In _Africa_ the Ecclesiastical Polity varied greatly from the Civil. _Carthage_ indeed, in the Proconsular Province of _Africa_, properly so called, was the Metropolis of all _West Africa_, and the Bishop of that City the Primate and Exarch. But in the other Five Provinces of that Diocese, _viz._ _Numidia_, the Two _Mauritanias_, _Cæsariensis_ and _Sitifensis_, _Tingitana_, _Bizacena_, and _Tripolitana_, the senior Bishop, in what City soever he presided, enjoyed the Title and Privileges of Metropolitan, Regard being had to his Seniority, or the Time of his Ordination, and none to the Dignity of his See. And hence it is that, at different times, we find Bishops of different Cities, within the same Province, acting as _Metropolitans_. Of _West Illyricum_, the Third Diocese under the Prefect of _Italy_, I shall have Occasion to speak hereafter. [Sidenote: _The Dignities of_ Exarchs, Metropolitans, _&c. not of divine Institution_.] Some Writers, namely _Petrus de Marca_, Archbishop of _Paris_[629], _Christianus Lupus_[630], _Emmanuel Schelstrat_[631], Two eminent Divines, the one of _Louvain_, the other of _Antwerp_, and _Leo Allatius_[632], have taken a great deal of Pains to prove, that these Ecclesiastical Dignities owe their Origin to _Christ_, or the Apostles. But their Arguments are unanswerably confuted by the learned _Ellies du Pin_[633]; and, besides, it is evident, from the intire Conformity which the Ecclesiastical Government had, in most Places, with the Political State of the Empire, as established by _Constantine_, that the Church, in forming the Hierarchy I have described, adopted his Plan; and consequently, that such Dignities are not of divine, but of human Institution. I might add, that it cannot be proved from Scripture, that the Apostles, in appointing Bishops, gave more Power to one than to another, or any Power at all to one over the others. [Sidenote: _The new Dignities added to the antient Hierarchy of the Church._]