[376]Clemens Romanus, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, cap. 44. tells us, That “the apostles knew, by the Lord Jesus Christ, that the episcopal name and office would be the occasion of contention in the christian church; a noble instance,” says the learned Fell, in his remarks on the place, “of the prophetic spirit of the apostolic age. Formerly,“ he adds, that, “men’s ambition and evil practices to obtain this dignity, produced schisms and heresies.” And it was indeed no wonder that such disorders and confusions should be occasioned, when the bishoprics were certain steps, not only to power and dominion, but to the emoluments and advantages of riches and honours. ----- Footnote 376: Apud Cotel. p. 173. Edit. Amstel. ----- Even long before the time of Constantine, the clergy had got a very great ascendant over the laity, and grew, many of them, rich, by the voluntary oblations of the people: But the grants of that emperor confirmed them in a worldly spirit, and the dignities and vast revenues that were annexed to many o£ the sees, gave rise to infinite evils and disturbances. So they could but get possession of them, they cared not by what means; whether by clandestine ordinations, scandalous symony, the expulsion of the possessors, or through the blood of their enemies. How many lives were lost at Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, by the furious contentions of the bishops of those sees; deposing one another, and forcibly entering upon possession? Would Athanasius, and Macedonius, Damasus, and others, have given occasion to such tumults and murders, merely for words and creeds, had there not been somewhat more substantial to have been got by their bishoprics? Would Cyril have persecuted the Novations, had it not been for the sake of their riches, of which he plundered them, soon after his advancement to the see of Alexandria? No. The character given by the historian of Theodocius, bishop of Synada, may be too truly applied to almost all the rest of them; who persecuted the followers of Macedonius, not from a principle of zeal for the faith, but through a covetous temper, and the love of money. This St. Jerome observed with grief, in the passage cited page 86, of this history; Ammianus Marcellinus, an heathen writer, reproached them with, in the passage cited page 102. [Illustration] SECT. IV. _The decrees of councils and synods of no authority in matters of faith._