Scripture [555:1] to
take precedence of elders who only ruled, had always been permitted to
act as moderator; but, on the ground of the new arrangement, the pastor
probably began to assume an authority over his session which he had
never hitherto ventured to exercise. In the beginning of the reign of
Antoninus Pius the number of towns with several Christian congregations
must have been but small; and if five or six leading cities approved of
the system now inaugurated at Rome, its general adoption was thus
secured. The statements of Jerome and Hilary attest that the matter was
submitted to a synod; and the remarkable interregnum which followed the
death of Hyginus can be best accounted for on the hypothesis that
meanwhile the ministers of the great metropolis found it necessary to
consult the rulers of other influential and distant Churches. If the
measure had the sanction of these foreign brethren, they were of course
prepared to resort to it at home on the demise of their presiding
presbyter. Heretics were now disturbing the Church all over the Empire,
so that the same arguments could be everywhere used in favour of the new
polity. We find, too, that there was a vacancy in the presidential chair
at Antioch about the time of the death of Hyginus; and that, in the
course of the next year, a similar vacancy occurred at Alexandria.
[555:2] If the three most important Churches then in Christendom, with
the sanction of a very few others of less note, almost simultaneously
adopted the new arrangement, the question was practically settled. There
were probably not more than twenty cities to be found with more than one
Christian congregation; and places of inferior consequence would
speedily act upon the example of the large capitals. But unquestionably
the system now introduced gradually effected a complete revolution in
the state of the Church. The ablest man in the presbytery was commonly
elevated to the chair, so that the weight of his talents, and of his
general character, was added to his official consequence. The bishop
soon became the grand centre of influence and authority, and arrogated
to himself the principal share in the administration of all divine
ordinances.

When this change commenced, the venerable Polycarp was still alive, and
there are some grounds for believing that, when far advanced in life, he
was induced to undertake a journey to Rome on a mission of remonstrance.
This view is apparently corroborated by