_Of the King who did according to his will, and magnified himself above every God, and honoured _Mahuzzims_, and regarded not the desire of women_. In the first ages of the Christian religion the Christians of every city were governed by a Council of Presbyters, and the President of the Council was the Bishop of the city. The Bishop and Presbyters of one city meddled not with the affairs of another city, except by admonitory letters or messages. Nor did the Bishops of several cities meet together in Council before the time of the Emperor _Commodus_: for they could not meet together without the leave of the _Roman_ governors of the Provinces. But in the days of that Emperor they began to meet in Provincial Councils, by the leave of the governors; first in _Asia_, in opposition to the _Cataphrygian_ Heresy, and soon after in other places and upon other occasions. The Bishop of the chief city, or Metropolis of the _Roman_ Province, was usually made President of the Council; and hence came the authority of Metropolitan Bishops above that of other Bishops within the same Province. Hence also it was that the Bishop of _Rome_ in _Cyprian_'s days called himself the Bishop of Bishops. As soon as the Empire became Christian, the _Roman_ Emperors began to call general Councils out of all the Provinces of the Empire; and by prescribing to them what points they should consider, and influencing them by their interest and power, they set up what party they pleased. Hereby the _Greek_ Empire, upon the division of the _Roman_ Empire into the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires, became _the King who_, in matters of religion, _did according to his will_; _and_, in legislature, _exalted and magnified himself above every God_: and at length, by the seventh general Council, established the worship of the images and souls of dead men, here called _Mahuzzims_.