multiplied; and, in consequence of it, a kingdom or province was sometimes divided into several distinct dioceses. Circumstances frequently rendered it expedient that the whole number of the clergy of a province or kingdom should be assembled in convocation, For a time, the individual to preside in this convocation was elected from the body assembled, and his commission expired with the business of the meeting; but it became a custom that the bishop of the capital city, where the assembly was holden, should preside in these assemblies; and in this instance, as in many others, custom in time became law; and the bishop of the capital was acknowledged as the head of the clergy of his province or kingdom, and took the title of Primate, Metropolitan, or Archbishop. But this system was not fully ripened till the Roman government became Christian.

Let us now attend to the manner in which ecclesiasticks gradually assumed power and dominion over the Christian community.

The disposition to assume power, and to abuse it, has been too common to men of every description. History proves that ecclesiasticks have manifested this disposition in as high a degree as men in any other department of publick agency. We shall be surprised to remark what trivial circumstances are made the means of aggrandizing a body of publick men, when they, by their stations, are rendered ambitious and act in concert; and when the people, whose ministers they are, possess an unsuspicious temper and an yielding spirit. Many cases night be adduced to our present purpose; but I

have time to present to your view only a single example of the manner in which the clergy of the Christian Church commenced their career of eccle. siastical ambition and tyranny.

When in the apostolick age, the number of Christian disciples became so numerous, in the populous cities of the Roman empire, as to form themselves into societies, wholly separate in all religious concerns, from the Pagan world, disputes arose, as they ever will, among imperfect beings, "respecting personal property and civil rights." These disputes were carried before the Pagan tribunals, and were settled according to the principles of the Roman law. These quarrels and law-suits occasioned ill-will, animosity, and uncharitableness, among the brethren themselves; and were thought to reflect scandal on their profession as Christians. In view of these evils, which particularly abounded in the Church of Corinth, St. Paul condemned their litigious spirit, and exhorted them rather to bear injury with patience, than to have recourse to measures of redress, which must put the peace of the Church and the character of their religion at hazard. "Why do ye not rather," says the apostle, "take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded ?" As the most ef fectual measure to prevent publick scandal, he ad vises them to submit their controversies to the decision of arbitrators chosen from among themselves. This apostolick advice was generally adopted among Christian converts, and the practice was continued as long as the Roman government remained Pagan.

The business of arbitration did not pertain to the pastoral office; and in the commencement of this method of settling disputes there was nothing on which an unworthy motive could operate in the management of it. When executed by the pastor, it increased his labours, held him up more conspicuously to the ruling power, and thereby increased, in respect to him, the danger of persecution. His judgment had not the authority of law, and it could be executed only by the consent of the parties at issue. No pecuniary rewards were connected with this transaction; it was considered as the work of charity. In selecting arbitrators, questions of this nature naturally arose :-Who so likely to feel a tender regard to the rights of every brother as the minister, the spiritual father of the Christian family? Who will so impartially consult the safety and welfare of each individual member, as the common shepherd of the flock? From these or other considerations, the clergy in fact, were in all places appointed the arbitrators in civil controversies; and the practice was continued to the period of the conversion of the Roman empire. What at first was custom, was, in time, claimed as a right. The service at first performed from charity, was continued from ambition. By experiment, the clergy found that from their station, as an umpire in civil affairs, they derived power, ascendancy, and influence, and these they were not disposed to relinquish.

Individual authority being granted them in respect to personal property and civil rights, the clergy, with greater plausibility, claimed exclusive

authority in all the concerns of religion. These lay within their own province, and the regulation of them was their own appropriate duty. Step by step they proceeded to divest the people of every privilege. They deprived the laity of the liberty of electing their minister, and of every other officer of the Church; and denied them any publick agency in the management of the common interests of the society which they composed. When Constantine was converted to the Christian faith, and the civil government became Christian, he, with the zeal of a convert, and in devotion to the priests of his new religion, confirmed the clergy in all the prerogatives they had before exercised; and ecclesiastical decisions were enforced by civil authority. Then the clergy denominated themselves ecclesiasticks, and declared that they, as a body, composed the Church, and of course assumed the whole administration of its polity. The right then left to the laymen was simply the right of submission and obedience. The people were to commit their understandings and their consciences to the guidance of their spiritual rulers, and to resign their souls to the safe keeping of the ghostly fathers.

Becoming lords of God's heritage, the clergy apportioned the emoluments of the Church among themselves. Bishops then claimed dignity, authority, and wealth, corresponding with the proud titles they assumed, and the lofty stations which they professed to fill. They usurped the exclusive power of ordination, jurisdiction over the inferior orders of the clergy, and the absolute direction of all the affairs of their diocese. Large reve

nues were appropriated for their support; their places of residence became palaces, and they were encircled with all the appendages and pomp of royalty. Ecclesiasticks then generally gave almost unbounded indulgence to the spirit of pride and ambition, against which their Divine Master pointedly and solemnly cautioned the ministers of his gospel. Before the close of the fourth century of the Christian era, the constitution, the forms, and the character of the Church of the apostolick age disappeared, and a system of domination and tyranny, of blindness and superstition was introduced.

Thankful to God for the religious freedom and light with which we are blessed, let us, my Christian brethren, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free; and may we walk as children of the light.