CHRISTIAN LAW. 245 



perhaps more injurious to society than their vices. The 

 mischief was done, not so much by those who in- 

 trigued for. places and rioted on tithes at Constanti- 

 nople, as by those who often with the best intentions 

 endeavoured to make all men think alike " according 

 to the law." 



It was the Christian theory that God was a king, 

 and that he enacted laws for the government of men 

 on earth. Those laws were contained in the Jewish 

 books, but some of them had been repealed, and some of 

 them were exceedingly obscure. Some were to be un- 

 derstood in a literal sense : others were only metaphorical. 

 Many cases might arise to which no text or precept 

 could be with any degree of certainty applied. What 

 then was to be done % How was God's will to be 

 ascertained ? The early Christians were taught that 

 by means of prayer and faith their questions would be 

 answered, their difficulties would be solved. They 

 must pray earnestly to God for help : and the ideas 

 which came into their heads, after prayer, would be 

 emanations from the Holy Ghost. 



In the first age of Christianity the church was a 

 republic. There was no distinction between clergy- 

 men and laymen. Each member of the congregation 

 had a right to preach, and each consulted God on his 

 own account. The spiritus privatus everywhere pre- 

 vailed. A committee of presbyters or elders with a 

 bishop or chairman, administered the affairs of the 

 community. 



The second period was marked by an important 

 change. The bishop and presbyters, though still 

 elected by the congregation, had begun to monopolise 

 the pulpit ; the distinction of clergy and laity was 

 already made. The bishops of various churches met 



