him § 6. Now the principallest and chiefest of these prescribed Times was the first Day of the Week on which they constantly met together to perform their Religious Services So writes Justin Martyr On the Day that is called Sunday all both of the Country and City assemble together where we preach and pray and discharge all the other usual parts of Divine Worship Upon which account those parts of God's Publick Worship are styled by Tertullian The Lord's Days Solemnities Aurelius who was ordained a Lector or a Clark by Cyprian is described in the Execution of his Office by reading on the Lord's Day And Victorinus Petavionensis represents this day as an usual time wherein they received the Lord's Supper Which was observed by the Heathen in Minucius Felix who mentions the Christians assembling to eat on a Solemn Day And Pliny reports that the Christians in his time met together on an appointed day to sing Praises unto Christ as a God and to bind themselves by a Sacrament § 7. This was the Day which Clemens Alexandrinus calls the Chief of Days our Rest indeed Which they observed as the highest and supremest Festival On Sunday we give our selves to Joy saith Tertullian And before him St. Barnabas We keep the Eighth Day with Gladness And Ignatius We observe the Lord's Day banishing every thing on this day that had the least tendency to or the least appearance of Sorrow and Grief inasmuch that now they esteemed it a Sin either to fast or kneel Even the Montanists themselves those rigid Observers of Fasts and Abstinences Abstained from Fasting on this most glad and joying day This day they accounted Holy as Dionysius Bishop of Corinth in his Letter to the Church of Rome saith To day being the Lord's Day we keep it holy The way wherein they sanctified it or kept it holy was the employing of themselves in Acts of Divine Worship and Adoration especially in the Publick Parts thereof which they constantly performed on this day as has been already proved and in that forementioned Letter where Dionysius Bishop of Corinth writ unto the Church of Rome that that day being the Lord's Day they kept it holy The manner of sanctifying it is immediately subjoined In it saith he we have read your Epistle as also the first Epistle of Clemens And Clemens Alexandrinus writes That a true Christian according to the Commands of the Gospel observes the Lords Day by casting out all 〈◊〉 Thoughts and entertaining all good ones glorifying the Resurrection of the Lord on that day § 8. The Reafon why they observed this Day with so much Joy and Gladness was that they might gratefully commemorate the glorious Resurrection of their Redeemer that happened thereon So writes St. Barnabas We keep the eighth day with gladness on which Christ arose from the Dead So says Ignatius Let us keep the Lord's Day on which our Life arose through 〈◊〉 And so says Clemens Alexandrinus He that truly observes the Lord's Day glorifies therein the Resurrection of the Lord. Justin Martyr relates that On Sunday the Christians assembled together because it was the first Day of the Week on which God out of the confused Chaos made the World and Jesus Christ our Saviour arose from the Dead for on Fryday he was Crucified and on Sunday he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples and taught them those things that the Christians now believe And to the same purpose Origen adviseth his Auditors to pray unto Almighty God especially on the Lord's Day which is a Commemoration of Christ's Passion for the Resurrection of Christ is not only celebrated once a year but every seven days § 9. From hence it was that the usual Appellation of this Day both by the Greek and Latin Churches was The Lords Day So it is styled by Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Day And amongst the Latins by Victorinus Petavionensis Dies Dominicus the Lords Day As also by an African Synod And by Tertullian Sometimes it is simply called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dominicus that is the Lords without the addition of the Word Day as it is thus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Ignatius And Dominicus by Cyprian § 10. So that the Lords Day was the common and ordinary Title of this blessed and glorious Day though sometimes in compliance with the Heathens that they might know what Day they meant thereby they called it in their Phrase Sunday so termed because Dedicated to the Sun Thus Justin Martyr informing the Heathens of the Time and Manner of the Christians Assemblies tells them That on the Day called Sunday they met together for their Religious Exereises And That on Sunday they assembled together And so Tertullian upon the same occasion lets the Heathens know that the Christians indulged themselves on Sunday to Mirth and joyfulness But though they so far complyed with the Heathens as to call this Sunday yet I do not find that they ever so far indulged the Jews as to call it the Sabbath Day for through all their Writings as may be especially seen in Tertullian and Justin Martyr they violently declaim against Sabbatizing or keeping the Sabbath Day that is the Judaical Observation of the Seventh Day which we must always understand by the Word Sabbatum in the Writings of the Ancients not the Observation of the first Day or the Lords Day for that was constantly celebrated as it has been already proved and by those who condemn the Observance of the Sabbath Day the Sanctification of the Lord's Day is approved and recommended as by Justin Martyr and Tertullian in those Passages already cited unto which we may add that clear Passage of Ignatius Let us no longer Sabbatize but keep the Lords Day on which our Life rose Or as it is more fully expressed in his interpolated Epistle Instead of Sabbatizing let every Christian keep the Lords Day the Day on which Christ rose again the Queen of Days on which our Life arose and Death was conquered by Christ. § 11. So that their not Sabbatizing did not exclude their keeping of the Lords Day nor the Christian but only the Judaical Observance of the Sabbath or Seventh Day for the Eastern Churches in compliance with the Jewish Converts who were numerous in those Parts performed on the Seventh Day the same publick Religious Services that they did on the First Day observing both the one and the other as a Festival Whence Origen enumerates Saturday as one of the four Feasts solemnized in his time though on the contrary some of the Western Churches that they might not seem to Judaise fasted on Saturday as Victorinus Petavionensis writes We use to fast on the Seventh Day And It is our custom then to fast that we may not seem with the Jews to observe the Sabbath So that
Ordained to their Office by Prayer and Imposition of Hands § 5. But as for the Ordination of Presbyters I shall more distinctly and largely treat of the Manner and Form thereof which seems to be as follows Whosoever desired to be admitted into this Sacred Office he first proposed himself to the Presbytery of the Parish where he dwelled and was to be Ordained desiring their Consent to his designed Intention praying them to confer upon him those Holy Orders which he craved Now we may suppose his Petition was to the whole Presbytery because a Bishop alone could not give those Holy Orders as is most evident from Cyprian who assures us that all Clerical Ordinations were performed by the Common Counsel of the whole Prebytery And therefore when upon a most urgent and necessary occasion he had been forced to ordain one but a Lector without the Advice and Consent of his Presbytery which one would be apt to think was no great Usurpation he takes great pains Ep. 24. p. 55. to justifie and excuse himself for so doing § 6. Upon this Application of the Candidate for the Ministry the Presbytery took it into their Consideration debated his Petition in their Common Council and proceeded to examine whether he had those Endowments and Qualifications which were requisite for that Sacred Office What those Gifts and Qualifications were touching which he was examined may be reduced to these Four Heads his Age his Condition in the World his Conversation and his Understanding As for his Age It was necessary for him to have lived some time in the World to have been of a ripe and mature Age for they ordained no Novices or young Striplings That was the Practice of the Hereticks whom Tertullian jeers and upbraids with Ordaining Raw and Vnexperienced Clerks But as for the Orthodox they took care to confer Orders on none but on such as were well stricken in years observing herein the Apostolick Canon in 1 Tim. 3. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil But yet if any young Man was endued with extraordinary Grace and Ability the fewness of his Years was no Obstacle to his Promotion that being superseded by the Greatness of his Merit as we find in the case of Aurelius in Cyprian who tho' young in years yet for his eminent Courage and Excellency was graced with Ecclesiastical Orders And such an one I suppose was the Bishop of Magnesia in the times of Ignatius which gave occasion to that Exhortation to the People of that Diocese not to despise their Bishop's Age but to yield him all due Respect and Reverence § 7. As for his Condition in the World he was not to be entangled with any mundane Affairs but to be free from all secular Employments and at perfect Liberty to apply himself wholly to the Duties of his Office and Function This also was founded on that other Apostolick Canon in 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that 〈◊〉 may please him who hath chosen him to be a Soldier Which Words saith Cyprian if spoken of all How much more ought not they to be entangled with Secular Troubles and Snares who being busied in Divine and Spiritual things cannot leave the Church to mind earthly and worldly actions Which Religious Ordination as he goes on to write was emblematiz'd by the Levites under the Law for when the Land was divided and possessions were given to eleven Tribes the Levites who waited upon the Temple and Altar and the Sacred Offices thereof had no share in that Division but the others till'd the ground whilst they only worshipped God and received Tenths of the others Encrease for their Food and Sustenance all which hapned by the Divine Authority and Dispensation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who waited on Divine Employments should not be withdrawn therefrom or be forced either to think of or to do any Secular Affairs Which fashion as he there continues to write is now observed by the Clergy that those who are promoted to Clerical Ordinations should not be impeded in their Divine Administrations or iucumbred with secular Concerns and Affairs but as Tenths receiving Subscriptions from the Brethren depart not from the Altar and Sacrifices but night and day attend on Spiritual and Heavenly Ministrations These words were spoken on the occasion of a certain Bishop called Geminius Victor who at his Death made a certain Presbyter called Geminius Faustinus Trustee of his last Will and Testament which Trust Cyprian condemns as void and null Because a Synod had before decreed that no Clergyman should be a Trustee for this Reason because those who were in Holy Orders ought only to attend upon the Altar and its Sacrifices and to give themselves wholly to Prayer and Supplication It was a Blot in the Hereticks Ordinations that they Ordained such as were involved in the World and embarass'd with Carnal and Secular Concerns § 8. As for the Conversation of the 〈◊〉 to be Ordained he was to be humble and meek of an unspotted and exemplary Life So says Cyprian In all Ordinations we ought to choose Men of an unspotted Integrity who worthily and holily offering up Sacrifices to God may be heard in those Prayers which they make for the safety of their Flock For it is written God heareth not a Sinner but if any one be a Worshipper of him and doth his Will him he heareth Wherefore before they were Ordained they were proposed to the People for their Testimony and Attestation of their holy Life and Conversation But of this we shall speak more in another place Only it may not be improper to remember here that this is also an Apostolick Canon in 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 2 3 7. A Bishop then must be Blameless the Husband of one Wife vigilant sober of good Behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to Wine no Striker not guilty of filthy Lucre but Patient not a Brawler not Covetous Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into Reproach and the snare of the Devil § 9. As for the understanding of the Person to be Ordained he was to be of a good Capacity fit and able duly to teach others This is also another of the Apostolick Canons in 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study to shew thy self approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth And in 1 Tim. 3. 2. A Bishop must be apt to teach which implies an Ability of teaching and a 〈◊〉 of rightly understanding apprehending and applying the Word of God to which end Humane Learning was so conducive as that Origen pleads not only for its usefulness but also for its necessity especially for that part of it which we call Logick to find out the true Sense and Meaning of the Scripture as appears from this following Digression which
He that is condemned and bound by the Church on Earth remains bound none in Heaven unloosing him § 6. No wonder then that Men in their right Senses were affrightned at the tremendous Misery of an Excommunicated Condition and that when through their corrupt Natures and wicked Practices they had incurred that Sentence they never left Fasting Watching Weeping and the endurance of the severest Courses of Mortification till they were absolved from it and reinstated in God and the Churches Favour Which brings me in the next place to search into the Course that Offenders took to be received into the Church again the usual Method whereof seems to have been thus All those that desired to be delivered from that miserable state in the first place in a most penitent and humble manner came weeping and crying unto the Church-doors where they lay groveling on the Ground prostrating themselves at the Feet of the Faithful as they went into Church and begging their Prayers to God for them The Behaviour of these Men is thus elegantly express'd by the Clergy of the Church of Rome in a Letter to Cyprian Let them say they knock at the Church-doors but not break them let them come to the Threshold of the Church but not pass over it let them watch at the Gates of the Celestial Tents but armed with Modesty by which they may remember they were Deserters let them resume the Trumpet of their Prayers but not to sound an Alarm to Battle let them arm themselves with the Darts of Modesty and retake that Shield which by their Apostacy they lost that so they may be armed not against the Church which grieves at their Misery but against their Adversary the Devil a modest Petition a bashful Supplication a necessary Humility and an Industrious Patience will be advantagious to them let them express their grief by their Tears and their sorrow and shame for their Crimes by their Groans So Tertullian in the same manner describes one in this state by lying in Sackcloth and Ashes by having a squalid Body and a dejected Soul by fasting praying weeping groaning and roaring night and day by throwing himself at the Clergies feet and kneeling before the Faithful begging and desiring their Prayers and Pardon § 7. If the Ecclesiastical Court thought their Repentance to be real and those external Expressions of Sorrow and Grief to proceed from suitable Affections of Heart then they began to encline to some Terms of Remission and Reconciliation and gave the Delinquents some hopes of it by admitting them to come into the Church and to stay at some part of Divine Service but not at the whole of it to communicate with the Faithful till they had for a long space of time which they then imposed on them by their humble and modest Carriage gave good Proofs of their Sorrow and Repentance This fixed Time of Tryal was called the Time of Penance during which the Penitent as he was now called appeared in all the Formalities of Sorrow with a course Habit and a dejected Countenance continually fasting and praying lamenting and bemoaning the greatness and aggravations of his Sin and Wickedness as may be seen in sundry places of the Fathers all which to transcribe would be very tedious wherefore I shall content my self with Translating a few Elegancies pertinent to this purpose out of Cyprian's Book De Lapsis wherein he thus inveighs against those who in a state of Penance indulged themselves in the Delights and Enjoyments of the Flesh Can we think that that Man weeps with his whole Heart and with-Fastings Tears and Sighs beseeches God who from the very first day of his Offence daily frequents the Baths who indulging to his gluttonous Appetite this Day vomits up his undigested Crudities the next day and does not communicate of his Meat and Drink to the Necessities of the Poor He that goes gay and jocund how doth he bewayl his Death Does that Woman weep and mourn who spends her time in putting on splendid Garments and does not think upon the Garment of Christ which she lost Who seeks after precious Ornaments and rich Jewels and does not bewail the loss of the Heavenly and Divine adorning Altho' thou puttest on exotick Garbs and silken Garments thou art naked altho' thou beautifiest thy self with Gold and Pearls without the Beauty of Christ thou art deformed And thou who dyest thine Hair now leave it off in this time of Penance and thou who paintest thine Eyes wash it off with thy Tears If thou shouldst lose any one of thy dear Friends by Death thou wouldst sorrowfully weep and howl and express the greatness of thy Sorrow by thy disregarded Face mourning Garments neglected Hair cloudy Countenance and dejected Visage Why O Wretch thou hast lost thy Soul and wilt not thou bitterly weep and continually lament Now therefore pray and supplicate more earnestly pass the Day in weeping the Night in watching and crying both Night and Day in Tears and Lamentations prostrate your selves upon the Ground roll your selves in dust and ashes after having lost the Garment of Christ have no cloathing here having tasted the Devil's Meat chuse now to fast § 8. How long these Penitentiary Stations were cannot be defined since they differed according to the Quality of the Offence and the Offender according to the Circumstance of Time and the Will and Pleasure of the 〈◊〉 Court who imposed them some were in the state of Penance two Years some three some five some ten some more some even to their Lives ends but how long and rigorous soever their Penance was they were patiently humbly and thankfully to endure it the whole time being not absolved till they had undergone the legal and full time of Satisfaction It is true indeed that in some extraordinary Cases the Prudence of the Church saw fit to dispense with the usual length and Severity of their inflicted Discipline as in Case of Death of an approaching Persecution or when a great multitude and eminent leading Persons were cencerned in the same Offence as in the case of Trophimus which may be seen in the 52d Epistle of Cyprian Besides these the Confessors claimed the Privilege of restoring Penitents before the usual time which irregular and unreasonable Practice of theirs caused great Disturbances to the Church of Carthage in the Days of Cyprian which may be seen at large in several Epistles extant in the beginning of his Works But laying aside these unusual Circumstances the fixed Period of Penance was never anticipated but how long and severe soever it was the Penitent chearfully submitted to it When the appointed Time of Penance was ended the Penitent applyed himself to the Ecclesiastical Court for Absolution who examined his Demeanours and Actions which if they approved and liked they then proceeded to the formal assoyling of him of which in the following Sections § 9. On the appointed Day for Absolution the Penitent or he that was now to
besides the Lord's Day Saturday was an usual Season whereon many Churches solemnized their Religious Services As for those other times in which they Publickly assembled for the Performance of Divine Worship they will fall under the two General Heads of Times of Fasting and Times of Feasting of which in the following Chapters CHAP. VIII § Of the Primitive Fasts two-fold Occasional and Fix'd Of Occasional Fasts what they were and by whom appointed § 2. Of fixt Fasts two-fold Weekly and Annual Wednesdays and Fridays weekly Fasts till what time of the Day observed and why observed § 3. One necessary Annual Fast viz. Lent Why they fasted at Lent and how long lasted § 4. Of the manner of their Fasts Three sorts of Fasts viz. Statio Jejunium and Superpositio What those several Kinds were and at what times observed § 1. IN this Chapter I shall make an Enquiry into the Primitive Fasts which may be considered in a two-fold respect either as Occasional or Fixt Occasional Fasts were such as were not determined by any constant fixed Period of Time but observed on extraordinary and unusual Seasons according as the Variety and Necessity of their Circumstances did require them Thus in Times of Great and Imminent Danger either of Church or State when by their Sins they had kindled God's Wrath and Fury against them that they might divert his Vengeance and appease his offended Majesty they appointed set Days and Times for the Abasing of themselves before the Lord for the seeking of his Face by Prayer and Fasting abstaining from the Food of their Bodies and practising all external Acts of Humiliation as so many Indications of the internal Contrition of their Hearts and Souls So Cyprian in the time of a sharp Persecution advised his Flock To seek to appease and pacifie the Lord not only by Prayers but by Fastings and by Tears and by all kind of Intreaties And when the same Father foresaw an approaching Persecution he writ to Cornelius Bishop of Rome That since God was pleased in his Providence to warn them of an approaching Fight and Tryal they ought with their whole Flocks diligently to fast and watch and pray to give themselves to continual Groans and frequent Prayers for those are our Spiritual Arms that make us firmly to stand and persevere Tertullian jeers the Heathens That in times of Danger or great necessity after they had voluptuously and sensually glutted themselves they then ran to the Capitol and with all outward Signs of Humility deprecated Gods Judgments and implored his mercy whilst in the mean time they were Enemies unto him But says he We on such Emergencies and Occasions abstain from all things give our selves wholly to fasting roll our selves in Sackcloth and Ashes thus incline God as it were to repent to have Mercy and Compassion upon us for by this way God is honoured These Occasional Fasts were appointed by the Bishops of every Church as they saw fit and necessary So writes Tertullian The Bishops are wont to ordain Fasts for their Churches according as the Circumstances of the Churches require § 2. The next sort of Fasts were set or fixed ones that is such as were always observed at the same Time and Season and these again were two fold either Weekly or Annual First Weekly These were kept every Wednesday and Friday as Clemens Alexandrinus relates that they fasted on every Wednesday and Friday These Fasts were commonly called Stations in allusion to the Military Stations or the Soldiers standing when on the Guard Thus Tertullian mentions Their Stationary Days And writes that Wednesdays and Fridays were Stations On these Stationary Days their Fasts ended at three a Clock in the Afternoon whence they are called by Tertullian The half Fasts of Stations Though some on Fridays lengthened out their Fasts till Evening Why they fasted on Wednesday rather than on any other Day of the Week I cannot find but on Friday they chose to fast because Christ was Crucified thereon § 3. The next sort of fixed Fasts is such as are annual of which kind they had but one viz. Lent And indeed besides this they had no other necessary fixed Fast 〈◊〉 Weekly nor Yearly the Faithful were not strictly obliged to the observation of any other as will be evident from what follows It is true they fasted Wednesdays and Fridays but this was ex Arbitrio of their own Free Will and Choice not ex imperio of Command or Necessity For when the Montanists began to impose as a Duty other stinted Fasts they were for so doing branded as Hereticks Who saith Apollonius concerning Montanus is this new Doctor His Works and Doctrin evidently declare him this is he that teaches the Dissolution of Marriages and prescribes Fasts And for the same Practice they were accused by the Orthodox for Galaticising or committing the Error of the Galatians in observing Days and Months and Years But that the Ancients esteemed Lent to be the only necessary fixed Fast and any other even the Stationary Days to be indifferent will appear most evidently from this ensuing Passage of Tertullian Tertullian being now a Montanist and defending their prescribed Fasts against the Orthodox thus jeeringly exposes the Opinions of his Adversaries with respect to the necessary determined times of Fasting Forsooth saith he they think that according to the Gospel those days are to be prescribed Fasts wherein the Bridegroom was takeu away i.e. Lent and those to be the only Fasts of Christians the Legal and Prophetical Fasts being abolished and that for others we may indifferently fast according to our Will not out of necessity or command but according to our Circumstances and conditions and that so the Apostles abserved commanding no other fixed and common Fasts besides this no not the Stationary Days which indeed they keep on Wednesdays and Fridays and do all observe but yet not in obedience to any Command or to the end of the Day but Prayers are concluded at three a Clock in the Afternoon according to the Example of Peter in the Acts. So that from hence it is evident That the Orthodox apprehended themselves to be free from the necessary Observation of the Stationary Fasts and to be only strictly obliged to fast on those Days wherein the Bridegroom was taken away or on Lent from which Periphrasis of Lent we may collect both the Reason and the Duration thereof First the Reason thereof or the Ground on which they founded the necessity of this Fast and that was on that saying of Christ in Matth. 9. 15. The Days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them This they imagined to be an Injunction of Christ to all his Followers to fast at that time when the Bridegroom should be taken away The Bridegroom they esteemed to be Christ the time when he was taken away his Crucifixion Death and continuing under the Power of Death to the instant of his
Resurrection during which time they thought themselves by the forementioned Command obliged to fast Secondly From hence we may observe the Duration of this Fast or how long it was continued and that was from the time that Christ the Bridegroom was taken away to the time that he was restored again that is from his Passion to his Resurrection Now according to their Various Computations of the beginning and end of Christ's being taken away so was the Duration of their Fast some might reckon from Christ's Agony in the 〈◊〉 others from his being betrayed by Judas 〈◊〉 again from his being fastned to the Cross and others from his being actually dead and so according to these Diversities of Computations were their Fasts either lengthened or shortned This we may probably suppose to be the occasion of the different Observations of this Fast with respect to its Duration as we find it in Irenaeus Some says he esteem that they must fast but one Day others two others more and some allow to this Fast forty Hours Which last space of Time seems to have been their general and common Allowance Whence this Fast was afterwards called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Quadragesima that is not a Fast of Forty Days in imitation of Christ's Fasting in the Wilderness but a Fast of Forty Hours beginning at Friday Twelve a Clock about which time Christ was dying and ending Sunday Morning when Christ arose So that from Twelve a Clock Good Friday as we call it when Christ the Bridegroom was taken away they fasted in obedience to his Command as they imagined till Sunday Morning when he was found again by his Resurrection at which time they forgot their Sorrow and Mourning concluded their Fast and began the joyful Festival of Easter or of Christs Resurrection § 4. As for the manner of their Fasts we may observe them to be of three sorts viz. Statio Jejunium and Superpositio Station Fasts and Superposition all which three are at once mentioned by Victorinus Petavionensis We fast says he till the ninth hour or till evening or their is a Superposition till the next morning I. There was the Fast of Stations which ended at Three a Clock in the Afternoon or at the Ninth Hour as it is called in the forecited Passage of Victorinus Petavionensis This sort of Fasting was used on 〈◊〉 and Fridays which Days as we have shewn before were called Stationary Days and on them Divine Services were ended at Three a Clock in the Afternoon for which Reason Montanising Tertullian terms them The Half Fasts of Stations II. The next sort was strictly called Jejunium or a Fast which according to the 〈◊〉 place of Victorinus Petavionensis lasted till Evening Of this sort it is probable their Occasional Fasts were as Tertullian writes In times of necessity and danger we dry up our selves with Fasting abstain from all Meat roll our selves in Dust and Ashes and by these means cause God to have mercy upon us Though it is also likely that in times of more eminent Danger they extended these Fasts unto that of Superposition The Second sort of Fasts was observed by some on Fridays who turned the Station into a Fast as Victorinus Petavionensis writes On Friday in Commemoration of the Lord's Passion I either keep a Station or observe a Fast. III. The last sort of Fasts was called Superposition or as by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which lasted till the Morning of the next Day according to that of Victorinus Petavionensis Let Superposition be done till the next Day As for the times when this Fast was observed I find that in some of the Western Churches they so kept every Saturday throughout the Year fasting thereon till Midnight or till the beginning of Sunday Morning as Victorinus Petavioniensis says Let Superposition be done on Saturday lest we should seem to observe the Jewish Sabbath But not only in these but in other Churches also they so fasted on Easter Eve or on the Saturday preceeding that Sunday which being Lent was so necessary and usual that Tertullian enumerating those particular Acts of Divine Worship that a Christian Woman could not freely perform if married to a Pagan Husband reckons this as one That on Easter Eve she could not stay up and watch that Night But to please her Husband must be diverted from this necessary Fast that usher'd in the Glorious Festival of Easter which brings me in the next place to enquire into this and their other Feasts of which in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. IX § 1. Of the Primitive Feasts two-fold Occasional and Fix'd § 2. Of Easter § 3. Of Whitsunday § 4. Of Christmas On what Day of the Year Christ was born § 5. Of Epiphany § 6. Besides these no other Feasts in Commemoration of Christ the Virgin Mary or the Apostles The Apostles not called Saints in the Primitive Writings § 7. Festivals in Commemoration of the Martyrs Observed on the Annual Day of their Martyrdom Persons appointed to take an exact Account of the Day of their Decease § 8. Why those Festivals were observed The Day of the Martyrs Death termed their Birth days § 9. The Place where these Festivals were Solemnized Of the Buryingplace of the Ancients § 10. The manner of the Observation of these Festivals § 1. AS the Primitive Fasts were two-fold so likewise were their Feasts either Occasional or Fixed As for those that were Occasional I shall pass them over because not controverted and come immediately to enquire into their Fixed Feasts which as their Fasts were also two-fold either Weekly or Annual Of their Weekly Feasts which were Sundays and in the Oriental Churches Saturdays I have already discoursed so that there only remains an Enquiry into their Annual Feasts which befides the Martyrs Festivals were two viz. Easter and Whitsunday or at most Three viz Easter Whitsunday and Christmass of each of which in their Order § 2. I begin with Easter as being the antientest Feast of all concerning which Tertullian writes We Celebrate Easter in the first Month every Year Cyprian mentions their Easter Solemnities And Origen reckons Easter as one of the four Festivals observed in his time But that they Solemnized Easter is a thing so well known that it will be unnecessary to prove it especially since every one knows or at least might easily know those sharp Contests and Debates that were in the Church about the time when it should be kept the whole Affair hath been at large related by several Hands in our own Tongue amongst others by the most learned Dr. Cave in his Apostolici in the Life of Irenaeus to which I refer the Curious contenting my self with giving a very brief Account of the Controversie which was this The Churches of the Lesser Asia kept their Easter the same day that the Jews kept their Passover on what day of the Week soever it happen'd The Church of Rome with
other Churches kept it the Lords Day after This Diversity of Customs created a violent Disorder and Confusion amongst the Christians for the Church of Rome would impose their Usages on the Churches of the Lesser Asia unto which the latter peremptorily refused to submit To appease these Heats and Storms Polycarp Bishop of Smirna came to Rome to confer with Anicetus Bishop of that Church about it who 〈◊〉 that every Church should be left to follow its own Custom as accordingly they were to the times of Pope Victor who revived this Controversie and was so turbulent and imperious as that he excommunicated the Asiaticks for refusing to comply with the Church of Rome in this matter condemning them as Hereticks loading them with the long and frightful Name of Tessareskaidekatitae or Quartodecimani so called because they kept their Easter Quarta Decima Luna upon the Fourteenth Day after the appearance of the Moon or at the Full Moon on what Day soever it happened But however the Asiaticks stood their Ground and still maintained their old Custom till the Council of Nice Anno 325. by their Authority decided this Controversie decreeing that throughout the whole Christian World Easter should be observed not on the Day on which the Jewish Passover fell but on the Lord's Day ensuing as it was ever after observed and followed § 3. The next Feast that was observed was Whitsunday or Pentecost in Commemoration of the Holy Ghosts Descent on the Apostles which also was very ancient being mentioned several times by Tertullian and reckon'd by Origen for one of the four Festivals observed in his time the other Three being Sundays Saturdays and Easter § 4. As for Christmass or the time of Christs Nativity there is a Passage in Clemens Alexandrinus which seems to intimate that it was then observed as a Festival For speaking of the Time when Christ was born he says that those who had curiously search'd into it affixed it to the 25th Day of the Month Pachon But the Basilidian Hereticks held otherwise who also observed as a Feast the Day of Christs Baptism From which Words who also if that be the meaning of the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one might be apt to infer that the meaning of Clemens Alexandrinus was that the Basilidians not only feasted at the time of Christs Nativity but also at the time of his Baptism But whether this Interpretation will hold I leave to the Learned Reader to determin On the contrary there are other Considerations which more strongly insinuate that this Festival was not so early solemnized as that when Origen reckons up the Feasts observed in his Age he mentions not one Syllable of Christmas and it seems improbable that they should Celebrate Christs Nativity when they disagreed about the Month and Day when Christ was born Clemens Alexandrinus reckons from the Birth of Christ to the Death of Commodus exactly one hundred ninety four Years one month and thirteen days which years must be computed according to the Nabonassar or Egyptian Account who varied from this in our year in that they had only 365 days in a year never taking notice of the odd Hours or Quadrant of a Day that every fourth Year makes a whole Day and are accordingly by us then added to the Month of February which maketh the Bissextile or Leapyear So that though the Egyptians always begun their Year with the first day of the Month Thoth yet making no Account of the Annual odd Hours that Month wandereth throughout the whole Year And whereas now the first Day of that Month is the first Day of our March about Seven Hundred Years hence it will be the first of September and after Seven Hundred Years more or near thereabouts it will come to the first of March again Wherefore that we may reduce unto our Style this Calculation of Clemens Alexandrinus we must deduce for those odd Hours which are not accounted one Month and Eighteen Days and so reckoning the Birth of Christ from the Death of Commodus which happened on the first Day of January to be One Hundred Ninety Four Years wanting five or six Days it will appear that Christ was born on the 25th or 26th of the Month of December according to the Julian Account which is the Epoch we follow But as the same Father farther writes in the same place There were some who more curiously searching after the Year and Day of Christs Nativity affixed the latter to the 25th of the Month Pachon Now in that Year in which Christ was born the Month Pachon commenced the twentieth Day of April So that according to this Computation Christ was born the 16th Day of May. Nay there were yet some other ingenious Men as the same Father continues to write that assigned Christ's Nativity to the 24th or 25th of the Month Pharmuthi which answers to our 16th or 17th of April So that there were Diversities of Opinion concerning the Time of Christs Birth which makes it very probable that there was then no particular Feast observed in Commemoration of that Glorious and transcendent Mercy § 5. There is yet another Feast called by us Epiphany wherein there is a Commemoration of Christs Baptism which I find to have been peculiarly Solemnized by the Basilidian Hereticks For thus Clemens Alexandrinus reports it to be a particular Custom of theirs to keep as a Festival the day of Christs Baptism The Day on which Christ was baptized they said to be the fifteenth of the Month Tyby in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of the Emperor Tiberius which answers to our One and Thirtieth of December or as others imagin'd it On the Eleventh of the Month Tyby which was the Seven and Twentieth of our December § 6. Besides these forementioned Festivals there were none others observed to the Honour of the blessed Jesus nor of the Virgin Mary nor of the Holy Apostles and Evangelists and which may be a little observable it is very seldom if ever that the Ancients give the Title of Saints to those Holy Persons but singly style them Peter Paul John c. not St. Peter St. Paul or St. John § 7. But now there was another sort of Festivals which every Church Celebrated in the Commemoration of its own Martyrs which was on the Anniversary Day of their Martyrdoms They assembled together where they recited the Martyrs Glorious Actions exhorted to an Imitation of them and blessed God for them So says Cyprian The Passions of the Martyrs we Celebrate with an Anniversary Commemoration And so writes Tertullian Vpon the Annual Day of the Martyrs Sufferings we offer Thanks to God for them When this Practice began cannot certainly be determined it is first found mentioned in the Letter of the Church of Smirna to the Church of Philomilium touching the Death of Polycarp wherein they write That they had gathered up his Martyr'd Bones and buried them in a
decent place where say they if possible we will meet to celebrate with Joy and Gladness the Birth-day of his Martyrdom Hence that they might be certain of the very day of the Martyrs Sufferings there were some appointed to take an exact Account of them and faithfully to register them that so there might be no mistake Thus Cyprian writ from his Exile to the Clergy of his Church That they should take special care exactly to note down the very day of the Martyrdom of the Faithful that so they might be commemorated amongst the Memories of the Martyrs and to signifie to him the precise time of their departure to a glorious Immortality that so he might also celebrate it § 8. The Reasons for which they observed these Festivals we find in the forementioned Letter of the Church of Smirna wherein they write That they would meet to celebrate with Joy and Gladness the Martyrdom of Polycarp for the Commemoration of those who had already gloriously striven and for the Confirmation and Preparation of others by their Examples So that their Design was two-fold to animate and encourage others to follow the glorious Examples of those Heroick Martyrs who were commemorated before their Eyes and to declare the Honour and Veneration that they had for those invincible Champions of Jesus Christ who by their Martyrdoms were now freed from all their Miseries and Torments and Translated to a blessed and glorious Immortality in an happy manner experiencing the Truth of that Scripture in Ecclesiastes 7. 1. That the day of a Man's Death is better than the day of his Birth Whence the Time of the Martyrs Deaths was usually termed their Birth-Day because then was a Period of all their Grief and Trouble and a beginning of their everlasting Bliss and 〈◊〉 Thus in the forementioned Letter of the Church of Smirna concerning the Death of Polycarp they write That they would meet to celebrate with joy and gladness the Birth-day of his Martyrdom And so Tertullian says that 3 they annually commemorated the Birth-days of the Martyrs that is their Deathdays as he writes in another place concerning St. Paul That he was born at Rome when he suffered Martyrdom there § 9. As for the Place where these Anniversary Solemnities were performed it was at the Tombs of the Martyrs who were usually buried with the rest of the Faithful in a distinct place from the Heathens it being their Custom to interr the Christians by themselves seperate from the Pagans accounting it an hainous Crime if possibly it could be prevented to mingle their Sacred Ashes with the defiled ones of their Persecuting and Idolatrous Neighbours Wherefore in the Ratification of the Disposition of Martialis Bishop of Astorga by an African Synod held Anno 258 this was one of the Articles alledg'd against him That he had buried his Sons after the Pagan manner in Gentile Sepulchres amongst Men of another Faith And for this Reason it was that the surviving Christians would run upon ten thousand Hazards to collect the scattered Members of the Dead Martyrs and decently to inter them in the common Repository of the Faithful As when Emilian the barbarous Prefect of Egypt forbad any under Severe Penalties to entomb the Dead Bodies of the murdered Saints and seduously watched if any would durst to do it Yet 〈◊〉 a Deacon of Alexandria resolutely ventured upon it And it is applauded by the Historian as an Act of Religious Boldness and Freedom whereby Asturias a Roman Senator rendred himself renouned in that when he saw the Martyrdom of Marinus at Caesarea he took his martyred Body cloathed it with a precious Garment bore it away on his own Shoulders and magnificently and decently 〈◊〉 it And in a Letter from the Christians of Lyons and Vienna in France to the Churches of 〈◊〉 concerning their sore and grievous Persecutions we find them passionately complaining of the Inhumane Cruelty of their Persecutors that neither Prayers nor Tears neither Gold nor Silver could prevail with them to permit them to collect the dead Bodies of their murthered Brethren and decently to 〈◊〉 them As on the other hand the Faithful or the Church of Smirna rejoyced that they had gotten the most precious Bones of Polycarp which they buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decebat where they ought as Valesius renders it that is as seems most probable at the common Burying Place of the Christians Now it was at these Tombs and Sepulchres that the Memories of the Martyrs were solemnized Thus in the forecited Letter of the Church of Smirna to the Church of Philomilium they write that in that place where they had interr'd the Bones of Polycarp they would by the Blessing of God assemble together and celebrate his Martyrdom which was a Practice so usual and constant as that the Heathens observed it So that as on the one hand under the Persecution of Valerian AEmilian the Prefect of Egypt threatned Dionysius Alexandrinus and his Fellow-Sufferers that for their Obstinacy and 〈◊〉 as he termed it he would send them into Lybia to a desert place called Cephro where they should not meet together or go to those places called Cemeteries That is the places where the Martyrs and the rest of the Faithful were buried so on the other hand when Galienus Valerian's Son restored Peace to the Churches he published an express Edict for returning to the Christians the Cemeteries that were taken from them § 10. If in the next place it shall be enquired how they observed these Festival Days I answer that they did not according to the fashion of the Heathens spend them in Riot and Debauchery in Bacchanalian Revellings and Luxury but in Religious Exercises and Employments in Prayers and Devotions He saith Origen truly keeps a Festival who does what he ought to do always praying and by his Prayers offering up unbloody Sacrifices unto God The Solemnites of these Feast Days were not Drunkenness and Gluttony but Acts of Piety and Charity Now they publickly assembled as the Church of Smirna writes in her Letter concerning the Death of Polycarp to commemorate the Martyrs Courage and Triumphs and to exhort and prepare others to the same glorious and renowned Actions Or as Tertullian expresses it now they offered Oblations as Cyprian They offered Oblations and Sacrifices that is they offered Thanks and Praise to God that had given Grace to those Martyrs to Seal his Truths with their Blood and in evidence of their Gratitude distributed of their Substance to the Poor and 〈◊〉 CHAP. X. § 1. Of the Rights and Ceremonies The difference between them § 2. Of Ceremonies Many used by the Ancients which through various ways crept into the Church § 3. Of Rites Every Church followed its own Rites without imposing them on any other § 4. The Members of every Church obliged to observe the Rites of that Church where they lived § 5. The Conclusion of