ry. [512:1] It would appear from it that there were more bishops
in Jerusalem in the second century than there have been Archbishops of
Canterbury for the last four hundred years! [512:2] Such facts
demonstrate that those who then stood at the head of the mother Church
of Christendom, must have reached their position by means of some order
of succession very different from that which is now established. Hilary
furnishes at once a simple and an adequate explanation. The senior
minister was the president, or bishop; and as, when placed in the
episcopal chair, he had already reached old age, it was not to be
expected that he could long retain a situation which required some
exertion and involved much anxiety. Hence the startling amount of
episcopal mortality.

As the Church of Jerusalem may be said to have been founded by our Lord
himself, it could lay claim to a higher antiquity than any other
Christian community in existence; and it long continued to be regarded
by the disciples all over the Empire with peculiar interest and
veneration. [512:3] When re-established about the close of the reign of
Hadrian, it was properly a new society; but it still enjoyed the
prestige of ancient associations. Its history has, therefore, been
investigated by Eusebius with special care; he tells us that he derived
a portion of his information from its own archives; [512:4] and, though
he enters into details respecting very few of the early Churches, he
notices it with unusual frequency, and gives an accredited list of the
names of its successive chief pastors. [513:1] About this period it was
obviously considered a model which other Christian societies of less
note might very safely imitate. It is, therefore, all the more important
if we are able to ascertain its constitution, as we are thus prepared to
speak with a measure of confidence respecting the form of ecclesiastical
government which prevailed throughout the second century. The facts
already stated, when coupled with the positive affirmation of the Roman
Hilary, place the solution of the question, as nearly as possible, upon
the basis of demonstration; for, if we reject the conclusion that,
during a hundred years after the death of the Apostle John, the senior
member of the presbytery of Jerusalem was the president or moderator, we
may in vain attempt to explain, upon any Round statistical principles,
how so many bishops passed away in succession within so limited periods,
and how,