unity of the Church was the great principle which the Catholic
system sought to realise. "The Church," says Cyprian, "which is catholic
and one, is not separated or divided, but is in truth connected and
joined together by the cement of bishops mutually cleaving to each
other." [562:2]

The funds of the Church were placed very early in the hands of the
president of the eldership, [563:1] and though they may not have been at
his absolute disposal, he, no doubt, soon found means of sustaining his
authority by means of his monetary influence. But the power which he
possessed, as the recognized centre of ecclesiastical unity, to prevent
any of his elders or deacons from performing any official act of which
he disapproved, constituted one of the essential features of the
Catholic system. "The right to administer baptism," says Tertullian,
"belongs to the chief priest, that is, the bishop: then to the
presbyters and the deacons, [563:2] yet not without the authority of the
bishop, _for the honour of the Church_, which being preserved, peace is
preserved." [563:3] Here, the origin of Catholicism is pretty distinctly
indicated; for the prerogatives of the bishop are described, not as
matters of divine right, but of ecclesiastical arrangement. [563:4] They
were given to him "for the honour of the Church," that peace might be
preserved when heretics began to cause divisions.

Though the bishop could give permission to others to celebrate divine
ordinances, he was himself their chief administrator. He was generally
the only preacher; he usually dispensed baptism; [563:5] and he presided
at the observance of the Eucharist. At Rome, where the Catholic system
was maintained most scrupulously, his presence seems to have been
considered necessary to the due consecration of the elements. Hence, at
one time, the sacramental symbols were carried from the cathedral church
to all the places of Christian worship throughout the city. [564:1] With
such minute care did the Roman chief pastor endeavour to disseminate the
doctrine that whoever was not in communion with the bishop was out of
the Church.

The establishment of a close connexion, between certain large Christian
associations and the smaller societies around them, constituted the next
link in the organization of the Catholic system. These communities,
being generally related as mother and daughter churches, were already
prepared to adapt themselves to the new type of ecclesiastical p