the solemn assembly. His brother
elders contributed in various ways to assist him in the supervision of
the flock; but its prosperity greatly depended on his own zeal, piety,
prudence, and ability. Known at first as _the president_, and afterwards
distinguished by the title of _the bishop_, he occupied very much the
same position as the minister of a modern parish.

Where a congregation had more than one preaching elder, the case was
different. There, several individuals were in the habit of addressing
the auditory, [500:1] and it was the duty of the president to preserve
order; to interpose, perhaps, by occasional suggestions; and to close
the exercise. When several congregations with a plurality of preaching
elders existed in the same city, the whole were affiliated; and a
president, acknowledged by them all, superintended their united
movements.

It must be admitted that much obscurity hangs over the general condition
of the Christian commonwealth in the first half of the second century;
but it so happens that two authentic and valuable documents which still
remain, one of which was written about the beginning and the other about
the close of this period, throw much light upon the question of Church
government. These documents are the "Epistle of Clement to the
Corinthians," and the "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians." As to
the matters respecting which they bear testimony, we could not desire
more competent witnesses than the authors of these two letters. The one
lived in the West; the other, in the East. Clement, who is mentioned by
the Apostle Paul, [500:2] was a presbyter of the Church of Rome;
Polycarp, who, in his youth, had conversed with the Apostle John, was a
presbyter of the Church of Smyrna. Clement died about the close of the
first century, and his letter to the Corinthians was written three or
four years before, that is, immediately after the Domitian persecution;
Polycarp survived until a somewhat advanced period of the second
century, and his letter to the Philippians was probably written fifty or
sixty years after the date of the Epistle of Clement. [500:3]

Towards the termination of the first century a spirit of discord
disturbed the Church of Corinth; and the Church of Rome, anxious to
restore peace, addressed a fraternal letter to the distracted community.
The Epistle was drawn up by Clement, who was then the leading minister
of the Italian capital; but, as it is written in the name of th