p. 719). ' Epiph. Ilasr. 75. Comp. also Walch, 1. c. iii. 321-338. Bellarmine, on ac- count of tills external resemblance, styles Protestantism the Aerian heresy. CHAPTEE Y. THE HIERARCHY AND POLITY OF THE CHURCH, Oomp. in part the literature in vol. i. § 105 and 110 (to which should be added now, P. A. de Lagarde : Oonstitutiones Apostolorum, Lips, and Lond., 1862) ; also Gibbon, ch. xx. ; Milman : Hist, of Ancient Christuinity, book iv. c. 1 (Amer. ed. p. 438 sqq.), and the correspond- ing sections in Bingham, Schrockh, Plank, Neander, Gieselee, Batjr, etc. (see the particular literature below). § 48. Schools of the Clergy. Having in a former section observed the elevation of the church to the position of the state religion of the Roman em- pire, and the influence of this great change upon the condition of the clergy and upon public morality, we turn now to the internal organization and the development of tlie hierarchy under its new circumstances. The step of progress Avhich we liere find distinguishing the organization of this third period from the episcopal system of the second and tlie apostolic su- pervision of the first, is the rise of the patriarchal constitution and of the system of ecumenical councils closely connected with it. But we must first glance at the character and influence of the teaching order in general. The work of preparation for the clerical office was, on the one hand, materially facilitated by the union of the church with the state, putting her in possession of the treasures, the schools, the learning, and the literature of classic heathendom, and throwing the education of the rising generation into her hands. The numerous doctrinal controversies kept the spirit § 48. SCHOOLS OF THE CLERGY. 235 of investigation awake, and among the fathers and bishops of the fourth and fifth centuries we meet with the greatest theolo- gia,ns of the ancient church. These gave their weighty voices for the great value of a thorough education to the clerical office, and imparted much wholesome instnictiou respecting the studies proper to this purpose.' The African church, by a decree of the council of Carthage, in 397, required of candi- dates a trial of their knowledge and orthodoxy. A law of Justinian, of the year 541, established a similar test in the East. But on the other hand, a regular and general system of clerical education was still entirely wanting. The steady de-- cay of the classic literature, the gradual cessation of philosoph- ical and artistic production, the growth of monastic prejudice against secular learning and culture, the great want of minis- ters in the suddenly expanded field of the church, the uneasy state of the emj^ire, and the barbarian invasions, were so many hinderances to thorough theological preparation. Many candi- dates trusted to the magical virtue of ordination. Others, without inward call, were attracted to the holy office by the wealth and power of the church. Others had no time or oppor-