Elders have by Mr. Selden's Concession the Power of the Limited Elders of the Jews (f) De Syn. 2.7 â— and so in his Opinion they were only to Instruct and Direct by Expounding and Exhorting and to Bind and Loose by Decision of Cases of Conscience and pronouncing Lawful and Unlawful as in the First Council at Jerusalem And this Limitation he thinks proper because the Presbyters of the Jews we have seen had no power in criminal Causes if ordain'd out of Judea and in his Opinion even their other Authority out of their own Country and Dominion was only from the Agreement of their People and the connivence of Princes under whom they liv'd It were enough for my present Intent if the Christian Elders answer'd the Jewish but thus far But that they had a greater Authority given them the very Expressions of the Scripture seem to speak As Obey them that have Rule over you and submit your selves (g) Heb. 13.17 Those that are over you (h) 1 Thes 5.12 preside over you such who are over the Church so as to Rule it (i) 1 Tim. 5.17 as the Master of a Family is over his own Children and Rules his House (k) 4.4 Which Expressions though they may be strain'd by narrow Construction to signifie Teaching and Exhortation only yet they most naturally imply something of Coercion besides and that they were us'd always to connote in the Old Testament But the comparison St. Paul makes in the last place between a Family and a Church will hardly bear the restrain'd Interpretation unless the Paternal Power was abridg'd as well as the Presbyteral and was left to Instruct and Exhort only Now as the Words are ready to signifie a greater Power so such a one there was remaining to be signified that of Admitting into the Christian Communion suspending from it and ejecting out of it a Power which the Jewish Presbyters had and the Christian Society did not want as we shall presently find (l) Chap. 5. 9. Neither did even Capital or Civil Power cease to belong to Christian Presbyters for the reason given by Mr. Selden not because they were created out of Judeas for Christ's Kingdom was no longer confin'd to one Country and every Land was holy nor because no sort of Civil Power could be exercis'd in another Kingdom for such a Power might have demanded Obediences in Conscience though it could not have oblig'd it by armed Force But rather because the Kingdom in which they were Officers was not of this World was not to judge or divide Inheritances nor to entertain Legions for the Peace of its Government and Execution of its Sentences they being to conduct the Church to another Life and Authoriz'd to Rule over it and controul it by that Respect Though therefore the Christian Elder be not ordain'd to Temporal Power yet he succeeds to the Jewish Presbyter in his fullest Right not wanting that Power because he wants any thing of Proper Authority but because he is commission'd to act in another Sphere and above these lower concerns as our blessed Saviour's Authority abstracted from his Omnipotence was not less than that of the former Law-giver Moses though he was pleas'd to waive the Power of Life and Death And thus far we have consider'd the Christian Elders resembling the Jewish in respect of the Church as a Society in like manner they presided over it as an Assembly Appointing Directing and Governing their Meetings by Doctrine and by Censure as is well known and will appear further hereafter § VI. FROM this Agreement of the Jewish and Christian Church in the Superiour Officers we have reason to look for the same in the Lower which remains that of a Deacon In the Appointment before cited from Deuteronomy we are to remember That Officers are mention'd as well as Judges and these though acknowledg'd to be Rulers and Men of Authority a were yet of an inferiour rank and subservient to the Elders And accordingly Josephus stiles them Ministers or Under-Officers and speaks as if to every Court of Seven Elders there were in the earlier Days two of these â—â—â—â—â—ers appointed and out of the Tribe of Levt b This Ministerial Office seems to have consisted of several Imployments and of different Degrees whatever belongs to Sheriffs Protonotaries and Clerks of Courts to Marshals and Cryers Bayliffs and Executioners The business of it was to write the Orders of the Senate and to Proclaim and Execute them to send out Process to Summon Arrest and Punish And it is observable that the Rabbins (c) Seld. de Syn. 2 5 4. Maim Tract San. c. 1. §. 10. allot to every Consistory of Twenty Three two Scribes Attendant d and also two Under-Sheriffs or Executioners whom they call by the same Name they give to the Reader of their Prayers as we shall presently see a Name common heretofore to all Under-Officers in the head of whom were the Two Scribes mentioned therefore by Josephus more particularly Besides these Officers of Judicature there were others who had the charge of their Charity Now the Jews take themselves to be very strictly oblig'd to provide for the Necessitous of their Religion and to support them in some measure answerably to their Quality (e) Maim de Donis Paup cap. 7.3 For this purpose there are Collectors in every City deputed some who go about every day to gather Bread and Meat Collectors of the Basket Others commonly two and to whom a third is to be join'd in the Distribution who go about every Week to gather the Almes and if need be the Tax for the Poor (f) Ibid. c. 9. These were call'd Collectors from their Gathering and Parnasim f 2 or Pastors from their supporting and Maintaining a Word that signifies not only this Office but Government in general and might be said of Elders or any other Rulers Answerable to these Collectors of Cities there were in the Temple (g) Lightâ—oot's Temple Service Collectors too call'd Gizbarim and it may be observable that these were under seven others nam'd Immarcalim who had the Custody and Keys of the Sacred Treasury We have seen also (h) §. IV. that Seven good men of a City are particularly remember'd and though their imployment be not well ascertain'd yet it is plain that the Goods of the Community were under their Ordering The Officers now spoken of belong to their Civil Society for their Religious Assemblies there are others The ordinary Synagogue-Officer is known by the name of Chazan the same as I have said which they give to their Executioner This Name Epiphanius one not unacquainted with the Affairs of the Jews expresly renders by Minister i the very same word which Josephus had us'd to signify those Officers in Deuteronomy attendant upon the Judges This is their Praecentor who under the Higher Rulers the Elders now the Rabbins takes care of the Service of the Synagogue Says Prayers shews the Lessons calls and directs those who
Answer to them the Master tells the Story of the Miseries of their Fore-fathers using also the Words in Deuteronomy (h) Deut. 26.5 A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. Upon this the Table was brought again and He taking the Paschal Lamb in his hands and Elevating it propos'd to himself the Question Why it was offer'd and gave the Reason And so he elevated severally both the bitter Herbs and the unleavened Bread and after all the several Reasons given he subjoin'd a Hymn Let us therefore celebrate praise extol him who has done so many and so great and such stupendous Wonders To Him let us sing Hellelujah Praise the LORD ye Servants of the LORD concluding so Thanks be to thee O GOD King of the World who didst redeem us and our Ancestors and hast brought us to this Night Here they all drank again in the same manner as at first and wash'd again likewise here again beginning their Supper For then he took two unleavened Cakes and dividing one he put one half of it over the other Cake the half Cake being as they say to remember them of their former Poverty and so said over the Bread a Blessing After he dipp'd a piece of the Cake with some of the bitter Herbs in the Sauce and eat having blessed God with a proper Prayer and distributing to the rest to eat likewise So with a proper Prayer they tasted of the Peace-Offering and with another of the Lamb and after they fed freely of what was before them Only each was bound at the close of the Supper to end with some of the Lamb eating the Quantity of an Olive at least as they now do with a piece of one of the half Cakes which they substitute in place of the Lamb. When they had done eating they wash'd their hands and each having a third Cup distributed to them the Master having said over it the Grace after Meat and it is term'd thence the Cup of Blessing they drank it off And then there was another the fourth Cup put into their hands and the Hymn being re-continued with its proper Conclusion they again thanking God for the Fruit of the Vine drank that also and after that no more that night it being now towards midnight and they being after this to meditate yet on their Paschal Deliverance Thus according to the Tradition of the Jews the Paschal Supper was celebrated while the Temple stood and ever since it has been kept much after the same manner though the Paschal Lamb has been wanting And possibly if I might be allow'd to interpose a Guess in this matter this Supper might have been observ'd as now it is without the Sacrifice even when the Temple was in being by such as after the first Dispersions by the Assyrian and Babylonian Kings continued afterwards in remote Parts and not being able to keep the Feast at Jerusalem by reason of their Distance were however willing to keep up the solemn Memorial of that great Deliverance in the best manner they cou'd and as it is now done § II. NOW to this Account the History of our Saviour's Paschal Supper agrees The Cup mention'd by St. Luke (i) Luk. 22.17 19 20. which he took before the Bread and giving thanks divided it amongst his Disciples seems to have been their first Cup and might be however their second And the Bread which after he had given thanks he brake and gave to them was the same they now so bless and distribute after the second Cup. And lastly the Cup after Supper the Cup of Blessing as it is call'd by St. Paul in express Terms (k) 1 Cor. 10.16 what should it be but what the Jews call by that name and with which they thank for the Meal the third Cup Neither because our Saviour says in St. Matthew (l) 26.29 after the Cup that he would not henceforth drink any more of the fruit of the vine will it therefore follow that he did not drink the fourth Cup. For the same Saying is put in St. Luke (m) Luke 22.18 before the first Cup and can there signifie no otherwise than in general and that after that Solemnity was wholly over he would not drink of it except we will suppose that what he gave to the Disciples he took not himself But however this may be the Gospel hath yet one farther Particular agreeable to the Description of the Jews That when they had supp'd they sung a Hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives (n) Matth. 26.30 to meditate And it has besides been observ'd that our Saviour when he spoke the Bread to be his Body might have had a peculiar respect to that Phrase of the Body of the Lamb and could it be admitted that in those days as now an unleaven'd Cake was by any substituted for the Body of the Lamb It might then have been the easier understood to represent our Lord's Body These are the particular Correspondencies between the Paschal and the Lord's Supper and there was too another general one in their Nature as they were both of them to be Memorials of a former bloody Atonement Feasts of present Joy and Thanks but not without some afflictive Remembrance for the Past Here therefore it appears and from the Relation of the Scripture that our Lord thought fit to raise his other Sacrament likewise out of a Festival Commemoration the Jews were commanded to keep for their old Deliverance And hereafter it will appear further by the Construction the Primitive Church made that our Saviour in the Institution of his Feast did not consider only that single Annual Solemnity of theirs but their other more frequent Sacrificial Entertainments of Praise and Thanksgiving (o) See C. 7. of this Repartit CHAP IV. § I. The Church of Christ succeeds to the Church of the Jews § II. The Officers of the One rais'd from the Officers of the Other The Apostles of each § III. And the Bishops § IV. The Presbyters or Elders of the Jews § V. The Christian Presbyters and their Power § VI. The Ministerial Officers of the Jews § VII Answered by our Deacons THE Two Sacraments we see as they are described in the Scripture appear to have been transferr'd from the Old Testament to the New and by the one of them we are Admitted into the Christian Covenant and by the other we Recognize it Now those who were admitted into the Mosaical Covenant were admitted into a Body or Society and this Body had its Governours and Officers and whether the Christian Church were not a like Body and with like Officers we shall next inquire and from Scriptural Authority § I. And first It is plain that the Church of Christ comes into the place of the Congregation of Israel For it is known that the Word in the New Testament which we Translate Church is the same with that which stands in the Greek of the Old for the Congregation or Body of that
and might withal be the sacred Table on which the Word of God should be plac'd that Lamp unto our Feet and Light unto our Paths y The Excellently Learn'd Mr. Dodwell in his Book of One Priest and One Altar differs not from what is here said He puts indeed our Bishops in the place of the Jewish High Priests Ch. 9. but then he supposes those High Priests to have been the Representatives of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the High-High Priest Ch. 8. As therefore Bishops now are the Substitutes of our Lord so they answer the old High Priest are such in some sense High Priests themselves but as He has now been pleas'd openly to own and to Execute that Office so they are thenceforth in propriety of Speech to forbear that title and to own themselves for his Vicegerents and Sagans CHAP. IX § I. The Sentence and Effects of Excommunication with Christians as with Jews and the Relaxation of it alike § II. Their Agreement in the estimate of the Guilt of Sins and the appointments of Penance § I. EXcommunication as we have seen (a) Ch. 5. was with the Jews a Punishment with which their Presbyterial Authority was arm'd and which besides if it was not also decreed was certainly Executed by the Sacerdotal and that Sentence we must think was then most valid and most effectual when it was pass'd by both those Powers Such an Excommunication we have seen too Directed in the New Testament and Executed and afterwards Releas'd And the same Jurisdiction how it continued to be Exercis'd in the Church we are now to consider This Discipline then is well known to have been Executed in the Primitive Church by the Bishops and Priests with great severity and to have been much dreaded by the Guilty And the account of it we may take from Tertullian as he describes it in his Apology (b) Ch. 39. Being to justify the Christian Assemblies from the Imputation put upon them by the Imperial Officers and common Opinion of their being Unlawful Associations and dangerous Conventicles He says We are indeed a Corporation embodied by our Agreement in the same Religion and Obedience to the same Discipline and are Confederate by the same Hope We Meet together but it is before God Him we surround with our Prayers and as it were with our Numbers Force but this is such a violence as is acceptable unto Him And then our Prayers are for our Emperours for their Officers and such as are put in Authority We meet but it is to refresh our memory by Reading the Word of God There too c is the place for Exhortation and for Reproof and there our Manners are Inspected and Censur'd as it were by God himself For Causes are there judg'd with great deliberation as it is fit to be done by those who know that they Judge in the Presence and sight of God and if any one shall be found so Criminal as to be Excluded from the Communion of our Prayers and Assemblies and from the rest of our Holy Commerce this Judgment so pass'd upon him is taken for the Highest Presumption that can be of a like Judgment to come Elders or Governours the best approv'd Preside over us such as have purchas'd the Honour not by Money but by their Deserts for nothing belonging to God is to be bought with Money By those who Preside over us we are chiefly to understand the Bishop and then the Presbyters who are said above (d) Ch. 8. §. 2. in the language of Ignatius to the Magnesians to preside also And likewise it appears manifestly that the Authority by which they act is not look'd on as founded upon any voluntary agreement of the Fraternity but upon the Law of God Neither is it necessary that I should trouble the Reader with any further Proof from the Antients either for the Immemorial Practice of Excommunication or for the constant Presumption of its Authority from God Fig. I. Fig. II. Fig. III. place this after P◠And agreeably to this we have already seen that Excommunication with the Jews was Lighter or Heavier and differently Aggravated as the Cause deserv'd (f) Ch. 5. §. 1. It has likewise appear'd probable that the several Excommunicates may have lain under several Prohibitions as to their Approach in the Synagogues or Temple (g) Sect. 3. And since it has been shown that the Jewish Proselytes enter'd into their Religion by the same Degrees by which the Christians did (h) Ch. 6. we cannot doubt but those of them who had been solemnly excluded the Temple ordinarily Re-enter'd it after the same manner advancing successively thorough the several Courts as those did who had been under corporal Pollution according to the measure of their suppos'd Purification We have yet spoken only of the spiritual effect of Excommunication and Tertullian mentions the Exclusion from all Sacred Commerce only and this no doubt is the proper jurisdiction of that Presbyterial Authority which pretends not to govern the Commerce or Negotiations of this World But there can be no question but that the Faithful always avoided any great Familiarity or intimate Conversation with the Excommunicates other than to Reform and Reconvert them And this the Scripture it self seems to direct (i) 1 Cor. 5.11 and necessary it was to the Humiliation and Mortification of the Criminal and for the danger of others being corrupted by him though the other common Entercourse the Christians were to have with their Neighbours of all sorts was to be regulated by the Policy of that Temporal Government to which they belong'd But when the Government became Christian as it thought fit to enlarge the proper Presbyterial Power with some new Jurisdiction in things confining upon that Office as in Causes Testamentary and Matrimonial so it back'd their Excommunication with civil Restraints and Penalties And thence those who were under the Greater Excommunication have been forbid all common Conversation renderd uncapable of several Legal Benefits and sometimes Imprison'd or otherwise punish'd in Body or Estate in all which proceedings the Patterns of the Jews as is evident has been much follow'd as it seems to be in the Three Admonitions before the Sentence the consideration of the contempt of the Court on which it is founded the pronouncing it by Bell and Candle and Executing it even upon the Dead (k) See Ch. 5. §. 1. § II. AND thus much may suffice at present for the correspondence of the Sentence and Effect of Excommunication with the Jews and with the Christians but they also agree further about the Crimes that are to be the Cause of it and about the means of its Absolution The most Grievous Crimes in the judgment of the Antient Church were Idolatry Adultery and Murder as Morinus has demonstrated (a) Mor. de Poen lib. 5. cap. 1. And that they are so estimated by the Jews he has also sufficiently prov'd (b) Ibid Cap. 3. And concerning Repentance and Expiation or
I. a Tert. de Coron Cap. 3. Ad omnem Progressum atque Promotum ad omnem Aditum atque Exitum ad Calceatum ad Lavacra ad Mensas ad Lumina ad Cubilia ad Sedilia quaecunque nos Conversatio exercet Frontem Crucis signaculo terimus g 2 Ibid. Die Dominico Jejuniâ—m nefas ducimus vel de Geniculis adorare Eadem immunitate à aie Paschae in Pentecosten usque gaudemus i Ibid. Calicis aut Panis etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram anxiè patimur n Tert. de Orat. Cap. 12. Quòd assignatâ Oratione Assidendi mos est quibusdam rationem non video nisi si Hermas ille q Ibid. Cap. 14. Alia jam Consuetudo invaluit Jejunantes â—abitâ Oratione cum Fratribus subtrabunt Osculum Pacis Jam enim de Abstinentia Osculi c. Vide literam s ad operis hujus Partis prioris Cap. 4. r Cap. 13. Sonos etiam vecis subjectos esse oportet aut quantis arteriis opus est si pro sono audiamur t Cap. II. Certè Israelis manus semper immundae sanguine Prophetarum ipsius Domini cruentatae in aeternum Et ideo conscientid Patrum haereditarii Rei nec attollere eas ad Dominum audent Nos vero non attollimus tantum sed etiam expandimus y Tertull. Apolog. Cap. 16. Alii Solem credunt Deum nostrum Denique inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos ad Orientâ—â— regionem precari § II. d Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edit Oxon. p. 130. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g See Gregory 's Works Ch. 18. on Zach 3.8 6.12 n This in part is exemplified by Mr. Gregory o This too is mention'd by Mr. Greogory in the same place and by Mr. Selden De Syned 3.16.2 § IV. c Orig. Ibid. pag. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § V. a Justin Apol. 2. sub siuem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Tertull de Animâ Cap. 9. Est hodiè soror apud nos Revelationum charismata sortita quas in Ecclesia inter Dominica solennia per Eâ—stasin in spiritu patitur Jam vero prout Scripturae leguntur aut Psalmi cantâ—â—tur aut Adlocutiones proferuntur aut Petitiones delâ—gantur iâ—â— indè materiae Visionibus subministrantur § VII a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § VII It is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Priest pronounces this he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Goar ad Euchol Grac. pag. 56. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vide Chrysost Liturgiam c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de quo consuli poterit Goar ad Chryst Liturgiam Observatione 125. e Clem. Alexandr Strom. lib. 7 mo Edit Paris pag. 722. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Such Admonitions as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Liturg. Chryf i An Instance may be seen in the Admonitions given to the High Priest by those next him at the putting on of the Two Lots on the Two Goats Domine Pontifex tolle Manum Dextram or Tolle manum sinistram Maim de Cult Div. 8.3.3 CHAP. XI § I. The Second Prejudice against a Jewish Origination of Lent from want of Authority in the Talmudical Writings § II. Answer'd by shewing 1. That those Traditional Accounts were not without some Antient Foundation of their own § III. Secondly That they are Confirm'd in many points by Collateral Evidence § IV. And Thirdly That they were not borrow'd by the Jews from Foreign Authors § V. The Third Prejudice against such an Origination from the Novelty of it Answer'd § I. THE Second Objection against the Jewish Original of Lent as we apprehended (a) Part 2. Chap. 1. might be this that the Traditional Writings we have of the Jews were not sufficient Authority for the Knowledge of their Antient Customs and this is a Prejudice that has been entertain'd by many very learned Men and has been much confirm'd by Morinus his Exercitations Neither is it to be deny'd but that the Jews have deserv'd this Disgrace having brought their Traditions under a suspicion by the foolish way they took to advance the Credit of them For they thought it not enough to have their Customs very Antient and some of them as Old as Moses but he must also have learn'd them in Mount Sina from the Mouth of God himself Neither was it sufficient to have had them preserv'd by Writing if the people had so thought fit but they must be necessarily transmitted by the sole force of Oral Tradition And when they come at last to be reduc'd into Writing by their Rabbi Judah about the Year of our Lord 209 his Collection must be immediately as Authentick as if wrot by Moses or by the Finger of God And then the Commentaries on this Book the two Talmuds the First of them they will needs have compil'd in our Fourth Century and the Last the Babylonian to have been completed in the Beginning of the Sixth (b) Vide Poâ—ock Portam Mosis Morin-Exerc 6. Liâ— 2 di We shall not therefore wonder if such confident Pretences as these have provok'd the World to inquire and examine and as is usual extreamly to Under value and Depress what others have more unreasonably enhanc'd And thus both that Fam'd Book and its Commentaries are bid to go down three or four hundred years lower than they were plac'd by their too Devoted Admirers (c) Morin Exerc. modò dictá the Text it self is esteem'd an uncertain Rhapsody and the Expository Additions to it a Heap of Impertinencies and Idle Tales And if there are any Antient Facts or Customs agreeable to what we know by better hands the notice of them is suppos'd not to have come originally from their Own Memoirs but to have been borrowed afterwards from our Greek or Latin Authors Now as to my own part my acquaintance with these Jews has not been so great as that I should think my self bound to engage in their Quarrel and to justify the pretended Age and Authority of their Writings That their Accounts were more Full in many material Cases I have often had occasion to wish and that they are certainly true I must confess I am never intirely satisfied until I find them confirm'd by the Concurrence of some better Testimony such a prejudice has that pretence of Oral Tradition given me I shall not therefore undertake to offer more in their favour than these two Considerations First that such Traditional Memoirs are no Novel things but that such Misnaioths were certainly very old more early and better Recorded even than the Rabbins give out and Secondly that it is not likely that their Accounts of their Customs were suggested by our Writers or form'd from the Observation of Christian Practice § II. AND first as for what concerns the Misnaioth or Digest of Traditions compos'd