eforward put out of
sight, the priests affirmed that it was conveyed by means of the forms
they had themselves invented, and that no one could obtain it but by
these channels.... The doctrine of the church and the necessity of its
visible unity, which had begun to gain ground in the _third century_,
favored the pretensions of Rome." D'Aubigne's History of the
Reformation, Book I, Chap. 1.

"At the end of the third century almost half the inhabitants of the
Roman empire, and of several neighboring countries, professed the faith
of Christ. About this time endeavors to preserve a unity of belief, and
of church discipline, occasioned numberless disputes among those of
different opinions, and led to the establishment of an ecclesiastical
tyranny." Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge.

Concerning the Roman diocese, the Encyclopaedia Britannica says, "Before
the termination of the third century the office was held to be of such
importance that its succession was a matter of interest to ecclesiastics
living in distant sees." Vol. XIX, p. 488.

"Almost proportionate with the extension of Christianity was the
decrease in the church of vital piety. A philosophizing spirit among the
higher, and a wild monkish superstition among the lower orders, fast
took the place in the third century of the faith and humility of the
first Christians. Many of the clergy became very corrupt, and
excessively ambitious. In consequence of this there was an awful
defection of Christianity." Marsh's Church History, p. 185.

"We have found it almost necessary to separate, and indeed widely to
distinguish the events of the two first, from those of the third
century, for nearly at this point we are disposed to place the FIRST
CRISIS in the internal history of the church." Waddington's Church
History.

"This season of external prosperity was improved by the ministers of the
church for the exertion of new claims, and the assumption of powers with
which they had not been previously invested. At first these claims were
modestly urged, and gradually allowed; but they laid a foundation for
the encroachments which were afterwards made upon the rights of the
whole Christian community, and for lofty pretensions to the right of
supremacy and spiritual dominion.... Several alterations in the form of
church government appear to have been introduced during the third
century. Some degree of pomp was thought necessary.... The external
dignity of the ministers of r