he happened to preside would have
possessed no special value. But it was otherwise in the days of this
pastor of Lyons. The bishop was generally one of the oldest members of
the community with which he was connected, and had been longer
conversant with its ecclesiastical affairs than any other minister. His
testimony to its traditions was, therefore, of the highest importance.
In a few of the great Churches, as we have elsewhere shewn, [515:1] the
senior elder now no longer succeeded, as a matter of course, to the
episcopate; but age continued to be universally regarded as an
indispensable qualification for the office, [515:2] and, when Irenaeus
wrote, the law of seniority appears to have been still generally
maintained. It was, therefore, with marked propriety that he appealed to
the evidence of the bishops; as they, from their position, were most
competent to expose the falsehood of the fables of Gnosticism.

V. It is well known that, in some of the most ancient councils of which
we have any record, the senior bishop officiated as moderator [515:3]
and, long after age had ceased to determine the succession to the
episcopal chair, the recognition of its claims, under various forms, may
be traced in ecclesiastical history. In Spain, so late as the fourth
century, the senior chief pastor acted as president when the bishops and
presbyters assembled for deliberation [515:4] In Africa the same rule
was observed until the Church of that country was overwhelmed by the
northern barbarians. In Mauritania and Numidia, even in the fifth
century, the senior bishop of the province, whoever he might be, was
acknowledged as metropolitan. [516:1] In the usages of a still later age
we may discover vestiges of the ancient regulation, for the bishops sat,
in the order of their seniority, in the provincial synods. [516:2] Still
farther, where the bishop of the chief city of the province was the
stated metropolitan, the ecclesiastical law still retained remembrancers
of the primitive polity; as, when this dignitary died, the senior bishop
of the district performed his functions until a successor was regularly
appointed. [516:3]

Though the senior presbyter presided in the meetings of his brethren,
and was soon known by the name of bishop, it does not appear that he
originally possessed any superior authority. He held his place for life,
but as he was sinking under the weight of years when he succeeded to it,
he could not venture to antici