THE DECLINE AND FALL

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chap, of the gospel. Episcopal churches were close-ty planted along the banks of the Nile , on thesea-coast of Africa , in the proconsular Asia,and through the southern provinces of Italy .The bishops of Gaul and Spain, of Thrace andPontus, reigned over an ample territory, anddelegated their rural suffragans to execute thesubordinate duties of the pastoral office. 5 AChristian diocese might be spread over a pro-vince, or reduced to a village; but all the bi-shops possessed an equal and indelible cha-racter : they all derived the same powers andprivileges from the apostles, from the people,and from the laws. While the civil and militaryprofessions were separated by the policy ofConstantine, a new and perpetual order of ec-clesiastical ministers, always respectable, some-times dangerous, was established in the churchand state. The important review of their sta-tion and attributes may be distributed un-der the following heads : i, Popular election;ii, Ordination of the clergy; in, Property;iv, Civil jurisdiction; v, Spiritual censures;vi, Exercise of public oratory; vii. Privilegeof legislative assemblies.

'•Eiecti- i. The freedom of elections subsisted longchops. after the legal establishment of Christianity ;'

* On the subject of the rural bishops, or Chorepiscopi , who votedin synods, and conferred the minor order, see Thomassin, Disciplinede i’Eglisc, tom. i, p. 417, See. and Chardon, Hist, des Sacremens,tom. v, p. 595, &c. They do not appear till the fourth century; andthis equivocal character, which had excited the jealousy of the prelates,was abolished before the end of the tenth, both in the East and theWest.

* Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. ii, I. ii, c. 1-8. p. 673-721)

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