equality, he might have felt that the doctrine of
episcopal parity, as then understood, must be given up as indefensible
if assailed by the skill of a vigorous logician. Who could believe that
the bishop of Carthage held exactly the same official rank as every one
of his episcopal auditors? He was the chief pastor of a flourishing
metropolis; he had several congregations under his care, and several of
his presbyters were preachers; [599:1] but many of the bishops before
him were ministers of single congregations and without even one elder
competent to deliver a sermon, [599:2] In point of ministerial gifts and
actual influence some of the presbyters of Carthage were, no doubt, far
superior to many of the bishops of the council. And who could affirm
that Paul of Samosata, the chief pastor of the capital of the Eastern
Empire, was quite on a level with every one of the village bishops
around him whom he bribed to celebrate his praises? No wonder that it
was soon found necessary to remodel the episcopal system. The city
bishops had a show of equity in their favour when they asserted their
superiority, and their brethren in rural districts were too feeble and
dependent effectively to resist their own degradation.

The ecclesiastical title _metropolitan_ came into use about the time of
the Council of Nice in A.D. 325. [599:3] and there is reason to believe
that the territorial jurisdiction it implied was then first distinctly
defined and generally established; but the changes of the preceding
three quarters of a century, had been preparing the way for the new
arrangement. Many of the country bishops had meanwhile been reduced to a
condition of subserviency, whilst a considerable number of the chief
pastors in the great cities had been recognized as the constant
presidents of the synods which met in their respective capitals. It is
easy to see how these prelates acquired such a position. Talent, if
exerted, must always assert its ascendency; and it is probable that the
metropolitan bishops were generally more able and accomplished than the
majority of their brethren. They could fairly plead that zeal for the
good of the Church prompted them to take a lead in ecclesiastical
affairs, and their place of residence supplied them with facilities for
communicating with other pastors of which they often deemed it prudent
to avail themselves. When the synod met in the metropolis, the bishop of
the city was wont to entertain many of th