The account given by Jerome of the state of the Christian interest when it was deemed necessary to set up episcopacy, is not so completely supplemented by the condition of the Church at any other period.  Never certainly did the brethren at Rome more require the services of a skilful and energetic leader, than when the Gnostic chiefs settled in the great metropolis.  Never could it be said with so much truth of their community, in the language of the Latin father, that “every one reckoned those whom he baptized as belonging to himself and not to Christ;” [541:1] for, as we have just seen, some, when baptizing their disciples, used even new forms of initiation.  Never, assuredly, had the advocates of expediency a better opportunity for pleading in favour of a decree ordaining that “one chosen from among the presbyters should be put over the rest, and that the whole care of the Church should be committed to him, that the seeds of schisms should be taken away.” [541:2]

III.  The testimony of Hilary, who was contemporary with Jerome, exactly accords with the views here promulgated as to the date of this occurrence.  This writer, who was also a minister of the Roman Church, was obviously acquainted with a tradition that a change had taken place at an early period in the mode of ecclesiastical government.  His evidence is all the more valuable as it contains internal proofs of derivation from an independent source; for, whilst it corroborates the statement of Jerome, it supplies fresh historical details.  According to his account, “after that churches were erected in all places and offices established, an arrangement was adopted different from that which prevailed at the beginning.” [541:3] By “the beginning” he understands the apostolic age, or the time when the New Testament was written. [541:4] He then goes on to say, in explanation, that it was found necessary to change the mode of appointing the chairman of the eldership, and that he was now promoted to the office by election, and not by seniority. [541:5] Whilst his language indicates distinctly that this alteration was made after the days of the apostles, it also implies a date not later than the second century; for, though it was “after the beginning,” it was at a time when churches had been only recently “erected in all places, and offices established.”  The period of the spread of heresies at Rome, at the commencement of the reign of Antoninus Pius, and when Hyginus closed his career, answers these conditions.

IV.  As Rome was the head-quarters of heathenism, it was also the place where the divisions of the Church must have proved most disastrous.  There, the worship of the State was celebrated in all its magnificence; there, the Emperor, the Pontifex Maximus of the gods, surrounded by a splendid hierarchy of priests and augurs, presided at the great festivals; and there, thousands and tens of thousands, prompted by interest or by prejudice, were prepared to struggle for the