ORIGIN OF METROPOLITAN DIGNITY. 211 Christian rule, the others might interpose to correct or void him;' that if any error or schism peeped up in any church, the joint con- currence of divers bishops might avail to stop its progress and to quench it, by convenient means of instruction, reprehension, and censure; that if any church were oppressed by persecution, by in- digency, by faction, the others might be engaged to afford effectual succour and relief. For such ends it was needful that bishops in cer- tain precincts should convene, with intent to deliberate and resolve About the best expedients to compass them; and that the manner of such proceeding, to avoid uncertain distraction, confusion, arbitrari- ness, dissatisfaction, and mutinous opposition, should be settled in an ordinary course, according to rules known and allowed by all' In defining such precincts it was most natural, most easy, most commodious, to follow the divisions of territory or jurisdiction already established in the civil state, that the spiritual administrations, be- ing in such circumstances aptly conformed to the secular, might go on more smoothly and expeditely, the wheels of one not clashing with the other; according to the judgment of the two great synods, that of Chalcedon and the Trullane, which ordained, that " if by royal authority any citybe, or shouldhereafter be, re-established, the order ofthe churches shall be according to the civil and public form. "' Whereas, therefore, in each nation or province subject to one poli- tical jurisdiction there was a metropolis, or head city, to which the greatest resort was for dispensation of justice, and despatch of prin- cipal affairs emergent in that province, it was most convenient that also the determination of ecclesiastical matters should be affixed thereto; especially considering that usually those places were oppor- tunely seated, that many persons, upon other occasions, met there, that the churches in those cities exceeded the rest in number, in opulency, in ability and opportunity to promote the common interest in all kinds of advantages.' Moreover, because in all societies and confederacies of men for ordering public affairs, for the setting things in motion, for effectual despatch, for preventing endless dissensions and confusions, both in resolving upon and executing things, it is needful that one person should be authorized to preside among the rest, unto whom the power and care should be intrusted to convoke assemblies in fit season, to propose matters for consultation, to moderate the debates and pro- ceedings, to declare the result, and to see that what is agreed upon Vid. Can. Apost. xxxviii. al. 30, de Synodis. 2 Oixovopciar ixxtnvtavztxai. Syn. Cont. can. il. 3 Ei 8i zai ?t5 iz ßaorir, g i44,vvla5. ixarv(d, ?róxrç 3 av'Arç zatvtehin, caïç arol.r?txaiç xai Bnicovirotç Túvrorç xai am" izzlnvtavlrrxwv zapatxrmv 3 gá53,; á140l,0u96írm. Cone. Chaleed, can. xvii., et Cone. Trull. [in Trullo, at Constantinople, 692,] can. xxxviii. 4 P. Anacl. Dist. xcix. cap. 1; P. Greg. VII., Ep. vi. 35.
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