or had been
literally just, and as if the shepherd had been of a more exalted nature
than that of his sheep. [118] This obedience, however, was not imposed
without some efforts on one side, and some resistance on the other. The
democratical part of the constitution was, in many places, very warmly
supported by the zealous or interested opposition of the inferior
clergy. But their patriotism received the ignominious epithets of
faction and schism; and the episcopal cause was indebted for its rapid
progress to the labors of many active prelates, who, like Cyprian of
Carthage, could reconcile the arts of the most ambitious statesman with
the Christian virtues which seem adapted to the character of a saint and
martyr. [119]

[Footnote 117: Cyprian, in his admired treatise De Unitate Ecclesiae. p.
75--86]

[Footnote 118: We may appeal to the whole tenor of Cyprian's conduct, of
his doctrine, and of his epistles. Le Clerc, in a short life of Cyprian,
(Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xii. p. 207--378,) has laid him open
with great freedom and accuracy.]

[Footnote 119: If Novatus, Felicissimus, &c., whom the Bishop of
Carthage expelled from his church, and from Africa, were not the most
detestable monsters of wickedness, the zeal of Cyprian must occasionally
have prevailed over his veracity. For a very just account of these
obscure quarrels, see Mosheim, p. 497--512.]

The same causes which at first had destroyed the equality of the
presbyters introduced among the bishops a preeminence of rank, and from
thence a superiority of jurisdiction. As often as in the spring and
autumn they met in provincial synod, the difference of personal merit
and reputation was very sensibly felt among the members of the assembly,
and the multitude was governed by the wisdom and eloquence of the few.
But the order of public proceedings required a more regular and less
invidious distinction; the office of perpetual presidents in the
councils of each province was conferred on the bishops of the principal
city; and these aspiring prelates, who soon acquired the lofty titles of
Metropolitans and Primates, secretly prepared themselves to usurp over
their episcopal brethren the same authority which the bishops had so
lately assumed above the college of presbyters. [120] Nor was it long
before an emulation of preeminence and power prevailed among the
Metropolitans themselves, each of them affecting to display, in the most
pompous terms, the temporal