implied; whilst the more vigorous, sanguine, and aspiring, would hail an
arrangement which promised at no distant day to place one of themselves
in a position of greatly increased dignity and influence. Whilst all
were agreed that the times demanded the appointment of the ablest member
of presbytery as moderator, none, perhaps, foresaw the danger of adding
permanently to the prerogatives of so potent a chairman. It was never
anticipated that the day would come when the new law would be regarded
as any other than a human contrivance; and when the bishops and their
adherents would contend that the presbyters, under no circumstances
whatever, had a right to reassume that power which they now surrendered.
The result, however, has demonstrated the folly of human wisdom. The
prelates, who were originally set up to save the Church from heresy,
became themselves at length the abetters of false doctrine; and whilst
they thus grievously abused the influence with which they were
entrusted, they had the temerity to maintain that they still continued
to be exclusively the fountains of spiritual authority.

It is not to be supposed that prelacy was set up at once in the
plenitude of its power. Neither is it to be imagined that the system was
simultaneously adopted by Christians all over the world. Jerome informs
us that it was established "by little and little;" [559:1] and he thus
apparently refers, as well to its gradual spread, as to the almost
imperceptible growth of its pretensions. We have shewn, in a preceding
chapter, [560:1] that in various cities, such as Smyrna, Caesarea, and
Jerusalem, the senior presbyter continued to be the president until
about the close of the second century; and there the Church seems to
have been meanwhile governed by "the common council of the presbyters."
[560:2] Evidence can be adduced to prove that, in many places, even at a
much later period, the episcopal system was still unknown. [560:3] But
its advocates were active and influential, and they continued to make
steady progress. The consolidation of the Catholic system contributed
vastly to its advancement. The leading features of this system must now
be illustrated.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CATHOLIC SYSTEM.

The word _catholic_, which signifies universal or general, came into use
towards the end of the second century. Its introduction indicates a new
phase in the history of the ecclesiastical community. For upwards of a
hundred years