the errorists commenced their discussions.  The Churches of Lyons, [531:1] of Rome, of Corinth, of Athens, of Ephesus, of Antioch, and of Alexandria, resounded with the din of theological controversy.  Nor were the heresiarchs men whom their opponents could afford to despise.  In point of genius and of literary resources, many of them were fully equal to the most accomplished of their adversaries.  Their zeal was unwearied, and their tact most perplexing.  Mixing up the popular elements of the current philosophy with a few of the facts and doctrines of the gospel, they produced a compound by which many were deceived.  How did the friends of the Church proceed to grapple with these difficulties?  They, no doubt, did their utmost to meet the errorists in argument, and to shew that their theories were miserable perversions of Christianity.  But they did not confine themselves to the use of weapons drawn from their own heavenly armoury.  Not a few presbyters were themselves tainted with the new opinions; some of them were even ringleaders of the heretics; [531:2] and, in an evil hour, the dominant party resolved to change the constitution of the Church, and to try to put down disturbance by means of a new ecclesiastical organization.  Believing, with many in modern times, that “parity breedeth confusion,” and expecting, as Jerome has expressed it, “that the seeds of schisms might be destroyed,” they sought to invigorate their administration by investing the presiding elder with authority over the rest of his brethren.  The senior presbyters, the last survivors of a better age, were all sound in the faith; and, as they were still at the head of the Churches in the great cities, it was thought that by enlarging their prerogatives, and by giving them the name of bishops, they would be the better able to struggle energetically with the dangers of their position.  The principle that, whoever would not submit to the bishop should be cast out of the Church, was accordingly adopted; and it was hoped that in due time peace would be restored to the spiritual commonwealth.

About the same period arrangements were made in some places for changing the mode of advancement to the presidential chair, so that, in no case, an elder suspected of error could have a chance of promotion. [532:1] An immense majority of the presbyters were yet orthodox; and by being permitted to depart, as often as they pleased, from the ancient order of succession, and to nominate any of themselves to the episcopate, they could always secure the appointment of an individual representing their own sentiments.  In some of the larger Churches, where their number was considerable, they appear to have usually selected three or four candidates; and then to have permitted the lot to make the ultimate decision. [532:2] But the ecclesiastical revolution could not stop here.  Jealousy quickly appeared among the presbyters; and, during the excitement of elections, the more popular candidates would not