ew policy was
inaugurated. According to this writer there was, with the exception of
the occupant of the episcopal chair of Alexandria, "no bishop in the
provinces of Egypt" before Demetrius. [520:4] As Demetrius became bishop
of Alexandria about A.D. 190, Christianity must have now made extensive
progress in the country; [520:5] for it had been planted there perhaps
one hundred and fifty years before; but it would seem that meanwhile,
with the one exception, the Churches still remained under presbyterial
government. Demetrius was a prelate of great influence and energy; and,
during his long episcopate of forty-three years, [521:1] he succeeded in
spreading all over the land the system of which he had been at one time
the only representative.

It is not, indeed, to be supposed that the whole Church, prompted by a
sudden and simultaneous impulse, agreed, all at once, to change its
ecclesiastical arrangements. Another polity, as has already been
intimated, at first made its appearance in places of commanding
influence; and its advocates now, no doubt, most assiduously endeavoured
to recommend its claims by appealing to the fruits of experience. The
Church of Rome, as will subsequently appear, took the lead in setting up
a mitigated form of prelacy; the Churches of Antioch and Alexandria
followed; and, soon afterwards, other Christian communities of note
adopted the example. That this subject may be fairly understood, a few
chapters must now be employed in tracing the rise and progress of the
hierarchy.

CHAPTER VI.

THE RISE OF THE HIERARCHY CONNECTED WITH THE SPREAD OF HERESIES.

Eusebius, already so often quoted, and known so widely as the author of
the earliest Church history, flourished in the former half of the fourth
century. This distinguished father was a spectator of the most wonderful
revolution recorded in the annals of the world. He had seen Christianity
proscribed, and its noblest champions cut down by a brutal martyrdom;
and he had lived to see a convert to the faith seated on the throne of
the Caesars, and ministers of the Church basking in the sunshine of
Imperial bounty. He was himself a special favourite with Constantine; as
bishop of Caesarea, the chief city of Palestine, he had often access to
the presence of his sovereign; and in a work which is still extant,
professing to be a Life of the Emperor, he has well-nigh exhausted the
language of eulogy in his attempts to magnify the virtues o