serving however to let us know in gross That the Solemnity was not then held an inconsiderable Matter but all along much debated and studied and determined with great Exactness Upon the whole Matter therefore we have seen that as we had some reason to presume the Apostolical Observation of a Yearly from the Weekly day of the Resurrection so this Presumptive Probability is besides actually confirmed to us by sufficient Authority And from these Premises I hope I may have leave to conclude if not That this Paschal Observation was delivered by the Apostles to all the Churches with the Weekly Lord's Day yet That it was a Tradition received by many Churches in the Apostolick Days And this I presume to take for a Truth in so high a degree of Evidence that it will not be questioned by such as shall consider impartially c Plin. Ep. l. 10. Ep. 97. Soliti stato die ante lucem convenire d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g Euseb Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 23. In that time a great Controversie was raised the Bishops of Asia strictly so called judging by their Ancient Tradition That the Paschal Solemnity was to be kept on the 14th day of the Moon then when the Jews sacrificed the Lamb and that their Fasting ought to break off on that day whatever day of the Week it happened to be and the other Bishops of the rest of the World observing from Apostolical Tradition a different Custom and which now obtains That it was not fit to break up the Fast on any other day but the Day of the Resurrection Upon this there were several Synods and Consultations held by the Last and they all unanimously by their Letters declar'd this to the World for an Ecclesiastical Rule That the Solemnity of our Saviour's Resurrection from the Dead was to be kept on no other day but a Sunday and that on that Day only the Paschal Fasting was to cease There is yet to be seen the Writing of those of Palestine over whom Theophilus Bishop of Cesarea presided and Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem There is another too from those of Rome concerning the same Question speaking Victor to be Bishop Another of the Dioceses of France where Irenaeus was Bishop Another of those of Osroene and the Cities thereabouts One particularly from Bacchyllus Bishop of Corinth And several others all concurring in the same Opinion and giving the same Dâ—termination i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here commonly translated Kinsman but I have ventured to guess it may signifie a Countryman one of the same City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Bishop of the same See making the Succession to have been in a Family and the Kindred Spiritual This is certain the Number of Seven Predecessors agree well with the Distance between Him and St. John n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Epistle of Irenaeus it seems very evident That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood not absolutely but in construction with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well in this place as others according to the common rendering notwithstanding a contrary Suspicion elsewhere suggested and to which a Defect in this place of some Particle to be understood gave the Occasion That Defect Valesius supplies by reading from Conjecture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have rather supposed then or something of that Sense to be understood CHAP II. Concerning FASTING § I. The several Kinds of Fasts § II. Several Occasions of Fasting particularly Penitence and Baptism § I. SO far we have view'd the Evidence for the Antiquity of the Paschal Solemnity in general with a more particular respect to the Festival of the Resurrection we now come expresly to consider the preceding Fast and its various Observation But first for the better understanding of what is to follow it will be fit to premise some Account of Fasts and their Variety and what were the more solemn times for that Duty There are Three Sorts of Fasting which Tertullian reckons up to us (a) De Je. jun. c. 2. consisting either in the Lessening or Deferring or Refusing of our Food The first sort is Abstinence not from all Food but from some kinds of it a Fast in part as Tertullian calls it (b) Tert. de Jejun c. 9. Portional Jejunium Abstinence from Flesh especially and Wine Or not only from Flesh and Wine but from any thing of Broth or any Juicy Vinous Fruit. Such a Dry Diet as Tertullian speaks of appropriated by him to his Fellow-Sectaries the Montanists (c) De Jejun c. 1. but used by Christians before and by Daniel (d) Dan. 10.2 3. when he mourned three full Weeks and eat no pleasant bread neither came flesh nor wine in his mouth neither did he anoint himself at all The second sort was when they did not Dine but deferred their Eating to some time of the Afternoon till after Three as the Catholicks did in Tertullian's Age who on certain days continued their Assemblies to that hour (e) De Jej. and both that their Assembling and that Fasting was call'd a Station from the Military Word says Tertullian (f) De Orat c. 14. but immediately from the Jewish Phrase and the Custom of those devout Men who either out of their own Devotion or as Representatives of the People Assisted at the Oblations of the Temple not departing thence till the Service was over g Such Stations are term'd Half-Fasts (h) De Jejun 13. Stat. semijejunia by Tertullian and were held later by the Appointment of Montanus But before their time we know from Hermes an Author very ancient and in the beginning of the Second Century that the Stations of the first Christians were sometimes kept as severely and that when they came at last to Eat nothing was to be tasted but Bread and Water that day i Such a kind of Fast as this ending in a moderate Refreshment towards Night is generally to be understood when any great number of Days is said to be fasted together This Fast is too supposed to have begun from the Evening before when the Stars appear'd For then the Day began with the Jews as well as with the Athenians k But under this kind which allows some time for Food in the 24 hours the Periodical Day we may too reckon that manner of Fasting which forbids to eat or to drink while the Sun is up the Vulgar Day but either gives liberty all the Night the Fast of the Mahometans during their Month Ramazan (l) Ricauâ—â— l. 2. c. 22. or else gives leave to refresh themselves provided it be done before their first sleep as is the manner of the Jews in all their ordinary Fasts (m) Maim de Jejun c. 1. §. 8. The third sort is when they Eat not at all the whole day from Sun-set or the Appearance of the Stars till the same season again as the Jews now do in their strictest Fasts as on the Ninth of their Month Ab or on
when he says (d) Hebr. 13.10 11 c. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the Tabernacle for they eat not of the Oblation made for their Sins as we do of our Blessed Saviour by whom by whose Body and in whose Name we offer the Sacrifice of Praise Thanksgiving to God continually that is the Fruit or Oblation of our Lips or which our Lips have Vowed to return as well as what we do return with our Li ceasing not to do Good and to Distribute both out of our Oblations and the rest of our Substance for with such Sacrifices such Offerings of our Praise and Goods in the general and at the Eucharist in particular God is well pleased § I. d Of this I needed not have given an Instance but there is one that will likewise serve to another purpose De Coron Cap. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum in tempore Victus Omnibus mandatum à Domino etiam Antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quam Praesidentium sumimus e The word is often us'd even in one Chapter the 34th of his Fourth Book Adversus Haeres and I shall give but one Instance in that fam'd Passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Just Mart. Apol. secunda uti vulgo numeratur prope finem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Oblation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise do g Examples will appeat in those Passages to be produc'd in the next Chap § 2. i Tertullian Apolog. Cap. 39. Coena nostra de nomine rationem sui oftendit Id vocatur quod Dilectio penes Graecos k Epist ad Smyrnaeos After a general prohibition against the doing any thing in the Church without the Bishop and after a particular mention of the Eucharist there follows further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m This Order of Oblation and Invocation is not only to be seen in the Antient Liturgies but is plainly express'd by that Antient and Venerable Author Irenaeus in the Chapter above-cited e § III. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maim de Cult Divino Tract 5.9.5 e Nehem. 12.31 Then I brought up the Princes of Judah upon the Wall and appointed two great Companies of them that gave Thanks Whereof one went upon the right hand of the Wall c. By this Procession the Jews suppose the Bounds of the Holy City to have been determin'd and that the Bread of Thanksgiving which was not to be carried out of Jerusalem was therefore carried about now to mark its utmost Limits And accordingly by two great Thanks as it is in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they understand two great oblations of Bread of Thanks making the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the whole Sacrifice of Thanks to stand here for the Bread only and that only the Leaven'd So Rabbi Salom on the place And Maim in the Book above mention'd Tract 1. Cap. 6. § 12. § IV. a I confess that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in t is Case where we translate it a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving is rendred most commonly in the Greek of the Septuagint so call'd by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and never by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is notorious that the sence is the same Neither do they always interpret that word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but on the fame subject they once put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 22.29 and in another place we shall meet in the next Section Jerem. 33.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Name by which our Christian Sacrament is also known The truth is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is found in the Septuagint in no sense but it is frequent in the Apocrypha and in the New Testament and Aquila in his Translation of Amos 4.5 uses it for this very matter CHAP. VIII § I. The Distinction of Clergy and Laiety specified by Tertullian That of Bishops Priests and Deacons by Him Irenaeus also being his Leader for the Apostolical Authority of Bishops § II. And by Ignatius as the other at least of the Laiety and Clergy by St. Clemens of Rome § III. The First Distinction deriv'd from the Language of the Old Testament The Offices of the Second from those of the Jewish Sanhedrim and likewise of the Temple the Upper parts of our Churches being also suppos'd to answer the Temple Courts of the Priests and the Altar § I. WE come next to the Officers of the Christian Church expressed in the Scripture under general Names and which answer'd sufficiently to those us'd by the Jews but whose signification was not in some Cases so well distinguish'd as to make out the Parallel exactly Now the Writings of the Primitive Christians speak on these occasions more expresly and clear up the Confusion caus'd by ambiguous words determining their sense by such a distinction of Offices as had all along obtain'd from the days of the Apostles Certain it is from what we have already seen of Tertullian that in his time at the end of the Second Century the Offices of Bishop and Presbyter and Deacon were the principal Offices of the Church and notoriously Distinct The Power says he (a) Ch. 6. §. 1. c of Conferring Baptism the High Priest hath who is the Bishop then the Priests and Deacons but not without the Authority of the Bishop to keep up the Honour of the Church without which Peace cannot be preserv'd otherwise even the Laiety have a power to do it Now whatever becomes of the controversy of Baptism by Lay hands it is manifest from our Author that there was a Distinction of the Laiety and the Clergy b and among the Clergy between the Bishop and the Priests and Deacons and that the Bishop had a singular supereminent Authority over the Presbyters as well as the Deacons And that he understood this separate Authority to have been deriv'd from the hands of the Apostles is as plain from his Treatise of Prescribing against Hereticks (c) De Praeser ◠32. There to Bar some Heresies which were as old as the Apostles from pleading that they were taught by the Apostles he bids them Shew the Origine of their Churches and deduce a series of their Bishops with such a continued Succession from the beginning as that the first Bishop of them may have some Apostle or Apostolical Man who continued in the Communion of the Apostles to vouch for his Author and Predecessor For so the Apostolical Churches bring down their Pedegree as the Church of Smyrna reckons Polycarp placed there by St. John and the Church of Rome Clemens ordain'd by St. Peter and as other Churches name those who were made Bishops by the Apostles and to whom the Seed of the Apostolical Doctrine was transmitted This is Tertullian's Opinion and as it appears from his manner of delivering it was the general acknowledg'd Opinion of that Time But on the same Argument Irenaeus
had before said the same thing (d) Iren. Lib. 3. Cap. 3. where he names the Succession of the Bishops of Rome down to Eleutherius of his own time the twelfth from the Apostles presupposing the same succession of such single Persons in all the Apostolick Churches and giving it as a Truth in matter of Fact on which he might found the Truth of the Catholick Doctrine and which the Hereticks themselves could not gainsay This plain Testimony of so Learn'd and Venerable a Person at no longer a distance from the Apostles seems unexceptionable but for the Church of Smyrna it is absolutely Unquestionable For there he speaks almost from his own personal Knowledge having himself been acquainted with Polycarp who was immediately ordain'd by the Apostles And as sure as this Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna so plain it is there that Anicetus was of Rome in his time and from their very Conference together reported by this Irenaeus as we have seen (e) Part 1. Ch. 1. §. 4. it also evidently appears that such Bishops had been always there presiding of whom we know as many are mention'd in that place on occasion of the Paschal Dispute as reach'd up to the very beginning of the Second Century Neither need I dissemble that those Bishops are stil'd Presbyters in the place last mention'd since they are known to be Presbyters of the more eminent Degree and to be the same single Persons with the same superiour Character the same distinction still remaining between them and the inferiour Presbyters § II. I might well be content with the Evidence Tertullian and Irenaeus give for the Apostolical Distinction between the Bishop and the other Presbyters and may therefore presume that what I have further to say of the same nature from Ignatius will not fail to be credited For how unreasonable it is to suspect his Writings for the peculiar Dignity he attributes to Bishops and that is the greatest Argument of Suspicion they have has already appear'd from the little I have produc'd as the Reader may find both that and all the lesser Cavils at large and unanswerably refuted by our Bishop Pearson (a) Vind. Ignat. This Ignatius Bishop of Antioch being in his Journey through Asia the less to his Martyrdom at Rome about the year 116 at farthest (b) Dodw. Diss in Ir. 1. sect 17. wrote several Letters to the adjacent Cities thanking the Churches there for their Christian Courtesie to him which they had shew'd by their Messengers and express'd by other Tokens of Fraternal Love and taking at the same time occasion to make them some effectual return and confirm them in the Faith and Discipline of Christ These Letters as all others even the Apostolical would be much better understood by us if we distinctly knew the particular Circumstances of those Churches to which no doubt he speaks very properly tho' we now out of the same words can make but a general and sometimes a very ordinary sence But however something of the Circumstances of those Times and of his Intention in those Letters appears thro' them And as his Design seems to be to fortifie them against the Fears of the present Persecution and to warn them of the dangerous Heresies sprung from Simon Magus and then prevailing so he manifests a particular care against Schism and for the preserving the Government of the Church Before this time the Divisions of the Church of Corinth about their Governors had occasion'd a Letter from the Church of Rome by Clemens's Hand and now in Asia when St. John himself the surviving Apostle was dead and the supreme controuling Authority was extinct it is very likely that the Orders before establish'd were in some danger of being subverted by the Ambition and Unruliness of such whom the Spirit by St. Paul had expresly foretold to Timothy the Bishop of their capital City (c) 1 Tim. 4.1 Now that such Attempts were then made upon the Authority of Church-Officers and to the confusion of their Distinction may be gather'd from this Ignatius as it also appears from his manner of Expression that such a Distinction was no novel thing and of modern erection nor was it of slight concern In this view as we may suppose he tells the Ephesians That they ought to glorifie Jesus Christ who had glorified them to be of one mind and to say the same thing and to be subject to the Bishop and to the Presbytery that they may be wholly sanctified You ought says he to concur with your Bishop as you do for your Presbytery is as consonant to him as strings to an Instrument And let no Man be deceiv'd he that is not within the Altar falls short of the Bread of God and he that does not come to the Assembly is Proud and it is written God resisteth the Proud d Let us not then resist the Bishop that we may be subject to God And the more modest and condescending your Bishop is the more he is to be reverenc'd for he is to be look'd on as the Lord himself And lastly he speaks of their Concurrence with Christ that they may obey the Bishop and the Presbytery with an undistracted Mind breaking that one Bread which is the Medicine for Immortality the Antidote against Death This it seems was necessary to be said on this subject to the Ephesians amongst whom as amongst the other Asiatick Churches to whom he writes the Peace of the Church which St. John's presence had hitherto secur'd began to be disturb'd Whereas therefore in his letter to the Roman Church whose zeal in this case was so well known he makes no mention of their obedience to spiritual Governours in all his other letters to the Asiaticks he enlarges much on the same Topick and was it seems oblig'd to press that Duty even upon the Smyrneans where Polycarp himself was Bishop He does it after this manner Fly Divisions as the beginning or cause of Evils All of you follow the Bishop as Christ Jesus the Father and follow the Presbytery as the Apostles and reverence the Deacons as the Commandment or Mandatories e of God Let no one do any thing appertaining to the Church without the Bishop Let that be esteem'd a good Eucharist which is under the Administration of the Bishop or such as He shall appoint Where the Bishop appears there let the People be as where Jesus Christ is there is the Catholick Church It is not lawful without the Bishop neither to Baptize nor keep the Love-Feast but what He approves that is it which is acceptable to God So to the Philadelphians after Exhortation to Unity under the Bishop he adds Take care therefore to use one Eucharist For there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ one Cup wherein his Blood is united one Altar as there is one Bishop with the Presbytery and my Fellow Servants the Deacons As also in that to the Magnesians he directs Endeavour to do all things in the Vnanimity of God
recommended the Custom of his side That there were too deposited in Asia the Remains of very great Saints and Martyrs Philip and his three Daughters St. John who lay in our Lord's breast Polycarp Thraseas Sagaris and Melito who all had kept the 14th day of the Passover according to the Gospel and so adds he have I according to the Tradition of my Kinsmen or Countrymen or my Predecessors in this See i with some of whom I conversed They were seven and I am the eighth and they always kept the Day when Leaven was forbid I therefore who am now 65 Years old in the Lord and have conversed with our Brethren of the whole World and have perused all holy Scripture am not at all moved at those who trouble and threaten me For my Betters have said God is rather to be obeyed than Man This Holy Man was himself a great Evidence of the Antiquity of the Custom for which he stands He was about the 8th Bishop from St. John for however the Word is to be rendered about so many sate in the same interval at Rome and writes this about 90 Years after his Death when he himself had been a Christian 65 Years of them and able to testifie of all those Years if he was baptized Adult as they then generally were We may too think that he had some particular Instances in his View of the Practice of those Persons whose Names he vouches if we may infer from what we chance to know of two of them Melito and Polycarp For Melito who was Bishop of Sardes had as Eusebius tells us in another place (k) Hist Eccl. 4.26 some twenty Years before wrote a Treatise of the Lord's Day and two Books concerning the Passover or the Christian Solemnity at that time of the Year there having been a great Dispute raised about it at Laodicea then when Sagaris the Bishop of that Place named here by Polycrates received his Martyrdom a Dispute I suppose of the same nature with This. And in it Polycarp here too mentioned had been engaged before who went to Rome as St. Jerome (l) Catal. Scâ—ip Eccl. expresses it about some Questions concerning the Paschal Observation in Anicetus his Pontificate And the Conversation which he had with Anicetus about that Subject we have related by Irenaeus a Disciple of Polycarp's and who had been bred up in Asia He now Bishop of Lyons in France though declaring for Victor yet interposing and endeavouring to moderate the Heat of the Controversie in a piece which Eusebius has sav'd of that Letter (m) 5.24 among other things told Victor as follows And the Presbyters before Soter who presided in the Church which you now govern I mean Anicetus and Pius and Hyginus and Telesphorus and Xystus neither kept the 14th day themselves nor permitted those of their Church to do it And nevertheless they not keeping it held Communion with those who came from other Dioceses where it was kept Although then when they were together in Rome the keeping it was more contrary to those who kept it not n And none were ever refus'd Communion for this Matter But the Presbyters before you who kept it not sent the Eucharist to those of the Dioceses who kept it And when Blessed Polycarp was at Rome in Anicetus his time and there were some Differences between them about other things They presently agreed never proceeding to have any Contention on this Subject Anicetus not prevailing with Polycarp to forego a Custom which he had all along observ'd with St. John the Disciple of our Lord and the other Apostles with whom he had conversed and Anicetus alledging That he for his part ought to keep the Custom of the Bishops his Predecessors And these things standing so they communicated together and in the Congregation Anicetus gave Polycarp the Respect of Celebrating the Eucharist and they departed from each other in Peace in all the Churches those who kept and those who did not keep preserving Peace and Communion one with another Here then we have Polycarp a Disciple of St. John attesting to the Asian Tradition an undeniable Witness of its Apostolical Antiquity We know too that this Discourse of his with Anicetus must be at farthest in the year 161 if we reckon Anicetus his Death with Bishop Pearson and in the year 153 if with Mr. Dodwell between 30 and 40 years before this Dispute of Victor's And indeed it seems plain from the same piece of Irenaeus his Letter that this Difference had been taken notice of almost from St. John's time though mutually tolerated For to that purpose he mentions the behaviour of Anicetus Pius Hyginus Telesphorus Xystus all Bishops of Rome up to the year of our Lord 101 by Bishop Pearson 102 by Mr. Dodwell very near the time of St. John's Decease From all which we see not only what good Authority the Asiaticks disputing with Victor had for their Tradition but that this matter had been long before brought into Question and made so remarkable very early that those of both sides must have had some distinct and more than general remembrance of the successive Practice of their several Customs convey'd down to them Neither indeed could those of Victor's Judgment have ever oppos'd the Asiatick Observation whose Antiquity was so well prov'd if they had not produc'd on their side as good Evidence for their own such Evidence I say as they might well be furnisht with from the elder Memorials of the same debate And thus did both sides of this Great Dispute however they differ'd in the particular manner of their Paschal Observation absolutely agree in the general concerning the Apostolical Antiquity of it A little while after this time Clemens of Alexandria wrote a Treatise concerning the Paschal Observation and some Dissertations concerning Fasting all which are lost And the Design of his Paschal Book as Eusebius tells us (o) Eus Eccl. H. l. 6. c. 13. was to deliver down the Traditions which he had receiv'd from those before him about that subject and in it he made mention of Melito and Irenaeus whose Relations he set down Hippolitus likewise a Bishop and Martyr a Disciple of Irenaeus in the year 221 wrote a Book of the Paschal Season in which (p) Eus E. H. lib. 6. c. 22. as Eusebius says he gives an Account of the past Times by a repeated Cycle of 16 Years concluding in the first Year of Alexander the Emperour's Reign which Book is wanting But a Table of his engraven in Stone was happily dug up at Rome the last Age which beginning at that first Year of Alexander gives all the Easter Days which were then to come for 112 Years with as much Formality and Method as they have been us'd to be calculated since (q) Apud Bâ—â—her in Vidorium Such express Accounts of the Paschal Season there have been heretofore given very near the Apostles times which had they been preserved might have more particularly informed us
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be inserted before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Exception run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d August ad Casulan Videant ergo Romani quid agant quia etiam ipsi nimium contumeliose bujus Disputatione tractarâ—tur apud quos omnibus istis sex diebus pâ—ater paucissâ—â—os claiâ—es out Monachos quotusquisque invenitur qui frequentet quoâ—â—lima Jâ—junia maxime quia ibi jejunandum quinta Sabbati non vidâ—â—â— Hoc de omni Septimana dictum ut è praemidis patet PART II. AN ESSAY Concerning the ORIGINAL OF LENT Subdivided into Two Repartitions PART II. AN ESSAY Concerning the ORIGINAL OF LENT Subdivided into Two Repartitions The First Shewing preparatorily That most of the Ancient Christian Ordinances were deriv'd from the Jews The Second Conjecturing That Lent is of the same Original HAving view'd the Ancient Observation of Lent we now proceed to enquire into its Original and concerning That the Conjectures are various Some ascribe its Rise to Apostolical Constitution some to casual Practice imitated and enlarged by others the one supposing forty Days to be the prescribed Number and that those who fasted sewer were deficient others imagining That one Day only the Day of the Passion was first kept by the Grief rather than Devotion of some good Christians and that this afterwards grew to that large number of Days by the Piety if not Superstition of following Ages all agreeing in this That it was a novel Institution at the earliest being wholly Christian and having no Precedent from any former Usage Now to these Conjectures not seeming to be very satisfactory I have adventured to add another drawn from the Custom of the Jews concerning their Great Fast and their Penitential Preparation before it hoping if it appears reasonably well grounded that it may help to give a clearer light as well as a better colour to a Season so much and so long observ'd in the Church of Christ And here I intended at first to have entered immediately upon the View of the Expiation-Day of the Jews and their Preparatory Season comparing them with our Expiation the Passion-Day and its previous Lent and the Parallel if I mistake not is so exactly correspondent as to make one apt to believe at the first sight that one of those Lines was drawn by the other But because I am sensible that some Objections may be raised both against the Design it self and the Authorities I am to use I shall endeavour first to remove them and possibly by the Answers I am to give I may not only smooth the way but make such Advances as may bring us at the same time nearer to the Admittance of what I have proposed There are Three Prejudices I foresee which may encounter this Undertaking 1. The first may be That it is not probable the Primitive Christians would imitate the Jews or fit they should 2. The other That the Traditional Writings they have are not sufficient Authority for the Knowledge of their ancient Customs 3. And the last may be this That such a Derivation of Lent must be false because it is new These Three Prejudices have occasioned the Addition of the first Member of this Part and the Reader if he pleases may pass it over But of Those the Two last will be easily satisfied by the Consideration of the First and upon that Subject I shall enlarge the more freely because it may be as delightful and instructive to observe the Original of many other Christian Institutions as of Lent PART II. REPARTIT I. That most of the Ancient Christian Ordinances were derived from the Jews CHAP I. § I. Not dishonourable for Christian Ordinances to be borrowed from the Jews and they generally were First such considered as are mentioned in Scripture as § II. Baptism It was a Rite by which as well as by others Proselytes were admitted into Judaism § III. Christian Baptism as expressed in the New Testament an Imitation of it § I. AMONG the Ancient Hereticks some it is known received our Saviour and his Gospel but rejected the Mosaical Law and blasphemed its God And there may be many now though more innocent who at this distance from the Rise of Christianity may either have lost the Remembrance of its Original and forget that the last Covenant has any Dependance on the first or else in Pride of our greater Priviledges may scornfully over-look the Dispensation of Moses as a beggarly Element and in the Vanity of a Neighbour-Nation may think it a Disparagement to the Christian Religion to be thought of Jewish Extraction And there may seem to have been more cause given for this Conceit from some learned Books of late which have treated concerning the Jewish and the Aegyptian Antiquities and which have been misunderstood so far by some to the Prejudice of the old Testament that those who have not considered the Matter well may look upon it as very dishonourable to Christianity to borrow any thing from that Nation which is suspected to have borrowed so much of all its Neighbours and to have robb'd even the Religion of the Aegyptians But they need not fear for Truth can never suffer from Truth and if it shall indeed appear that the Mosaick Religion was conformable to the Worship of their Eastern Neighbours It may notwithstanding no less maintain its Divine Authority Knowledge we know as well as Empire began in that part of the World and there the many Traditions concerning God descended from Noah and others of his inspired Sons were lodged and preserved blended we may think and much corrupted with many Falsities and Superstitions variously too by its various Depositaries the Chaldeans Aegyptians Phoenicians Arabians c. Now all These had something of the same Religion as they had of the same Language but in a different Dialect and Manner and what if God was pleased by the Ministry of Moses to reform it from the many Additions impious or immoral with which it had been severally adulterated Retaining some indifferent Customs innocently introduced Instituting others in opposition to the more dangerous Errours and directing some eminent Parts of the whole to a further Prospect of another and more perfect Revelation yet to come and all these Laws for the Use of a Peculiar People to reduce into one Code and authorize by a new Sanction Such a Reformed Religion we may suppose that of the Jews to have been and need not therefore be afraid if our Religion be said to be a further Reformation of that Judaism a Title Mr. Selden frequently gives it but to be understood not as if it were a Repurgation of the Old from any Errour but as it is the Completion and Perfection of it according to the Original Design And as certainly as our blessed Saviour and his Apostles were of Hebrew Lineage so certain it is that our Religion is grafted on the Jewish Neither do the Expressions only and Allusions of the Gospel relate to the Customs of the Law
People and as they had Moses for their Leader and Law-giver under God their King and also Chief Priest for he consecrated Aaron and his Sons so are we a Society or Body united in One Head our Lord Jesus who under the Father is our King and High Priest And accordingly we succeed to the Stile and Title of the Children of Israel (a) Exod. 19.5 6. Deut. 7.6 and their Dignity and Privileges are devolved upon us For so are we become a peculiar People which Christ has purified to himself (b) Tit. 2.14 We are made by him Kings and Priests unto God the Father (c) Rev. 1.6 We are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation (d) 1 Pet. 2.9 § II. THIS his People Our Prince and High-Priest himself still Governs but by such subordinate Officers below as are denominated from the Jews and also with the same Discipline as far as was consistent with his Empire which was to be neither Local nor Temporal not dependent upon any one place nor regarding Worldly Interests The Officers of the Christian Church mentioned in the Scripture are Apostles Bishops Elders and Deacons and what signification such Titles did bear in the Church of Israel we are now to see Only I am to premise That as we shall find all those Titles in several significations so we are to observe the same of the Words Church and Synagogus to whom those Titles belong For each of these as is well known signifies either the People united under the same Covenant a Society or a Local Assembly of those of that Society or the Place where they are to Assemble The highest Office of the New Testament is that of the Apostles and it is a term of large signification both in Greek and Hebrew or Chaldee It is in both Languages the same as Sent a and so may stand for a common Messenger Deputy or Mandatary or for an Envoy from some great Person for an Embassador Ordinary or Extraordinary or any Plenipotentiary-Commissioner With the Jews therefore the Minister of the Synagogue who takes care of the Business of it under the Superiour Governours and reads the Prayers and who is call'd now more commonly Chazan (b) See §. VI. is also known by this Name as being the Deputy of the Congregation It is said too c that he goes by that Name with them who was sent by the Priests to collect their Dues the First-Fruits and Tenths and so they are term'd in the Imperial Law Neither do I find that the Talmud speaks of any higher Authority under that Style nor I suppose will the Rabbins themselves pretend that they have a compleat Information of all their former Government But however it is certain from Epiphanius that it was the Name of such Plenipotentiary-Commissioners as were sent by the chief of the Jews the High-Priest or Patriarch not only to gather Money but to visit and reform a Province and to confirm and displace its Officers For so he says d of one Josephus who was sent with that Power from their Patriarch then residing in Palestine into Cilicia that he brought back to him the Tenths and First Fruits of the Province and besides had displac'd there many of their Rulers of the Synagogues and of their Priests and of their Elders and of their Azanites which are their Deacons or Ministers And before d 2 Apostles are describ'd to be Men of great Authority who are Assessors to the Patriarch Answerable in some manner to this different acception of the Word with the Jews is the Use of it in the Christian Church For it is observ'd that Epaphroditus is call'd by St. Paul (e) Phil. 2.25 an Apostle of the Philippians in an inferior Sence for the Office he discharg'd of conveying their Contribution to him their great Apostle and as it were Patriarch And such it is justly suppos'd those Brethren were who are spoke of to the Corinthians in a Discourse concerning Contributions and are term'd (f) 2 Cor. 8.23 the Apostles of the Churches the Glory of Christ But this Name imported a higher Dignity and greater Power when it was attributed to the Twelve or to St. Paul They were as Assessors to Christ our Priest and our King hereafter in the places of the Princes of the Tribes to sit on Twelve Thrones and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel (g) Matt. 19.28 and in the mean time endued with Power from above to Act and Speak in his Name and to Govern his Church appointing Officers and prescribing Orders Of this sort was Saint Paul and such an Apostle he professes himself (h) 1 Cor. 15.9 not worthy to be call'd And further as They all were in this manner Apostles of Christ so is Christ himself said (i) Heb. 3.1 to be our Apostle as well as High-Priest being (k) John 20.21 SENT by the Father as they were sent by Him § III. NEXT to the Apostles are Bishops And this too is a Word that signifies at large both in the Hebrew and Greek a of the Old Testament In the Greek of the Septuagint it is said of the Officers of an Army both Captains over hundreds and Captains over thousands (a 2) Nu. 31.14 2 Kings 11.15 of the Provost or Alderman of a Ward (b) Neh. 11.9 of Overseers of Works and Payments (c) 2 Chr. 34. And so the Office is an Oversight or Charge as Eleazar had the Oversight and Charge of all the Tabernacle (d) Num. 4.16 and his Office or Charge let another take (e) Psal 109.8 The word answering to this in the Hebrew denotes a Steward over a Houshold (f) Gen. 39.5 a Superintendant over a City (g) 41.34 and in the Temple it stands for the Head and Director of any Office And the Overseer or Officer of the High-Priest (h) 2 Chr. 24.11 is said by Rabbi Salomon on the place to be the High-Priest's Vicegerent usually call'd the Sagan (i) Jer. 20.1 as also the chief Governour in the House of the Lord k is understood to be by Jonathan the Targumist l whom Kimchi m therefore stiles the High Overseer under the High-Priest Thus is this Word found to signifie in the Old Testament but the Talmudists as far as I can see take no notice of its Office and leave us to be informed of this as well as of the Apostleship from other hands The same Word in the Greek of the New Testament is taken in some Latitude too First of all our blessed Lord himself is call'd the Bishop and Shepherd of our Souls (m) 1 Pet. 2 25. as having the chief Oversight and Care of the Flock In a lower degree the Office of Bishoprick mention'd in the 109th Psalm is apply'd to the Apostleship which Judas lost and Matthias took (n) Acts 1.20 And yet lower Those also who are called Presbyters are at the same time named Bishops as those Presbyters or Elders which S. Paul sent for
I. a Tert. de Coron Cap. 3. Ad omnem Progressum atque Promotum ad omnem Aditum atque Exitum ad Calceatum ad Lavacra ad Mensas ad Lumina ad Cubilia ad Sedilia quaecunque nos Conversatio exercet Frontem Crucis signaculo terimus g 2 Ibid. Die Dominico Jejuniâ—m nefas ducimus vel de Geniculis adorare Eadem immunitate à aie Paschae in Pentecosten usque gaudemus i Ibid. Calicis aut Panis etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram anxiè patimur n Tert. de Orat. Cap. 12. Quòd assignatâ Oratione Assidendi mos est quibusdam rationem non video nisi si Hermas ille q Ibid. Cap. 14. Alia jam Consuetudo invaluit Jejunantes â—abitâ Oratione cum Fratribus subtrabunt Osculum Pacis Jam enim de Abstinentia Osculi c. Vide literam s ad operis hujus Partis prioris Cap. 4. r Cap. 13. Sonos etiam vecis subjectos esse oportet aut quantis arteriis opus est si pro sono audiamur t Cap. II. Certè Israelis manus semper immundae sanguine Prophetarum ipsius Domini cruentatae in aeternum Et ideo conscientid Patrum haereditarii Rei nec attollere eas ad Dominum audent Nos vero non attollimus tantum sed etiam expandimus y Tertull. Apolog. Cap. 16. Alii Solem credunt Deum nostrum Denique inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos ad Orientâ—â— regionem precari § II. d Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edit Oxon. p. 130. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g See Gregory 's Works Ch. 18. on Zach 3.8 6.12 n This in part is exemplified by Mr. Gregory o This too is mention'd by Mr. Greogory in the same place and by Mr. Selden De Syned 3.16.2 § IV. c Orig. Ibid. pag. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § V. a Justin Apol. 2. sub siuem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Tertull de Animâ Cap. 9. Est hodiè soror apud nos Revelationum charismata sortita quas in Ecclesia inter Dominica solennia per Eâ—stasin in spiritu patitur Jam vero prout Scripturae leguntur aut Psalmi cantâ—â—tur aut Adlocutiones proferuntur aut Petitiones delâ—gantur iâ—â— indè materiae Visionibus subministrantur § VII a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § VII It is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Priest pronounces this he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Goar ad Euchol Grac. pag. 56. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vide Chrysost Liturgiam c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de quo consuli poterit Goar ad Chryst Liturgiam Observatione 125. e Clem. Alexandr Strom. lib. 7 mo Edit Paris pag. 722. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Such Admonitions as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Liturg. Chryf i An Instance may be seen in the Admonitions given to the High Priest by those next him at the putting on of the Two Lots on the Two Goats Domine Pontifex tolle Manum Dextram or Tolle manum sinistram Maim de Cult Div. 8.3.3 CHAP. XI § I. The Second Prejudice against a Jewish Origination of Lent from want of Authority in the Talmudical Writings § II. Answer'd by shewing 1. That those Traditional Accounts were not without some Antient Foundation of their own § III. Secondly That they are Confirm'd in many points by Collateral Evidence § IV. And Thirdly That they were not borrow'd by the Jews from Foreign Authors § V. The Third Prejudice against such an Origination from the Novelty of it Answer'd § I. THE Second Objection against the Jewish Original of Lent as we apprehended (a) Part 2. Chap. 1. might be this that the Traditional Writings we have of the Jews were not sufficient Authority for the Knowledge of their Antient Customs and this is a Prejudice that has been entertain'd by many very learned Men and has been much confirm'd by Morinus his Exercitations Neither is it to be deny'd but that the Jews have deserv'd this Disgrace having brought their Traditions under a suspicion by the foolish way they took to advance the Credit of them For they thought it not enough to have their Customs very Antient and some of them as Old as Moses but he must also have learn'd them in Mount Sina from the Mouth of God himself Neither was it sufficient to have had them preserv'd by Writing if the people had so thought fit but they must be necessarily transmitted by the sole force of Oral Tradition And when they come at last to be reduc'd into Writing by their Rabbi Judah about the Year of our Lord 209 his Collection must be immediately as Authentick as if wrot by Moses or by the Finger of God And then the Commentaries on this Book the two Talmuds the First of them they will needs have compil'd in our Fourth Century and the Last the Babylonian to have been completed in the Beginning of the Sixth (b) Vide Poâ—ock Portam Mosis Morin-Exerc 6. Liâ— 2 di We shall not therefore wonder if such confident Pretences as these have provok'd the World to inquire and examine and as is usual extreamly to Under value and Depress what others have more unreasonably enhanc'd And thus both that Fam'd Book and its Commentaries are bid to go down three or four hundred years lower than they were plac'd by their too Devoted Admirers (c) Morin Exerc. modò dictá the Text it self is esteem'd an uncertain Rhapsody and the Expository Additions to it a Heap of Impertinencies and Idle Tales And if there are any Antient Facts or Customs agreeable to what we know by better hands the notice of them is suppos'd not to have come originally from their Own Memoirs but to have been borrowed afterwards from our Greek or Latin Authors Now as to my own part my acquaintance with these Jews has not been so great as that I should think my self bound to engage in their Quarrel and to justify the pretended Age and Authority of their Writings That their Accounts were more Full in many material Cases I have often had occasion to wish and that they are certainly true I must confess I am never intirely satisfied until I find them confirm'd by the Concurrence of some better Testimony such a prejudice has that pretence of Oral Tradition given me I shall not therefore undertake to offer more in their favour than these two Considerations First that such Traditional Memoirs are no Novel things but that such Misnaioths were certainly very old more early and better Recorded even than the Rabbins give out and Secondly that it is not likely that their Accounts of their Customs were suggested by our Writers or form'd from the Observation of Christian Practice § II. AND first as for what concerns the Misnaioth or Digest of Traditions compos'd
by their Great Rabbi and who is now their Oracle it is allow'd by Morinus himself (a) Exâ—â—â— 6. Cap. to have been Read in their Synagogues in Justinian's time together with the Law and the Prophets and to be meant by him in his Edict b dated in the year of our Lord 548. And if it had then that Authority with the Jews it must be suppos'd to have risen up to it after some considerable Tract of Time and not to have been compil'd in the Memory of Man unless we too will fall into the Rabbinical Fable and make it to have been held so highly Sacred at its first appearance It might therefore well have seen the Light an hundred or two hundred years before and yet not have been particularly mention'd either by Epiphanius or St. Jerom as not being of that singular Repute in their time above other Collections of the same Nature For that this was the First Book of the Kind that was ever written the Jews indeed tell us but this Tale we may easily ghess was devis'd only to do it greater Honour and He that Believes them not in all will have no Reason to believe them in This. The word Tradition is known to signify only the Delivery of a Doctrine or Ordinance as Misnah is a Secundary Law neither of them excluding the help of Writing Neither is Tradition or Secondary Law if styl'd Oral therefore to be accounted absolutely Unwritten but only Originally not as if it were never after to be reduc'd into Writing but as not given out in it at the first delivery And although St. Augustin (c) Contra Advers Leg. Proph. 2.1 says that the Jews of that time had not their Traditions in Writing but retain'd them by Memory and deliver'd them Orally yet we may well suppose the Good Father to be deceiv'd in this by the Jews who were shy it may be of publishing the Books of this nature to the Knowledge of Christians and because they were wont in their Schools to deliver their Lessons to their Scholars without Writing as many other Professors in many places still do might therefore pretend they never us'd any For that such Traditions had been written long before even in the Apostolick Times we are competently assur'd from the Epistle attributed to Barnabas where some of the Customs which Rabbi Juda's Misnah gives are expresly mention'd and as deliver'd in Writing d From this Testimony of St. Barnabas it seems to be plain against the Assertion of St. August in and the Modern Opinion of the Jews that there was some kind of written Misnah in the first Age of Christianity as it is very probable also that this present Misnah of Rabbi Jehudah's might be extant at the latter end of the Fourth Age the time of that now mention'd Father and of Epiphanius and St. Jerom. But besides though these two last Authors do not mention this very Book yet as they both understood the Jewish Learning well so they let us understand that this Traditional Part of it was then in high Esteem with them cited for Unquestionable Authority and reputed of very great Antiquity St. Jerom speaking of Jewish Traditions in St. Paul's time says e that a great number of such they continued to have in his He for his part supposing them to be the same under the name of Secondary f Ordinances and adds that if they were ask'd for Example how they came to take the Liberty of a Sabbath Journey when their Law commanded them to sit in their House they were ready to justify themselves by that other their Traditional Authority and to answer that Rab Akiba and Simeon and Hillel Names famous in the Present g Collection had allow'd them to walk Two Thousand Feet on that Day two thousand Cubits saith h the Talmud Such Traditions as these he says their Doctors read of certain days of the Week and the Phrase for it was The Wisemen i read the Secondary Law So much does St. Jerom bear Witness of some Misnaical Memoirs then held very Sacred and of their Doctors Commenting upon them Epiphanius is more particular concerning the Age of those Traditions and to refute Marcion who suppos'd the Old Testament it self to be the Traditions the Pharisees retain'd while they pass'd by Mercy and Judgment He k bids him inquire whence they came and he shall find that they were otherwise descended from David or Adda after the Return from Babylon and from Akiba who liv'd before that Captivity as well as from the Sons of Asamoneus who were 190. years before our Saviour Writing also against Ptolomy the Valentinian who supposes the same Traditions our Saviour reproves that particularly whereby a Parent was unreliev'd under the pretence of a Corban to be found in the five Books of Moses and affirms the Pentateuch to consist of the Law of God the Ordinances of Moses and the Traditions of the Elders he tells him that for what relates to the Elders he is not able to justify it by the Scripture for the Traditions of the Elders are no where extant in the Law and that this his strange conceit proceeds from his Ignorance in those matters For says he the Traditions of the Elders are by the Jews call'd Secondary Instructions and they are four the First bears the Name of Moses as some of their Traditions do now the Second is of Rabbi Akiba as they call him the third of Adda or Juda and the fourth of the Sons of Asamoneus But where in the five Books of the Pentateuch is that of the Corban mention'd by our Saviour to be found you cannot shew it Your Assertion therefore falls to the ground that saying of the Corban no where appearing in the Pentateuch Now hence we see first that the Traditions which the Jews had in Epiphanius his time were the same in his Judgment which were in our Saviour's time Secondly that those Traditions in probability were not then kept unwritten for otherwise our Author would have taken another course with Ptolomy's Ignorance and have told him that those Traditions were so far from being writ down in the Pentateuch that they were not yet written at all And thirdly we may conjecture from his manner of Expression that the Jews had four Misnah's distinct then and that the Compilation or Digest of them and of some later added is the Misnaioth we now have Such an Account do these Fathers give us of the reputed Authority of the Jewish Traditions about the year of our Lord 400. But further that some of them were not unwritten in the Apostolical Age we have before seen from Barnabas his Epistle and that they were in great vogue in our Saviour's time is apparent from the Gospels as also from Josephus m that there were such Customs which had obtain'd a long while in Johannes Hyrcanus his Days above a 100. Years before our Saviour and which they of that time had receiv'd from their Fathers not written in the Laws of Moses for