astique_, tom. ii. part ii. p. 40. It would appear
from Eusebius (iii. 32), that at the time of the death of Simeon there
were still living a number of very old persons who were relatives of our
Lord. Some of these were, probably, elders in the Church of Jerusalem.

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

[511:2] Euseb. v. 12.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[514:4] Irenaeus, iii. 3.

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

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

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

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

[516:1] Bingham, i. 201.

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

[516:3] Bin