ccident;
for each of his brethren in the same position, all over the Church, was
called "father" [508:3] on the ground of his seniority. The official
title "_Pope_," which has the same meaning, had also the same origin. It
was given at first to every president of the eldership, because he was,
in point of fact, the father, or senior member, of the judicatory. It
soon, no doubt, ceased to convey this meaning, but it still remained as
a memorial of the primitive regimen.

II. It is a remarkable fact that, in none of the great sees before the
close of the second century, do we find any trace of the existence of a
young, or even of a middle-aged bishop. When Ignatius of Antioch was
martyred, he was verging on fourscore; Polycarp of Smyrna finished his
career at the age of eighty-six; Pothinus of Lyons fell a victim to
persecution when he was upwards of ninety; [509:1] Narcissus of
Jerusalem must have been at least that age when he was first placed in
the presidential chair; [509:2] one of his predecessors, named Justus,
appears to have been about one hundred and ten when he reached the same
dignity; [509:3] and Simeon of Jerusalem died when he had nearly
completed the patriarchal age of one hundred and twenty. As an
individual might become a member of the presbytery when comparatively
young, [509:4] such extraordinary longevity among the bishops of the
second century can be best explained by accepting the testimony of
Hilary.

III. The number of bishops now found within a short period in the same
see has long presented a difficulty to many students of ecclesiastical
history. Thus, at Rome in the first forty years of the second century
there were five or six bishops, [509:5] and yet only one of them
suffered martyrdom. Within twelve or fifteen years after the death of
Polycarp, there were several bishops in Smyrna. [510:1] But the Church
of Jerusalem furnishes the most wonderful example of this quick
succession of episcopal dignitaries. Simeon, one of the relatives of our
Lord, is reported to have become the presiding pastor after the
destruction of the city by Titus, and to have been martyred about the
close of the reign of Trajan, or in A.D. 116; and yet, according to the
testimony of Eusebius, [510:2] no less than _thirteen bishops_ in
succession occupied his place before the end of the year A.D. 134. He
must have been set at the head of the Church when he was above
threescore and ten; [510:3] and dying, as already stat