' 
 
 "' Cf. e.g. 2 Clem Rom. 6. 3 earir 5^ oSros oXojv icoX b y-kWoiv Svo ex^/'or ovro^ 
 AiyCL fxotx^'iav Kai f^Oofdv Kai (l>t\apyvpiov Kai drraTyv, activos 5e tovtois urroTacratTai. 
 
III.] Presbyters. 69 
 
 The spirit of asceticism was, so to speak, in the air, 
 and other ascetic communities had been formed '■'. But 
 those ascetic communities had solved the difficulties 
 of the world by withdrawing from it. They would 
 not face ordinary society. They lived as the Chris- 
 tian ascetics lived in aftertime, when the level of 
 Christian life was lower, apart from ordinary men in 
 the solitude of the wilderness. The Christian com- 
 munities on the other hand were in the world. Their 
 members were brought face to face day by day with 
 the seething mass of corruption from which divine 
 grace had rescued them ■''^. The very fact that they 
 could not share the common sins of their neighbours 
 exposed them to the ready taunt that their garb of 
 superior sanctity was but a cloke for still darker forms 
 of w'ickedness. In the midst of ' a crooked and per- 
 verse nation' they could only hold their own by the 
 extreme of circumspection. Moral purity was not so 
 much a virtue at which they were bound to aim as 
 the very condition of their existence. If the salt of 
 the earth should lose its savour, wherewith should it 
 be salted 1 If the lights of the world were dimmed, 
 who should rekindle their flame ? And of this moral 
 purity the officers of each community were the 
 custodians. They ' watched for souls as those that 
 must give account.' Week after week, and in some 
 cases, as the Jewish synagogues had done, on two days 
 in a week, the assembly met not only for prayer but 
 
 ^'' See below. Lecture VI. 
 
 -' The point of view of the early Christians is here assumed ; but it is probable 
 that their opinion of the vices of contemporary society, as represented by the 
 Apologists, was exaggerated. 
 
70 
 
 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 for discipline ". ' We come together/ says Tertullian, 
 'to call the sacred writings to remembrance, if so 
 be that the character of the present times compel us 
 either to use admonition or recollection in anything. 
 In any case, by these holy words we feed our faith, 
 raise our hopes, establish our confidence ; nor do we 
 the less strengthen our discipline by inculcating pre- 
 cepts. For our judgment also cometh with great 
 weight, as of men well assured that they are under 
 the eye of God : and it is a very grave forestalling of 
 the judgment to come if any shall have so offended 
 as to be put out of the communion of prayer, of the 
 solemn assembly, and of all holy fellowship. The most 
 approved elders preside "^' And about the same time 
 Origen, refuting a calumnious statement of Celsus in 
 reference to the indiscriminate character of the Chris- 
 tian congregations, says, ' There are men appointed 
 among us to examine closely into the lives and cha- 
 racters of those who come to us, that they may prevent 
 those who do what is forbidden from entering our 
 common assembly, and that by receiving those who 
 do otherwise they may make them better day by day ^'.' 
 And in a similar way the Clementines put these words 
 into the mouth of St. Peter : ' Do ye as elders of the 
 Church adorn with discipline the bride of Christ — and 
 l)y the bride of Christ I mean the whole assembly of 
 the Church — in moral purity : for if she be found pure 
 b_v the Bridegroom King, she herself will attain the 
 height of honour, and ye, as guests at the marriage- 
 
 " See above, note i8. ■■' Tertull. A-pol. 39. ^^ Origen, c. Cds. 3. 51. 
 
Ill-] Presbyters. 7 1 
 
 feast, will gain great delights : but if she be found to 
 have sinned, she herself wUl be cast out, and ye will 
 suffer punishment because, it may be, the sin has 
 happened through your neglect *°.' 
 
 2. The Christian like the Jewish presbyters exer- 
 cised a consensual jurisdiction in matters of dispute 
 between Christian and Christian. It was only when 
 a severer punishment was necessary than such a con- 
 sensual jurisdiction admitted that any Gentile court 
 had been allowed to interfere between Jew and Jew *^ 
 And the recognition of such a jurisdiction became for 
 the Christian an obhgation, because it rested on a 
 divine command. In one of the only two passages in 
 which our Lord speaks expressly of the Church, He 
 speaks of it in this relation : ' If thy brother shall 
 trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between 
 thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, thou hast 
 gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then 
 take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth 
 of two or three witnesses every word may be estab- 
 lished. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto 
 the Church : but if he neglect to hear the Church, let 
 him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican^^.' 
 And hardly had the organization of the Christian com- 
 munities begun before St. Paul looked upon it as an 
 intolerable scandal that ' brother goeth to law with 
 brother, and that before the unbelievers.' He deprecates 
 litigation of any kind : the Christian rule was a rule 
 
 *» Clementin. Epist. Clem, ad Jacob, c. 7. 
 
 " Mekhiltha and Midrash Thanhuma ad Exod. 21. i : Mischna Gittin 9. 10. 
 " S. Matth. 18. 15-17 : the other passage in which our Lord uses the word 
 church is ih. 16. 19. 
 
72 Presbyte7's. [lect. 
 
 not of litigation but of forgiveness : but if litigation 
 became inevitable he asks indignantly, ' Dare any of 
 you, having a matter against another, go to law before 
 the unjust and not before the saints *•'* V In those early 
 days it may have been the case that the assembly 
 itself, or persons chosen by the assembly, acted as 
 arbitrators : and to this St. Paul's words point : ' If 
 then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this 
 life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the 
 Church **.' But when the organization of the churches 
 was more complete it is clear that the jurisdiction 
 belonged to the council of presbyters. ' Let not 
 those who have disputes,' say the Clementines, ' go to 
 law before the civil powers, but let them by all means 
 be reconciled by the elders of the Church, and let them 
 readily yield to their decision ''^.' 
 
 These two great functions of the early council of 
 presbyters have been modified in many important par- 
 ticulars as the circumstances under which the Church 
 itself has existed have themselves undergone material 
 change. 
 
 I . In the first place, the relations of the 'Church to 
 discipline were of necessity altered when the Church 
 began to fill a larger place in history. That which 
 had been possible in a small community became im- 
 possible in a larger. The stern self-restraint which 
 had linked men arm to arm in the grim struggle for 
 existence relaxed its tension. The close supervision 
 
 ■ " I Cor. 6. I. Cf. 5. 12. « I Cor, 6. 4. 
 
 *' Clement. Ei[)isl. Clem, ad Jacob. 10. 
 
III.] Presbyters. ^^ 
 
 with which the officers of the Church had watched 
 the faihngs and backshdings of their small coramunities 
 could exist no longer in a vast and complex society. 
 And again : the transition of any community from 
 a state of repression to a state of supremacy tends 
 to change the character of the ofPences of which it 
 takes cognizance. It accentuates the organization. It 
 elevates the by-laws to a new prominence. It makes 
 offences against those by-laws important. And we have 
 but to compare the early monument which is known 
 as the Constitutions of Clement *•* with the post-Con- 
 stantinian code which is known as the Apostolical 
 Canons *', to see how wide was the chasm which in the 
 Christian Church severed the ethics of the age of 
 struggle from the ethics of the age of supremacy. 
 And again : Christianity had no sooner become the 
 religion of the Eoman world, than it found itself 
 swung round and round in a vast eddying swirl 
 of intellectual currents — doubts and half-beliefs and 
 rationalizings of divine truths — through which it was 
 almost impossible to steer. Those times of intense 
 crisis were no times for scanning too narrowly the 
 characters of those who manned the ship. There was 
 no condonation of flagrant and open sin : but at the 
 
 ^® This work is printed under the title At ^taTa-^ai at SiA KXrjfxfVTos KaX Kav6v€s 
 efcfc\7]<naffTif£ol twi/ aylcov aTTOffTSKaiv printed by Bickell, Get^chichte des Kirchenrechts, 
 Bd. I. Beil. i : Lagarde, Juris Ecclesiaslici reliquiae, pp. 74 sqq, : Pitra, Juris 
 Ecclesiastici Graecorum hist, et mon. vol. i. pp. 77 sqq. : and under the title 'Ju- 
 dicium Petri ' by Hilgenfeld, Novum Testamentam extra canonem receptum, Fasc. 
 iv. to which reference may be made for a clear, though not conclusive, discussion 
 of its origin. 
 
 " The date of the Apostolical Canons, at least in their present form, is very 
 uncertain : but since they embody decrees of councils of the fourth century, espe- 
 cially those of the Council of Antioch, they must' at least be post-Constantinian. 
 
74 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 same time soundness in the faith may have covered 
 many a minor fault, and unsoundness in the faith was 
 not atoned for by the highest Christian virtue. In 
 the meanwhile a new code of Christian morality 
 was being formed. The ascetic communities laid an 
 abnormal stress upon certain special forms of virtue 
 and the corresponding special forms of vice. They 
 dreamed in their seclusion of all imaginable sins : and 
 the cowp de grace to the earlier Christian morality was 
 given when the ghastly catalogues of those imagined 
 possibilities of sin, each with its specific penalty, came 
 to be looked upon as the code of Christian morals and 
 the rule of Christian life *'. 
 
 2. In the second place, the recognition of Chris- 
 tianity by the State tended to narrow the broad 
 border-line between the Church and the world. The 
 fact that the Christians were no longer a irapoiKia, a 
 colony of strangers in a strange land, that the local 
 judges were Christian, and that the emperors who 
 were the ultimate court of appeal were also Christian, 
 diminished the force of the reason for submitting dis- 
 putes 'in things pertaining to this life' to the Church 
 officers. The consensual jurisdiction of the Church 
 courts came to be limited to disputes in which Church 
 officers were themselves concerned. That jurisdiction 
 was recognized by the State, but it was viewed with 
 a jealous eye. Out of it grew that long line of contests 
 
 ^^ The reference is to the books known as ' Penitentials,' the most important of 
 which will be found in Wasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen der ahendldndische 
 Eirche, Halle, 1851 ; Kunstmann, Vie lateinische Ponitentialhiicher der Angel- 
 sachsen, Mainz, 1844; Haddan and Stubbs, C'oancils and Ecclesiastical Documents, 
 vol. iii. 
 
in.] Presbyters. 75 
 
 between State and Church with which many of us are 
 famihar, but which passes far beyond the hmits of the 
 present subject — the Church constantly claiming and 
 the State constantly endeavouring to limit this ec- 
 clesiastical and consensual jurisdiction*'. Inside these 
 contests was another struggle — the struggle on the 
 part of the bishops to act as sole judges, without the 
 (TvveSpiov or ' consilium ' of presbyters, of which in early 
 times they had been merely the presidents. But there 
 are at least two significant indications that the original 
 conception of the presbyterate never wholly passed 
 away : the one is the fact that in all the Ordinals of 
 the Latin Church, in both the prayers and the addresses 
 to the people at the ordination of presbyters, Church 
 government is a leading element in the conception 
 of the presbyter's ofiice ^^ ; the other is the fact that, 
 after the parochial system had come to prevail, the 
 presbyter who was put in charge of a parish was said 
 to be sent not to teach but to rule ('ad regendum') ; 
 the conception of his office which underlies this ex- 
 
 *^ See below, Lecture VI. 
 
 ™ The chief petition of the prayer entitled ' consecratio,' the importance of which 
 may be inferred not only from its place in the service, but also from the fact of its 
 having lasted, with only slight verbal changes, from the time of the earliest sur- 
 viving Sacramentaries until now, is as follows : 'Da, quaesumus, oninipotens Pater, 
 in hos famulos tuos presbyterii dignitatem ; innova in visceribiis eorum spiritum 
 sanctitatis; ut acceptum a te, Deus, secundi meriti munus obtineant, censuranique 
 morum exemplo suae conversationis insinuent. Sint providi cooperatores ordinis 
 nostri ; eluceat in eis totius forma justitiae ut bonam rationem dispen,?ationis sibi 
 creditae reddituri aetemae beatitudinis praemia consequantur.' (The text here 
 given is that of the modern Roman Pontifical : the text of the Leonine and Gelasian 
 Sacramentaries will be found in Muratori, Lituryiu Bomana Tetas, vol. i. pp. 425, 
 513.) The form of the address to the people, or to the ordinaiids, has passed 
 through several changes : but even the latest form, that of the modern Pontifical, 
 preserves the early statement that the presbyters are appointed to help the bishop 
 as the seventy elders were appointed to help Moses. 
 
76 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 pression is preserved to us even in modern times in 
 the familiar title of ' Eector ^^! 
 
 In the meantime, other functions which in early times 
 were in the background came to the front. It will no 
 doubt have been observed that the functions which 
 have been described are all such as could be exercised 
 by and were appropriate to a college or council of 
 officers °^. What powers, if any, were possessed by a 
 single presbyter acting alone there is no evidence to 
 show. But by one of those slow and silent revolutions 
 which the lapse of many centuries brings about in 
 political a,s well as in religious communities, the ancient 
 conception of the office, as essentially disciplinary 
 and collegiate, has been superseded by a conception 
 of it in which not only is a single presbyter com- 
 petent to discharge all a presbyter's functions, but in 
 which also those functions are primarily not those of 
 discipline, but ' the ministration of the Word and 
 Sacraments ^^.' 
 
 I. In regard to the first of these functions it is clear 
 that the presbyters of the primitive Churches did 
 not necessarily teach. They were not debarred from 
 
 °' e.g. Cone. Cabill. a.d. 649, c. 5, Statt. Eccles. Aniiq. (=4 Cone. Garth.) c. 
 36 ; so also when a parish priest resigns his office he is said ' ab ordine et titulo et 
 regimine plebis se exuere,' Cone. Remens. A.D. 874, e. 1. The title 'Eeolesiae reetor,' 
 seems first to oceur in the ninth Council of Toledo, A.D. 655, e. 2. 
 
 ^^ The minimi^m number of presbyters appears to have been two, forming with 
 the bishop a court of three, which was the minimum number of a Jewish ffvvidptov 
 (Talmud Bab. Sankedrin 2). See above, note 18. 
 
 ^ It is probable that even in the Jewish communities the distinction between 
 the presbyters and the dpxif^vvayajyoi, i.e. between the avvehpiov and the avvaywyq. 
 became gradually obUterated: since in Justinian. Novell. 146. I, the names appear 
 to be identified, -nap' aiiroLs dpxi^epcKiTai jj irpeff^vTfpoi tvx^v ^ Si5daKa\ot Trpoaayo- 
 p€v6p€yoi. 
 
III.] Presbyters. 77 
 
 teacliing, but if they taught as well as ruled they 
 combined two offices ^*. In the numerous references to 
 presbyters in sub-apostolic literature there is not one 
 to their being teachers, even where such a reference 
 might have been expected, as for example in the 
 enumeration of the duties of presbyters which is given 
 by Polycarp in the form of an exhortation to fulfil 
 them °°. But the Clementine literature of the beginning 
 of the third century makes the distinction, that whereas 
 the bishops are to teach doctrine, the presbyters are to 
 teach morals : in other words, they might inculcate 
 what they were bound to require *^. About the same 
 time in the memoirs of two African martyrs, and 
 later in the same century in a letter of Cyprian, we 
 find the recognition of the combination of the two 
 functions in the phrase ' presbyteri doctores ^' : ' still 
 later, St. Chrysostom makes it evident that the func- 
 tions were still separable when he says that bajotism 
 was in liis time entrusted to the less intelligent pres- 
 byters, the word of teaching to the wiser ^^. 
 
 2. In regard to the second of these functions, the 
 
 ^' This 13 a clear inference from i Tim. 5. 17 : so irotfiiv^s are distinct from SiSaff- 
 Ka\oL in Ephes. 4. 11, and kmoKo-noi (probably identical with npea^vTepot) from 
 8ibd(XKakoi in Herm, Vis. 3. 5. i : so also irpealSvrepoi ami SiSduKaXoi are mentioned 
 separately in Hippol. ap. S. Epiphan. Haeres. 42. 2, and in Euseb. H. E 7. 24. 6. 
 
 " S. Polycarp. ad Philipp. 7. There is the more positive evidence that the 
 ' Constitutions of Clement ' distinctly contemplate the existence of an unlettered 
 presbyter (Aiar. 'KX-qfx. c. 16). 
 
 ^ Clementiu. Horn. 3. 65 : cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. i. p. 829, ed. Pott, t^c fxiv 
 ^ekTiciiTiKTjy 01 Trpeff^vTtpoi G6j^ovaiV eivuva t^v 5e virrjpeTinT^u ol Sidtcovoi. 
 
 " S. Cyprian, Epist. 29 (24) p. 548, ed. Hart. : Acta SS. Perpetuae et Felicitatis, 
 ap. Euinart, Acta Martyram Sincera, c. 13, p. 99 : cf. Dodwell, Uissertationes Cy- 
 priauicae, No. 6, De preshyteris Doctorihus, Oxford, 1684. 
 
 '* S. Chrys. Horn. 3 in Epist. 1 ad Corinth c. 3, Op, vol. x. p. 19, ed. Montf. 
 
78 Presbyters. [lect. 
 
 theory upon which the pubhc worship of the primitive 
 Churches proceeded was that each community was 
 complete in itself, and that in every act of public 
 worship every element of the community was present. 
 When the episcopal system had established itself, there 
 was a bishop wherever in later times there would have 
 been a parish church. From the small province of 
 proconsular Asia, which was about the size of Lin- 
 colnshire, 42 bishops were present at an early council ^"^ : 
 in the only half-converted province of North Africa 470 
 episcopal towns are known by name '^". It is therefore 
 reasonable to expect that the bishop, as the chief officer 
 of the community, presided whenever the community 
 met together. The offerings at the Eucharist were 
 made to him : they were distributed by the deacons : 
 in the account of the Eucharist which is given by 
 Justin Martyr the presbyters have no place at all '^^ : 
 and in the later and more elaborate ritual which is 
 preserved in the Apostolical Constitutions their place 
 is altogether insignificant *^. They probably had no 
 more than the place which the Jewish presbyters had 
 in the synagogue — seats of honour and dignity, but no 
 official part in the service. 
 
 But in course of time, under the Influence of altered 
 
 ^^ The reference ie not to the earlier but to the later (i.e. post-Diocletian) Asia 
 Proconsularis : in thia province HierocleB, Synecdemus, p. 658, mentions in all 42 
 towns ; of these 3 2 are represented by their bishops in the subscriptions to the 
 Council of Ephesus, and 39 in those to the Council of Chalcedon, ap. Mansi, Con- 
 cilia, vol. iv. pp. 1 30, 2007, 1710: of Kuhn, Die stadtische u. biirgerliche Verfassung 
 des romischen Meichs, 2°' Theil, p. 276. 
 
 ''" Kuhn, ibid. p. 436 : Gams, Series Episcoporuvi, p. 463. 
 
 " S. Justin M. Apol. i. 67. 
 
 °'' Const. Apoct. viii. 1-14. 
 
III.] Presbyters. 79 
 
 circumstances, the original system underwent a great 
 change. There grew up the system of forming smaller 
 communities within the territory of a city, or in out- 
 lying country places, which though separate in locality 
 were still one in theory with the original community, 
 and which were under the supervision of its bishop 
 and council. From among the presbyters of that 
 original community one or more was detached to take 
 the oversight of the new congregation ^'^. The func- 
 tions of such a presbyter were for a long time narrowly 
 limited. Baptism by a presbyter, and the celebration 
 of the Eucharist by a presbyter, had no doubt been 
 valid from the very first. But as a matter of Church 
 order a presbyter could baptize only in emergencies : 
 and it is not certain that he had an original right of 
 celebrating the Eucharist "*. As years went on, as the 
 number of bishops was diminished and the number of 
 detached congregations multiplied, the functions of the 
 presbyters of such congregations became more and more 
 independent. Their right to teach and their right 
 to celebrate the Eucharist became ordinary and un- 
 questioned : but one familiar instance shows that the 
 primitive theory has never wholly passed away: the 
 bishops of the Western Church have preserved to the 
 present day their share in the complex ceremonies of 
 
 ^ See below, Lecture VIII. 
 
 "' See the passages of Tertullian quoted in Lecture V. notes 22, 23 : they are con- 
 firmed, in regard to baptism by S. Hieron. Dial. c. Lucifer. 9, Op. ed. Mi^ne, vol. 
 ii. 164 : ' inde [i.e. from the necessity of unity] venit ut sine chrismate et episcopi 
 juBsione neque presbyter neque diaconus jus habeat baptizaudi : quod frequenter, 
 si tamen necessitaa cogit, aoimue etiam lioere laicis ' : and in regard to the Eucharist 
 by S. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 8. i : ktceiv-rj {ie^aia eyxoiptaria fjyeioBoj^ t) vttu tuv i-niaKonov 
 ovffa, Tj w avTui i-nn pifrj. 
 
8o Presbyters. [leot. 
 
 baptism: no baptism is theoretically complete until a 
 bishop has taken that part in it which once followed 
 immediately upon immersion, but which has now come 
 to have the semblance of a separate rite, and is known 
 as Confirmation "». 
 
 The change has been inevitable. The functions of 
 the primitive presbyters are relative to a state of 
 society which has long since passed away. The peni- 
 tential system, which has been sometimes regarded as 
 its modem counterpart, arose out of different circum- 
 stances, and involves a different principle. Between 
 the chiffonier of the conscience, raking among the 
 garbage of diseased tlioughts and despicable actions, 
 and tlie primitive college of disciplinary officern, there 
 is barely the resemblance of a grotesque caricature. 
 The counterpart, if counterpart be sought, must be 
 found rather in the officers of those smaller bodies 
 which have from time to time sprung up within the 
 wide area of Christianity, and which have failed within 
 even their own narrow limits as soon as the enthusiaHm 
 of their first founders has been crystallized into written 
 rules of discipline. For in modern times, though the 
 mainsprings of human conduct may have remained the 
 
 " The Beparation of the two chief eleineritu of the bapti«mal rite, immerHlon and 
 impoeition of hands, had already begun to prevail in the Went in tlie time of 
 Jerome ; but the latter wa» rcHervod for the bishop ait a mark of renpoct to bin 
 dignity, and nut a* of neceuiiity : 'ad honoreni potiuM Macerdotii ijiiam ud logum 
 necemsitatis ' (S, Jiioroii, IHal. e, Lueipjr. c. y, Op. ed, Migno, vol, ii, 164.)! when, 
 in the controvemy between the EaHtcni and We»tex7i (Jhurche» in the ni/ith c»n- 
 tury, the Latin theologian* had to defend the separate exi»trince of 'confiiniaUon' 
 by arguments, they were not able to cite early authoritiox (see e.g. the treatise 
 of Aeneas of J'urin in JJiichcry, HfilcUiyiam, vol. i. p. 141). 
 
III.] Presbyters. 8 1 
 
 same, the conception of the nature of morality, and of 
 the forces which act upon conduct, has undergone 
 significant change. We have come again to the con- 
 viction, which is not new but old, that the virtues 
 which can be rewarded, and the vices wliich can be 
 punished, by external discipline are not, as a rule, the 
 virtues and the vices that make or mar the soul. The 
 inner world of moral action knows no other tribunal 
 than that of the conscience : and the education of the 
 conscience, which is another phrase for moral growth, is 
 the result of many internal forces — and not least of all 
 of that force which the humblest of the Church's 
 ministers may set in motion, when he holds up before 
 the souls of men that ideal of a divine Life which 
 was once an incarnate reality, and which is not now a 
 vanished dream. 
 
 G 
 
LECTURE lY. 
 
 THE SUPREMACY OF THE BISHOP. 
 
 With the exception — wliich is probably rather 
 apparent than real — of two passages in the Pastoral 
 Epistles, all general references to Church oflScers in 
 Apostolic and sub- Apostolic literature speak of them in 
 the plural i. The names by which they are designated 
 are various but interchangeable : and their variety is 
 probably to be explained by the fact that the same 
 officers, or oiEcers having equivalent rank, had various 
 functions. 
 
 But in the course of the second century, although, 
 for the most part, the same names continue to be 
 used in the plural, one of them is appropriated to a 
 single officer, who evidently stands above the rest, 
 and in any enumeration of Church officers is mentioned 
 separately. 
 
 I have already suggested reasons for the fact that 
 this single officer had, as his ordinary designation, 
 one rather than another of the names by which Church 
 
 ' The exceptions .nre I Tim. 3. 2 ; Tit. i. 7 ; they are probably apparent rather 
 than real because the article is probably generic: but the question of its precise 
 significance has an important bearing on the wider question of the date of the 
 Epi-stles. 
 
The Supremacy of the Bishop. 83 
 
 officers had been known. I approach to-day the more 
 difficult question how it was that such a supremacy 
 came to exist. I approach this question with the 
 greater diffidence because a hypothesis has long been 
 current which does not admit of direct refutation, and 
 which assigns the origin of this quasi-monarchical 
 government to an institution of either our Lord 
 Himself or the Apostles acting mider His express 
 directions. But in spite of the venerable names by 
 which for many centuries, and in many Churches, this 
 hypothesis has been maintained, and in spite also of 
 the disadvantage under which any one labours who 
 declines the short and easy road which it seems to 
 offer, and winds his way through a dense undergrowth 
 of intricate facts, it is impossible, at least for some 
 of us, to accept the belief that the episcopate forms 
 an exception to the general course of the divine 
 government of the world, and to refrain from proceed- 
 ing to the enquiry whether any causes were in 
 operation which are adequate to account for its 
 supremacy, without resorting to thehypothesis of a 
 special and extraordinary institution. 
 
 I will ask you to look at two groups of facts : on 
 the one hand the organization of contemporary associa- 
 tions, on the other the internal condition of the 
 Christian communities themselves. 
 
 I, If we look at contemporary organizations, we find 
 that the tendency towards the institution of a president 
 was almost, if not altogether, universal. The evidence 
 for the existence of this tendency does not consist of 
 
 G 2 
 
84 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 a few facts, such as in a large mass of historical 
 records may be collected together in support of almost 
 any hypothesis : it is considerable in amount,, it is 
 various in character, it has no important exceptions. 
 Whether we look at the municipal councils, at the 
 private associations, religious and secular, with which 
 the East was honeycombed, at the provincial assem- 
 blies, at the boards of magistrates, at the administra- 
 tive councils of the Jews both in Palestine and in the 
 countries of the dispersion, or at the committees of 
 the municipal councils whose members sometimes bore 
 in common with the Christian and the Jewish councils 
 the name of ' elders' {Trpea-jBurepoi), we find in every 
 case evidence of the existence of a presiding officer ^. 
 
 ' The foDowing are inetanoes : i. in the municipal councils there was a PovKapxos 
 at Termessus, Corpus Inscr. Grace. No. 2264, at Branchidae, ibid. No. 2881, 
 at Aphrodisias, ihid. No. 2811, at Thyatira, ibid. No. 3494: a npia^m at 
 Sparta, Le Bas, Voyage ArchMogique, 2"° partie, ed. Foucart, No. I'Ji a: ii. in 
 the private associations, there was an apxKpaviffrfjs at Athens, C. I. G. No. 126 
 (= Corpus Inscr. Att. vol. iii. No. 23), an apxiBiaaiT-qs at Delos, ibid. No. 227i> * 
 TrpoariTrjs t^s aw6Sov ibid. No. 4893 in Upper Egypt: iii. in the provincial aeaem- 
 blies the president took his name from the province, e.g. Xvpii.px'qs of the president 
 of the Koivbv of Syria, Cod. Justin. 5. 27. i, BiSvviApxris of that of Bithynia, Le 
 Bas et Waddington, No. 1 142 (of. Marquardt, Bomisehe Staatsverwaltung, Bd. i. 
 p. 374, who gives a complete list of such presidents and identifies the office with 
 that of apxiepiiis : so Kuhu, Verfassung d. rom. Beichs, i" Th. pp. 106 sqq.) ; iv. 
 in boards of magistrates there was a irpeafiiis x^s avvapx'as and also a irpcafftis tSiv 
 i^6pwv at Sparta, in imperial times, and board is sometimes spoken of as oJ wf/ii 
 rbv SfTva, C. I. G. 1241, 1249, 1268, 1326, 1347, 1375 (of Bockh's note, ihid. vol. i. 
 p. 610) : V. in the Jewish councils there was a yepovffiipxris at Borne, C. I. G. 
 9902, and in Campania, Mommsen, Inscr. Eegn. Neap. No. 2555 (of. Sohiirer, Die 
 Gemeindeverfassung d. Juden in Bom, p. 18) ; vi, in the committees of municipal 
 councils there was an dpxiTpvTavis at Miletus and at Branchidae, C. I. G. Noa. 
 2878, 2881 : an dpxn'p60ov\os at Termessus, ibid. No. 4364 : and the office is 
 implied in the expression dp^avra tov wpeaPvTiicov at Chios and at Sinope, ibid. 
 Nos. 2220, 2221, 4157. It may be added to what is stated above that in Egypt 
 from the time of the Macedonian kings, every class of functionaries, small and 
 great, seems to have been organized on the basis of subordination to a chief officer : 
 for some instances see Bockh in the Corpus Inscr. Grace, vol. iii. p. 305. 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 85 
 
 Now althougli the existence of such a general drift 
 in contemporary organizations by no means proves that 
 the Christian communities were borne along with it, 
 still it establishes a basis of probability for the in- 
 ference that communities which were so largely in 
 harmony with those organizations in other respects, 
 were in harmony with them also in this. The in- 
 ference is strengthened by the fact that the localities 
 in which there is the earliest contemporary evidence 
 for the existence of a president, are also the localities 
 in which the evidence for the existence of a president 
 in other organizations is most complete. Both the one 
 and the other are chiefly found in the great cities, 
 and in the East even more than in the West. So 
 strong is the inference when the facts are closely 
 examined, that if we did not know as a matter of 
 history that the Christian Churches did come to have 
 a single head, it would be as necessary to account for 
 the non-existence of such a head, as it would be in 
 modem times to account for the singularity of a newly- 
 formed group of associations which had neither presi- 
 dent, nor governor, nor chairman. 
 
 2. If we look at the internal condition of the 
 Christian communities, we shall see that several causes 
 were at work to foster that which, if it be not inherent 
 in all societies, was at any rate the dominant tendency 
 of all societies at the time. Whether we look at 
 them in their eleemosynary character as communities 
 in which the widows and poor were supported from 
 a common fund, or in their disciplinary character as 
 communities which were bound together by the tie of 
 
86 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 a holy life and in which moral offences were strictly- 
 judged, or in their character as communities which 
 met together for public worship and required in such 
 public worship some rule and leadership, in any of 
 these characters there would be, as time went on, a 
 convenience which in large communities would almost 
 amount to a necessity, for a centralized administration 
 — for at least a chairman of the governing body. 
 
 There are, besides these antecedent probabilities, two 
 groups of known causes which operated in the same 
 direction. 
 
 I. In the first place, there were some cases in which 
 an Apostle had been supreme during his lifetime, and in 
 which the tradition of personal supremacy lingered after 
 his death : there were others in which the oversight of a 
 community had been specially entrusted by an Apostle 
 to some one officer : there were others in which special 
 powers or special merits gave to some one man a pre- 
 dominant influence. Rome, Antioch, Ephesus, are ex- 
 amples of such cases. It is, indeed, wholly uncertain 
 how far they are typical : and there is a probability 
 that, where such supremacy existed, it was personal 
 rather than official, inasmuch as those who exercised 
 it do not appear to have had as such any distinguishing 
 appellation. In later times they were entitled ' bishops : ' 
 the Clementines speak of James, 'the Lord's brother, 
 as ' archbishop ' and ' bishop of bishops ' : ' the sub- 
 scriptions of some versions and late MSS. of the Pas- 
 
 ' Clementin. Becog. i. 73 'Jacobus archiepisoopus ' (so in later times, e.g. Cono. 
 Ephes. 0. 30 'Ia«di0ov &Troar6Km> Kcd apxiemaicSwov) : Epist, Clem, ad Jacob, insor. 
 
IV.] The Stipremacy of the Bishop. 87 
 
 toral Epistles speak of Timothy and Titus as ' bishops ' 
 respectively jof Ephesus and Crete * : but there is no 
 early evidence of the use of these titles in this relation ^ : 
 and on the other hand Irenaeus calls Polycarp indif- 
 ferently ' bishop ' and ' presbyter « : ' and, what is even 
 more significant, in a formal letter to the head of the 
 Eoman Church, in which, from the circumstances of 
 the case, he would be least likely to omit any form 
 of either right or courtesy, he speaks of his predecessors 
 by name as ' presbyters ''.' 
 
 2. In the second place, there is clear proof of the 
 existence of a theory of the nature of ecclesiastical 
 organization which, from the fact of its persistent 
 survival after a counter-theory had taken its place, 
 may be supposed to have had a strong hold upon the 
 communities among which it existed. To the writer 
 
 * The earliest MS. which does so is probably the Codex Coislensis of the sixth 
 century : the version which does so is the Peschito : the statement which contains 
 the word is omitted in the greater MSS. and in the early Latin versions. 
 
 ° The earliest use of the word with a definite reference to an individual is the 
 inscription of the letter of Ignatius to Polycarp : 'lyvdrios, 6 Kal @co(p6pos, lioXvK&pvtji 
 imaK6irw kKKKrjalas Sfivpvaiav: but the absence of the definite article, and the 
 inscription of Polycarp'a own letter, Ilo\vfcapTTOs xal oi avv avT& TrpeffPvT€pot, are 
 inconsistent with the hypothesis that the word was already specially appropriated 
 to the head of the community. The next earliest use of the word is probably also 
 in reference to Polycarp in the letter of Polycrates to Victor, ap. Euseb. H. E. 5. 
 24. It is worthy of note, i. that these earliest uses are in reference to officers of 
 the Asiatic Churches, i. e. in the neighbourhood of communities in which imaicoitos 
 was already a title of certain secular officers (see Lecture II, notes 26, 28) : ii. that 
 Hegesippus does not give any title to the heads of the Eoman church. 
 
 ' S. Iren. Epist. ad Florin, ap. Euseb. H.E. 5. 20. 7, 6 pumiptos Kal awo<rTo\is6s 
 irpeafivT^pos: adv. Haeres. 3. 3. 4 inr& rSiv a.iToaT6\oiv KtnaaraBih . . . kwi- 
 
 (TKOTTOS. 
 
 ' S. Iren. Epist. ad Victor, ap. Euseb. H. E. 5. 24. 14 ol irpb 'SaiTJJpos irpeirPiTepoi 
 01 TrpoffrdvTes ttjs iKKXrjaias §s crtr vvv cupTjyy, 'AviKTjTOV Kiyop,er/ Koi liiqv k.t.K. So 
 late as the third century, the extant epitaphs of Roman bishops do not give the title 
 episcopus : De Rossi, Bulletino di Archeologia Christ, ann. ii. 1864, p. 50. 
 
88 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 of the Ignatian Epistles eacli organized community of 
 Christians is a perfect reflex of the whole Church of 
 God. It is a pure theocracy. In our Lord's own 
 lifetime He Himself had been the visible head of that 
 Kingdom of Heaven which He preached : His Apostles 
 had stood round Him as His ministers — the twelve 
 heads and patriarchs of the tribes of the new Israel : 
 the rest of the disciples — the new people of God — had 
 listened and obeyed. So it was still : the bishop sat 
 in the Lord's place : the presbyters were what the 
 Apostles had been: it was for the rest of the com- 
 munity to listen and to obey^ Upon this theory of 
 ecclesiastical organization the existence of a president 
 was a necessity: and the theory seems to go back 
 to the very beginnings of the Christian societies. For 
 in those beginnings the Kingdom of God was realized 
 in a concrete sense as the Kingdom of David. In the 
 infant commimity at Jerusalem after the Lord had 
 been ' taken up,' James, as being His kinsman and the 
 next earthly representative of the royal house, presided 
 in His stead " : on the death of James another ' brother' 
 was appointed to succeed him i° : other kinsmen of 
 the Lord, as being His kinsmen, presided in other 
 Churches ^^ : and so the idea that the new Kingdom of 
 David should have at its head one of David's line, until 
 the Messiah should return to reign, remained as a fun- 
 
 * S. Ignat. ad Magn. 6. i. 
 
 ' Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. S. E. 2. 23. 4: Clem. Alex. ibid. 2. i. 3. 
 
 x' Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. E. E. z- 32 (of Symeon), 'as being a descendant of 
 David and a Christian ' : id. ap. Euseb. S. E. 4. 22 ' Symeon the son of Clopas 
 is appointed bishop, whom all proposed as being the next cousin of the Lord : ' so 
 ibid. 3. II. 
 
 " Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. E. E. 3. 20. 32. 
 
IV.] The S2ipremacy of the Bishop. 89 
 
 damental idea of Judaeo-Christian organization, vintU 
 the long-delayed Parousia seemed almost to vanish in 
 the far horizon of the unrealized future, and the de- 
 solation of the royal city began to turn men's thoughts 
 from Jerusalem to Eome ^^. 
 
 These facts, and these general considerations of pro- 
 babihty, seem adequate to account for the fact that 
 the Christian communities were borne along with the 
 general drift of contemporary organizations, and that 
 the council of presbyters had a permanent president ^^. 
 They also seem to account for the fact that the func- 
 tions of that council of presbyters, as described by 
 Clement and Polycarp, are the same in kind as the 
 functions of the bishop as described in the Ignatian 
 Epistles. But they are all compatible with the view 
 
 '^ The importance to the Christian Church of the fall of Jerusalem (for the com' 
 pleteness of which see especially Aristo ap. Euseb. H. E. 4. 6. 3, S. Hieron. Comm. 
 in Sophon. c. I. 15, vol. vi. p. 692, ed. Vail., S. Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 6, c. 18, vol. 
 i. p. 191, ed. Ben.) was to some extent recognized by Jerome {Bpist. 120 ad Hedih. 
 c. 8, vol. i. p. 27), and has frequently been pointed out by modem writers, e.g. 
 G-frorer, Allgemeine Kirchengeschichte, Bd. i. p. 253, Eothe, Vorlesungen ilber Kir 
 chengeschichte, ed. Weingarten, Bd. i. pp. 75 sqq. 
 
 ^^ It is not meant to be implied that, at least after the episcopal system had 
 become firmly established, the bishop was himself always a presbyter : it is clear 
 not only that there was an absence of the later rule which required a bishop to be 
 elected from the body of presbyters, or to be formally admitted to the presbyterate 
 before being invested with the episcopate, but also that a man might be appointed 
 bishop at an earlier age than was allowable for a presbyter : this is the point of 
 Jerome's argument against .John of Jerusalem {Epist. 82 (62), vol. i. p. 516, ed. 
 Vail.) : and there is probably a reference to it in the disputed phrase vfarepav r&^iv 
 of S. Ignat. ad Magn. 3. i (cf. Zahn's philological arguments in his Ignatius von 
 Antiochien, pp. 305 sqq.). The distinction between administrative officers and the 
 members of a deliberative assembly was familiar to the Roman world: in the muni- 
 cipal councils the administrative officers not only had a seat but presided ; but they 
 were only ex officio members of those councils, and at the next revision of the roll, 
 after the expiration of their terra of office, they might be excluded (cf. Marquardt, 
 Bomische Staatsverwaltung, Bd. i. pp. 503 sqq.). 
 
90 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect, 
 
 that the early bishop stood to his presbyters in the 
 relation of a dean to the canons of a cathedral, or 
 of the chairman to the ordinary members of a com- 
 mittee. They do not account for the fact that the 
 bishops of the third and subsequent centuries claimed 
 for themselves exceptional powers, and that the rela- 
 tion of primacy ultimately changed into a relation 
 of supremacy. 
 
 The causes of that important change seem to lie 
 in a wholly different set of facts, into which it is ne- 
 cessary to enter at somewhat greater length. 
 
 Before the close of the Apostolic age Christianity 
 had come into contact with various large tendencies 
 of contemporary thought. Its first contact was with 
 the great school of fantastic syncretism which had 
 grown up within Judaism itself, and which has left 
 a considerable monument in the works of Philo. To 
 that school aU facts past and present were an allegory. 
 Nothing was what it seemed to be, but was the symbol 
 of the unapparent. The history of the Old Testament 
 was sublimated into a history of the emancipation of 
 reason from passion. If Abel was described as a keeper 
 of sheep, the meaning was that moral wisdom keeps 
 the irrational impulses under control ^*. If Israel was 
 described as warring against Amalek, the meaning was 
 that when reason lifts itself up away from earth, as 
 Moses lifted up his hands, it is strengthened by the 
 vision of God ^^. If Abraham was described as migrating 
 from Chaldaea to Canaan, the meaning was that wisdom 
 
 " Philo, i. p. 170, ed. Mang. " ihid. p. 124. 
 
IV.] The Stipremacy of the Bishop. 91 
 
 leaves the prejudices and crude ideas of its original 
 state, and seeks a new home among the realities of 
 abstract thought". To those who thought thus, the 
 records of the Gospels were so much new matter for 
 allegorical interpretation. To the lower intelligence, 
 to the eye of sense, Christ was a Person who had 
 lived and died and ascended : and the Christian com- 
 munities were the visible assemblies of His followers : 
 and the Christian virtues were certain habits of mind 
 which showed themselves in deeds. But to the spiritual 
 mind, to the eye of reason, all these things were like the 
 phantasmagoria of the mysteries. The recorded deeds 
 of Christ were the clash and play of mighty spiritual 
 forces : the Christian Church was" an emanation from 
 God : the Christian virtues were phases of intellectual 
 enlightenment which had but slender, if any, links with 
 deeds done in the flesh. Before long the circle widened 
 in which Christian ideas were rationalized. Chris- 
 tianity found itself in contact not merely with mys- 
 teries but with metaphysics. But they were the meta- 
 physics of ' wonderland.' Abstract conceptions seemed 
 to take bodily shape, and to form strange marriages, 
 and to pass in and out of one another like the dissolving 
 scenery of a dream. There grew up a new mythology, 
 in which Zeus and Aphrodite, Isis and Osiris, were 
 replaced by Depth and Silence, Wisdom and Power. 
 Christianity ceased to be a rehgion and became a 
 theosophy. It ceased to be a doctrine and became 
 a Platonic poem. It ceased to be a rule of life and 
 became a system of the universe. It was transferred 
 
 '^ Philo, i. pp. 436, 437, ed. Mang. 
 
92 The Supranacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 from the world of human action in which it had seemed 
 to have its birth into a supersensuous world of unim- 
 aginable vastness, and its truths were no longer fixed 
 facts of faith and life, but the gorgeous, and shift- 
 ing, and unsubstantial pageantry of the clouds of an 
 autumn sky ^■'. 
 
 The transfer seems to us as paradoxical as the 
 attempt of some philosophers of our own day to con- 
 struct a Church Catholic, with a priesthood and a 
 ritual, upon the basis of a negation of the religious 
 idea. But it was an age of paradoxes : and for a time 
 the paradox seemed likely to triumph. The contact 
 of Christianity with philosophy raised, in short, a pro- 
 blem which was not less fundamental in its bearing 
 upon Christian organization than it was in its bearing 
 \ipon Christian teachmg. It was admitted on all sides 
 that Christianity had its starting-point in certain facts 
 and certain sayings : but if any and every interpre- 
 
 " The evidence for the opinions of the various schools of Gnostics has mostly to 
 be gathered from the quotations of their writings by their opponents, especially 
 Irenaeus and Hippolytus: the only complete Gnostic treatise which has come down 
 to modern times is a late Valentinian work entitled Tl'iari-i Xoipia, of which the 
 Coptic text, with a Latin translation, was published by Schwartz and Petermann 
 in 1851. The modern literature of the subject is extensive: the first clear view 
 was given by Baur, Die christliche Gnosis, and Geschichte der chrUtliclien Kircke, 
 Ed. i. (Eng. Trans, published in the Theological Translation Fund Library, 1878 
 pp. 184 sqq.) : the best general view is that of Lipsius in Ersch and Gruber's Allgem. 
 EncycloiKidie, s.v. Gnosticismus, vol. Ixxi. pp. 230 sqq. (since printed separately), 
 and the most accurate of shorter summaries, with valuable bibliographical refer- 
 ences, that of XJeberweg, Gnmdrhs der Geschichte der Philosophie (Eng. Trans, 
 in the Theological and Philosophical Library, vol. i. pp. 280-290). English read- 
 ers will also find some valuable information in Dean Mansel'a posthumous work, 
 The Giwstic heresies of the first and second centuries, London, 1875, and in Dr. 
 Salmon's articles in the Dictionary of Christian Biography, especially s.v. Gnosti- 
 cism : Mr. King's The Gnostics and their remains, London, 1864, is useful for the 
 information which it collects as to the Eastern affinities, and possible sources, of 
 Gnosticism. 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 93 
 
 tation of those facts and those sayings was possible, 
 if any system of philosophy might be taught into 
 which the words which expressed them could be woven, 
 it is clear that there could be but little cohesion 
 between the members of its communities. It was 
 practically impossible to form, at least on any con- 
 siderable scale, an association which should have for 
 its intellectual basis free speculation about the un- 
 knowable, and for its moral basis a creed which should 
 embrace all possible varieties from the extreme of 
 asceticism to absolute indifference ". The problem 
 arose and pressed for an answer — What should be the 
 basis of Christian union \ But the problem was for 
 a time insoluble. For there was no standard and no 
 court of appeal. It was useless to argue from the 
 Scriptures that this or that system of philosophy was 
 inconsistent with them, because one of the chief ques- 
 tions to be determined was whether the Scriptures 
 did or did not admit of allegorical or philosophical 
 interpretation. In our own day, it is true, the answer 
 to such a question seems easy : but in those days the 
 temper of many men was towards allegorizing, and 
 mysticism was a prevailing attitude of mind. If 
 Homer could furnish texts and proofs for Platonic 
 lectures, the Gospels could furnish texts and proofs 
 for Gnostic sermons. So hopeless was this kind of 
 
 '' Gnostic morality, like the morality of all systems whicli press to an extreme 
 the antithesis between the material and the spiritual elements of human nature, 
 necessarily took a double direction : on the one hand it tended to repress the 
 material element and so became ascetic (an extreme which is found in the Encra- 
 titae), on the other it tended to regard the material element as indifferent and so 
 became antinomian (an extreme which is found in the Antitactae). 
 
94 The Supi^emacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 controversy that TertuUian deprecates it : ' incerta est 
 victoria aut par incertae ^^.' It v^as equally useless to 
 appeal to a rule of faith — to the rudimentary form 
 of creed which entered into the ritual of baptism : 
 for those who admitted a rule of faith claimed the 
 same liberty in its interpretation which they claimed 
 in the interj^retation of the Scriptures : Carpocrates, 
 BasUides, and Valentinus all traced back their opinions 
 to an esoteric and transmitted teaching, which was 
 both more valuable than any written formula, and 
 more authoritative ^''. 
 
 The crisis was one the gravity of which it would 
 be difficult to overestimate. There have been crises 
 since in the history of Christianity, but there is none 
 which equals in importance this upon the issue of 
 which it depended, for all time to come, whether 
 
 " TertuU. !)>' praescr. liaeret. 19. 
 
 ^^ There were three main points at issue : i. the determination of the canon of 
 the Christian Scriptures : Basilides (Origen, Horn. I in Lac. vol. iii. p. 933, ed. De 
 La Hue : Apelles (S. Hieron, Prolog, in Matt. vol. vii. p. 3, ed. Vail.) : Valentinus 
 S. Iren. 3. 11. 9); Marcion (Tertul adv. Marcion., passim), all admitted some 
 Gospel or other, but not, at least in their integrity, our canonical Gospels : ii. the 
 determination of the terms of the ' regula fidei : ' Marcion (Tertull. adv. Marcion, 
 I. l), and other Gnostics (S. Iren. 3. II. 3) had their 'regulae fidei' (that of Apelles 
 is preserved by Hippolytue, 7. 9), which differed not only from the orthodox rule 
 but from one another (S. Iren. I. 21. 5, Tert. De pracsc. liaeret. 42) : iii. the deter- 
 mination of the true and the false tradition of Apostolic teaching ; Carpocrates 
 (S. Iren. I. 25. 5) : Basilides (S. Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. 17, p. 900, ed. Pott.) : the 
 Valentinians (Ptolemaeus, Epist. ad Floram, ap. S. Epiphan. Saeres. 33. 7). and 
 others (S. Iren. 3. 2. i : Anon. ap. Euseb. E. E. i,. 28. 3 : Justin JM. c. Tryph. 48 : 
 TertuU. adv. Prax. 3 ; see especially IltVTis ^ocpia, p. i, which makes great account 
 of the teaching of Christ after His resurrection), maintained that what they 
 taught had been transmitted to them from the Apostles. The difficulty of this 
 latter controversy was even greater than that of the other two, because the prin- 
 ciple of an esoteric and therefore unverifiable yvuiirts was admitted by some orthodox 
 writers, especially by Clement of Alexandria (cf. e.g. Dahne, De yvwan Clementis 
 Alexandrini, Leipsig, 1S31). 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 95 
 
 Christianity should be regarded as a body of revealed 
 doctrine, or the caput mortuum of a hundred philo- 
 sophies — whether the basis of Christian organization 
 should be a definite and definitely interpreted creed, 
 or a chaos of speculations. But great crises give birth 
 to great conceptions. There is a kind of unconscious 
 logic in the minds of masses of men, when great 
 questions are abroad, which some one thinker throws 
 into form. The form which the ' common sense,' so to 
 speak, of Christendom took upon this great question 
 is one which is so familiar to us that we find it difficult 
 to go back to a time when it was not yet in being. 
 Its first elaboration and setting forth was due to one 
 man's genius. With great rhetorical force and dia- 
 lectical subtlety, Irenaeiis, the bishop of the chief 
 Christian Church in Gaul, maintained that the standard 
 of Christian teaching was the teaching of the Churches 
 which the Apostles had founded, — which teaching he 
 held to be on all essential points the same ^^. He main- 
 tained the existence, and he asserted the authority, of 
 a fides catholica — the general belief of the Christian 
 Churches — which was also the fides apostoUca — the 
 belief which the Apostles had taught ^^. To th&t fides 
 catholica et apostoUca all individual opinions and in- 
 terpretations were to be referred : such as were in 
 
 ^^ The argument runs through the whole of the treatise : reference may be made 
 especially to Bk, 3. 2 : 4. 26. 
 
 ''' The phrases ' fides catholica ' and ' fides apostoUca ' are probably later than 
 Irenaeus : but they came to be adopted as the technical expressions for that for 
 which he contended. The former of the two phrases seems to be first used in the 
 martyrologies : 'catholica fides et leiigio,' Mart. Pion. 18, ap. Ruinart, p. 137: 
 'fides catholica,' Mart. Epipod. et Alex. 3, ap. Ruinart, p. 149 ; of. Gorres in the 
 Zeitschrift f. mssenschaftl. Theologie, 1879, ^'^- ^"^'^ P- 74 sqq. 
 
g6 The S^ipremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 conformity with it were to be received as Christian, 
 such as differed from it were atperiKul — not the general 
 or traditional belief of the Christian Churches, but 
 the belief of only a sect or party. In this view, which 
 was already in the air, the Christian world gradually 
 acquiesced : henceforth there was a standard of appeal : 
 henceforth there was a definite basis of union. 
 
 Thus were the Christian communities saved from 
 disintegration. Upon the basis of a Catholic and Apo- 
 stolic faith was built the sublime superstructure of a 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church ^^. But in the building 
 of that superstructure there arose a concurrent and not 
 less important question, — how was the teaching of the 
 Churches to be known, and who were its conservators ? 
 Already in the Rabbinical schools stress had been laid 
 upon the fact that there had been a succession of 
 Eabbis from Moses downwards, who had handed on 
 from generation to generation the sacred deposit of 
 divine truth ^*. It might reasonably be supposed that 
 in the Christian Churches there had been a similar 
 tradition from one generation of officers to another : that, 
 in other words, the Apostles had definitely taught those 
 whom they had appointed, or recognized, as officers, 
 and what had been so taught had been preserved by 
 
 ^ The phrase ij Ka6o\iKTj eicKXrjala oocura first in S. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 8. 2, 
 though probably in a different sense from that which it afterwards acquired : it is 
 also found in Mart. Polijc. 19. 2, and in the Muratorian Fragment, lines 61, 66. 
 It is not found in Irenaeus, though equivalent phrases are frequent, but is found 
 in both TertulUan and Clement of Alexandria : see Harnack on the Symbolum 
 Ecclesiae Bomanae in Gebhardt and H.'s Patrum Apod, Op. ed. ii. part i. fasc. 2, 
 p. 141 : and Keim, Aus dem Urchristenthum, p. 115. 
 
 " PiVge Aholh, e.g. I. i (ed. Taylor, of. Excursus, ii. p. 124). 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 97 
 
 those wlio had succeeded those officers. But those 
 officers were in all, or if not in all at least in a great 
 majority of Chtu'ches, more than one in number : and 
 it is evident, from the nature of the case, that there 
 was an element of danger in thus entrusting the sacred 
 deposit of Apostolic teaching in each community to a 
 plurality of persons, and that as the number of officers 
 multiplied in a community the danger would be pro- 
 portionately greater. The necessity for unity was 
 supreme : and the unity in each community must be 
 absolute. But such an absolute unity could only be 
 secured when the teacher was a single person. That 
 single person was naturally the president of the com- 
 munity. Consequently in the Clementines, for the 
 first time, the president of the community is regaided 
 in the light of the custodian of the rule of faith — 
 in express distinction from the presbyters who are 
 entrusted only with that which is relative to their 
 main functions — the teaching of the maxims of Chris- 
 tian morahty'-^. The point was not at once universally 
 conceded ; but in the course of the third century it 
 seems to have won its way to general recognition. 
 The supremacy of the bishop and unity of doctrine 
 were conceived as going hand in hand : the bishop was 
 conceived as having what Irenaeus calls the ' charisma 
 veritatis ^^^ ; ' the bishop's seat was conceived as being, 
 what St. Augustine calls it, the ' cathedra unitatis 2' ; ' 
 
 '^^ Clementin. Uecoy. 3. 65. ^^ S. Iren. 4. 26. 2. 
 
 '" S. August. EgUi. 105 (166) c. 6, Op. ed. Migne, vol. ii. 403 : 'ueque enim 
 sua sunt quae dicunt sed Dei qui in cathedra unitatia dootrinam posuit veritatis ' 
 so in the Clementines Peter entrusts to Clement r^v efifiv rav \6yaiy KaBedpav, and 
 afterwards speaks of him as rdv a.\riSeias TrpoKaOt^ufitvov, Epist. Clem, ad Jacob, c. 2. 
 
 H 
 
98 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 and round the episcopal ofiSce revolved the whole vast 
 system, not only of Christian administration and Chris- 
 tian organization, but also of Christian doctrine. 
 
 If I may now recall your attention to the problem 
 which was originally proposed, I venture to think that 
 adequate causes have been found not only for the 
 existence of a president, but also for his supremacy, 
 without resorting to what is not a known fact, but only 
 a counter-hypothesis — the hypothesis of a special insti- 
 tution. The episcopate grew by the force of circum- 
 stances, in the order of Providence, to satisfy a felt 
 need. It is pertinent to add that this view as to the 
 chief cause which operated to produce it has not the 
 merit or demerit of novelty. Although the view must 
 rest upon its own inherent probability as a complete 
 explanation of the known facts of the case, it has the 
 support of the earhest and greatest of ecclesiastical 
 antiquaries. St. Jerome, arguing against the growing 
 tendency to exalt the diaconate at the expense of the 
 presbyterate, maintains that the Churches were origin- 
 ally governed by a plurality of presbyters, but that in 
 course of time one was elected to preside over the rest 
 as a remedy against division, lest different presbyters, 
 having different views of doctrine, should, by each of 
 them drawing a portion of the community to himself, 
 cause divisions in it ^^. 
 
 The supremacy of a single officer which was thus 
 
 '» S. Hieron. Hinst. 146 (85) ad Evang, vol. i. p. 1082, ed. Vail. : so also Dial. c. 
 Lucif. c. 9, vol. ii. p. 181, ' Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet, 
 ciii si non exsors quaedam et ab omnibus detur potestas, tot in eoclesiis efScientur 
 schismata quot sacerdotes : ' cf. Comm. in Ep ad Tit. c. i. vol. vii. p. 694. 
 
iv.] The Sii.pre7nacy of the Bishop. 99 
 
 forced upon the Churches by the necessity for unity 
 of doctrine, was consolidated by the necessity for unity 
 of discipline. 
 
 Early in the third century rose the question of 
 readmission to membership of those who had fallen 
 into grievous sin, or who had shrunk from martyrdom. 
 For many years there had been comparative peace. 
 In those years the gates of the Church had been opened 
 wider than before. The sterner discipline had been 
 relaxed. Christianity was not illegal, and was tending 
 to become fashionable. On a sudden the flames of 
 persecution shot fiercely forth again. The professors 
 of Christian philosophy defended the policy of sub- 
 mission on the theological ground that Christ did not 
 call on all men to be partakers of His sufferings in 
 the flesh ^l The fashionable church-goers accepted the 
 easy terms which the state ofifered to those who were 
 wflling to acknowledge the state religion. Those who 
 did not actually offer incense on heathen altars made 
 friends with the police, purchased false certificates of 
 having complied with the law, or bribed the officers of 
 the courts to strike their names out of the cause-list ^''. 
 When the persecution was over, many of the ' lapsed,' 
 
 '^ The Gnostic schools, with the exception of the Marcionites (Euseb. Jl. E. 4. 
 15. 46 : 5. 16, 21 : 7. 12 : De Mart. Pal. 10. 2) discouraged martyrdom on both 
 the ground mentioned above and other grounds : see e.g. Heracleon ap. Clem. Al. 
 Strom. 4. g. p. 595, ed. Pott. : Origen, Horn, in Ezcch. 3. vol. iii. p. 366 : S. Iren. 
 I. 24. 6 : 3. 18. 5 : Tertull. Scorpiace passim. 
 
 ^° Tertull. Df Fuga in Persec. 12, ' Tu autem pro eo pacisceria cum delatore vel 
 milite vel furunculo aliquo praeside': ihid. 13 'nescio doleudum an erubesoendum 
 eit cum in matricibus beneficiariorum [i.e. court officers] et curiosiorura [i.e. detec- 
 tive police] inter tabernarios et lenios et fures balneorum et aleonea et lenones, 
 Christiani quoque vectigales continentur.' For the * libelli,* or false certificates, 
 cf. e.g. S. Cyprian, Epist. 30 (31), c. 3, p. 550 ; De Lapsie, 27. p. 256. 
 
 U 2 
 
loo The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 as they were called, wished to come back again. The 
 path had become easy: for martj^dom was a new 
 beatitude". The baptism of blood seemed to have 
 vicarious merit : and even those who stood upon the 
 lower steps of that sure stairway into heaven seemed 
 entitled to claim some remission of the sins of a weaker 
 brother ^2. The privilege, like the ' indulgences ' of the 
 Koman Church in later times, was singularly abused. 
 Some of those who had undergone the bare minimum 
 of imprisonment which entitled them to be ranked as 
 confessors gave ' libelh,' or certificates of exemption, by 
 wholesale. At one time, as we learn from Cyprian, the 
 confessors in a body gave them to the whole body of 
 the lapsed ^^. The scandal of the practice was increased 
 by an innovation upon the mode of readmission. In 
 earlier days each separate case came for judgment before 
 the whole Chiirch. The certificate of a confessor was 
 of the nature of an appeal which the Church might 
 upon occasion reject ^*. But persecution sometimes ren- 
 
 ^^ Of. e.g. Origen's Exhortatio ad Martyrium, Op. ed. De La Rue, i. 274 sqq. : 
 the treatise De Laude Martyrii sometimes, erroneously, ascribed to Cyprian and 
 printed with his works (ed. Hartel, Appendix, pp. 26 sqq.) : and the expressions 
 of martyrs themselves in e.g. St. Cyprian, Epist. 31 (26), c. 3, p. 559. It was 
 regarded as cleansing a man from sin (e.g. Clem. Alex. Strom. 4. 9, p. 597); it was 
 the true 'cup of salvation' (Origen, Exhort, ad Mart. 28), and as opening heaven 
 (' sanguini nostro patet coelum . . . et inter omnium gloriam pulohrior sanguinis 
 titulus est et integrior corona signatur,' Auct. De Laude Mart. 9). 
 
 ''^ Cf. Origen's Exhort, ad MaH. 30 vol. i. p. 293; 50 vol. i. p. 309, where the 
 sufferings of martyrs are represented as having, though in a less degree, the same 
 kind of efBoacy as the sufferings of Christ: Tertull. De Pudic. 22. represents 
 * moechi ' and ' fornicatores' as going to one who has been recently imprisoned, ' ex 
 consensione (ciL confessione) vincula induit adhuc nioUia,' to obtain his intercession. 
 
 ■' S. Cyprian, i?/j!'st. 23 (16), p. 536: so Ejji St. 20 (14), p. 528, ' then sands of cer- 
 tificates were given every day.' 
 
 =' This is implied in S. Cyprian, Epist. 36 (30), p. 574: 15 (10), p. 513 ; 17 
 (11), p. 521 : 43 (40), p. 592 ; but the form of the appeal which Celerinus makes 
 
IV.] The Sttpremacy of tlie Bishop. loi 
 
 dered it impossible for the Church to be gathered 
 together. The Church-officers took it upon themselves 
 to act for the general body. They readmitted the 
 lapsed without consulting the assembly^''. That which 
 had begun in a time of emergency tended to become 
 a rule in a time of peace. The sterner sort looked 
 on with dismay. The pure spouse of Christ was in 
 peril of her virginity. The Churches for which some 
 of them had sacrificed all they had were beginning 
 to be filled with the weak brethren who had preferred 
 dishonour to death. They were like Noah's ark, into 
 which unclean as well as clean had entered ^°. There 
 was a long and determined controversy. The extreme 
 party maintained that under no circumstances was one 
 who had lapsed to be readmitted ^'. At one time this 
 view tended to prevail : but, as in almost all contro- 
 versies, that which did prevail was the spirit of com- 
 promise. It was agreed on all sides that readmissions 
 must not be indiscriminate : if the earlier usage of 
 submitting each case to the tribunal of the whole 
 assembly were impossible, at any rate individual pres- 
 byters and deacons must not act without the knowledge 
 and approval of the president ^*. The rule was in many 
 
 to Lucianus, ibid. 21 (20), p. 532, implies that there was also a tendency to treat 
 the martyrs' certificate as a final remission. 
 
 '' This is shown by the strong remonstrances of Cyprian against the practice : 
 e.g. Epist. 15 (10), p. 514 ; 16 (9), p. 517 : 17 (11), p. 522 : 41 (38), p. 588 ; 59 
 (65), p. 682 : 61 (58), p. 730. 
 
 '' S. Hippol. Mefat. omn. haeres. 9. 12. p. 460, ed. Dimok. et Schneid. 
 
 ^' There was at first the compromise that although one who had ' lapsed ' should 
 be excluded from communion during his active lifetime, he might be readmitted at 
 the point of death : but at last the party at Rome, of which Novatian was the head, 
 refused even this concession (S. Cyprian, Epist. 55 (56), 57 (54) : Euseb. S. E. 6. 
 
 43). 
 
 2' Not only a uniform tradition of doctrine, but also a uniform tradition of 
 
I02 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 cases resisted : it frequently required formal reenact- 
 ment ^^ : but it ultimately became so general that the 
 bishops came to claim the right of readmitting peni- 
 tents, not in their capacity as presidents of the com- 
 munity, but as an inherent function of the episcopate. 
 
 In this way it was that the supremacy of the bishops, 
 wliich had been founded on the necessity for unity of 
 doctrine, was consolidated by the necessity for unity 
 of discipline. 
 
 It was a natural effect of the same causes, and it 
 forms an additional proof of their existence, that a 
 rule should grow up that there should be only one 
 bishop in a community. The rule was not firmly 
 established until the third century. Its general recog- 
 nition was the outcome of the dispute between Cyprian 
 and Novatian. That dispute was one of the collateral 
 results of the controversy, of which I have just now 
 been speaking, in reference to the readmission of the 
 lapsed. Novatian was the head of the puritan party 
 in Rome. He was a theologian whose orthodoxy is 
 expressly admitted by Cyprian himself, and who had 
 done good service *•*. When, after a vacancy of some 
 
 disuiiiline, was better preserved by a single person than by a plurality of persons. 
 The bishop was the depositary of the traditionary rules of discipline : and it ii on 
 this fact that the Clementines base his special relation to it ; Clementin. i?/^/y/. ad 
 Jacob. 2 h-qaei b hit b^BTjvai koX Kva^i u Set XvOrjvaL ws r^y kfCKX-qaias etSwj 
 Kavova : so ibid. 4 iis dioi/ijjaiv kKKXi(Tias Trap €/xov jxi^aBrjicws. 
 
 ^^ e.g. in the Spanish Councils of Elvira, c. 32, 2 Seville, c. 9, the Galilean Coun- 
 cils of Orange, c. i, 2 Aries, c. 26, the African Councils, 2 C.arth. c. 3, 4, 3 Carth. c. 
 32 : but the Greek rule, according to the Poeiiitentiiile Theodori, 2.3.8, ed. Haddan 
 and Stubbs' Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, vol. ill. p. 1S8, allowed a pres- 
 byter to act without a bishop. 
 
 *° He had been the organ of the Roman Church in writing to Cyprian the letter 
 which is printed among those of Cyprian, Epist. 30 (31), p. 549 : liia Liber de 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 103 
 
 duration in the Roman episcopate, a bishop was elected 
 Avho belonged to the anti-puritan party, and who 
 formally accepted the principle that in the Church 
 there must be a mingling of good and bad, the puritan 
 party resolved to have a bishop of their own, and 
 elected Novatian. All the elements of a valid election 
 were present. Under ordinary circumstances, or in 
 a newly organized community, the election would have 
 been unchallenged. There was only one point in which 
 it was exceptional. That exceptional point was that 
 Eome already possessed a complete organization. The 
 question arose whether it was competent, under any 
 circumstances, for a new organization to be established 
 side by side with an existing organization in the same 
 city. The question does not seem to have been raised 
 before : and in Asia Minor, in Syria, and in Africa 
 Novatian's election was for a time held to be valid *^ 
 But, with the far-sightedness of a great politician, 
 Cyprian saw the bearings of the question on Christian 
 organization. He used the whole weight of his 
 influence, and the whole force of his vehement rhetoric, 
 to maintain that, the election of Cornelius having been 
 vaHd, the election of Novatian was null. The con- 
 troversy was keen, but in the end Cyprian prevailed. 
 
 Trinitate is printed in Gallandi, vol. iv. and Migne P. L. vol. iii : his orthodoxy 
 is admitted in detail by Cyprian, Epist. 69 (76), 0. 7, p. 756. 
 
 *^ Novatian seems to have written an encyclical letter announcing both his elec- 
 tion and bis policy on the question of the readmission of the lapsed (Socrat. H. E. 
 4. 28), In Asia Minor some churches sided with him strongly and permanently 
 (Socrat. ibid. : Sozom. H. E. 6. 24). In Syria he would probably have been for- 
 mally recognized by a council at Antioch, but for the death of Fabius (this is 
 implied by Euseh. S, E. 6, 46) : that he was not without adherents in Africa is 
 shown, e.g. by Cyprian's letter to Antonianus, Epist. 55 (52), p. 625. 
 
104 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 The necessity for unity outweighed all other con- 
 siderations. Henceforth, whoever in any city claimed 
 to be a member of the Christian Church must belong 
 to the established organization of that city. The 
 seamless coat of Christ must not be rent. As there 
 was one God, and one Christ, and one Holy Spirit, 
 so there could be but one bishop *^ The attempt to 
 form two communities side by side put its authors 
 outside the pale of the Church Catholic : (TX}G-^a, like 
 alpecri?, was a word of bad repute : the keystone 
 of Christian organization was fitted firmly into its 
 place ; the free right of association existed no longer. 
 
 One other result flowed from this conception of the 
 bishop as the embodiment of unity of doctrine and 
 unity of discipline, which also helps to confirm the 
 view that the prevalence of that conception was the 
 main cause of his supremacy. 
 
 The earliest theory of the relation of the bishop to 
 the community was, as we have already seen ^^, that the 
 bishop stood in the place of the unseen Lord, entrusted 
 with the oversight of his Master's household until 
 He should return from that far country into which 
 He had gone. This view is found in the Ignatian 
 Epistles, in the Clementines, and in the Aposto- 
 lical Constitutions **. In none of these cases is there 
 any ambiguity of expression. The bishop is in 
 
 " Epist. Coi-iit'lii. ap. S. Cypr. Epist. 46 (49), p. 611. 
 
 *^ See above, p. 87. 
 
 *' Clementin. 3, 60 l-nl ttjs XpiUTOv /ta9tSpas KaB^aOdis : 3. 70 Opuvov oZv Xpiarov 
 TLfirja^n : Const. Apost. 2. 26 6 yd^p emfTicoTros TrpoicaOe^effOaJ upiaiy dis @iod a^ia Ten- 
 piT]jj.€vos : Dion3'S. Areop. HJccles. Sierarch. uyes oi OeoaSets UpoTeXearai, u Odoeidi)s 
 Upapx^s, passim, of bishops. S. Cyprian, Epist. 59 (55), c. 5, p. 672 ' unus in eooleaia 
 ad teiiipus sacerdos et ad tempus judex vice Christi.' 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 105 
 
 the place of God, or of Christ : the presbyters are 
 in the place of the Apostles. But gradually another 
 theory interweaves itself with this and ultimately 
 takes its place. It was a not unnatural inference from 
 the belief that the bishop was the custodian and 
 conservator of Apostolic teaching that he, rather than 
 the presbyters, took the Apostles' place. The bishops 
 had succeeded the Apostles in the presidency of the 
 several Churches by what Firmilian calls an ordinatio 
 vicaria*^ — one officer being appointed in another's place, 
 as governor succeeded governor in a Roman province, 
 or as chancellor succeeds chancellor in our own Uni- 
 versity'"'. When discipline as well as doctrine found 
 its centre in the bishops, it began to be argued that 
 they had succeeded not only to the seats which the 
 Apostles had filled, but also to the powers which 
 the Apostles possessed*'. It began to be urged that 
 
 "> Epist. Firmilian, ap. S. Cyprian, Ej'- lii ^- i^' P- ^^i. 
 
 *^ There is neither proof nor presumption that the word 5m5ox^, which is ordi- 
 narily used, e.g. by Eusebius, H. E, l. i and passim, to designate the succession 
 of bishops, is to be taken in any other than the sense which it ordinarily bore. It 
 is used not only by civil historians to designate the succession of civil officers, but 
 also of the succession, i. of the heads of philosophical schools, e.g. Diog. Laert. 
 proem. : ii. of Jewish high priests, Joseph, B. J. 4. 3.6: iii. of heretical teachers, 
 e.g. S. Hippol. B<ieres. 9. 7, p. 440: Ptolem, EiAst. ad Floram, ap. S. Epiph. 
 Saeres. 33. 7 : and of Marcionite bishops. Adamant. Dial, de recta in Deumfide, i. 
 ap. Append, ad Origen. Op. vol. i. p. 810, ed. De la Kue. 
 
 ^^ The view that bishops, and not presbyters, are the successors of the Apostles, 
 appears first by implication in the claim of Zephyrinus and Callistus, during the 
 Montanist controversy, to have the power of absolving penitents from sin (TertuU. 
 De Pudic. 1 : S. Hippol. JBaeres. 9. 12. p. 458), which appears to have been based 
 on the assumption of their succession to S. Peter (TertuU. De Pudic. 21, where 
 Zephyrinus is addressed as ' apostolice,' and where, after quoting S. Matt. 16. 18, 
 19, TertuUian proceeds 'idcirco tu praesumis et ad te derivasse solvendi et aUigandi 
 potestatem, id est ad omnem ecclesiam Petri propinquam qualis es evertens atque 
 commutans manifestam Domini intentionem personaliter hoc Petro conferentem.') 
 Probably the earliest express statement of it as applicable to aU bishops is by an 
 
io6 The Sitpremacy of the Bishop. [lect. 
 
 the powers, especially the power of ' binding and 
 loosing/ which our Lord had conferred on the 
 Apostles, were given to them not personally or 
 as constituting the Church of the time, but in a 
 representative capacity as . the first members of a long 
 line of Church officers *^ Against an early assertion of 
 this view Tertullian raised a vigorous protest : nor 
 did the view win its way to general acceptance until 
 the time of the great Latin theologians of the fifth 
 century. It was a still later development of this view 
 to maintain that the bishops had also succeeded to the 
 power of the Apostles in the conferring of spiritual 
 gifts, and that through them, and through them ex- 
 clusively, did it please the Holy Spirit to enter into the 
 souls either of individual Christians in baptism, or of 
 
 African bishop in the course of the controversy on rebaptiem : ' manifesta est aen- 
 tentia Domini nostri Jesu Ohristi apostolos suoB mittentis et ipsis solis potestatem 
 a patre sibi datam permittentis, quibus nos successimus eadem potestate ecclesiam 
 Domini gubernantes et credentium fidem baptizantes' (Clarus a Masoula in the 
 Sententiae Episcoporum, 79, ap. S. Cyprian. Op. p. 459, ed. Hartel ; printed as 
 Concilium Carthag. vii. in Routh, Beliquiae Sacrae, vol. iii. p. 130); it is also 
 stated about the same time, though less expressly, by Cyprian himself, liJpist. 3 (65) 
 p. 471, and by Firmilian of Caesarea, ap. S. Cyprian. JEpist. 75, 0. 16, p, 821. A 
 compromise between the two theories of Apostolical sucoession was sometimes 
 adopted in later times ; the metropolitan was regarded as being in the place of 
 Christ and his suffragans sat round him like the Apostles : S. Symeon. Thessal. 
 De sacris Ordmationibus, c. 6. 
 
 " The contention of Tertullian (as a Montanist) was that the 'power of the 
 keys' was personal to S. Peter (De Pudio. 21, quoted in preceding note). The 
 view of Augustine was that it was given to the Church (S. Aug. De Oatech. Bud. 
 c. 31, Op. ed. Migne, vol. vi. 308 : c. adven. Legie, 1. 17. vol. viii. 624 ; Tract. 
 50 in 8. Joa/nn. Evang. 0. 12, vol. iii. 1763 : De haptiemo c, Donat, 7. 43, vol, ix. 
 237, from which it appears that what afterwards became the current view was held 
 by the Donatists). But in Jerome the earlier Roman view reappears, and, as before, 
 in express antithesis to Montanism (S. Hieron. EpM. 41 (54), vol. i. p. 189 ' apud 
 nos Apostolorum locum epiecopi tenent') : and it was afterwards strengthened by 
 the supposition that our Lord, before His Ascension, formally ordained the Apo«- 
 tles to the episcopate by imposition of hands {Quaeetionea ex Novo Testamento in the 
 Appendix ad S. August. Op. vol. iii. 2296 ed. Migne). 
 
IV.] The Supremacy of the Bishop. 107 
 
 Churcli officers at ordination^'. This latest development, 
 which has frequently been confounded with the earlier 
 view, is found in its completest form on the threshold 
 of the middle ages : it was received as a doctrine by 
 the Council of Paris in a.d. 829 '^^ ; it forms the basis of 
 several arguments in the pseudo-Isidorian decretals ; 
 it passed at length into the ordinals ; and it still 
 survives. 
 
 The further developments of the supremacy of bishops 
 over presbyters fall for the most part outside the limits 
 of these lectures. Between the primitive eTrla-Koirog and 
 the mediaeval bishop there is so wide an interval that 
 those who are familiar with the picture of the latter 
 may find it difficult to recognize the portrait of the 
 former : at the same time, that interval is not the 
 chasm of an impassable gulf; it is a space of historical 
 ground every step of which can be traced. 
 
 And it is important to point out that the original 
 conception of the relation of bishops to presbyters 
 never whoUy passed away. 
 
 The Church writers of the fourth and fifth cen- 
 
 " The ' last of the Greek Fathers,' John of Damascus, maintained that although 
 in the first instance 'only the high-priests (i.e. bishops) had the power of binding 
 and loosing in succession from the divine Apostles, yet that as time went on and 
 the high -priests became degenerate, the power descended to the elect people of 
 God, I mean, the monks* (S. Joann. Damasc. Epist. de ConJ'cssione, II, Op. ed. Le 
 Quien, vol. i. p. 606). 
 
 ™ Cone. Paris, lib. I. c. 27, ap. Mansi, Concilia, vol. xiv. 556 : which was incor- 
 porated by the author of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals as furnishing a strong argu- 
 ment in favour of one of the main contentions of those decretals, viz. that ' Chor- 
 episcopi' were not bishops but presbyters, and that consequently they had not the 
 power of conferring spiritual gifts {Di^creta Damasi papae de corepiscojiis, ap. 
 Hinscliius, Dtcrttules jiseado-Isidorianae, p. 513 : Decreta Joannis III Fapac, ihid. 
 P 71,0- 
 
io8 The Supremacy of the Bishop. [lbct. 
 
 turies, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Jerome, Hilary the 
 Deacon, expressly state that bishops and presbyters 
 are equal save in the one respect that the former 
 only have the right of appointing persons to church 
 offipe ". It is maintainable upon the evidence that, even ' 
 in this one respect, the writers in question write only 
 of the usage of their own times, and that in earlier 
 times the interposition of a bishop was not always re- 
 quired ^^, What the bishop was conceived as having was 
 not peculiarity of function, but priority of rank. His 
 office was designated by terms indicative of such priority 
 — irpoaTaa-la, TrpoeSpla ^^. The presbyters were spoken of 
 
 I* S. Chryaost. Mom. xi. in Mpiat. i ad Timoth., Op. ed. Migne, vol. xi. 553 : 
 S. Epiphan. Saeres. 74. 4, p. 906 (who expresses the difiference by saying that the 
 order of bishops begets fathers for the Church, i.e. by ordaining officers, that of 
 presbyters begets sons, i.e. by baptizing). S. Hieron. Epiit, 146 (85) ad Evange- 
 Iwm, ' Quid enim facit excepta ordinatione episcopus quod presbyter non faciat ! ' 
 of. id. Oomm. in Epist. ad Tit, 0. i) : Ambrosiast. Comm. in Epiet. i, ad Timoth. 
 c. 3, 7, ap. S. Ambros. Op. vol. ii. 295. 
 
 ^^ The clearest instance of ordination by a presbyter without the intervention of 
 a bishop is probably that which is recorded by Gassian, Collat. 4. i, ap. Migne, 
 Patrol. Lat. vol. xlix. 585 : a monk named Daniel 'a beato Paphnutio, solitudinis 
 ejusdem presbytero, ad diaconii praelatus est officium : ' and afterwards Faphnutius, 
 wishing to leave a worthy successor, ' eum presbyterii honore provexit.' Two cen- 
 turies earlier than the time of Cassian, Hovatus the African presbyter bad ap- 
 pointed Felicissimus as deacon : and it is to be noted that Cyprian does not ques- 
 tion the validity of the appointment, although he strongly objects to its having 
 been made without his knowledge : ' Felicissimum satellitem suum diaconum nee 
 permittente me nee sciente, sua factione et ambitione constituit,' S. Cyprian, Eyitt. 
 52 (49), p. 618 : there is nothing in the context to support the supposition that 
 Cyprian here uses ' constituit ' in the unusual sense of ' procured the appoint- 
 ment.' 
 
 "^ itpoBTaaia, of a bishop, e.g. Euseb. S. E. 6. 35 (so the state of being without 
 a bishop is dirpoaraaia, S. Basil. Epiet. 102, p. 197) : irpoeSpta, e.g. Euseb. H. E, 
 2. 17. 23. (The use of these and similar terms of a bishop must be distinguished 
 irom their earlier use of the whole council of governing officers : e.g. Origen, 
 Comm, in Matt. tom. xvi. 22, vol. iii. p. 753, ed. De la Kue, ol Si tcLs irpaiTO/caff- 
 eSpias iremffTiviiivoi ToO \aov iiriaicoiroi leal Trpcaffhrepoi; so probably Henn. 
 Vis. 3. 10. 7 : and as late as the end of the fourth century S. Greg. Naz. Oral. 26 
 (28) in seipsum, vol. i. p. 483.) 
 
IV,] The Supremacy of t/u Biskop. 109 
 
 by terms which were in use for aJl coxmcils whether 
 civil or religious, for the assessors of a civil magistrate, 
 for the committee of a charitable association — mneSpiov, 
 j8o«J\jj, concilium. The bishop and his ooundl were 
 so fer regarded as forming a unity that one of the 
 chief ooUectioBS of statutes lays down the rule that 
 the judicial action of a bishop without his council was 
 invalid: *irrita erit sententia episcopi nisi dericorum 
 praesentia confirmetur ^.' The early churches were con- 
 stracted, as the Jewish synagogues had been constructed, 
 in accordance with this theory of the nature of the 
 governing body. The great division was not between 
 deigy and laity, but between baptized and unbaptiized ; 
 the place of the baptized was subdivided by a step or 
 dais : on the dais the deacons stood : in the middle of it 
 was the ' holy table : ' at the end was a semicircle of 
 seats for the ooundl, with the seat of the bishop slightly 
 raised above the rest *». 
 
 To the dreamy eves of the mvstics of the earlv 
 centuries these visible churches, dark and small as they 
 were in comparison with the majestic temples of the 
 pagan gods, seemed to be full of a divine Hght, and 
 expanded to the spiritual sense until they were wide as 
 heaven itself The order of the Church below typified 
 
 ^ SiaiiOa Epdeslae Jnlt^a (somedraes kno'v-n as the JcmrA Comual of 
 CarthageX c 23. 
 
 ^ Tbe ffpivos or cathedra of lie bishop ttss the s{>eQal symbd <rf li".f piveadeaey : 
 e-g. S. Cjprian. lipiA. 5 (65\ p. 46^ ' pi« ejHscopatns wgrare et ca^edbsie aacjnri- 
 tstte :' SCI ftii. i;- (11), p. 522 ; Eoseb. S. E. 2. 3^ 1 z 3. J. 2 : 4- 33. i, wieresis 
 the presbyters Trere ot l« now Sevrepov ipiroTi^id. 10. 5- 23. Tlie qpitapbs of Mslwps 
 sometimes d^czibe tbeir tennre of oSee by ' sedit,' &g. the epita^is of the bishops 
 of Capua, Mommsen, Ifi-scr. Segsi XcapMiam, Xcis. 3894, 3897. 
 
no The Sup7'einacy of the Bishop. 
 
 and realized the order of the Church above. The 
 bishop was hke the Eternal Father Himself upon His 
 throne : the presbyters were like the ' four and twenty 
 elders : ' the deacons were transfigured into white- 
 winged angels passing to and fro upon the ministry 
 of God««. 
 
 The vision was worthy of poets and of saints. To 
 some of us, in these later days, it seems to belong to 
 that vast cavern of the past which is tenanted by the 
 ghost of many a noble poetry and many an ancient 
 faith. And yet, as we emerge, with the sad eyes of vain 
 regret, from that dim world of shadows into the light 
 of this present noon — though we see around us no 
 galaxy of white -winged angels, but rather what some 
 thiuk to be the ruins of a creed — there is given to us, 
 if only we would know it, a not less divine order and a 
 not less sacred work. 
 
 ^ Clem. Alex. Strom. 4. 8, p. 593 d/cwv de rrjs ovpaviov kKfcK-rjaia^ fj emycios : id. 
 6. 13, p. 793, the 'elders' of the Apocalypse are the heavenly figures of the elders 
 of the church below (this is also implied in the difficult passage of the Aiara'^aX 
 KA.T7/xfrTo?, c. 18, where Hilgenfeld's reading seems almost certain). So in Gregory 
 Kazianzen's dream of the church Anastasia at Constantinople the bishop is v-ntp- 
 Opovo^, the presbyters sit on each side of him, the deacons stand ' in shining 
 garments, likenesses of angelic brightness' (S. Greg. Naz. Carm. lib. 2. I. 16, p. 
 844). But in later times the vision of Isaiah or of Ezekiel rather than that of the 
 Apocalypse seenxs to have presented itself as the heavenly counterpart of the 
 church on earth : the presbyters are conceived as the Cherubim, S. Sophron. 
 Hierosol. Comment. Liturfj, c. 6, ed. Migne, Patrol. Graeo. vol. Ixxxvii. 3986 : 
 Excrrpt. e Const. Apost. ap. Pitra, Juris £cdes. Grace. Mon. vol. i. p. 97. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 CLERGY AND LAITY. 
 
 If we gather together all the words which, during 
 the first two centuries, are used as collective terms 
 for the officers of the Christian communities, we find 
 that they agree in connoting primarily the idea of pre- 
 sidency or leadership ^. 
 
 If we further gather together the abstract terms 
 which are used, during the same period, for ecclesias- 
 tical ofiice, we find that — with the exception of SiuKovla 
 — they exhibit the same phenomenon ^. 
 
 If we further gather together all the passages which 
 speak of the relations of ordinary members of the 
 communities to the ofiicers, we find that they uniformly 
 imply the correlative idea of subjection, and urge the 
 duty of submission, to constituted authority ^. 
 
 If therefore the primitive Christian communities 
 
 ^ The words are ol ^yovfxei^oi, Heb. 13. 7, 17, 24 : i Clem. Rom. i. 3 : ol npo- 
 7]yovfievot, I Clem. Rom. 21. 6 : Herm. Vis. 3. 2. 6 : 3. 9. 7 ■ "i TrpoCffTa^ivoi, ol 
 TrpoiaTuiTes, i Thess. 5.12: i Tim. 5. 17 : Herm. Vis. 2. 4. 3 ; Iren. i. 10. 2 ; id. 
 ap. Euseb. H. E. 5. 24. 14. 
 
 ' The worda are TrpaiTOKaOcdpia, Herm. Mand, II. 12: Clem. Alex. Strom. 6. 1 3, 
 p. 793 : TTpojTHa, Herm. Sim. 8. 7, 4 : principalis concessio, S. Iren. 4. 26. 3 ; 
 Magisterii locus, id. 3. 3. i : ordo, Tertull. De Exhort. Castit. 7, Oe Monogam. 11, 
 De Idol. 7. 
 
 " The passages are Heb. 13. 17 ; i Pet. 5. 5 : i Clem. Rom. 1.3; 57. i : 63. 
 
 1 : 2 Clem. Rom. 17. 5 : S. Ignat. ad Ephes. 2. 2 ; 4. i : 20. 2: ad Magnes. 13. 
 
 2 ; ad Trail. 2. i, 2 : 13. 2 : ad Philad. 7. i. 
 
112 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 were institutions wliicli had entirely passed away, and 
 we were examining their constitution as a piece of 
 ancient history, in the same manner as we examine the 
 constitution of Athens or of Sparta, we should be led 
 to the conclusion that the relation between the officers 
 and the rest of the community was primarily a relation 
 of priority of order. 
 
 If we extend the sphere of our induction, and look 
 at not only the collective biit also the particular terms 
 for Church officers in the light of their contemporary 
 use, we further find that none of them were pecuhar 
 to the Christian communities, but that they were all 
 common to them with contem]3orary organizations. 
 Some of them were in use in the imperial adminis- 
 tration, some of them in the municipal corporations, 
 some of them in the voluntary associations *. The most 
 common, ordo, was in use in all thi'ee relations. 
 
 If, therefore, we could exclude all ideas except those 
 which appear simply upon the evidence, and deal with 
 the facts of Christian organization as we should deal 
 Avith the facts of any other organization, we should 
 undoubtedly be led to the conclusion that not only 
 was the relation between Church officers and the rest 
 of the community that of presidency or leadership, but 
 that also the presidency or leadership was the same 
 in kind as that of contemporary non-Christian societies. 
 
 But, even if this conclusion were admitted, it would 
 not immediately follow that there were not other re- 
 
 * For ImWoTTos see Lecture II. notes 26, 27: for irpiajShrfpos, Lecture III. notes 
 16, 27 : for Btdicovo^, Lecture II. note 56. 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 113 
 
 lations between the officers and the ordinary members 
 of the Christian communities, which though less appa- 
 rent were not less important. It might undoubtedly 
 be maintained, at least as a matter of a priori argu- 
 ment, that all this was the shell which enclosed a sacred 
 kernel and kept it safe from profanation, and that 
 underneath the conception of civil government, or side 
 by side with it, there was another conception of the 
 nature of ecclesiastical office which more closely re- 
 sembled the prevalent conception of later times. It is 
 therefore necessary to look not merely at the facts of 
 language, but at the whole available evidence as to 
 the prevailing conception of the nature of Christian 
 organization, and to consider whether upon that evi- 
 dence the argument which must be allowed to be 
 possible a priori is defensible in fact. 
 
 The question is one of such supreme importance in 
 relation to the Christian ministry not only of the 
 period under investigation but also of later times, as 
 to require more than ordinary care. It is, moreover, 
 one which has been so frequently discussed, and upon 
 which the different shades of possible opinion have 
 been maintained with so much zeal, as to demand a 
 more than ordinary effort on the part of those who 
 approach it to rid themselves of preconceived opinions, 
 and to deal with the facts in the temper not of 
 advocates maintaining a thesis, but of judges reviewing 
 evidence and weighing probabilities in an even balance 
 of judgment. 
 
 The question before us may be thus stated : — A pre- 
 
ii_l^ Clergy and Laity. [lkct. 
 
 sumption having been raised by the terms which were 
 in use for Church office that the conception of such 
 office was one of presidency or leadership, does the 
 existino- evidence warrant an inference that Church 
 officers were regarded as possessing other powers than 
 those which naturally attach to presidents and leaders 
 of a community \ 
 
 It will be convenient to take in detail the several 
 functions which in later times have been regarded as 
 the special and peculiar fanctions of Church ofGcers, 
 and to enquire how far they were regarded as special 
 and peculiar functions in the first two centuries. 
 
 I. In regard to the function of teaching or preaching, 
 it is clear from both the Acts of the Apostles and 
 St. Paul's Epistles that ' liberty of prophesying ' pre- 
 vailed in the Apostolic age ^. It is equally clear that 
 liberty of prophesying existed after the Apostolic age. 
 In the first place, one of the most interesting monu- 
 ments of the second century consists of a sermon or 
 homily which was preached, probably by a layman at 
 Eome, a fragment of which has long been known as 
 the Second Epistle of Clement, and the remainder of 
 which has come to light in two forms — a Greek MS. 
 and a Syriac translation^within the last five years ». 
 
 '■' Acts 8. 4 ; II, 19-21 : 13. I : I Cor 14. passim : implied also in James 3. i. 
 
 " That it ia a homily and not a letter is an inference from its tone and manner 
 of address : e.g. c. 19. i, 'So then, my brethren and sisters, after the God of Truth 
 I am reading to you an entreaty to pay heed to what has been written ; ' c. 20. 2, 
 ' BO then, my brethren and sisters, let us believe.' That it was written by a layman 
 IS an inference from the antithesis which he makes between himself and his hearers 
 on the one hand, and the presbyters on the other, e. 17. 3. 5. That it was preached 
 at Kome is an inference from the general similarity of its doctrine to that of the 
 Shepherd of Hermas. The mention of it as a htter rather than a homily dates from 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 115 
 
 In the second place, the Apostolical Constitutions, 
 which are of even later date, expressly contemplate 
 the existence of preaching by laymen : ' Even if a 
 teacher be a layman, still if he be skilled in the word 
 and reverent in habit, let him teach : for the Scripture 
 says, " They shall be all taught of God I" ' 
 
 2. In regard to baptism, there is no positive evidence, 
 but there is the argument a fortiori which arises from 
 the fact that even in later times, when the tendency 
 had become strong to restrict the performance of ec- 
 clesiastical functions to Church officers, baptism by an 
 ordinary member of the Church was held to be valid, 
 although if an officer might have been found it was 
 held to be contrary to Church order I 
 
 a treatise of the fifth century, the Quaestlones et responsioiies ad orihodoxos, c. 74 
 (printed in the works of Justin Martyr, vol. ii. p. 104, ed. Otto) : the reference to 
 a second letter of Clement in Euseb. 3. 38. 4 is vague, nor is there anything in the 
 reference to connect that second letter with the work in question. The complete 
 text was first found by Bryennius in the library of the patriarch of Jerusalem, and 
 published by him at Coustantinoj^le in 1875: (since reprinted in the second edition 
 of Gebhardt and Harnack's Patres Apostolici, part i, fasc. i, Leipsic, 1876, and by 
 Bp. Lightfoot, The Epistles of Clement of Home, London, 1876) : and in 1876 a 
 Syriac version of the complete text was discovered by Mr. Bensley, and is now 
 in the University Library at Cambridge. 
 
 ' Const. Apost. 8. 31 : cf Ambrosiast. in Eplies. 4. 11, 12, ap. S. Ambros. Op. 
 vol. ii. p. 241, who says that in early times 'omnes dooebant et omnes baptizabant,' 
 but that afterwards ' coepit alio ordine et providentia gubernari ecclesia, quia si 
 omnes onmia possent, irrationabile esset et vulgaris res et vilissima videretur.' This 
 is, no doubt, only secondary evidence : but it is confirmed, i. by the fact that the 
 exhortations of S. Ignatius against the performance by laymen of other official 
 functions do not extend to preaching : ii. by the fact that in later times the gra- 
 vamen against Origen was not that he had preached as a layman, but that he had 
 done so in the presence of bishops and consequently in violation of church order 
 (Euseb. S. E. 6. 19) ; iii. by the fact that, even when ecclesiastical regime was 
 of the strictest, monks, who might be laymen, could preach. The earliest positive 
 prohibitions seem to have been made, expressly in the interest of ecclesiastical 
 order, by Leo the Great, Epist. 119 (92) ad Maximum, c. 6, 120 (93) ad Theodoret. 
 c. 6, ed. Ballerin. pp. 121 7, 1227. 
 
 ' The earliest authorities for the validity of lay baptism are TertuUian (see below, 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 3. In regard to the Eucharist, the only explicit evi- 
 dence is that of the Ignatian Epistles. The literary 
 questions to which those Epistles have given rise do 
 not affect their value in regard to the question before 
 us. Their evidence remains practically the same 
 whether Ignatius or some one else was their author, 
 and whether the Syriac or the shorter Greek repre- 
 sents the original form. It is clear from them that the 
 Christians of the cities to which they were addressed 
 had held other meetings besides those at which the 
 officers were present : and that in those meetings the 
 bread had been broken and the Eucharist celebrated. 
 The practice is reproved, but the reproof is a gentle 
 one: — 'Break one bread ^;' 'be careful to have only 
 one Eucharist ^^ ; ' ' let that be the valid Eucharist which 
 is celebrated in the presence of the bishop or of some 
 one commissioned by him ".' It appears from this that 
 the celebration of the Eucharist without the presence 
 of a Church officer was not of itself invalid. It is 
 inconceivable that any one who held the view, which 
 has been ordinarily held in later times, that the pre- 
 
 note 22), the Council of Elvira in a.d, 305, c. 38, Jerome, Dial. c. Lucif. 0. 9 : all 
 of which admit, what is sufficient for the question in hand, that there were certain 
 circumstances under which laymen might lawfully baptize. 
 
 ^ S. Ignat, ad Ephes. 20. 2, 01 nar^ avhpa koiutj Trdures Iv x^P^"^^ H dySfiaros 
 avv^px^cde kv pLia TTiVrci koI Iv '1tj(Tov XpitTToi .... €va dprov it\wvT€s, 
 
 ^^ id. ad Philad. 4, ffirovSd^eTe ovv piia cvxctpicrTia xp^f^cc'. 
 
 ^^ id. ad Smyrn. 8. T, fKtivq {i^lSaia evx^P^f^Tia riyeL(r6Qj fj iinb rhv kmcTfCOirov ovffa 
 i^ Si &v avrds kiriTp^if/rj. The form of expression 7) vird rdv k. ovaa confirms the 
 inference which is drawn from other evidence that the celebration of. the Eucharist 
 was regardLd as the act of the whole community, assembled as a corporate whole 
 and expressing itself b}' the voice of its head : cf. I Clem. Rom. 41. i, eicaaTOS 
 ijpiwp, a.S€\<poi, iv Tcp Idioj rdyfiaTt evxapi(m'naj Qeai Iv wyadri (TvveiSriTel 
 VTrdpxoJV, jJ-^ TrapfK0aLVojv t^v wpiapLiVOV t^s kfiTovpylas avTOv Kavova, kv afnv6T7]Ti. 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 1 1 7 
 
 sence and action of a Church officer are essential to the 
 valid celebration of the Eucharist, would have used 
 the language of mild remonstrance, or would have 
 brought arguments to urge the expediency of sub- 
 mission in this, as in other respects, to constituted 
 authority. 
 
 4. In regard to the exercise of disciijline, the earliest 
 evidence is that of the First Epistle to the Corinthians : 
 in it St. Paul addresses the whole community, and 
 urges them to meet together and exercise the power 
 of expulsion in the case of one who was guilty of open 
 sin 12. The other evidence consists in the Epistles of 
 Clement and of Polycarp. A leading point in the Epistle 
 of Clement is that the officers of the community should 
 be obeyed, and that they should not be lightly removed. 
 In writing it, he, like St. Paul, addresses the whole 
 community. He does not question the right of the 
 community to remove its officers, if it thinks fit ; but 
 he urges that it would not be a proper exercise of 
 that right to remove those who have filled the office 
 worthily 1^ The Epistle of Polycarp is complementary 
 of that of Clement : as the latter urges that worthy 
 officers should not be removed, the former urges that a 
 presbyter who had been removed should be restored'*. 
 
 '^ I Cor, 5. 
 
 '^ I Clem. Horn. 44 : cf. ihid. 54 where one whose presence in the Church had 
 been a cause of dissension is supposed to aay aTrei/xi ov k(i.v I3ov\t](t6€ koI ttolw rdi 
 inroTCLCTtJOfXiva vwd rod nX-qd ou^. 
 
 " S. Polycarp. ad PMlipp. 11 : that cases of discipline were judged by the 
 whole community, assembled under the presidency of its officers, so late as the 
 time of Cyprian is clear from the letter of the Roman Church to him (S, Cyprian. 
 Epist. 30 (31), p. 533) 'conlatione consiliorum cum episcopis, presbyteris, diaconis, 
 confessoribus, pariter ac stantibus [i.e. those who had not ' lapsed '] laicis facta 
 
ii8 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 Polycarp, like Clement, and like St. Paul, addresses the 
 community at large : in doing so he implies that it y/as 
 with the community that the power of restoration lay. 
 
 Whether therefore we look at preaching, at baptism, 
 at the Eucharist, or at discipline, it seems probable 
 that the officers were not conceived as having, as 
 such, exclusive powers. In other words, the existing 
 evidence in regard to the functions of Church officers, 
 so far from establishing, tends to disprove the ex- 
 istence of any conception of the nature of their 
 office, other than that which is gathered from the 
 terms which were in use to designate such office. 
 It supports the hypothesis that they existed in the 
 Christian societies, as those who bore the same names 
 existed in secular societies, for the general super- 
 intendence of the community and the general control 
 of its affairs, that all things might be done 'decently 
 and in order.' 
 
 Such a conclusion may appear strange when viewed 
 by the light of later times, but it is not strange if it 
 is viewed in relation to the circumstances of the first 
 two centuries. In those early days — before the doors 
 of admission were thrown wide open, before children 
 were ordinarily baptized and men grew up from their 
 earliest years as members of a Christian society, before 
 Christianitv had become a fashionable religion and 
 
 lapsorum tractare;' of. also Epist. 31 (26), p. 562, 34 (28), p. 570. This is in 
 harmony with the general analogy of the Christian communities to the contem- 
 porary secular communities, in which all matters of importance were decided 'con- 
 ventu pleno : ' see, for the Greek associations, Foucart, Lrs Associations religieuses, 
 li'c. p. 15, and for the Latin associations, Duruy, Ilistnln- des Bumains, vol. v. 
 P- 166- 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 119 
 
 gathered into its net fish ' of every kind ' both good 
 and bad — the mere membership of a Christian Church 
 was in itself a strong presumption of the possession 
 of high spiritual qualifications. The Christian was in 
 a sense which has often since been rather a satire than 
 a metaphor, a ' member of Christ,' a ' king and priest 
 unto God.' The whole body of Christians was upon 
 a level : ' all ye are brethren ^^.' The distinctions which 
 St. Paul makes between Christians are based not upon 
 ofHce, but upon varieties of spiritual power. They are 
 caused by the diversity of the operations of the Holy 
 Spirit. They are consequently personal and individual. 
 They do not mark off class from class, but one Chris- 
 tian from another. Some of these spiritual powers 
 are distinguished from others by a greater visible and 
 outward effect : but they are all the same in kind. 
 The gift of ruhng is not different in kind from the 
 gift of healing. The expression ' he that ruleth ' is 
 coordinate with ' he that exhorteth,' ' he that giveth,' 
 'he that sheweth mercy^^' Of one or other of these 
 gifts every Christian was a partaker. There was a 
 vivid sense, which in later times was necessarily weak- 
 ened, that every form of the manifestation of the 
 religious life is a gift of Grod — a -yapiaixa, or direct 
 operation of the Divine Spirit upon the soul. Now 
 while this sense of the diffusion of spiritual gifts was 
 so vivid, it was impossible that there should be the 
 same sense of distinction between oflicers and non- 
 officers which afterwards came to exist. Organization 
 
 >= S. Matt. 23, 8. '« R'im. 12. 6, 8. 
 
I20 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 was a less important fact than it afterwards became. 
 That which gave organization its importance was the 
 increase in the size of the communities. The need 
 of order thereby became more imperative : the work of 
 administration had to be systematized and centralized : 
 the officers who had the control of order and adminis- 
 tration came inevitably to have a higher relative status 
 than they had had before. There were not only disputes, 
 as we learn from Clement of Rome ", about the ap- 
 pointment of officers, but also an exaggeration of the 
 place of order in the Christian economy. The gift of 
 ruling, like Aaron's rod, seemed to swallow up the 
 other gifts. 
 
 Then came a profound reaction. Against the growing 
 tendency towards that state of things which afterwards 
 firmly estabhshed itself, and which ever since has been 
 the normal state of almost all Christian Churches, some 
 communities, first of Asia Minor, then of Africa, then 
 of Italy, raised a vigorous and, for a time, a successful 
 protest. They reasserted the place of spiritual gifts 
 as contrasted with official rule ". They maintained that 
 the revelation of Christ tlirough the Spirit was not 
 a temporary phenomenon of Apostolic days, but a 
 constant fact of Christian life. They combined with 
 this the preaching of a higher morahty than that 
 which was tending to become current. They were 
 
 " 1 Clem. Eom. 44. i. 
 
 ^^ The literature which bears upon Montanism ia extensive : most earlier writers 
 (including Schwegler, Dcr Montanisnius, Tubingen, 1841) overlooked its special 
 character jis a protest of the ' ecclesia spiritus ' against the ' ecclesia episcoporum' 
 (TertuU. De Fiulic. 21) : the first enunciation of this special character is due to 
 Eitschl, Die altiatkolische Kirche, pp. 513 sqq., whose view is even more clearly 
 expressed by Rothe, Vorlestingen, &G. ed. Weingarten, pp. 166 sqq. 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 121 
 
 supported in all this by the greatest theologian of his 
 time, and it is to the writings of that theologian rather 
 than to the vituperative statements of later writers that 
 we must look for a true idea of their purpose. The 
 fact of their having been supported by that theologian 
 is of extreme significance. For Tertullian had done incal- 
 culable service alike in his defence of Christianity 
 against the as yet unconverted world without, and 
 in his refutation of heresies within ^^ To him, almost 
 as much as to Irenaeus, were the Churches indebted 
 for the dominance of the fundamental theory that 
 Christian doctrine must be determined by Apostolic 
 tradition. So far from being a heretic, he was the 
 champion of the Church against heresy^" : so far from 
 disfavouring CathoHcity, he was its chief living 
 preacher : so far from holding that office was unim- 
 23ortant, he reproaches heretics with their insufficient 
 recognition of its importance ^^ But the view which 
 he took of the nature of office in the Church was 
 that it does not, as such, confer any powers upon its 
 holders which are not possessed by the other members 
 of the community. As an ordinary rule, he main- 
 tains, the president, and he only, has the function 
 of admitting new members into the community : but 
 if there be emergency, the power descends to other 
 Church officers and laymen ^-. As an ordinary rule, 
 
 " For a good account of TertuUian'a services to the Church see Hauck, Tertul- 
 Ilans Lthen und Schriftev, Erlangen, i877) especially c. iii. and iv. 
 
 ^" His attitude towards lieresy may be gathered from a treatise which he wrote 
 when he was himself a Montanist : ' ad officium hereticos compelli, non illici, 
 dignum est: duritia vincenda est non suadenda' {Scorp. l). 
 
 ^' TertuU. De Praescript. 41. 
 
 ^^ De Jkqjilsuio, I'j, ' Dandi [sc. baptismum] quidem habet jus summus sacerdos 
 
122 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 ' it is only,' he says, ' from the hands of our presi- 
 dents that we receive the Eucharist : ' but if there 
 be an emergency, a layman may celebrate as well as 
 a bishojj -^. ' That which has constituted the difference 
 between the governiDg body and the ordinary members 
 is the authority of the Church : ' but ' where three 
 Christians are, though they be laymen, there is a 
 Church 2*.' These statements of a great theologian, 
 in support of a great movement which was all but 
 victorious, cannot be lightly set aside. In theological 
 as in other wars the tendency is to cry ' Vae victis ! ' 
 and to assume that the defeated are always in the 
 wrong. But a careful survey of the evidence leads 
 to the conclusion that the Montanism, as it was called, 
 which Tertullian defended, was theoretically in the 
 right, though its theory had become in practice im- 
 possible. It did not make sufHcient allowance for 
 changed and changing circumstances. It was a beat- 
 ing of the wings of pietism against the iron bars of 
 organization. It was the first, though not the last, 
 rebellion of the religious sentiment against official 
 religion. 
 
 But the exigencies of organization of necessity pre- 
 vailed : for in ecclesiastical as in other human affairs 
 the ideal yields to the practicable. At the same time, 
 
 qui est episcopus : dehinc presbyteri et diaooni, non tamen sine episcopi aucto- 
 ritate propter ecclesiae honorem. Quo salvo pax est. Alioquin etiam laiois 
 jus est.' 
 
 ^^ De Corona, 4. 
 
 '* De Ex/iort. Castit. 6, 'Differentiam inter ordinem et plebeiu constituit eccle- 
 siae auctoritas et honor per ordinis consessum sanctificatus. Adeo ubi ecclesiastici 
 ordinis non est oonsessus, et offers et tinguis et sacerdos es tibi solus. Sed ubi 
 tres, ecclesiae est, licet laici.' 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 123 
 
 the fact of the existence of Montanism, and of its 
 considerable success, strongly confirms the general 
 inferences which are drawn from other evidence, that 
 Church officers were originally regarded as existing for 
 the good government of the community and for the 
 general management of its affairs : that the diiference 
 between Church officers and other baptized persons was 
 one of status and degree : that, qiioad the spiritual life, 
 the two classes were on the same footing : and that 
 the functions which the officers performed were such 
 as, apart from the question of order, might be performed 
 by any member of the community. 
 
 The metaphor which seems best to express the relation 
 of the two classes is one which was frequently used, 
 and which has survived until our own times. It is 
 that which is implied in the word ' Pastor.' It came 
 originally from the shepherd life of Eastern and 
 Southern Palestine, where a shepherd wandered with 
 his flocks of almost innumerable sheep over almost 
 boundless tracts of undulating moorland. It passed 
 naturally into Hebrew poetry : and three of the great 
 Hebrew prophets, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, 
 use it constantlj^ for both the ecclesiastical and the 
 civil rulers of the people. It is found in the New 
 Testament : and it is found in almost all early Christian 
 literature ^^. Its fundamental idea is that of ruling 
 
 26 . 
 
 ^^ TToifiTiv and its correlativeg ttoi^vyj and ttoI^vlov are found, e g. (not including 
 passages in which tlie reference is to the relation between the Church and Christ) 
 I Pet. 5. 2, 3: Herm. Sim. 6. i : S. Ignat. ad Philad. 2.1: ad Rom. 9. 1 : S. Iren. 
 4. 33. I : Clem. Alex. Paed. i. 6, p. 120: Const. Apost. 2.6, 10, 15, 20. In Latin 
 'pastor,' e.g. S. Cypr. Epist. 8, (2), p. 486 : 17 (11), p. 522. 
 
 '"• Cf Jeremy Taylor, Episcopacy asserted. Sect. i. 6 'In Scripture and other 
 
124 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 and the Apostolical Constitutions, following chiefly 
 Ezekiel's address to the rulers of his time, show how it 
 was understood in regard to all the various functions of 
 the Christian ministry : the bishop, as a good shepherd, 
 guards the strong, i.e. those who are sound in the faith, 
 heals those who are weak, i.e. those whose faith is 
 wavering, binds up the wounded, i.e. restores to the 
 flock those whom the sense of sin has smitten with 
 contrition, seeks for those who have gone astray, i.e. 
 brings back to the flock those whom the sense of sin 
 has driven away in despair^ 
 
 -27 
 
 But although the original conception of ecclesiastical 
 office ultimately passed away, it passed away only by 
 slow degrees. Little by little those members of the 
 Christian Churches who did not hold office were 
 excluded from the performance of almost all ecclesi- 
 astical functions. At first a layman might not preach 
 if a bishop were present : and then not if any Church 
 officer was present : and finally not at all ^^. At 
 
 writers to feed and to govern is all one when the of&ce is either political or econo- 
 mical or ecclesiastical : ' the assertion is capable of being proved by abundant 
 evidence, eg. Philo, i. 196, ed. Mang, ol d^ TroifxaiyovTes dpxoyTwv Hal T^yefxivojv 
 ixovres biivajj-iv : Clem. Alex. Strom. I. 26, p. 421 ; S. Greg. Naziauz. Orat, 32, c. 
 10, p. 586, t6.^ls lihv eKtcXTjalais rd jxiv dvai Ti noifxyiov rb h\ iroL^ivas diwptat' Kat 
 TO fi^u dpx^iv T(i 6^ dpx^crdat. 
 
 ^' Const. Apost. 2. 20: so S. Cyprian. Episf. 8 (2), p. 486, (we shall be called 
 negligent shepherds because) ' perditum non requisivimus et errantem non correxi- 
 mus et claudum non coUigavimus et lactem eorum edebamus et lanis eorum operi- 
 ebamur.' 
 
 '■'' The ' gravamen ' of Demetrius against Origen was not so much that he had 
 preached, but that he had done so in the presence of bishops (ri napivToJv iviaKi- 
 ■noov XacKoiis d/xi\(Tv, Euseb. S. E. 6. 19. 17) : and the Western canon, which was 
 ultimately superseded by the letters of Leo the Great (see above, note 7), concedes 
 the point for which the friends of Origen contended : ' laicus praesentibus clericis 
 tnsi ipsis jahentihus, dooere non audeat' (Stat. Eocles. Antiq., = 4 Cone. Garth. 
 0. 98). 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 125 
 
 first a layman brought his own gifts to the altar 
 and communicated there ^^ : and then he could only — • 
 unless he were an Emjjeror — stand outside the dais 
 upon which the officers sat or stood : and finally, in 
 the East, he might not even see the celebration of 
 the ' mysteries '".' At first the vote of laymen as well 
 as of officers was taken in cases of discipline, and so 
 late as the fifth century the existence of the disciplinary 
 rights of laymen is shown by the enactment of an 
 African council that a parish must not excommunicate 
 its clergyman ^^ : but finally laymen had no place what- 
 ever in the ecclesiastical tribunals. By the force of 
 changing circumstances, and by the growth of new 
 conceptions, the original difference of rank and order 
 became a difference of spiritual power : and a mediaeval 
 theologian, writing of the same officer whom Justin 
 Martyr describes simply as a president, offering prayers 
 and thanksgivings in which the congregation take their 
 part by the utterance of the solemn Amen !, says that 
 
 ^' For the practice of laymen going to the altar, see e.g. S. Dionys. Alexandr. 
 E[Ast. ad Chrys. ap. Euseb. If. E. 7. 9. 4 : Episl. ad Basilid. ap. Pitra, Jur. Eccl. 
 Gr. Man. vol. i. p. 544 ; Routh, Mel. Sacr. vol. iii. p. 230 : S. Ambroa. Ve Sacram. 
 5. 2, 3, vol. ii. p. 374 : S. Aiigustin. Epist. iii (122), ad Victorian. Oji. ed. Migne, 
 vol. ii. 426. The practice seems to have survived longest at Milan where until 
 comparatively late times the laity went to the altar to make their offerings, retired 
 during the prayer of consecration, and returned to partake of the consecrated ele- 
 ments (Bona, Ee Rebtts Liticrgicis, vol. i. p. 184) : it is also found in Gaul in the 
 sixth century (S. Greg. Turon. E. i^. g. 3 : 10. 8). 
 
 ™ The earliest prohibition was a local one, that of the council of Laodicea, c. 19, 
 44 : the first general prohibition was that of the TruUan council, c. 69, which 
 excepts kings. The custom of erecting a close screen (e'lKovuaraffts) so as com- 
 pletely to shut out the laity from seeing the altar, probably belongs to a still later 
 period (see Canon Venables in the Dictionary of Christian Antiguitits, s. v. 
 Iconostasis). 
 
 *' Cone. Septimunicense ap. Terrand. Breviatio Oanonum, c. 139, 'TJt non lioeat 
 clericum a populo excommunicari sive praesente sive absente episcopo.' 
 
126 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 'the orders of the heavenly host, although they enjoy 
 beatitude and want nothing to the sum of felicity, still 
 revere the glory of a priest, wonder at his dignity, 
 yield to him in privilege, honour his power ^^.' 
 
 The question will naturally arise. If the early con- 
 ception of ecclesiastical office was that to which the 
 evidence points, and which Tertulllan states, what was 
 the nature and significance of ordination \ 
 
 The answer which, upon the evidence, must be given 
 to this question strongly confirms the conclusion to 
 Avhich the evidence leads upon the question which has 
 been already considered. The evidence is extensive 
 and various, and can only be briefly recapitulated 
 here. 
 
 1. In the first place, all the words which are in use 
 to express appointment to ecclesiastical office connote 
 either simple ajjpointment or accession to rank ^^. 
 
 2. In the second place, all these words were in use 
 to express appointment to civil office. When other 
 ideas than those of civil appointment came beyond 
 question to attach themselves to ecclesiastical appoint- 
 ment other words were used^*. The absence of such 
 words in the earlier period of itself affords a strong 
 
 "' S. Bernard, hutructio Sacerdoiis, c. 9, vol. iii. p. 532. 
 
 ^^ The words in use in the first three centurie.s are x^'poTovw, KaStirraveLV, k\7j- 
 podaOat, constituere, ordinare. For instances of their use see my article in the 
 Dictionnrij of Christian Antiquities, s. v. Ordination. 
 
 ^' After the first three centuries there were not only other words of the same 
 kind as those mentioned in the preceding note, e.g. TTpot\6eiv, irpoayfaOai, promo- 
 veri, praeferri, but also x^'poSfTiicrBm, tepdoBm, consecrari, benedici ; for instances 
 of which, and also for instances of the use of the words in relation to civil appoint- 
 ments, see ihid. 
 
v.] Clergy aiid Laity. 127 
 
 presumption of the absence of the ideas which are 
 relative to them. 
 
 3. In the third place, all the elements of appoint- 
 ment to ecclesiastical office were also the elements of 
 appointment to civil office. Those elements were 
 nomination, election, approval, and the declaration of 
 election by a competent officer. The conditions of 
 ordinary appointment to civil office in the Eoman 
 municipalities are known to us from many and ■unim- 
 peachable sources ^^. Those sources show that, though 
 election prevailed, it did not of itself constitute an 
 office, that any one who was so elected had to pass 
 a preliminary examination as to his possession of the 
 required qualifications, that the presiding officer might 
 decline to take account of any one who did not possess 
 those qualifications, and that, according to the constitu- 
 tional fiction which we find in Rome itself, especially 
 during the Republican period, the person appointed 
 is said to be appointed, not by the people who elected, 
 but by the officer who presided at the election '^^'. These 
 
 ^ In addition to earlier sources, which are best given by Zumpt, Comnientationes 
 JEpigraphicae, vol. i. p. 4 sqq., we have an almost complete account of the municipal 
 laws of the early Empire relative to elections in the bronze tablets containing the 
 laws of two Spanish towns, Salpenaa and Malaga, which were discovered in 1851. 
 They will be found in the Corpus Inser. Lat. vol. ii. Nos. 1963, 1964, in Haenel, 
 Corpus Legum ante Justinianum latarum, p. 63 : and with an important commen- 
 tary by Mommsen in his essay, Die Stadtrechte der lateinischen Gemeinden Sal- 
 pensa und Malaca, printed in the Abhandlimgen der honigl. sacks. Gesellschaft der 
 Wissenschaft, Bd. iii (the doubts which were at one time raised as to their genuine- 
 ness have been disposed of by Giraud, Les Tables de Salpensa et de Malaga, Paris, 
 1856, and Za Lex Malacitana, Paris, 1868). For clear summaries of the existing 
 evidence in relation to municipal elections see Duruy, Histoire des Eomains, vol. v. 
 pp. 107 sqq. : Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, Bd. i. pp. 472 sqq. 
 
 '" ' Creare ' (consulem, praetorem) is strictly used of the action of the presiding 
 officer: the people are said 'jubere,' i.e. to direct the appointment to be made: 
 cf. Mommsen, Rijniisc/ies Staatsrecht, Bd. i. pp. 157 sqq. 
 
128 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 same conditions were ordinarily necessary at the 
 appointment of all but the lowest grades of ecclesias- 
 tical officers : there was a nomination, an election, an 
 examination into the fitness of the candidate, and the 
 action of a presiding ofl&cer ^''. 
 
 4. In the fourth place, the modes in which these 
 elements of election were combined varied in the 
 Church concomitantly with their variation in the 
 State. In the State, first at Eome, and afterwards, 
 though much later, in the municipalities, election by 
 the people, subject only to the veto of the presiding 
 officer, passed into election by the senate, subject only 
 to a formal approval on the part of the people^'. In 
 the Church it came to pass that the officers nominated 
 and the people approved : and ultimately, by steps 
 which can be definitely traced, the part of the people 
 was limited to the right of objecting to unsuitable 
 candidates ^l 
 
 5. In the fifth place, all the modes of admission to 
 ecclesiastical office were, with one exception, analogous 
 to the modes of admission to civil office. A Eoman 
 consul designatus dressed himself in his oflficial dress, 
 went in state to the Capitol, took his seat on the 
 curule chair, and held a formal meeting of the senate : 
 by doing this he became consul de facto. A Roman 
 praetor designatus went to the ordinary court-house, 
 took his seat on the tribunal, heard and decided a 
 
 *' For the evidence see the Dictionary of Ghristmn Aniiqaities, g.v. Ordination, 
 vol. ii. pp. 1504 Bqq. 
 
 °* For the evidence see e.g. Mommsen, Mom. Staaisrecht, Bd. ii. 860 sqq. : 
 Marquardt, IKiu. StaatsvervoJimig, Ed. i. 474. 
 
 '" See the Diclumary of Christian AnfiqiiiticK, nt xnpra. 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 129 
 
 fictitiovLS case, and became thereby praetor de facto **". 
 There was no formal act of admission : what took place 
 was a usurpoiio juris ; a person duly elected simply 
 entered upon his office and was in full possession of it 
 as soon as he had discharged, without let or hindrance, 
 one of its ordinary duties. If we take the earliest form 
 of what in later times would have been called the ritual 
 of ' ordination ' or ' consecration,' that which is given in 
 the eighth book of the Apostolical Constitutions, it is 
 clear that the same theory of adralssion to office 
 prevailed in the Church. On the morning after his 
 election the bishop is escorted to his chair by the other 
 bishops who took part in the election, and at once 
 enters on the active duties of a bishop by preaching 
 a sermon and celebrating the Eucharist *^. That a 
 similar j-ractice pirevailed in regard to other Church 
 officers must be inferred from the fact that in some 
 instances it still survives. ' In the chief Western rituals 
 the newly ordained deacon performs the deacon's 
 function of reading the Gospel : in the Eoman ritual 
 the presbyter not only takes his place in the presby- 
 tery but is " concelebrant " with the bishop, i.e. he is 
 associated with him in the celebration of the Eucharist : 
 in the Greek ritual the reader performs his proper 
 function of reading, and the subdeacon — who in early 
 times was a kind of under-servant — washes the bishop's 
 hands *^.' 
 
 All this, as far as analogy can guide us, is precisely 
 
 ♦■' See Momrn.seiL, Rom. StacUsredd, Bd. i. pp. 502 sqq. 
 " Const. Apost. 8. 4-14. 
 
 '- li'^ctionarij of ChHitian Antfqt'iti'S, s.v. OrdinatioD, vol. ii, pp. 1507. 
 
 K 
 
130 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 what would have happened if the community, instead 
 of being ecclesiastical, had been civil. The conception 
 of ordination, so far as we can gather either from the 
 words which were used to designate it, or from the 
 elements which entered into it, was that simply of 
 appointment and admission to office. 
 
 But there is one element, which was not present in 
 admissions to civil office, and to which in later times 
 great importance has been attached — the rite of the 
 imposition of hands. It is therefore necessary to con- 
 sider how far the existence of this rite indicates the 
 existence of a different theory. 
 
 Two points have to be considered : first the existence 
 of the rite, and secondly its significaace. 
 
 In regard to the first of these points, there is the 
 remarkable fact that the passage of the Apostolical 
 Constitutions which describes with elaborate minuteness 
 the other ceremonies with which a bishop was admitted 
 to office, says nothing of this. It is mentioned that 
 during a prayer after the election the deacons hold the 
 open Gospels over the newly-appointed bishop's head : 
 but of imposition of hands the passage makes no men- 
 tion whatever *l Nor is the rite mentioned in the 
 enumeration which Cyprian gives of the elements 
 which had combined to make the election of Cornelius 
 valid : it was of importance to show that no e sential 
 particular had been omitted, but he enumerates only 
 the votes of the people, the testimony of the clergy, the 
 consent of the bishops **. In entire harmony with this 
 
 " Const. Apo3t. 8. 4. 
 
 " S. Cyprian. Epist. 55 (52), p. 629 ; Faclm est autem Cornelius qjiscopus As 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 131 
 
 is the account which Jerome gives of the admission to 
 office of the bishop of Alexandria : after the election 
 the presbyters conduct the elected bishop to his chair : 
 he is thereupon bishop de facto ^^. 
 
 It follows from this that the rite was not universal : 
 it is impossible that, if it was not universal, it can have 
 been regarded as essential. 
 
 In regard to the second point, there are two kinds of 
 evidence : that of other applications of the rite, and 
 that of existing statements about it. The rite was 
 Jewish : it was in use among the Jews on various 
 occasions : chiefly in the appointment of members of 
 the local courts, in admitting a scholar to study, and in 
 giving him authority to teach — in the ceremony, in 
 other words, which corresponds to our graduation *•*. It 
 was in use in the Christian Church not only in 
 admission to office, but also in the admission of an 
 
 ' Dei et Christi ejus judicio, de clericorum paene omnium testimonio, de plebis quae 
 tunc adfuit suSragio, et de sacerdotum antiquorum et bonorum virorum collegio, 
 cum nemo ante se factus esset, cum Fabiana locus, id est, locus Petri et gradus 
 cathedrae sacerdotalia vacaret.* 
 
 " S. Hieron. Epist. 146 (85), ad Evangel, vol. i. p. 1082 ed. Vail. : ' Alexandriae 
 a Marco evangelista usque ad Heraclam et Dionysium episcopos presbyteri semper 
 unum ex ae electum in excelsiore gradu collocatum episcopum nominabant, quo- 
 modo si exercitus imperatorem faciat aut diaconi eligant de se quern industrium 
 noverint et archidiaconum vocent,' (There is a later, but apparently independent, 
 authority to the same effect, Eutychii Patriarch. Alexand. Annates interp. Pocock. 
 ed. Oxon. 1658, i. p. 331 : and Jerome's account is adopted as giving the normal 
 mode of the ordination of a bishop by Placcus Albinus (pseudo-Alcuin), De Divinis 
 officiis, c. 37, vol. ii. p. 493, ed. Froben.). .The account is corroborated by the fact 
 that Synesius, Epint. 67, p. 210, appears to consider the phrase a-nohii^ai re Kal kirl 
 rov Bp6vov KaOiaai as expressing the constitutive elements of the ordination of a 
 bishop. 
 
 *' See the rabbinical references in Buxtorf, Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicitm et 
 Rdbbinicum, p. 1498, ed. 1639 : Morin, Be Sacris ordinationibus, pars iii. c. 14, p. 
 141, ed. 1655 : Seerup. Dissert, de titulo Rabhi in Ugolini's Thesaurus, vol. xxi. 
 p. 1091. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Clergy and Laity. [leCT. 
 
 ordinary member, and in the readmission of a penitent. 
 It was in all cases when used in the Christian Church 
 accompanied with prayer. St. Augustine resolves it 
 into a prayer. ' Quid aliud est manuum impositio quam 
 oratio super hominem ".' The eighth book of the 
 Apostolical Constitutions makes the word which is 
 ordinarily rendered ' imposition of hands ' {yeipoQea-[a) 
 a synonym for morning and evening prayer**. St. 
 Jerome gives as the reason for its use in ordination 
 simply that if a man were ordained by simple declara- 
 tion of appointment, without any ceremony, he might 
 sometimes be ordained clandestinely without his know- 
 ledge — ' ne scilicet, ut in quibusdam risimus, vocis 
 imprecatio clandestina clericos ordinet nescientes ''^' 
 
 It can hardly be maintained upon this evidence that 
 the ceremony of imposition of hands establishes a pre- 
 sumption, which is clearly not established by the other 
 elements of ordination, that ordination was conceived 
 in early, as it undoubtedly was conceived in later, times 
 as conferring special and exclusive spiritual powers. 
 
 It may be virged, though this is of course different 
 from maintaining that such a presumption is established, 
 that there is nothing in all this which is inconsistent 
 with such a presumption. 
 
 But in a judicial review of evidence it is necessary 
 to consider not only the abstract possibility of a 
 
 " S. Augustin. Be Baptism, c. Donatist. 3. 16. Op. ed. Migne, vol. ix. p. 149. 
 " Const. ApoBt. 8. 36, 38. This use of the word probably refers to the bishop's 
 attitude in praying. 
 
 •° S. Hieron. Comm. in fxai. lib. xvi. c. 58, v. 10, vol. iv. p. 694. 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 133 
 
 hypothesis which may be advanced, but also the 
 difficulties in the way of accepting it. It is there- 
 fore necessary to point to two sets of facts which 
 appear to exclude the presumption in question. 
 
 1. The first is the fact of silence. The belief in 
 the possession of exceptional spiritual powers is so 
 important a fact that it must needs assert itself. 
 When in later times that belief was undoubtedly en- 
 tertained it shows itself in a great variety of forms : 
 it is frequently stated : it is invariably implied. The 
 fact that the writers of the first two centuries neither 
 state nor imply it seems inexplicable, except upon the 
 supposition that they did not hold it ^^. 
 
 2. The second fact is the facility with which 
 ordinations were made and unmade. When, in 
 later times, the belief prevailed that ordination 
 conferred exceptional spiritual powers, it was re- 
 cognized as a necessary corollary of such a belief 
 that the grace of ordination, even if irregularly con- 
 ferred, was inalienable °^. The non-existence of a belief 
 
 ^ stress has sometimes been laid on the fact that in i Tim. 4. 14 the imposition 
 of hands is mentioned as the means by which Timothy received a X'^P"^!'^ '■ but 
 at the same time the wide latitude in which that word was used has been some- 
 times forgotten. It was used of every faculty and privilege which a Christian pos- 
 sessed : to be a Christian was itself a xa/^'f^/^; to be orthodox was a x'^p^f^P^', and 
 in the same way to hold office in the Church was a x^p'^i^a (Const. Apost. 8. 2). 
 Its nearest modem equivalent is probably the word ' talent,' 
 
 " This idea first appears in the course of the Donatist controversy : S. Augus- 
 tine considered ordination to be in this respect analogous to baptism, De Baptism, 
 c. Donatist. i. i. vol. ix. p. 109 : Contra Ep. Parmen. 2. 28, vol. ix. p. 70 : of. 
 especially Be Bono Conjac/ali, 24, vol. vi. p. 394, ' quemadmodum si fiat ordinatio 
 cleri ad plebem congregandam, etiamsi plebis congregatio non subsequitur, manet 
 tamen in illia ordinatis sacramentum ordinationis : et si aliqua culpa quisquam ab 
 officio removeatur Sacramento Domini semel imposito non carebit, quamvis ad judi- 
 cium permanente.' 
 
134 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 in the inalienability of orders affords a strong presump- 
 tion that they were not conceived to confer the powers 
 which in later times were believed to attach to them. 
 Besides this, the trifling nature of some of the causes 
 which were regarded as rendering an ordination 
 invalid ah initio, while wholly consistent with the 
 hypothesis that appointment to ecclesiastical office was 
 of the same kind as appointment to civil office, cannot 
 be reconciled with the hypothesis that it was regarded 
 as conferring exceptional and inalienable powers. If 
 the person whom a bishop ordained belonged to 
 another church ^2, or if the person ordained were not 
 designated to some particular church ^^, or if the ordainer 
 and ordained stood, in the relation of father and son ^'', 
 the ordination was invalid. These regulations reach a 
 climax in a Gallican council of the fifth century, which 
 enacts that all irregular ordinations are invalid except 
 hy arrangement ■-'^. It is ii^aiprobable, except upon an 
 extreme theory of the close correspondence between the 
 'terrestrial and celestial hierarchies,' that the grace of 
 the Holy Spirit shoiild so closely follow the details of 
 ecclesiastical organization as to flow or not to flow, ac- 
 cording as a bishop stood just within or just without the 
 geographical limits of his jurisdiction : it is inconceivable, 
 even upon such an extreme theory, that the same mys- 
 terious grace should have been supjoosed to come or 
 
 ^^ Cone. Nicaen. c. i6, aKvpos €<xtcu y x^^P^"^^^'^^ '• ^^ Cone, Antioch, c. 22, Cone. 
 Sardic. c. 15, i Cone. Arelat. 0. 13. 
 
 '^' Cone. Chalcedon. 0. 6. 
 
 " Can. Apoat. 76. 
 
 " I Cone. Turon. A.D. 461, e. 10, ' Ordinationea vero illieitaa in irritum devoca- 
 mus nisi satisfactione quae ad paeem pertinent eomponantur.' 
 
v.j Clergy and Laity. 135 
 
 go, to remain or to vanish away, according as a person 
 ordained in violation of some local rule did or did not 
 succeed in making his peace with his superiors. The 
 difficulty which these facts present is so obvious that 
 later canonists were compelled to invent a distinction 
 between ' sacramental ' and ' canonical ' validity : but 
 even those who uphold that distinction admit that 
 there is no trace of its existence in early times ^l 
 
 The existing evidence as to the conception which 
 was entertained of the nature of ordination thus con- 
 firms the inference which follows from the consideration 
 of ofSce in itself. The conception of office was that of 
 order : by virtue of their appointment the ofiicers of 
 the Christian communities were entitled to perform 
 functions which in themselves were the functions of 
 the whole Church or of individual Christians. Ecclesias- 
 tical office existed, no doubt, by divine appointment, 
 but by divine appointment only ' for the edifying and 
 well-governing ' of the community. Of the existence 
 of the idea that ecclesiastical office in itself, and not as 
 a matter of ecclesiastical regulation and arrangement, 
 conferred special and exceptional jiowers, there is neither 
 proof nor reasonable presumption. 
 
 Upon this earlier conception there supervened— in 
 the order of Providence and in the slow course of rears 
 — a most significant change. Into the history of that 
 change it is beyond the plan of these Lectures to enter : 
 but since it has its beginnings even in the period which 
 
 * e.g. Hefele, Conciliengeschichte (Eng. Trans.) vol. ii. p. 3.1:9. 
 
136 Clergy and Laity. [lect, 
 
 we are considering, it is necessary briefly to indicate its 
 main causes. 
 
 1. The first of these causes was the wide extension 
 of the limits of Church membership which was caused 
 by the prevalence of infant baptism. In the earliest 
 times the rules of morality which were binding on 
 Church officers were binding also on ordinary members : 
 TertuUian, writing as a Montanist, and endeavouring 
 to keep up the earlier standard, makes the fact that a 
 partictilar rule as to marriage is binding on presbyters 
 an argument for its being binding also on laymen®''. 
 But when infant baptism became general, and men 
 grew up to be Christians as they grew up to be 
 citizens, the maintenance of the earlier standard 
 became impossible in the Church at large. Professing 
 Christians adopted the current morality : they were 
 content to be no worse than their neighbours. But the 
 officers of all communities tend to be conservative, and 
 conservatism was expected of them : that which had 
 been the ideal standard of qualifications for baptism 
 became the ideal standard of qualifications for ordina- 
 tion : and there grew up a distinction between clerical 
 morality and lay morality which has never passed 
 away. 
 
 2. The second cause was the intensity of the senti- 
 ment of order. The conception of civil order under 
 the Imperial regime was very different from the concep- 
 tion of it in modern times, and in Teutonic societies. 
 The tendency of our own society is to have the greatest 
 
 °' Tertull. Be Exhort. Cast. 7, 'vani erimus si putaverimus quod sacerdotibus 
 non liceat l^icis licere.' 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 137 
 
 amount of freedom that is compatible Math order : 
 the tendency of the Empire was to have the greatest 
 amount of order that is compatible with freedom. 
 Civil order was conceived to be almost as divine as 
 physical order is conceived to be in our own day. In the 
 State the head of the State seemed as such by virtue 
 of his elevation to have some of the attributes of a 
 divinity: and in the Church the same Apostolical 
 Constitutions which give as the reason why a layman 
 may not celebrate the Eucharist that he has not the 
 necessary dignity (a^/a), call the officer who has that 
 dignity a ' god upon earth ^*.' When, in the decay of 
 the Empire, the ecclesiastical organization was left as 
 the only stable institution, it was almost inevitable that 
 those who preserved the tradition of imperial rule 
 should, by the mere fact of their status, seem to stand 
 upon a platform which was inaccessible to ordinary 
 men. 
 
 3. The third cause was the growth of an analogy 
 between the Christian and the Mosaic dispensations. 
 The existence of such an analogy in the earliest times 
 was precluded by the vividness of the belief in the 
 nearness of the Second Advent. The organization of 
 the Christian churches was a provisional arrangement 
 until 'the Lord should come.' There was a keen 
 controversy whether Christianity was inside or out- 
 side Judaism : but there is no trace of a behef that 
 the ancient organization was to be replaced, through 
 
 ^ Const. Apost. 3. 10 dAX' outc XaiKois hiriTpetrof^cv iroieiv rt Toif UpaTiicuv epywv. 
 .... did. ydip rrjs eiri9eaiojs tojv x^ipSju tov iTTtutioTTov Mdorm ^ ToiavT?] a^ia : ihid. 
 2. 26 of the bishop, ovtos vpuv hmyaos Seas pcerd OeSf. 
 
138 Clergy and Laity. [lect. 
 
 a long vista of centuries to come, by a corresponding 
 organization of the Christian societies. But after 
 the Temple had long been overthrown and its 
 site desecrated — after the immediate return of the 
 Messiah to a temporal reign in Judaea had passed 
 from being a living faith to be a distant hope — 
 after the Christian Churches had ceased to circle round 
 Jerusalem and had begun to take the form of a new 
 spiritual empire wide as the Eoman empire itself, 
 there grew up a conception that the new Ecdesia Dei, 
 whose limits were the world, was the exact counterpart, 
 though on a larger scale, of the old Ecdesia Dei whose 
 limits had been Palestine. With an explanation in the 
 one case — which shows that the conception is new, 
 with a hesitating timidity in the other case — which 
 shows that it had not yet established itself, Tertullian ^^ 
 and Origen '"', speak of Christian ministers as priests. 
 It was a century and a half after the time of Ter- 
 tullian and Origen before the analogy came to be 
 generally accepted, or before the corollaries which 
 flowed from it found general expression in literature : 
 but, when once established, it became permanent, and in 
 the course of those weary wastes of years which stretch 
 between the ruins of the Empire and the foundation 
 
 ™ Tertull. Z*e Baptismo, c. 17 'dandi (so. baptismum) quidem habet jus summus 
 eacerdos qui est episcopus : ' the explanation of the meaning of ' summus sacerdos * 
 was not needed a century later, e.g. in S. Ambros. Expos, in Psalm, cxviil. c. 23, 
 vol. i. p. 989. 
 
 * Origen, Comment, in Joann. torn. I. 3. vol. iv. p. 3, of 5^ dvanelfitvoi nfj Sdiy 
 K6yqf icat irpos fiuPT] Tjj Bepaireia rod 0eoO yivd^ievot .... Aevirai Kal Upns ov/c dT6- 
 TTojs Kix^V^ovTai : cf. S. Augustin. De Givit. Dei, 20. 10, Op. ed. Migne, vii. 676, 
 in reference to Eev. 20. 5, ' nou utique de solis episcopis et presbyteria dictum est 
 qui proprie jam vocantur in ecclesia aacerdotes.' 
 
v.] Clergy and Laity. 139 
 
 of" tlie modern kingdoms of the West and North it 
 became not only permanent but universal. 
 
 But in earlier times there was a grander faith. For 
 the kingdom of God was a kingdom of priests. Not 
 only the ' four and twenty elders " ' before the throne, 
 but the innumerable souls of the sanctified upon whom 
 ' the second death had no power '^^,' were ' kings and 
 priests unto God.' Only in that high sense was priest- 
 hood predicable of Christian men. For the shadow had 
 passed : the Eeahty had come : the one High Priest of 
 Christianity was Christ. 
 
 " Rev. 5. 10. °" Rev. 20. 6. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE CLERGY AS A SEPAKATE CLASS. 
 
 The fourth century of our era is not less remarkable 
 in the history of Christian organization than it is in 
 the history of Christian doctrine. At the beginning 
 of that century Christianity was the religion of a 
 persecuted sect : the prisons and the mines were 
 thronged with Christian confessors : the executioner's 
 sword was red with Christian blood ^ In a few years 
 it was tolerated and favoured : its adherents held high 
 places in the Empire : its churches rivalled in sjDlendour 
 the temples of the pagan gods ^. At the end of the 
 century it was no longer merely tolerated but dominant : 
 it was the religion of the State : and heresy was a 
 political crime ^ 
 
 ^ The persecutions of tlie twelve years immediately preceding the formal tolera- 
 tion of Christianity, a.d. 300-312, were even more severe than those of earlier 
 times : they are described in detail by Busebius, H. E. Bks. viii, & ix. passim, 
 and by Lactantius, Be moHibus Persemtorum, 11-16, 21-32 : for a good modern 
 account see Mason, The Persecution of Diocletian, Cambridge, 1876. 
 
 ^ For the changes which were effected by Constantino in the external fortunes 
 of the Christian churches see Euseb. H. E. 10. 1-6, Yit. Constant. Bks. 2-4 : and, 
 of modern writers, especially Keim, Der Uebertritt Constantins der Grossen zum 
 ChristentJmm, Zurich, 1862. 
 
 ^ The foUowiug law of Gratian, Valentiuian, and Theodosius, in a.d. 38S, Cod. 
 Theodos. 16. 5. 15, is one of many proofs that heresy was treated as an offence not 
 only against the Church, but against the State : 'omnes diversarum perfidarumque 
 seotarum quos in Deum miserae vesania conspirationis exercet nullum usquam 
 
The Clergy as a Sepaj^ate Class. 141 
 
 It was inevitable that so great a change in its 
 external fortunes should be attended with a great 
 change in its internal organization. The transition 
 from a state of subordination to one of supremacy 
 necessarily affects the conditions under which, in any 
 society, officers hold their office. Their status is altered 
 not only in relation to the world outside but also in 
 relation to their members within. It was so in the 
 Christian societies : at the beginning of the century, 
 in spite of the development of the episcoj)ate, the 
 primitive type still survived : the government of the 
 Churches was in the main a democracy : at the end of 
 the century the primitive type had almost disappeared : 
 the clergy were a separate and governing class. 
 
 I propose in the present lecture to analyse the 
 complex and heterogeneous causes which operated to 
 produce a change which, in the great mass of Christian 
 communities, has been permanent from that time until 
 now. 
 
 I . In the first place, the State conceded to the officers 
 of the Christian Churches those immunities which were 
 enjoyed by the heathen priesthood and by some of the 
 liberal professions *. Hitherto Church officers had been 
 
 sinantur habere conventum, non inire tractatus, non coetus agere seoretoe, non 
 nefariae praevaricationis altaria manua impiae officiis impudenter tollere, et myste- 
 riorum simulationem ad injuriam verae religionia aptare. Quod ut congruum sor- 
 tiatur efFectum in specula Bublimitas tua fidissimos quosque constituat, qui et cohi- 
 bere hos possint et deprebensos ofFerre judiciis, severissimum secundum praeterltas 
 sanctiones et Deo aupplicium daturos et legibua.' 
 
 * The exempted classea were, with certain limitations as to numbers, chiefly 
 priests, physicians, professors of literature, philosophy, rhetoric, and law : a full 
 account is given by Kuhn, Die stddtisehe u. hiiryerliche Verfasmng des romischen 
 Eeichs, erster Theil, pp. 83-123. 
 
142 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect, 
 
 liable to the same public burdens as ordinary citizens. 
 They might be called upon to hold office as municipal 
 magistrates or senators, to act as trustees, to serve in 
 the army. Nor is there any ground for assuming- that 
 the discharge of such duties, except where it involved 
 the recognition of the State religion, was regarded as 
 incongruous or derogatory. In some parts of the 
 Empire the question in relation to civil office would 
 rather be speculative than practical — the number of 
 Christians who were rich enough to be eligible for office 
 being comparatively few. But in the busy commercial 
 towns of North Africa Christianity gained a hold at 
 a comparatively early stage upon the wealthier as 
 well as upon the poorer classes. The number of 
 Church officers who were liable to public burdens 
 was therefore proportionately larger : and at the same 
 time their duties as Church officers were somewhat 
 greater. It is in North Africa, therefore, that a feeHng 
 seems first to have arisen against combining civil with 
 ecclesiastical functions ^. The ground of objection was 
 not that the two functions were inherently incom- 
 patible, but rather that the proper discharge of the 
 duties of the one did not leave sufficient leisure for 
 the proper discharge of the duties of the other. ' The 
 ministers of the Church,' says Cyprian, 'ought to serve 
 exclusively the altar and sacrifices, and to give their 
 whole time to supplications and prayers.' Conse- 
 quently, since one Gleminius Victor had named a 
 
 ° The first trace is in TertuU. De praescript, c. 41 : and in a later treatise, De 
 Corona Militis, 11, he raises the question 'an in totura Christiauis militia con- 
 veniat. ' 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 143 
 
 presbyter as his executor, he inflicts upon him, as a 
 deterrent to others, the posthumous punishment of 
 excluding his name from the list of those for the 
 repose of whose souls the Church should pray ^. And 
 hardly had Christianity been put upon the footing of 
 a recognized religion when Constantino addressed a 
 letter to the proconsid of the African province requiring 
 him to exempt allwho were in the ranks of the Chris- 
 tian clergy from the ordinary pubhc burdens ''. The 
 same exemption was soon granted to the Christians 
 of other provinces ^. But it was strongly resisted, and 
 required frequent repetition ^ The opposition to it is not 
 surprising. In our own days, and under our own system 
 of taxation, municipal magistracies and ofiices are in 
 most instances a coveted honour. They entail upon 
 those who hold them a certain amount of trouble, 
 but not necessarily any considerable expense. But 
 under the vicious system of the later Empire they 
 were an almost intolerable burden. The magistrates 
 were charged with the collection of the revenue, and, 
 the quota of each municipality being fixed, they had 
 
 " S. Cyprian. Ejdst. i (66), p. 465. 
 
 ^ Constantin. Epist. ad. AniiJinitrit, ap. Euseb, S. E. 10. 'j: Sozom. i. 9: incor- 
 porated in Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. i. The report of Anulinus, to which Constantino's 
 letter is an answer, is given by S. Augustin. Epist. 88 (.68), Op. Vol. ii. 302, ed Migne. 
 
 ' Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 2, A.D. 319. 
 
 ° Laws of Constantine in Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 7, a.d. 330 (= Letter quoted from 
 a MS. of P. Pithou in Earonius ad ann. 316, n. 64) : of Constantius, ihid. 16. 2. 8. 
 A.D. 343 (= with the omission of the last clause Cod. Justin, i. 3. i, cf. Sozom. 
 H. E. 3. 17) : of Constantius and Constans, ibid. 16. 2. 10, a.d. 353 (probably 
 = Auctor Vitae Spiridionis, ap. Hanel, Corp. Leg. ante Justinian, lat. p. 209), and 
 ibid. 16. 2. II, A.D. 354, ihid. 16. 2. 14, a.d. 357, ibid. 16. 2. 15, a.d. 360 (partly 
 = Cod. Justin, i. 3. 3) : of Valentiuian and Valens, ibid. 16. 2. 19, a.d. 370?; of 
 Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian, ihid. 16. 2. 24, a.d. 377 (partly = Cod. Justin. 
 I. 3. 6). 
 
144 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 to make up the deficit — in days in whicli deficits were 
 chronic — out of their private resources ". The holding 
 of ofiice consequently involved in some cases an almost 
 ruinous expenditvire. It was a heavy and unequal tax 
 upon property. An addition to the number of those 
 who were exempt from it added to its oppressiveness and 
 its inequahty. It had also another result, it added to 
 the number of claimants for admission to the privileged 
 class. When the officers of Christian Churches were 
 exempted, many persons whose fortunes were large 
 enough to render them liable to the burden of muni- 
 cipal ofiices, sought and obtained admission to the 
 ranks of the clergy, with the view of thereby escaping 
 their liability. The exemption had barely been half- 
 a-dozen years in operation before the Emperor found 
 it necessary to guard it with important limitations^^ 
 These limitations were, for the most part, in the 
 direction of prohibiting those who were liable to 
 municipal burdens from being apjoointed to ecclesias- 
 tical office. As the Church grew in power the limitations 
 were evaded, and several times in the course of the 
 fourth century they had to be repeated ^^ : but it is 
 
 '" See e.g. Kuhn, Verfassung kc, erster Theil, p. 245 : Walter, GescMcTite des 
 romiscTien Bechts, erster Theil, § 396 : and especially Etldiger, De Gurialihus Imperii 
 Roniani post Constantinum M., Wratislaw, 1838. 
 
 " The exemptions were first granted in A.D. 3 1 3 : the first law restricting them 
 is now lost, but it is quoted in a law of A.D. 320, Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 3, 'cum 
 constitatio emissa praecipiat nullum deiuceps decurionem vel ex decurione proge- 
 nitum idoneis facultatibus atque obeundis publicis muneribus opportunum ad cleri' 
 corum rtomen ohsequiumque confitgere, sed eoa de cetero in defunctorum duntaxat 
 clericorum loca surrogari qui fortuna tenuea neque muneribus civilibus teneantur, 
 obstricti ....:' there are similar restrictions in a law of a.d. 326, Cod. Theod. 16. 
 2. 6. 
 
 '^ Law of Constantius and Constans, a.d. 360, Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 15: of Con- 
 stantius and Julian, a.d. 361, Cod. Theodos. 8. 4. 7 ^ of Valentinian, Theodosius. 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 145 
 
 important in relation to the point in hand to notice 
 that, in spite of evident abuses, the exemptions them- 
 selves were never repealed : it is equally important 
 to notice that, although no doubt the exemption vpas 
 claimed in almost all cases in which it could be 
 claimed, the right to exemption did not constitute 
 ineligibility. It was not until the Council of Chalcedon 
 that the holding of civil office by clerks became an 
 offence against ecclesiastical law " : and it was not until 
 eighty years after that Council that the appointment 
 of a civil officer to ecclesiastical office became an offence 
 against civil law ^*. 
 
 2. In the second place, the State granted to the 
 officers of the Christian Church an exemption from 
 the ordinary jurisdiction of the civil courts. It so 
 far recognized the validity of the consensual juris- 
 diction to which the members of Christian societies 
 submitted themselves 1*. That consensual jurisdiction 
 was to some extent recognized for all members. The 
 civil law which recognized associations recognized also 
 the right of such associations to frame and to enforce 
 
 and Arcadins, a.d. 398, Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 32 ; Cod. Justin, i. 3. 12 : of. Socrates, 
 H. £. 6. 5 : Sozomen. H. E. 8. 7. 
 
 ^^ Cone. Chalced. a.d. 451, c. 7 Tovsaira^ kv ickypoj icaTeiKeyfxeyovs tj real fiovdaav- 
 Tas Qjpi<Tafj.€v f^TjTG €m <TTpaT£iav prjTe iirl d^iav Kofffit/c^v ipx^oOai under penalty of 
 anathema. 
 
 " Law of Justinian, a.d. 532, Cod, Justin, i. 3. 53 (52), eeam^opiev /ijjTt /3ou- 
 KevT^y ^rj7€ ra^euTTjy kmafcoirov ^ npea^vTCpov tov \onTOv yiVE(x6ai ; so Novell. 1 23. 
 15, A.D. 546. 
 
 '^ Law of Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian in a.d. 376, Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 23 : 
 ' Qui mos est causarum civilium idem in negotiis eoolesiaaticis obtinendus est ; 
 ut si qua sunt ex quibusdam dissentionibus levibusque deKctis ad religionis obser- 
 vantiam pertinentia, locia suis et a suae dioeceseos synodis audiantur: exceptis quae 
 actio criniinalis ab ordinariis extraordinariisque judicibus aut illustribua potestati- 
 bus audienda constituit.' 
 
 L 
 
146 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lkct. 
 
 their own rules. In the Christian societies matters 
 of religious dispute, or offences against religion, might 
 be decided by the individual societies or by the repre- 
 sentative assembly of a province. The limitation to 
 such matters was, in the case of ordinary members, 
 a strict one. The administration of justice would have 
 come to an end if all those who came soon to constitute 
 a preponderating majority of the citizens of the Empire 
 had been exempted from its ordinary operation. But 
 for Church officers the rule went far beyond this. At 
 first the rule that all causes in which officers of the 
 Chtirches were concerned should be decided by the 
 Churches themselves was permissive ". But at last it 
 became compulsory ^'^. The right of appeal to the 
 emperor was reserved on the part of the State ", but 
 fenced round with conditions on the part of the 
 Churches : and so began that long struggle between 
 civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Church officers, 
 which forms so important an element in mediaeval 
 
 '" It is spoken of as a permission and not as an obligation : Sozom. B.. B. i . 9, 
 15, Tuiv i\ iTnani-naiv iTn/caKfiaSai Trfi> Kpiaiv infTpetf/e toi! SiKa^oi^ivois fjv $ov- 
 Kaivrat rovs tvoXltlkov^ dpxovras TTapatT€ia9ai. 
 
 " Law of Honorius and Tlieodosius, a.d. 412, Cod. Theodos, 16. 2. 41, 'clericos 
 nonnisi apud episcopos acousari convenit : ' ihid. 16. 2. 47 : but a law of Leo, A.D. 
 459. ap. Theodos. Lector, i. 14 : Nioeph. Callist. 15. 22 (Hiinel, Corpus Legiim, No, 
 1220, p. 259) makes clerks amenable only to rtj, k-n&pxif tuiv ■npaiTwpiav. 
 
 " That the right of appeal existed is shown by the fact that the Council of 
 Antioch, c. 11, 12, punished with ecclesiastical penalties a clerk who availed him- 
 self of it: and also by the fact, e.g. Athanasius (Socrat. S. E. 1. 33"), and Priscil- 
 lian (Sulp. Sev. Ghron. 49, p. 102, ed. Halm) did actually appeal. But, according 
 to the ordinary law, such a right did not exist where the ecclesiastical jud^-e was 
 in the position of an arbitrator, accepted by both parties to a suit : cf. Hebenstreit 
 Historia Jurisdictionis Bcclesiasticae ex legibus utriusque Codicis illustrata Diss 
 ii. § 26, iii. I 6, Lips. 1776 ; Bethmann-HoUweg, Der romische Givilprozess, Bd. 3. 
 p. 114, Bonn, 1866. 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 147 
 
 history, and which has not altogether ceased in our 
 own times ". 
 
 The joint effect of these exemptions from public 
 burdens, and from ordinary courts, was the creation 
 of a class civilly distinct from the rest of the com- 
 munity. This is the first element in the change which 
 we are investigating : the clergy came to have a distinct 
 civil status. 
 
 From the same general causes flowed another result 
 of not less importance. 
 
 The funds of the primitive communities had consisted 
 entirely of voluntary offerings. Of these ofierings those 
 officers whose circumstances required it were entitled 
 to a share. They received such a share only on the 
 ground of their poverty. They were, so far, in the 
 position of the widows and orphans and helpless poor. 
 Like soldiers in the Roman army, or like slaves in a 
 Roman household, they were entitled to a monthly allow- 
 ance ^''. The amount of that allowance was variable. 
 When the Montanists proposed to pay their clergy 
 a fixed salary the proposal was condemned as a here- 
 tical innovation, alien to Catholic practice ^^ Those who 
 could supplemented their allowances by farming or by 
 trade. There was no sense of incongruity in their 
 
 " For an exact account of the legislation which served as the basis of the later 
 Canon Law on the subject, see Dove, De jurisdictionis Ecclesiasticae apud Ger- 
 manos Gallosque progressu, Berlin, 1855, and Sohm, Die geistliche Gerichtsbarkeit 
 im frankischen Meich in the Zeitsckrift fiir Kirchenrecht, vol. ix. 1870, pp. 193 sqq. 
 
 ™ 'Divisio mensuma,' S. Cyprian. Epist. 34 (28), p. 570, 39 (34), p. 582. 
 
 "■ Euseb. H. E. 5. 18. 2; 5. 28. 10; this salary, like the allowances of the 
 Catholic clergy, was to be paid monthly (firji'iara SrjyApta eKardv TriVTrjKOVTa), the 
 point of objection being apparently that it was fixed, and not dependent on the 
 freewill offerings of the people. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 doing so. The Apostolical Constitutions repeat with 
 emphasis the apostolical injunction, 'If any would 
 not work, neither should he eat ^^Z There is no early 
 trace of the later idea that buying and selling, handicraft 
 and farming, were in themselves inconsistent with the 
 office of a Christian minister. The bishops and pres- 
 byters of those early days kept banks, practised medi- 
 cine, wrought as silver-smiths, tended sheep, or sold 
 their goods in open market ^^. They were like the second 
 generation of non-juring bishops a century and a half 
 ago, or like the early preachers of the Wesleyan 
 Methodists. They were men of the world taking part 
 in the ordinary business of hfe. The point about 
 which the Christian communities were anxious was, 
 not that their officers should cease to trade, but that, 
 in this as in other respects, they should be ensamples 
 to the flock. The chief existing enactments of early 
 councils on the point are that bishops are not to 
 huckster their goods from market to market, nor are 
 
 ^^ Const. Apost. 2. 62, 
 
 '' This is proved by the existence of both general regulations and particular 
 instances : i. among the former are the enactment of the Civil Law exempting 
 clerks from the trading-tax : ' ei exiguis admodum mercimoniis tenuem sibi victum 
 vestitumque conquirent ' (Law ofConstantius andConstans, a.d. 360, Cod. Theodos. 
 16. 2. 15), and the enactments oi t\ie Statiita Ecclesiae Antiqaa, c. 51, 'clericusquan- 
 tumlibet verbo Dei eruditus artificio victum quaerat:' c. 52, ' clericus victum et 
 vestimentum sibi artificiolo vel agricultura absque officii sui detrimento paret:* ii. 
 among the latter are the case of Spiridion who tended sheep in Cyprus, Socrates, 
 H. E. I. 12, of a bishop who was a weaver at Maiuma, Sozom. S. E. 7. 28, of one 
 who was a shipbuilder in Campania, S. Greg. M.. Epist. 13. 26, vol. ii. p. 123;, of 
 one who practised in the law courts, ihid. 10. 10. vol. ii. p. 1048, of a presbyter 
 who was a silversmith at Ancyra, Corp. Inscr. Gi'aec. No. 9258 : Basil, Epist. 198 
 (263), vol. iv. p. 290) speaks of the majority of his clergy as earning their livelihood 
 by sedentary handicrafts (rds kdpaias rwv rexvoji^), and Epiphanius, Haeres. 80. 6, 
 p. 1072, speaks of others doing it in order to earn money for the poor : so Gennad. 
 De Script. Ecclrs. 0. 69, of Hilary of Aries. 
 
VI.] TJie Clergy as a Separate Class. 149 
 
 they to use their position to buy cheaper and sell 
 dearer than other people ^''. 
 
 Into this primitive state of things the State intro- 
 duced a change. 
 
 I . It allowed the Churches to hold property ^^. And 
 hardly had the holding of property become possible 
 before the Church became a kind of universal legatee. 
 The merit of bequeathing property to the Church was 
 preached with so much success that restraining enact- 
 ments became necessary. Just as the State did not 
 abolish, though it found it necessary to limit, its 
 concession of exemption to Church officers, so it pur- 
 sued the policy of limiting rather than of abolishing 
 
 ^ Cone. Illib. c. 19, 'Episcopi, presbyteres, et diacones de locis suis negotiandi 
 causa non discedant, nee circumeuntea provincias quaestuosas nundinas sectentur : ' 
 Cone. Tarraoon. c. 2 ' Quicumque in clero esse voluerit emendi vilius vel vendendi 
 cariiis studio non utatur.' 
 
 ^' In several oases the Christian communities had held property before the time 
 ofConstantine: but they appear to have done so rather by concession than of right, 
 and in time of persecution the property was liable to be seized. They had been 
 formally permitted by Gallienus, Euseb. H. E. 7. 13. 3, to have common cemeteries : 
 and De Rossi in the Bulletino di Archeol. Christian. Ann. iii. 1865, pp. 89 (also 
 in the Hevue Archiiologique, vol. xiii. 1866, pp. 225 sqq.), maintains that the right 
 existed in relation to cemeteries from the first. But on the other hand, the pro- 
 ceedings in the case of Paul of Samosata seem to show that, at least in some cases, 
 the property was held personally by the bishop : since Paul's opponents, not being 
 able to eject him by the ordinary processes of law, as they could have done if the 
 property had belonged to the community, had to seek the extraordinary interven- 
 tion of Aurelian (Euseb. H. E. 7. 30. 19). Lampridius mentions that in a special 
 case Alexander Severus had allowed the Christians rather than the tavern-keepers 
 to occupy a piece of once public land (Lamprid. Vit. Alex. Sev. 49) ; and, the year 
 before the Edict of Milan, Maximinus (Euseb. H. E. 9. 10. 11) restored the churches 
 and other property of which the Christians had been deprived : but it does not 
 appear that until that Edict the right of holding property was ordinary and incon- 
 testable. Even then the right was probably limited to the occupation of churches, 
 cemeteries, and other buildings used for worship or cognate purposes ; the right 
 of receiving property bequeathed by will for the purpose of endowment was 
 Hot granted until A.D. 321, by a law which is preserved in Cod. Theodos. 
 16. 2. 4. 
 
150 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 the right to acquire property ^^ 'I do not complain of 
 the law,' says Jerome, writing on this point, ' but of 
 the causes which have rendered the law necessary ^''. 
 
 2. The enthusiasm, or the policy, of Constantino 
 went considerably beyond this. He ordered that not 
 only the clergy but also the widows and orphans who 
 were on the Church-roll should receive fixed annual 
 allowances ^^ : he endowed some Churches with fixed 
 revenues chargeable upon the lands of the munici- 
 palities ^' : in some cases he gave to churches the rich 
 revenues or the splendid buildings of heathen temples 
 
 30 
 
 '" The most stringent enactment was that of Valentinian and Valens in a.d. 
 370, Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 20, to the effect that ' ecclesiastici ' are not even to visit 
 the houses of widows and wards. 
 
 ^' S. Hieron. Epist. 52 (2), ad Nepotianiim, c. 6, 'Pudet dicere saoerdotes idolo- 
 runi, mimi, et aurigae, et scorta, haereditates capiunt : snlia clericis et monachis 
 hac lege [i.e. the law referred to in the preceding note] prohibetur : et prohibetur 
 non a persecutoribus sed a principibus christianis. Nee de lege conqueritur : sed 
 doleo cur meruerimus hanc legem,' cf. S. Ambros. Epist. 18. 13 ; E.cpos. Ecang. 
 sec. Luc. 8. 79> "^ol. i. p. 1491. 
 
 ^^ Theodoret. H. E. i. 10 : Incert. Auct. de Constant, ap. Hanel, Corpus Legnm, 
 p. 196, 'literas ad provinoiarum praesides dedit quibus imperabat ut per singulas 
 urbes virginibus et viduis et aliis qui divino ministerio erant consecrati, annuum 
 frurnentum suppeditaretur : ' cf. Euseb. U. E. 10. 6. Julian not only withdrew 
 the privilege, but also compelled widows and virgins to repay what they had re- 
 ceived from the public funds, Sozom. S. .£". 5. 5 : but the privilege was restored 
 by his successor, Theodoret. S. E. 4. 4. 
 
 '^ Euseb. Tit. Const. 4. 28 : Sozom. B. E. I. 8. 10 : 5. 5. 3. 
 
 ^° Later writers sometimes represented the transfer of temples and their revenues 
 to the Christian churches as having been made on a considerable scale ; e.g. Theo- 
 phanes, p. 42, ed. Class. : Niceph. Callist. 7. 46 ; Cedren. pp. 478, 498. But al- 
 though instances of such a transfer can be found, e.g. that of the Temple of Mithra 
 at Alexandria, Sozom. H. E. c,. 7, and that which is recorded in an extant inscrip- 
 tion at Zorava in Trachonitis {©eoiJ yiyoviv oTkos to tSjv daijxovojv Harayw'yioVj Le 
 Bas et Waddingtou, No. 2498), yet on the other hand the confiscation of temples 
 and their revenues did not become general until the time of Theodosius, and the 
 funds so realized were applied not to Christian, but to imperial and secular pur- 
 poses : this is shown by Cod. Theodos. 16. 10. ig (law of A.D. 408 = Constit. Sir- 
 mond. 1 2, p. 466, ed. Hiinel), ' temploruni detrahantur annonae et rem annonariam 
 juvent, expensis devotissimorum militum prof uturae : ' so ibid. 16. 10. 20. 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 151 
 
 This is the second element in the change : the clergy- 
 became not only independent, but in some cases 
 wealthy. In an age of social decay and struggling 
 poverty they had not only enough but to spare. They 
 could afford to lend : and they lent. The frequent 
 repetition in provincial councils of the rule that the 
 clergy should not take interest upon their loans, while 
 it shows that the practice was reprehended, shows also 
 that it existed ^^ 
 
 The effect of the recognition of Christianity by the 
 State was thus not only to create a class civilly distinct 
 from the rest of the community, but also to give that 
 class social independence. In other words, the Christian 
 clergy, in addition to their original prestige as office- 
 bearers, had the privileges of a favoured class, and the 
 power of a moneyed class. 
 
 In the meantime, cooperating with these causes, 
 though wholly different from them, was another group 
 of causes which operated in the same general direction. 
 
 The fourth century of our era saw not only the 
 recognition of Christianity by the State as the religion 
 of the State, but also the first great development within 
 Christianity itself of those practices and tendencies 
 which are covered by the general name of Monasticism. 
 Those practices and tendencies consist in the main of 
 two elements — asceticism and isolation from the world. 
 Each of these elements has a separate history: the 
 significance of monasticism lies in their combination. 
 
 ^' Councils of Elvira, c. 20; Aries, 0. 12: Laodicea, c. 4 : Nicaea, c. 17: i Tours, 
 c. 13 : Tarragon, c. 3 : 3 Orleans, 0. 27 : Trull, c. 10 : so also the Cod. Eccles. 
 Afric. c. 16 : Can. Apost. 44. 
 
152 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 I. Asceticism belongs to almost the first beginnings 
 of the Christian faith. The teaching of our Lord had 
 been a teaching of self-abnegation : the preaching of 
 more than one Aj)0stle had gone beyond this and had 
 been a preaching of self-mortification. The maxim of 
 the Master had been, ' Sell all that thou hast and give 
 to the poor ^^ : ' the maxim of the Apostle was, ' Mortify 
 your members which are upon earth ^^.' Those who had 
 begun by giving a literal interpretation to the one — 
 ' having all things common ^*/ proceeded to give a literal 
 interpretation to the other — 'crucifying the flesh ^^.' In 
 other words, the profound reaction against current 
 morality which had already expressed itself in some 
 of the philosophical sects expressed itself within the 
 limits of Christianity. In our own days, in which the 
 social system has become more settled, and in which 
 the divine influence of the Christian faith has raised 
 even the current standard, it is difiicult to reahze to 
 ourselves the passionate intensity of that striving after 
 the moral ideal. We know of men struggling for 
 freedom : but in those days they struggled less for 
 freedom than for purity. Such struggles admit of no 
 compromise : for compromise, like diplomacy, finds no 
 place in the melde of the battlefield. And this strug- 
 gle for moral purity became a, war d ontrance against 
 human nature. At first it was confined to a few : 
 it rather hovered on the outskirts of Christianity than 
 found a recognized place within : it was Judaeo-Christian 
 or Gnostic rather than Catholic : it was rather dis- 
 
 ^' S. Matt. 19. 21. 33 Col. 3. 5. 
 
 " Acts 2. 44, 3= Gal. 5. 24. 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 153 
 
 couraged than inculcated — until, with the sudden rush of 
 a great enthusiasm, it became a force which even the 
 whole weight of the confederated Churches could not 
 resist ^^. 
 
 2. Side by side with it, but for the first three 
 centuries confined to a still smaller number of persons ^■', 
 was the tendency to live in partial or total isolation 
 from society. 
 
 This, like the ascetic tendency, was not confined to 
 Christianity. It had already taken an important place 
 in the religions of both Egypt and the East. 
 
 In Egypt there had been for several centuries a 
 great monastery of those who were devoted to the 
 worship of the deity whom the Greeks called Serapis. 
 The monks, like Christian monks, lived in a vast 
 common building, which they never left: they might 
 retain a limited control over their property, but they 
 were dead to the world ^*. 
 
 ^^ The tendency towards the lauda/tion of virginity is found in e.g. Herrn. Sim. 
 9. 10. II I S. Juf5tin M. Apol. i. 15 : Athenag. Legat. 32; Origen, c. Gels, 7. 48: 
 Tertull. De Yeland. Virg. 2, De Exhort. Cast. 21 ; S. Cyprian. De habitu Virg. 0. 
 3, p. 189 : De Mortalitate, 26, p. 314: E2nst. 55 (52), c. 20, p. 638, 62 (60), c. 3, 
 p. 699. 
 
 '' There is the instance of Narcissus of Jerusalem, Euseb. S. E. 6. 9. 6, of the 
 fugitives from the Decian persecution mentioned by Dionysius of Alexandria ap. 
 Euseb. H. E. 6. 42. 2, of those with whom 'the great monk ' Antony met before 
 he himself founded the later system of Egyptian monachism, (pseudo-) Athanas. Vit. 
 S. Anton, c. 3, Op. vol. i. p. 634. The fact that in the middle of the fourth cen- 
 tury there was already a irapd5o(ris dypatpos (Sozom. i. 13) of monastic rules is a 
 further proof of the existence of monks before that time : on the other hand Ter- 
 tullian's protest that the Christians were not ' Brachmanae, Gymnosophistae, silvi- 
 colae, exules vitae ' {Apol. 42) shows that the tendency had not become general. 
 
 2° The institution of monachism in Egypt goes back to remote times : a hiero- 
 glyphic inscription in the Louvre, No. 3465, speaks of an abbess of the nuns of 
 Ammon (Eevillout in the Archives des Missions scieniifiques et litteraires, 3™* Serie, 
 vol. 4, p. 479) : but our chief knowledge of it is derived from the papyri, which 
 exist in considerable numbers, referring to the Serapeum at Memphis. The most 
 
154 27^^ Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 In the greatest of Oriental religions there had also 
 been for many centuries a monastic system, which 
 gained so firm a hold upon the professors of that 
 rehgion that to the present day, in some countries 
 where Buddhism preA^ails, every member of the popu- 
 lation, whether he will or no, must at some period of 
 his life adopt the monastic habit, and hfe, if only for 
 a month or two, in retreat ^^ 
 
 The fact that Christian monasticism first appears 
 in Egypt*", where the Serapeum was a familiar object 
 to the inhabitants of Memphis *\ and also in those 
 
 important of them are published by Brunet de Presle, Papynts Grecs du Musie du 
 Louvre et de la Bihliothique Imperiale, in tlie Notices et Extraiis des MSS. de la 
 Bibliothique Imperiale, vol. xviii. pp. 261 sqq., who has also published an excellent 
 Memoire sur le Serajjeum de Memphis in the Miimoires prisentes par divers savans 
 a V Acadimie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, l" si^rie, vol. ii. pp. 552 sqq. (see also 
 Leemans, Papyri Graeei Musei Ant. piihl. LiujiJmii-Batavi, pap. B, p. 9, and Mai, 
 Class. Auct. vol. v. pp. 352, 601). The worship of Serapis was widely spread in both 
 Greece and Italy (see e.g. Herzberg, Die Oeschichte Griechenlands unter der Herr- 
 schaft der Bomer, Bd. ii. p. 267 ; Preller in the Berichte der konifjl. sticks. Gesell- 
 schafl d. Wissenschaft, phil. hist, classe, Bd. vi. 1854, pp. 196 sqq. : Boissier, La 
 Religion Romaine, vol. i. pp. 400 sqq.), and there were associations of Serapis-wor- 
 shippers (e.g. at Athens, a decree of which is to be found in the Corpus Jnscr. 
 Grace. No. 120 = Hicks, Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, part i. No. 
 21), but there are no traces of religious recluses out of Egypt. 
 
 ^' E. S. Hardy, Eastern Monachism, p. 57. 
 
 *° The early appearance of Monasticism in Egypt is shown not only by the 
 ' Eremitenroman ' (Weingarten, p. 20), entitled Vita S. Antonii, and ascribed to S. 
 Athanasius (Op. vol. i. pp. 630 sqq.), but also by the more important treatise De 
 Vita Contemplativa, which is printed among the works of Bhilo {Op. vol. ii. pp. 471 
 sqq. ed. Mang.). The controversies which have for some time been carried on as 
 to the probable authorship and date of this treatise (of which a short and convenient 
 account will be found in Kuenen, De Godsdienst van Israel, Eng. Trans, vol. iii. pp. 
 217 sqq.) seem to have beea set at rest by Lucius, Die Therapeuten und ihre Stellwng 
 iii der Geschichte der Askese, Strassburg, 1879, who maintains that it is really an 
 account, written not long before the time of Eusebius, of the communities of Chris- 
 tian ascetics which had already begun to exist in Egypt : (see Hilgenfeld's pane- 
 gyric upon the work in his Zeitschrift f. wissensch. Theologie, Bd. xxiii. 1880, pp. 
 423 sqq.) 
 
 " The remains of the Serapeum were first explored by Mariette, and have been 
 described in his work entitled Le Sirapeum de Memphis, Paris, 1857. 
 
VI.] The' Clergy as a Separate Class. 155 
 
 extreme parts of Asia Minor which were locally nearest 
 to the Btiddhist populations *^ has led to the supposition 
 that one or other or both of these external causes may 
 account for its introduction into Christianity *^. 
 
 But great enthusiasms are never adequately explained 
 by external causes. No torch would have kindled so •• 
 great a conflagration if the fuel had not been already ; 
 gathered together for the burning. The causes of the 
 sudden outburst of monasticism in the fourth century 
 must be sought, and can be found, within Christianity 
 itself. They lie in the general conditions of the age. 
 It was an age, in the first place, in which the artificial 
 civilization of the Empire seemed to culminate. That 
 civilization carried in its train a craving for artificial 
 luxuries and artificial excitements. Such a craving 
 is never satisfied. It begets a vague restlessness, 
 which in its turn passes into ennui. There are men 
 
 *^ There are some, though not considerable, traces of monasticism in Armenia at 
 the beginning of the fourth century, to which period the foundation of the monas- 
 tery of Etchmiazin is traditionally ascribed : (see the life of St. Gregory' the Illumi- 
 nator by Agathangelos, translated in Langlois, ITis^or^ens de. Z'^rm^me, Paris, 1867, 
 vol. i. p. i8i). There are also some, though not considerable, traces of Buddhism 
 having spread as far as Parthia a century and a half earlier than the above-men- 
 tioned date (Max Midler, Selected Esnays, vol. ii. p. 316). But there is no trace of 
 actual contact between Buddhism and Christianity, nor is there anything in the 
 form of early Armenian monasticism which shows a specially Buddhist impress. 
 
 *^ Eauffer in the Zweite Denhschrift der hist.-theol. Geselhchnft zu Leipsig, Leip- 
 sig, 1 8 1 9 : and Weingarten, in his valuable essay Der Ursprung des Monchtums, in the 
 Zeitschrift fiir KircAengeschichte, Bd. i. 1877, pp. i sqq. (since published separately) 
 trace Christian monachiam to Egyptian influences ; Hilgenfeld, in his Zeitschrift 
 fiir wisnenschaftlicJie Theologie, Bd. xxi. 1878, pp. 147 sqq., lays great stress on 
 Buddhist influences : the general view, which is given above, that both these in- 
 fluences were subordinate in their effects to causes which existed within Chris- 
 tianity itself, has been stated with great force by Keim, Ursprung des Monchtoesens 
 in his collection of essays entitled Aus dem Urchristenthiini, pp. 204 sqq., Zurich, 
 1878. 
 
T56 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 who stand on tlie threshold of life who yet are weary 
 of it. There are those who have passed through hfe 
 and have found it vanity. There are social ambitions 
 which have been disappomted, and pohtical schemes 
 which have been baffled, and moral reformations which 
 have failed, — and which have resulted in an exodus 
 of despair. 
 
 Again, it was an age of newly realized religious 
 freedom, in which, after the lapse of half a century, 
 men began to idealize the age which had preceded it. 
 The age of martyrdoms had ceased, but the spirit of 
 the martyrs began to live again. For martyrdom had 
 been in many cases the choice of a sublime enthusiasm. 
 There had been men and women who, so far from 
 shrinking from it, had sought and welcomed the occasion 
 of it**. They had 'counted it all joy to suffer for His 
 name's sake.' All this had come to a sudden end. 
 Persecution had ceased. But the idea of the merit 
 of suffering had not ceased. There were those who, 
 if they could not be martyrs in act, would at least be 
 martyrs in will (/ndpTvpe? rj? ir poaipeuei) *^. They sought 
 lives of self-mortification. They would themselves tor- 
 ture the flesh which the hctors would no longer scourge. 
 They would construct for themselves the prisons which 
 no longer kept Christian confessors for the lions. 
 
 " For instances see Euseb. De Martyr. Palaeslmae, 3. 3: Acta Theodoti, c. 22 in 
 Euinart, Acta Marty rum sincera, p. 346, Tertull. Ad Scapulam, 5: Le Blant, /Sur Za 
 preparation an, Martyre dans les premieres siecles de VEglise, in the Memoires de 
 VAcademie des Inscriptions, vol. xxviii. i partie, pp. 54 sqq., speaks with both force 
 and truth of * cette immense soif de mort, cette indomptable passion de souffrir, 
 ressentie par les ames ardentes;' cf. Euseb. U. E. 7. 12, of some martyrs at 
 Caesarea, fr69ov y\ixof.i€vois ovpaviov. 
 
 '° S. Basil. M. Som. in XL Martyres, Op. ed. Garn. vol, ii. p. 149. 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 157 
 
 And again, it was an age in which the antithesis 
 between mind and matter, between the unreal world 
 of sense and the real world of spirit, expressed itself 
 in more than one philosophy and more than one 
 religion. It was the first and fullest bloom in the 
 Western world of that love of haze upon the horizon 
 which, however alien to the modem temper, has almost 
 won its way to a permanent place among human 
 tendencies, and which is known by the name of 
 mysticism. There were men to whom philosophy 
 had ceased to be philosophy, and had become an 
 emotion. There were the pure and passionate souls 
 to whom contact with sin was intolerable, and who 
 fled from a world which they did not know to dream 
 of a world which could be but a dream. There were 
 those to whom life was thought, and thought was the 
 contemplation of God, and the contemplation of God 
 was the love of Him, and the love of Him was absorption 
 in Him — as the morning mist floats upwards from some 
 still mountain tarn, and rests for a while in embodied 
 glory in the sunlight, and is lost in the pure infinity 
 of noon. 
 
 To those who have studied the history of great social 
 movements it will not be surprising that these various 
 elements should have combined together, in the course 
 of a single generation, to form an enthusiasm or a 
 fanaticism. The movement began in the East, but it 
 spread rapidly to the West : and wherever, in East 
 or West, the stream of life ran strong, there were 
 crowds of men and women who were ready to forsake 
 
158 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 all, and follow John the Baptist into the desert rather 
 than Christ into the world. 
 
 Monasticism became henceforward a permanent factor 
 m Christian society. Its first result was to give a 
 new meaning to the antithesis between the Church 
 and the world. That antithesis in its original form 
 was an antithesis between the new chosen people and 
 the Gentiles outside. But monasticism transferred the 
 distinction to the Church itself, between those who 
 stood within the sanctuary and followed ' counsels of 
 perfection,' and those who were content with the 
 average morality of Christian men *". The result of 
 this upon ecclesiastical organization was practically 
 to compel the clergy to live what was thought to be 
 the higher — that is the more ascetic — life. This result 
 was not effected without resistance. For asceticism had 
 in some cases been the protest of heresy against catho- 
 licity*' : but when the Arians set themselves to per- 
 secute monasticism, by a remarkable rebound of feeling, 
 monasticism became a protest of catholicity against 
 Arianism *^. Henceforth there was for the clergy that 
 
 ^ * Eeligion ' came to mean the monastic life and rule : e.g. I Cone. Aurel. A.D. 
 511, c. II; 5 Cone. Paris. A.D. 615, c. 13; 4 Cone. Tolet. A.D. 633, c. 55; 10 Cone. 
 Tolet. A.D. 656, c. 6. ' Secular ' came to mean whatever was outside the monastic 
 life and rule: and 'conversion' was no longer the turning 'from the power of Satan 
 unto God,' but the adoption of the monastic habit : e.g. Cone. Agath. a.d. 506, 0. 
 16 ; I Cone. Aurel. A.D. 511, c. 21 ; 4 Cone. Arelat. A.D. 524, c. 2 ; 5 Cone. Aurel. 
 A.D. 529, e. 9 ; 2 Cone. Arvern. A.D. 549, c. 9 : also so ' poenitentia : ' e.g. 2 Cone. 
 Arelat. a.d. 451 ? c. 22. 
 
 " e.g. in the second century it had prevailed among the Marcionites, who ad- 
 mitted no married person to baptism unless he consented to a divorce, TertuU. Adv. 
 Marc. I. 29 ; 5. 7. 
 
 •" The violence of the Arian reaction against the Catholic institution of perpetual 
 virginity is shown by e.g. S. Athanas. Epist. Encycl. 3, vol. i. p. 90, ed. Ben. ; 
 Socrat. H. E. 2. 28: S. Hil. Pictav. Ad Constant. Aug. 1.6: Pragm. Hist. 2. 3 ; 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 159 
 
 whicli is an infallible mark of an exceptional status, 
 exceptional legislation. 
 
 That legislation affected chiefly marriage and social 
 life. The legislation which affected marriage varied 
 widely, not only from century to century, but between 
 East and West. In the East the ascetic rule prevailed 
 for bishops *' : in the West it came ultimately to prevail 
 for all the higher orders of clergy. At first they might 
 not marry after ordination, and then ' they that had 
 wives were to be as though they had none,' and lastly, 
 though not until prevalent practice had rendered a 
 law almost needless, they might not marry at all ^°. 
 
 The legislation which affected social life began by 
 excluding clergy from the amusements of life, and went 
 on gradually to exclude them from its ordinary pursuits, 
 and at last, though not for some centuries, clenched the 
 distinction by requiring them to wear a special dress ^\ 
 
 3. 9: S. Greg. Naz. Orat. in laud. Basil. M. o. 46, vol. i. p. 805, Oral. c. Arinn. 
 c. 3, vol. i. p. 605 : so also against monka, S. Basil M. Epist. 256 (200), vol. iv. 
 
 P- 39°- 
 
 *» Cone. Trull, c. 48. 
 
 " The evidence upon which the above paragraph is based is altogether too exten- 
 sive and intricate to admit of being stated concisely : it will be found at length in 
 the excellent work of J. A. and A. Theiner, Die Einfillirung cler erzwungenen Ehe- 
 losigheit bei den christlichen GeistUchen und ihre Folgen, Altenburg, 1828. 
 
 °' There are many injunctions to the clergy in earlier centuries to use modest 
 and becoming dress : but there is probably no direct enactment as to the form of 
 dress which the clergy should wear in ordinary life earlier than the Capitulary of 
 Karloman in 742, 0. 7 (Pertz, Legum, vol. i. p. 17, = Cone. German, c. 7, Mansi, 
 Concilia, vol. xii. p. 365), which prohibited clerks from wearing the ' sagum,' or 
 short cloak, and required them to wear the ' oasula ' (for the meaning of which see 
 the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, s. v.), and the Capitulary of Pippin two 
 years later {Capit. Saession. a.d. 744, c, 3, Pertz, Legum, p. 21) which enacts that 
 ' omnes clerici fornicationem non faciant, et hahitu laicorum non portent nee apud 
 canes venationes non faciant nee acceptores non portent.' For the disputed ques- 
 tions when and whether church ofiBcers had a distinctive dress in church in early 
 times, reference may be made to W. B. Marriott, Vestiaritim Christianum, London, 
 
i6o The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 If we add all these various causes together, we shaU 
 see that the isolation of the clergy as a separate class 
 of the community became at length inevitable. They 
 had a separate civil status, they had separate emolu- 
 ments, they were subject to special rules of life. The 
 shepherd bishop driving his cattle to their rude pastur- 
 age among the Cyprian hiUs, the merchant bishop of 
 North Africa, the physician presbyter of Rome, were 
 vanished types whose living examples could be found 
 no more. 
 
 All this was intensified by the decay and fall of 
 the Roman Empire. When the surging tides of bar- 
 barian invasion swept over Europe, the Christian organi- 
 zation was almost the only institution of the past which 
 survived the flood. It remained as a visible monument 
 of what had been, and, by so remaining, was of itself 
 an antithesis to the present. The chief town of the 
 Roman province, whatever its status under barbarian 
 rule, was still the bishop's see. The limits of the old 
 ' province,' though the boundary of a new kingdom 
 might bisect them, were still the limits of his diocese. 
 The bishop's tribunal was the only tribunal in which 
 the laws of the Empire could be pleaded in their 
 integrity. The bishop's dress was the ancient robe 
 of a Roman magistrate. The ancient Roman language 
 which was used in the Church services was a standing 
 protest against the growing degeneracy of the ' vulgar 
 tongue.' These survivals of the old world which was 
 passing away gave to the Christian clergy a still more 
 
 1868, and for a contrary view Hefele, Die, liturgischen Gewdnder in hia Beitrdge 
 ziir KirchengeschicJite, Archdologie u. Liturgik, Bd. ii, Freiburg, 1864. 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. i6i 
 
 exceptional position when they went as missionaries 
 into the villages which Eoman civilization had hardly 
 reached, or into the remote parts of the Empire where 
 Eoman organization had been to the masses of the 
 population only what English rule is to the masses 
 of the population of India. To the ' pagani ' of Gaul 
 and Spain, to the Celtic inhabitants of our own islands, 
 and, in rather later times, to the Teutonic races of 
 Central Europe, they were probably never known ex- 
 cept as a special class, assuming a special status, living 
 a special life, and invested with special powers. 
 
 There were two usages which, though they were 
 not without significance even in the seats of the older 
 civilization, became in the great mass of the nations 
 of the West circumstances of great significance. 
 
 I. The first is one which might seem trivial, if we 
 did not bear in mind that a dispute concerning it 
 constituted a principal cause why the British Churches 
 refused to combine with the organization which was 
 introduced into the English kingdoms by Augustine ^^. 
 
 Part of the protest which had been made by early 
 preachers against the current effeminacy had been a 
 protest against the elaborate fashion of dressing the 
 hair '^. The first book of the Apostolical Constitutions 
 exhorts all Christians to trim their hair becomingly ^^ : 
 Clement of Alexandria lays down minute rules in this 
 
 °^ Bede, H. E. 4. i ; 5. 21; see Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, d-o. vol. i. 
 
 P- 154- 
 
 *^ Compare the address of Epictetus to the young rhetorician who came to him 
 nfpiepyirepov ^aKrjfiivov Trjv Ku/itjv, Diss. 3. 1. I. 
 
 " Const. Apost. 1. 3. 
 
 M 
 
1 62 The Clergy as a Separate Class. [lect. 
 
 respect for both men and women ^^ ; and Chrysostom 
 repeatedly quotes the Apostolical injunction against 
 ' broided hair ' in his appeals to the court-ladies of Con- 
 stantinople *^ But, as in other cases, that which had 
 been a primitive rule for all Christians became in time 
 a special rule for the clergy. They must not either 
 shave theii" heads like the priests of Isis °^ nor let their 
 hair grow long like heathen philosophers. Then came 
 a more exact and stringent rule : they must not only 
 trim their hair but trim it in a particular way. The 
 trimming of the hair in this particular way became one 
 of the ceremonies of admission to ecclesiastical office : 
 and, throughout both East and West, clerks became 
 differentiated from laymen by the ' tonsure ^^.' 
 
 2. The second usage is one which was partly primi- 
 tive and partly monastic. 
 
 In the earliest times, the living of all those who 
 shared in the Church offerings at a common table had 
 probably been one of those simple economies by which 
 the resources of the infant Churches had been hus- 
 banded ^^. When, long after this primitive practice had 
 
 " Clem. Alex. Pacdag. 3. 11, p. 290, ed. Pott. 
 
 ™ S. Chrys. e.g. Horn. ix. in Ep. ad Rom. vol. ix. 742, Horn. xxvi. in Ep. i. ad 
 Corinth, vol. x. 235, Rom. riii. in Ep. i. ad Tim. xo\. xi. 590. 
 
 "" S. Hieron. Comm. in Ezech. lib. 13, 0. 44. 
 
 °' The direction of the Statuta Ecchsiae Antigua, c. 44 is simply 'clericus nee 
 comam nutriat nee barbam : * and it is clear that for some time there was a diver- 
 sity of usage. The earliest directions as to the manner of trimming the hair which 
 have conciliar authority are probably those of the fourth Council of Toledo, a.d. 
 6^^, c. 41 : ' omnes clerici vel lectores sicut levitae et sacerdotes detonso superius 
 toto capite inferius solam oirculi coronam relinquant.' This was known as the 
 * coronal tonsure :' its adoption seems to have been at least partly due to mystical 
 reasons, as symbolizing the crown of tlioms (ps.-Alouin, De Divinis officiis,c. i^): but 
 when once adopted it became a badge of orthodoxy, and as such became universal, 
 
 ^^ Epist. ad Diognet. 5. 7 Tpa-ne^av kolv-^v irapaTiSevTai aAA' ov kqivtjv. The fourth 
 
VI.] The Clergy as a Separate Class. 163 
 
 passed away, monasticism asserted its place in Christian 
 life, a pious bishop of the West, Eusebius of Vercelli, 
 began the practice of gathering together his clergy in a 
 common building °". St. Augustine followed his example, 
 and instituted in Africa what he calls by a kind of 
 paronomasia, considering the antithesis between monks 
 and clerks, a ' monasterium clericorum *^' Hence grew 
 the practice, to which I must refer again in a subsequent 
 lecture ^^, of the clergy living together — a practice which 
 in the country districts of the West became as mtich a 
 practical necessity as it is for the missionaries of our 
 modern Churches to live by themselves in mission- 
 stations. But the practice served still further to em- 
 phasize, especially in those districts, the difference 
 between clergy and laity : for the former not only had 
 a distinctive personal mark, but also lived an isolated 
 life. 
 
 So grew the Christian clergy. They came to be what 
 they were by the inevitable force of circumstances, that 
 is to say, by the gradual evolution of that great scheme 
 of God's government of the world which, though present 
 eternally to His sight, is but slowly unfolded before 
 oiu-s. But of what they came to be it is difficult to speak 
 with a calm judgment, because the incalculable good 
 
 Apostolical Canon directs those offerings which could not properly be placed upon 
 the altar to be taken eis oTkov for the use of the bishop and clergy. It is conceiv- 
 able that this oIkos was a kind of clergy-house, or at least a common refectory. 
 
 '" S. Maxim. Senn. 23 ap. Muratori, Anecdota Latina, Yol. 4; S. Ambros. Epist. 
 63, c. 66, 82, vol. ii. p. 1038. 
 
 '^ S. Augustin. Serm. 355 = i's divers. 49, Op. ed. Migne, Patr. Lat. vol. v, 
 
 P- 1570- 
 
 " See Lecture VIII. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 The Clergy as a Separate Class. 
 
 which they have wrought in the midst of human society 
 has been tempered with so much of failure and of sm. 
 One point at least, however, seems evident, that that 
 incalculable good has been achieved rather by the 
 human influence which they have exercised than by the 
 superhuman power which they have sometimes claimed. 
 The place which they have filled in human history has 
 been filled not by the wielding of the thunderbolts of 
 heaven, but by the whispering of the still voice which 
 tells the outcast and the sad of divine mercy and divine 
 consolation. And if it be possible to draw from the past 
 an augury of the future, they will have their place in 
 the days that are to come, whether those days be a reign 
 of chaos or a reign of peace, not by living in the isolation 
 which the decay of the Empire forced \ipon the clergy of 
 the middle ages, but by recurring to the earlier type, 
 by being within society itself a leaven of knowledge and 
 of purity, of temperance and of charity. In this way 
 will their influence be as permanent as human need : in 
 this way will they, and not others in their stead, be the 
 channels and the exponents of those spiritual forces 
 which underlie all faiths and all civilizations, which, 
 whoever be their ministers, live in themselves an ever- 
 lasting life, and of which, as of the deepest of human 
 emotions, though the outward form perishes and the 
 earthly voices die, the ' Echoes roll from soul to soul, 
 And grow for ever and for ever.' 
 
LECTUEE YIL 
 
 COUNCILS AND THE UNITY OF THE CHUECH. 
 
 An important feature of the Roman imperial admin- 
 istration was the respect which it showed to local 
 liberties. For many important purposes a municipality 
 was independent : the reality, as well as the form, of 
 republican government lingered in the towns long after 
 it had become extinct at Eome ^. For certain other 
 purposes a province was independent : and the form 
 which its independence assumed anticipated in a re- 
 markable way those representative institutions which 
 have sometimes been regarded as the special product 
 of modern times. Every year deputies from the chief 
 towns of a province met together in a deliberative 
 assembly^. This assembly had to some extent a re- 
 
 ' This ia shown by the general regulations as to municipal administration in the 
 Lex Julia municipalis (Corp. Inscr. Lat. vol. i. No. 3o6), and in the Lex Malaei- 
 tana (ibid, vol. ii. Nos. 1963, 1964 ; see supra, Lect. V, note 35). 
 
 ' For these provincial councils see Marquardt, Z)e Provinciarum Eomanarum 
 Conciliis et Sacerdotibus in the Ephemeris EpigrapMca, vol. i. pp. 200-214, and also 
 his Eomische Staatsverwaltung, Bd. i. pp. 365-377, where references will be found 
 to almost all the existing literature on the subject. It is important to note that 
 they are found in fuU activity during the imperial period in all the provinces in 
 which Christian councils came to exist : viz. Greece, (see, in addition to Marquardt, 
 Herzberg, Geschichte Griechenlands, Bd. ii. 465 ; Dittenberger, Corpus Inscr. Ait, 
 vol. iii. No. 18) ; Syria (coins of Trajan and Caracalla, Mionnet, vol. v. no, 334).; 
 
1 66 Councils and the Unity of the Chttrch. [lect. 
 
 ligious character. Its meeting-place was the altar of 
 Augustus : its deliberations were preceded by a sacrifice : 
 its president was named High Priest ^. 
 
 In the course of the second century the custom of 
 meeting in representative assemblies began to prevail 
 among the Christian communities. There were points 
 of practice— for example, the time of keeping Easter — 
 on which it was desu'able to adopt a common line of 
 action * : there were questions as to Christian teaching 
 — for example, those which grew out of Montanism — on 
 which individual Churches were divided, and on which 
 they consequently desired to consult with their neigh- 
 bours ^ : there were questions of discipline which affected 
 more than one community — especially the question, 
 which for a time assumed a great importance, as to the 
 terms upon which those who had renounced Christianity 
 under pressure of persecution should be received back 
 again ^ . 
 
 At first these assemblies were more or less informal. 
 Some prominent and influential bishop invited a few 
 neighbouring communities to confer with his own : the 
 
 Asia Minor (Kuhn, Verfassung cles rom. Iteichs, i. 107 sqq.) ; Africa (Hirsclifeld, 
 Annali di instit. Archeol. Rom. vol. xxxviii. 1866, p. yo) ; Spain (Hiibner, Corpus 
 Inscr. Lot. vol. ii. p. 540; Hermes, vol. i. p. 11 1); and Gaul (Boissieu, Inscrip- 
 tions Aniirpies de Lyon, p. 84). 
 
 ' For this title see the epigraphical evidence collected by Marquardt, Ephem. 
 Epigraph, vol. i. pp. 207-214 ; Rom. Staatsvenv. Ed. i. p. 367. 
 
 ' Councils were held on this point in Asia Minor before the close of the second 
 century, Euseb. H. E. 5. 23. 2. 
 
 ° Councils were held on this point in Asia Minor about a.d. 160-170, Euseb. 
 H. E. 5. 16. 10. 
 
 ° Councils on this point are frequently mentioned in Cyprian; cf. the Sententlae 
 EpiscoporUM de hereticis baptizandis ap. S. Cyprian. Op. -p. 435, ed. Hartel, and 
 .£>;««. 17 (11), p. 523; 20 (14), p. .529; 32, p. 565; 43 (40), p. 592 ; 55(52), p. 
 626; 56 (53), c. 3, p. 649; 70, p. 766; 71, 0. I, p. 771 ; 73, 0. I, p. 778. 
 
VII.] Councils and ike Unity of ike Cktirch. 167 
 
 result of the deliberations of such a conference was ex- 
 jDressed sometimes in a resolution, sometimes in a letter 
 addressed to other Churches ''. It was the rule for such 
 letters to be received with respect : for the sense of 
 brotherhood was strong, and the causes of alienation 
 were few. But so far from such letters having any 
 binding force on other Churches, not even the resolutions 
 of the conference were binding on a dissentient minority 
 of its members. Cyprian, in whose daj'S these con- 
 ferences first became important, and who was at the 
 same time the most vigorous of early preachers of 
 catholic unity — both of which circumstances would 
 have made him a supporter of their authoritative 
 character if such authoritative character had existed — 
 claims in emphatic and explicit terms an absolute in- 
 dependence for each community. Within the limits of 
 his own community a bishop has no superior but God. 
 ' To each shepherd,' he writes, ' a portion of the Lord's 
 flock has been assigned, and his account must be 
 rendered to his own Master.' The fact that some 
 bishops refused to readmit to communion those who 
 had committed adultery is no argument, he contends, 
 for the practice of other bishops ; nor is the fact that 
 a number of bishops meeting in council had agreed to 
 
 "^ These had been preceded hy letters written by one church to another, in its 
 own name and without conference with other churches. Tliat the First Epistle of 
 Clement of Rome is an example of such a letter is shown, chiefly on the evidence 
 afiforded by the newly-discovered portion, by Harnack in Schiirer's Theol. Lit. 
 Zeitang, Bd. iv. 1876, p. 102, and in the prolegomena to the letter in his Patrum 
 Apost. Opera, ed. alt. p. Ixi. Of letters addressed by more than one church to 
 another church or group of churches, examples will be found in the letters of the 
 churches of Vienne and Lyons, Eiiseb. H. E. 5. i. 2, and of the African to the 
 Spanish churches, S. Cyprian. Epist. 67 (68), p. 736. 
 
1 68 Coitncils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 admit the lapsed a reason why a bishop who thought 
 otherwise should admit them against his will '. 
 
 But no sooner had Christianity been recognized by 
 the State than such conferences tended to multiply, 
 to become not occasional but ordinary, and to pass 
 resolutions which were regarded as binding upon the 
 Churches within the district from which representatives 
 had come, and the acceptance of which was regarded 
 as a condition of intercommunion with the Churches 
 of other provinces. There were strong reasons of 
 imperial policy for fostering this tendency. It was 
 clearly advisable that the institutions to which a new 
 status had been given should be homogeneous. It was 
 clearly contrary to pubhc policy that not only status 
 but also funds should be given to a number of com- 
 munities which had no other principle of cohesion than 
 that of a more or less undefined unity of beliefs 
 Consequently, when the vexed question of the ordi- 
 nation of Caecilian threatened to divide the African 
 Churches, Constantine summoned all the bishops of 
 Christendom — each with representative presbyters from 
 his Church — to a conference or council at Aries ^". It 
 
 " S. Cyprian. Epist. 59 (55), c. 14, p. 683, 'cum . . . singulis pastoribus portio 
 gregis sit adscripta quam regat unusquisque et gubernet, rationem eui actus Domino 
 redditunis ; ' id. Epist. 55 (52), c. 21, p. 639, ' non tamen a coepiscoporum suorum 
 coUegio recesserunt aut catholicae ecclesiae unitatem vel duritiae vel censurae suae 
 obstinatione ruperunt, ut quia apud alio,3 adulterig pax dabatur, qui non dabat de 
 ecclesia separai-etur : raanente concordiae vinculo et perseveraate catholicae eccle- 
 siae individuo sacramento actum suum disponit et dirigit unusquisque episcopua 
 rationem propositi sui Domino redditurus.' 
 
 ° A law of Constantine in a.d. 326, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. i, confines the privi- 
 leges and immunities which had been granted to Christians to 'catholicae legis ob- 
 &ervatoribus.' 
 
 " The mandate of Constantine to the bishop of Syracuse is preserved, doubtless 
 as a typical form, by Euseb. H. E. 10. 5. 21- 24 : it gives him the right to convey- 
 
VII.] Councils and the Unity of the Church. i6g 
 
 was an obvious condition of such a conference that 
 its decisions should be binding on those who so far 
 took part in it as to subscribe to its acts. And since 
 those who did so take part in it were the most im- 
 portant bishops in Christendom, a confederation was 
 thereby estabhshed, which placed dissentients at a 
 great disadvantage. The main points of agreement 
 wliich were arrived at in this conference have constituted 
 the basis of the confederation of Christian Churches 
 ever since. It was resolved that those who had been 
 appointed to minister in any place should remain in that 
 place and not wander from one place to another ^^ ; that 
 a deacon should not offer the Eucharistic sacrifice ^^ ; 
 that bishops should be appointed ordinarily by eight, 
 but at the least by three bishops, and that one bishop 
 should not have the right of appointing another by 
 himself alone i^. 
 
 Henceforward there were two kinds of meetings or 
 councils. For matters which affected the whole body 
 of Christian Churches there were general assemblies 
 of the bishops and other representative members of 
 all the Churches of the world : for minor matters, such 
 as a controversy between one Church and another, or 
 
 anee at the public cost (Sr;ix6<nov oxqixa). Optatus, De Schism. Donal. p. 187, adds 
 that those who were summoned had the right to provisions as well as to convey- 
 ance ('angarialem cum annonaria competentia '). 
 
 " I Cone. Arelat. c. 21. 
 
 " ibid. c. 15, 'de diaconibus quoa cogQovimus multis locis offerre, placuit minima 
 fieri debere': c. 18, 'de diaconibus urbicis ut non sibi tantum praesumant sed 
 honore presbyteris reservent, ut sine conscientia ipsorum nihil tale faciat.* It may 
 be inferred from the e.xpression of the Council of Elvira, c. 67, ' diaconus regens 
 plebem,' that up to this time a deacon might be the chief or sole officer of a 
 parish, an i hence both 'offer ' (sc. the Eucharist) and baptize. 
 
 " {bid. c. 20. 
 
1 70 Councils and the Unity of the Church [lect. 
 
 between the majority of the members of a Church and 
 one of its officers, tliere were provincial assemblies. 
 These latter were held upon a strictly local basis : 
 they followed the lines of the civil assemblies whose 
 ordinary designation they appropriated. They fol- 
 lowed them also in meeting in the metropolis of the 
 province. The bishop of that metropolis was their 
 ordinary president : in this respect there was a differ- 
 ence between the civil and the ecclesiastical assemblies, 
 for in the former the president was elected from year 
 to year. In this way the bishop of the metropolis came 
 to have a preeminence over the other bishops of a 
 province. By a natural process, just as the vote and 
 sanction of a bishop had become necessary to the validity 
 of the election of a presbyter, so the vote and sanction 
 of a metropohtan became necessary to the validity of 
 the election of a bishop ^''. In time a further advance 
 was made. Just as civil provinces were grouped into 
 dioceses, and the governors of a ' province ' were sub- 
 ordinated to the governor of a ' diocese,' so a gradation 
 was recognized between the bishop of the chief city 
 of a province and the bishop of the chief city of a 
 diocese. In both cases the civil names were retained : 
 the former were called metropolitans, the latter exarchs 
 or patriarchs ^^. 
 
 It was by these gradual steps that the Christian 
 
 " Cone. Nicaeu. c. 4, 6; Cone. Antioch. e. 19 ; Cone. Laod. c. 12. 
 
 '* The equivalence of the title 'exarch' and 'patriarch' is shown by a comparison 
 of Cone. Chalc. c. 9 ■with Justin. Novell. 123. c. 22, and also by the scholium upon 
 the canon of Chalcedon which is printed in Pitra, Jur. Eccles. Qraec. Mon. vol. ii. 
 p. 64.5. For an account of the correspondence between the ecclesiastical and civil 
 divisions see my articles in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, s.vv. Patriarch, 
 Primate. 
 
VII,] Councils and the Unity of the Church. 171 
 
 Churches passed from their original state of indepen- 
 dence into a great confederation. It is important to 
 observe not only the closeness with which that confede- 
 ration followed the lines of the imperial government 
 but also the wholly voluntary nature of the process by 
 which it was formed. There was no attempt at coer- 
 cion. The cause which operated to change its volun- 
 tary character is one which flows from the very nature 
 of association, and which existed in the individual com- 
 munities before confederation began. For it is of the 
 essence of an association that it should have power 
 to frame regulations, not only for the admission, but 
 also for the exclusion, of its members. In the Christian 
 as in the Jewish communities an offending member was 
 liable to be expelled. But the utility of excommunica- 
 tion as a deterrent in the primitive Churches had been 
 weakened by the fact that its operation did not neces- 
 sarily extend beyond the particular Church of which 
 a man had been a member. If he had been expelled 
 for a moral offence, no doubt the causes which led to 
 his expulsion by one community would prevent his 
 reception into another. But where the ground of 
 expulsion had been the holding of peculiar opinions, 
 or the breach of a local by-law, it might be possible to 
 find some other community which would ignore the one 
 or condone the other. When the Churches of a province, 
 and still more when the Churches of the greater part of 
 the Empire, were linked together by the ties of a con- 
 federation, meeting in common assembly, and agreeing 
 upon a common plan of action, exclusion by a single 
 Church came to mean exclusion from all the confede- 
 
172 Councils and i/w Unity of //ic Church. [leo'J'. 
 
 rated Churches"'. This rule was recognised by the 
 Council of Nicaea, which at the same time made pro- 
 vision against an arbitrary exercise of the power of 
 excommunication". But as no ])enalty was attached 
 to a violation of the rule, it was jirobably disregarded, 
 for the Council of Antioch, about twenty years later, 
 found it necessary to enact that a church officer who 
 admitted to communion one whom another church had 
 excluded should himself be cut off from communion ". 
 This later form of the enactment was repeated in the 
 code which is known as the Apostolic Canons '" : and 
 ultimately became the standing rule in both East and 
 West. The observance of the rule was fenced round 
 by the further enactment that no one should be re- 
 ceived into another Church without a letter from the 
 bishop of the Church to which he belonged -". In 
 primitive days a Christian who travelled, or who 
 changed his residence from one town to another, was 
 received into communion with but little question : but 
 the interests of social order, no less than of faith, com- 
 pelled a change. Henceforth any one who was formally 
 expelled from his Church was cut off also from all the 
 Churches of the association. Nor was he cut off only 
 
 ^^ The attempt to exclude a group of churches from the general aHHOciation was 
 first made, but without success, by Victor of Rome in reference to the churches 
 of Asia Minor, on account of the tenacity with which they clung to the Quartode- 
 ciman theory {rr}s 'Xa'tas ir&atjs ci/ta rats o^dpots iHtcXTjaiais rd.s -napotidas dwoTefivfiVf 
 waoLv fTfpoSo^ohira!, ttjs ko^v^s if^ifffais iruparai, Euseb. II. E. 5. 24. 9; cf. Heini- 
 chen'a Mdclcma VIII, in his edition of Eusebius, vol. iii. p. 67fj, ed. ult.). He suc- 
 ceeded ordy in that which was within his competence, viz. in excluding them from 
 communion in his own church, Socrat, II. E. 5. 22. 
 
 " Cone. Nicaen. c. 5. " Cone. Antioch. c. 2 
 
 '" Can. Apost. 10. 
 
 ™ Cone. Antioch. c. 7 ; Can. Apost, 12. 33. 
 
VII.J Councils a7id the Unity of the Church. 173 
 
 from public worship and from participation in the 
 Church offerings. He was denied social intercourse 
 with those who remained faithful : the rigorous com- 
 mand of the Apostle was applied to him, ' with such an 
 one no not to eat ^^' 
 
 Now as long as Christians were in a great minority, 
 a man might be cut off from social intercourse with 
 them without sustaining any serious social loss. But 
 when Christians began to be a majority in all the great 
 centres of population, excommunication became a real 
 deterrent, and consequently a powerful instrument in 
 the hands of those who were desirous of tightening the 
 bonds of association. 
 
 And yet it is doubtful whether it would have been 
 a sufficiently powerful instrument to produce the uni- 
 formity which ultimately prevailed, if the State had not 
 interfered. The associated Churches might have been 
 strong enough to crush isolated individuals, but it may 
 be questioned whether they could have held their 
 ground, without State interference, against whole 
 Churches or a combination of Churches. It might hap- 
 pen that not an individual but a whole community — 
 bishops, presbyters, deacons, and people — declined to 
 
 '^^ 2 Cone. Arelat. c. 49, which profesyes to be based upon earlier regulations, 'si 
 quis a comniunione sacerdotali fuerit auctoritate suspensus, hunc non solum a cle- 
 ricorum sed etiara a totius populi coUoquio atque convivio placuit excludi, donee 
 resipisoens ad sanitatem redire festinet : ' so i Cone. Tolet. c. 15. Under the clo.se 
 union of Church and State in the Frankish domain the law was both more explicit 
 and more effective : ' et ut sciatis qualis sit modus istius exoomniunicationis, in 
 ecclesiam non debet intrare, nee cum ullo Christiano cibum vel potum suinere, nee 
 ejus munera quisquam accipere debet vel osculum porrigere, nee in oration e ee 
 jungere, nee salutare, antequam ab episcopo suo fuerit reconciliatus ' (Pippin, Capit. 
 Vera, duplex, ad. 755, ap. Pertz, Legum, vol. i. p. 26 = Cono. Vern. ap. Mansi, vol. 
 ^ii- P- 577 ] cp. Cafiit. Tirin. A.D. 801, c. 17, ap. Pertz, vol. i. p. S5). 
 
1 74 Councils and the Unity of the Chjirch. [lect. 
 
 accept the resolutions of a provincial council, and that 
 they were consequently cut off from the association. 
 There was nothing to prevent their continuing to be and 
 to do what they had been and done before. Even before 
 Christianity had been recognized by the State, when 
 Paul of Samosata refused to give up possession of the 
 Church-buildings at Antioch, and claimed still to be the 
 bishop of the Church, there were no means of ejecting 
 him except that of an appeal to the Emperor Aurelian^^. 
 A number of such Churches might join together and 
 form a rival association. In one unportant case this 
 was actually done. A number of Churches in Africa 
 held that the associated Churches were too lax in their 
 terms of communion. How far they were right in the 
 particular points which they urged cannot now be 
 told ^^. But the contention was for purity. The seceding 
 Churches were rigorists. Their sou.ndness in the faith 
 was unquestionable -*. They resolved to meet together 
 
 " See Lecture VI, note 25. 
 
 " The dispute was in the first instance mainly as to a matter of fact, viz. 
 whether Felix of Aptunga was a ' traditor,' i.e. one who in a time of persecution 
 had delivered up the sacred books to be burnt. The Donatists contended that be 
 was so, and that consequently his ordination of Caecilian was invalid. Out of tbia 
 arose the wider question, on which the controversy chiefly turned, whether ' the 
 unworthiness of the minister hindered the effect of the sacrament ? ' For a clear, 
 though partial, history of the controversy see F. Ribbeck, Doncitas unci Aar/uytinus, 
 Elberfeld, 1857. 
 
 ** They probably did no more than continue the stricter African discipline, for 
 which Cypi'ian had in his time strongly contended. There had been, in other 
 words, for .some time two parties in the African Cliurch, and the dispute between 
 them was brought to a crisis by the Diocletian persecution and a personal ani- 
 mosity towards Caecilian : (this is the view of Kieck, Ueher Entstehung und Berech- 
 tigung des Donatismus im Hiriblick auf verwcmdte Erscheinwngen innerhalh der 
 christUchen Kirche, Friedland, 1877, Gjmnas-Progr.). The strong contrast between 
 the position of Cyprian, and that of those who, under different auspices or with 
 less force of character, held his views in subsequent times, struck even early 
 writers : ' Et, mira rerum conversio, auctores ejusdem opinionis catholici, con- 
 
viif] Co2incils and the Unity of the Church. 175 
 
 as a separate confederation, the basis of which should 
 be a greater purity of hfe ; and but for the interference 
 of the State they might have lasted as a separate con- 
 federation to the present day. The interference of the 
 State was not so much a favour shown to the bishops 
 who asked for it as a necessary continuation of the, 
 policy which Constantine had begun. For as, on the one 
 hand, it was necessary to draw a strict line of demar- 
 cation round the persons by whom the privileges of 
 Christians could be claimed, so, on the other hand, it 
 was impossible for the State to assume the office of 
 determining for itself what was and what was not 
 Christian doctrine. It was enough for the State that 
 a great confederation of Christian societies existed. 
 With that confederation, and it alooe, the State found it 
 expedient to deal. The terms of membership of the 
 confederation must be left to the confederation itself. 
 Those who were within it, and those only, were Chris- 
 tians and entitled to the privileges of Christians. 
 The interposition of the State took three forms : 
 (i) The State recognized the decisions of Councils — 
 i.e. the resolutions of the representative assemblies of 
 the associated Churches -^. 
 
 Bectatores vero haeretici judicantur: absolvuntur magistri, condemnantur disci- 
 puli : conecriptores librorum filii regni sunt, adsertoiea vero gehenna suscipiet.' 
 (S. Vincent. Lirin, Commonitorium, c. 6). 
 
 ^^ e. g. Constantine followed up the decision of the Council of Nicaea by 
 decreeing that Arius and his followers should be 'infanies,' and that his books 
 should be burnt (Socr. S. U. i. g gives the text of the decree). Theodosius 
 punished with confiscation any one who impugned the decision of the Council of 
 Ephesus (Cod. Theodos. i6. 5. 66). Valentinian and Marcian affixed penalties in 
 varying degrees to those who refused to accept the decisions of the Council of 
 Chalcedon {Acta Cone. Chalc. ap. Harduin, Concilia, vol. ii. pp. 659, 661 ; Zeno and 
 Anastasius formally abrogated the decisions of this Council, but Justin restored 
 
176 Councils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 (2) The State recognized the vahdity of sentences of 
 deposition from office, or exclusion from membership of 
 a Church, by a person or body within the Church whose 
 competence was admitted by the associated Churches '^ 
 
 (3) The State discouraged and ultimately prohibited 
 the formation of new associations outside the general 
 confederation. ' Let all heresies,' says a law of Gratian 
 and Yalentinian, ' for ever hold their peace ; if any one 
 entertains an opinion which the Church has condemned 
 let him keep it to himself and not communicate it to 
 another ^'',' 
 
 their authority: Zonarag, 14. 3, 5; Victor Tunn. Chron. ap. Ronoall. Yd. Lat. 
 Script. Chron. pars ii. p. 353, Isidor. Chron. ibid. p. 458). 
 
 ^^ ^M'&€>h.V it. Constant. 4. 2^KalrovsTwvlT:LiTK6iTwvopovs7Qvslvavv6hoi';airQ(pav' 
 Okvras kneffippayi^eTO ws {xt) k^uvai rots twv kOvaiv ap^ovai Tci ho^avra trapaXvav. 
 iravTos ydp uvaL SiKaarov tovs tfpus rod Ofov doKtfiojTepovs : so Sozom. IT. E. 1. 9, 
 (in both authors avvodois probably inchides the ordinary council of a bishop and 
 his presbyters aa well as provincial or other assembles : cf. Heinichen ad Eumh., 
 I. c). A deposed clerk was forthwith made liable to the fiscal burdens from which, 
 as a clerk, ho had been exempt : (Cod. Theodos. 16. 2. 39. ; Const. Sirmond. c. 6). 
 
 ^ The extent to which the State employed coercion to prevent the Christian 
 societies from being disintegrated by heresy or schism will appear from the fol- 
 lowing summary of the penal enactments against various classes of heretics, and 
 ultimately also of schismatics, during the latter part of the fourth, and the begin- 
 ning of the fifth, century. It must be borne in mind that under the name of 
 heresy was included the least deviation from the doctrine of the associated 
 churches ; ' haereticorum vocabulo continentur et latis adversus eos sanctionibus 
 debent succumbere qui vel levi argiunento a judicio catholicae religionis et tramite 
 detect! fuerint deviare * (law of Arcadius and Honorius in a.d. 395, Cod. Theodos. 
 16. 5. 28). i. The churches and other buildings of heretics were to be confis- 
 cated: laws of Valentinian and Valena, A.D. 373, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 2. 
 A.D. 376. Cod. Theodos. l6. 5. 4; of Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, 
 A.D. 381, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 8: a.d. 383, ibid. 16. 5. 12; of Arcadius and 
 Honorius, a.d. 396, ihid. 16. 5. 30: a.d. 397, ibid. 16. 5. 33; a.d. 398, ibid. 16. 
 5. 34: of Honorius and Theodosius, A.D. 408, ibid. 16. 5. 45 : a.d. 415, ihid. 16. 
 5. 58 : in some cases their private property was also confiscated, law of Arcadius 
 and Honorius, a.d. 408, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 40. ii. They were not allowed to 
 assemble by laws of Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian, and their successors, in a.d. 
 376, Cod. Theodos. 16.5.4: a.d. 379, iftid. 16. 5. 5; A. D. 38i,iWd. 16. 5.6. (cf. 
 Theodoret, 5. 16 ; Zonaras, 13.19): a.d. 383, ifci'A 16.5. 10, 11, 12 (cf. Sozom. 
 
VII.] Councils mid the Unity of the Church. 177 
 
 In this way it was that, by the help of the State, the 
 Christian Churches were consohdated into a great confe- 
 deration. Whatever weakness there was in the bond of 
 a common faith was compensated for by the strength of 
 civil coercion. But that civil coercion was not long 
 needed. For the Church outlived the power which had 
 welded it together. As the forces of the Empire be- 
 came less and less, the forces of the Church became 
 more and more. The Churches preserved that which 
 had been from the first the secret of Imperial strength. 
 For underneath the Empire which changed and j^assed, 
 beneath the shifting pageantry of Emperors who moved 
 across the stage and were seen no more, was the abid- 
 ing empire of law and administration, — which changed 
 only as the deep sea changes beneath the wind-swept 
 waves. That inner empire was continued, in the Chris- 
 
 H. E. 7. 12) : A.D. 388, ijjid. 16. 5. 14, 15 : a.D. 389, iVul. 16. 5. 19, 20: A.D. 394, 
 ihid. 16. 5. 24; A.D. 395, ihiA. 16. 6- 26: A.D. 396, ihkl. 16. 5. 30; a.d. 410, ibid. 
 16. 5. 51, which first prescribed the penalty of proscription and death to those who 
 ventured to assemble, so in A.D. 415, ihid. 16. 5. 56 : A.D. 412, ihid. 16. 5. .53, which 
 punished with ' deportatio ' those who availed themselves of the permission which 
 Jovian had given them to hold assembUes outside the walls of a city; A.D. 415, 
 ihid. 16. 5. 57, 58. iii. They were made * intestabiles,' incapable of bequeathing 
 or receiving money by will, by a law of Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius in 
 A.D. 3S1, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 7 (which is made retrospective), and in A.D. 382, ihid. 
 
 16. 5. 9, (which goes so far as to exempt informers from the ordinary penalties of 
 ' delatio') : laws of Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius in a.d. 389, ihid. 16. 5. 
 
 17, 18 : of Arcadius and Honorius in a.d. 395, \\)id. 16. 5. 25, and in A.D. 407, ihid, 
 16. 5. 40, iv. They or their teachers were banished from cities bylaws of Gratian, 
 Valentinian, and Theodosius, and their successors in A.D. 381, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 
 6, 7 (cf Sulp. Sever. Chron. 2. 47) : a.d. 384, ihid. 16. 5. 13 : a.d. 389, ihid. 16. 5. 
 19 : A.D. 396, ihid. 16. 5. 30, 31, 32 : a.d. 398, ihid. 16. 5. 34: a.d. 425, ibid. 16. 
 5. 62 ( =Const. Sirmond. 6), 64. In addition to this they were sometimes branded 
 as ' infames ' (Cod. Theod. 16. 5. 54): they were liable to fines {ibid. 16. 5. 21, 65), 
 they were excluded from the civil service of the State {ihid. 16. 5. 29, 42), their 
 books were to be sought and burnt {ihid. 16. 5. 34, which makes concealment 
 a capital oifence), and provincial judges and governors were fined unless they carried 
 out the above laws rigidly {ibid. 16. 5. 40, 46). 
 
 N 
 
1 78 Councils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 tian Churches. In the years of transition from the 
 ancient to the modern woild, when all civilized society 
 seemed to be disintegrated, the confederation of the 
 Christian Churches, by the very fact of its existence 
 upon the old imperial lines, was not only the most 
 powerful, but the only powerful organization in the 
 civilized world. It was so vast, and so powerful, that 
 it seemed to be, and there were few to question its 
 being, the visible realization of that Kingdom of God 
 which our Lord Himself had preached — of that 
 ' Church' which He had purchased with His own blood. 
 There seemed to loom out in all its grandeur before the 
 eyes of men the vision of a vast empire, of which, as of 
 the ancient kingdom of David or of Solomon, the boun- 
 daries could be told and the members enumerated. The 
 metaphors in which the Jewish Eabbis had spoken of 
 the ancient Israel, and the metaphors which had been 
 consecrated by inspired writers to the service of the 
 new Israel, were applied to it. This confederation, and 
 no other, was the ' city of God ;' this, and no other, was 
 the ' body of Christ ; ' this, and no other, was the ' Holy 
 Catholic jChurch.' In it were fulfilled the ancient types. 
 It was the Paradise in which the regenerated souls of 
 the new creation might walk, as Adam walked, and eat 
 without the threatening of a curse the fruit of the tree 
 of knowledge ^l It was the ark of Noah, floating with 
 its rescued multitude of holy souls over the moving 
 waters of this world's troubled sea ^l It was Solomon's 
 
 ^' E.g. S. August. De Genesi, lib. xi. o. 25, Op. ed. Migne, vol. iii. p. 442, Be 
 C'ivit. Dei, lib. xiii. 0. 21, vol. vii.' p. 395. Peeudo-Ambros. In Apocal. Expos, de vis. 
 tert. c. 6, vol. ii. para ii. p. 520. 
 
 ^' E.g. S.August. In Joann. Tract. 6, c. 1. 19, vol. iii. p. 1434, Epist. 187. 
 
VTi.] Cotincils and the Unity of the Church. 1 79 
 
 temple whose golden roofs glistened with a divine 
 splendour through the dark world's mists and storms, 
 and whose courts were thronged with the new priests 
 and people of God holding sacred converse, and offering 
 spiritual sacrifices upon its altars ^°. It was the new 
 Jerusalem into which 'the sons of them that had 
 afflicted her ' came bending, and whose ' sun could no 
 more go down ^^' It was the ' fenced garden ' of Solo- 
 mon's Song, and in its midst was a well of living water, 
 of which all who drank were healed of sin ^^. It was 
 hke the widow of Sarepta, whose cruse of oil never 
 failed ^^. It was like the Queen of Sheba, always gather- 
 ing some new knowledge, and marvelling at some new 
 wonder, among the treasures of the distant Lord ^*. 
 There was hardly a hero of Hebrew story whose life 
 did not seem to prefigure the fortunes and the one- 
 ness and the glory of this vast organized aggregate 
 of believing souls ^^. 
 
 (57), vol. ii. p. 847, De CatecMz. Rud. c. 32, toI. vi. p. 334: S. Hilar. Pictav, 
 Tract, in Ps. cxlvi. c. 13, vol. i. p. 638, ed. Ben. : S. Maxim. Taurin. Serm. 114, p, 
 641 : S. Greg. M. Moral, lib. 35, c. 8, vol. i. p. 1 149, Epist. lib. ii. 46, vol. ii. p. 1 133, 
 
 ^° E.g. S. AmbroB. Expos. Evang. sec. Luc. lib. 2, c. 89, vol. i. p. 1311. 
 
 ^' E.g. S.August. De Civit. Dei, lib.°i7, o. 16, vol. vii. p. 549 : Prosper. Aquitan. 
 Expos. Psalm, cxxxi. y. 1 3, p. 483 : S. Hieron. Comm. in Zach. lib. 3, c. 14, vol. vi. p, 
 
 932- 
 
 '^ E.g. S. Optat. De Schism. Bonat. 2. 13: S. August. De iaptism. c. Donat. 
 lib. 5. 27, vol. ix. p. 19s, Contra Orescon. lib. 2. 13, vol. ix. p. 477> i^id. Ub. 4. 63, 
 vol. ix. p. 590 : S. Maxim. Taurin. Serm. 15, p. 433. 
 
 =' E.g. S. Ambros. De Viduis, c. 3, vol. ii. p. 190; Csbsht. Arelat. Serm. de 
 Elisaeo in Append, ad. S. August. Op. vol. v. Serm. 42, p. 1828: S. Greg. M. 
 Horn, in Ezech. lib. i, bom. 4. 6, vol. i. p. 1194. 
 
 =* E.g. S. Hilar. Pictav. Tract, in Psalm, cxxi. c. 9, Pseudo-August. Serm. 231 
 (253), in Append, ad S. August. Op. vol. v. p. 2172. 
 
 ^* E.g. The Church is compared to Eve, as being the ' mater vivorum,' S. 
 August. De Genesi, 2. 24, vol. ii. p. 215, Enarr. in Psalm, cxxvi. c. 8, vol. iv. p. 
 1673 : S. Maxim. Taurin. Eom.^c,, p. 172, Serm. 34, p. 486: to Sarah, S. Ambros. 
 De Abraham, lib. i. c. 4, vol. i. p. 294 : to Rachel, ' diu sterilis, nunc vero feounda ' 
 
 N 2 
 
1 80 Councils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 It is impossible not to sympathize with the poetry 
 and with the hope. 
 
 But if we look more closely at the assumption upon 
 which all this is founded — the assumption that the 
 metaphors in which the Church of Christ is described 
 in Scripture are applicable only to this confederation 
 which the State had recognized and consolidated, that 
 whatever is predicated in the New Testament of the 
 Church of Christ is predicated of it, and it only, that 
 this confederation, and no other, is the Church of Christ 
 in its visible and earthly form — we shall find that 
 assumption attended with difiicidties which do not 
 readily admit of solution. 
 
 (i) In the first place, there is no proof that the con- 
 federation was ever complete in the sense of embracing 
 all the communities to which by common consent the 
 name Christian was in its fullest sense applicable. For 
 the most part the Christian Churches associated them- 
 selves together upon the lines of the Eoman Empire ■ 
 
 36 
 
 S. Hilar. Pictav. Cmnmi. in Matt. c. 1.7, vol. i. p. 672 : S. Greg. M. Moral, lib- xxx. 
 c. 25, vol. i. p. 988 : to Rebecca, S. Ambros. De Jacob, lib. 7, c. 2, vol. i. p. 461 : S. 
 August. Ettair. in Psalm, cx.rvi. c. 8, vol. iv. p. 1673 ('quamdiu parturit ecclesia 
 ipsi sunt intus et booi et mali,' aa Esau and Jacob struggled in the womb of 
 Rebecca), Senn. 4 (44), c. 1 1, vol. v. p. 39 ; S. Greg. M. Moral, lib. xxxv. c. 16, vol. 
 i. p. 1160: to Jephthali's daughter, S. August. Quaest. in Heptateuch, lib. 7, c. 
 51 : to Batbsheba, S. August. In Faust. Manich. 23. 87, vol.viii. p. 459, Cassiodor. 
 Expos, in Psalm. I. ed. Garet, vol. ii. p. 169 ; to Esther, S.Hieron. Epist. 53 (103), 
 c. 7, vol. i p. 279 ; to Judith, S. Hieron. EiAst. 79 (9), vol. i. p. 508. 
 
 ^' It is important to notice, as corroborating this general view, that when the 
 ecclesiastical organization passed outside the network of the imperial organization, 
 it changed its character : in Ireland, for example, ' the spiritual jurisdiction of the 
 bishops was coexten.sive with the temporal sway of the chieftain ' (Reeves, Ecclesi- 
 astical Antiquities of Down, Connor, and Dromore, Append, p. 303) : the limits of 
 both the one and the other were continually shifting, and dioceses in the ordinary 
 sen.se did not exist until the Synod of Kath Breasail in a.d. 1141 (ibid. pp. 135, 
 139)- 
 
vri.] Councils and the Unity of the Church. i8t 
 
 and, so far, just as there were gradations of dioceses, 
 provinces, and municipalities in the one, so were there 
 gradations of exarchs or patriarchs, metropohtans, and 
 bishops in the other. But some churches remained 
 independent. They were not subordinate to any other 
 church. Their bishops had no superior. They were 
 what the Notitiae, or Hsts of orthodox Churches, call 
 avTOKe(pa\oi ^'. They were in the position which Cyprian 
 had in earlier times asserted to be the true position of 
 all bishops: their responsibility was to God alone. 
 
 (2) In the second place, there is no proof that the 
 terms of confederation were ever settled. The fact that 
 the State did not tolerate any Churches which were not 
 recognized by the confederation is not pertinent to the 
 purely ecclesiastical question. There is no proof that it 
 was not possible for any Church to refuse to admit to 
 communion the members of other Churches, with as 
 little formality as it had accepted them. There is no 
 proof that intercommunion ever changed its original 
 character of a voluntary contract — a corollary of the 
 goodwill and amity which one Christian community 
 should have towards another — so as to become an in- 
 dissoluble bond. It would be a strong assertion to say 
 that God is always on the side of the majority : and 
 
 ^ Nilus Doxapatrius, Notitia patriarcliatuum, ed. Partliey p. 284, flal 5^ 
 eirapx^o^t Ttvls at ov Te\ovcn vno raiv i^cyL(XTwv Bpovojv Ixo-nip koX t} vjjffos Kutt/jos ^ 
 ifxuviv avTO/cecpa\os TravTeXais feat fnjd^j/l 6p6v(u Tuiv fxcy'i(TTQJV viTOlceLfiiVJ] dA.\* 
 avTe^ovffLO^ ovcra 5id to €vpi$TJuaL kv avry Toy aTroaroXov BapvdfBai' ixovra imaTTjSiov 
 T^ Kara VLipKov ayiov EiayyiXiOV : so also of Cyprus in the Notitia compiled by the 
 authority of the Emperor Leo Sapiens, ed. Parthey, p. 93 : and of Armenia, ibid. p. 
 90. In the same way, though the fact is not recognised in the Notitiae, there is 
 no proof whatever either that the early British Churches were subordinate as a 
 whole to any other church, or that their bishops recognised any gradation of ranlc 
 among themselves. 
 
1 82 Cotmcils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 that, when the confederation was once formed, whatever 
 the majority of its members resolved upon was binding 
 de jure divino upon the minority. But this is the only 
 tenable position if it be asserted, as it sometimes is 
 asserted, that individual Churches which at any one 
 time sent deputies to the general council of the con- 
 federa^tion, or admitted an appeal to such an assembly, 
 or admitted the other constituent members of such an 
 assembly to Church privileges, thereby forfeited for all 
 time to come their original right to independent action. 
 
 (3) In the third place, there is no proof that the 
 words of Holy Scripture in which the unity of the 
 Church is expressed or implied refer exclusively, or at 
 all, to unity of organization. There is, on the other 
 hand, clear proof that they were in early times applied 
 to another kind of unity. 
 
 There have been in fact three forms which the con- 
 ception of unity has taken. 
 
 In the earliest period the basis of Christian fellowship 
 was a changed life — ' repentance toward God and faith 
 toward our Lord Jesus Christ ^^.' It was the unity of 
 a common relation to a common ideal and a common 
 hope. The contention of those who looked upon Chris- 
 tians as a whol-e was that they were ' not under the law 
 but under grace ' — that they were, as one of the earliest 
 Christian writings phrases it, a rpiTov yevo's — neither 
 Jews nor Centiles, but a class apart ^^. The word 
 
 ^' Acts 20. 21. 
 
 ^' K-qpvyiMa Uerpov ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. 6. 5, p. 650 ; Hilgenfeld, Novum Tes- 
 tamentum extra canonem receptum Fasc. iv . p. 58 : so Tertull. Scorpiace 10, 'usque 
 quo genus tertium.' This separate existence of Christianity is strongly asserted 
 by S. Ignatius, e.g. Ad Marjnes. 9. 10, Ad Phtlad. 6. 8. 
 
VII.] Councils and the U^iity of the Church. 183 
 
 'Church' is used for the aggregate of Christians, 'the 
 general assembly of the firstborn,' but the hypothesis of 
 its use for that aggregate conceived as a mass of organ- 
 izations seems to be excluded by its having been said 
 to have existed before the world, and to have been 
 ' manifested in the body of Christ *".' 
 
 In the second period, the idea of definite belief as 
 a basis of union dominated over that of a holy life *^. 
 The meshes of the net were found to be too wide. The 
 simple creed of primitive days tended to evaporate into 
 the mists of a speculative theology. It became necessary 
 to define more closely the circle of admissible beliefs. 
 The contention of those who looked upon Christians as 
 a whole was that they were held together by their 
 possession of a true and the only true tradition of 
 Christian teaching. ' There is one body of Christ,' 
 
 *" 2 Clem. Rom. 14, 'So then, brethren, if we do the will of God our Father, we 
 shall be of the first, the spiritual, Church, which was created before the sun and 
 moon: but if we do not the will of the Lord, we shall fall under the Scripture 
 which says "My house became a den of robbers." So then let us choose to be of 
 the Church of Life, that we may be saved. But I think that ye are not ignorant 
 that the living Church is the Body of Christ : (for the Scripture says, " God made 
 man male and female : " the male is Christ, the female is the Church), and that 
 the Scriptures and the Apostles teU us not only that the Church exists but that it 
 is from above (aj/MSer). For it was spiritual, as also was our Jesus, and was mani- 
 fested in the last days to save us. Now the Church, being spiritual, was mani- 
 fested in the flesh of Christ, showing us that if any of us keep it in the flesh and 
 corrupt it not, he will receive it in the Holy Spirit.' Similarly, Herm. F«s. 2. 4. i 
 says that the Church ' was created first of all things, and for her sake the world 
 was framed.' 
 
 " The' phrase iftvaxyis t^? lK/c\?;(rias first appears in Hegesippus : but he uses 
 it in antithesis to aipiem, and evidently implies that kind of unity which consisted 
 in adherence to the Catholic tradition of Apostolic teaching : &wd tovtcvv [i.e. the 
 heresiarchs whom he had just mentioned] ^euSoxPiCTot, ip€vSowpo(pTJTai, ipevdatroff' 
 ToXoi, oirivis efj-^ptcrav r^v ivQiffiv ttjs erc/cXTjaias <p9opifiaioi^ \6yoLS fcarA 
 ToC 0(ov Hal Kara rod HpiaTov airov (Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. H. E. 4. 22. 5). In 
 the following chapter Eusebius describes the letter of Dionysius of Corinth to the 
 Lacedaemonians as opdoSo^ias icaTrjXTT''tKi), elprjvrjs n Kal ivwffiws uTToOeTtic^. 
 
184 Councils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 says Origen, ' but it has many members : and those 
 members are individual behevers *^.' Not until the 
 dispute between Cyprian and Novatian does the ques- 
 tion appear to have been raised whether those who 
 held the Cathohc faith were bound to be members of 
 particular associations, or whether they had the right 
 to form associations for themselves *^. 
 
 In the third period, insistence on Catholic faith had led 
 to the insistence on Catholic order — for without order 
 dogma had no guarantee of permanence. Consequently 
 the idea of unity of organization was superimposed 
 upon that of unity of belief. It was held not to be 
 enough for a man to be living a good life, and to hold 
 the Catholic faith and to belong to a Christian asso- 
 ciation : that association must be part of a larger 
 confederation, and the sum of such confederations 
 constituted the Catholic Church **. 
 
 This last is the form which the conception of unity 
 
 *= Origen, c. Celg. 6. 48. 
 
 *^ See above Lecture IV, pp. 102-104, 
 
 ^^ This view is clearly expressed by the great Latin Fathers : e.g. S. August. 
 De Baptism, c. Donat. lib. 4, c. 18, vol. ix. p. 270 ' Constituamus ergo aliqueui castum, 
 continentem, non avarum, non idolis servientem, hospitalem indigentibus minis- 
 trantem, non cujusquam inimicum, non contentiosum, patientem, quietum, nullum 
 aemulantem, nulli invidentem, sobrium, frugaleui, sed haereticum ; nulli utique 
 dubium est propter hoc solum quod haereticus est regnum Dei non possessurum :' 
 id. Serm. ad Caesar. Eccles. plehem. c. 6, vol. ix. p. 695, 'extra ecclesiam catholicam 
 totum potest haberi praeter salutem. Potest habere honorem, potest habere 
 Bacramentum, potest cantare Alleluia, potest respondere Amen, potest evangelium 
 tenere, potest in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti fidem et habere et 
 praedicare : sed nusquam nisi in ecclesia catholica salutem potest invenire.' S. Leon. 
 M. Serm. 79 (77)» c. 2, vol. i. p. 317, ' extra ecclesiam catholicam nihil est integrum, 
 nihil castum, dicente Apostolo ' omne quod non est ex fide peccatum est ;' cum 
 divisis .ab unitate corporis Christi nulla .similitudine comparamur, nulla commu- 
 nione miscemur.' S. Greg. M. Moral, lib. 14, c. 5. 5, vol. i. p. 457, 'Sancta autem 
 univer.salis ecclesia praedicat Deum veraciter nisi, intra se coli non posse, asserens 
 quod oranes qui extra ipsam sunt minime salvabuntur.' 
 
vii.] Councils and the Unity of the Church. 185 
 
 took in the fourth century, and which to a great extent 
 has been permanent ever since. 
 
 But both in the fourth century, and afterwards, it did 
 not gain its position of dominance without a struggle. 
 The same diificulty presented itself in early times 
 which has presented itself again and again in modern 
 times. How can an organization be said to be identical 
 with the Church of Christ when some of both its mem- 
 bers and its officers are in reality living unholy lives \ 
 The difficulty first took form in the time of Cyprian, 
 when the puritan party in the Church of Eome declined 
 to recognize the election of Cornelius. It was renewed 
 with a longer and more important struggle in the fourth 
 century by the great section of the African Churches of 
 which I have already spoken, and who were known as 
 Donatists. 'Above all other things,' said the Donatists, 
 ' the Church of Christ should be pure, and we defend 
 its purity *^.' Their opponents, chiefly St. Augustine, 
 pointed to the parable of the wheat and the tares. ' The 
 field is the world,' they said, ' and the good and the bad 
 grow together until the harvest.' ' The field is the 
 ivorld,' rephed the Donatists, ' and not the Church : it is 
 in the world and not in the Church that the good and 
 the bad are to grow together *•'.' ' Your Catholic Church,' 
 they said to their opponents, ' is a geographical expres- 
 sion : it means the union of so many societies in so 
 many provinces or in so many nations : our Catholic 
 Church is the union of all those who are Christians in 
 
 "■ Gesta CoUalioids Carthag. iii. c. 258. Ed. Dupin, p. 313. 
 « Ibid. p. 314. 
 
1 86 Councils and the Unity of the Church, [lect. 
 
 deed as well as in word : it depends not upon inter- 
 communion, but upon the observance of all tbe divine 
 commands and Sacraments : it is perfect, and it is 
 immaculate *'.' 
 
 The Donatists were crushed : but they were crushed 
 by the State. They had resisted State interference : 
 Quid Im/peratori cum ecclesia? they asked**. But the 
 Catholic party had already begun its invocation of the 
 secular power : and the secular power made ecclesias- 
 tical puritanism a capital crime *°. 
 
 The fame of the great theologian who, with somewhat 
 less of Christian charity than might have been expected 
 from so good a man, opposed the Donatists, and the 
 fact that as a matter of history they ultimately passed 
 out of existence, have caused the name of schism which 
 was given by their opponents to their movement to be 
 
 " Gaiidentius, a Donatist Bishop, says in the Gesta Collat. Carthag. iii. c. 102, 
 ' GaUiolicum nomen piitant [sc. Catholici] ad provincias vel ad genteg referendum, 
 cum hoc sit catholicum nomen quod sacramentis plenum est, quod perfectum, quod 
 immaculatum, non ad gentes,' cf. S. Augustin. Epist. 93 (48), Op. ed. Migne, vol. 
 ii. 333, ' Acutum autem aliquid tibi videris dicere cum Oatholicae nomen non ex 
 totius orbis communione interpretaris sed ex observatione praeceptorum omnium 
 divinorum atque omnium sacramentorum.' At the same time, although the ac- 
 counts which their opponents have transmitted to us may be exaggerated, there 
 can be little doubt that the Donatists counted among their followers many who 
 were far from realizing the ideal purity of their leaders. 
 
 *' The expression is that of the Donatist bishops at the Council of Carthage in 
 A.D. 348 {Mormmenta Vetera ad Donatistarum historiam pertinentia, Migne, Patrol. 
 Lat. vol. viii. 776. 
 
 " After the conference between the Catholic and Donatist bishops in A.D. 411, 
 MarceUinus, the imperial tribune who presided, pronounced his sentence in which 
 he ordered all persons to join in putting down the Donatist assemblies, and the 
 Donatists themselves to hand over their buildings to the Catholics (Spnteniia Cog- 
 nitoris in the Appeinl. ad 0pp. S. Optati, ed. Dupin, p. 325) : as this did not prove 
 to be sufficient it was enacted three years later that the Donatists should lose the 
 privileges of Christians (Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 54), and in the following year that 
 they should be punished with death (Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 56). 
 
vn.] Councils ami tlu Unity of the Church. 187 
 
 unquestioned by most historians. But though they were 
 crushed the question which they raised was not thereby 
 solved — ^At what point did voluntary intercommunion 
 become an indissoluble bond \ In other words, assum- 
 ing that, in the opinion of a Church or group of 
 Churches, the dominant majority of an association to 
 which that Church or group of Churches has hitherto 
 been attached are lax in discipline or unsound in faith, 
 do the dissentients cease to be CathoHc, or cease to be 
 Christian, when they decline any longer to be bound by 
 the resolutions of the association 1 
 
 And there are some no doubt who will think that 
 even this is but part of a larger question, and that the 
 real point at issue is not so much the terms of associa- 
 tion as its necessity. There are some who wiU look 
 back with lingering eyes at that earlier time in which 
 there was no formal association of Churches, but only 
 what TertuUian calls the ' communication of peace, the 
 appellation of brotherhood, the token of hospitality, 
 and the tradition of a single creed "*'.' There are some 
 who wiU think that the effect of the enormous power 
 which the Eoman Empire in the first instance, and the 
 fall of the Eoman Empire in the second instance, gave 
 to the association has been to exa^erate its importance, 
 and to make men forget that there is a deeper unity 
 than that of external form. 
 
 For the true communion of Christian men — the 
 'communion of saints' upon which all Churches are 
 built — ^is not the common performance of external acts, 
 
 * TertolL Tit Praacr. Baertt. 20. 
 
1 88 Coimcils and the Unity of the Chwch. 
 
 but a communion of soul with soul and of the soul with 
 Christ. It is a consequence of the nature which God 
 has given us that an external organization should help 
 our communion with one another : it is a consequence 
 both of our twofold nature, and of Christ's appointment 
 that external acts should help our communion with 
 Him. But subtler, deeper, diviner, than anything of 
 which external things can be either the symbol or the 
 bond is that inner reality and essence of union — that 
 interpenetrating community of thought and character — 
 which St. Paul speaks of as the ' unity of the Spirit,' 
 and which in the sublimest of sublime books, in the 
 most sacred of sacred words, is likened to the oneness 
 of the Son with the Father and of the Father with the 
 Son ". 
 
 "^ S. John 17. II, 21. 
 
LECTURE YIII. 
 
 THE PARISH AND THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 In preceding Lectures I have endeavoured to trace 
 the successive steps by which the simple communities 
 of Apostohc times resulted in the vast and complex 
 confederation which we find in existence at the fall of 
 the Western Empire. How that confederation deve- 
 loped into the still more complex system which we find 
 in the Middle Ages, is a problem so intricate, so in- 
 teresting, and in many respects so important, as to 
 deserve more attention than it has hitherto received 
 from those who make historical problems their study. 
 And although the complete solution of that problem 
 is beyond alike my province and my powers, and 
 although in the short compass of a single Lecture 
 I cannot do more than draw the rough outhnes of 
 a great picture, yet I cannot so far leave the general 
 subject incomplete as to refrain from pointing out the 
 chief links which connect the organization of the 
 early Churches with the organization of mediaeval, 
 and thereby virtually of modern, times. 
 
 The two chief links are the Parish, and the 
 Cathedral . 
 
igo The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 The Parish, as we see it in Western Christendom, 
 owes its origin to several causes, and is the final result 
 of several earlier forms. The irapoiKla of early days was 
 neither a parish nor a diocese, but the community of 
 Christians hving within a city or a district, regarded 
 in relation to the non-Christian poj)ulation which sur- 
 rounded it 1. Every such community seems to have had 
 a complete organization, and there is no trace of the 
 dependence of any one community upon any other. 
 But, as time went on, there were several groups of 
 circumstances which modified in various ways this 
 original completeness and autonomy. 
 
 (i) The first of these circumstances were those of 
 the great cities, in which a single building was not 
 large enough to contain the whole assembly of the 
 faithful. In them the tradition of unity, the analogy 
 of the municipal corporations, and possibly also the 
 personal predominance of the bishop, seem to have 
 prevented the multiplication of organizations. The 
 most important instance is that of Eome, which in this, 
 as in some other respects, preserved for many centuries 
 an exceptional simplicity. For eleemosynary and disci- 
 plinary purposes that city was divided into districts 
 ('regiones'), each of which was entrusted to a deacon, 
 who reported to the bishop the temporal wants, or the 
 moral delinquencies, of those Christians who resided 
 in them ^. For purposes of worship congregations seera 
 
 ' See Lecture III, note 15, and my article 'Parish' in the Dictionary of Chris- 
 tian Antiquities, vol. ii, p. 1554. 
 
 - Liber Pontificalis, Vit. Gaii p. 29 : Ordo Romanus I, p. 3, ap. Mabillon, Mus. 
 Ital. vol. ii. Cf. Hid. Comm. praev. in Ord. Rom, p. xvii. See also Gregorovius, 
 GescMchte der StadtBom. Bd. i. p. 78, 2'" Aufl. : Nardini, lioma Antica, ed. Nibby, 
 vol. i. p. 124 sqq. : De Kosei, Boma sotteranea, vol, iii, p, 515. 
 
VIII.] The Parish mid the Cathedral. 191 
 
 to have been gathered together wherever convenience 
 suggested or the law allowed — m public buildings, in 
 private houses, and in the catacombs ^. When the 
 altered relations of Christianity to the State permitted 
 the same congregation to meet regularly in the same 
 place, one or more presbyters seem to have been tem- 
 porarily or permanently detached from the bishop's 
 council to preside over it : but the theory that the 
 church of the city was one, though locally divided, was 
 preserved by a practice of which there is no clear trace 
 elsewhere. There continued to be, as there had pro- 
 bably been in the infant community of Apostolic days, 
 only one consecration of the Eucharistic elements. The 
 bishop and his clergy consecrated in one of the churches 
 enough bread and wine for all the faithful in the city, 
 and sent the consecrated elements round by the hands 
 of messengers to the several presbyters and congre- 
 gations *. In this way they were aU literally ' partakers 
 of that one bread,' and so realized with a vividness 
 which later usage weakened that they were ' one body.' 
 (2) Another group of circumstances was that of 
 suburban or rural districts and their outlying hamlets. 
 In the civil government two systems prevailed in such 
 
 ' Of. DeEoasi, JRoma sotteranea, vol. i. pp. 199 sqq., vol. ii. pp. 478 sqq. 
 
 * S. Innocent I. Epist. ad Decent, c. 5 ' De fermento [sc. the consecrated elements] 
 vero quod die dominico per titulos [sc. the parishes within the city] mittimus 
 superflue nos consulere voluistis quod omnes ecclesiae vestrae intra civitatem sint 
 constitutae. Quarum presbyteri quia die ipso propter plebem sibi creditam uobis- 
 cum convenire non possunt, idcirco fermentum a nobis confectum per acolythos 
 accipiunt ut se a nostra communione maxime ilia die non judiceut separatos :' (He 
 goes on to disallow the practice in the case of cemeteries and outlying parishes on 
 the ground that ' non longe portanda sunt sacrameuta '). See also Liber Pontif, 
 rU, Melchiad. p. 33, Vit. Siric. p. 55: MabiUon, comm. praer. in Ord. Rom. p. 
 xxxviii. in Mus. Ital. vol. ii ; Bona, De Jtebiis liturgicis vol, ii. p. 205. 
 
192 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 cases : sometimes such districts were within the juris- 
 diction of the magistrates of a neighbouring city ^ and 
 sometimes they had magistrates of their own ^. There 
 were, similarly, two systems of ecclesiastical govern- 
 ment. In Syria and some parts of Asia Minor the sub- 
 urban and rural communities seem to have had a com- 
 plete organization : but the bishop of such a community 
 was held not to be of the same rank as the bishop of 
 a city, and had a special name — eTrla-KOTroi twv ajpS)v, or 
 ■)(wpeTTl(TK07roi ''. This system gradually fell into disuse, 
 though not complete disuse, in the East, and does not 
 appear to have existed in early times in the West ^. In 
 the eighth century, however, when there was one of 
 those antiquarian revivals which have taken place from 
 time to time in the history of the Church, it was 
 
 '' The name for the district to "which a city formed the centre of administration 
 was 'regie' (Siculus Flaccua, ed. Lachmann Oromatict, p. 135), ' territorium ' 
 (Digest. 50. 16. 239. 8), diolicrjcis {Gic. ad Fam. 13.53). The two latter names 
 came to be u^ed for the same districts in their ecclesiastical relations to the 
 bishop of the city church : ('territorium' is so used: e.g. 2. Cone. Arelat. c. 23, 
 I Cone. Aurel. c. 17, 3 Cone. Aurel. c. 18) : ' dioecesis ' was sometimes also used for 
 the district entrusted to a single presbyter — the modem ' parish,' ' paroecia (paro- 
 chia),' being used in the wider sense of the bishop's district ; ultimately, however, 
 though not until far on in the middle ages, ' diocese ' came to be generally used in 
 the wider, ' parish ' in the narrower sense : for some instances of the variations in 
 the use of the terms see Dictionary of Christian Antiquities s. v. ' Parish,' vol. ii. 
 
 P- 1554)- 
 
 '' For the details of organization of country districts which were not within the 
 'territorium' of a city, see Marquardt, Rdittische Staaisvcrwaltung, Bd. i. pp. 7-17. 
 
 ^ First mentioned in Cone. Ancyr. A.D. 314 c. 13, Cone. Neocaes. A.D. 314, c. 14, 
 Cone. Nicaen. c. 8, Cone. Antioch. c. 10. For an important indication of the rela- 
 tion of chorepiscopi to city bishops, see Basil's letter to his Chorepiscopi {Epist. 54 
 (i8i), op. ed. Ben. vol. iv. p. 148). 
 
 ' Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, vol. i. p. 121, following J. S. Assemann, Bihl. 
 Oriental, vol. iii. pars ii. p. 829, says that the Maronites have two kinds of chor- 
 episcopi, one being a survival of the ancient rural bishops, the other being equivalent 
 to the city archpresbyters of the Western organization. Among the Nestorians 
 (Denzinger, vol. i. p. 126) the chorepiscopi survive as rural officers, but with the 
 rank and functions only of the rural archpresbyters of the West. 
 
VIII.] The Parish and the Cathedral. 193 
 
 instituted in the Frankish. domain : but some incon- 
 veniences soon arose : the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals 
 made the system a principal object of attack : and 
 in the tenth century it had almost altogether passed 
 away^. Of the other system the chief early traces are 
 found in the suburbs of the greater cities, especially 
 Eome and Alexandria. At Alexandria, for example, the 
 Christians who lived in the outlying suburbs, and 
 in the adjacent district of Mareotis, were regarded as 
 members of the bishop's church, and, though the several 
 congregations met in separate buildings, they had no 
 separate constitution, but a presbyter was detached 
 from the bishop's church to preside over each of them ^''. 
 They were analogous to the ' chapels of ease ' of our 
 own organization. The presbyter who presided was 
 apparently competent, quoad sacra, to perform the 
 
 ° The only mention of chorepiscopi in Western canons before the ninth century 
 is in Cone. Eegens. A.D. 439, 0. 3, which treats an irregularly ordained bishop as the 
 Council of Nioaea had resolved to treat Novatian bishops: i.e. it gives him the 
 inferior rank of chorepiscopus. But in the eighth century, when, as is evident from 
 the translation of early Eastern canons and their repeated incorporation in the 
 Capitularies, there was a determined effort on the part of some Franldsh bishops to 
 revive the early Eastern usages, the oiSce of chorepiscopus was revived. In the 
 following century a strong reaction set in, the chief reason for which wa« probably 
 the fact that the civil power used the chorepiscopi as a foil against the bishops. 
 Hence the pseudo-Isidore (e.g. Damasi De vana corepiseojjormn superatitiotie 
 vitanda, ed. Hinschius, Decret. psmdo-Isidor. p. 509) set himself to show in 
 vehement language that the chorepiscopi, in spite of their name, were properly 
 not bishops but presbyters, and therefore incompetent to discharge episcopal 
 functions : on the other hand, Hrabauus Maurus defended their episcopal cha- 
 racter (De Chorepiscopis, Opuso. ii. Op. ed. Migne, Patr. Lat. vol. ex. p. 119S). For 
 the details of the controversy, especially in relation to the Decretals, see Weiszacker, 
 Der Kampf gegen dem Ohorepiscopat des frdnlcischen Reichs in neunten Jahrhun- 
 dert, Tubingen 1859: also an article by the same writer in von Sybel's Sistorische 
 Zeitschrift for i860, pp. 42 sqq., and by van Noorden in the same journal for 1862. 
 pp. 311 sqq. 
 
 " S. Epiphan. Adv. Baeres. 68. 4 : 6g. i : Soorat. H. E. i. 27 ; Sozom. H. E. i, 
 15 : S. Athanas, Apol. c. Avian, co. 63, 85, vol. i. pp. 143, 158. 
 
 O 
 
194 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 functions which in the central church were performed 
 by the bishop : but the high dignity of the bishop of 
 Alexandria, who reflected and rivalled the dignity and 
 jurisdiction of the civil prefect, and for whom no higher 
 title than that of bishop had as yet been found, en- 
 forced a subordination which in a smaller city might 
 have been abnormal, and made the district of which 
 Alexandria was the centre the earliest example of a 
 modern ' diocese.' 
 
 (3) Another group of circumstances was that of 
 the small scattered villages of the East, which were 
 neither in the neighbourhood of a great city nor in 
 themselves sufficiently large to furnish the elements 
 of a complete organization. In them two of the resi- 
 dents seem to have been appointed as presbyters, and 
 two others as deacons ", but the bishop was itinerant 
 (irepio^wTni), travelling from one community to another 1^. 
 When the later diocesan system came to prevail, the 
 itinerant bishop preserved his designation but lost his 
 functions : the name still lingers in some Eastern 
 Churches, but the functions are only those of a Western 
 ' rural dean ^^Z 
 
 " This is an inference from an existing inscription of A.D. 354 at Eitha (El-hlt) 
 in Batanea (Le Bas et Waddington, Inscriptions Qrecqtus et Latines, vol. iii. No. 
 2124, = Cor^MS Inscr. Qraec. No. 8819), where the clergy consist of two presbyters, 
 one of whom was also archimandrite of the local monastery, and two deacons, one 
 of whom was also oiKovdixos or * bursar.' 
 
 ^ TlepioSfvTal are mentioned in Cone. Laod. 0. 57, which forbids the appoint- 
 ment of any other class of bishops in villages and country districts ; in the ency- 
 clical letter of Gennadius of Constantinople, a.d. 459, ap. Mansi, Concilia, vol. vii. 
 911, and in Cod. Justin, i. 3. 42 (41), § 9: also in inscriptions, in the Haurdn, Le 
 Bas et Waddington, No. 201 1, in Palmyrene, ibid. No. 2633, and in Phrygia, Corpus 
 Inscr. Grace. No. 8822. 
 
 " They remain among the Jacobite Syrians, the Maronites, and the Nestorians : 
 Denzinger, Rilus OrientaUum, vol. i, pp. 118, 121, 126. 
 
VIII.] The Parish and the Cathedral. 195 
 
 (4) Another group of circumstances was that of 
 the great estates, iipon which many Christians were 
 resident, but which probably lay outside the jurisdic- 
 tion of the municipal magistrates ^*. The fact that the 
 owner was supreme, and that all others who lived on 
 an estate were either serfs or slaves, probably prevented 
 the free growth of that kind of organization which had 
 come to exist elsewhere. The owner seems to have 
 appointed church officers as he would have appointed 
 farm-bailiffs. He could do so of his own mere motion, 
 without regard to the ecclesiastical organization of 
 any other place, because there was no one whose rights 
 were thereby touched. Dioceses in the later sense of 
 the term did not yet exist, and the system of subor- 
 dinating one community to another had hardly begun. 
 But the system led to abuses, especially when Arian 
 and other non-Catholic opinions were abroad. Some 
 owners appointed to office on their estates persons whose 
 opinions were heretical ^^ : a limitation of the rights of 
 owners in this respect became necessary in the interests 
 of orthodoxy : and the imperial legislation, with its 
 usual support of the Catholic party, enacted that any 
 presbyter who was appointed to minister on an estate 
 
 " For the internal economy of these great estates, which survdved the fall of the 
 Empire and fonned the most important element in the economical history of 
 Europe during many succeeding centuries, see Savigny, J7e6er den romischen 
 Colonat in his Vermischte Schnften, Bd. ii, and Kuhn, Vie stddtische unci hiirgerliche 
 Verfassung des romischen Reichs, i Theil, pp. 257 sqq. 
 
 ^ This is clear from the repeated provisions of the Civil Law for cases in 
 which heretics were allowed or appointed to minister on estates: viz. laws of 
 Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius in a.d. 392, Cod. Theodos. 16. 5. 21 ; of 
 Arcadius and Honorius in a.d. 398, thul. 16. 5. 34, in a.d. 399, ihid. 16. 5. 36, 
 in A.D. 407, ibid, 16. 5. 40 : of Honorius and Theodosius in A.D. 414, ibid. 16. 
 5- 54. § 6. 
 
 2 
 
196 The Parish mid the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 shoiJd first be approved by the bishop of the neigh- 
 bouring city". This enactment seems to have been 
 evaded by ceasing to appoint presbyters. The imperial 
 legislation consequently interfered again, and prohibited 
 laymen from meeting for public worship without the 
 presence of an authorized officer ". But, subject to this 
 limitation, the right of an owner to appoint his own 
 church officers remained, and probably constituted the 
 principal source from which has flowed the modern 
 ■system of patronage ". 
 
 (5) The circumstances out of which the modern 
 Parish was more directly produced were those of Gaul 
 and Spain. The original Christians of those great 
 provinces of the West seem to have consisted almost 
 entirely of inhabitants of the Ptoman towns. These 
 towns were the civilized centres of semi-civilized 
 districts, and they were seldom situated ofi" the lines 
 of the great military roads. Each of them had a 
 
 " Justin. Novell. 57, c. 2, A.D. 537. 
 
 " Justin. Novell. 123, c. 32 : 131, c. 8, a.d. 545. 
 
 '° It is clear from the repeated enactments on the subject in the C'arolingian 
 capitularies thatj in spite of both civil and canon law, laymen frequently appointed 
 and dismissed clerks without reference to a bishop : but the legislation of the 
 Frankish kings, though sometimes at variance with their own practice, was 
 decisive in favour of the rights of bishops, and at the same time guarded that right 
 with the provision that a bishop should not reject a clerk who was presented for 
 approval, escept in case of evident scandal ; (Karoli M. Edictum pro Bpiscojns, 
 A.D. 800, _ap. Pertz, M. H. G. Leguin vol. i. p. 81 : Gapit, General. Aquens. A.D. S02, 
 c. 13, Hid. p. 106: Capit. de Presbyter. A.D. 809, c. 2, ibid. p. 161 : Excerpt. Can. 
 A.D. 813, c. 2, ibid. p. 189 : Hludowic. Capit. Aquisgran. a.d. 817,0. 9, ibid. p. 207 : 
 Constit. Wormat. a.d. 829, c. i^,ibid. p. 337 ; Constit. Wormat. Petit, c. 12, ibid. 
 p. 340: Capit. Wormat. 0. i, ibid, p. 350: Convent. Ticin. I. c. 18, A.D. 8^0, ibid. 
 p. 399: Convent. Ticin. II. a.d. 855, ibid. p. 431 : Karoli II. Edict. Pistens. 0. 2, 
 A.D. 861, ibid. p. 489). For a sketch of the history of patronage see my article 
 * Patron' in the Dictionary of Christian Antiqintics, vol. ii. p. 1575: and for a 
 more complete account Hinschius, Vas Kirchenrecht der Katliolilcen und Protestanten 
 in Denlschland, 3" Bd. Berlin, 1S80. 
 
VIII.] The Parish and the Cathedral. ic^^j 
 
 municipal organization, and each of tliem had also its 
 place in the perfect framework of the provincial system. 
 So closely did the ecclesiastical organization follow the 
 civil organization, and so firm was its hold upon society, 
 that in the France of the present day, with hardly an 
 exception, there is a bishop wherever there was a 
 Roman municipality, and an archbishop wherever there 
 was a provincial metropolis ". As the municipal organ- 
 ization became weak the ecclesiastical organization 
 became strong : Christianity was so enormous a factor 
 in contemporary society, that the bishops gradually 
 took the place of the Roman magistrate and exercised 
 some of the civil jurisdiction which had belonged to 
 him. Conseqiiently when the native Celts or the 
 newly-settled Teutons began to be converted in large 
 numbers to Christianity, the ' castellum ' or ' pagus ' in 
 which they lived, instead of receiving a separate organ- 
 ization with a bishop at its head, was regarded as being 
 under the control of the bishop of the chief town of the 
 civil district within which it was situated. The church 
 officers of such a ' castellum ' or ' pagus ' were properly 
 officers of the bishop's church, temporarily detached, 
 
 '' E.g. in the province of Lugdunensis Senonia ( = quarta), Sens, the ancient 
 metropolis ig atill an arohhishopric, and of the other municipalities which are 
 mentioned in the Notitia Provinciarum et civitatum (of the fourth century a.d. : 
 see Desjardins, Geographie de la GauJe cVapres la Table de Peutinger, p. Ixxx, table 
 iii : Brambach in the Uhdnisches Museum, 1868, vol. xxxiii. p. 262 sqq.) : Chartres, 
 Auxerre, Autun, Orleans, and Meaux, are bishoprics, and Paris an archbishopric : 
 (some, probably later, MSS. of the Notitia add Nevers, which became a bishopric 
 in the fifth century : see Brambach, I. c.) : so in the province of Lugdunensis 
 Secunda, Eouen is still an archbishopric, and the other civitates of the ancient 
 province are bishoprics, Bayeux, Avr.anches, Evreux, Seez, Lisieux, and Coutances. 
 Kuhn, fehcr die Entstehunrj der Stddte der Alien, Leipsig, 1878, p. 439, says that 
 the existence of a bishop in a given city is a proof of its having had municipal 
 independence. 
 
198 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 but required at certain periods to return and always 
 liable to recall -°. The important modification of this 
 system by which such church officers became permanent 
 is the result of endowment. For the endowment of a 
 church, in either a small town or a country district, 
 came to be regarded as constituting the duly appointed 
 officers of that church tenants for life : they cotild not 
 be ejected, except after due process of law, either by 
 their congregations or by the bishop and his council: 
 nor were they any longer dependent upon the bishop for 
 their means of subsistence ^^ At one time the detach- 
 
 ^'' Cone. Tarracon. A.D. 516, 0, 7, requires all parish clergy to return to the 
 bishop's church on Saturday evenings ' quo facilius die dominico solemnitas cum 
 omnium praesentia celebretur : ' i Cone. Arvem. a.d. 535, limits this necessary 
 presence in the bishop's cliurch to the clergy of oratories or chapels, and to the 
 greater festivals: Cone. Emerit. a.d. 666, empowers a bishop to recall parish 
 clergy from their parishes and attach them to his cathedral. 
 
 ^^ Lands were originally given to the church of which a bishop was the imme- 
 diate head, i.e. to what in later times would have been termed a cathedral or 
 a diocese : unlike the ordinary oblations, which were divided in certain propor- 
 tions between the bishop and the clergy, they were in the special disposition of 
 the bishop (i Cone. Aurel. a.d. 511, c. 14 : so even of lands specially given for the 
 endowment of parish churches, 3 Cone. Tolet. a.d. 589, c. 19, 4 Cone. Tolet. a.d. 
 633, c. 33), and from the point of view of a canonist the origin of ecclesiastical 
 benefices is that 'ipsa bona ecclesiae quasi in quasdam portiones singulis titulis 
 annexas dividi et a communi massa bonorum ecclesiae separari coeperunt ' (Van 
 Espen, Ju% Eccles. Vnic. pars ii. Sect. iv. Tit. i. 3). The usufruct of certain of 
 these lands was granted by a bishop to the clergy either of his own church or of 
 detached parishes : provision was made on the part of the churoli that the ordinary 
 law of prescription should not apply (1 Cone. Aurel. c. 23, Cone. Epaon. A.D. 517, 
 c. 1 8), and on the part of the grantees that the grant should not lapse on the death 
 of the grantor (3 Cone. Aurel. a.d. 538, c. 17). How this system, in which the 
 endowments were personal, fused with the system of endowing churches on private 
 property, in which the Popes disallowed permanently-appointed presbyters (S. 
 Greg. M. Epist. 1. 13, ad Castor. Arim. 9. 70, and 12. 12, ad Passiv. Firman. 9. 
 84, ad Benen. Timdar. : S. Zachar. Papae, Epist. 8 ad Pippin. 0. 15, ap. Codex 
 Caroliniis. ed. Jaffe, p. 26, probably quoting pseudo-Pelag. Papae Epist. ad 
 Eleidher. ap. Holsten. Coll. Rom. vol. i. p. 234), and developed into the later sys- 
 tem of ecclesiastical benefices, in which particular lands were assigned in perpetuity 
 to particular churches and in which also the holder of the benefice was immovable, 
 
Viii.] The Parish and the Cathedral. igg 
 
 ment of such churches and their officers from the 
 bishop threatened to be complete: but the legislation 
 of the Carolingian kings restored the waning jurisdic- 
 tion of the bishops ^^ : the bishop of the district within 
 wliich churches were situated ^yas empowered to visit 
 them and their clergy were compelled to receive him : 
 he was entitled to receive certain specified dues, to 
 enquire into the degree to which the clergy conformed 
 to ecclesiastical rules, to hold courts of discipline, and 
 to perform that part of the baptismal ceremonies which 
 had come to be regarded in the Western Church as his 
 special function ^^ And so grew up those relations 
 
 except upon a sentence of an ecclesiastical court, confirmed by the Roman See, 
 (Dcccei. Eleutli. c. 3, Hinschius, Decret. Pseudo-Isid. p. 125), is a question of too 
 great intricacy to be discussed liere : reference may be made to the general history 
 of 'beneficia' in Koth, GescJtichte des Beiuficicdwesens, Erlangen, 1850, and to 
 Hinschius, Vas Kirchenrecht der Katholiken u. Frotestanteti in Beutschland, Berlin, 
 1878, Bd. ii. pp. 293, 366. 
 
 '' This is an inference partly from the fact mentioned above, note 18, that pres- 
 byters were frequently appointed to and ejected from parishes without reference 
 to the bishop, and partly from the repetition, which would have been unnecessary 
 if the rule had been generally acknowledged, of the enactment that presbyters 
 shall be subject to their bishop: e.g. Pippin, Capit. Vera, duplex, a.d. 755, o. 8, 
 Pertz, i. 24, ' ut omnes presbyteri qui in parrochia sunt sub potestate episcopi 
 debeant de eorum ordine et nullus presbiter non praesumat in ilia parrochia nee 
 baptizare nee missas celebrare sine jussione episcopi in cujus parrochia est:' so 
 Karlomann, Gapit. a.d. 742, c. 3, Pertz, vol. i. p. 17: Pippin. Capit. Suession. c. 
 4, ibid. p. 21 ; Karol. M. Capit. General, a.d. 769, c. 8, Hid. p. 33. So also in the 
 Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, Epist. Clem. I. c. 36, ed. Hinschius, p. 41, c. 70, ibid. 
 
 P- 57- 
 
 '^ The visitation of detached churches by the bishop within whose district they 
 were situated, is found as early as the fourth century, in e.g. Alexandria (S. 
 Athanas. Apol. c. Arian. c. 65, vol. i. p. 143), and in Gaul (Sulp. Sever. Dial. 2. 3, 
 ed. Halm. p. 183: Cone. Tauriu. A.D. 401, c. 2). The earliest express enactment 
 is probably 2 Cone. Brae. a.d. 572, c. 1, which requires bishops to go round their 
 dioceses and examine their clergy ' quomodo ordinem baptismi teneant vel missarum 
 et quaecumque officia quomodo peragantur ; ' after which they are to assemble the 
 people and warn them to flee from idols and from mortal sins. The rule is recog- 
 nised and repeated, though difi'erent objects are assigned for the visitation, in 4 
 Cone. Tolet. A.D. 633, c, 36, Cone. Emerit. A.D 656, c. 11, Karlomann. Capit. A.D. 
 
200 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 between the bishop of the central church and the 
 officers of detached churches which have lasted with- 
 out essential modification until modern times. 
 
 While the parochial system was thus shaping itself 
 the bishop's church preserved the main features of its 
 original constitution. 
 
 In early times, as we have seen, the bishop was not 
 what he has in many respects come to be in later times, 
 in the position of a monarch, but in that of the pre- 
 sident of a council. The presbyters who sat round him, 
 the deacons who stood immediately below him, were 
 integral elements in ecclesiastical administration. With- 
 out the assent of his council he could not legitimately 
 either deal with the church funds, or administer disci- 
 pline, or appoint persons to church office. On the 
 death of a bishop the earliest system of church govern- 
 ment revived : the council administered ecclesiastical 
 affairs with a complete authority ^*. Before the final 
 establishment of the parochial system all the presbyters 
 and deacons over whom the bishop presided were 
 ordiuary members of that council. The fact that some 
 of them were temporarily detached to minister in 
 separate churches did not destroy the closeness of their 
 
 742, c. 3, Pertz, vol. i. p. 1 7) Pippin. Oaf it. Suession. a.d. 744, c. 4, ibid. p. 21. 
 Karoli M. Capit. General. A.D. 769, c. 7, ihid. p. 32 : but at the same time pro- 
 vision was made against the tendency of bishops to exact excessive fees and to 
 require excessive hospitality; 2 Cone. Brae. A.D. 572, c. 2, 7 Cone. Tolet. a.d. 646, 
 c. 4, Karoli M. Capit. Lanyohard. c. 5, Pertz, vol. i. p. no, Karoli II. Synod, ap. 
 Tolas. A.D. 844, 0. 4, ihid. p. 379, Hludowic. Content. Tioin. A.D. 855, 0. 16, ibid. p. 
 
 432- 
 
 ^' This is shown by the action of the presbyters and deacons of Rome on the 
 death of Fabian, and by Cyprian's letter to them (S. Cyprian. Epist. 30 (31), 9 (3), 
 pp. 549, 488, ed. Hartel). 
 
VIII.] The Parish and the Cathedral. 201 
 
 relation to the original church. When the bishop of' 
 Eome came to have a preponderating influence in 
 Western Christendom, his council became so important 
 that some of the greatest dignitaries in Christendom 
 were willing to become, in name at least, parish clergy 
 in Eome, in order to have a voice in it. And hence it 
 is that, in at least the theory of its constitution, the 
 college of Roman parish clergy, who have retained in 
 the name ' Cardinal ' the original designation of the 
 permanent clergy of all parishes, has preserved to this 
 day the outline of the primitive type ^^. 
 
 In the greater part of the rest of Christendom 
 another system grew up inside the primitive system. 
 It arose out of the practice, of which I have already 
 spoken, of the clergy living together in the bishop's 
 house ^^ In Gaul and Spain that practice tended in 
 
 '^'^ The term ' cardinalis ' (from which the verb * incardinare ') was transferred 
 from the civil service of the Empire to denote a fixed officer (for its civil nse see 
 Bocking, Notit. Dignit. Orient, c. 5. 2, vol. i. pp. 24, 205). There is no early evi- 
 dence of its having been originally applied to other than presbyters and deacons : 
 bnt in the eleventh century it is used of acolytes {Comment. Election. Greg. VII. ap. 
 JaflK, Montim. Gregor. p. 9), and of the seven bishops of neighbouring sees who 
 officiated by turns in the church of St. John Lateran, and who were consequently 
 ' Ecclesiae Lateranensis cardiuales' (S. Petr. Damian. Epist. 2. I, ap. Migne, 
 Patrol. Lat. vol. cxliv. p. 254: the uncertain authority of the Liber Pontificalis 
 Vit. Steph. III. (IV.) vol. ii. p. 284, assigns an earlier date to the creation of these 
 cardinal bishops). In the letters of Gregory the Great (e.g. lib. I. 15, 79), and 
 elsewhere, the word is in ordinary use for the permanent clergy of a parish, and it 
 is found as a common title in all the great churches of Christendom : e.g. Constan- 
 tinople, Milan, Naples, Cologne, Treves, Compostella, and London (see Muratori, 
 Aatiq. Ital. vol. v. p. 163, and Hinschius, Das Kirchenrecht, Bd. i. p. 318). The 
 admission of prelates and others from various parts of Christendom to the positions 
 which properly belonged to the actual clergy of the city of Rome dates from the 
 time when the holders of those positions came to have the uncontrolled election of 
 the most important personage in Christendom. The modern restriction of the 
 term to the Roman College dates from 1567, when Pius V formally disallowed its 
 use in any other sense. 
 
 ^" See Lecture VI, p. 162. The later canon law based the practice upon a sup- 
 
202 1 he Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 the sixth, and seventh centuries to become general It 
 was fostered partly by the facilities which it offered 
 for guarding the celibacy of the clergy, and partly by 
 the introduction of that important change by which 
 instead- of chiirch officers being freely chosen by the 
 several communities from their adult members, youths 
 were dedicated early in life to the service of the 
 Church. The bishop's house was thus partly a monas- 
 tery, though without a monastic rule, and partly a 
 school at which younger clerks were taught and 
 trained ^'. Those who so lived in it, whether old or 
 young, bore the name which had originally been ap- 
 pHed to all who were on the church-roll, and who were 
 in receipt of church-funds — that of ' canonici -*.' In 
 
 posed letter of Clement of Eome (Epist. Clement, quinta, ap. Hinacliiua, Decretales 
 pseudo-Isid. p. 65). 
 
 ^ 2 Cone. Tolet. a.d. 531, c. i, 4 Cone. Tolet. A.D. 633, c. 24 : 2 Cone. Vasens. 
 A.D. 529 requires all parish presbyters to receive into their houses and to train the 
 younger clerks. 
 
 '' The word canon was used in the late Latin for the fixed contribution of corn 
 or other produce paid by a province to Eome, e.g. ' Canon Aegypti,' Vopisc. Vit. 
 Firm. c. 5, and hence for the total amount of such contributions which was avail- 
 able for distribution in fixed rations among the Roman populace, e.g. Cod. Theodos. 
 14. 15, 2, 6, Lamprid. Vit. Elagah. c. 27 ; Spart. Vit. Sever, c. 8. It was conse- 
 quently used to denote the list of persons who were entitled to fixed allowances 
 from the church funds : this list, which was sometimes also called ' matricula' (e.g. 
 Cone. Agath. a.d. 506, c. 2 ; 4 Cone. Aurel. a.d. 541, c. 13 ; Cone. Autissiod. a.d. 578, 
 c. 3.) comprehended not only the clergy but also other church officers (e.g. the 
 steward and the ' paramonarius,' Cone. Chalc. c. 2) and the virgins (Soorat. S. E. 
 '■ 7> P' 47)- probably also the poor, for although there is no early evidence, the 
 terms ' in matricula positi,' ' matricularii ' (which Chrodegang, Eegiil. Canon, c. 34 
 uses as a synonym for ' canonici'), are used by a late writer for pensioners who re- 
 ceived regular allowances (pseudo-Tesianiorfitm S. Bemig. Bern. ap. Flodoard, Hist. 
 £i:cles. Rem. i. 18). The derivative 'oanonicus' is only found in use of clerks, but 
 it is used of all orders, e.g. of singers. Cone. Laod. c. 15 ; of readers, 2 Cone. Turon. 
 a.d. 567, c. 19 ; and of the clergy collectively, 3 Cone. Aurel. a.d. 538, c. 11 : and 
 there may be a relic of an earlier use in the fact that laymen were sometimes ex 
 qfi<yio canons, e.g. the Roman Emperor was a canon of St. John Lateran and of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Count of Anjou was a canon of St. Martin at Tours. At 
 
VIII.] 
 
 The Parish and the Cathedral. 203 
 
 course of time siims of money were left for the support 
 of tlie common table : tlie ' canonici ' came to liave 
 funds apart from the allowances which, in accordance 
 with primitive practice, the bishop made from the 
 general funds of the church ^^ : they thus came to be 
 more or less independent of the bishop, and to act for 
 certain purposes without regard to him*". In the 
 eighth century the influence of monasticism introduced 
 a new element into the corporate life of the ' canonici.' 
 
 Orleans Our Lord Himself was enrolled as ' primus oanonicus,' and the ' duplex 
 honor distributionis ' which was assigned to Him was given to the poor (Sausseye, 
 A^iiiales Ecdes. Aurelian. lib. i. c. 13, Paris, 1615). 
 
 '" Those who lived together received ' praebendas,' ' portiones,' which were not 
 suras of money but specified quantities of victuals, from the church offerings. That 
 this continued to be the ordinary rule in the ninth century is shown by the direc- 
 tion of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals {Epist, Urhani 'prima, c. 3, 6, ed. Hinschius, 
 pp. 144, 145). But in the meantime there had grown up in some dioceses the prac- 
 tice of leaving funds for the support of a common table (Greg. Turon. H, F. 10. 
 3 1, of Bishop Baldwin of Tours, ' hie instituit mensam canonioorum : ' id. Vit. Patr, 
 c. 9 ^ ad convivium mensae canonicae ') : and these funds were administered by the 
 canons themselves (Flodoard, Hist. Eccles. Rem. 2. 11, of St. Kigobert, 'canonicam 
 clericis religionem restituit ac suffioientia victualia oonstituit et praedia quaedam 
 illis contulit, necnon aerarium commune usibus eorura instituit : ' the earliest au- 
 thentic document is probably the confirmation by Lothair II of the rights which 
 Archbishop Gunthar had granted to the canons of Cologne, quoted from Ennen u. 
 Eckertz, Qaellai zur Gcschichte d. Stadt Koln, Bd. i. 447 by Hinschius, Das Kir- 
 chenrecht, Bd. ii. p. 55). It was of course an integral part of the idea of a 'vita 
 communis' that such funds should be held in common, and this was at first the 
 case, the revenues being divided equally and the number of canons sometimes 
 varying with their amount (seeDurr, De Capit. Glaus, c. 11, in Schmidt, Thes. Jur. 
 Eccl. iii- 149). But in time there grew up the practice of regarding a particular estate 
 as furnishing the 'praebendam' or ' victum' for a particular canonry, and of assign- 
 ing the income and management of the estate to the holder of the canonry, ' non 
 ratione dominii, cum non sint capaces, Bed solum ratione administrationis ' (Bar- 
 bosa, De Canonicis, ed. Lugdun. 1634, p. 8) : the earliest instance is probably that 
 of the canons of Cologne whose rights in this respect were confirmed by the Synod 
 which was held there in a.d. 873, Mansi, vol. xvii. p. 275 ; Hinschius, Das Kir- 
 chenrecht, Bd. ii. p. 55. 
 
 ^° E.g. they had the right of making statutes (see Hinschius, Bd. ii. p. 131), of 
 exercising a certain limited jurisdiction {ihid. p. 145), and in certain cases of coopting 
 members into their own body (see the confirmation of the rights of the canons by 
 the Synod referred to in the preceding note, quoted ibid. p. 55). 
 
204 T'he Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 Side by side witli those who thus lived in the bishop's 
 house, controlled only by the general rules of the 
 Church, were the monks and clergy who lived in 
 monasteries under the stern rule of St. Benedict. The 
 contrast was often so strong that a pious French bishop 
 framed a rule for the 'canonici' which was almost as 
 strict as the rule for monks ^^ Henceforth, in most 
 Churches of the West, the ' canonici ' of the bishop's 
 house became 'regulares,' i.e. canons living under a 
 rule ^^ : and about the same time they were divided into 
 two classes, of whom ultimately the senior class, i.e. 
 
 " The 'regula canonicorum ' was drawn up by Chrodegang of Metz about a.d. 
 760 (Paul. Diacon. ffesta Episc. Metens. ap. Pertz, M. H. 6. Script, vol. ii. p. 268), 
 chiefly on the model of the rule of St. Benedict (see Rettberg, Kirchengesch. Deutsch- 
 lands, Bd. i. 496) for the clergy of his own church (it will be found in its original 
 form in Mansi, Concilia, vol. xiv. p. 313; Walter, Pontes Jur. Eccles. p. 20: a 
 much longer rule which, though attributed to Chrodegang, is evidently of later 
 date, will be found in Mansi, vol. xiv. p. 332 ; CAchery, Spicilegmm, vol. i. p. 
 565 ; Harzheim, Condi. Germ. vol. i. p. 96). But the rule which was most widely 
 adopted was not the rule of Chrodegang, but one based upon it which is commonly 
 ascribed to Amalarius, and which was authorized by the Council of Aix-Ia-Chapelle 
 in A.D. 816 (it will be found in Mansi, vol. xiv. pp. 153 sqq. ; Harzheim, Concil. 
 German, vol. i. p. 430). 
 
 ^^ There was an attempt in the Frankish domain to make the 'regular' life com- 
 pulsory. Pippin. Cax'it. Eccles. a.d. 789, c. 72, ' similiter qui ad clericatum acce- 
 dunt quod nos nominamus canonicam vitam, volumus ut illi canonice secundum 
 suam regulam omnimodia vivant et episcopus eorum regat vitam, sicut abbas cano- 
 nicorum.' There is a series of similar enactments in the following century, Karoli 
 M. Oapit. A.D. 802, c. 22, Pertz, vol. i. p. 94 ; Cone. Mogunt. a.d. 813, 0. 9, Mansi, 
 vol. xiv. p. 67; Cone. Eem. a.d. 813, c. 8, ibid. p. 78 I 6. Cono. Arelat. a.d. 813. 
 c. 6, ibid. p. 60; 3 Cone. Turon. A.D. 813, c. 23, ibid. p. 86; Ulndowic, Capit. Aquis- 
 gra,n. A.D. 817, c. 3, Pertz, vol. i. p. 206 ; Hludowic et Hlothar. Capit. Aquisyran. 
 A.D. 828, ibid. p. 327; Cone. Meld. a.d. 845, 0. 53, Mansi, vol. xiv. p. 831 ; Karoli 
 II, Convent. Ticin. II, A.D, 876, c. 8, Pertz, vol. i. p. 531. In some of these cases 
 only life in community was enjoined without the mention of a rule : what this meant 
 is clear from e.g. 3 Cone. Tiu-on. A.D. 813, c. 23, 'canonici et clerici oivitatum qui in 
 episcopiis conversantur conaideravimus ut in clauf ris habitantes, simul omnes in uno 
 dormitorio dormiant, simulque in uno reficiantur refectorio quo facilius possint ad 
 horas canonicas celebrandas occurrere et de vita et conversatione sua admoneri et 
 doceri : victum et vestimentum juxta facultatem episcopi acoipiant ne paupertatia 
 occasione compulsi per diversa vagari ac turpibus se implicare negotiis cogantur.' 
 
VIII.] The Pa7'ish and the Cathedral. 205 
 
 the presbyters and deacons, alone retained tlie name ^^. 
 But before two centuries had passed the name was 
 almost all they did retain of the ancient ' vita communis.' 
 Living not together but in separate houses, administer- 
 ing each for himself the revenues of his estate, discharg- 
 ing their duties by the agency of ' vicars,' and no longer 
 giving their superfluity to the poor, the canons of 
 the middle ages were legitimate objects of satire and 
 of lament ^*. 
 
 The clergy of country parishes and dependent towns 
 were stiU, in theory, members of the bishop's council : 
 once at least in every year that council had to be 
 gathered together and they were bound to be present 
 at it ^^. But for the most part they were permanently 
 
 ^^ The distinction between canonici seniores and c. juniores, i.e. between those 
 who were in major and those who were in minor orders, is foimd in the Rule of 
 Chrodegang, e.g. c. 23, 29. The former came in time to be called c. majores, ordi- 
 narii, cathedrales, or capitulares : the latter were domicelli, doniicellares, who were 
 subdivided into emancipati and non emancipati according as they had or had not 
 passed through the prescribed course of education. 
 
 ^' E.g. Bishop Yves of Chartres says ' communis vita in omnibus ecclesiis paene 
 defecit' (D. Ivon. Carnot. Epist. 2 1 3 , ap. Migne, Patrol. Lat. vol. clxii. p. 3 1 7) : XTrban 
 II says ' prima [sc. vita canonicorum] decalescente fervore fidelium jam paene omnino 
 defluxit' (B. Urban II. Epist. ad clericos quosdamregulares, ap. Mansi, Co7icllia,vol, 
 XX. p. 713). Peter Damiani (Contra clericos regulares proprietarios, vol. iii. p. 483 
 ed. Caiet. ; J)e communi vita canonicorum, ibid. p. 514) and others (e.g. Gerhoh 
 von Reiohersberg, Liber de corrupto Ecclesiae statu, ap. Baluze, Miscell. vol. ii. p. 
 197) threw the blame on the laxity of the rule itself: and a stricter rule was intro- 
 duced which was drawn from the works of St. Augustine. But although there was 
 a revival of the asceticism of the older canonical life, it was partial and temporary : 
 there were indeed many societies of Augustinian, or as they now came to be ex- 
 clusively called, ' regular ' canons, but the canons of most cathedral chapters were 
 ' secular,' administering their own estates and living not in community but in the 
 world (for instances of the adoption of the Augustinian rule in cathedrals see 
 Hiuschius, Das KirclunrecM, Bd. ii. p. 58). 
 
 ^ Pippin. Capit. Vern. dupl. A.D. 755, c. 8, Pertz, M. H. G. Zegum, vol. i. p. 
 25, 'omnes presbiteri ad consilium episcopi conveniant.' In the Modus tenendi 
 synodos per Angliam, Wilkins, Concilia, vol. iv. append, p. 784, a year's suspension 
 is the penalty for non-attendance. 
 
2o6 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 detached : they had no longer any ordinary place in the 
 bishop's church : and they administered their own 
 revenues, reserving for the bishop only a small and 
 specified portion^". The ordinary functions of ecclesi- 
 astical administration were discharged by the bishop 
 and the canons of his church : in place of the earher 
 phrase 'the bishop and presbyters,' we find the phrase 
 ' the bishop and canons :' and it was not the general 
 council of a diocese but the canons of the cathedral 
 chvirch — collectively known by the monastic title ' capi- 
 tulum,' or ' chapter ' — who administered the affairs of 
 a diocese during a vacancy in the see and elected a new 
 bishop ^'. 
 
 The difference between parochial and cathedral clergy 
 was still further widened when the former were grouped 
 into districts, and when each district came to have its 
 own organization. Just as the cathedral had its 
 archpresbyter and its archdeacon, so in the districts 
 
 ^^ In early times the bishop had the same control over the revenues of detached 
 churches which he had over his own. In the sixth century a Spanish Council first 
 enacted that the bishop's share in the offerings, i.e. one-third, should be devoted 
 in parish churches to repairs and lights (2 Cone. Brae. A.D. 57-, c. 2 : so in the 
 following century, Cone. Emerit. A.D. 665, c. 4 ; 16 Cone. Tolet. a.d. 693, c. 5) ; 
 and this seems to have become tlie general rule. But though there is no doubt 
 that the control of church lands and of tithes also passed from the hands of the 
 bishops to that of the incumbents of parishes, the question when it did so belongs 
 to the obscure history of ecclesiastical benefices (see above, note 21), and the facts 
 which bear upon it are too intricate to be given here. 
 
 ^' For these and other facts in relation to the early history of cathedral chapters 
 reference may be made to Ferniosini, De poiestate capituli secle vacante iiecnon serje 
 plriia et quid possint episcopi per se aut deheant mm capitulo cxcqui, Lugdun. 1666 ; 
 Barbosa, De caiionicis et dirfnifatihus aliisque henefciariis eorumquc oflciis in choro 
 et capitulo, Lugdun. 1634; Muratori De Canonicis in his Antiquitates Ilalicae, vol. 
 V, pp. 183 sqq. The best modern account is that of Hinschius, Das Kirclirnrcclit, 
 Bd. ii. pp. 59, 124, 22S, 601; see also Eichter, ZeJirliuch des katholisJien u. Eoan- 
 gelischcn Kirchem-echts, ed. Dove, 1880, pp. 440 sqq. 
 
VIII.] 
 
 TJu Parish and the Cathedral. 207 
 
 into which a diocese came to be divided there was 
 a rural archpresbyter and a rural archdeacon ^*. The 
 latter, who had in the meantime ceased to be a 
 deacon, but who, preserving the ancient close con- 
 nexion between the bishop and the deacons, was in 
 a special sense the bishop's deputy, had precedence 
 over the rural archpresbyter, and a jurisdiction, at 
 first delegated and temporary, afterwards ordinary and 
 permanent, over a district in which several archpres- 
 byteries or ' rural deaneries ' were comprised '". 
 
 '' The division into dccaniae (later also arcliipreslyteratus, capitula ruralia) dates 
 from the middle of the ninth century and was the subject of formal enactments, viz. 
 KaroUII. Synod. ap. Tolas, a.d. 844, c. 3, Pertz, vol. i. 378; Hludowic. Conoen^. Tiein. 
 A.D. 850, c. 13, Pertz, vol. i. p. 399. Like the dioceses themselves, the deaneries 
 seem, at least in the Prankish domain, to have followed the political subdivisions : 
 see Sohm, Die altdmische Reichs- und Gerichts-verfassimg, Wiemar, 1871, Ed. i. p. 
 203. The division into arcAidiaconatus commenced in the tenth century but was 
 not completed until the twelfth (the documents in which Hadrian I is made to 
 confirm the subdivision of the diocese of Strasburg into archdeaconries in A.D. 774 
 are forgeries, Eettberg, Kirchengesch. Beutschlands, Bd. ii. pp. 69,611). Hinschius, 
 Bd. ii. p. 189, refers to Landau, Die Territorien in Bezvg auf iJire Bildung u. Ent- 
 vAckelung, Gotha, 1854, pp. 387 sqq., for evidence that the archdeaconries, like the 
 other ecclesiastical divisions, followed political lines. 
 
 '' The archdeacon sometimes took precedence of the archpresbyter in a cathe- 
 dral as well as in a diocese : e.g. at Brescia, X'ghelli, Italia Sacra, vol. iv. p. 521. 
 The capitular officers of provost and dean were held sometimes by the one and 
 sometimes by the other : e.g. the archdeacon was provo.9t in the later version of 
 the Ptule of Chrodegang (D'Aohery, Spicil. vol. i. p. 567), and at Liege, Treves, 
 Mayence, Eatisbon, and elsewhere : he was sometimes dean at Cologne (Ennea 
 u. Eekertz, i. 558, 598), and at Bayeux (Ordericus Vit. iii. 12) : an archpresbyter 
 was provost at Passau (Hansiz, Gtnnania Sacra, vol. i. CoroU. vii), but usually, 
 and at last always, dean (according to the canonists the jurisdiction of the modern 
 dean is wholly due to the fact that he is ex officio archpresbyter, Barbosa, De 
 Canrmicis, c. 4. 32, p. 43). The independent jurisdiction of the rural archdeacons 
 probably dates from the end of the twelfth century : in the course of the following 
 century their position had become so obnoxious to the bishops, upon whose juris- 
 diction they trespassed, as to lead to the appointment of other officers, officiates 
 principales, vicarii generales, to fill the place, which was once specially that of the 
 archdeacons, of the bishop's agents and intermediaries (see Hinschius, Ed. ii. pp. 
 195, sqq. ; Eichter, ed. Dove, p. 453). 
 
2o8 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 In this way it is that the organization which existed 
 in the Middle Ages, and which in its essential features 
 has remained to the present day in our own and other 
 Churches, is linked by direct historical continuity with 
 the organization of primitive times. The differences 
 between the two extremes of the series are great : but 
 they were the growth of a thousand years — the thousand 
 years of change and storm which elapsed between the 
 sixth century and the sixteenth. 
 
 And here the examination which I proposed at 
 starting comes to an end. 
 
 The main propositions in which the results of that 
 examination may be summed up are two — 
 
 ( 1 ) That the development of the organization of the 
 Christian Churches was gradual : 
 
 (2) That the elements of which that organization 
 were composed were already existing in human society. 
 
 These propositions are not new : they are so old as 
 to have been, in greater or less degree, accepted by all 
 ecclesiastical historians. For it is admitted by all such 
 historians that at least sotne of the features of the 
 complete organization did not exist in primitive times, 
 but have been since added. It is also admitted that 
 at least some of the elements of the organization are 
 found outside it, in previously existing institutions. 
 
 But in dealing with them I have arrived at and set 
 forth the view, in regard to the first of them, that the 
 development was slower than has sometimes been sup- 
 posed, and, in regard to the second, that not only some 
 but all the elements of the organization can be traced 
 
VIII.] The Parish atid the Cathedral. 209 
 
 to external sources. The difference between this view 
 and the common view is one of degree and not of kind. 
 The one no less than the other assumes the organ- 
 ization of the Church to be divine : but while the one 
 accounts for certain phenomena of ecclesiastical history 
 by a special and extraordinary action of the Holy Spirit, 
 the other is rather in harmony with the belief that God 
 acts in the realm of grace, as He acts in the realm of 
 nature, by the mediation of general and far-reaching 
 laws. It appears necessary to point out the existence 
 of this relation between the two views of which I have 
 spoken, because there is a confusion in the minds of 
 some persons between the /aci of divine operation and 
 the tnode of that operation, and a complete identification 
 of the fact with some particular mode, which causes 
 them to regard the questioning of that mode as equi- 
 valent to a questioning of the fact itself But although 
 it appears necessary to point this out, there is the less 
 reason for enlarging upon it, because few of those who 
 are here will have forgotten the subtle force with which 
 the great living Father of modern Oxford theology, 
 speaking in this place through the mouth of its great- 
 est preacher, exposed the similar confusion of thought 
 which exists in many minds in regard to the history 
 of the Creation. What the theologian says to the man 
 of science in regard to that Creation is, ' Nothing that 
 you have proved, or can prove, about the mode in which 
 God made the world, interferes with the truth that He 
 did make it :' and what the theologian says also to the 
 historian is, ' Nothing that you have shown, or can 
 show, about the mode in which the organization of the 
 
 p 
 
210 The Pai'ish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 Church was developed interferes with the truth that 
 God did organize it.' On the other hand, just as the 
 man of science may say in reply, ' I am ready to 
 allow that God made the world, but I claim the 
 right to show, if I can, from the records which the 
 world contains, how and in what order He made 
 it : ' so the historian may say, ' I am ready to allow 
 that the Church is of divine institution : but I claim 
 the right to show, if I can, from the facts of history, 
 how and in what order God instituted it.' In the one 
 case as in the other the appeal lies not to the opinions 
 of eminent persons, but to ascertained and ascertainable 
 facts. The divine plan must be inferred not a 'priori, 
 from a conception of what He was likely to do, but 
 a 'posteriori, from the investigation of what He has 
 actually done. And if the timid souls who tremble at 
 every fresh discovery of science, or at every newly- 
 ascertained fact of history, could rise to the larger faith 
 of earlier days, they would see in the close analogy 
 between the development of the Christian societies and 
 the development of the natural world, a corroboration of 
 the belief that the Author of the one is also the Author 
 of the other, and that the one no less than the other 
 belongs not to those things which are rapidly formed 
 and swiftly pass, but to that loftier sphere in which, 
 though the development is slow, the result is eternal. 
 
 But as, on the one hand, the view that the frame- 
 work of the Christian societies was slowly developed 
 out of existing elements, so far from being inconsistent 
 with, is rather confirmatory of, the belief in its divine 
 origin : so, on the other hand, it tends to diminish the 
 
viii.] The Parish and the Cathedral. 211 
 
 importance of some of the controversies which have 
 existed respecting it, and which have separated one 
 community of Christians from another. 
 
 On the hypothesis that the constitution of the 
 Christian societies was settled by the Apostles in their 
 lifetime, and that what was so settled was intended to 
 be the form of all Christian societies for all time to come, 
 different groups of Christians have at various times 
 separated themselves from the main body, and claimed, 
 in some cases not without reason, to be recurring to 
 a more primitive type. And those who have opposed 
 them, for the most part acceptiDg the same major pre- 
 miss, have endeavoured to show by arguments which 
 have sometimes been marked by more of enthusiasm 
 than of either logical force or historical probability, 
 that this or that institution is not new but old. 
 
 But if the ultimate verdict of those who are com- 
 petent to judge be in favour of the general view which 
 has been advanced in these Lectures, the contentions on 
 the one side and on the other, in regard to the minor 
 premisses of the argument, will be beside the point : 
 nothing will be really gained by showing that this or 
 that element of Church government is more primitive 
 than another : nothing will be really lost by the admis- 
 sion that this or that element in the great aggregate 
 of historical developments is later than another. That 
 for the preservation of which we have to contend is 
 not so much ancient form as historical continuity. 
 
 For in reality the preservation of ancient form is 
 impossible. We have received from our fathers the 
 splendid inheritance of a vast and complex civilization 
 
 p 2 
 
212 The Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 ■ — a mighty aggregate of beliefs and practices and insti- 
 tutions, which have grown with the world's growth, and 
 shaped themselves to the varying needs of successive 
 generations. It is given to each generation to revise 
 and reform the present ; but it is not given to it to 
 bring back the past. The web of history is being woven 
 in the loom of time. The shuttles of incident fly quick, 
 and each of them is irrevocable. We are not, and we 
 cannot be, what our fathers were. We differ from 
 them in ten thousand modes of thought, in ten 
 thousand features of social circumstance. The attempt 
 artificially to restore an ancient institution is futile 
 from the nature of the case, because even if restored 
 it stands alone, out of the relations which once gave 
 it a meaning and a power. In that great product of 
 the laws of God which we call human society, as in 
 that other great product of the laws of God which we 
 call the animal world, the succession of existence is not 
 the succession of identical organisms, but a continuity 
 of species, a unity of type. The type remains, but it em- 
 bodies itself in changing shapes : and herein the history 
 of the Christian Churches has been in harmony with all 
 else that we know of God's government of the world ; 
 the large variations of form in one age as compared 
 with another tend to show that the form was meant to 
 be elastic, and that the importance which has frequently 
 been attached to fixity of form has been exaggerated. 
 
 That there should be form of some kind is not only 
 inevitable but desirable : it may be admitted to the 
 full that the unity for which our Lord prayed is a 
 'unity of the Spirit,' a 'unity of the faith and of the 
 
VIII.] The Parish and the Cathedral. 213 
 
 knowledge of the Son of God/ rather than a unity of 
 organization : and yet it would appear as though, in 
 the divine economy which has made human nature 
 what it is, it were owing in no small degree to the fact 
 of its organization that Christianity fills the place which 
 it does fill in the history of the world. 
 
 But the fact of the necessity and desirability of form 
 is no proof of the necessity and desirability of this 
 or that particular form. Nor is the fact that a parti- 
 cular form was good for a particular age a proof that it 
 is also good for another age. The history of the organ- 
 ization of Christianity has been in reality the history 
 of successive readjustments of form to altered circum- 
 stances. Its power of readjustment has been at once 
 a mark of its divinity and a secret of its strength. 
 Nor, if we look at it merely in its human aspect, is 
 there any sublimer spectacle in all the vast landscape 
 of history than this Tree of God, striking its roots 
 deeper and deeper into the deep strata of human life, 
 changing from age to age the fashion of its branches, 
 and changing also the hue of its blossom, and assimilat- 
 ing to itself all the nurture which comes from the winds 
 of God that blow and from the dew of heaven that falls. 
 
 In the first ages of its history, while on the one hand 
 it was a great and living faith, so on the other hand it 
 was a vast and organized brotherhood. And, being 
 a brotherhood, it was a democracy: the 'multitude 
 which no man could number' stood before the throne 
 of God bound together in an equal union by the tie 
 of a common sonship, a common kingship, and a 
 common priesthood. 
 
2 14 ^■^^^ Parish and the Cathedral. [lect. 
 
 When the Eoman Empire fell, and the Western 
 World passed beneath the dominion of the vigorous 
 races who had no long past of organized administra- 
 tion upon which Christian administration could be 
 moulded, democracy gave way to monarchy. Democracy 
 was almost as impossible as it would be to entrust the 
 government of the mission communities of the South 
 Sea Islands to the new converts from Fetichism. 
 
 And now, at the close of the nineteenth century, the 
 Christian societies find themselves surrounded by new 
 conditions. There are new intellectual conditions, and 
 new social conditions. The question which presses for 
 answer, and which will not be evaded, is how much of 
 the form which grew out of, and was good for, earlier 
 and different circumstances, must be retained or 
 abandoned now. The contingency which has to be 
 faced is that the intellectual forces of the civilized 
 world may be arrayed against Christianity as once they 
 were in its favour : and that the social forces which 
 are dra\ving men into combination may draw them into 
 combinations in which Christianity will have no part. 
 For these contingencies the Church of Christ is pre- 
 pared. It survived Gnosticism, and it will survive 
 Agnosticism. It survived polytheism, and it will sur- 
 vive atheism. It survived the disruption of European 
 society when the Roman Empire fell to pieces, it will 
 survive the possible disruption of European society 
 when, if ever, labour wins its victory over capital, and 
 socialism over aristocracy. But the survival of the 
 Church of Christ — that is, of 'the whole congregation 
 of Christian people dispersed throughout the world ' — 
 
VIII.] The Parish and the Cathedral. 215 
 
 is not necessarily the survival of this or that existing 
 institution. After each of its earlier struggles there 
 was at least this mark of conflict, that there was a re- 
 adaptation of form. The supremacy of the episcopate 
 was the result of the struggle with Gnosticism, the 
 centralization of ecclesiastical government was the out- 
 come of the breaking up of the Empire. And if the 
 secret of the past be the key to the future, the institu- 
 tions of Christianity are destined in the providence 
 of God, in the days that are to come, to shape them- 
 selves in new forms to meet the new needs of men. To 
 the general character of those forms many indications 
 point. It would seem as though, in that vast secular 
 revolution which is accomplishing itself, all organiza- 
 tions, whether ecclesiastical or civil, must be, as the early 
 Churches were, more or less democratical : and the most 
 significant fact of modern Christian history is that, 
 within the last hundred years, many millions of our 
 own race and our own Church, without departing from 
 the ancient faith, have slipped from beneath the inelastic 
 framework of the ancient organization, and formed a 
 group of new societies on the basis of a closer Christian 
 brotherhood and an almost absolute democracy. 
 
 But, whatever be the form in which they are destined 
 to be shaped, the work which the Christian societies, 
 as societies, have to do, in the days that are to come, 
 is not inferior to any work which has lain before them 
 at any epoch of their history. For the air is charged 
 with thunder, and the times that are coming may be 
 times of storm. There are phenomena beneath the 
 surface of society of which it would be hardly possible 
 
2i6 The Parish a?id the Cathedral. 
 
 to overrate the significance. There is a widening sepa- 
 ration of class from class : there is a growing social 
 strain : there is a disturbance of the political equi- 
 librium : there is the rise of an educated proletariat. 
 To the problems which these phenomena suggest 
 Christianity has the key. Its unaccomplished mission 
 is to reconstruct society on the basis of brotherhood. 
 What it has to do it does, and will do, in and through 
 organization. At once profoundly individual and pro- 
 foundly socialistic, its tendency to association is not so 
 much an incident of its history as an essential element 
 of its character. It spiritualizes that ineradicable in- 
 stinct which draws man to man and makes society not 
 a convention but a necessity. But the framing of its 
 organization is left to human hands. To you and me 
 and men like ourselves is committed, in these anxious 
 days, that which is at once an awful responsibility and 
 a splendid destiny — to transform this modern world 
 into a Christian society, to change the socialism which 
 is based on the assumption of clashing interests into 
 the socialism which is based on the sense of spiritual 
 union, and to gather together the scattered forces of 
 a divided Christendom into a confederation in which 
 organization wUl be of less account than fellowship 
 with one Spirit and faith in one Lord — into a com- 
 munion wide as human life and deep as human need — 
 into a Church which shall outshine even the golden 
 glory of its dawn by the splendour of its eternal noon. 
 
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