Philippi, with the _bishops and deacons;_"
[504:2] for Polycarp was certainly not aware of the existence of any new
office-bearers; and he accordingly exhorts his correspondents to be
"_subject to the presbyters and deacons._" [504:3] "Let _the
presbyters_," says he, "be compassionate, merciful to all, bringing back
such as are in error, seeking out all those that are weak, not
neglecting the widow or the fatherless, or the poor; but providing
always what is good in the sight of God and men; abstaining from all
wrath, respect of persons, and _unrighteous judgment_; being far from
all covetousness; not ready to believe anything against any; _not severe
in judgment_, knowing that we are all debtors in point of sin." [504:4]

It is stated by the most learned of the fathers of the fourth century
that the Church was at first "governed by the common council of the,
presbyters;" [504:5] and these two letters prove most satisfactorily the
accuracy of the representation. They shew that, throughout the whole of
the apostolic age, this species of polity continued. But the Scriptures
ordain that "all things be done decently and in order;" [504:6] and, as
a common council requires an official head, or mayor, to take the chair
at its meetings, and to act on its behalf, so the ancient eldership, or
presbytery, must have had a president or moderator. It would appear that
the duty and honour of presiding commonly devolved on the senior member
of the judicatory. We may thus account for those catalogues of bishops,
reaching back to the days of the apostles, which are furnished by some
of the writers of antiquity. From the first, every presbytery had its
president; and as the transition from the moderator to the bishop was
the work of time, the distinction at one period was little more than
nominal. Hence, writers who lived when the change was taking place, or
when it had only been recently accomplished, speak of these two
functionaries as identical. But in their attempts to enumerate the
bishops of the apostolic era, they encountered a practical difficulty.
The elders who were at first set over the Christian societies were all
ordained, in each church, on the same occasion, [505:1] and were,
perhaps, of nearly the same age, so that neither their date of
appointment, nor their years, could well determine the precedence; and
it is probable that, in general, no single individual continued
permanently to occupy the office of moderator. There m