not well otherwise to be understood but some of its chief Institutions are known to be derived thence For as before many of the Mosaick Rites were unquestionably design'd to presignifie our Saviour so some of them were afterwards taken into his Service always to minister unto him not admitted only for the present out of condescension to the Native or Proselyte Jews of whom then the greatest Number of Converts consisted but some formally adopted and others laudably continued for Perpetuity This has in part been already copiously demonstrated by many very Learned Writers and if any thing shall chance to be added by me I offer it with all submission And indeed it would not be pertinent to my Business to pretend in this Matter to any new Discoveries who am rather now by such Observations as are well Agreed and Received to try to favour another Guess I am by and by to advance But besides to be honest to the Reader and withal to put him out of any fear I am here to profess That I pretend not to the Depths of the Talmudical Learning nor intend to engage him in it having never dug in the dark Mine my self but only seen something of that which has been brought above ground by others and exposed to common Use either in the Translations of the Misnah or of Maimonides for of him I have not read much more than is in Latin or in the Works of modern Authors The Reader therefore will be pleased to go on and see how much of the Christian Appointments appears to have been copied from the Jewish And here he will presently find it agreed by all That the Two Sacraments were taken thence That the Weekly Observation of the Lord's Day was in Imitation of their Sabbath That the Discipline of the Christian Church came from the Jewish And that the Apostles Presbyters and Deacons were Officers after their Model But besides these Principal Ordinances which are expressed in the New Testament he will find too That many Circumstances which in the second Age attended those Ordinances were likewise Jewish as well as many other Vnscriptural Customs which are known to have been in use in those Days I shall first consider the Scriptural Vsages and afterwards those which are remembred in the next Age And the Scriptural I take by themselves both because of the Authority for their Practice and of the Consent for their Derivation though in the expounding of the Jewish Customs for the first I may happen to join what belongs to the later sort to avoid hereafter unnecessary Repetition § II. AND to begin with Baptism This was with the Jews a Sacramental Rite whereby those who were converted from Heathenism were initiated into their Religion A Rite little practised among them now for they have had a long while but very few Converts and such People as they tell us (a) Mâ—iâ—â— Issure Biaâ— c. 13. §. 14 18. ex Ed. Dom. Prideaux Oxon 1679. were always suspected by them as apt to Apostatize and draw away others as it happened in their Opinion in the Matter of the Golden Calf and at Kibroth Hattaavah For these Reasons it may be the Jewish Traditionaries have not been very particular on this Subject neither hath Maimonides treated of it by it self and expresly but occasionally only in a Treatise of Prohibited Marriages There he tells us (b) Issure Biah c. 13. §. 1. That the Admission of a Convert was made by these Three Steps First If he was a Male by Circumcision Then By Baptism And Last of all By Sacrifice First He that offered to become a Jew was examined by them concerning the Cause of his Conversion whether it was Religious and had some Part of the Law especially propos'd to him that of the Vnity of God and of the Crime of Idolatry and if he professed himself willing to adhere to it they circumcised him (c) Ibid. 14 15. Then after some convenient time they proceeded to baptize him This was to be done in the Presence and by the Authority of Three at least as Commissioners for the Action They stood over him when he was in the Water and again interrogated him proposing some of the harder and some of the easier Precepts of the Law and if he persisted in his former Resolution of taking upon him its Obedience they baptized him (d) c. 14. §. 6. Thus were Grown Persons baptized upon their own Engagements and Children too were admitted to the same Favour by the permission of the Consistory their Fathers or three others instead of a Father undertaking for them (e) c. 13. § 7. Lightfoot vol. 2. p. 118. And now by Virtue of this his Baptism he is taken out of the number of the Gentiles (f) Iss Bi. c. 13. §. 17. and ceases to have any Kindred upon the account of his natural Birth so much that as they say if his Mother should turn Jew also he may marry her by the Letter of Moses his Law though by the Decretals of the Canon Law he was bound to observe the prohibited Degrees on the Mother's side (g) Ibid. 14.12 13. So was the Proselyre held to be as an Infant then new born (h) 14.11 and to have become an Israelire to be in a state of Sanctity (i) 14.14 and under the Wings of the Divine Majesty (k) 13.4 So absolutely are they understood to be render'd Israelites now by this Baptism only but heretofore when their Temple was up the Proselytes were not reckon'd to be fully Holy nor to have lodg'd themselves perfectly under the Wings of God's Majesty until they were further admitted to his Worship by Sacrifice This Sacrifice is said to have been a Burnt-Offering either out of the Fold or else of two Turtles or two young Pigeons for an Atonement (l) 13.5 For he was it seems in the condition of those Israelites who when they were free from their Uncleanness and had wash'd wanted still an Atonement for their complete Purification that they might be able to partake of the Sacrifices (m) Maimon ex Interpr Lud. deVeil Lib. de Sacr. Tract 5. c. 1. §. 1 2. Only in this he differ'd that he wanted no Sin-Offering as they did because the Sins of his former State were already entirely remitted by his Baptismal Regeneration And to this I suppose I may add under the favour of the instance which follows and upon which they ground the Proselyting method that the Proselyte was like a Leper wash'd and wanting the Atonement himself Sprinkled and Purify'd by the Blood of his Offering And lastly according to the same Pattern I am just going to mention there was commonly after the Burnt-Offering (n) Mai. ibid. item Interprete eodem de Cultu Divino Ir. 5. c. 1. §. 6. a Peace-Offering presented that when he was in the Morning by the one made capable of partaking of the Sacrifices he might exercise that capacity in the Afternoon and by the
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
the Bishop Presiding in the place of God and the Presbyters in the place of the Consistory Synedrium of the Apostles and the Deacons being intrusted with the Ministry of Jesus Christ. And speaking of Deacons to the Trallians he says expresly they are not Ministers of Meats and Drinks but Servants of the Church of God I know well that these now Unusual expressions and High Comparisons have been construed into a prejudice against the Authority of these Letters But it is not reasonable to judge either Antient Practice or Phrase by the Modern for possibly those Primitive Christians would be at as great a loss to understand some later Divinity The Passage that may appear the most strange is that to the Smyrneans Follow your Bishop as Christ Jesus followed the Father But we are to remember that the Hereticks whom he warns them to avoid were those who deny'd the reality of our Saviour's Flesh saying that He Suffer'd and Rose again in Appearance only themselves also dispensing with the Reality of their Duty as he tells them and being Christians only in Appearance High-minded and puffed up These he Commands them to avoid and for the same intent he cautions them to shun Divisions among themselves as the beginning of those and most other evils and to Follow the Bishop Polycarp a Faithful Servant of Christ Approv'd and intrusted with the Charge of them by the Blessed St. John adding as Christ Jesus the Father a comparison that no more equals the Bishop to the Father than it does the other Christians of that Church to Jesus Christ It imported only that they should not be high-minded and conceited but should be subject to their Bishop for Christ also himself was in reality found in the form of a Servant and obedient unto the Father even unto the Death of the Cross and that they should receive the Commandments from Polycarp and act as they saw him to act for as St. John lately departed from them had inform'd them Christ also did or spoke (d) 8.28.12.49 nothing from himself and he both Taught and kept the Commandments of the Father (e) 15.10 This seems to be the occasional Analogy of that Expression And as for the others that the Bishop presides in the place of God or is to be look'd on as our Lord these speak him only as a Substitute and lower Representative of God and Christ invested with some degree of Authority from them as when St. Paul Commands Christian Servants to obey even Heathen Masters as Christ (f) Eph. 6.5 neither were the Presbyters to be follow'd as the Apostles for the Parity they held but for the similitude they bore being Assistants to the Bishop as the Apostles were to our Saviour For so was Moses heretofore put in the place of God (g) Exod. 7.1 and as in Ignatius the Presbyters are said to preside in the place of the Consistory or Sanhedrim of the Apostles so the Apostles themselves may be suppos'd to succeed in the place of the Twelve Princes the Chief Assistants to Moses Neither has this Language of Ignatius to Christians any other meaning than it might have had if a Jew should have admonish'd his Brethren Jews to have obey'd their Nasi or Patriarch as God for so they were to have obey'd Moses their first Nasi and his Assessors as they would have done the Assessors of Moses for to those in some manner they succeeded Thus Ignatius concerning Church Officers And to go higher yet up into the first Age for then St. Clemens of Rome undoubtedly wrote his Epistle if not before the Destruction of the Temple h there if we have not an Authority for the Distinction of them by proper names one from another yet we have a certain instance of the use of the word Lay before mention'd whereby they were discriminated from the rest of the Congregation The place whether speaking of the Jewish or of the Christian Church and of the Christian in likelyhood it does runs thus i To the High-Priest proper Offices are given and to the Priests a proper Place is appointed and on the Levites proper Ministries are incumbent The Layman is bound to Lay Duty Let every one of you Brethren in his own Station give Thanks or celebrate the Euchari to God having a Good Conscience and not transgressing the Rule of his own Office as he ought to do in Holy Decency § III. This was the certain Distinction in the Antient Church betwixt the Laiety and the Clergy and among the Clergy betwixt the Bishops Priests and Deacons and that it was deriv'd from the Language and Polity of the Jews we may have already discern'd in part from the account above given (a) Ch. 4. As to the Denomination of Laiety as distinct from the Tribe of Levi it must be directly understood to have been in use with the Jews by those who will understand the passage from St. Clemens last cited concerning the Jewish Priesthood And those too who will have it taken of the Christian Priesthood must conclude from the ordinary and current manner of using this Phrase in the beginning of Christianity that it had been receiv'd before and was as well known as that of Priest and Levite But besides the Ground also of this Appellation is from the Old Testament For there as the Nation of the Israelites is contradistinguish'd to other Nations and is separated for the Peculiar Propriety (a 2) Ex. 19.5 Deut. 14.2 and Inheritance (b) Deut. 4.20 of God the signification of the Greek word Clerus and they might all therefore have been properly stil'd the Clergy of God in respect of other People the meaning of the word Lay for in that regard they all are call'd Priests (c) Exod. 19.6 So in this Holy Nation one Tribe of it was more particularly Chosen and Holy and separated from the rest God not only claiming them to be his Own yet more Peculiarly and in the place of the First Born (d) Numb 3.45 but declaring Himself also to be their Peculiar and Inheritance (e) Num. 18.20 and might well therefore have been appropriately stil'd the Clergy even in respect of the rest of the Holy People who were then for distinction to be call'd the People Neither was this term the People at all dishonourable to the other Tribes for it appears by the Phrase of St. Luke (f) Acts 26.17 2◠to have been the name whereby they chose to distinguish themselves from the Gentiles or Nations and the disparaging acception which the Pharisaical Rabbins give it when they oppose it to the Disciples of the Learn'd and make it to signify the Illiterate and Rude seems to be rais'd by them for their own honour since they have come in to the room of the Priests and usurp'd their Privilege (g) See Ch. 4. §. 4. Next I am come to compare the several Officers of the Christian Church so distinguish'd as above with the several Officers of the
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
from Ephesus were admonished to take care of the Flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops (o) Acts 20.28 And the Presbyter of whose Ordination St. Paul speaks to Titus is in the next Verse save one stil'd Bishop (p) Tit. 1.5 7. We see therefore that the New Testament has not only taken the Name from the Old but the largeness of its signification too which is all at present I am concern'd to observe Tho' I presume this Word as well as Apostle had now a peculiar Office of which it was properly spoke and to which in the next Age it is known to have been always determin'd (q) See Ch. VIII § IV. THE next that follows for so I take leave to place in the Christian Church what some would set in equal rank is the Presbyter or Elder This Word in the Greek of the Septuagint is known answerably to the Hebrew to signifie not only a Man of Years but Authority as Words of the like import have always done in Ancient and Modern Languages a So the Steward of Abraham's House stil'd by our Translators the eldest Servant of his House who rul'd over all that he had (b) Gen. 24.2 is suppos'd to be call'd by those Interpreters the Presbyter or Elder of his House c In that Sense we have the Elders of Pharaoh's House and of the Land of Aegypt (d) Gen. 50.7 And when it is said Hezekiah took Counsel with his Princes and his mighty Men (e) 2 Chr. 32.3 in the Septuagint it is with his Presbyters and mighty Men. And in like manner by the Presbyters or Elders of the People of Israel Princes and great ones of them are understood at large (f) Num. 11.16 of which the greatest and chief were the Twelve Heads or Princes of the Tribes Of such Elders or Governours there were Seventy we know appointed by Moses at the command of God (g) Num. 11.16 17. to bear part of the burden of the Magistracy with him and to be a Council unto him endow'd therefore with a Communication of the Spirit Of this great standing Council known afterwards by the Name of the Sanhedrim the Jewish Tradition speaks very copiously and though the Scripture says nothing of any Superiority amongst those Seventy yet they tell us expresly what otherwise we must have presum'd That one of them was President of this Council and Vicegerent to Moses the Prince Such a Council as this they say sat at Jerusalem in after Ages and govern'd the whole People consisting of a Chief and Prince for that is the signification of Nasi in the place of Moses and of Seventy more one of whom was the Vicegerent of that Chief or Prince call'd by them the Father of the Council Besides this Sovereign Court sitting in the Temple there were also Inferiour Provincial Consistories according to the appointment of God in these words Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all the Gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee (h) Deut. 16.18 And whereas the number of these Judges or Elders is here left undetermin'd Josephus repeating the same Injunction directs them to be Seven (i) Archaeol 4.8 supposing I presume that they were so many in the times near to Moses But the Traditionary Jews will have them in every great City to have been twenty three they too as I also presume speaking from the practice of some later times Of these twenty three they tell us One was stil'd also the Nasi or Prince the Chief of that Tribe or Place and another likewise was his Vicegerent call'd also the Father of that Consistory And the like distinction we may suppose to have been between Josephus his Seven and that Two of them were a Chief and a Deputy and the other Five ordinary Elders These were the Consistories of great Cities but in lesser Districts there was as the Rabbins tell us a Magistracy or Presbytery of Three which Judg'd in lesser Matters And further it seems k there are those who sometimes go by the Name of Elders but whose chief business is to take care of the Goods of the Commnnity and whose Authority extends only to causes of voluntary Jurisdiction and these are call'd the Seven good Men of the place retaining the number though not the Power of Josephus his Magistrates The Talmudists who have been silent concerning Apostles and Bishops are very particular as we may perceive concerning Presbyters and pretend to give us a punctual account of their Creation and Office as we may see at large in Mr. Selden (l) De Syn. l. 2. c. 4 5 6. And an Abstract of what is further necessary here follows out of that very Learned Gentleman's copious Collections on this Subject These Presbyters then were of two sorts the One had a Full and the other a Limited Authority (m) Seld. de Syn. lib. 2. cap. 7. An Elder of the first kind was capable of being call'd up to the Courts of great Cities and Provinces having Authority not only to expound the Law and to resolve Cases of Consciences but to Judge in all Causes both Criminal and Civil And these were call'd Rabbi The other the Limited Elders were either such as had Power to be of one of the inferiour Consistories of Three in lesser Districts and to Judge only of Pecuniary Causes or such who were not capable of Jurisdiction and could only expound the Law or else who were not qualified to direct in the whole Law but were confin'd to particular Cases To this Office of Eldership they were ordain'd by Imposition of Hands with Words signifying the Authority committed or else by Letter-Patent or Missive And every Presbyter of the first sort was they say permitted to Ordain at first but afterwards it was not to be done but by Three and not without the leave of the Prince or Chief or by the Chief and his Vicegerent together Now there are three things concerning these Presbyters which Mr. Selden particularly remarks and which we will not therefore forget but remember as occasion shall offer The first is That no Presbyter with full Power could be Ordain'd by any out of the Holy Land for from that place only Authority in Criminal Causes could proceed and thence only a Faculty could be given that would be good thorough the whole World Whereas those whom the Head of the Captivity himself ordain'd out of that Country had Jurisdiction in none but Pecuniary Causes and were call'd only Mar or Rab and those who were ordain'd by others had Jurisdiction only in the District where they were ordained (n) Seld. Ibid. cap. 7. §. 5. Accordingly as Buxtorf observes (n2) Buxt Syn. I. 46. The Jews of Spain and the Levant do not honour themselves with the stile of Mar or Rab being content to be call'd the Disciples of the Learn'd though in Germany they make bold with those Titles and promote with the old Formality where too they have an
order of Rabbins above the ordinary Rabbins who preside over them and are as the Princes or Fathers of the Consistory heretofore Secondly As the Talmudists tell us there Presbyters were indifferently of any Tribe neither was it necessary that they should be of the Tribe of Levi who compos'd the great Consistory of Jerusalem (o) Seld. Ibid. cap. 7. §. 5. though that Consistory in their opinion govern'd even in the Temple and over all that officiated there (p) Ibid. cap. 8. cap. 15. §. 12 c. And the Truth is according to the Modern Traditions those of the Tribe of Levi were not so absolute in the Temple nor of that consideration out of the Temple as they seem to have been by the Scripture and by Josephus And now at this time though the Priests receive sometimes some little due for the Redemption of the First-Born and are call'd before others to Read the Law and are preferr'd to give the Solemn Blessing in the Synagogues and to say Grace at Meals yet for the rest they are as common Israelites and under the Jurisdiction of the Rabbins For these Rabbins have order'd the Matter so that they are reputed to Represent the Priests and to succeed into their Sacerdotal Right claiming therefore to be free from Taxes and from Watch and Ward to have the Prevendition or Pre-emption in the Market and to have their Causes first dispatch'd in Courts of Justices (q) Leo de Mod. Cere des Juifs S. 12.3 Buxt Syn. J. 46. Maim Tal. Tor. cap. 6. 〈◊〉 10. And this possibly came to pass not only from the superseding of the main part of the Priestly Function by the Destruction of the Temple and from the ceasing of their Tithes and other Dues by the banishment of the People from their own Country but also from the great destruction that must have been â—ufâ—er'd by the Tribe of Levi in those cruel Devastations made by Tites and Adrian of the Holy Land and City in which places the Levites had their Residence and Imployment and which they would be sure to defend most zealously Whereas many other Jews liv'd at the same time dispers'd in remote Provinces escaping the War and its fury For then when very few Priests remain'd and those of all Jews durst least own themselves and when they were debarr'd from the Execution of that Office by which they had been so honourably distinguish'd no wonder if the other Tribes took the advantage and as it happens amongst Rival Offices encroach'd and usurp'd upon them And if any of the Rest were to deliver down the Law which the Priest's Lips had been us'd to preserve as Rabbi Juda took upon him the Office He as Holy as he was might comply so far with Modern Usurpation as to record it with the Traditions from Mount Sina And lastly We are all along bid to observe that these Presbyters and Rulers were Civil Magistrates who had the Government of the Common-Wealth and by that Title controul'd the High-Priests themselves (r) Ibid. l. 3. c. 8.11 an observation we need not dissemble if we are at the same time allow'd to remember that God Himself was the Supreme Governour of that Common-Wealth that even its Civil Laws were enacted by Him and therefore that the Judges of that Law were Sacred Officers and of a Policy that was Divine Hitherto these Elders have been chiefly consider'd as Administrators of their Civil Policy they had too the direct Administration of all their Worship that was not Sacrificial directing its Services and appointing its Officers Whereas therefore in a great City the Nasi or his Vicegerent and even the Presbyters in a larger Sense were the Archisynagogi Rulers or Heads of the Synagogue as it meant the Body or Community of the City So they were also Rulers of the Synagogue or Synagogues of that City as they were Congregations for Worship And where there were many Synagogues as there were in those Cities the same were Rulers over all of them though by their appointment and in their Name to particular Synagogues particular Presbyters and sometimes possibly of Limited Power might be especially deputed to take care of them § V. SUCH were the Elders of Jewish Common-wealth and Church and correspondent in some manner to these are the Christian Presbyters in the New Testament And first those properly call'd Apostles are stil'd Elders as representing the Twelve Princes of the Tribes who were the first and great Elders of Israel So St. Peter stiles himself a Fellow-Elder (a) 1 Pet. 5.1 and so the Appellation of Elders seems in one place of the Acts (b) Acts 11 3â— to comprehend the Apostles also Next there are Elders distinct from the Apostles those mention'd often in the Acts just after them The Apostles and Elders (c) Act 15.2 4 6. And these because there is no mention made before of their Creation as there is of the Deacons may be presum'd to be the Seventy whom our Saviour had ordain'd according to the Number of the Consistory erected by Moses and then continued at Jerusalem And if these were Seventy Elders then St. James the Bishop of Jerusalem may be suppos'd to have been the President of them and if not the Prince for that honour they might leave to our Saviour always reputed as present with them yet the Vicegerent of the Prince and Father of the Council of the Seventy to which the other Apostles had join'd themselves in the manner of Assistants Extraordinary and as the High Priests and Princes of the Tribes had I suppose us'd to have an extraordinary Place in the Consistory of their Sanhedrim We find too that in all the considerable Cities where the Apostles founded Churches they Ordain'd Elders as Barnabas and Paul are recorded (d) Acts 14.23 to have done in Derbe Lystra Iconium and Antioch What was the number of these we are not told nor what Superiority there might be amongst them and in these circumstances also they answer to their Predecessors the Presbyters or Judges of Israel of whom as we have seen the Scripture has only said Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy Gates not expressing the number of those Provincial Judges nor distinguishing between the Prince or his Vicegerent and the rest of them The number I presume of our Christian Elders was various in various Places Where there were many one of them was appointed to be their Chief and Father of the Consistory if we will be guided in our Opinion by the very early uniform Practice of the next Age (e) Chap. VIII and where there was but one he too in probability was a Presbyter of that rank and had Authority to assume to himself Colleagues as the occasions of the Church should require And in this Supposition these Fathers Presbyters are those who are properly to be called Bishops in the determin'd sense of the Word as all Presbyters might be in the larger acception of it These Christian
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.
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
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
Imprimatur Geo. Royse R. R. in Christo Patri ac Dom. Febr. 5. 1694. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar. a Sacris Domest A DISCOURSE Concerning LENT In Two Parts The FIRST an Historical Account of its Observation The SECOND an Essay concern ing its Original This Subdivided into Two Repartitions Whereof The First is Preparatory and shews that most of our Christian Ordinances are Deriv'd from the Jews And The Second Conjectures that Lent is of the same Original LONDON Printed by Tho. Warren for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. TO THE READER I Am not unsensible that a Discourse concerning Lent which declares not against it may be apt to be suspected at first sight of a very Ill or Morose Design either of retrieveing some Antiquated Superstition or of bringing back upon the World some old Rigours and Austerities from which they have been happily set Free But the Title Page or at least the Summary of the Contents may I hope ease the Reader of that Jealousy and if he will bear but the Penance of perusing the Treatise he will find that the Historical Part aims only at Truth in matter of Fact and that such an Origination is offer'd as neither complies with the Romish Errors nor induces any other Restraints than what he in the Liberty of his own Discretion shall think fit to Injoin himself The Derivation of our Christian Lent from a like Preparatory Time of the Jews has seem'd to me to be very Probable a long while and having intimated so much of it in a late Royal Audience as serv'd to Exhort and to Direct to the Duty of the Season I was easily perswaded to consider it more expresly in some as I then thought short Discourse but which by degrees has increas'd to a greater bulk For presently it appear'd necessary to the better Adjusting this Parallel Line as it were of Jewish Practice that I should first distinctly view that of the Christian tracing it from its beginning by the Elder Accounts and Ascertaining it as I went with what exactness I might And here the differing Opinions of the justly Celebrated Monsieur Daille meeting me in in my Progress oblig'd me to stay longer on some Places and to clear the Ground of the Objections he had thrown in the Way And then when this Work was dispatcht and there seem'd to remain no more than that I should bring forth the Reason and Usages of the Jewish Lent and propose its Agreement and Affinity with ours it was further judg'd Requisite lest this single Similitude should be thought only Casual to shew that there were in the Christian Religion many other like Correspondencies which must apparently be attributed to the same Original This therefore chiefly occasion'd that Addition to the second Part which makes the first Repartition and finding the subject to be copious I enlarg'd the more willingly upon it not only to serve my first Intention the more effectually but to try if by this means some more tolerable account might not be given of many an Antient and now Uncouth Christian Practice For though of late many very Learned Men of our own and Foreign Nations have much illustrated the New Testament by such Comparative Observations yet their Curiosity has not happen'd to carry them so far as to hold their Jewish Light to the dark Corners of our Unscriptural Antiquity A Task I heartily wish such a one as our Able Dr. Lightfoot had undertook if only that he might have sav'd me the Hazard I now run in pretending to make Other things understood by the help of what I understand so little But concerning these elder Unscriptural Customs the Reader is desir'd to observe that I intend not to Recommend them by the Original I indeavour to Assign my Attempt designing nothing more than to propose the Fact and Conjecture at its Rise a Curiosity allowed in all searches after Antiquities of any kind and commonly receiv'd by the Learned World with Favour For as the Scripture commands us * Jerem. 6.16 to stand in the Ways for our Direction and see and ask for the Old Paths that we may walk therein so we may also stand a little and see the Old Disus'd Paths though we are to leave them as we view the Old Forsaken Fosseways looking about for our Delight and Instruction For if the Derivations I offer at should have the good fortune to Obtain there will be no worse Consequences than these On one hand That such Rites were not so much borrowed from Heathenism nor otherwise contriv'd and super-induc'd towards the latter end of the second Age as some have suggested and on the other hand that though they might be as old as the Apostles and have had the honour to be practis'd by them yet they were not then newly Erected and purposely Instituted as the Popish Authors would perswade us nor all of them Recommended much less given in Precept to Posterity But the Obligation or Unlawfulness Expedience or Inconvenience of their Continuance is a consideration of another kind to be judged by the Nature of the Respective Rites by the Intimated or Presum'd Intention of the Apostles and by the Declaration of the Primitive Apostolical Church I pretend not therefore to Intermeddle in it nor undertake to determine whether some of those Customs though design'd as they say for a more Honourable Interment were not however kept too long or whether some have not been since Buried that were never Dead professing in this whole matter to adhere still to the Judgment of our Church whose Prudent and Pious Moderation if I may speak from my own Experience the further any one shall Consider the more he will see cause to Approve This Allowance for the Sincerity of my Intention the Justice I hope of the Reader will not deny me but I shall never the less want the Pardon still both of the Learn'd and Unlearn'd For though I have endeavour'd what I could to make the Discourse Plain and Intelligible and have therefore rid it of all strange Languages and their Criticisms setting them aside and by themselves yet the subject it self may in some places be strange and nice to the Unacquainted and require a little better Attention And so though I design'd to shun being Tedious especially in matters commonly known and would have been glad elsewhere to have avoided Mistakes yet I know I am much at the Mercy of the Learn'd as I shall be always ready to be instructed by their Corrections A SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS PART I. THE Historical Account of Lent Chap. I. Concerning the Festival of the Resurrection Sect. I. The Weekly Festival or Sunday Sect. II. The Yearly the many Differences about it Sect. III. The Difference between the Asiatick Churches and the Others and the Proof thence in general for the Apostolical Antiquity of Easter Sect. IV. In Particular from the Letters of Polycrates and Irenaeus Page 1 2 Chap. II. Concerning Fasting Sect. I. The
several Kinds of Fasts Sect. II. Several Occasions of Fasting particularly Penitence and Baptism p. 20 Chap. III. Concerning the Fast before the Festival of the Resurrection Sect. I. The General Presumption for its Apostolical Antiquity Sect. II. A Particular Proof of it from Irenaeus Sect. III. The different Length of that Fast down to Irenaeus his time with some probably of 40 days p. 31 Chap. IV. The Practice of Fasting mentioned about the Year 200 by Clemens Alexandrinus and Tertullian Sect. I. The Weekly Fasts of Wednesday and Friday mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus Sect. II. Testimonies out of Tertullian concerning both the Weekly and Ante-Paschal Fasts Sect. III. Observations upon those Testimonies Some part of the Ante-Paschal Fast thought Necessary by the Catholicks of his time the rest Discretionary p. 46 Chap. V. Sect. I. A Testimony from Origen for the Devotion of Fridays and of the Paschal Season and thence to Whitsuntide Another from him but of Ruffinus his Transtation concerning the Fast of the Quadragesima or the Forty Season Sect. II. A distinct Account of the Passion-Week from Dionysius of Alexandria about the middle of the Third Century Sect. III. What were the first Paschal Solemnities mentioned by St. Cyprian and concerning the Passion-Week p. 70 Chap. VI. Sect. I. A mention of a Forty Days Fast by Peter of Alexandria before the Council of Nice Sect. II. Very probably they were the Days before Easter p. 88 Chap. VII Sect. I. Good-Friday and Days of solemn Fasting mentioned by Constantine Sect. II. The Forty Season expresly mentioned by the Council of Nice Sect. III. And that Forty Days are to be understood proved from St. Chrysostome p. 98 Chap. VIII Sect. I. This Forty Season particularly observed by the Candidates for Baptism Sect. II. And by Penitents p. 112 Chap. IX Sect. I. A Lent always and every where observed though not of Forty Days Sect. II. Mr. Daille 's Objections against it from Cassian Sect. III. From St. Jerome Sect. IV. From St. Chrysostome p. 122 Chap. X. Sect. I. Sozomen 's Account of the keeping of Lent in his Time about Ann. Chr. 440. Sect. II. What Additions have been made since Sect. III. Socrates his Account of the Practice of the same Age I suppose by the Novatians Sect. IV. His Wonder That Lents of differing Lengths should all of them be called the Forty Season Sect. V. The Conclusion p. 133 PART II. The Essay concerning its Original Preface p. 149 REPART I. That most of the Ancient Christian Ordinances were derived from the Jews Chap. I. or II. for so it is to be reckon'd hereafter by the error of the Press Sect. 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 Sect. II. Baptism It was a Rite by which as well as by others Proselytes were admitted into Judaism Sect. III. Christian Baptism as expressed in the New Testament an Imitation of it p. 153 Chap. III. Sect. I. The Nature of the Paschal Sacrifice and the Description the Jewish Traditions give of that Supper Sect. II. Agreeable to the History in the Gospels of our Lord's Supper and to the Nature of it p. 167 Chap. IV. Sect. I. The Church of Christ succeeds to the Church of the Jews Sect. II. The Officers of the One rais'd from the Officers of the Other The Apostles of each Sect. III. And the Bishops Sect. IV. The Presbyters or Elders of the Jews Sect. V. The Christian Presbyters and their Power Sect. VI. The Ministerial Officers of the Jews Sect. VII Answered by our Deacons p. 175 Chap. V. Sect. I. The Excommunicates of the Jews and their Condition Sect. II. The Condition of Mourners among the Jews compared with that of the Excommunicate Sect. III. Their Excommunicates restrained from the Liberty not only of Civil Conversation but of Religious Communion Sect. IV. Excommunication mentioned in the New Testament as practis'd by the Jews and by Christians p. 209 Chap. VI. Sect. I. Circumstances relating to Baptism under Five Heads practis'd in the Church of Christ in the Second Century Sect. II. These all agreeable to Jewish Custom and First in General as to the Persons baptiz'd and Baptizing and the Solemn Time of Baptism Sect. III. In Particular Secondly as to the Distinction and Instruction of its Candidates Sect. IV. Thirdly As to the Action of Baptism Sect. V. Fourthly Its Confirmation Sect. VI. And Lastly the Sequel and Close of the whole Ceremony p. 236 Chap. VII Sect. I. Several Particulars practis'd in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by the Primitive Christians which vary'd from those of the Paschal Supper Sect. II. These speak Our Lord's Supper to have succeeded the Paschal in its general nature as a Memorial of Thanks Sect. III. The Description of a Jewish Offering of Praise and Thanks with the Feasting upon it Sect. IV. The Christian Eucharist answer'd to it and in what manner Sect. V. A Tradition of the Jews That in the days of the Messiah only the Eucharistical Sacrifice should remain p. 266 Chap. VIII Sect. 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 Sect. II. And by Ignatius as the other at least of the Laiety and Clergy by St. Clemens of Rome Sect. 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 p. 291 Chap. IX Sect. I. The Sentence and Effects of Excommunication with Christians as with Jews and the Relaxation of it alike Sect. II. Their Agreement in the estimate of the Guilt of Sins and the appointments of Penance p. 318 Chap. X. Sect. I. A Parallel of Christian Rites mention'd by Tertullian and Sect. II. Of those Vsages mention'd by Origen particularly about Prayer 1. Disposition of Mind 2. Posture of Body 3. Direction of the Face Sect. III. 4. Times of Daily Prayer Sect. IV. 5. Matter and Method Sect. V. The Antient Order of Christian Prayer Sect. VI. And the Order of the Jewish Sect. VII Compar'd Sect. VIII A Parallel of some few other Usages p. 332 Chap. XI Sect. I. The Second Prejudice against a Jewish Origination of Lent from want of Authority in the Talmudical Writings Sect. II. Answer'd by shewing 1. That those Traditional Accounts were not without some Antient Foundation of their own Sect. III. Secondly That they are Confirm'd in many points by Collateral Evidence Sect. IV. And Thirdly That they were not borrow'd by the Jews from Foreign Authors Sect. V. The Third Prejudice against such an Origination from the Novelty of it Answer'd p. 364 REPART II. A Conjecture concerning the Original of Lent Chap. I. Our Easter kept for some time with the Jewish
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
not to understand him of the Practice of the Catholicks of which Sozomen and others speak but of the Novatians of whose Affairs all own that he had a particular Knowledge if he was not inclined to their Sect. From their Dispute it was he enter'd upon this Discourse and from some Memorials of theirs he may have drawn up something of this Account which otherwise might easily have been as plain and full as that of Sozomen had it not been wrote in a different View And so if we suppose the Regard to Forty Days to have first prevail'd universally from the Council of Nice we may suppose that the Novatians having had no share in that Council continued at least at Rome in their old Custom and kept on their Three Weeks If this Conjecture pass for the Three Weeks I should then either think that the Romans had not begun to fast on Saturday till after the Novatians had left them Or that a Word or rather a Numeral Letter c should be supplied in the Original and Thursday be understood a Day as St. Augustine tells us d not commonly fasted in his Time and possibly not in Lent by the Romans in the Time of Novatian § IV. BUT on this I lay no stress and shall only take notice of the Remark which Socrates makes with some Wonder That Numbers of Days so different should all have the same Denomination and be call'd from the Number Forty It is plain that neither the Western nor Eastern Church of his Time did measure adequately either the Days they fasted or the Term of Days within which they fasted by the Number of Forty but however a regard they had to it and a Forty Season they all pretended to keep We have withal seen how that Denomination obtain'd so much that all spaces of Fasting and in all Seasons of the Year were call'd by it For so St. Jerome term'd the Two Fasts instituted by Montanus (e) Ch. 4. Note g though they were but of a Week each of them and in other times of the Year What Reasons were then assigned for this Common Name Socrates tells us not and I wish we knew It should seem at first sight That the Christians aspired in a Fast of so great Devotion to the Imitation of the most Solemn Fasts recorded in Scripture those of Moses and Elias and that particularly of their blessed Master And then when the Church had once fix'd upon that Number of Days for their Example in general the Fasts of lesser duration might well go under the same Name by an easie Metonymie But all this will be yet more natural if those Fasts so recorded were rather miraculous in the Manner than singular in the Extent of Days and the Number Forty had been always with the Jews the proper Number for an extraordinary Humiliation a Conjecture we are to offer hereafter in the other Part of this Discourse § V. AND thus have we viewed the Practice of Lent through the first 400 Years We have seen in the last of those Centuries when Christianity came to be more openly professed under the Christian Emperours and abounded in Writers many express and undeniable Testimonies of the general Observation though in a different manner of the Forty Season then commonly so called from Forty Days In the next Age above it the Third and as high too as the middle of it a time that affords us not many Authors and when there was little occasion to speak of this Matter we have however a very punctual Account of their strict Manner of keeping the Passion-Week from one of the greatest Men of the Church who happen'd to be consulted about a Nicety of Ending this Lent And that their great Strictness in the Holy Week equal to any that was used after may well induce us to imagine That these Men had not left the Devotion of all the preceding Weeks to be added by the very next Generation Especially when we find the Forty Season expresly mentioned in Origen a Master of this Dionysius as consecrated to Fasting For that place of Origen though we have it only from the Version of Ruffinus and he none of the most exact Translatours yet certainly if he was not the worst that ever was is much more likely to be truly render'd than wrong there being no reason to fasten the Falsity on this Word more than on any other of the Sentence nor any wonder to find that spoke of now which not long after was celebrated so much But to proceed we have seen further from Tertullian an Author to be reckon'd to the Second Century as well as to the Third that the Days in which our Lord was taken away Good-Friday and the Holy Saturday at least if not the whole Week were in the Opinion of the Church of his Time to be fasted by all from Apostolical Authority and that no other Days were to be fasted necessarily and as by Divine Precept but at Discretion only and as Christians should think fit in Godly Prudence Upon the account of which Discretionary Uncertainty the Argument he was engag'd in made it not proper for him to say any more concerning them nor to tell us the several Customs of several Churches about that Arbitrary part of Lent though it may otherwise be collected even from him that there was then such an Additional Time observed But to go yet higher and nearer to the Apostolical Age about the Year 190 and not 90 from the Death of St. John Irenaeus a Venerable and now a very Old Bishop who had conversed familiarly with the great Polycarp as Polycarp had with St. John and other Apostles has happened to let us know though incidentally only the various observation of his Time that some thought they ought to fast One some Two and some More Days and some Forty as we have learn'd too in the general both from him and the Bishops of almost the whole Church concurrently with him that some such Ante-Paschal Fast had been all along observed in all Places up to the Time of the Apostles themselves a Sozom. l. 7. c. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b In this place that our Witness may be the more credible hereafter in our Cause I have ordered at a small Correction of the Text to reconcile it to the Truth of the Fact For it has been abundantly proved and particularly by Quesnel in his Edition of Leo That the Bishop of Rome preached there very often in Sozomen's time who is therefore commonly delivered up here to a Charge of â—gaerâ—â—â— anâ— Negligâ—â—ce whereas a very slight Change of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing in which Criticks are not used to be difficult in Favour of any Author would have saved his Credit and rectifiâ—d â—he whole Matter b 2 Socrat. Hist Eâ—â—les 5.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e The Guess I intimate is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Answer to them the Master tells the Story of the Miseries of their Fore-fathers using also the Words in Deuteronomy (h) Deut. 26.5 A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. Upon this the Table was brought again and He taking the Paschal Lamb in his hands and Elevating it propos'd to himself the Question Why it was offer'd and gave the Reason And so he elevated severally both the bitter Herbs and the unleavened Bread and after all the several Reasons given he subjoin'd a Hymn Let us therefore celebrate praise extol him who has done so many and so great and such stupendous Wonders To Him let us sing Hellelujah Praise the LORD ye Servants of the LORD concluding so Thanks be to thee O GOD King of the World who didst redeem us and our Ancestors and hast brought us to this Night Here they all drank again in the same manner as at first and wash'd again likewise here again beginning their Supper For then he took two unleavened Cakes and dividing one he put one half of it over the other Cake the half Cake being as they say to remember them of their former Poverty and so said over the Bread a Blessing After he dipp'd a piece of the Cake with some of the bitter Herbs in the Sauce and eat having blessed God with a proper Prayer and distributing to the rest to eat likewise So with a proper Prayer they tasted of the Peace-Offering and with another of the Lamb and after they fed freely of what was before them Only each was bound at the close of the Supper to end with some of the Lamb eating the Quantity of an Olive at least as they now do with a piece of one of the half Cakes which they substitute in place of the Lamb. When they had done eating they wash'd their hands and each having a third Cup distributed to them the Master having said over it the Grace after Meat and it is term'd thence the Cup of Blessing they drank it off And then there was another the fourth Cup put into their hands and the Hymn being re-continued with its proper Conclusion they again thanking God for the Fruit of the Vine drank that also and after that no more that night it being now towards midnight and they being after this to meditate yet on their Paschal Deliverance Thus according to the Tradition of the Jews the Paschal Supper was celebrated while the Temple stood and ever since it has been kept much after the same manner though the Paschal Lamb has been wanting And possibly if I might be allow'd to interpose a Guess in this matter this Supper might have been observ'd as now it is without the Sacrifice even when the Temple was in being by such as after the first Dispersions by the Assyrian and Babylonian Kings continued afterwards in remote Parts and not being able to keep the Feast at Jerusalem by reason of their Distance were however willing to keep up the solemn Memorial of that great Deliverance in the best manner they cou'd and as it is now done § II. NOW to this Account the History of our Saviour's Paschal Supper agrees The Cup mention'd by St. Luke (i) Luk. 22.17 19 20. which he took before the Bread and giving thanks divided it amongst his Disciples seems to have been their first Cup and might be however their second And the Bread which after he had given thanks he brake and gave to them was the same they now so bless and distribute after the second Cup. And lastly the Cup after Supper the Cup of Blessing as it is call'd by St. Paul in express Terms (k) 1 Cor. 10.16 what should it be but what the Jews call by that name and with which they thank for the Meal the third Cup Neither because our Saviour says in St. Matthew (l) 26.29 after the Cup that he would not henceforth drink any more of the fruit of the vine will it therefore follow that he did not drink the fourth Cup. For the same Saying is put in St. Luke (m) Luke 22.18 before the first Cup and can there signifie no otherwise than in general and that after that Solemnity was wholly over he would not drink of it except we will suppose that what he gave to the Disciples he took not himself But however this may be the Gospel hath yet one farther Particular agreeable to the Description of the Jews That when they had supp'd they sung a Hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives (n) Matth. 26.30 to meditate And it has besides been observ'd that our Saviour when he spoke the Bread to be his Body might have had a peculiar respect to that Phrase of the Body of the Lamb and could it be admitted that in those days as now an unleaven'd Cake was by any substituted for the Body of the Lamb It might then have been the easier understood to represent our Lord's Body These are the particular Correspondencies between the Paschal and the Lord's Supper and there was too another general one in their Nature as they were both of them to be Memorials of a former bloody Atonement Feasts of present Joy and Thanks but not without some afflictive Remembrance for the Past Here therefore it appears and from the Relation of the Scripture that our Lord thought fit to raise his other Sacrament likewise out of a Festival Commemoration the Jews were commanded to keep for their old Deliverance And hereafter it will appear further by the Construction the Primitive Church made that our Saviour in the Institution of his Feast did not consider only that single Annual Solemnity of theirs but their other more frequent Sacrificial Entertainments of Praise and Thanksgiving (o) See C. 7. of this Repartit CHAP IV. § I. The Church of Christ succeeds to the Church of the Jews § II. The Officers of the One rais'd from the Officers of the Other The Apostles of each § III. And the Bishops § IV. The Presbyters or Elders of the Jews § V. The Christian Presbyters and their Power § VI. The Ministerial Officers of the Jews § VII Answered by our Deacons THE Two Sacraments we see as they are described in the Scripture appear to have been transferr'd from the Old Testament to the New and by the one of them we are Admitted into the Christian Covenant and by the other we Recognize it Now those who were admitted into the Mosaical Covenant were admitted into a Body or Society and this Body had its Governours and Officers and whether the Christian Church were not a like Body and with like Officers we shall next inquire and from Scriptural Authority § I. And first It is plain that the Church of Christ comes into the place of the Congregation of Israel For it is known that the Word in the New Testament which we Translate Church is the same with that which stands in the Greek of the Old for the Congregation or Body of that
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
Jewish But in this as for the Synagogue-Discipline and Worship of the Jews I am prevented by what has been said before and the Parallel must have manifestly appear'd betwixt the Bishop Priest and Deacon and between the Chief of the Sanhedrim or Synagogue the Elders and their Ministerial Officers For as every City had its Consistory in that manner Officer'd with the Jews so had it with the Christians though with no Subordination to any other higher Court as at Jerusalem in as much as that Local Dependance was now abolish'd The Chief of the Consistory with the Jews was either the Prince or his Deputy the Father of the Assembly Now the Title of Prince was I suppose in the Christian Church every where appropriated to Christ and the Bishop was as the Father in whom the Principal Directive Power was lodged The other Elders were his Councellors and Assistants in the Governing and Teaching of the Assembly and the Deacons had the management of Affairs Execution of Orders and Distribution of Alms belonging to their part as is notoriously known Thus was a Christian Church govern'd conformably to the Synagogue as a Society it was likewise as a Congregation The Instruction and Exhortation belong'd to the Bishop or else by his leave to the Presbyters or it was perform'd by such other proper Person as the Bishop should appoint Likewise Prayers were said either by the Bishop or Presbyters or else by the Deacons For these last answering the Jewish Chazans directed the People in their Devotions either repeating the Prayers before them or calling upon them to hearken to those repeated by others and also either Read the holy Scriptures or assisted those who were to Read them Neither do the Elders of a Christian and a Jewish Church agree only so far but farther yet For as the Jewish Elders since the Destruction of Jerusalem have thought fit to assume to themselves much of the Sacerdotal Honour and Privilege so have the Christian succeeded into the like Dignity nay are call'd by the same Name as we have seen in Tertullian's expression (h) See Ch. 6. §. 1. The High Priest who is the Bishop and as he phrases it discoursing about those Hereticks who making little distinction between the People and the Church Officers committed Sacerdotal Offices to the Laiety i and as we may in general have collected even from the discretive Appellatives themselves of Laiety and Clergy But the Elders of the Christian Church derive not those their style and Privileges from the Calamities of Jerusalem and the Usurpation of the Rabbins nor are they esteem'd Priests in vertue of their Presbytery though the English word Priest happens to come by the French Prestre from the Latin Presbyter On the contrary by Original appointment a Christian Priest corresponds as directly to a Priest of the Jews as a Presbyter does to their Elder or rather to speak more generally the Bishops Priests and Deacons of the Gospel answer not more to the Officers of the Sanhedrim or Synagogue than they do to those of the Temple to the High Priest or as we conceive his Great Vicar to the Priests and to the Levites For this is not only intimated by the Sacerdotal Titles the Governours of the Church immemorially had as we learn'd from Tertullian but plainly declar'd by their Office and all along allow'd and own'd by more Antient Authors They having as hath appear'd an Eucharistical Sacrifice still remaining to be celebrated by them a Pure Offering to be offer'd in every place and every where Holy Tables or Altars erected for that Service And this is what St. Jerom has said much to our purpose in that Letter of his which has been often miscited to the Prejudice of Episcopacy (k) Ad Eâ—â—gâ— And says he that you may understand the Ecclesiastical Traditions to be deriv'd from the Old Testament we are to know what Aaron and his Sons were in the Temple that Bishops Priests and Deacons are to challenge to themselves in the Church This Remembrance of St. Jerome was we see well founded and is if I mistake not attested by the structure of an Antient Christian Church such of which we have been speaking before (l) Ch. 6. §. 1 3. For whereas the first four Partitions of it wherein the Laiety were dispos'd have been seen to answer to the four first Courts of the Temple beyond which none but those of the Tribe of Levi ordinarily could go there yet remain two other Partitions the places heretofore of our Clergy to answer to the two remaining Courts of the Priests and of the Altar For so that part E Fig. 2. of a Christian Church which is next beyond the Upper Place of the Faithful now call'd the Quire D and reaches to the Rails of the Altar space stil'd by the Western Church Presbyterium and by the Greek Solea m where the Readers are said to have had a place n corresponds aptly enough with the Court of the Temple where the Priests stood who were not actually on Duty and where the Doukans Desks of the Singers were likewise placed (o) Lightf T. Service Ch. 23. And then the Higher space F Fig. 2. inclosed with Rails or Lattice where the Lord's Table or Christian Altar G stands apparently agrees to the Court of the Altar in the Temple F. Fig. 1. which was fenc'd in like manner And possibly the rais'd Seat T behind the Altar as the Archiepiscopal Chair at Canterbury now is where the Bishop sat with the Chief of the Clergy on either side answer not only to the Seats of the Elders in a Synagogue (p) Ch. 6. §. 3. but to the Place where the High Priest stood compassed with his Brethren round about as a young Cedar in Libanus by the Palm Trees (q) Eccles 50.12 either at the Altar it self G Fig. 1. or in the Porch H which was as high and from whence after the Burning of the Incense the Blessing was pronounc'd (r) Iâ—â—juf Ib Ch. 36. Maim de Cult Diâ—â— Tract 6. Câ—p. 6. §. 4. And this concerning the Agreement of the upper part of a Church with the upper Courts of the Temple I have added on this Argument not so much to confirm the Sacerdotal Title of Christian Priests for that seems to be otherwise sufficiently secur'd as to complete the Parallel already begun in the sixth Chapter and by which a new account is offer'd of the Modelling of these Christian Aedifices I know Architects derive the Design of our Churches from the Fabricks of the Heathen Basilicae or Publick Halls (Å¿) Pallad lib. 4. c. 5. lib. 3. c. 19. the upper end of which was rais'd and had a Semicircle in which Governours and Judges sat for Audience having before them a Table as we may presume and a space separated and Raild in and beyond that without the Bar a place something lower where those stood who attended the Court the remaining and lowest part of the Hall being open to