end at the Time of our Saviour's Resurrection A Bishop of the Neighbourhood having been troubled about this Nicety sends to Dionysius the Famous Bishop of that Capital City for a Resolution and his Answer here follows d You wrote to me right Trusty and most excellent Son inquiring what Hour of Easter-Day the Fast should end For some Brethren you say think it ought to end at Cock-Crow and some the Evening before For the Brethren of Rome as they say wait for the Crowing of the Cock and those here you tell me are something sooner But you desire me to give you the exact Hour and that very precisely and scrupulously determin'd a thing troublesomely nice and in which it is easie to mistake This indeed will be agreed by all That we ought to begin our Festival Joy after our Saviour's Resurrection Humbling our Souls with Fasting till that time comes But you have proved in your Letter very well from the Holy Gospels That it is not very exactly determined there at what Hour it was that he arose Those places of the Gospels he then considers and infers thus That the Setting out and the Going of the Disciples to the Sepulchre was in the deep of the Morning and very early but that they spent in their Going and about the Sepulchre to Sun-Rising This says he being the State of that Case To those who are so scrupulous as to inquire for the very Hour or Half or Quarter of an Hour when to begin the Festival we Answer thus We blame those who make too much haste and give over before Midnight And those who hold out longer and continue till the Fourth Watch we commend But to those who leave off in the mean time as their Inclination or Ability has served them we are not severe For not to be nice about Hours the Six Days of Fasting themselves are not kept equally and alike by All. Some continuing without Food pass over e the whole Six Days some Two some Three some Four and some not One. Now to those who have endured such Passings over without Sustenance and grow unable to hold out and are ready to faint to them leave is to be given for an earlier Refreshment But if there be any who have been so far from thus passing over the preceding Four Days that they have not so much as fasted f nay it may be have feasted and then coming to the Two last and onely Days and passing over the Friday and Saturday think they do a great thing if they hold on to Day-Break As to these I cannot think that they have strove alike for the Mastery with those who had been engaged in the Exercise more Days before Here is from great and unquestionable Authority a very accurate Account of the Manner in which the Christians of Alexandria and that Country passed the Week before Easter Nor is it to be doubted but that those generally of other Places observed it with more than ordinary Abstinence though they might not come up to all this Austerity and though the Aegyptian Christians as well as Jews for so I take Philo's Essenes to have been may have been the greatest Fasters each of their own Religion Some we are told wholly abstain'd from Food or pass'd over all the Six Days some Four beginning with Wednesday some Three and some Two And these last did the least of those who pretended to Pass Over for he mentions none who thought fit to begin on the Saturday and so to pass over but One whole Day He mentions indeed some who pass'd over not so much as One but it is plain that these were very few in comparison of the Rest and it is besides observable that those who did not Pass over a day altogether might however in the Language of this Author have Fasted a day till the Evening and in this manner it is probable they that Pass'd not over one day did however Fast more than one and possibly all the Six in the self-same Manner in which we now keep the most solemn of our Fasts Such Abstinence was us'd in the Passion-Week at Alexandria and in probability in most other Churches for the Account of Dionysius begins with the mention of Rome and Other places and does not at all seem to appropriate the Practice to that single City When therefore St. Cyprian a Cotemporary and Correspondent of Dionysius speaks occasionally of the first Solemnities of the Passover which detained his Brethren the Bishops at their own Churches g we may very well understand them to be the Devotions of the Holy Week and suppose that the Season of Seven Days before Easter and Seven after which by the Law of Theodosius the Great was made a Vacation in the Courts of Justice h had been before kept holy by the pious Usage of the elder Christians And this will seem the less strange if we reflect upon the Practice of the Jews about the same Season We shall hereafter endeavour to shew that very much of the Christian Usages were derived from them and it will not be deny'd by any That our Easter answers in some sort to their Passover-Day and the Seven Holy-days after the one to the Seven after the other This is acknowledg'd but it is not improbable that the Days before Easter had some such regard too The Monday of that Week we have seen in the last Chapter was supposed to be the Day in which the High-Priests resolved on our Saviour's Death as it was appointed in their Law for the Day in which they were to single out their Paschal Lamb and this as we there observed may have seemed sufficient Reason to the Ancient Christians to begin their stricter Devotion then But it is besides observable and remarked by Theophylact i That the Jews commonly began to make Entertainments and commenced their Festivity the Day before that on which he supposes our Saviour was entertained at Bethany the sixth day before the Passover if they did not earlyer And this in the general is the more probable from the Appellation the Jews now give the Sabbath before the Passover calling it the Great Sabbath a Greatness I suppose in which the rest of the days of that Week had their share For as the Scripture tells us (k) John 11.55 That many came up before the Passover to purifie themselves and to offer Sacrifices for their Sins so too we may presume many came to pay the Peace-Offerings they had vow'd and of them the most solemn the Eucharistical were not capable by reason of their Leavened Bread which accompanied them (l) Levit. 7.13 to be offered on any of the latter seven days and made up therefore as we have reason to think the Solemnity of the Season before Now if those days before the Passover were thus distinguished among the Jews by their Festivity they might be among Christians as much distinguished by their Abstinence according to the Rule of that Apostolical Constitution produc'd by the Audaeans for
a Viris Prudentibus constitutos qui magis seculo vacant quam Deo nec possunt immo nolunt toto in Ecclesia vitae suae tempore congregari Quotus enim quisque est qui saltem bâ—co pauca quae staâ—uta sunt vel Orandi tempora vel Jejunandi semper exerceat CHAP. X. § I. Sozomen's Account of the keeping of Lent in his Time about Ann. Chr. 440. § II. What Additions have been made since § III. Socrates his Account of the Practice of the same Age I suppose by the Novatians § IV. His Wonder That Lents of differing Lengths should all of them be called the Forty Season § V. The Conclusion § I. THE Novatians who held it unlawful to re-admit any into the Church who had either renounc'd the Faith in time of Persecution or had committed some other grievous Crimes and who had on this account themselves renounc'd the Communion of the Church in St. Cyprian's time about the middle of the Third Century were now greatly divided among themselves in this Age about the Observation of Easter the same Dispute which the Authority of the Nicene Council had composed among the Catholicks now breaking out among those Schismaticks and making a new and very angry Schism between them This Quarrel of theirs Sozomen relates and upon occasion of it he mentions the peaceable Behaviour of Anicetus and Polycarp remembred on the same Subject by Ireneus and in Imitation of the same Author and to shew that it is not fit to break Communion about such Traditional Differences he represents at large the great Variety of Usages in the Churches of his time professing the same Faith a That among the Scythians there is but one Bishop over all their Cities whereas in Arabia c. there are Bishops in Villages That in Rome there are no more than seven Deacons and they sing Halleluiah there but once in the Year on Easter Sunday that there either b the Bishop preaches or some one else but in Alexandria the Bishop only c. And he adds the Forty Season as it is called before Easter in which the People use to fast some reckon by six Weeks as those of Illyricum do and all Europe westward and those of Africk and Aegypt and Palestine some by seven as in Constantinople and the Countries about it as far eastward as the Phoenicians And some fast three of the six or seven Weeks discontinued and some the three before Easter together and some two as the Followers of Montanus That the Followers of Montanus kept their Lent the Fortnight before Easter we find here and have observed in its proper place § II. WHAT the Author says concerning the different Reckoning of the Forty Season in the West and in the East is not only observable for the History of his time but for the understanding of modern Practice The Western Empire with Aegypt and Palestine accounted the Forty two Days of six Weeks to be their Forty Season as the LXXII Interpreters are commonly called the LXX but of these they fasted only Thirty six all the Sundays being exempted The Eastern Empire Palestine and Aegypt then excepted call'd seven Weeks that is Forty nine Days their Forty Season for they were still under the Number Fifty But then because they did not think it fit to fast on the Sabbath no more than on the Sunday unless only on the Saturday of Passion-Week they likewise deducting their seven Sundays and six Saturdays fasted effectually no more than thirty six Days Since that time the Greek Church that they may in some sort be nearer to the Number Forty have added an Eighth Week of previous Abstinence beginning on those five days to fast from Flesh though they allow themselves the use of Eggs and Milk and Cheese and Butter things from which in the seven following Weeks they strictly forbear And they besides for an Introduction to this whole Fast set apart another ninth Week wherein they specially prepare for it by Confession of their own Sins and Forgiveness of the Sins of others against themselves This is the additional Practice of the Greeks And the Latines likewise have enlarg'd their Lent and whereas before they rather adjusted the space of Time within which they kept their Fast than the number of Days they did actually fast to the Number Forty forty two being nearer to Forty than thirty six they have since thought it better to make up the Number Forty precisely of such fafling Days and have therefore added Four to the former beginning on the Wednesday of the seventh Week as is well known § III. WHAT we have from Sozomen is express and without Dispute what follows from Socrates is more confus'd and ambiguous but may serve however to give us some light He writing at the same time with Sozomen and taking the same occasion from the Novatian difference to enter upon the like Discourse says among other things b 2 Those of the same Faith differ in their Vsages The Fast for Example before Easter is differently observed in different places For those in Rome fast Three continued Weeks before Easter except Saturdays and Sundays But the Illyrians and Grecians of Europe and Alexandrians keep a Fast of Six Weeks before Easter calling it the Forty Season And besides these there are others who beginning seven Weeks before and fasting by Intervals only Three Weeks of five Days a-piece call that space of Time nevertheless the Forty Season And I can't but wonder how those who differ so in the Number of the Days should agree to give them that common Name of which Denomination several inquisitive Men have given several Accounts Neither is there a difference only about the Number of Days but about the Abstinence of their Diet. Some abstain from all that has Life some eat of no Animal but Fish some of Birds too some abstain from Fruits and Eggs some take only dry Bread and some admit not that but others Eating not till Three in the Afternoon after that use their Liberty And infinite are the differences about these things concerning which we have no written Precept and thence it is plain that they are left by the Apostles to every one 's own Judgment and Choice that every one may voluntarily do what is Good not for Fear or out of Necessity This Account of Socrates has been much question'd in what relates to Rome it being apparent from Sozomen and otherwise That in that time not Three Weeks but Six were observed in that City He himself too afterwards says that they fasted there all Saturdays as they are known to have done in that Age from other hands excepting that before Easter only The Author for this has met with a very hard Censure from some others have endeavoured to salve the Matter with new Readings and Valesius stands so much on his side as to take up the Paradox and justifie every Tittle he is supposed to say against all Opponents But it may be the fairer way would be
might the Christians think fit to keep up a yearly memory of that their Sacrifice whose offering was once made and never to be reiterated but its efficacy is to endure for ever they likewise observing this Solemnity not with any Ritual Form but with such eternal Duties of Penitence and Supplication as are always incumbent upon us miserable Sinners which the Justice of God will perpetually require and his Goodness in our Saviour accept § III. THERE seems therefore to be reason enough from the nature of the Thing from that Mysterious Suffering of our Lord and the consequent Practise of his Primitive Servants to found the continued Solemnity of the Passion Day upon its correspondence with the Levitical Day of Propitiation Neither is it to be expected that I should justify the Parallel by producing any like Opinion of the first Christians to that we have seen of the Jews concerning the Necessity and Merit of the Observation of the Day when the one was observ'd only as Proper and Expedient though in the judgment probably of those who had the Spirit of God and the other as Positively commanded by God Himself And yet so far did the first Christians seem to regard the vertue of a Jewish Expiation Day in their Practise about their own that they still determin'd the ordinary stated Period of the Penances of ejected Brethren with the Penitence of Good Friday and the following Saturday both which were the Days of our Lord's Passion as if by that their Conversion was consummated and the Pardon of the Church intirely gain'd And when they readmitted Penitents on Maundy Thursday as was the Antient Usage of the Church of Rome and it may be of all others they did not therefore depart from this their Parallel with the Expiation Day but rather confirm'd it For the Jews as we have seen (g) Rep. 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. on the Eve of their Expiation relax their Sentences of Excommunication and admit all to the Office of the next Day and for the same reason the Christians might admit their Excommunicates to the Offices of both Passion Days and even those whom they did not afterwards suffer to continue in their Communion The office of the Passion Day or Days I mean which consisted in Confession and Supplication for it is very probable that in the earlier times the Reconcil'd Penitents were not admitted to the Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood until Easter-Day The Supper likewise which was us'd to be held solemnly on that Thursday though it is said to be in Imitation only of our Lord's Supper yet it may also have proceeded from the Practise of the Jews on their Expiation Eve which we mention'd above For they in the Conclusion of their Penitential Preparation towards the Propitiation Day do always make a Solemn Supper and think it as much their Duty to eat well on that Evening as on the Sabbath that being in their Opinion a Duty of the Afternoon as strict Fasting is the Duty of the following Day So agreeable was the Supper of Passion Thursday to the Supper of the Jews on the Eve of their Expiation and more agreeable than to the last Supper of our Blessed Lord which if we go by Jewish Custom was held after Night and in their reckoning therefore rather on the Friday than on the Thursday Agreeable I say as to the time for as to the Freedom of Eating I suppose it differ'd much from that Jewish Meal But those Asiaticks (h) Part 1. Ch. 1. §. 3. who differ'd from the other Churches both in their observing the 14th day with the Jews whatever day of the Week it should be and also in breaking off their Fast that day might possibly in this point have as much follow'd the Custom of the Jews for one Season as they did their Calculation for the other For those of Asia seem to be of the Opinion of which their Followers in Epiphanius (i) Part 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. lit m. certainly were and which many other Churches have also embrac'd that our Saviour suffer'd on the 15th day of Nisan neither is it likely that they did not Fast on that day notwithstanding they are said to have broke it off before for such a neglect no doubt could not have been pass'd over unobserv'd by their Adversaries and would have drawn upon them the censure of Victor more than either of the other differences and besides we know their now mention'd Followers did actually so fast i I suppose therefore that their Breaking off the Fast was not a Determination of it but an Interruption by such a Supper and that this their Meal was Formal and Full and in the nature of a Feast and so reputed whereas the Supper if any of the rest of the Christians was a sparing refreshment and such as in comparison with the other Meal did not seem to Discontinue the Abstinence of the Season as since it has not been thought to do To these lesser particulars by which some indications of a Propitiation Day may appear I shall lastly add another Custom to be read in the Ordo Romanus their custom of striking of Fire and lighting up their Candles very solemnly in the Evening of the same Passion Thursday For whatever other reason it may have had for its institution it does also very well correspond with the Usage of the Jews who take as we have observ'd very particular care to have their Candles ready against their Propitiation Eve with which that night their Synagogues are more than ordinarily enlightned And thus I have offer'd to shew the Resemblance our Passion-Day bears to the Jew's Expiation Day both in it self and some Rites of the Day immediately preceeding it I am now to go higher and to consider at large the whole Previous Season call'd commonly Lent how well it agrees with the like Preparatory Season of the Jews before their Day of Expiation CHAP. IV. § I. A Penitential Season with the Jews Preparatory to their Expiation Day some certain Days next before it kept Vniformly by All More also generally though in various numbers and Forty by many but the First of the Forty Vniversally observ'd § II. Forty Days a solemn space of Penitence in the Jewish Discipline § III. The Christian Lent compar'd with the Jewish § I. THAT the Jews had an Antepaschal Season if not of a Fortnight yet of a Week and particularly that the Sabbath of that Week was call'd the Great Sabbath we have observ'd before (a) P. 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. whence appear'd a Conformity between them and the Christians those especially who reckon'd by the days of the Month and not of the Week in point of Holy Time though the Devotions of the one were generally Festival and of the others altogether Penitential But when we once suppose the Day of our Lord's Passion to have been the Day of Expiation and come to consider the Preparatory time that usher'd in this solemn Day we then begin to
marked with B much according to Russinus his Version made about the End of the fourth Century And to begin with what concerns the Fast in general it can never be supposed though some would be willing it should That Irenaeus in the last of the two doubtful Passages however rendered speaks any thing to the Disparagement of the Fast it self as if those who long before his time had Governed the Church less exactly had shew'd their less Exactness in the Institution of a Lent Had He said so he had indeed effectually silenc'd one part of the Grand Dispute that concerning the End of the Fast for he had declared against any Fast at all but he must have been taken then for an ill Arbitrator by Victor and the rest as well as by Polycrates who all equally joined in the Tradition of the Fast and must of necessity by the change of the Question have become a common Adversary and turned the whole Dispute upon himself But this Great Man used another method and went by the common Principle For he speaks to Victor of the Practice of those of his own side who differed from the common Custom but with whom Communion had been always held and was not now refused by Victor himself Some of those Differences it is plain he charges with less Exactness and reflects upon the Authors of them whoever they were but not upon Victor's Predecessors or his own and his Argument then for Peace proceeds thus with great force That the Bishop of Rome should not break off Communion with the Asiaticks for their different manner for those who joined with him against them and remained in his Communion had their different Customs too There is therefore no Reflection from this place upon the Original of Lent but on the contrary there is a strong Confirmation of its Apostolical Antiquity under either Version For those who according to Valesius Governed the Churches with that little Exactness as to be Authors of an undue Custom were very Ancient long before the days of Irenaeus and are supposed here to have had Cotemporaries who observed the right Manner But further in the other I think more exact Interpretation those who were long before Irenaeus his time and consequently very near to the time of St. John are said expresly to have been though not faithful and exact yet Retainers and Keepers of a Custom which had therefore been rightly practised yet earlier even before the days of those who were long before Irenaeus § III. Thus much concerning the Antiquity of a Lent I could not omit to add from these few Lines of Ireneaus casually preserved to us and which speak very casually to that Matter To the Manner of Keeping Lent they are more express and direct but very brief and concise as wrote on another design and not for Victor's or our Information in the Particular we desire to see In this transient Mention of the Manner he says some observed One day some Two and some More not expressing who they were or in what they were less Exact for Victor might understand him well though we do not Those who kept but One day and whose resurrection-Resurrection-day was a Sunday in all probability kept what we call Good Friday the Weekly Day of the Passion and if they did not too use some sort of Abstinence though not so strict on the Saturday they were so little exact as to offend against the Rule and to brâ—â—◠〈◊〉 their Fast before easter-Easter-Day But if there were any whose One Day was the Saturday they who begun their Fast so late little wanted that Rule to tell them when to end it and their neglecting the Passion-Day could not seem very exact to those that observed it As to the Two or More days it is not neither determined after what sort they were kept whether in One continued Fast uninterrupted by any Food as two or more of those days were certainly fasted by some of the next Age especially in the Passion-Week or whether the Fasts were several though the Days were continued each Day ended with some Refreshment If those More days were very Many they were as we have intimated already (*) Ch. 2. §. 1. likely to have been kept in the last Manner There might too have been more Days than Two kept together not only once just before Easter but oftner and at some distance within the Compass of a larger time Hereafter Examples will appear of such Fasts and the several Practices may have been old though the mention of them in Books be later Hitherto the Words are plain and of certain Construction though we may not know every particular Case to which they might referâ—â— but those that follow are of ambiguouâ— Interpretation and particularly the word Forty is expounded as we see by some of Days and by some of Hours It is not absolutely necessary to any design of these Papers That forty Days should be here named expresly for they may well be admitted under the latitude of the word More if we shall hereafter see Reason to understand them so early I hope therefore I am not partial when I judge the Old Translation of this Place to be preferable to the Modern For first a Day of 40 Hours is a space of time never before heard of neither determined by the Sun's Appearance nor Revolution And if we should admit of such a single Day measured not by the Sun's Motion but by our Saviour's lying in the Grave yet it would be strange to join two or more of those days together Valesius therefore wonders That the Absurdity has been endured and that no Body has seen that the Greek word for Day must be changed into that for Fast and the Sentence run so Some measure their Fast by 40 Hours c. This Change he is forced to by the Sense not countenanced by the Authority of any Copy But not to object the Odness of this Fast that was to begin at soonest after Breakfast on the Friday and which took notice of our Lord's Burial but not of his Crucifixion much less of his previous Sufferings and Apprehension to pass this over for this might be one of those less exact Manners which once had place though afterwards left off yet still the mention of Hours of Day and Night would be very redundant especially where the Author is so Brief for what need is there of this Circumstantial Description and how could Forty Hours have otherwise come together Such Objections as these to which the New Interpretation lies open do put us upon looking out for another more proper which I take that of Ruffinus to be For the Forty Days which somâ— are unwilling to find so soon in the Church will appear hereafter not to have been so unhâ—â—â—â—â—f for a Fast as 40 Hours but rather to have been a Number much celebrated within 〈◊〉 little while in the Christian Lent and in all probability sacred before to Abstinence in the Jewish Church Ruffinus
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
find a fuller and a higher correspondence not only in a Weekly but in a Forty Season and that likewise of Penitential Duty For first the Jews prepare themselves for the Day of Propitiation more particularly the Week before it They rise before Light assist at Publick Prayers confess their Sins thrice every day Fast and give Alms (b) â—or this whole Section See Buxt S. J. Cap. 26. And as the People fit themselves in a more especial manner by the Devotions of those seven days for the solemn Act of Humiliation commanded them by Moses so they tell us the High Priest heretofore imploy'd the same Week in a continual Exercise of his Office that he might be the better able to discharge the Difficult Duty of the Great Day (c) Jomâ— Cap. 1. The Sabbath also of that Week they distinguish by a peculiar Title and call it the Sabbath of Repentance Thus the Jews pass the seven preceeding days and so Leo de Modena (d) Câ—r des Juif P. 3. C. 6. distinguishes them from the rest For though all the ten of that seventh Month are call'd the Ten Days of Repentance reckoning the Day of Expiation for one yet the two first are in some manner Festival being the first of their Political Year and on them they abstain not from Dinner and Supper for which reason they may not be esteem'd as Penitential as the seven that follow These Ten Days are constantly so observ'd by all Jews the last the Tenth by Scriptural Precept and the others by Universal Custom And further to these are added out of the foregoing Month ordinarily a Week at least says Leo de Modena For even the German Jews begin their Humiliation as early according to a particular Rule they have (e) Morin de Poen 10.34.3 But other Nations generally take more time to that solemn Office and frequently Devout Persons begin from the First Day even of this preceeding Month to Fast to make Prayers and Confessions to repeat the Penitential Psalms and to Give Alms continuing so to do the whole Forty days However all Jews begin their Penitential Devotion the First day of that Month the Fortieth day before the Expiation though they may afterwards discontinue in the intermediate time On that day also they begin to blow the Horn in their Synagogues which they do every day that Month for an Alarm they say that they may Repent and be ready to meet the Judgment of God who according to their Tradition sits in Judgment the Ten days of the Next Month. § II. I have mention'd their Opinion of God's Judging the World in the Beginning of their Seventh Month and it may seem thence that their Custom of giving notice by the sound of the Horn may rather respect the Beginning of the Month Tisri than the Tenth Day of it and be rather the Warning of Thirty than of Forty days But this suspicion if it should arise will receive easy satisfaction from another concurrent Tradition of the Jews universally receiv'd by them that Moses went up upon the Mount the Last time on the First day of their Sixth Month and return'd again to them with the second Copy of the Law on the Fortieth after the Tenth of the Seventh their Expiation day (f) Rab. Salom. in Locum Deuter. proximè â—itand Now when he went up he commanded a Horn as they say to be sounded thorough the Camp to give notice to the People on what Errand he was going that they might not again commit the like Abominations in memory of which they now still sound it and we besides know from better Authority (g) Deut. 9.18 that Moses spent these forty days and forty nights in Fasting and Supplication for the Sins of the Children of Israel So that we are rather to think that they have since in some measure follow'd his pious Example and that on the day of his Ascent they begin to prepare for that of his Descent which in their Opinion is the tenth of Tisri and on which they have been since commanded always to Afflict themselves before the Lord at least one Day and Night The Forty days therefore here are not to be look'd upon as an accidental number and the bare Aggregate of Thirty and Ten but as they make up directly a full Penitential Season And indeed that Number seems to have been very antiently appropriated to Penance and Humiliation For not to reckon up the Forty Days by which God drown'd the World (h) Gen. 7.4 or the Forty Years in which the Children of Israel did Penance in the Wilderness (i) Numb 14.34 or the Forty Stripes (k) Deut. 25.3 by which Malefactors were to be corrected though these Instances may concur to strengthen the Opinion whoever considers that Moses did not once only fast this Number of Days (l) Deut. 9.9 18 25. that Elias Fasted also in that Wilderness by the same space (m) King 1.19.8 that the Ninevites had precisely as many Days allow'd for their Repentance (n) Jon. 3.4 and that lastly our Blessed Saviour when he was pleas'd to Fast observ'd the same Length of time (o) Matth. 4.2 whoever I say considers these Facts cannot but think that this number of Days was us'd by them all as the common solemn number belonging to Extraordinary Humiliation and that those were accustom'd to afflict themselves Forty days who would deprecate any great and heavy judgment though the Scripture does not specify the number as those we know p who had a Nazaritical Vow upon them were us'd to observe thirty days though the Scripture had not neither determin'd that space And this is no more than what St. Jerom a Father much vers'd in the Jewish Knowledge has expresly averr'd in his Comment on Jonas where he says that Forty is the number proper for Penitents and Fasting and Prayer c. and that for this reason Moses fasted forty days and so Elias and likewise our blessed Lord c. as may be seen at large in the Passage already exscrib'd above (q) Part 1. Ch. 8. §. 2. This is there positively and in good earnest said by St. Jerom as the Reason of those Examples though Mr. Daille puts it off r as if the Good Father had Play'd upon them while Hâ— himself rather plays with the Father And according to this the Penance of Forty days is very frequent in the Modern Penitentials of the Jews as we have also seen before (Å¿) Rep. 1. Ch. 9. §. 2. being there generally injoin'd upon any of the Greater Transgressions And to go yet a little further in this matter I cannot tell whether the Forty Days which our Blessed Saviour himself fasted in the Wilderness were not so pass'd by him in the nature of a Penitential Fast For the Baptism of John is known to be a Baptism of Repentance (t) Acts 19.4 preparing for the Messias to come and it may not be unreasonable to suppose that by it
Passover Sect. II. The Notification of Easter by Paschal Letters agrees with the Practice of the Jews Sect. III. The Ante-Paschal Preparation of Christians answers to a like Preparation of the Jews before their Day of Expiation p. 389 Chap. II. Sect. I. The Sacrificial Performance on the Jewish Expiation Day Sect. II. Compar'd with that of our Saviour on his Passion-Day p. 396 Chap. III. Sect. I. The Devotional Duty of the Jews on their Expiation Day Sect. II. Practis'd by Christians on the Passion Day Sect. III. Some Circumstances of the Eves of those Days Compar'd p. 406 Chap. IV. Sect. I. A Penitential Season with the Jews Preparatory to their Expiation Day some certain Days next before it kept Vniformly by All More also generally though in various numbers and Forty by many but the First of the Forty Vniversally observ'd Sect. II. Forty Days a solemn space of Penitence in the Jewish Discipline Sect. III. The Christian Lent compar'd with the Jewish p. 418 Chap. V. Sect. I. This Origination of Lent very Probable and its Observation a Testimony to our Lord 's Expiatory Sacrifice However Sect. II. The Consideration of that Expiatory Sacrifice is a good reason for our observing the Passion Day and likewise Sect. III. Some Preparatory time before it p. 431 Corrigenda Addenda PAge 7. line 21. dele that he may if c. p. 19. l. 15. dele in p. 30. l. 12. read Oris de Jej. p. 67. l. 23. r. Paschatis p. 68. l. 5. r. choose p. 69. after the 18. line add However I will venture to offer that the following Sabbatum continuatis may be understood of Saturday alone and without any Connexion with a Friday preceding and mean no more than the Passing it without food the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Dionys Alex See the next Ch. § 2. and Note e p. 75. l. 7. put § II. l. ult for Trusty Faithful p. 79. l. 12. put § III. p. 87. for n put p p. 122. l. 16. for Fast r. Fact p. 153. l. 6. c. Ch. I. to be reckon'd Ch. II. p. 224. l. 8. put in the Margin See Fig. I. l. 14. for impurer r. certain p. 229. l. 21. dele from him p. 231. l. 24. dele so p. 232. l. 6. after anon add n and in the Margin n. ch 9. p. 252. l. last save 3. for little r. tittle p. 267. l. 24. r. Ingenuous p. 317. l. 11. r. High Priests and are in some l. 12. for now r. also p. 323. l. 27. r. Pattern p. 326. l. 3. dele the second that p. 328. l. 26. r. Laps'd p. 336. l. 15. dele l l. 19 20. dele of some l. 20. r. l p. 381. l. last save 2 for from r. for p. 385. l. 5. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 392. to p. 401. the Running Title to be as afterwards it is A Conjecture c. p. 403. l. 16. r. Depellendus ab Hominum consortio under a Niddui See pag. 232. lit b whose c. PART I. AN Historical Account OF THE Observation of LENT CHAP. I. Concerning the Festival of the Resurrection § I. The Weekly Festival or Sunday § II. The Yearly the many Differences about it § III. The Difference between the Asiatick Churches and the Others and the Proof thence in general for the Apostolical Antiquity of Easter § IV. In Particular from the Letters of Polycrates and Irenaeus LENT in the old Saxon is known to signifie the Spring and thence has been taken in common Language for the Spring-Fast or the Time of Humiliation generally observ'd by Christians before Easter And as it is a Season of Recollection and Repentance ending at that Festival of our Saviour's Resurrection and annually regulated by the Time of it so the Historical Knowledge of the one depends upon the other and the Fast cannot well be understood without the Feast be first settled and some Account of it premised § I. NOW the Feast of the Resurrection is of two Sorts either the Weekly the Lord's Day or the Yearly called Easter And as to the Weekly It is on all hands acknowledged to have been perpetually and universally observed ever since the beginning of Christianity It is particularly remembred in the New Testament as a Day for Christian Assemblies under the name of the (a) Acts 20.7.1 Cor. 16.2 First Day of the Week and in the Book of Revelation it is called (b) Rev. 1.10 the Lord's Day Pliny in his Relation he made to Trajan concerning the Christians of Bithynia about the Year of our Saviour 104 is supposed to have intended it when he says c They were us'd to meet together before Light on a Certain day And Justin Martyr d in his Apology about the Year 138 giving an account of the Day of their ordinary Assemblies expresses it to be Sunday So has the weekly Day of the Resurrection been all along kept Holy nor has any Christian Church ever censured or thought fit to set aside the Practice § II. AND if there has been constantly such a Weekly Memorial of the Resurrection we shall little doubt but it had too an Yearly Solemnity It is true there is not so early a mention of that Annual Festival neither is it likely that there should have been as much occasion for the Remembrance of what happened but once a Year as of that which was done every Week but neither has there been wanting very good Evidence for its great Antiquity a Dispute that arose about the Year 190 concerning the Time of keeping it giving us accidentally to know That such a Day had been always kept down from the Apostles time About the Time of the Weekly Feast the First Day there could be no Disagreement but about the Annual there might be very much For if all Nations of Christendom had then reckoned by the same kind of Year suppose by the Jewish which was Lunar and consisted of so many Revolutions of the Moon and besides if all had agreed That our Saviour arose on the 16th day of the first Month yet after all this there was a very obvious Question and which would frequently return Whether they should keep the Yearly Feast on that 16th day precisely whatever day of the Week it happened to be if on a Friday the Weekly Day of the Passion or whether they should not rather make the Yearly Remembrance to fall in with the Weekly and so keep it on some First day of the Week which should be near to that 16th day of the Month. This was the Variety which was actually the Occasion of that Debate I am now to mention Other Differences there might have been rais'd from the difference of Years and some were insisted on in after times which I shall here remark not for present use but to help the understanding of what may be hereafter incidentally mentioned For if all had agreed to celebrate the Annual Festival on the Sunday near to the Annual Day yet this Yearly Day must have been different
if they reckoned by different Years or by different Beginnings of the same sort of Year So those Montanists in Sozomen (e) Lib. 7. cap. 18. who went by the Solar Year and kept the Resurrection-day on some Sunday near the sixth of April would no more agree with those who placed it by the 14th day of the first Lunar Month of the Jews than the 14th day of the Moon 's Age would always be upon the same day of April And so those who agreed to use the Year of the Moon 's according to the Jewish Form might still differ among themselves if some followed the erroneous Calculation of their cotemporary Jews and begun their Year sooner than Moses had directed as the Christians of Cilicia Mesopotamia and Syria did before the Council of Nice and if others amending the Jewish Calendar stayed till the Aequinox according to the Original Appointment as the rest of the World did to whom those Easterns therefore by the direction of that Council in a little while conformed And further those who were so far agreed as to keep their Easter-day on a Sunday and to observe the same Reformed Jewish Year might yet differ in their placing of the Sunday in that Year Some as the Latines (f) Buch. in Victorii Can. Pasc c. 11. assigning it to the 16th day of the first Month on which day our Saviour was by them supposed to have arose and thenceforth to any of the six days after on which the Sunday should happen and some to the 15th day the first and great day of the Jewish Paschal Feast and thenceforward to any of the six days after of the same Jewish Solemnity a Practice to which the Western Church has since agreed as the Alexandrians used to do who supposing the Resurrection to have been on the 17th f might think they came near enough to it when the Sunday was never to be further from it than two days before or four after And some might allow it to be on the 14th day the day in which the Paschal Lamb was sacrificed as amongst others the old Brittish Inhabitants of our Isle were found to do who if they thought our Saviour to have risen on the 16th day placed their Easter-Sunday as exactly near it as the Alexandrians plac'd theirs and if they thought he rose on the 17th they were yet more exact than any and put it as near as was possible so as never to be more distant from it than three days either before or behind it For such Reasons our old Predecessors might have thought fit thus to keep their Easter however they were blamed by our Austin for it and afterwards call'd Hereticks and Quartodecimani a term of Dislike more justly given to those of whom we are going to speak and who occasion'd this too nice and too long Digression which the Reader therefore finds in another Letter that he may if he pleases pass it over § III. THE most likely Question to happen concerning the Place of the Yearly Resurrection-Day whether it should be always kept on a Sunday or no was the great Controversie between the Churches of Lesser Asia and Rome and in which all Christendom became ingag'd a Dispute managed by the Bishop of Rome too warmly but which has done so much good as to give occasion for the preserving some Records relating to this part of the History of Christianity by which we are certainly inform'd of the Great and Universal Antiquity of Easter and its preceding Fast. Those Asiatick Churches besides their singularity in breaking off their Fast on the 14th day celebrated the Solemnity of the Resurrection on a fixt day of the first Month of the Jews whatever day of the Week it prov'd to be and the rest of the Christian World if it happened not to be a Sunday observed it on some Sunday near it But both the Parties kept the Festival and each of them contended That it had been so kept in their several Churches from their first Plantation For about this Matter at the Request of Victor Bishop of Rome the several Bishops of Christendom met in their several Synods and all of them except those of Asia properly so called agreed on these two Points as deriv'd to them from Apostolical Tradition 1. That the Solemnity of our Saviour's Resurrection was not to be celebrated on any other day but the Lord's Day 2. And that the Paschal Fast ought not to be ended till that Day This was the Answer of all those Synods to the Questions in difference and the Returns of many of them are mentioned by Eusebius to have been extant in his time g The general Result of those Synodical Determinations which Eusebius gives us is sufficient to satisfie us That the Bishops of both sides were fully possess'd of the Apostolical Tradition of their different Customs of observing Easter And such an uniform Concurrence of so many venerable Persons from such distant Places about such a solemn and observable a Practice and at a time no more remote from the Age of the Apostles cannot but induce us to give credit to this their single Affirmation as it is by him Authentically reported For as to the time of this Dispute it is well judg'd to have been agitated about the Year 190 of our Lord's Birth not 160 after his Passion and Resurrection the Memorial of which we now speak of not much above 120 Years from the Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul nor above 90 after the Death of St. John § IV. GREAT Regard is therefore to be had to the Judgement of the whole Christian Church of that time which Eusebius summarily reports to us g of their Tradition concerning Easter Had indeed the several Answers the Bishops of the Provinces sent remain'd to our days or had Eusebius given us more Extracts of them we could not have fail'd of many remarkable Particularities alledged by them in Favour and Justification of this general Assertion But they are all lost neither was it agreeable to that Historian's purpose to fill his Books with Proofs for the Antiquity of this Solemnity a Matter in his days never doubted by any For which Reason neither does he give us out of them any Instances in Confirmation of that particular Usage in which the great part of the World agreed with Victor and which afterwards generally prevail'd He rather thought fit at a time when the Asiatick Custom was left off to preserve some little Account of what they had to say for their singular Fashion and even out of that little we shall be able to see how well the general Tradition was grounded Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus the chief of the Asiaticks in his Letter to Victor a Fragment of which Eusebius gives (h) Euseb Eccl. Hist 5.24 professes That they kept the true Day unfalsified and then says in answer I suppose to Victor who had boasted of the Sepulchres of St. Peter and St. Paul and other Saints from whose Authority he might have
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
of Faith e though some of them were accused of Sabellianism f but only in some Rigours of Practice which he enjoyn'd as by Divine Command He absolutely forbad all second Marriages condemn'd all declining of Danger in time of Persecution made the Abstinence of the ordinary Stations to be longer and more severe dismissing their Assemblies later and allowing then a very spare Refreshment He ordered the Fast before Easter to consist of Two Weeks f 2 and besides instituted two New Lents or Seasons of Fasting g each of a Week excepting the Saturday for they fasted no Saturday but that before Easter b These and such like Ordinances he pretended to be dictated by the Holy Spirit to him and his two Prophetesses on whom the Comforter had at last according to our Saviour's Promise descended in a more plentiful manner than upon the Apostles and with fuller and more perfect Instructions Consequently those of this Sect from theâ—r pretences to the Spirit and to a stricter manner of Life took themselves to be the only spiritual Persons calling the Catholicks Carnal and Animal Men i and esteem'd the Writings of their two Prophetesses above the other Books of the New Testament k supposing them to be both the Completion and Conclusion of it and admitting afterwards no more l Of this Sect was Tertullian a Man of an austere Life and rigid Temper and a fierce Disputer but excellently Learn'd and after his peculiar fashion very Eloquent His Book concerning Fasting happens to be preserv'd where in Justification of his own Party he summs up the Opinion and the Practice of his Adversaries the Catholicks about that Matter m They accuse us saith he that we keep Fasts of our own that for the most part we prolong the time of our Stations to the Evening and that we use the Dry Diet feeding on no Flesh nor Broth nor any Juicy Fruit neither Eating nor Drinking any thing that is Vinous and that besides we then abstain from Bathing an Abstinence consequent to such a Dry Food This they object to us for an Innovation and conclude it to be unlawful either to be judg'd Heretical if it be a Humane Doctrine or to be condemn'd for false Prophecy if it pretends to be an Ordinance of the Spirit So that we are either way to be Accus'd as those who preach another Gospel For as to Fasts they tell us That certain Days have been appointed by God As when in Leviticus the Lord commands Moses That the 10th day of the 7th Month should be a Day of Propitiation saying * Lev. 2â— 27. It shall be holy to you and you shall afflict your Souls and every Soul that afflicts not it self that day shall be destroyed from among my People And in the Gospel they suppose those Days determined to Fasting in which the Bridegroom was taken away and that those only now are the days appointed in ordinary for Christian Fasts the old Observances of the Mosaical Law and the Prophets being now abolish'd for when they have a mind they can understand what is meant by that the Law and Prophets were unto John and therefore that as for any other time Fasting is to be used according to Discretion and upon particular Occasions and Causes not by the Command of any new Discipline For so did the Apostles not laying upon the Disciple any other Burden of Set Fasts and such as should be observed in common by All and consequently not of Stations neither which have indeed their Set Days Wednesday and Friday but so as that they are to be kept discretionally not by force of any Command nor beyond the last hour of the Day the Prayers then being generally ended by Three in the Afternoon after the example of St. Peter mentioned in the * Acts 10.30 Acts. But the Dry Diet our Xerophagy is they say a new Name for a new affected Duty too like the Heathen Superstition being such an Abstinence as is used to Apis and Isis and the Mother of the Gods This is his Representation of the Catholicks Thoughts concerning the Ante-Paschal Fast from which he argues in the 13th Chapter n You plead says he that the Christian Faith hath its Solemnities already determined by Scripture or Tradition and that no other Observation is to be super-added because of the Vnlawfulness of Innovation Keep to that ground if you can for here I find you your selves both fasting out of the Paschal Season besides those days in which the Bridegroom was taken away and also interposing the Half-fasts of your Stations and sometimes too living on Bread only and Water as every particular Person thinks fit You answer indeed that these things are done at your Liberty and not by Command but then you have quitted your Ground and gone beyond your Tradition when you do such things as have not been appointed you And so in the next Chapter o in answer to those who compar'd them to the Galatians as Observers of Days and Months he replies That they observe not the Jewish Ceremonies but that to the New Testament there belong new Solemnities Otherwise says he if the Apostle has abolished all Religion of Days and Times and Months and Years Why do we both Montanists and Catholicks celebrate the Paschal Season yearly in the first Month Why do we pass the fifty days following in Joy and Exultation Why do we consecrate Wednesday and Friday to Stations and Friday or Good-Friday p to Fastings Although you Catholicks also sometimes continue Saturday a day never to be fasted except in the Week before Easter for a Reason given in another place q And lastly in the next the 15th Chapter r taking notice that the Apostle condemn'd those who commanded to abstain from Meats foreseeing Marcion and Tatian and such Hereticks who would enjoin perpetual Abstinence in contempt of what the Creator had made in Vindication of their own Sect from Heresie he subjoins For how very little is the Prohibition of Meat we have made We offer to our Lord two Weeks of Dry Diet and those not whole Weeks neither Saturdays and Sundays being exempted abstaining then from such Food which we do not reject but only defer To these Testimonies of Tertullian out of this Book we may subjoin another out of his Dissertation about Prayers s Where after he has explained the Lord's Prayer and spoke of some Requisites to Prayer he then comes to censure some superstitious Observances about it and particularly taxes a Custom that had began to prevail Those who were in a Fast towards the Conclusion of their Assemblies and just before the Communion not saluting their Brethren with the Holy Kiss then always us'd on that occasion This declining to salute had been the Fashion of the Jews in their Fasts as a sign of Sorrow and is reprov'd here by Tertullian in Christians as being a kind of Ostentation of their Fasting and contrary therefore to the Direction of our Saviour which commands us not to appear to men to
fast For now says he we are known to fast by abstaining from that Salutation But if there be any reason for such a Custom you may at your own home if you please and among your Family from whom your fasting cannot well be concealed defer that Ceremony of Peace but otherwise where-ever you may conceal your Fast you are to remember the Command and by this means you will both keep your Rule abroad and your Custom at home For so on Good Friday when the Devotion of Fasting is Common and as it were Publick we justly forbear the Salutation taking no care to conceal from the rest what is done together by us all § III. NOW from these Testimonies of Tertullian it appears First That the Religious Assemblies or Stations of Wednesday and Friday were now well known and practised in the Christian Church and generally supposed to have descended from the Apostles as recommended by their example to the devouter Christians and not as injoin'd the whole Body by any Precept Secondly The constant Opinion of the Catholicks of his time presum'd That those days in which the Bridegroom our Saviour was taken away were to be fasted not at Pleasure but by Direction being design'd and determin'd to that Duty from the Beginning This is certainly the Catholick Sence as it is represented by Tertullian in the second Chapter in express words where he speaks both of the Designation of our Saviour and the Observation of the Apostles and as it is again intimated by him in the 13th Nor could it have been brought in question by Mr. Daillé had he not studied his own Hypothesis too much Neither is that judgment of the Catholicks concerning those days any ways disparaged by the Interpretation they give there to our Saviour's Words (t) Matth. ◠15 For though this Saying of his may be well understood at large as it is by most Commentators of those Distresses and Afflictions the Disciples should fall under upon his Departure the very mention of which they could not now bear vet it will too very properly admit the other Meaning and particularly imply some stated Days of Fasting hereafter to be observed by them and which our Saviour here predicts at least if not directs They were priviledged now by their attendance on the Bridegroom the Messias from the ordinary Monday and Thursday Fasts of the stricter Jews or from others extraordinary set up by John but when the Bridegroom should be taken away that Exemption he tells them would cease and withal new Cause of Fasting would arise and new times be appointed And then he adds under the Figures of a Garment and of Bottles of Wine That neither would those Fasts of his new Institution be proper as yet under the old Dispensation neither were his Disciples prepared now to undertake and observe them but that hereafter when all things should be new his New Dispensation should have New Fasts of its own and his Disciples too become for them New Men by the Renewing of the Holy Ghost This Exposition of the Text concerning such new Fasts in general after our Saviour's Death seems to be most natural very apt I am sure it is to the Occasion and Prosecution of that Saying And if then those general Words were by the first Christians applied in particular to that very time of the Year in which He suffer'd and on which they fasted as by Apostolical Tradition it is no wonder For such secondary Applications of Scripture to Subjects not seeming at first sight to have been intended by it is very usual in the New Testament And it is the known manner of the Jews to accommodate the words of the Bible to such Practices as they take to be of Divine Authority though they are hinted only and alluded to there not expressed much less commanded Thirdly Those Days which were to be so fasted are twice expresly mentioned in the Plural Number And of Those Two are obvious the Friday and the Saturday in which he was Taken Crucified and Buried These at least must I think be understood by Tertullian's Catholicks neither has he given any where any contrary Intimation For in the 14th Chapter of his Treatise of Fasting the Saturday said there to be fasted sometimes is in all probability not the Holy Saturday but any other Saturday in the Year p And in his Book of Prayer Good-Friday is mentioned peculiarly not simply for its being a Common fast-Fast-Day but because it was a fast-Fast-Day in which there was the usual Opportunity for the Holy Kiss and in which it was omitted Whereas on the Saturday they Assembled late and spent the Evening in Baptizing the Catechumens and that Day having in its Office no Place for that Ceremony consequently gave not our Author the same occasion to speak of it And thus much seems evident concerning Two of Those Days But they were reckoned by others as we have observed before from Wednesday and by some from Monday the Fifth day before the Passover the day of the Caption of the Paschal Lamb ordered by Moses (u) Exod. 12.3 in conformity to which they suppos'd our Saviour to have been at that time singled out as it were by the High-Priests and determined for Sacrifice This is certain That by many all those Days were particularly observed as we shall presently know from an Author but fifty Years younger who is indeed the first that tells us of such a Practice but as we often intimate must not therefore be supposed the first that knew it done Fourthly Of Those Days the Friday was the most remarkable for in that He was taken away actually Apprehended Crucisied and laid in the Grave and accordingly It was always kept with a singular Devotion by the whole Church the latter half of the Night in which the Apostles should heretofore have watch'd in Watching and the Day too in Fasting and Praying And for this Reason only we need not have wondered if Good-Friday had been particularly mentioned in the 14th Chapter of Fasting as it is in the Treatise of Prayer I confess from some words of the last Mr. Daillè would infer That Good-Friday was not then observed by all Christians because the Devotion of that Day is said to be Common and as it were Publick or as he sometimes understands almost Publick And his Observation would have been true had Tertullian said as it were or almost Common but when it is first term'd Common without any Restriction and after too said to be kept by All that Consideration alone should have lead that very Learned Person to the true Meaning of this Phrase as it were Publick For Publick he knew does not only signifie what belongs to all but what is expos'd or appears to all which last Sence opposed to Hiding and Concealing the Scope of the place evidently requires And besides it is plain why Tertullian puts in his as it were for he had after his strict manner urged the Command of not Publishing a Fast so absolutely
that he could not in the usual Nicety of his Style call even this Publick without some Limitation Fifthly Of other Days than those in which our Saviour was taken away there is no express mention in Tertullian But for ought appears thence other Days there might have been observ'd and some reason from him there is to think they were We have seen before how very probable it is That the Montanists had a Fast before Easter of Two Weeks besides their other two Fasts at other times of the Year and had not the Catholicks of that Age observ'd some such Lent too additionally to the ordinary prescribed Days Tertullian must have been obliged to have accounted for this Innovation also as well as for the other Whereas in the 15th Chapter he thinks himself bound to defend the other two Weeks only as the Fasts peculiar to those of his own Sect and leaves us therefore to infer That there was little difference between them concerning the Ante-Paschal Fast the Catholicks it seems having nothing to object to the Montanists about the Length of it but only about the Necessity as by Divine Command and the Montanists on the other side not being able to defend their certain fix'd Fortnight by producing any number of Days tho' more which the Catholicks kept because they were kept by them uncertainly and under no Divine Obligation From Tertullian's Management of this Dispute such reason there is to think that the Catholicks of his time had a longer Lent than of those days only And upon the same Considerations the violent Presumptions of Mr. Daillè against it will be found of no force neither is he to be suffered to conclude That the Catholicks then kept no such Lent because he did not find it formally mentioned amongst Tertullian's Objections in the 13th and 14th Chapters Had indeed their Lent been then as Determined and Formal as that of the Latine and Greek Church is now the Forty Days before Easter might probably have been mentioned as well as the Fifty after but in that Age there was a great difference between them For the Feast of the Fifty days was universally kept by all and very solemnly conspicuous if only by the Posture they used their not kneeling at their Prayers But neither was Forty nor any other number of Days fix'd then generally for a Fast and besides as the Days were at Discretion and rarely I suppose Forty so the Fast was for the most part Private and not distinguished by any Publick Action For the same Reason of Uncertainty the same Additional Days ought not to have been specified in the 13th Chapter nor mentioned in any other manner than they there are under the general Title of other days besides those in which the Bridegroom was taken away Neither I suppose did he in that place think so much of justifying his Ante-Paschal Lent a thing the Catholicks would easily allow in Substance though not in Form as of his other two Lents which were absolute Novelties in the Church of Christ and upon that account he might retort so upon the Catholicks in general concerning the Abstinence they thought fit to use through the Course of the rest of the Year But if any Adversary will impose upon Tertullian the necessity of pleading there only for his Ante-Paschal Lent I may then I think with as much reason desire him to understand the Author there as the word will signifie we know n 2 not speaking of other days Besides but of other days Before those in which the Bridegroom c. And then this Passage instead of being an Objection against such a Lent at that time will become an express Testimony for it b Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. ' O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Hier. ad Marcellum Theodorâ—t Ibidem f 2 In Sozomen's Time as we shall find hereafter Ch. 10. § I. the Ante-Paschal Fast of the Montanists was of Two Weeks and there is all Reason to think That it had been so from the beginning of their Separation For by that time the Catholicks we shall see fasted a much longer Space and these great Fasters would hardly have been left behind had not those Two Weeks been the Space determined them by their Prophet and they obliged as here follows to keep punctually to all his Institutions g Hieron ad Marcel Illi tres in anno faciunt Quadragesimâ—s quasi tres Passi sint Salvatores This is express for Three Lents and that one of them was kept after Pentecost the same Author informs us in his Comm. in Matth. cap. 9. Montanus Prisâ—illa Maximilla etiam post Pentecosten faciunt Quadragesimam When the other New one was kept I do not find ascertained But it is plain from Tertullian that both made but Two Weeks without the Saturday as you may see in his Book de Jejun cap. 15. which we are going to cite They were therefore of a Week each and were kept as appears from the 13th Chapter at the same time when their Two Yearly Synods were held h This I take to be evident from that place of Chap. 14 de Jejun hereafter to be alledg'd where Tertullian expresly says of the Saturday and according to the Opinion of his Sect that it was Nunquam nisi in Pascha jejunandum i These Names occur every where in Tertullian and in this Treatise de Jejun particularly k Theodoret. in loco supra alleg e l Epiphanius concerning this Heresie numer 2. m Tertul. de Jej. c. 1. Arguunt nos quod Jejunia propria custodiamus quod Stationes plerumque in Vesperam producamus quod etiam Xerophagias observemus siccantes Cibum ab omni Carne omni Jurulentia Vvidioribus quibusque Pomis nequid Vinositatis vel edamus vel potemus Lavacri quoque abstinentiam congruentem arido Victui Novitatem igitur objectant de cujus Illicito praescribant aut Haeresin judicandam si Humana Praesumptio est aut Pseudoprophetiam pronunciandam si Spiritalis Indictio est dum quaqua ex parte Anathema audiamus qui aliter adnunciamus Nam quod ad Jejunia pertineat certos dies à Deo constitutos opponunt Vt cum in Levitico praecipit Dominus Moysi decimam Mensis septimi Diem Placationis Sancta inquiens erit vobis dies vexabitis animas vestras omnis anima quae vexara non fuerit die illa exterminabitur Certè in Evangelio illos dies Jejuniis determinatos putant in quibus ablatus est Sponsus hos esse jam solos Legitimos Jejuniorum Christianorum abolitis Legalibus Propheticis vetustatibus Vbi volum enim agnoscunt quid sapiat Lex Prophetae usque ad Johannem Itaque de caetero indifferenter jejunandum ex arbitrio non ex imperio novae Disciplinae pro temporibus causis uniuscujusque Sic Apostolos observasse nullum aliud imponentes jugum certorum in commune omnibus obeundorum Jejuniorum proinde nec Stationum
indeed by the special Assignation of a Reason for the time of a Synod before Lent that it was first fix'd there by this Council of Nice However after all the Forty Season there must stand for Forty Days and we cannot but observe That it is not set down as any newly rais'd word but as one already well known and of as common a Signification as Spring or Autumn From whence what we have before suggested plainly now appears That such a Number of Days had been in much Use before in many places at least in the last Age tho' no mention of them happen'd to occur in the few Writings that remain a Athan. ad Afr. Ep. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b So Socrates understands For after he has given an Account of the Astatick Custom against which Victor declar'd he proceeds to peak of the Usage this Council rectified in these Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. l. 5. c. 22. Beside it is plain from that Homily of St. Chrysostome we shall presently cite notwithstanding what is said to the contrary by Mr. Daille de Quadrages pag. 422 that those of Antioch in his time who did not conform to the Council of Nice did however keep their Easter on a Sunday For he tells them That were the Calculation of the Jews never so exact c. yet they could not keep the precise Day because the First of Vnleavened Bread and a Friday would not always come together Edit Savil. Tom. 6. p. 383. l. 7. and it is in that Case says he impossible for us you or my one else to hit the very Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. p. 384. l. 33. He lays the Difference too in the different Reckoning of the Months as Socrates does when he says That they should be careful of coming to the Sacrament worthily and with the Wedding Garment but that they need not be so fearful of keeping their Easter after the Christian Account were it less accurate For they were to Answer and should be Punished for the other Neglect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 382. l. 32. bâ—â— no man was ever punished or so much as found fault with for keeping Easter in this Month and not in another c Eus de Vit. Const l. 3. c. 17 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in this place to be understood properly and exclusive of the Asia Proconsularis if the Bishops of Asia Minor strictly so termed continued to observe the 14th Day as Anatolius affirms for his time and Socrates seems to assert for the time of the Nicene Council Though it be hard to think that the Churches of the Proconsular Asia if they had still retain'd the old Quartodecimarian Errour should not have been included in this mention and that the Council would have been so silent concerning this Errour kept up against the Ancient Determination in so near and famous a Countrey when we find them so zealous against those who were at a greater distance and whose Practice was less Judaical e Euseb de Vit. Constantin l. 4. c. 18. ex emendatione Valesâ—i Sozom. l. 1. c. 7. f Concil Nicen. Can. V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tomo Sexto Savil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 381. CHAP VIII § I. This Forty Season particularly observed by the Candidates for Baptism § II. And by Penitents § I. FOR the time that follows we shall have little Dispute about the Practice of Forty Days that there was such a Solemn Time before Easter some way or other observed in all the Churches none will deny This is evident and absolutely unquestionable from St. Cyril of Jerusalem St. Ambrose of Milan St. Chrysostome St. Jerome and St. Augustine who expresly mention Forty Days as the Council of Laodicea and Athanasius speak of more Weeks than one of the Forty Season I shall not therefore trouble the Reader with the unnecessary Allegation of all those Testimonies but only with such who inform us That this Lent was still most particularly observed by those two kinds of Men we heretofore intimated (a) Ch. 2. §. II. the Candidates for Baptism and the Penitents Of a Fast before Baptism I gave there a very early Testimony from Justin Martyr and what was then further intimated might have been confirmed from Tertullian That for Baptism the Paschal Season afforded a solemn Day And now in this Age we cannot but think That the Lent of Forty Days which is acknowledged to have been kept commonly by all the Faithful was more particularly observed by those who were to be baptized at the conclusion of it On this Subject therefore it will be enough to produce the single Evidence of St. Cyril of Jerusalem He is judg'd to have been made Bishop there in the Year 350 and was Presbyter Catechist before whose Duty it was to instruct and prepare those Candidates and whose Catechistical Lectures are still preserved In the Prologue he forewarns them to take care and provide the Wedding-Garment I admonish you says he b now before the Bridegroom of our Souls comes and sees your Dress There is a large Time given you You have the Penance before you of Forty Days sufficient Space and Opportunity to put off the old Garments and to wash off their Filth and to put on the new ones and to come in Likewise the first Sermon to them he thus begins c You Disciples of the New Covenant and Partners of the Mysteries of Christ by Call and Invitation now and within a little while by actual Gift and Grace make to your selves a new Heart and a new Spirit Then he tells them That they shall have a new Name and he that was called a Catechumen before shall now be stil'd Faithful But though this Grace is freely given they must not therefore be negligent the present Season is a Season of Confession All worldly Cares are to be laid aside for you strive says he for your Souls Adding And you that have been busie about the things of the World troubled in vain so many Years Will ye not bestow Forty Days in Prayer for the Salvation of your Souls And when the Catechumens had in this manner spent the Forty Days abstaining from Flesh and Wine d and had passed over the Friday and the Saturday of the Passion Week in Vigils and a continued Fast e they were then in the Evening before Easter baptized This was unquestionably the Practice of the Fourth Century and now I shall leave the Reader to observe how much of this Tertullian in his Book of Baptism describes as done in his time After he had said what we now cited That there was in the Paschal Season a more solemn Day for Baptism he adds in the next Chapter f Those who are going to be baptiz'd ought to pray with frequent Prayers with Fastings and Kneelings and Watchings and wth the Confession of all their former Sins For by this Affliction of the Flesh and the Spirit we
but in Veneration of the Coming of the Holy Ghost And least the want of orderly Assembling should be a Cause of Decay of Religion therefore Days in which we should come together have been appointed not that the Day in which we meet is of it self more solemn but that in what day soever it be we meet there may arise a Festival Joy from our mutual sight one of another This is the plain Answer But he that would endeavour to give a more Acute and Refined one will say That all Days are equal and that Friday is not the only day of the Crucifixion nor the Lord ' s Day of the Resurrection but that there is always a Resurrection-Day to Him and that he always feeds on our Lord's Body but that such Days of Fasting and Assembling have been prescribed by Wise Men for the sake of those who are employed more about the World than God and cannot or rather will not assemble together every day of their Life The Plain Answer for ought appears is not judg'd by St. Jerome to be the worst And the other the more Subtil one relishes we know of the Refinement and Allegory of Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus from whom I suppose it was taken and what we before observed is now to be remembred That the Lord's Day it self is here put in the same Case with the Days of Lent c. and that the reason for their Institution is common and that they are said alike all of them to have had Prudent Men for their Authors Now those prudent Men if they were the Authors of the Observation of the Lord's Day must have been the Apostles themselves as we presume the Authors of the Observation of a Lent were at least Apostolical but if they are to be understood the Authors of the Injunction of such an Observation in that sense possibly the Authors for the Lord's Day might have been Apostolical and those for an Additional Lent beyond Good-Friday or Saturday yet later He too that makes this last answer and seems to slight the Ordinance of Times and Days does it in Vertue of his great Perfection such of which Cassian now spake One who is above the Ordinance because he never wanted it as a charitable Christian is above the Law against Stealing and does not plead for the Abridgment of the Fast but for the Extending it throughout the Year therefore accounting no Single Day Holy because All are so to him § IV. THESE are the Objections against the devout Institution of Lent brought out of St. Jerome and Cassian others there are from St. Chrysostome but of the like Nature and not worth the answering As when he says in the Passage above produced That every Communion is a Passeover he speaks it partly in the sense now mentioned and besides in opposition to the Jewish Superstition of those Syrians who took the Levitical Designation of the Passover to be still in force And when he elsewhere prefers the Abstinence from Vice as from Swearing before that from Meats it is plain he speaks not against the Observation of that Abstinence as a thing not to be practis'd but as a thing absurd and unprofitable without a suitable Conversation a necessary Concomitant and always to be presum'd As therefore we have Mr. Daille's Confession for the Universal Observation of these Forty Days at the latter end of this Age and that Lent hereafter increased rather than diminished so we hope the equal Reader will confess That the Prejudices that very Learned Person would have raised against it from some Authors about that time are very unjustly grounded I have therefore now no more to do in this first Part of my Task and am to shut up my Evidence and conclude here with a brief Recapitulation But in that I shall be assisted by two Cotemporary Authors about the Middle of the fifth Age. Sozomen and Socrates whom the Reader will be pleased to hear b Cassian Coll. 21. Cap. 30. Sciendum sane bane Observantiam Quadragesimae quamdiu Ecclesiâ—e islius Primitivae â—ersâ—â—tiv permansit penitus non fuisse Non enim Pracepti bujus necessiate nes quasi legali sanctione constricti arâ—tissimis Jâ—â—â—ierum terâ—â—inis claâ—debantur qui totum anni spariam aquali jejanâ—â— concludebant Verum cum ab illa Apostoliâ—a Devotione dâ—scendens quotidie Credâ—â—ium multitudo suis opibus â—â—cubaret id tune universis Sacerdotibus placuit ut bomines this secularibus illigatos pene ut ita dixerim continentâ—e compunctionis ignaros ad opus sanctum â—â—anonied jejuniorum indictione revocarent velut Legalium Decimarum c necessitate compellerent quaâ—utique Infirmis prodesse possu Perfectis prajudicare non possiâ— qui sub gratia Evangelli constiuâ—i volâ—â—â—aria Legem devotione transcendunt c This Tenth of the Days of the Year is 36 the Number of Fast Days in a Lent oâ— 6. Weeks such as the Alexandrians kept as well as the Luiâ—s And this Number is the Integral Tenth of the Days of a Solar Year but exactly so of the Aegyptian Year which reckon'd but 360 days and accounted the other as super-numerary For this Notion of Tithing of the Year looks like a Subtilty of their Calculation d Cass de Coenob Inst 2.5 In primordiis â—idâ—i punck quidem sed probaâ—issimi snui a Marco Norman susâ—â—pâ—re â—lâ—â—â—â—l non solum illa magnifica retinebam quae priâ—â—us Crâ—â—enti◠〈◊〉 bas legimus celebrassâ— verum his multo sablâ—â—loâ—â—â—â—â—rant Ea igitur tempasiate cum Eâ—eleâ—i◠〈…〉 Perfectio penes sucessores suos adhue recenti memoria inviolata permaneret fervensque Paucorum sides needum in Multitudinem diffusa repuisset e Hieron in cap. 3. Ep. ad Galat. Dicat aliquis si Dies observare non licet Menses Tempora Annos Nos quoque simile Crimen incurrimus Quartam sabbati observantes Parasceven Diem Dominicam jejunium Quadragesimae Paschâ—e Festivitatem Pentecostes Laetitiam pro varietate Regionum diversa in honorem Martyrum tempora constituta Ad quod qui simpliciter respondebit dicet non eosdem Judaicae observationis dies esse quos nostros Nos enim non Azymorum Paschà celebramus sed Resurrectionis Crucis Nee septem juxta morem Israel numeramus Hebdomadas in Pentecoste sed Spiritus sancti veneramur Advemum Et ne inordinata congregatio populi fidem mimueret in Christo propterea dies aliqui constituti sunt ut in unum omnes pariter veniremus Non quo celebrior sit dies illa qua convenimus sed quo quacunque die conveniendum six ex conspectu mutuo latitia major oriatur Qui vero oppositae quastioni acutius respondere conatur illud affirmat omnes dies â—quales esse nec per Parasceven tantum Christum crucifigi Die Dominica resurgere sed semper sanctam Resurrectionis esse Diem semper cum Carne vesci Dominica Jejuniorum autem Congregationum interea dies propter cos
who may be reckoned for Evangelists and the Last being made up of the Holy Writings as they call them which are chiefly Doctrinal b Joseph Archaiol 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is known to stand for Minister Publicus qui Magistratui apparet d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of the Text has in the Hebrew and Chaldee of the Scripture the general Signification of Government and Command And in the Arabick Dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Praefuitut Inspector as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Praefectus Inspector but this last Word is besides the same as Commentarieâ—sâ—s Is qui annotat quae cunque ad rem curandam aut gerendam spectant as Golius renders it and so carries the Signification of its Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Delineavit Scripsit and likewise expresseth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint and the Scribes attending upon the Rabbiniâ—al Sanâ—â—drim f 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signifies Gubernare Regere and also Pascere Cibare and so in the Arabick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Summus Pagorum Praefectus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mulier oeconomica quae rem Domesticam egregie administrat i Azanitae are rendred by Epiphanius as above § II. d. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Jews signifies not only the Minister of the Synagogue as a Place of Worship but any other Minister of a Society and is the Name of those that have the Night-Watch of a City and of those who wait upon their Judicial Consistories and serve their Writs and keep their Prison and execute their Sentences even to Corporal Punishment It is us'd to be derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vidit and so has been supposed by some to answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if from this Employment the Episcopal Office was to be derived likewise But this Etymology begins to be dislik'd and is rather fetch'd from the Arabick where it seems to be answered in part by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 custodiviâ— and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thesaurarius Condus though if a Radical Mem may be admitted to be changed into a Nun as the Servile it is known usually are in the Chaldee Dialect I would then chuse to bring it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose simple Signification is Inservivit Ministravit and directly answers to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. V. § I. The Excommunicates of the Jews and their Condition § II. The Condition of Mourners among the Jews compared with that of the Excommunicate § III. Their Excommunicates restrained from the Liberty not only of Civil Conversation but of Religious Communion § IV. Excommunication mentioned in the New Testament as practis'd by the Jews and by Christians AFter this Parallel of the Officers of either Church I proceed to the Discipline they are remembred in Scripture to use That of Excommunication A Subject upon which Mr. Selden hath much enlarged and an Abstract of it from him I here give you § I. EXCOMMVNICATION or the Debarring a Man by Command from the Liberty of Conversation with his Brethren was a Method used by the Jews long before our Saviour's time as well as the other corporal Restraints by Imprisonment or Banishment and the Shame and Inconvenience even of the lighter kind of it was almost equal to that of Stripes and intended to prevent them Indeed there was with the Jews a kind of Censure called by them a Rebuke a which from the Mouth of a Grave Person pronounc'd for an Offence committed before him had that Force as to shame the Delinquent and oblige him to his good Behaviour and a particular Modesty for the space of Seven Days But this was a Reproof rather than a Sentence and seems to have oblig'd in good Manners only neither did it restrain the Party from ordinary Converse or needed any Satisfaction to be given but expired at the end of the Week But the Excommunication of which we speak was a formal Sentence pronounced for some Misdemeanour or Crime either by the Consistory or by a Qualified or even by a Private Person The First and lighter Degree of Excommunication b was that by which the Person was obliged to keep from all other Israelites and they likewise in most Cases from him the Distance of Four Cubits a Distance the Jews are bound to put between themselves and some sorts of impure things whenever they are about their Prayers or their Law as he was also oblig'd to suffer some other Inconveniences which shall be presently mention'd This Sentence was inflicted either by a Private Man for some Offences done in his Presence whereof there are Twenty four Cases expressed (c) Maim Jad Ch. l. 1. Tract 3. cap. 6. sub finem or further by a Graduate in their Law for the Contempt of his Person or by the Magistrate as they should see Cause and in Pecuniary Causes brought before the Consistory it is particularly noted that they proceeded not to Excommunication until three Admonitions had been made to the Defendant three Court-days before and that then the Excommunication pass'd not in Consideration of the Plantiff's Wrong but for the Contempt of the Court. This Excommunication of Course was to continue upon him Thirty Days and within that time he was to endeavour for Absolution making Satisfaction as the Case should require And this Satisfaction possibly was to be offered in Judicial Cases to the Injured Party by the same Method we find directed on another Occasion (d) Buxtor Syn. Jud. cap. 25. as when an Offender endeavouring on the Expiation-Eve to be reconcil'd to his Brother is first ordered to go to him and beg Pardon and if he obtains it not then to take with him three Witnesses and twice more to make the like Application and until then he is not supposed to have discharged his Duty But if this Sentence though pass'd by a Private Man was suffered by the Excommunicate to remain upon him those Thirty Days he was then to be excommunicated by the Consistory for that his Contumacy and so remain for another Thirty Days if not restored before by their Decree This all the while is that Lighter kind of Excommunication and in all those Cases the Restraint of the Distance of Four Cubits did certainly obtain There are also other Inconveniencies and Penalties that belong to this sort of Sentence as certainly for whether they lay the first thirty Days in the Case of one suffering under a private Excommunication I need not determine and they are these according to Maimonides (e) Maim ibid. c. 7. §. 4 c. It was not lawful for him all the Days of his Excommunication to trim his Hair or cut his Nails to wash Himself or his Cloaths or to put on New no more than it was for a Mourner He was not to be one of
Cross in the Forehead and Eyes and Nostrils and Ears and upon the Breast and on their Hands and Feet and leaves only Impositio of Hands to be conferr'd by the Bishop at any time afterward the Practice as I conceive of our Church l Whereas in the Latin Church the Priest anointed the other Parts pouring the Chrism upon the Head but it was reserv'd to the Bishop's confirmation to sign the Forehead with the Chrism at the same time he laid on his Hands Innoc. ad Decent And this signing they call'd the Spiritual Seal Ambros de Sacram. 3 2. the Holy Ghost being suppos'd to be given by that and the Imposition of Hands And this Confirmation the Bishop when present at the Baptism administer'd to the Baptiz'd when he had put on the white Garments after his first Anointing Ambros de â—is qui Myst Init. c. 7. And lastly Hands were laid upon him with a Blessing calling and inviting down the Holy Ghost m and as the same Author expresses it he was overshadowed by the Imposition of Hands n Fifthly The next Morning if not immediately on easter-Easter-day they proceeded to the Eucharist k 7 In the Greek Church even the Infants receiving it and wore their white Garments all the next Week not allowing themselves the Use of Bathing for that time h 8 When also they had more perfectly expounded to them the Nature of those two great Mysteries the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist to which they had been lately admitted as we see in the Mystagogick Discourses of Cyril of Jerusalem made for that purpose § II. WITH so many Circumstances was the Initiation into the Church begun and perfected in those early days of Christianity neither is it to be imagin'd that all these Rituals were the pure Invention of such Simple Plain men as the first Christians appear to have been much less can it be thought that they were borrowed by those pious men from the Heathen Idolatry Whence therefore should most of these Circumstantials be deriv'd but from the same Religion from which the Sacrament it self was taken And whence else should They derive them who had been originally of that Religion or Well-willers to it as most of the first Christians were This conjectural Conclusion the account given above of Jewish Baptism (a) Ch. I. § 2 3. which we suppose the Reader to remember will confirm and it may be so far as to make us willing to suppose that a more exact Correspondence would have appear'd if the Information from the Jews had been less defective For First That the Jews proselyted Children by Baptism we have there seen and also that they requir'd Sureties for them which we shall the less doubt when we know that they do not Circumcise a Natural Jew withâ—ut a Godfather and Godmother (b) Buxt Syn. Jud. â— 4 The Passover also was their chief Festival and their Converts in probability capacited themselves by Baptism then particularly for its celebration neither could the natural Jews themselves (c) Maim de Sacrific Tract 1. cap. 9. § 9. partake of it if they had any Servant of their House Uncircumcis'd and as I suppose consequently Unbaptiz'd These sorts of men therefore I presume were amongst those who purified themselves before the Feast and added to the Solemnity of the Week or Fortnight before (d) Part 1. ch 5. § 3. And lastly tho' any Three would serve to confer it yet regularly it was to be done by commission from the Consistory and I presume by the Appointment of the Father or President of it to whom we suppose the Bishop to answer (e) Ch. 4. § 5. § III. Secondly There was likewise a great Distinction of Persons made by the Jews There was a Common Gentile and there was one who believ'd the Unity of God and took upon him to observe the Precepts to be kept by all the Descendants of Noah (a) Maim Tract de Regibus cap. 8. § 11. tho' he did not oblige himself further yet and this was a degree of approach into which he was solemnly admitted being call'd a Proselyte of their Gate as one permitted to live amongst them in the Holy-land Further there were those who profess'd their desire to become Jews (b) Ibid. § 10. and this Profession we find was solemn and they reputed by it of another rank for if they did not proceed to make it good within a Twelvemonth they were degraded we are told and to be esteem'd as a meer Heathen There was too yet as it should seem a further Class of such Stranger Servants as were Circumcis'd and Baptiz'd in the Quality of Servants (c) Maim Tract de Proh Congressu cap. 13. § 11. but wanted still a further Baptism to compleat them Jews as there were others who were Circumcis'd and Baptiz'd into perfect Judaism but not yet Sanctified by a Sacrifice (d) Above Ch. 2. §. 2. The Proselytes of the Jews were distinguish'd by these Advances and it is plain that their Proselyte of the First kind the Proselyte of the Gate was of the same rank with a Hearer and also that he who undertook to become a Jew was in the nature of a Christian Catechumen as he who was in immediate Preparation to be Circumcis'd or was Circumcis'd but waiting to be Baptiz'd was in a like Class to that of the Immediate Candidates and Probationers for our Baptism and he too who was actually Baptiz'd into Judaism but not yet Expiated by Sacrifice was in the Condition of one Baptiz'd a Christian but yet Vnconfirm'd and not admitted to full Communion So were the Steps made by a Convert of the Jews agreeable to those of a Proselyte to Christianity The Instruction also by which he was gradually brought on (e) The same §. was much alike to that recommended in the Apostolical Constitutions (f) See Note e of the former §. proceeding gently and by easie ascents Neither is it to be doubted but that the Jews were severe enough in their Scrutiny of him since they were so shy of Proselytes (g) The Section above cited of the Second Chapter and that a solemn Profession of Repentance for his former Heathenism was requir'd of him Now it is probable likewise that these different sorts of Persons with the Jews had their different Places and liberties of Access For the Apostolick Constitutions themselves suppose the placing of the Faithful in the Assembly according to their Sex and Age to be after the pattern of the Temple h And as a Christian Church has been describ'd to be separated in two Partitions whereof the Vpper part D Fig. 2 belongs to Men or the Chief of them and such as peculiarly attend on the Sacred Offices and the Lower part C to Women who are dispos'd of on either side of it leaving the middle for a Passage and to be taken up by Ordinary men or such who are not provided to go higher so we see (i) Ch.
Sun is going to Rise for then they began their Morning Sacrifice (d) M. De Cult Dio. Tract 6. c. 1. §. 2. to Ten of the Clock (e) De Prec 3.1 and at those they all assist in the Synagogue if they are not extraordinarily hinder'd before they do any other Business Their Evening Prayer may be said any time from half an hour past one but ordinarily from half an hour past Three till Sun-set (f) Ibid. §. 2 3 4. in any of which hours the Daily Evening Sacrifice might have been offer'd (g) Cult 6.1.3 Besides these two Daily Duties of Prayer Commanded them they have taken upon themselves to perform another in the Night and in any hour of it (h) Prec 3.6 7. after the example of those Parts of the Sacrifices which were usually then Burning And possibly because those Parts were not to be put on the Altar after Midnight (i) C. Div. 6.1.5 though they might continue afterwards to Burn it might thence seem most fit in strictness at least to begin the Night Prayers at that time as it was also the fittest hour being at equal distance from the Last of the Evening Office and First of the Morning an hour too the far greater part of the Christian World would therefore also be more likely to observe because it had been with them the Beginning of their Sacred and Civil Day as we have learn'd heretofore from Pliny (k) See Part 1. Ch. 2. lit k. Such are the constant Prayers of the whole People of Israel Thrice every day On their Sabbaths and other Holy-Days as they had Additional Sacrifices to be offer'd between those of the Morning and the Evening so in their place there are Additional Prayers to be said after the Morning and before the Evening Prayer but regularly not after One in the Afternoon (l) Maim de Prec 3.5 Now this Duty though it obliged the Generality only on those Peculiar Days yet it was every day repeated by the Representatives of the whole People the Stationary (m) See Part 1. Ch. 2. lit g. Men both in the Temple and Distant Synagogues and was attended with a solemn Blessing (n) Maim de Cultu Div. 2.6.4 And if we suppose it to be done by them at a Fixt time no hour could be more proper for it than that of the Mid-day a Cardinal time and equidistant from those two of the Sun-rising and Sun-set about which times the same Blessing was likewise pronounc'd (o) Maim de Prec 14.1 And lastly to all this said on the occasion of Origen's assignation of time I may add in reference to the Antient Christian Prayers made when they began to Light Candles and call'd thence Lucernary that there was such an office with the Jews likewise call'd the Close from the shutting up of the Day and its Service a kind of Completory us'd by all of them on their Propitiation Day and by the Stationary Men on every day but the Sabbath Eve at what time the Priests gave the Blessing also as has been but now observ'd § IV. The Matter and Method of Prayer is the Last thing this Antient Writer considers and he directs it to consist first of Doxology or Giving Glory and Praise Secondly Of Returning Thanks Thirdly Of Confession of Sins with Supplication for Grace and Pardon Fourthly Of Intercession for greater Favours and lastly to conclude with a Doxology again (a) Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 134. It is too observable that where St. Paul exhorts that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgiving be made for all men (b) 1 Tim. 2.1 our Author distinguishes the three first sorts of Prayers in this manner a Supplication he understands to be an Humbler Petition begging the Relief of our Necessities Prayer strictly so called to be an Address to God speaking his Glory and without Dejection of Mind Desiring his Favour and Intercession to be that which is made with yet a greater Degree of Assurance and Holy Confidence c Now as this latter Explication may interpret what he means in the third and fourth Member of the matter of Prayer so it gives a sense to the Apostles words which may make those four sorts of Prayer made for our selves and others to agree with the four sorts of Sacrifices us'd to be offer'd for that purpose For so Supplication answers a Sacrifice for Sins or Trespasses by the Remission of which Relief was to be procur'd Prayer the Burnt-Offerings which were chiefly meant to God's Honour and also besought his Favour Intercession the Peace-Offerings which were join'd with Requests put up with some kind of Communication and Familiarity and lastly Thanksgivings agree plainly with the Sacrifices of that Name The Constituent Parts of Prayer are no doubt very rightly assign'd by Origen but as for the Order and Method of them it seems by his expression to be rather what he thought fit for private Composure than what was observ'd in the service of the Church or even in our Lord's Prayer upon which he there Comments For our surer information therefore on this subject it may be best to have recourse to other Authors § V. NOW the Offices of Publick Devotion for the Lord's Day Morning are summarily represented by Justin Martyr a as perform'd in this Order that first they Read the Scriptures of both Testaments the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets that then there was an Exhortation made that after they Rose up and Prayed and lastly that they made the Oblation and Receiv'd the Eucharist This is that Apologists short account to the Emperour that the Heathens might know in general how Innocently the Christian Assemblies were imploy'd Tertullian b from another Occasion accidentally falls upon a very cursory mention of the former of the same Offices interposing another remembring the Reading of the Scriptures the Singing of Psalms the making of a Discourse and the Putting up of Prayers And this Office of Psalmody though for brevity omitted by Justin yet questionless was as antient as the other and is too recounted by the Author of the Apostolick Constitutions in the same method after the Lections and before the Sermon (c) Lib. 2. Cap. 54. He also in a following Chapter (d) Cap. 57. gives a larger description of the whole Service after this manner A Reader first is directed standing in the Ambo or Desk to read some Lessons out of the Old Testament Another then chants the Psalms of David the People also chanting in their Turns after Lessons follow out of the Acts and Epistles then the Gospel is read by a Priest or a Deacon all standing and afterwards the Exhortation is made by the Priests and the Bishop This being done and the Catechumens c. dismiss'd the Faithful turning towards the East join in Prayer and then after that the Oblation began and other Prayers were made and lastly the Eucharist was celebrated So do these Constitutions giving a true account of
are now read by the Greeks without any interposition are call'd by them sittings a as also the Laudatory Hymns in the Greek Church us'd at Morning Prayer which is thence call'd the Lauds by the Latin seem to have been plac'd there after the same Example As to the Lections the Christians have the variety of the Jews for as these read in the Morning out of their Misna and Doctors and the Prophets and the Law so had we our Lessons also out of Vnscriptural Authors and the Old Testament and the Epistles and the Gospells And herein the Gospel with us answered plainly to their Law For though we read the Gospel before the solemn Prayers and they the Law after and in this order only we differ yet the Lection was made with us in the like Solemnity the People standing up and before and after Blessing and Praising God as the Book is also in the Greek Church even at Morning Prayer carried about with great Solemnity and Kiss'd by the People After this Lection and Psalmody or Psalmody and Lection for they were always somewhat intermixt with the Exhortation if any was made and after the Hearers and Catechumens were dismiss'd by the Christians and at the same time I suppose they were dismiss'd by the Jews when they had any our Creed and their Shema come together and then in either Church the Prayers properly so call'd And lastly these on certain days of the Week are clos'd with the Litany by both Thus the ordinary Morning Services answer one another and so also does our Communion Service strictly taken answer their Additional coming at the end of all in a distinct Office For in a Greek Liturgy for Example both the Psalmody and Lections and Creed and the first Prayers are known to be nothing else but an abbreviated repetition of the Morning Office as the Jews too shorten theirs on their Festivals and then after that as with us of England after the Prayer for Christ's Church the Office of the Eucharist begins the Celebration of the Additional Christian Sacrifice § VIII THUS much concerning the Agreement in the Method and Order of Prayers other particular correspondences may be observed of which I shall note but a few leaving such as are more obvious to the Readers own reflections And first it may be remark'd in the Greek Liturgy that when any new Action is enter'd upon in any part of the Service it is begun with a Benediction of God a in like manner as the Jews use to do And secondly in the preparation to the more solemn Prayers at the putting on of the Habits in which the Priest is to Officiate appropriate Benedictions are said and one of them as at the putting on of the Girdle much the same with that the Jews use b Thirdly As our Collects conclude generally with the Laud and Honour of God so do Theirs Fourthly The Triumphal Hymn as it is call'd in the Greek Church c Holy Holy Holy Lord God c. is always solemnly said by their Chazan with the third Collect of their Daily Prayers Fifthly And whereas when those words are pronounc'd the Jews with an Exulting Gesture are us'd to Lift up not their Eyes only but their whole Bodies and to Leap up thrice (d) B. Syn. Jud. 10. at that Trine Hallowing for so they call it of God the same Custom appears to have obtain'd among the Primitive Christians at a like Prayer at the latter end of which they are all reported e to have join'd in with their Voices lifting up their Heads and Hands to Heaven and together raising their Feet as if they would have follow'd their Prayers towards the Spiritual Essence and ascended up in Body as well as in Mind Sixthly Further that antient form of our Thanksgiving which follows these words in the Communion Service Let us give thanks to our Lord God with its special Causes sometimes assign'd seems to be conceiv'd after the Pattern of the Jews Eucharistical Collect the First of the last three Seventhly and lastly Their Kadish or larger Hymn of Glory may answer to our Angelic one at the end of our English Communion Glory to be to God on High on Earth c. Many such Correspondencies may be found between the solemn Devotions of the Synagogue and of the Church of Christ and had we any sufficient account of the Prayers that were daily said in the Temple by the Priests and Levites as we have now notice of little more than what is perform'd in the Synagogue by the People and one of them their Deputy I question not but that our Antient Liturgies would be found to come much nearer to their Rites IT is known that the Orarium (f) Gear ad Chrys Missam numero 9 no. of the Deacons in the Antient Church was but the same with the Sudarium with which the Sign was given in the Temple (g) Maim de Cult Div. Tract 6. Cap. 6. §. 7. and it may be observ'd that as a Priest in the Greek Church begins many Actions from the Admonition of the Deacon b so did the Priests heretofore from the like Remembrances of some lower Assistant i In the Temple also only it was that the Proper name of God Jehova might be pronounc'd (k) Maim de Prec 14.10 and when they tell us that it was ten times pronounc'd by the High Priest on the Day of Expiation they let us also know (l) Maim De Cult Div. 8.2.7 that the Priests and People in their several Courts every time they heard it spoke out fell down upon their knees with their Faces to the ground and cry'd out Blessed be the Name of the Glory of his Kingdom for Ever and Ever And from that Custom the Reverence us'd to the name of Jesus may have come it being the Appropriate name of our Blessed Lord a Name as the Apostle says (m) Phil. 2.9 10. above every Name even above the name Jehova so much glorified under the Old Covenant and by which the Father would be hereafter Honour'd So the Christians might bow at the mention of that Name in imitation of the like practice of the Jews and to that Practice the Apostle may be well thought to allude when he says that at the Name of Jesus every knee of every Place henceforth should bow every Tongue also Confessing for in the Obeysance of the Temple the Tongue also had its part that Jesus is the Lord and King and all this still to the Glory of God the Father And thus have I at last concluded this incidental Discourse concerning the Derivation of Christian Ordinances from the Jews much indeed too prolix in regard to my first design though possibly not too long in respect to the importance of the subject it self and which might easily have been enlarg'd yet further But although the Answer to one Objection has increas'd so enormously yet the other Two may have a quicker Dispatch and shall take up only one Chapter more §
into the Holy Place and also as that other laden with the Sins of the People and so sent away that he likewise wore the Scarlet he was as it were Accurs'd was revil'd spit upon and buffeted gave his Back to the Smiters and his Cheek to them that pull'd off the Hair And to this after their Example I may add from the same Traditions that He was sent away by the hands of a Fit Man Pontius Pilate a Stranger Goaded to his Execution lead to Mount Calvary the Place Abrupt and Cut off Himself there cut off from the Land of the Living and as it were deliver'd up to the Prince of this World who came though he had (q) Joh. 14.30 nothing in Him and into the seeming Power of the Devil to suffer Death in appearance but indeed to destroy him who had the Power of Death (r) Hebr. 21.4 Thus did our Faithful and Merciful High Priest both Act and Suffer for us in that Great Day of Attonement answerably to the Sacrificial Part of a like Days office with the Jews it remains that we now see what was the Devotional part to be perform'd by the People d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken by the Scholiasts Salomon and Abenezra to be a Hill so call'd from its Hard Ground and to be compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Arabick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terra Dura and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Auxctick sence Some of the Greek Interpreters whom our Translation has followed have included the Goat in the signification of the Word and have render'd it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which case it is presum'd to be compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caper for this word by the Septuagint is sometimes taken Masculinely and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abiit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remotus est Both those ways are dislik'd by Bochart who therefore supposes the word to signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the root just now cited and understanding the Text concerning the Lots in this manner that One was for the Lord or his Altar and the other for the Separation or Removing away and in this manner the Septuagints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken But still it seems to others more proper to understand some Person for the other Lot and who may be oppos'd to the Lord. And so Origen takes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint to be Satan not as if he were like one of the Dii Averruncii which is indeed the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word though it may be regarded here by those Translators who content themselves often with any signification of the Original be it suitable to the place or no but that he was Averruncandus and Depellendus whose place therefore is in the Wilderness And Azazel in this sense may also be derviâ—d from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Removere Abdicare And it may be observ'd that though the Jewish Scholiasts take no notice here of any Evil Spirit yet their Traditions mention one Samael particularly for the Expiation Day Buxtorf Syn. Jud. Cap. 26. to whom a Present they say was then to be given that he might not hinder their Reconciliation This Samael they take to be the chief of the Evil Spirits and the Prince of this World Lightf in Joh. 12.31 that is Satan himself Maimon More N. 2.30 And so the Aegyptian Typhon who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was call'd Seth and Bebon and also Smu Plut. de Isid Os Thus the Jews seem to have retain'd a Memory of something done to the Devil on that Day though they conceive it under a false Notion and still when the Service of the Day is over they sound their Horn for joy they tell us of the Victory they have then obtain'd over Satan Buxt Syn. Jud. Cap. eod Dr. Spencer therefore understands Satan here but make the name to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortis Abiens or Fugiens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if the abovemention'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would not have serv'd better one of whose significations is Descivit And the Goat which he says was us'd for the Depelling of Evil as the other was for procuring Favour he supposes to be sent to Satan not for an Offering to him but to shew the Merit and End of Sin to reproach him of his own Wickedness by what was so sent to him and to make it appear that not he but God to whom the other Lot fell was the Averter of Evil. This account has been suspected by some and much oppos'd but still the same Evil Spirit may be allow'd to be meant in another more convenient and very safe sense For as Wicked Men are said sometimes to be deliver'd to Satan so might that Goat also in the place of those Men whose Sins be bore and by that delivery the Accuser and Tormentor might be made to know that God's People were now discharg'd of their Transgressions and that only that Beast on whom they were all laid was to answer his Accusations and to be expos'd to his Vengeance This reason of the Action seems to be agreeable to the Circumstances of it reported both by the Scripture and the Talmudists and may stand with any of the foremention'd Derivations though it may too have one of its own For from the Arabick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Reprehendit Culpavit Azazel may be likewise sorm'd either by doubling the second Radical or by Preposing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signify one who finds fault much and vehemently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is reâ—der'd Fiâ— in a large sense But it may I suppose mean one that was more particularly fit for that business and would not spare to strike in the way or to kill in the end from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Icâ—us inslixit Noxam intulit l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Mâ—ns altus praruptus and so is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Arabick from the Fissures of it I conceive And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may also signify a piece of Ground so Broken and Cut for so R. Salom. seems to understand it as well as Land separated and otherwise cut of an Island or a Desart m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in signifies not only Spinâ— as Barnabas understands ' it câ—jus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edules but also Râ—pes excurrens in mare Mons littus Recessus Maris and therefore appears to answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to express all the significations of the words of that Family in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Mons Difficillimus Alâ—issimus in â—olocus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same as also Ripa Lâ—tus stuminis and lastly 〈◊〉