not well otherwise to be understood but some of its chief Institutions are known to be derived thence For as before many of the Mosaick Rites were unquestionably design'd to presignifie our Saviour so some of them were afterwards taken into his Service always to minister unto him not admitted only for the present out of condescension to the Native or Proselyte Jews of whom then the greatest Number of Converts consisted but some formally adopted and others laudably continued for Perpetuity This has in part been already copiously demonstrated by many very Learned Writers and if any thing shall chance to be added by me I offer it with all submission And indeed it would not be pertinent to my Business to pretend in this Matter to any new Discoveries who am rather now by such Observations as are well Agreed and Received to try to favour another Guess I am by and by to advance But besides to be honest to the Reader and withal to put him out of any fear I am here to profess That I pretend not to the Depths of the Talmudical Learning nor intend to engage him in it having never dug in the dark Mine my self but only seen something of that which has been brought above ground by others and exposed to common Use either in the Translations of the Misnah or of Maimonides for of him I have not read much more than is in Latin or in the Works of modern Authors The Reader therefore will be pleased to go on and see how much of the Christian Appointments appears to have been copied from the Jewish And here he will presently find it agreed by all That the Two Sacraments were taken thence That the Weekly Observation of the Lord's Day was in Imitation of their Sabbath That the Discipline of the Christian Church came from the Jewish And that the Apostles Presbyters and Deacons were Officers after their Model But besides these Principal Ordinances which are expressed in the New Testament he will find too That many Circumstances which in the second Age attended those Ordinances were likewise Jewish as well as many other Vnscriptural Customs which are known to have been in use in those Days I shall first consider the Scriptural Vsages and afterwards those which are remembred in the next Age And the Scriptural I take by themselves both because of the Authority for their Practice and of the Consent for their Derivation though in the expounding of the Jewish Customs for the first I may happen to join what belongs to the later sort to avoid hereafter unnecessary Repetition § II. AND to begin with Baptism This was with the Jews a Sacramental Rite whereby those who were converted from Heathenism were initiated into their Religion A Rite little practised among them now for they have had a long while but very few Converts and such People as they tell us (a) Mâ—iâ—â— Issure Biaâ— c. 13. §. 14 18. ex Ed. Dom. Prideaux Oxon 1679. were always suspected by them as apt to Apostatize and draw away others as it happened in their Opinion in the Matter of the Golden Calf and at Kibroth Hattaavah For these Reasons it may be the Jewish Traditionaries have not been very particular on this Subject neither hath Maimonides treated of it by it self and expresly but occasionally only in a Treatise of Prohibited Marriages There he tells us (b) Issure Biah c. 13. §. 1. That the Admission of a Convert was made by these Three Steps First If he was a Male by Circumcision Then By Baptism And Last of all By Sacrifice First He that offered to become a Jew was examined by them concerning the Cause of his Conversion whether it was Religious and had some Part of the Law especially propos'd to him that of the Vnity of God and of the Crime of Idolatry and if he professed himself willing to adhere to it they circumcised him (c) Ibid. 14 15. Then after some convenient time they proceeded to baptize him This was to be done in the Presence and by the Authority of Three at least as Commissioners for the Action They stood over him when he was in the Water and again interrogated him proposing some of the harder and some of the easier Precepts of the Law and if he persisted in his former Resolution of taking upon him its Obedience they baptized him (d) c. 14. §. 6. Thus were Grown Persons baptized upon their own Engagements and Children too were admitted to the same Favour by the permission of the Consistory their Fathers or three others instead of a Father undertaking for them (e) c. 13. § 7. Lightfoot vol. 2. p. 118. And now by Virtue of this his Baptism he is taken out of the number of the Gentiles (f) Iss Bi. c. 13. §. 17. and ceases to have any Kindred upon the account of his natural Birth so much that as they say if his Mother should turn Jew also he may marry her by the Letter of Moses his Law though by the Decretals of the Canon Law he was bound to observe the prohibited Degrees on the Mother's side (g) Ibid. 14.12 13. So was the Proselyre held to be as an Infant then new born (h) 14.11 and to have become an Israelire to be in a state of Sanctity (i) 14.14 and under the Wings of the Divine Majesty (k) 13.4 So absolutely are they understood to be render'd Israelites now by this Baptism only but heretofore when their Temple was up the Proselytes were not reckon'd to be fully Holy nor to have lodg'd themselves perfectly under the Wings of God's Majesty until they were further admitted to his Worship by Sacrifice This Sacrifice is said to have been a Burnt-Offering either out of the Fold or else of two Turtles or two young Pigeons for an Atonement (l) 13.5 For he was it seems in the condition of those Israelites who when they were free from their Uncleanness and had wash'd wanted still an Atonement for their complete Purification that they might be able to partake of the Sacrifices (m) Maimon ex Interpr Lud. deVeil Lib. de Sacr. Tract 5. c. 1. §. 1 2. Only in this he differ'd that he wanted no Sin-Offering as they did because the Sins of his former State were already entirely remitted by his Baptismal Regeneration And to this I suppose I may add under the favour of the instance which follows and upon which they ground the Proselyting method that the Proselyte was like a Leper wash'd and wanting the Atonement himself Sprinkled and Purify'd by the Blood of his Offering And lastly according to the same Pattern I am just going to mention there was commonly after the Burnt-Offering (n) Mai. ibid. item Interprete eodem de Cultu Divino Ir. 5. c. 1. §. 6. a Peace-Offering presented that when he was in the Morning by the one made capable of partaking of the Sacrifices he might exercise that capacity in the Afternoon and by the
à Communicatione Orationis Conventus omnis Sancti Commercii relegetur Praesident probati quique Seniores Honorem istum non Pretio sed Testimonio adepti neque enim pretio ulla res Dei constar § II. l Morinus his Translation agrees with the Printed Text and makes the Forty Days to be discontinued But it should seem that they were intended to be continued by the Prohibition that follows of not washing the while above Twice or Thrice and that for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However there is no need of this place for an instance of such a Fast of Forty Days together such a Penance being afterwards thrice injoin'd in the same short Paragraph m Herm. Part. lib. 3. Sim. 7. Numquid ergo ait protinus putas aboleri delicta illorumÌ„ qui agunt Poenitentiam Nou proinde continuò Sed oporter eum qui agit Poenitentiam Affligere animam suam Humilem animo se proestare in omni negotio Vexationes multas variasque perferre Cumque perpessus fuerit omnia quae illi instituta sunt tunc forsitan qui eum creavÃt qui formavit Vniversa commovebitur erga eum clementiâ suâ CHAP. X. § I. A. Parallel of Christian Rites mention'd by Tertullian and § II. Of those Vsages mention'd by Origen particularly about Prayer 1. Disposition of Mind 2. Posture of Body 3. Direction of the Face § III. 4. Times of Daily Prayer § IV. 5. Matter and Method § V. The Antient Order of Christian Prayer § VI. And the Order of the Jewish § VII Compar'd § VIII A. Parallel of some few other Vsages THE many Christian Ordinances which have already appear'd to be deriv'd from the Jews may be more than were necessary to prepare the Reader for a like account of Lent I shall therefore take leave to add only so much as may be compâ—ehended in this one Chapter more § I. It is known from Terâ—ullian that the Antient Christians made frequent use of the sign of the Cross His words a are these When ever we Move and set forward on any action when we Come in and when we Go out when we put on our Shoes or Wash or are at Table when Candles are lighted when we lye down when we sit whatsoever it be that we are doing we still as it were wear away our Forehead by signing it with the Cross And we have already seen (b) Ch. 6. §. 5. that when this sign of the Cross was first made on the Forehead of a Christian Confirm'd it might be well taken from a like Practice us'd in all Probability at the Confirmation of a Proselyte Jew when the Priest mark'd him on the Forehead to God and first put on that Frontlet or Tephillim between his Eyes a Sacred dress memorial to himself and distinctive to others which he was after to wear when free from Impurity before God and Men he being suppos'd by it to own God and his Law and to be Arm'd and Warned against all Sin (c) Buxt Syn. 9. Now the Christians tho' they did not dress themselves with their badge of the Cross yet upon all proper occasions they repeated the Sign of it for a Profession of their Faith and Remembrance of their Duty a Sign which they continued perpetually to make and write on themselves when they sat in the house and when they walk'd by the way when they lay down and when they rose up (d) Deut. 6 7 8 9. This too they might use more particularly at those Actions Tertullian mentions they being such as are always begun by the Jews with their Proper Benedictions (e) Buxt S. Jud. Cap. 10. and were not I suppose undertook by those Primitive Christians without their peculiar Blessings in a literal and explicite conformity to that reinforcement of the Jewish Usage by St. Paul (f) 1 Cor. 10.31 whether ye Eat or Drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God And when such Acts of Devotion attended those ordinary actions they did not only in common form of the Jews require a Sign to accompany them but they wanted the Christian Sign more especially to shew in whose name they were offer'd that another Direction (g) Col. 3.17 of the same Apostle might also be formally observ'd whatever ye do in Word or in Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God and the Father by Him as has been long ago remark'd on another occasion 2. The same Tertullian reckous up g 2 another celebrated Christian Rite for a Practice immemorial in his time that they thought it a Fault to Fast or to pray Kneeling on any Sunday or on the Fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide all of them formerly Festival as sacred to the Resurrection of our Lord and the Promise of the Holy Ghost Now as the Sabbath of the Jews is chang'd into our Lord's Day so was this Observation of it transfer'd too for they think it by no means lawful to Fast on their Seventh Day as it is absurd to Fast upon any Festival For the same reason they kneel not neither at their Prayers on Sabbaths and Holydays (h) Maim Libello de Prec Cap. 5. §. 15. standing with Them being the proper Posture of ordinary Prayers and Kneeling or Falling down of Afflictive Humiliation 3. Whereas too the same Author mentions there i an Observation then Antient concerning the Bread and Wine of their Ordinary Food that they were very careful that none of it should fall upon the Ground this has also been formerly suggested to be Jewish for the Bread at least For though the Jews when they conclude the Sabbath and separate it from the following Week pour some of their Wine upon the Ground yet to their Bread they preserve always a particular Respect supposing an Angel deputed to watch the Negligence of those that let it fall to the ground and foreboding Poverty to themselves from such an unhappy Accident (k) Buxt S. Jud. 〈◊〉 16. 4. Our Author in another place in his Treatise of Prayer (l) Cap. 11. makes mention of some Customs then observ'd at that Duty which were apparently from the Jews It was the usage of some he tells us though he disapproves it 〈◊〉 to wash their hands before Prayer and so it is known the Jews are requir'd to do (m) Maim Ibid. Cap. 4. §. 2 3. 5. Others were us'd when they had done Prayers to sit down for a while n and for this they cited Hermes his Pastor where he is said (o) Hermae Past Lib. 2. in Proem when he Prayed to have sat down on the Bed The Argument Tertullian derides and the Practice he takes to be Ethnick but it seems rather to come from the Jews For they are directed to sit a while after Prayers in Meditation and Devotion and the Godly Men of old are rememberd to have pass'd one hour before Prayers and
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
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Spina And it may likewise be observ'd of the words relating to the abovementioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has under it the signification not only of Insula but also of Recessus seu Decrementum aquae vel Maris and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Hedg now and might the Thorns heretofore and withal expresses the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Buds which are mention'd by Barnabas CHAP. III. § I. The Devotional Duty of the Jews an their Expiation Day § II. Practis'd by Christians on the Passion Day § III. Some Circumstances of the Eves of those Days compar'd WHile this Reconciliation was making in the Temple at Jerusalem the People even those who were not present at it had their parts to perform and were to join with it wheresoever they resided Fasting that whole Day and afflicting their Souls from Evening to Evening (a) Lev. 23.32 For whatsoever Soul it was that was not afflicted in that same Day he should be cut off from among his People (b) 29. Now that they might be sure not to be defective in so necessary a Duty they took care to begin the Office of that Day earlier than the Sunset of the first Evening and to conclude it later than that of the second The Affliction also of their Souls they shew'd not by Fasting only but by all other Demonstrations of Penitence and Grief for Sin And therefore for the better performing that Duty as they prepare themselves some considerable time before of which we are to speak in the following Chapter so more particularly on the Ninth Day the day immediately preceding For then they repair to their Synagogues before day and continue long at their Devotion there going afterward to their Burying places for their greater Humiliation and in the Afternoon they wash themselves Confessing their Sins make ready their Candles which they are presently to use and particularly take care to Ask Pardon of those they have injur'd and to make satisfaction Then in the Synagogue with other Prayers they make a solemn Confession of their Sins and sometimes receive from one another their Forty stripes save one and afterwards they return home and eat a Formal Supper thereby to distinguish that day from the following in which they are neither to Eat nor Drink (c) For this and what follows see Buxt Syn. Jud. c. 25. And now before the Night beginning that Great Day is come they return to the Synagogue set up and light their Candles for each one and sometimes two as both for their Soul and their Body and after Proclamation is made of leave for the Excommunicate to join with them they begin their solemn Prayers of the Day which they continue towards Midnight some spending the whole Night and repeating the whole Psalter However before Sun-rising they come thither again and stay there all the rest of the Day Reading out of the Scriptures and Praying in which Prayers they take care that their second Service the Sacrificial Service for the Day be said before Noon After Noon they begin the Service of the Evening continuing their Devotions till the Sun is ready to set when they subjoin another Office for the Close of the Day and peculiar to that day and then when the Night of the next day is come they have the solemn Blessing pronounc'd by the Priests that are present and so are dismiss'd After this manner while the Temple stood the Jews heretofore are presum'd to have employ'd the Day of Expiation and not otherwise to have expected any benefit from the Sacrifice which was then offer'd and by which all their Sins were to be intirely Remitted And since the Destruction of their Temple and ceasing of their Sacrifices this their own Office the Jews still continue and impute so much to their due performance of it as to think (d) Rep. 1. Ch. 9. §. 2. that the Punishment of many offences is entirely Forgiven and of the rest at least suspended by that alone and without the help of the Expiatory Goats which are now wanting § II. NOW as it is certain what was laid down in the Chapter foregoing that the Day of our Saviours Passion was the Great and Last Day of Expiation when that one Propitiatory Sacrifice was made for the Sins of the whole World and of all Ages by that our Great and Catholick High Priest (e) Tert. adv Marc. 49. so is it not to be question'd but that the whole World had it then known what Propitiation our Blessed Lord was making for them would have join'd the Affliction of their own Souls with that his bitter Passion and would in their several Habitations have accompanied his Oblation for their Sins with their own Confession of them with bitter grief for their Commission and strong and earnest Supplication for their Pardon This All Mankind could not have fail'd to have done on that Day had they but known what our Saviour was then doing for them But that then was hid from the Eyes of the Apostles themselves When therefore the Mystery of his Death came to be reveal'd and the Propitiation of that day was made known if his Disciples thought fit to keep an annual Memorial of it and that duty the Paschal Season of the Jews so solemnly kept could not but suggest to Christians they could not neither fail of Solemnizing the return of that Day with that Profound Veneration of our Suffering Lord and that Penitential Supplicatory Devotion to the Father which the Original Day it self would have requir'd from them Now that such a Day was kept yearly in memory of the Passion of our Lord in the first and Apostolical Age is a truth which the former Part of this Discourse may have clear'd to us (f) Part 1. Chap. 3. and that it was all along observ'd with as great a strictness of Fasting and Humiliation as the Jews themselves us'd on their day of Propitiation is likewise manifest as it is also most certain that the Grief and Affliction they then were under was not for the Death and Loss of their Lord and Master but for the Guilt of their Sins and the Sins of the World for which their Lord and Master had that day suffer'd So much correspondence there was most evidently between the Practice of the Jews and of the Christians on their two Great Fast Days Thus should our Saviour's Expiatory Sacrifice which completed and superseded the Jewish have been attended answerably and thus actually was the Annually Memory of it afterwards celebrated with a suitable Devotion And this though not done by the Primitive Church in vertue of any such strict Injunction as that under the Old Covenant might yet be well taken up upon the cogent reason of so just a Congruity And as the Jews continue their Devotional Office now when by the Judgment of God an end is put to the Sacrificial so
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
Aaron and the Elders of Israel who eat Bread with him before God (g) R. Sâ—â— Aben Ezra â—n Ex. 28. â—â— And so Solomon at the dedication of the Temple feasted the whole People with those many thousands of Sheep and Oxen which he offer'd to the Lord (h) 1 Kin. 8.63 These Feasts after the building of the Temple were necessarily held at Jerusalem and not elsewhere But it may be rationally suppos'd and I propose it conjecturally as I before have offer'd a like guess concerning the Passover (i) Ch. 3. §. 1. that the Jews of remote dispersions standing the Temple for under its destruction they are not to rejoyce did heretofore upon glad occasions tho' they would not pretend to the formality of an Eucharistical Supper yet make-some such Festival Entertainments to which they call'd their Friends to rejoyce with them before God giving him Thanks not only for what they then eat and drank but mentioning at the same time his other gracious Favours which had been the cause of their present meeting and which they recognis'd in proper Benedictions and Hymns over the Bread and Wine And Bread and Wine I therefore suppose to have been us'd in this Case for the expression of their Thanks not only because we find that the Leaven'd Eucharistical Bread did in the above-alledg'd case stand for the whole Sacrifice or that some part of the Unleaven'd Paschal Bread does now represent the Flesh of the Lamb k or that in Jethro's Sacrificial Feast the eating of Bread is particularly mention'd or lastly that Bread and Wine were given in the High Priest Melchisedeck's entertainment of Abraham which in probability was Eucharistical for his Victory but because those Creatures of God are still taken by the Jews in all their Repasts for a special occasion of his Honour and Worship as we might have observ'd before and shall straight see further Such Entertainments of which we have been speaking especially those of Jerusalem were we doubt not very solemn being dedicated to the honour of God and tho' the particular Ceremonies are not told us yet how those Feasts were kept we may well enough conjecture from the description we have already (l) The same §. as afore given of a Paschal compar'd with this that follows of an Ordinary Supper At an ordinary Meal where there are more than three the Priest or Rabbin or Chief Person takes the Bread half cuts it and blesses it lifting it up at the Name of God then eats a piece of it himself giving likewise to the rest who eat also After he takes the Cup and the rest having their Cups likewise he elevating the Wine says the Benediction over it and they all drink And so when he has said the 23d Psalm they proceed to eat and drink as they please And when they have done the principal person and the others take again their Cups in their Hands and after he has given Thanks and pray'd they all drink and conclude (m) Buxt Syn. Jud. â—â—p 12. The Jews have too a more solemn Meal the Supper of the Sabbath Eve but little differing from the other only here because they then begin the Sabbath and such separations of Initiatory Dedications as well as Conclusional Separations are made with Wine they therefore invert the Order and the Master or Rabbin first takes the Cup repeating the first Verses of the second Chapter of Genesis and saying over it a Benediction Proper for the Sabbath which then begins and after that uncovering the Bread which was cover'd as if it had not been there when the Cup was taken first and which consists of two Loaves he blesses it in the ordinary form c. (n) Ibid. cap. 15. Now hence as we may by comparing discover what the additional Ceremonies were in the Paschal Supper above those of any more ordinary Meal so something between those we may judge to have been us'd in the other Peace-offering Feasts and particularly the Eucharistical As for instance we may presume that the Bread and Wine of a Thanksgiving were taken and elevated by the Priest or Rabbin if present or by the Master of the Family with some peculiar Benediction to which might be subjoyn'd a proper Hymn that when they eat they both began the Meal with the Flesh and Bread of the Sacrifice or at other times with a piece of the Bread representing the Sacrifice and also ended it and that then with some of that Wine they gave Thanks recontinuing their Eucharistical Hymne and so concluding At such Feasts some particular Ceremony they certainly had and something like this in probability it was It appears also by the Divine Worship they pay at their less-solemn Repasts that at these extraordinary ones their Devotion to God must have been as great as their Hospitality to Men. And if their common Tables are always esteem'd by them as Altars particularly when after Meals they return Thanks for then they remove their Knives from off them on that Consideration (m) Buxt Syn. Jud. c. 12. we cannot think but that those Tables then when they were furnish'd from the Altar or imitated one so furnish'd were judg'd more especially to represent it § IV. SUCH were the Sacrifices and Feasts of Thanksgiving and to these I suppose our Saviour had respect in the institution of his Feast and was so understood by the Apostles and by the Christians that immediately succeeded them That it was so understood and How I am now going further to explain And first That the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper came into the place of a Sacrifice of Thanks this may seem probable from several Considerations to be suggested from what has been premis'd For 1st the Name which the Ancients gave this Sacrament seems to speak them of the same opinion For they not only speak of it as of a Sacrifice and Oblation at large but call it determinately and expresly the Eucharist that is the Thanks or Praise-offeriâ—g as by its proper Name the Sacramâ—ntal Bread and Wine being as much known by that stile with Christians as the Bread of the Eucharist or Praise was with the Jews (a) 〈…〉 2dly The Leaven'd Bread they always chose to use as it evidently declares that there was no further regard to the Paschal Sacrifice so it seems to import a just correspondence with those of the Eucharistical kind in which Leaven'd Bread was singularly requir'd And lastly the Bread which was to represent and in some manner to become the Body of our Lord did not unfitly succeed in the place of that Bread of Thanks which had been made use of before to stand for the Flesh of an Eucharistical Sacrifice and to make up the whole even in Jerusalem it self if it did not sometimes in places more remote according to the Conjecture now mention'd Now as this Feast of our Lord was Eucharistical so we suppose it was celebrated in a suitable manner The Bread and Wine chiefly design'd for the
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 §