ng
eleven laid hands_, and blessed him and created him patriarch."--_See
the original passage in Selden's Works_, ii. c. 421, 422; London, 1726.
This passage furnishes a remarkable confirmation of the testimony of
Jerome as to the fact that the Alexandrian presbyters originally made
their bishops, but it is probably not very accurate as to the details.
As to the laying on of hands it is not supported by Jerome.

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

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

[583:2] "Saluta _omne collegium fratrum_, qui tecum sunt in Domino."

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

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

[584:1] Euseb. v. 24.

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