cause of religion, gained, by degrees, the ascendency; CENT. II. and, in consequence thereof, laws were enacted, which excluded the ignorant and illiterate from the office of public teachers. The opposite side of the question was not, however, without defenders, whose number the defects and vices of learned men and philosophers contributed much to increase, as will appear in the progress of this history.

CHAPTER II.

Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the Church, and the
Form of its Government.

of church

I. THE form of ecclesiastical government, whose The form commencement we have seen in the last century, was government. brought in this to a greater degree of stability and consistence. One inspector, or bishop, presided over each Christian assembly, to which office he was elected by the voices of the whole people. In this post he was to be watchful and provident, attentive to the wants of the church, and careful to supply them. To assist him in this laborious province, he formed a council of presbyters, which was not confined to any fixed number; and to each of these he distributed his task, and appointed a station, in which he was to promote the interests of the church. To the bishops and presbyters, the ministers or deacons were subject ; and the latter were divided into a variety of classes, as the state of the church required.

vincial

II. During a great part of this century, the Chris- Association tian churches were independent with respect to each of the proother; nor were they joined by association, confe-churches. deracy, or any other bonds than those of charity. Each Christian assembly was a little state, governed by its own laws, which were either enacted, or, at least, approved by the society. But, in process of time, all the Christian churches of a province were

+

CENT. 11. formed into one large ecclesiastical body, which, like confederate states, assembled at certain times, in order to deliberate about the common interests of the whole. This institution had its origin among the Greeks, with whom nothing was more common than this confederacy of independent states, and the regular assemblies which met, in consequence thereof, at fixed times, and were composed of the deputies of each respective state. But these ecclesiastical associations were not long confined to the Greeks; their great utility was no sooner perceived, than they became universal, and were formed in all places where the Gospel had been planted o. To these assemblies, in which the deputies or commissioners of several churches consulted together, the name of synod was appropriated by the Greeks, and that of council by the Latins; and the laws enacted in these general meetings were called canons, i. e. rules.

Origin of councils.

these coun

cils.

The authoIII. These councils, of which we find not the rity of the bishops aug- smallest trace before the middle of this century, mented by changed the whole face of the church, and gave it a new form; for by them the ancient privileges of the people were considerably diminished, and the power and authority of the bishops greatly augmented. The humility, indeed, and prudence of these pious prelates prevented their assuming all at once the power with which they were afterwards invested. At their first appearance in these general councils, they acknowleged that they were no more than the delegates of their respective churches, and that they acted in the name, and by the appointinent of their people. But they soon changed this humble tone, imperceptibly extended the limits of their authority, turned their influence into dominion, and their coun sels into laws; and openly asserted, at length, that Christ had empowered them to prescribe to his people authoritative rules of faith and manners. Another effect of these councils was, the gradual

Tertullian, Lib. de Jejuniis, cap. xiii. p. 711.

abolition of that perfect equality, which reigned among CENT. II. all bishops in the primitive times. For the order and decency of these assemblies required, that some one of the provincial bishops, meeting in council, should be invested with a superior degree of power and authority; and hence the rights of Metropolitans Metropoliderive their origin. In the mean time, the bounds of tans. the church were enlarged; the custom of holding councils was followed wherever the sound of the Gospel had reached; and the universal church had now the appearance of one vast republic, formed by a combination of a great number of little states. This occasioned the creation of a new order of ecclesiastics, who were appointed, in different parts of the world, as heads of the church, and whose office it was to preserve the consistence and union of that immense body, whose members were so widely dispersed throughout the nations. Such were the nature and office of the patriarchs, among whom, at length, ambition, having reached its most insolent period, formed a new dignity, investing the bishop of Rome, and his successors, with the title and authority of prince of the patriarchs.

parallel

Christian

IV. The Christian doctors had the good fortune An artful to persuade the people, that the ministers of the drawn beChristian church succeeded to the character, rights, tween the and privileges, of the Jewish priesthood; and this and the persuasion was a new source both of honors and Jewish priesthood. profit to the sacred order. This notion was propagated with industry some time after the reign of Adrian, when the second destruction of Jerusalem had extinguished among the Jews all hopes of seeing their government restored to its former lustre, and their country arising out of ruins. And, accordingly, the bishops considered themselves as invested with a rank and character similar to those of the high-priest among the Jews, while the presbyters represented the priests, and the deacons the Levites. It is, indeed, highly probable, that they, who first introduced this absurd comparison of offices, so entirely distinct, did

CENT. II. it rather through ignorance and error, than through artifice or design. The notion, however, once enter-, tained, produced its natural effects; and these effects were pernicious. The errors to which it gave rise were many; and we may justly consider, as one of its immediate consequences, the establishment of a greater difference between the Christian pastors and theirflock, than the genius of the Gospel seems to admit. V. From the government of the church, let us turn our eyes to those who maintained its cause by their learned and judicious writings. Among these great piety and considerable learning, who, from a pagan philosopher, became a Christian martyr. He had frequented all the different sects of philosophy in an ardent and impartial pursuit of truth; and finding, neither among

The principal writers.

we may mention Justin, a man of Among these

Stoics nor PCs, neither in the Pythagorean

nor Platonic schools, any satisfactory account of the perfections of the Supreme Being, and the nature and destination of the human soul, he embraced Christianity on account of the light which it cast upon these interesting subjects, We have yet remaining his two Apologies in behalf of the Christians, which are highly esteemed, as they deserve to be, although, in some passages of them, he shews himself an incautious disputant, and betrays a want of acquaintance with ancient history

beg

Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, a Greek, by birth, and probably born of Christian parents, a disciple also of Polycarp, by whom he was sent to preach the Gospel among the Gauls, is another of the writers of this century, whose labors were remarkably useful to the church. He turned his pen against its internal and domestic enemies, by attacking the monstrous errors which had been adopted by many of the primitive Christians, as appears by his five Books against Heresies, which are yet preserved in a Latin translation P, and are considered as one of the most precious monuments of ancient erudition.

The first book is yet extant in the original Greek;

Athenagoras also deserves a place among the CENT. . estimable writers of this age. He was a philosopher of no mean reputation; and his apology for the Christians, and his treatise upon the Resurrection, afford striking proofs of his learning and genius.

The works of Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, are more remarkable for their erudition, than for their order and method; this, at least, is true of his three Books in Defence of Christianity, addressed to Autolycus". But the most illustrious writer of this century, and the most justly renowned for his various erudition, and his perfect acquaintance with the ancient sages, was Clemens, the disciple of Pantænus, and the head of the Alexandrian school, destined for the instruction of the catechumens. His Stromata, Pedagogue, and Exhortation, addressed to the Greeks, which are yet extant, abundantly shew the extent of his learning and the force of his genius, though he is neither to be admired for the precision of his ideas, nor for the perspicuity of his style. It is also to be lamented, that his excessive attachment to the reigning philosophy led him into a variety of pernicious errors.

Hitherto we have made no mention of the Latin writers, who employed their pens in the Christian cause. And, indeed, the only one of any note we find in this century, is Tertullian, by birth a Carthaginian, who, having first embraced the profession of the law, became afterwards a presbyter, and concluded by adopting the heretical visions of Montanus.

of the rest, we have only a Latin version, through the barbarity of which, though excessive, it is easy to discern the eloquence and erudition that reign throughout the original. See Hist. Literaire de la France.

Theophilus was the author of several works, beside those mentioned by Dr. Mosheim, particularly of a commentary upon the Proverbs, another upon the Four Evangelists, and of some short and pathetic discourses, which he published from time to time for the use of his flock. He also wrote against Marcion and Hermogenes, and, in refuting the errors of these heretics, he quotes several passages of the Revelations.