f the
community. (Ep. 68,) that election was far from being altogether free.
The bishop proposed to his parishioners the candidate whom he had
chosen, and they were permitted to make such objections as might be
suggested by his conduct and morals. (St. Cyprian, Ep. 33.) They lost
this last right towards the middle of the fourth century.--G]

[Footnote 89: Incredibilis multitudo, non solum ex eo oppido, (Tours,)
sed etiam ex vicinis urbibus ad suffragia ferenda convenerat, &c.
Sulpicius Severus, in Vit. Martin. c. 7. The council of Laodicea, (canon
xiii.) prohibits mobs and tumults; and Justinian confines confined the
right of election to the nobility. Novel. cxxiii. l.]

[Footnote 90: The epistles of Sidonius Apollinaris (iv. 25, vii. 5, 9)
exhibit some of the scandals of the Gallican church; and Gaul was less
polished and less corrupt than the East.]

[Footnote 91: A compromise was sometimes introduced by law or by
consent; either the bishops or the people chose one of the three
candidates who had been named by the other party.]

[Footnote 92: All the examples quoted by Thomassin (Discipline de
l'Eglise, tom. ii. l. iii. c. vi. p. 704-714) appear to be extraordinary
acts of power, and even of oppression. The confirmation of the bishop of
Alexandria is mentioned by Philostorgius as a more regular proceeding.
(Hist Eccles. l. ii. ll.) * Note: The statement of Planck is more
consistent with history: "From the middle of the fourth century, the
bishops of some of the larger churches, particularly those of the
Imperial residence, were almost always chosen under the influence of
the court, and often directly and immediately nominated by the emperor."
Planck, Geschichte der Christlich-kirchlichen Gesellschafteverfassung,
verfassung, vol. i p 263.--M.]

II. The bishops alone possessed the faculty of spiritual generation: and
this extraordinary privilege might compensate, in some degree, for the
painful celibacy [93] which was imposed as a virtue, as a duty, and
at length as a positive obligation. The religions of antiquity, which
established a separate order of priests, dedicated a holy race, a tribe
or family, to the perpetual service of the gods. [94] Such institutions
were founded for possession, rather than conquest. The children of
the priests enjoyed, with proud and indolent security, their sacred
inheritance; and the fiery spirit of enthusiasm was abated by the cares,
the pleasures, and the endearments of domestic l