h
communion. [552:1] Its account of the early popes is little better than
a mass of fables; but some of its details are evidently exaggerations,
or rather caricatures, of an authentic tradition; and a few grains of
truth may be discovered here and there in a heap of fictions and
anachronisms. This part of the production contains one brief sentence
which has greatly puzzled the commentators, [552:2] as it is strangely
out of keeping with the general spirit of the narrative, and as it
contradicts, rather awkwardly, the pretensions of the popedom. According
to this testimony, Hyginus "ARRANGED THE CLERGY AND DISTRIBUTED THE
GRADATIONS." [552:3] Peter himself is described by Romanists as
organizing the Church; but here, one of his alleged successors, upwards
of seventy years after his death, is set forth as the real framer of the
hierarchy. [553:1] The facts already adduced prove that this obscure
announcement rests upon a sound historical foundation, and that it
vaguely indicates the alterations now introduced into the ecclesiastical
constitution. If Hilary and Jerome be employed as its interpreters, the
truth may be easily eliminated. At a synod held in Rome, Hyginus brought
under the notice of the meeting the confusion and scandal created by the
movements of the errorists; and, with a view to correct these disorders,
the council agreed to invest the moderator of each presbytery with
increased authority, to give him a discretionary power as the general
superintendent of the Church, and to require the other elders, as well
as the deacons, to act under his advice and direction. A new functionary
was thus established, and, under the old name of _bishop_ or _overseer_,
a third order was virtually added to the ecclesiastical brotherhood.
Hence Hyginus, who, no doubt, took a prominent part in the deliberations
of the convocation, is said to have "arranged the clergy and distributed
the gradations."

The change in the ecclesiastical polity which now occurred led to
results equally extensive and permanent, and yet it has been but
indistinctly noticed by the writers of antiquity. Nor is it so strange
that we have no contemporary account of this ecclesiastical revolution.
The history of other occurrences and innovations is buried in profound
obscurity. We can only ascertain by inference what were the reasons
which led to the general adoption of the sign of the cross, to the use
of the chrism in baptism, to standing at the Lord's Su