ay have been
instances in which a stated president was chosen, and yet it is
remarkable that not even one such case can be clearly established by the
evidence of contemporary documents. When all the other apostles departed
from Jerusalem, James appears to have remained in the holy city, so that
we may reasonably presume he always acted, when present, as chairman of
the mother presbytery; and accordingly, the writers of succeeding ages
have described him as the first bishop of the Jewish metropolis; but so
little consequence was originally attached to the office of moderator,
[505:2] that, in as far as the New Testament is concerned, the situation
held by this distinguished man can be inferred only from some very
obscure and doubtful intimations. [505:3] In Rome, and elsewhere, the
primitive elders at first, perhaps, filled the chair alternately. Hence
the so-called episcopal succession is most uncertain and confused at the
very time when it should be sustained by evidence the most decisive and
perspicuous. The lists of bishops, commencing with the ministry of the
apostles, and extending over the latter half of the first century, are
little better than a mass of contradictions. The compilers seem to have
set down, almost at random, the names of some distinguished men whom
they found connected with the different churches, and thus the
discrepancies are nearly as numerous as the catalogues. [506:1]

But when Clement dictated the Epistle to the Corinthians most of the
elders, ordained by the apostles or evangelists about the middle of the
first century, must have finished their career; and there is little
reason to doubt that this eminent minister was then the father of the
Roman presbytery. The superscription of the letter to the Philippians
supplies direct proof that, at the time when it was written, Polycarp
likewise stood at the head of the presbytery of Smyrna. [506:2] Other
circumstances indicate that the senior presbyter now began to be
regarded as the stated president of the eldership. Hilary, one of the
best commentators of the ancient Church, [506:3] bears explicit
testimony to the existence of such an arrangement. "At first," says he,
"presbyters were called bishops, so that when the one (who was called
bishop) passed away, the next in order took his place." [507:1] "Though
every bishop is a presbyter, every presbyter is not a bishop, for he is
bishop who is first among the presbyters." [507:2] As soon as the
reg