s the episcopal authority
alone which was derived from the Deity, and extended itself over this
and over another world. The bishops were the vicegerents of Christ,
the successors of the apostles, and the mystic substitutes of the high
priest of the Mosaic law. Their exclusive privilege of conferring
the sacerdotal character, invaded the freedom both of clerical and of
popular elections; and if, in the administration of the church, they
still consulted the judgment of the presbyters, or the inclination of
the people, they most carefully inculcated the merit of such a voluntary
condescension. The bishops acknowledged the supreme authority which
resided in the assembly of their brethren; but in the government of his
peculiar diocese, each of them exacted from his flock the same implicit
obedience as if that favorite metaphor had been literally just, and
as if the shepherd had been of a more exalted nature than that of his
sheep. 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.

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. Nor was it long before
an e