ove
the humble appellation of Presbyter; and while the latter remained the
most natural distinction for the members of every Christian senate, the
former was appropriated to the dignity of its new president. [109] The
advantages of this episcopal form of government, which appears to
have been introduced before the end of the first century, [110] were
so obvious, and so important for the future greatness, as well as the
present peace, of Christianity, that it was adopted without delay by all
the societies which were already scattered over the empire, had acquired
in a very early period the sanction of antiquity, [111] and is still
revered by the most powerful churches, both of the East and of the West,
as a primitive and even as a divine establishment. [112] It is needless
to observe, that the pious and humble presbyters, who were first
dignified with the episcopal title, could not possess, and would
probably have rejected, the power and pomp which now encircles the
tiara of the Roman pontiff, or the mitre of a German prelate. But we
may define, in a few words, the narrow limits of their original
jurisdiction, which was chiefly of a spiritual, though in some instances
of a temporal nature. [113] It consisted in the administration of
the sacraments and discipline of the church, the superintendency of
religious ceremonies, which imperceptibly increased in number and
variety, the consecration of ecclesiastical ministers, to whom the
bishop assigned their respective functions, the management of the public
fund, and the determination of all such differences as the faithful were
unwilling to expose before the tribunal of an idolatrous judge. These
powers, during a short period, were exercised according to the advice
of the presbyteral college, and with the consent and approbation of the
assembly of Christians. The primitive bishops were considered only as
the first of their equals, and the honorable servants of a free people.
Whenever the episcopal chair became vacant by death, a new president was
chosen among the presbyters by the suffrages of the whole congregation,
every member of which supposed himself invested with a sacred and
sacerdotal character. [114]

[Footnote 109: See Jerome and Titum, c. i. and Epistol. 85, (in the
Benedictine edition, 101,) and the elaborate apology of Blondel, pro
sententia Hieronymi. The ancient state, as it is described by Jerome, of
the bishop and presbyters of Alexandria, receives a remarkab