are to read such a one as that Minister is suppos'd to be to whom our Saviour when he had clos'd the Book gave it again And this Minister has commonly under him another Servant of the Synagogue a Sacristan who looks to it and keeps all things safe and clean § VII TO these Civil and Religious Officers of the Jewish Synagogue Deacons I suppose are answerable Bishops and Deacons or Presbyters and Deacons being join'd together in the New Testament as Judges and Officers were in the old Now in the Christian Use the word Deacon or Minister is very differently applied according as the Services are different in which he is imploy'd Our Saviour is the Minister of Circumcision (a) Rom. 15.8 a King the Minister of God (b) Rom. 13.14 And the Apostles Ministers of Christ (c) 1 Cor. 4.1 But a Minister or Deacon absolutely so call'd in the New Testament is an Officer under the Bishop or Presbyter and the first appointed were the seven (d) Act. 6. Ordain'd by the Apostles with Imposition of hands These were Men of Honest Report who were to ease the Apostles of the Administration of the Charitable Revenue of the Church not to be Gatherers of the Basket I suppose or Servers of Tables for that the Apostles sure did not do before but to be Treasurers and Superintendants such as were the Seven of the Temple or the Goodmen above-mention'd of a City For though the Greek word for Ministring does sometimes signify to wait and serve at a Table yet as we just now noted it is by no means restrain'd to that low sense but is said as well of the Office of our Blessed Lord and of his Apostles and also of Kings that is of any the Noblest Administrations and may therefore answer the word Parnas in its Highest meaning Neither is it at all necessary that the Office of a Deacon should be wholly Oeconomical because it was first erected in the Christian Church on that occasion While the whole Church was yet but as one Family under the immediate Government of the Apostles and they had not yet Created any other Officers the first Officers were indeed instituted upon the first emergent want and were order'd then especially to take care of that and to manage the publick expence but they were also to be as we may well suppose subservient to the Apostles in other administrations and to Publish and Execute all their Orders For the Qualification of them was to be full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom and certainly a Wisdom beyond that of common managery and a Spirit more than Oeconomical was then understood Though therefore those Deacons were not to give themselves up to Prayer and the word only yet they might have had their part even in those Functions as St. Stephen we find had whose Preaching the Scripture records more than his Good Husbandry and who speaking by that Wisdom and Spirit for which he was but now chosen into his Office became the first Martyr as well as first Deacon of the Gospel These Deacons it should seem were Extraordinary attending Ministerially upon the Apostles as upon the twelve Princes of Israel having been created before the appointment of any Bishops or Subaltern Presbyters But afterwards in every City where Bishops or Presbyters were plac'd the Officers of this Order were constantly subjoin'd So the Epistle to the Philippians is addressed to the Saints there with the Bishops and Deacons and so in the Epistle to Timothy after Directions given concerning Bishops there follow others immediately concerning Deacons Likewise must the Deacons (e) 1 Tim. 3.8 And there we may observe the Qualifications of the lower Office are near the same with those of the Higher and as much almost requir'd in the Deacon enough to induce us to think that some Spiritual Duty was also to be discharg'd by Him So much Reason there is from Scripture to conclude that Christian Deacons did not only Keep and Dispense the Publick Contributions as the Jewish Parnasim but that they serv'd under their Superiors even in the Ministery of the Word and Prayer as we shall certainly find them hereafter (f) Chap. VIII to be Attendant upon their Bishops upon all other Business and particularly employ'd in Assemblies in the Office of a Jewish Chasan § II. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Grot. in Matth. c. 10. v. 5. d Epiphan Haeres 30.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haeres eâd. § IV. § III. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit Praefecit cui respondet Arabicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conjugat octav Inquisivit Inspexit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exponitur per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l The Chaldee of the Targum is much the same with the Hebrew of Rabbi Salomon m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § IV. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senatus Seignieur Alderman Vid. Selden de Synedr l. 1. c. 14. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De quibus consuli poterit Rhenfordius Dissertat Philolog 1. de decem Oâ—iosis Synag § 109. c. § VI. a Upon those Words of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Salomon expounds the last by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Aben Ezra by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And upon this occasion I would only offer whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul 1 Cor. 12.28 may not be understood of this Office as it was supply'd by the Deacons of the New Testament according to what is propos'd in the next Section And this the rather because the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned just before these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may well be taken for Presbyters the Word in the Old Testament by which their Duty is express'd and which we translate Bear the Burden with thee Exod. 18.22 Numb 11.17 being in both places render'd in the Septuagint by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These Offices I would suppose had in the Beginning of the Gospel the Spiritual Gifts of proper Abilities as the first Seventy Elders were endued with a Portion of Moses his Spirit which is judged too by the Jews not to have rested upon them long much less to have continued to the Order For as to the Higher Degrees with which the Apostle there begins of first Apostles secondarily Prophets to which Evangelists are subjoin'd in the Enumeration made Ephes 4.11 and thirdly Doâ—tours these also may well be taken to bear Proportion to the different Distributions of the Holy Spirit which the Masters of the Jews observe to have been made to the Authors of the Old Testament and according to which they are known to divide its Volumes The First consisting of the Five Books of Moses their great Apostle the Next of the Prophets whom they distinguish by the First as Joshua Judges c. and by the Latter as Isaiah Jeremiah c.
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
of Faith e though some of them were accused of Sabellianism f but only in some Rigours of Practice which he enjoyn'd as by Divine Command He absolutely forbad all second Marriages condemn'd all declining of Danger in time of Persecution made the Abstinence of the ordinary Stations to be longer and more severe dismissing their Assemblies later and allowing then a very spare Refreshment He ordered the Fast before Easter to consist of Two Weeks f 2 and besides instituted two New Lents or Seasons of Fasting g each of a Week excepting the Saturday for they fasted no Saturday but that before Easter b These and such like Ordinances he pretended to be dictated by the Holy Spirit to him and his two Prophetesses on whom the Comforter had at last according to our Saviour's Promise descended in a more plentiful manner than upon the Apostles and with fuller and more perfect Instructions Consequently those of this Sect from theâ—r pretences to the Spirit and to a stricter manner of Life took themselves to be the only spiritual Persons calling the Catholicks Carnal and Animal Men i and esteem'd the Writings of their two Prophetesses above the other Books of the New Testament k supposing them to be both the Completion and Conclusion of it and admitting afterwards no more l Of this Sect was Tertullian a Man of an austere Life and rigid Temper and a fierce Disputer but excellently Learn'd and after his peculiar fashion very Eloquent His Book concerning Fasting happens to be preserv'd where in Justification of his own Party he summs up the Opinion and the Practice of his Adversaries the Catholicks about that Matter m They accuse us saith he that we keep Fasts of our own that for the most part we prolong the time of our Stations to the Evening and that we use the Dry Diet feeding on no Flesh nor Broth nor any Juicy Fruit neither Eating nor Drinking any thing that is Vinous and that besides we then abstain from Bathing an Abstinence consequent to such a Dry Food This they object to us for an Innovation and conclude it to be unlawful either to be judg'd Heretical if it be a Humane Doctrine or to be condemn'd for false Prophecy if it pretends to be an Ordinance of the Spirit So that we are either way to be Accus'd as those who preach another Gospel For as to Fasts they tell us That certain Days have been appointed by God As when in Leviticus the Lord commands Moses That the 10th day of the 7th Month should be a Day of Propitiation saying * Lev. 2â— 27. It shall be holy to you and you shall afflict your Souls and every Soul that afflicts not it self that day shall be destroyed from among my People And in the Gospel they suppose those Days determined to Fasting in which the Bridegroom was taken away and that those only now are the days appointed in ordinary for Christian Fasts the old Observances of the Mosaical Law and the Prophets being now abolish'd for when they have a mind they can understand what is meant by that the Law and Prophets were unto John and therefore that as for any other time Fasting is to be used according to Discretion and upon particular Occasions and Causes not by the Command of any new Discipline For so did the Apostles not laying upon the Disciple any other Burden of Set Fasts and such as should be observed in common by All and consequently not of Stations neither which have indeed their Set Days Wednesday and Friday but so as that they are to be kept discretionally not by force of any Command nor beyond the last hour of the Day the Prayers then being generally ended by Three in the Afternoon after the example of St. Peter mentioned in the * Acts 10.30 Acts. But the Dry Diet our Xerophagy is they say a new Name for a new affected Duty too like the Heathen Superstition being such an Abstinence as is used to Apis and Isis and the Mother of the Gods This is his Representation of the Catholicks Thoughts concerning the Ante-Paschal Fast from which he argues in the 13th Chapter n You plead says he that the Christian Faith hath its Solemnities already determined by Scripture or Tradition and that no other Observation is to be super-added because of the Vnlawfulness of Innovation Keep to that ground if you can for here I find you your selves both fasting out of the Paschal Season besides those days in which the Bridegroom was taken away and also interposing the Half-fasts of your Stations and sometimes too living on Bread only and Water as every particular Person thinks fit You answer indeed that these things are done at your Liberty and not by Command but then you have quitted your Ground and gone beyond your Tradition when you do such things as have not been appointed you And so in the next Chapter o in answer to those who compar'd them to the Galatians as Observers of Days and Months he replies That they observe not the Jewish Ceremonies but that to the New Testament there belong new Solemnities Otherwise says he if the Apostle has abolished all Religion of Days and Times and Months and Years Why do we both Montanists and Catholicks celebrate the Paschal Season yearly in the first Month Why do we pass the fifty days following in Joy and Exultation Why do we consecrate Wednesday and Friday to Stations and Friday or Good-Friday p to Fastings Although you Catholicks also sometimes continue Saturday a day never to be fasted except in the Week before Easter for a Reason given in another place q And lastly in the next the 15th Chapter r taking notice that the Apostle condemn'd those who commanded to abstain from Meats foreseeing Marcion and Tatian and such Hereticks who would enjoin perpetual Abstinence in contempt of what the Creator had made in Vindication of their own Sect from Heresie he subjoins For how very little is the Prohibition of Meat we have made We offer to our Lord two Weeks of Dry Diet and those not whole Weeks neither Saturdays and Sundays being exempted abstaining then from such Food which we do not reject but only defer To these Testimonies of Tertullian out of this Book we may subjoin another out of his Dissertation about Prayers s Where after he has explained the Lord's Prayer and spoke of some Requisites to Prayer he then comes to censure some superstitious Observances about it and particularly taxes a Custom that had began to prevail Those who were in a Fast towards the Conclusion of their Assemblies and just before the Communion not saluting their Brethren with the Holy Kiss then always us'd on that occasion This declining to salute had been the Fashion of the Jews in their Fasts as a sign of Sorrow and is reprov'd here by Tertullian in Christians as being a kind of Ostentation of their Fasting and contrary therefore to the Direction of our Saviour which commands us not to appear to men to
All as there was commonly before it a Portico and a Piazza Such Rooms as these Private Men also built in Great Houses and being Christians might lend to the use of Christian Assemblies whence as they say it afterwards came that Churches were built in the same fashion retaining also the Name Basilicae Now that those Halls might have sometimes and somewhere serv'd to that use and were very convenient for it may be granted but as one cannot think that the Form of such a Hall gave occasion to the several Ranks and Offices of Christians so neither to the Building which was to be suited to them I should rather suppose that the Congruity of those two sorts of Aedifices was accidental and that the name came from the similitude t There are indeed others who take the Modules of our Churches from the Jews but either from their Synagogues or from the Temple House consisting of the H Fig. 1. Porch the Holy I and the Holy of Holies K Whereas the Synagogue goes but half way and neither now has nor ever pretended to an Altar and the Altar of Incense and Table of Shewbread which were in the House were we know in the Outer Part and not in the inmost the Holy of Holies It appears therefore that the Temple as it consisted of its several Courts was rather the Pattern which the Christians follow'd for the Place of their Worship For as for the House as it might before have been an Imitation of the Heavens the Holy of Holies representing the Third Heaven so now it might be suppos'd to be no longer on Earth but chang'd into that not made with Hands into which the High Priest was now enter'd with his own Blood as the Author to the Hebrews observes (u) Hebr. 9.11 12 24. We all in the mean time waiting without in expectation of his Return and until that his coming again by his particular Command continuing to celebrate the Joyful Memorial of that Sacrifice with which he Appears now in the presence of God for us But to return to my Argument whatever may become of the Conjecture concerning the Figure of our Churches this is certain by the express Declaration of the Scripture (x) See Repart 2. Ch. 2. §. 2. that our Saviour Christ is the High Priest of our Profession and in the Opinion of the Primitive Church all the several Bishops seem to have been as so many Sagans or Vicars of that High Priest officiating at their several Altars with equal and among themselves independant Authority y Under His Direction the Presbyters are as Priests assisting that their Vice High Priest in their several Stations and the Deacons as Levites attend and administer unto them So are our Bishops Representatives of our Saviour either as he is our Prince or our Priest his Deputies both in the Synagogue and in the Temple And thus as the Fathers of the Consistories with the Jews the Presidents under the Princes might have been properly enough stil'd by the Title signifying a Bishop or Superintendent So we actually know that the Vice High Priest whom now the Jews call Sagan was heretofore in the Old Testament express'd by that very name (z) See Chap. 4. §. 3. § 1. b One Part of the Distinction the Laici are specified in the place last cited and the other the Clerus containing the Ordines Ecclesiastici iâ— as expresly and familiarly mention'd in his Book de Monog cap. 12. occurring very often in the compass of a few lines § 2. d St. Peter argues in the same manner 1. 5. 5. e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mandatum it may be in the sense of the Civil Law and the Deacons here to be understood as Mandataries or Agents for such they were to the Bishops Const. Apost 2.28 and such Proctors the High Priest had whom the Jews call Entelers or Antalars from the Greek as may be seen at large in Seld. de Synedr 2.10.7 h According to Mr. Dodwell Dissert 2. Cap. 6. § 24. Libr. Posth Cestriens Episc Pearsonii i Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. § 40 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 3. i Tertull. De Praeser Haer. Cap. 41. hodie Presbyter qui cras Laicus nam Laicis munera Sacerdotalia injungunt m The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. was the Place where the Communion was distributed to the Laiety and from the Lord's Body being there on that occasion Goar would have it call'd Solium as others from the Seat of the Emperour but Du Fresne seems to have given a more probable Original of the word Constant Chr. libr. 3. cap. 73. Solea says he à Solo Pavimento Editiori quippe apud Italos quicquid supra Pavimentum tantisper eminet Soglia dicitur uti apud Francos Seuil But Solea it self in Latin may possibly answer the signification and that place which is a little higher than the Quire may be reputed the Basis of the Bema its Solea or Crepida as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Solea in Festus by Materia Roborea supra quam Paries Cratitius extruitur not to mention that this place might be call'd Solea as that in the Amphitheaters next the Arena was call'd Podium n This Solea is said by Sim. Thessal to be call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goar Euch. pag. 18. t The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tribunal by which the Altar-space is call'd and the Cancelli and Vails or Curtains by which it was separated from the rest of the Church and also the Candles and Book upon the Table may indeed concur to strengthen the Opinion I have oppos'd But it may be consider'd that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self in that fence may well come from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that therefore the Jews may be suppos'd to have us'd their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more willingly and that the Christians took it from them And so we know that though the Cancelli and Veiles were us'd to inclose the Apartment of Secular Governours yet Veils were us'd in the House of God and that these Cancelli divided the Court of the Altar from that of the Priests And lastly whereas it is true that the Furniture of the Table of the Praefecti Praetorio was a Book of his Office standing up between Candles on each side as it is design'd in the Notitia Imp. of Pancirollus it is also to be observ'd that this Civil State was deriv'd from sacred Eastern Usage that Candles were burnt before God in one part of the House and the Law lodg'd in the other and accordingly in the Jewish Synagogues their Repository of the Law has those Canâ—les before it and when the Law is brought out to be read it is placed on a Table that has a Cloth over it Buxt Syn. Cap. 14. and that therefore our Christian Altar instead of Fire which it needed not might have those Lights continually burning
Elders have by Mr. Selden's Concession the Power of the Limited Elders of the Jews (f) De Syn. 2.7 â— and so in his Opinion they were only to Instruct and Direct by Expounding and Exhorting and to Bind and Loose by Decision of Cases of Conscience and pronouncing Lawful and Unlawful as in the First Council at Jerusalem And this Limitation he thinks proper because the Presbyters of the Jews we have seen had no power in criminal Causes if ordain'd out of Judea and in his Opinion even their other Authority out of their own Country and Dominion was only from the Agreement of their People and the connivence of Princes under whom they liv'd It were enough for my present Intent if the Christian Elders answer'd the Jewish but thus far But that they had a greater Authority given them the very Expressions of the Scripture seem to speak As Obey them that have Rule over you and submit your selves (g) Heb. 13.17 Those that are over you (h) 1 Thes 5.12 preside over you such who are over the Church so as to Rule it (i) 1 Tim. 5.17 as the Master of a Family is over his own Children and Rules his House (k) 4.4 Which Expressions though they may be strain'd by narrow Construction to signifie Teaching and Exhortation only yet they most naturally imply something of Coercion besides and that they were us'd always to connote in the Old Testament But the comparison St. Paul makes in the last place between a Family and a Church will hardly bear the restrain'd Interpretation unless the Paternal Power was abridg'd as well as the Presbyteral and was left to Instruct and Exhort only Now as the Words are ready to signifie a greater Power so such a one there was remaining to be signified that of Admitting into the Christian Communion suspending from it and ejecting out of it a Power which the Jewish Presbyters had and the Christian Society did not want as we shall presently find (l) Chap. 5. 9. Neither did even Capital or Civil Power cease to belong to Christian Presbyters for the reason given by Mr. Selden not because they were created out of Judeas for Christ's Kingdom was no longer confin'd to one Country and every Land was holy nor because no sort of Civil Power could be exercis'd in another Kingdom for such a Power might have demanded Obediences in Conscience though it could not have oblig'd it by armed Force But rather because the Kingdom in which they were Officers was not of this World was not to judge or divide Inheritances nor to entertain Legions for the Peace of its Government and Execution of its Sentences they being to conduct the Church to another Life and Authoriz'd to Rule over it and controul it by that Respect Though therefore the Christian Elder be not ordain'd to Temporal Power yet he succeeds to the Jewish Presbyter in his fullest Right not wanting that Power because he wants any thing of Proper Authority but because he is commission'd to act in another Sphere and above these lower concerns as our blessed Saviour's Authority abstracted from his Omnipotence was not less than that of the former Law-giver Moses though he was pleas'd to waive the Power of Life and Death And thus far we have consider'd the Christian Elders resembling the Jewish in respect of the Church as a Society in like manner they presided over it as an Assembly Appointing Directing and Governing their Meetings by Doctrine and by Censure as is well known and will appear further hereafter § VI. FROM this Agreement of the Jewish and Christian Church in the Superiour Officers we have reason to look for the same in the Lower which remains that of a Deacon In the Appointment before cited from Deuteronomy we are to remember That Officers are mention'd as well as Judges and these though acknowledg'd to be Rulers and Men of Authority a were yet of an inferiour rank and subservient to the Elders And accordingly Josephus stiles them Ministers or Under-Officers and speaks as if to every Court of Seven Elders there were in the earlier Days two of these â—â—â—â—â—ers appointed and out of the Tribe of Levt b This Ministerial Office seems to have consisted of several Imployments and of different Degrees whatever belongs to Sheriffs Protonotaries and Clerks of Courts to Marshals and Cryers Bayliffs and Executioners The business of it was to write the Orders of the Senate and to Proclaim and Execute them to send out Process to Summon Arrest and Punish And it is observable that the Rabbins (c) Seld. de Syn. 2 5 4. Maim Tract San. c. 1. §. 10. allot to every Consistory of Twenty Three two Scribes Attendant d and also two Under-Sheriffs or Executioners whom they call by the same Name they give to the Reader of their Prayers as we shall presently see a Name common heretofore to all Under-Officers in the head of whom were the Two Scribes mentioned therefore by Josephus more particularly Besides these Officers of Judicature there were others who had the charge of their Charity Now the Jews take themselves to be very strictly oblig'd to provide for the Necessitous of their Religion and to support them in some measure answerably to their Quality (e) Maim de Donis Paup cap. 7.3 For this purpose there are Collectors in every City deputed some who go about every day to gather Bread and Meat Collectors of the Basket Others commonly two and to whom a third is to be join'd in the Distribution who go about every Week to gather the Almes and if need be the Tax for the Poor (f) Ibid. c. 9. These were call'd Collectors from their Gathering and Parnasim f 2 or Pastors from their supporting and Maintaining a Word that signifies not only this Office but Government in general and might be said of Elders or any other Rulers Answerable to these Collectors of Cities there were in the Temple (g) Lightâ—oot's Temple Service Collectors too call'd Gizbarim and it may be observable that these were under seven others nam'd Immarcalim who had the Custody and Keys of the Sacred Treasury We have seen also (h) §. IV. that Seven good men of a City are particularly remember'd and though their imployment be not well ascertain'd yet it is plain that the Goods of the Community were under their Ordering The Officers now spoken of belong to their Civil Society for their Religious Assemblies there are others The ordinary Synagogue-Officer is known by the name of Chazan the same as I have said which they give to their Executioner This Name Epiphanius one not unacquainted with the Affairs of the Jews expresly renders by Minister i the very same word which Josephus had us'd to signify those Officers in Deuteronomy attendant upon the Judges This is their Praecentor who under the Higher Rulers the Elders now the Rabbins takes care of the Service of the Synagogue Says Prayers shews the Lessons calls and directs those who
who may be reckoned for Evangelists and the Last being made up of the Holy Writings as they call them which are chiefly Doctrinal b Joseph Archaiol 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is known to stand for Minister Publicus qui Magistratui apparet d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of the Text has in the Hebrew and Chaldee of the Scripture the general Signification of Government and Command And in the Arabick Dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Praefuitut Inspector as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Praefectus Inspector but this last Word is besides the same as Commentarieâ—sâ—s Is qui annotat quae cunque ad rem curandam aut gerendam spectant as Golius renders it and so carries the Signification of its Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Delineavit Scripsit and likewise expresseth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint and the Scribes attending upon the Rabbiniâ—al Sanâ—â—drim f 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signifies Gubernare Regere and also Pascere Cibare and so in the Arabick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Summus Pagorum Praefectus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mulier oeconomica quae rem Domesticam egregie administrat i Azanitae are rendred by Epiphanius as above § II. d. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Jews signifies not only the Minister of the Synagogue as a Place of Worship but any other Minister of a Society and is the Name of those that have the Night-Watch of a City and of those who wait upon their Judicial Consistories and serve their Writs and keep their Prison and execute their Sentences even to Corporal Punishment It is us'd to be derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vidit and so has been supposed by some to answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if from this Employment the Episcopal Office was to be derived likewise But this Etymology begins to be dislik'd and is rather fetch'd from the Arabick where it seems to be answered in part by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 custodiviâ— and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thesaurarius Condus though if a Radical Mem may be admitted to be changed into a Nun as the Servile it is known usually are in the Chaldee Dialect I would then chuse to bring it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose simple Signification is Inservivit Ministravit and directly answers to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. V. § I. The Excommunicates of the Jews and their Condition § II. The Condition of Mourners among the Jews compared with that of the Excommunicate § III. Their Excommunicates restrained from the Liberty not only of Civil Conversation but of Religious Communion § IV. Excommunication mentioned in the New Testament as practis'd by the Jews and by Christians AFter this Parallel of the Officers of either Church I proceed to the Discipline they are remembred in Scripture to use That of Excommunication A Subject upon which Mr. Selden hath much enlarged and an Abstract of it from him I here give you § I. EXCOMMVNICATION or the Debarring a Man by Command from the Liberty of Conversation with his Brethren was a Method used by the Jews long before our Saviour's time as well as the other corporal Restraints by Imprisonment or Banishment and the Shame and Inconvenience even of the lighter kind of it was almost equal to that of Stripes and intended to prevent them Indeed there was with the Jews a kind of Censure called by them a Rebuke a which from the Mouth of a Grave Person pronounc'd for an Offence committed before him had that Force as to shame the Delinquent and oblige him to his good Behaviour and a particular Modesty for the space of Seven Days But this was a Reproof rather than a Sentence and seems to have oblig'd in good Manners only neither did it restrain the Party from ordinary Converse or needed any Satisfaction to be given but expired at the end of the Week But the Excommunication of which we speak was a formal Sentence pronounced for some Misdemeanour or Crime either by the Consistory or by a Qualified or even by a Private Person The First and lighter Degree of Excommunication b was that by which the Person was obliged to keep from all other Israelites and they likewise in most Cases from him the Distance of Four Cubits a Distance the Jews are bound to put between themselves and some sorts of impure things whenever they are about their Prayers or their Law as he was also oblig'd to suffer some other Inconveniences which shall be presently mention'd This Sentence was inflicted either by a Private Man for some Offences done in his Presence whereof there are Twenty four Cases expressed (c) Maim Jad Ch. l. 1. Tract 3. cap. 6. sub finem or further by a Graduate in their Law for the Contempt of his Person or by the Magistrate as they should see Cause and in Pecuniary Causes brought before the Consistory it is particularly noted that they proceeded not to Excommunication until three Admonitions had been made to the Defendant three Court-days before and that then the Excommunication pass'd not in Consideration of the Plantiff's Wrong but for the Contempt of the Court. This Excommunication of Course was to continue upon him Thirty Days and within that time he was to endeavour for Absolution making Satisfaction as the Case should require And this Satisfaction possibly was to be offered in Judicial Cases to the Injured Party by the same Method we find directed on another Occasion (d) Buxtor Syn. Jud. cap. 25. as when an Offender endeavouring on the Expiation-Eve to be reconcil'd to his Brother is first ordered to go to him and beg Pardon and if he obtains it not then to take with him three Witnesses and twice more to make the like Application and until then he is not supposed to have discharged his Duty But if this Sentence though pass'd by a Private Man was suffered by the Excommunicate to remain upon him those Thirty Days he was then to be excommunicated by the Consistory for that his Contumacy and so remain for another Thirty Days if not restored before by their Decree This all the while is that Lighter kind of Excommunication and in all those Cases the Restraint of the Distance of Four Cubits did certainly obtain There are also other Inconveniencies and Penalties that belong to this sort of Sentence as certainly for whether they lay the first thirty Days in the Case of one suffering under a private Excommunication I need not determine and they are these according to Maimonides (e) Maim ibid. c. 7. §. 4 c. It was not lawful for him all the Days of his Excommunication to trim his Hair or cut his Nails to wash Himself or his Cloaths or to put on New no more than it was for a Mourner He was not to be one of